i was reading Tiny Pixies blog post the other day and it reminded me that i was going to do a portrait of her and i completely forgot. SO here ya go Tiny Pixie .Seee you dont have to wish to be what you already are !

Carpe Noctum

Orchid

There it is the 1000 member of EF how fabulous! What a great milestone. Congrats Be and Drew!  I know im making a big deal about this but i just got this feeling ya know! Awesome! 

Carpe Noctum

Orchid

I dont know how others practice there Faerie Glamour but for me its with words. When ever i get that feeling that something just isnt right I reach into my vocabulary and pull out some magical words. I shape them into couplets or stories or or songs and I speak the words and you know what it drives the feelings right out everytime. The right words can change reality  shape events even change hearts which is just about the hardest thing to mold and shape in the entire universe. Sometimes the changes happen all at once and some times it happens like erosion. wearing away at the thing that needs changing so slightly it cant even be seen. and it transforms. I used to have a tshirt I made that said Entropy is our friend. but i got tired of explaining it to people. I decided that its best to experience the entropy for oneself. Even the entropy of bad feelings. So add to the erosion of of badness Use you faerie glam. Shape the words and shape reality. I dont know whay i just typed all that but i thiought somebody out there might have needed to hear it. Im not preaching mind you simply weaving a spell.

Carpe Noctum

Orchid

Heres a new short story that  i wrote while doing painting called the faerie Ball It is inspired by Suanna Clarkes amazing book Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The painting i think is one of the best peices ive ever down but unfortunately it is on such a scale and so detailed that my digital camera isnt doing it justice. So Ill just put up the story and let the picture remain for now in the imagination of the reader. Granted this story is allot darker than the previous stories and the subject matter as well as the themes some might find disturbing It really gets to the core of my belief about faeries So I really hope all keep an open mind.

Carpe Noctum

Orchid

Eternity Lost and theThe Faerie Ball

"I aint bothering no one. " Edna muttered to herself over and over again. as she went from dumpster to dumpster pushing her shopping cart . The Shopping cart was covered in ribbons and bits of lace and its contents glittered an gleamed .A hundred shiny discarded items. Piled into the cart and given a second chance of attracting an eye. Edna herself was just as interesting to look upon with her bold fashion choices and shocking disregard for the Haute Couture over lords who ruled from there lofty salons in Paris and Milan. She wore a huge floppy silk hat. With broken feathers and tattered Tule train. Her voluminous coat was real Mink. Though the fur was well on its way to the grave following its original owners .She wore a peasants skirt made up of every fabric known to man and couple so worn and faded that they had transformed into some new material that only the patina of city smog and filth could provide. Ednas face was lined and dried out .Tough as old leather. Her eyes were cataract milky white and some folks thought Edna blind.. Edna slept behind the Scottish Rites temple right across the street from the state Capitol. In the alley on a heat grate. . Her home was little more than a box and couple pieces of wood forming a lean to.

"I aint bothering no one."

No one including Edna knew how old she was. Too many years drinking and hard living had prematurely aged her. Her memory for such petty details as birthday and events were obliterated by the day to day struggle for survival. Somewhere on the long slide into destitution ,mental illness had hitched a ride with her. The line between commonly perceived reality and dementia was so blurred that it couldn''t even be seen anymore. A while back Edna had been picked up by some do gooder organization or another and had got her on the right combination of medications and She had a chance to see the world for what it was but the trade off was that her emotions were dulled. No highs, no lows, just simple, flat, even, at a pace, existence and it was soo very awful. At the first opportunity she slipped free of the do gooders and there pills and she went right back onto the streets feeling life raw and painful ,hot and cold ,high and low, all in its stark contrasts. Each day Insanity walked with her on route and Death was within arms reach . So it was no surprise when on midsummers eve . Edna saw a faerie. Truth was Edna saw Faerie''s all the time, out of the corner of her eye. Or darting between shadows on there mysterious errands doing Who knows what or why.

The faerie was sitting On the low wall right beside her lean to .It was twirling one of Ednas crystals that she had taken off a broken chandelier she found behind the demolished Grande Guignol Theater. .The faerie seemed delighted by the swirling light the crystal shot around the alley when she spun it.

"I aint bothering no one." Edna said wanting to snatch her precious crystal from the faerie''s hand. But instead she sat down on the grate and tried to pretend she didn''t see the faerie at all. Not that Edna could help herself from a out of the corner of the eye stare at the fantastic creature. Her skin was a white as a blank piece of stationary. And her purple eyes were huge in her skull. And in them danced madness and a unquenchable lust . Her hair was likewise shock white like spun cotton candy. And her limbs were long and sinewy . There something of the predator about her and yet. Edna felt no fear. She wore the tiniest of silk gowns and her tiny breasts poked almost clean through the fabric. On her feet were tiny crystal slippers that looked far to fragile to support even her slight weight. Edna would have said that she thought the faerie was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen But somehow she felt that she had seen this beauty before,

As the faerie spun the crystal watching the light dance she sang a song. With a voice that was so high sweet and full of emotion that Edna felt a tear escape her eye and run down her face.

