Chasing Stars

The Pleiades. Photo credit: public domain

“I have shared that journey especially experiences about creating holy days connecting the fairies to the Pleiades…”^[1]The words in the book that I just had opened to read leaped off the page. Whoa. I slipped back in my chair as I also slipped back in time. One particular memory dropped like a pebble on the still surface of a pond: from the eye closing to cover the stone with a transparent, formless eyelid, circles emerged and grew bigger reaching to the shore where I stood alienated no more from parts of myself that had to be rediscovered through someone else’s words. The ripples drew me in.

*

It is late June, and the evening is hot. We sit outside on the porch watching the sky.  

“Where’s the Hen,” asked my father. 

“The Hen? If you want to see it, you shall wake up tomorrow, well before the first light. It’ll be there,” said grandmother pointing at the sky. 

“The Hen? What hen,” I asked.

“The Pleiades,” answered my father, and seeing my raised eyebrows, added, “the stars. People of the old used stars to track time and seasons. In the countryside many still do so today.”

“Well,” Grandma added, “it won’t be there for long. Probably another couple of days until Midsummer when the Sânziene^[2] come out flying by moonlight and starlight going over fields and meadows to bless all herbs for healing and magic. We, medicine women, look for the Hen to know when to go out and gather the herbs that fairies blessed in their passing the night before.”

“How do the fairies decide when is the time to fly over the field and bless the herbs?”

“I’d say they follow the Hen,” grandma answered.

*

I sat with that memory for a while. Over the next few hours I devoured the book. Then I spent some more time with the same memory twisting and turning it on all sides, trying to squeeze out of it as much as possible. And so it began. 

 

So it began my crazy chase across the celestial dome for the Pleiades. I tried and failed countess times at tracking them in order to determine those special fairy times I've been seeking to pinpoint, and which I mentioned about in the previous two posts. I could have simply followed the dates given in “Living Fairy”, the book, right? Yet, I felt strongly – and Daimler themselves said it- it is very important to actually establish a connection with the stars and the energy of the time their presence marks.  I thought that such connection can only be established through direct participation, like observing the sky, the stars, noticing the relationships between sunrise, sunset, moon phases, other starts or planets, and how these aggregate around the cycles of the Pleiades. I believed that learning about Pleiades’ lore in different cultures and listening to those who have personal UPGs^[3] about connecting stars and fairies would be also important sources to learn from,  and so I proceeded to dig up all the info I could.

 

Astronomical charts gave me headaches, both figuratively and for real. I didn’t have much success with direct observation either. Two years in a row I was only able to actually see the blue celestial fire of the Seven Sisters shining straight above my head at midnight on November 21, respectively November 23. For the rest, it was either overcast, or I was completely inept at locating them during their risings or settings, heliacal and acronychal.

 

In the end, I overcome the reluctance of relying so much on technology, and I got an app^[4] on my phone that does a good job at tracking celestial bodies, stars, and of course the Pleiades. But my random observations were still not getting me anywhere, and I realized that if I am to get any useful information sometime in the near future I needed to organize my work more systematically. The problem was that I had no clue as to where to begin. I though of Archimedes. “Give me a firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth,” said he. All that I asked for was one such firm spot: not to lift the earth, but to track the Pleiades. Or Hen. Whatever.

 

Then, in June 2022, I went again to Ireland. I can’t believe how much happened within the few days I stayed there. I didn’t manage to complete the whole itinerary I intended for, but the places where I did go presented me with unforgettable experiences. While there, in Dublin and the surroundings, my connections among fairies reached a different level of tangibility. Aside from this but still related, Liminal Powers^[5], Fairy Gods, assigned me to the task of opening portals at specific times throughout the year ^[6] . And the timing for opening those portals is relative to solstices, equinoxes, and (drumroll!) positions of the Pleiades. 

 

A couple of months after returning from Ireland in reexamining my history of trial and error in tracking stars it occurred to me that I could ask for help. And who to ask, if not those whom I was actually trying to define holy days based on stars. It was Their request, right?  In a heart to heart conversation I laid out to Them my frustration and concern. I believe I concluded my speech with something like, “If you want me to open portals at specific times, I need help in figuring out when and how.”

