Hey everyone! I have been busy sculpting away, and wanted to share with you my new creation!
Meet Quiver! He is a FaeryCat, and a very wise and curious one at that! He is made from Premo Sculpey, dusted with gold mica, and his eyes are glass beads while his whiskers are copper wire.
He is holding a magical bubble full of FaeryCat magic, and is perched on a bed of rose quartz.
His fluttery wings are made from transluscent Sculpey, embossed gold and Arctic Aurora mica shimmer powders, faux gems and skeleton leaves.
Quiver is quite old but loves to play amongst the flowers. Despite being a wise elder, he is also quite mischievous, and always has a trick or two up his paw!
Taking a little break from the Cornish adventure story to show you the faerie shrine I have made.
I have added a series of photos to my 'My Faerie Creations' photo album, please check it out! I'd love to know what people think - I am thinking of creating and selling shrines like these, do you think they would sell? This is just a basic one, can also add doors, drawers, shelves etc for altar items and trinkets. Faerie shrines, goddess shrines, angel shrines, mer shrines etc etc!
This shrine is called 'The Way to Faerie' - through the woods past the signs of faerie presence, to seek the silver key that opens the doorway to Faerieland...
Before I get to Tintagel, I just wanted to skip ahead a day to our visit to St Nectan's Glen, because I wanted to share with you all the beautiful healing power of this magical place.
We were lucky on our visit, on the 15th July - we seemed to be ahead of everyone else and had the delightful riverside walk to ourselves. It was an enchanted stroll through faerie wood and water, both calming and magical all at once.
From stunning tree ferns to magical coppery stone, the walk was a treat for all the senses.
The day before had seen heavy rain, and as we reached the steps leading up to the waterfall, it became quite a mudfest! But finally we reached the summit, where we found The Hermitage, the site of St Nectan's Cell. Through the gate and down we went, into a plethora of rainforest-style undergrowth. The steam was rising from the waterfall, drips of water fell from the trees, and water trickled down the natural stone steps in miniature waterfalls of their own.
Can you spot John? ;o)
When we reached the kieve, it took our breath away. Not only was it a magnificent natural sight, but the feeling of calmness, healing and pure magic in that place was truly wonderful. Just look at all the orbs...
St Nectan's Glen is the only waterfall of its kind in the world, to fall through a natural holed stone into a basin like this. It is in the top ten most spiritual places of the UK, and the water is said to be incredibly healing. I charged an amethyst crystal heart with some of its energy, by placing it in the beautiful water.
On the route up, I came across a little cluster of violet flowers that had been dropped in the road. I took them with me to leave as my offering, a little piece of nature to offer to the shrine.
For as well as the shrine in the cell back at the Hermitage, the rocks to the side of the waterfall had also become a shrine, where countless people had left their trinkets in offering to St Nectan for healing. Everything from tiny statues and witch dolls to items such as bottle seals, pens and coins - whatever people had had in their pockets.
St Nectan's Glen is reputed to also be a site of faeries, and indeed it felt like a truly enchanted place. The presence of orbs and the light, tingling feeling of being in a sacred faerie place both confirmed this.
I left my charged flower offering on the shrine, dedicating it to those who need healing and light at this time; our dear friends Merrie Fae, Shayleah and more.
Again we had been fortunate and enjoyed the kieve to ourselves for a good ten minutes, before the inevitable trail of visitors started arriving and broke the magical mood just a little. We returned to the Hermitage and entered St Nectan's Cell, now a place of meditation to absorb the healing powers that rise up from the kieve. Inside, an incredible water shrine, with statues and offerings of every kind upon the rocks, from mighty Cernunnos and lithe mermaids to tiny figurines of horses and shells. Tealight candles light the room, and to the left hand side, a tiny fountain trickles out healing water from the kieve, next to a beautiful statue of Coventina, water goddess. Here, John and I left tealight candles. I meditated a while on health for our unborn baby, and said a prayer for Merrie Fae.
Countless prayers and dedications to those who had passed over were dotted around the shrine on little post-it notes, strung on the branches of ornamental trees. Poems and dedications were on the wall, and beautiful they were indeed.
Reluctantly, we departed and returned along the beautiful river, which was a joy to experience in itself. Truly, the presence of Faerie was everywhere in this special, special place.
On July 12th the sun broke over a beautifully still Carbis Bay.
Today began our adventure in stone circles, and what a treasure hunt it was! I had never realised how many stone circles there were in Cornwall. Armed with some internet pages researched before the holiday, and a little guide book I had purchased at Lands End, I eagerly noted down about 20 sites to visit, just in the Penwith area, with a further 20 or 30 to be seen at Bodmin! Alas, they are not that easy to find, and consequently only so many got found on the list :o) One day, I should like to spend a week touring all the sacred sites of Cornwall!
Most of the sites came with vague directions - "access from a public footpath that leads from a layby on the such and such road from here to there" was the general gist of it! Natural Trust and English Heritage signs marking their presence turn out to be tiny and easy to miss. So cue lots of driving up and down the same narrow Cornish lanes, reversing back and forth to let bigger cars pass by!
Our first point of call was the Merry Maidens, a perfect circle of nineteen stones, allegedly maidens turned to stone for dancing on a Sunday.
Their partners in crime, the Pipers, stand across the road in two fields, also turned to stone for providing the maidens with music. At 13 and 16 feet a piece, they are the tallest standing stones in Cornwall.
Next on the list was Boscawen-Un, the most beloved stone circle in Cornwall and still an active site for Cornish druids today.
As we moved from site to site (varying from windswept to more peaceful, but always hidden and wild!), I took with me a serpentine egg carved and tumbled from the serpentine cliffs of The Lizard, charging it with the energy of each circle. Needless to say, it felt amazingly light and powerful by the end of the day!
