The Return to Faerie

A Guide to Faerie Conscious Living

Discover the magic of faerie that shimmers within the curves of your existence.

"The most important faerie tale in this world is yours."

Following the elemental pathway to the healing embrace of Mother Earth, we become aware of our primal self. This self, stripped of all social expectations, limitations, ego and inner conflict, is the faerie self. Raw and connected, we are one with the earth, the trees and the faerie folk that tantalised the oldest of cultures. Awakening to the voices within nature, we awaken to the primal faerie spirit that is alive and free.

The Return to Faerie is a personal journey from a self-destructive lifestyle, into the dancing light of faerie awareness. Bringing forward tales of the Celtic foremothers, we remember the place of honour that faeries were once held in society. Reflecting folklore in a new light, so that it may transpire into the valuable lessons we seek today in search of love, honour, healing and passion.

The Return to Faerie, written by Faerie Cara is now available online. Follow the link to the online shop. Book price is currently $29.95, includes postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

 

The years of changing societies have had a diverse effect on the faeries, but non have transpired through all social adversities as much as Brighid. She illuminates for us the meaning to accept change, to alter our own awareness and to grow with the times that are presented for us. She was one of the most well recognised Celtic faeries who had goddess status among the tribes. Across the regions of Ireland and all the Celtic Isles, there were different languages, laws and belief systems, but through the worship of Brighid they were united.

 Her name varied in spelling and accent from Brigit, Bride, Bridey, Bridget, Brigantia, Brigandu and Brigan. She was the daughter of Dagda and therefore another of the Tuatha de Danann. She represents the triple goddess and a strong stance in the role of the feminine in all the societies she has existed. Before the people of Dana lived in Ireland there was a race called the ‘Fomorians.’ Tales of the battles between the two races are still told with great detail to the bloodshed. Through her marriage to one of the Fomorians she built a bridge to hopefully put an end to the war. To this marriage she bore three sons, and lost her eldest son who was killed among the wars.

 Brighid is a fire elemental associated with healing, inspiration and smithcraft. She represents light, vitality, the spark of life and inspiration to transcend. As a healer she brings physical and spiritual healing, and is particularly aligned to midwifery. She governs the wellbeing of animals and crops to a good yield, looking after the welfare of entire families and tribes. As a faerie of inspiration she delves into poetry, inspiring words, and even in some scripts is said to have inspired the alphabet. She interweaves the magic of creativity, art and spiritual prophecy for her devotees. The role of the smith in a tribe was seen as a mystical and honoured position in society. The smith crafts would wield the primal element of fire to mould metal from the earth. They created the tools for survival.

 One of her earliest names was ‘Breo-saighead,’ meaning ‘fiery arrow’, which attributed her to divine justice and punishment. She demands the rights of women in all roles of society, especially the honoured role of motherhood. She demands justice for women and the right for a woman to live independently. To be independent a woman must become a warrior. It was through her choice and strength that she would embody and succeed in this role.

 Brighid was honoured by the Celtic pagans on the sacred day of Imbolc which divides winter in half. It was a time of year when food stocks were low, the land lay dark and wet, and some people may have passed away from the cold. At this time of year the people looked for the hope of the spring maiden who would show her face in coming months. She was represented as a doll, called a corn dolly, who would be paraded by maidens wearing white. Gifts of food, milk and honey were offered to the Goddess. Here, she is associated with the cow and the ewe, as the milk from these animals made the difference between life and death for surviving the winter cold. 

 Through the Christianisation of the Celtic people, many faeries were dis-honoured, disarmed or simply forgotten. The people would never release Brighid from their faith, and so she was ordained as a saint and passed into another new phase of existence. She flowed seemingly effortlessly into her new role with the church moulding her story into their purpose. Again, Brighid built a bridge between two worlds and sacrificed parts of herself for the sake of unity. Saint Brigit continued her roles as a healer bringing compassion, generosity, protection of women, agriculture and smithcraft through to the new era or her existence. The church stripped her of her highly honoured role as mother and claimed her as a virgin saint. As Saint Brigit, she still radiated her light with images depicting her with rays shining from behind her head.

 In Kildare she was worshipped at a sacred shrine by nineteen Celtic priestesses who looked after her sacred flame. The women would tend the flame for thirty years and then were free to leave and even marry. During this time they would not come into contact with men, as men were not permitted near the shrine or to touch the priestesses. They even had female servants to collect food stores from town. The priestesses would do more than tend the sacred flame; they would study healing practices, sciences, laws, folklore and traditions. The church did not accept the pagan place of feminine worship where men were not allowed. They stormed the shrine and raped the head abbess to dis-credit her. King Henry VIII then had the flame extinguished. Eventually the sacred flame was re-lit for Saint Brigit, and is now tended in the shrine that is a convent to nineteen Christian nuns.

 Brighid holds within herself the torch we can be guided by. The spark of life that exists within all of us can shine even brighter when the time of change is shifting. Brighid carried the old traditions forward unlike any other; she did it through love and for the purpose of unity. The old ways of faerie honour and healing can exist within you like it once did for the Celts. Social understandings of the old traditional ways may be wavered and in some places forgotten, but it still exists. By staying true to compassion, transcendence, community and honour we can all move forward within our own light.