 

Going a little bit on a tangent, I must say that I sleep like a log and don’t dream. I had tried several times to do dreamwork or lucid dreaming, without any success. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m checking out. No dreams, except for rare occasions when there’s either something very intense to process, OR when the dream is not really a dream. 

 

But something shifted rather unexpectedly after, or better said, during, a class that I took with one of my favorite teachers in the whole world, Cat Heath.^[7] I remember that I had wished really, really hard for some material covering those specific topics of burning interest for me, when Cat’s newest class popped in my newsfeed. Considering the circumstances, the timing was too perfect to be coincidental. Anyway, deeper avenues for psychic communication opened up following the four hours’ immersion. Then lucid dreaming began to occur spontaneously. In re-listening to the class recording, more details got flashed out so I could stop chasing my tail around what to do, since I finally had clues about how to do it. Concretely and in practical terms, I organized all the information I received while in Ireland and wrote the posts “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox”^[8] and “On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods^[9] . Writing these posts helped me process the information and the experiences associated with receiving it. In the aftermath, it felt like I put down some heavy weight I had been carrying around. Next, I was finally able to finish creating Part 3 in “Fairycrafting: The Art of Fairy Magic” that I was stuck with for several months.  In no time, I finished writing the class workbook and recorded all the meditations that go with the it^[10]. 

 

During psychic work, I was told to look up for the first apparition of the Pleiades on the Autumn nightsky, right after sunset. I was to call it the Autumnal Rising, and mark it as a time to open a portal. I meditated on the connection between the Liminal Powers I had just written about in my posts, on their holy days, Pleiades, and cycles of seasons. Unconsciously at first, I began to internalize the connection that I had began exploring only intellectually. 

 

On the night of October 2, precisely at the time when the Pleiades neared the eastern horizon, I was prompted to look up the sky. Since I am surrounded by tall trees, I don’t have a clear horizon line so I must rely on the phone app for tracking. I was elated, to finally had a benchmark form where to begin my nightly (or almost nightly) observations to determine the shortest elapsing time before the sun setting and the Pleiades becoming visible in the night sky.

The Pleiades just below the eastern horizon on Oct0ber 2, 2022 at 9:17pm (left)

The Pleiades just above above eastern horizon on Oct0ber 2, 2022 at 9:35pm (right)

Photo credit Daniela Simina, using SkyView.

 

I noticed that I had began to look up the sky at just the right time. On early mornings, I would locate the the tiny, blue cluster with naked eyes as it and only rely on the phone app only when overcast. 

 

October 20, 2022, 6:50am, Pleiades visible above the western horizon.

Photo credit: Daniela Simina

 

Few days ago I stumbled upon an online calculator^[11] for positions various celestial bodies, constellations, and star clusters - the Pleiades among them. Upon seeing it, my first reaction was “How I wish I found this tool at least few months ago, or even better, a couple of years ago. WHY didn’t I come across this program earlier??” Then I looked at all the pictures, screen shots, and notes that I took. The sense of familiarity, closeness, and connection with the stars, with the sky and implicitly with the energies of the seasons built through actively engaging with the sky in the act of active observation, in the trial and failure to track the path of the Pleiades and determine those special times I have been tasked to find and mark as holy days for the group of fairies that I am connected with.

 

Corroborating data from the online calculator and my own observations provided a big surprise. The shortest time between sunset and the rising of the Pleiades in the sky on the eastern horizon at night fall, the Autumnal Rising They asked me to find, occurs this year on October 31, Samhain Eve^[12]. WOW. Few months ago, I had almost decided to let Samhain be just Halloween!

 

But that was not it; in any case, not all of it. Long ago, in Ireland Samhain was observed not as a one-day holiday, but as a longer time of transition between autumn and winter when the dead were given food offerings, animals were slaughtered and meat salted and smoked, herds would return from pasture, and all the preparations for winter concluded. 