Next, on recommendation from EF's lovely Liz, we visited Carn Euny, the remains of an ancient village.
Here lies the only remaining Cornish fogau, an underground chamber and passageway thought to be used to storage.
After a tricky journey trying to find the Men-An-Tol, we finally found ourselves on the right path, meeting a snake on the way!
The Men-An-Tol is said to be protected by a Faery or Pixie Guardian, and is thought to possess healing properties, with various versions of how to go about receiving the power - passing a baby through the holed centre 3 times to cure rickets, passing a woman through 7 times to make her pregnant, and so on!
I figured some healing would be good for the remnants of my flu...
...probably not the best idea when pregnant! All I ended up with was the laughter of a highly amused gnome-type faery ringing in my ears (he's allergic to humans it transpires) and a pulled muscle in my side. A tricksy faery guardian indeed!
By this time a little rain had fallen, and weary from our journey, we headed for something a little different - Zennor, home of the legendary mermaid.
Inside the church is the famous carved Mermaid Chair. The legend tells of a mermaid enchanted by the voice of Matthew, a local man who sang in the church choir. She began to shed her tail and sit at the back of the church to hear him sing, before returning each day to the ocean. One day he spotted her, and fell immediately in love with her, following her into the waves to become her husband. It is said that if you sit above Pendour Cove at sunset, you can hear Matthew singing out to sea...
One site that eluded us that day was Lanyon Quoit, also known as the Giant's Table. Happily, we managed to find it the following day before we moved on to Tintagel! It is located right next to the road, making it the most visited of all Cornwall's sites, but it lies low, so is hidden from view from the road! Ironically, despite being the most photographed, it is the least authentic, as a storm years ago destroyed one of the legs. Only three remain, and these were significantly cut down for safety.
I will be writing in greater detail about the amazing stone circles of Cornwall, their legends and their faery guardians, in the Autumn issue of Faezine. :o)
Okay, so it's 5am here, I've been up since 3.30 after waking up from another weird pregnancy dream and can't get back to sleep. I'm craving one of those McDonalds breakfast potato thingies with a strawberry milkshake, a banana and honey toasted sandwich, and am seriously considering sending John out to get popcorn (YUK!???) when he wakes up.
So I figured now was a good time to start telling you all about our adventures in Cornwall!!
Now as you all know, I came down with flu a week before we were due to leave (according to the doctor it is technically possible to do an antibody test to see if it was swine flu or not, but they have no access to finding these things out, so will probably never know!) and ended up missing the first day. But happily, doctor gave me the all clear on the 8th July and off we went. ~ Happy skips! ~
The journey was perfect - little traffic, and sweetened all the more by a nice long stop off at a certain Buzzy Be's... hurrah! Thank you so much Be and Drew for welcoming us into your beautiful home, it was wonderful meeting you and the boys and your lunch was utterly scrumptious!!
Arriving in Cornwall was worth the 6.5 hours drive - OMG THE VIEW!!! Our first week was to be spent at a tiny little B&B with just 2 rooms, set into the Carbis Bay cliffs... and it was called Faerystone. Upon entering our room all we could do was say wow - our window and balcony looked out over Carbis Bay, a sparkling ocean and blue sky greeting us.
Faerystone does indeed have its own, well, Faerystone! It was placed in the grounds in order to appease the spirits, in order for the house to be built successfully. Legend has it that faerie gold was also buried in the gardens, to help promote good fortune. Protector of the house, the faerystone lies in the leafy bed of the front garden.
Our first week in Cornwall was spent in a flurry of relaxing time on the beach, gorgeous coast walks, meanders around the likes of St Ives, Truro and Lands End, and best of all, exploring sacred sites and circles!
More on that in the next post. For now, here are some highlights from the first few days:
* Foolishly eating fish and chips in St Ives harbour and being attacked by seagulls. Literally. They divebomb your head. One stole my earring!!
They look so innocent.... But do not trust under any circumstances!!!!
* Spotting a friendly seal in the harbour
* Viewing a gorgeous and most enormous harvest moon low in the sky from our balcony on the first two nights
* Perusing St Ives
* Exploring The Lizard, the most southerly point of the British Isles. Here I am on the very edge of our land!
* Visiting Lands End, the most south-westerly point of the British Isles! It was raining (as always - does it ever not rain here??) - but hey, they now have a Doctor Who exhibition - cool!! (I'm the one on the right by the way - the other guy's a slitheen)
* Visiting Truro Cathedral.
What an amazing place! The inside is just gorgeous.
It even houses the Gorsedd Chair, presented to the High Bard of the Cornish Druids years ago.
* Enjoying a wild and windswept day at Pendennis Castle. There were gorgeous acrobatic swifts divebombing about as we entered!
* Breakfasts on the balcony in the morning sunshine at Faerystone! Gotta love Jane's scrambled egg and bacon rolls - yum!
* The painting that hung above our bed - entitled Spirit of the Sea.
* Did I mention the view???
* Eating a delicious ice-cream from the legendary MOOmaid of Zennor in St Ives!!
* Carbis Bay beach. Wow, wow, wow. Even better than I remember from 20 years ago!
And of course, gotta love the good old English holiday weather!!!
So anyhoo, in my next post I will tell you about our journey to the stone circles of Penwith. Just a little bit, mind you, as I have a fantastic article all about them planned for the autumn issue of Faezine! ;o)
If any of you are planning a stay in the beautiful area of Carbis Bay and St Ives in Cornwall, and fancy staying at the magically named Faerystone, I highly recommend it! You can find out more from their website here.