"Cobwebs turtle shell dragonfly and the shrew

snails snakes thread and forgotten odd shoes

tin scrapes and bone and old pocket watches

dust and snowflakes and lost fabric swatches

Make a gown from these simple things

Shot with stars and frozen smoke rings

Make me a gown of the season of fall

Do for me and we go to the Faerie Ball

Orchids and roses and twisted ivy in knots.

Wolfsbane and hemlock and rusty old pots.

Icicles thorns and glittering broken glass

Lost little things left as the mortals pass."

When the faerie had finished her song she sat down the crystal in the cigar box where Edna kept it and said in almost a whisper. " I saw you dance once . It was beautiful beyond description.

Edna snorted and curled into a fetal ball Hiding her head in her rotten old fur coat.

" You were 12 . You did a dance under the harvest moon. Your dance stirred the leaves into a whirlwind and you thought that no one was watching but i was. .It so touched me that night I stole into your room and I kissed you. Right there on the forehead .Where your hairline touches your face. You still have the widows peak I gave you. ."

I aint bothering no one. " Edna stated rocking harder back and forth .

The faerie smiled "I know your not Edna You are faerie blessed. The magic you have sewn through out this city saving all these little forgotten beautiful things has made the mortal world brighter.

The faerie''s tone changed becoming more dark and serious, " But now Edna your time here is almost done. Your body is betraying you even as we speak. On this Midsummers night. You will pass on. "

If Edna was affected by the faerie''s dire prophesy she made no sign of it. She continued to rock back and forth muttering "I aint bothering nobody."

I want to see you dance again my sweet. Will you come with me to the faerie ball. "

Edna stopped her rocking and look directly in the faerie''s eyes. Then quite out of character she said " Why?"

"Oh Edna isn''t it obvious . I love you. I always have. Though you didn''t see me I was with you in the freezing rain and snow each and every winter. .I cried with you when the mortals were so cruel .I held your head when you were shaking from withdrawal from the vile Alcohol poison destroying your senses. I spun spells of protection over your sleeping form that hid you from sight as you slept in parks and in the rail yard. I did all that I could to help you find the treasures that were lost. And despite your best efforts. I kept you alive. We could never talk or touch. You couldn''t see or hear me. Only in your dreams and in your dreams we danced. We danced and we laughed and we loved each other. I have made a deal with The Midwife of death. She will stay your end until midnight Please Edna hold out your hand. And take mine. Let me take you to the faerie Ball. "

Edna found it very interesting to see herself take the Faerie''s hand and stand. It was if she were watching herself doing this from a distance. Immediately when she touched the enchanted creatures hand she remembered The faerie''s name. Eternity Lost. And the minute the name came into her head a great sweeping wave of emotions attached to the name followed. Love and hate loss regret joy and pain. But most of all wild passion! Passion as hot and flowing as ever felt by Faerie or mortal alike. Passion filled her and the years washed away.

Edna didn''t feel the slightest hesitation in stripping off her filthy rags right there in the middle of the alley. Eternity reached into Ednas cart and pulled from it a fabulous ball gown Its ingenious design incorporated all her gathered treasures from a life time of collecting. Reworked and reshaped by faerie glamour into a floating dream of elegance and beauty. In this dream Edna took the gown and dressed and by the time that the last lace was tied Edna was 21 again and she felt as light and strong if not lighter and stronger than she had ever felt in her entire existence. Hand in hand Eternity and Edna ran down the alley laughing shadows crawled out to meet them from the recesses where they usually hung and they were swallowed up in darkness.

At midnight The Midwife of death in her white robes glided down the alley and up to Ednas lean to. Edna was curled into a fetal position against the wall. The Midwife reached down and touched Ednas shoulder but it was too late Edna was cold and stiff. Her soul had escaped with out the Midwife''s help Though She felt cheated a wee bit the midwife smiled She knew where Edna could be found if she had need of her soul in the final accounting..

Looking at the membership counter as of writing this post we are at 984 members little more than a bakers dozen away from a milestone with this wonderful site.! I think that passage deserves a little celebration and is at the very least note worthy . Personally i think that bodes very well for this site. and also think that when one sets up a site like this. the thousand mark is a kind of critical mass point. Once it is crossed things always get very interesting. and it is almost never in ways that anybody expects. I tingle with anticipation wondering what form this tipping point will take on. Something glorious Im sure. Wooooohooooo! The countdown begins!

Carpe Noctum

Orchid