Hi all, Merry Meet,  I am very honoured to be accepted by Be to make arrangements for next years World meet in Pipestone, Minnesota, USA.  I had the idea when I first read about Be's wishes when I first joined EF a number of months ago. I approached her and she agreed it would be great there. Robert joined me in the organizing as he is experienced in Fairy gatherings, this will be my first.  Although I have organized many gatherings throughout my life, this will be my first Fae one.

 At present I live in both Pipestone and London UK, I hope to be going to Pipestone fulltime as of next spring.  I fell in love with the area when I first saw it back in the mid 80's, and eventually moved there in 94.  It is sacred ground, Indian land that once belonged to the Great Sioux Nation. Nowdays they are called the Dakota, and my husband is himself Dakota.  I met him back in 91, in Pipestone of course, and we have never looked back, across an ocean but never back!!!!

 Anyway I wrote this next part for the Enchanted Folk Worldmeet group but thought I would add it here as well.  I hope you call all come to the Gathering of fine Fairy Folk from all around the world.

 Hi Dragonfly7 here, Just a small piece about Pipestone.  It is North, central America, in Minnesota, close to the South Dakota and Iowa borders, noth of Minnesota is Canada so basically it is one of the furthest northern midwest states.

 Pipestone is known for it's Native American history. It is where the 'Peace Pipe' comes from, or rather I guess I should say where the stone to make the Pipes comes from, it is the only place in the world where this particular stone is found and is very sacred to Native Americans of most tribes.

 My husband Running Elk, or Chuck, is one of the quarriers/pipemakers, he was born in the Indian school (that used to be) in town and has lived in the town all of his over 60 years. He is Dakota Sioux.  You will get to meet him and his Dakota Community while you are in Pipestone as it will be their land that you will probably be camping on. Pipestone is a place of peace, very quiet, except for the train that blows it's whistle once in a while! 

 The photo that is on the group is of a massive, and I mean massive, Fairy Ring that appeared during the summer in Pipestone, more photos of it are available and will be uploaded shortly.  It encompassed 3 huge Cottonwood trees (these trees are sacred to Native Americans), and was a perfect circle.  I didn't change the colour of the photo, it turned out purple on it's own. This was taken from the center of the Ring.  I gave an offering of lavender and asked permission to be allowed to go into it and take the photos, and was allowed.  The Circle lasted for days, and shortly before I left for England a couple of weeks ago it had re-appeared.  I spoke to the person who owns the land, and told her about it and what it meant, and she would not allow the mowing man to mow over it, so he had to go all around it. 

 Also before I left, adjacent to this area was a small field with a crop in it, and there were hundreds of butterflies flitting and lollygagging above the crop. I didn't have my camera with me at the time and when I went back the crop had been harvested and they had gone. However I believe that both the Ring and the butterflies are signs that Pipestone is where the Meet should take place.  It felt right when I first thought of it, and I am even more convinced that this area is not only sacred to Native People but the Fae believe it to be as well.

 On a final note, The Dakota have a being in their culture, that is akin to the Fairy folk, he is a small man who sometimes lives inside a tree, (Indian kids would have a hollowed out branch with a little man that would come in and out, this represented him).  Chuck's grandfather used to scrabble around on the ground with his walking stick while speaking in Dakota, he would get quite mad, Chuck aked one day what he was doing and was told that the little men were teasing him and he could see them and was trying to make them stop.  There are various stories about these little people, maybe you will see one in Pipestone!

Hello, at last I have managed to upload some of my Fae Fashion artwork, see both my general photos or the Faeshion group photos section.

I am back in America for 3 months so probably won't have time to sit on the puter making more art, but I will try as I love doing them.  A friend has already said she wants one of the skirts I designed, she said she has looked all over for something like that and there it is showing on a Fairy model!  LOL!  No I do not have plans for making them full size, these are for the Fae! They will be made for OOAK dolls eventually.

Have a lovely warm sunny weekend with those you love,

Bright Blessings

Gloria

Hello everyone, Merry Meet, Thank you for writing on my page, I am still making my rounds and looking at everyones pages and their creations, wow what a talented group of people, it is an honour to be here with you.

Being here and looking around has awoken my creative streak, and so I am preparing to go back to my artwork as well.  Once I have done something I will show it on here. Thanks for the inspiration,

Fairy dust to you all with many hugs attached,

Dragonfly

My mother taught me as a young child to leave offerings for the fairy folk. We would go for walks and look for fairy rings and would then leave a snippet of material under each fairy house so that the fairies could make a new dress!  That was one of my first lessons, sharing and respecting those smaller than we and those we cannot see.

I have left some photos as my offering for you, on my profile, they are of places that fairies and others dwell, enjoy.

Respect,

Bright Blessings on this sunny day,

Dragonfly7