 

I once read an account of a holiday when sacrifices were made to the Álfar, Norse fairy beings. Norwegian skald Sigvatr Pórdarson retells this episode in the poem Austrfaravísur. The the story gives a clear idea of the importance of Álfablót. But there’s much debate about the date when it was celebrated, since none is mentioned in Austrfaravísur . While offering to Ælfs were made at any time throughout the year, this Álfablót was the big one, marking a holy day special to the  Ælfs. But what date would that be? 

 

Few days ago I just came across someone’s opinion^[13] stating that Álfablót would correlate with honoring the ancestors and  preparing for winter, taking thus place within  the same timeframe as Samhain^[14] , in  different cultural context of course. While this could be the case or not, this idea makes sense to me. Now please take this in the sense that, “something similar in both meaning and ritual form takes place around the same time in two different cultures,” rather than “both the Irish and Norse celebrate Samhain,” which is completely erroneous 

 

So.

 

I have a vested interest in the area where Irish and Norse-Germanic fairy matters overlap.  For me personally, having found a possible intersection point around Samhain, is hugely significant. For once, it provides at least in part the reason why the particular group of fairy beings that I am connected with tasked me with locating this specific apparition of Pleiades, and (re)claim it as a hallow time of Theirs^[15]. 

 

The end of October is just days away, and for everyone whose spiritual practice draws on multiple traditions, I hope this post could be of use.

 

Until next time Oíche Shamhna Shauna daoibh^[16],  Happy Halloween, Hallow Álphablot, and Happy Autumnal Rising to everyone celebrating.

 

Bibliography and Resources:

Daimler, Morgan “Living Fairy”, 2020

Heath, Cat, “Elves & Witches: A Survival Guide”, Cat Heath – for class recordings email Cat Heat at seo.helrune@gmail.com

Simina, Daniela “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox and Acronychal Rising of the Pleiades”,  https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/

Simina, Daniela “On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods” 

https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/

            Simina, Daniela, “Fairycrafting: Complete 3 Part Course - Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-pVTDiV4I&t=2s

“Álfablót- the Viking Halloween” https://modernnorseheathen.wordpress.com

 

---

[1] Morgan Daimler, “Living Fairy” p.1 

[2] Romanian fairies, benevolent toward humans.

[3] Undocumented personal gnosis: personal experience that may align or not with the body of know lore and traditions.

[4] Sky View Lite, the free version.

[5]  “A Ritual for the Autumn Equinox and Acronychal Rising of the Pleiades https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/

[6] On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/

[7] “Elves & Witches: A Survival Guide”, Cat Heath

[8] https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/09/

[9] https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.com/2022/10/

[10] “Fairycrafting: Complete 3 Part Course - Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-pVTDiV4I&t=2s and "Fairycrafting: The Art of Fairy Magic. Part 3- Overview"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzUGsvSKlg&t=17s   

[11] https://in-the-sky.org/whatsup_times.php

[12] There are actually few days when the Pleiades are visible in the night sky on the eastern horizon shortly after sunset, October 31-November 4, so any or all of these taken together could be a marker for the liminal timeframe I have been seeking to pinpoint. 

[13] https://modernnorseheathen.wordpress.com

[14] Samhain means November in Irish; it is the name of the month and not of one specific day as it is oftentimes misinterpreted outside the culture. 

[15] To be clear, this is personal undocumented gnosis, UPG, and applies to my practice and relationship that I have with one specific group of fairy beings. In Ireland, it is known that the Otherworldly activity peaks on Samhain Eve, and offerings are left out for the Good People on this night. I am not pioneering any kind of work here regarding Samhain, just merely connecting few dots between Irish and Norse/Germanic traditions surrounding fairy people.

[16] Happy Halloween, in Irish. See pronunciation  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yC3Vaz-Ehw

 

On Liminal Powers or Fairy Gods

Liminal Fairy Goddess. Art credit: Pixabay

Shortly after I returned from Ireland, as a continuation of the initiatory experience that onset there, my fairy familiars instructed me to begin honoring specific Powers that fairies themselves – at least the group that I am primarily connected with- acknowledge. Each of these Powers appears to be both of Fairy and transcending of Fairy, operate on a much bigger scale in Fairy and also in the human world, and also acquire regional aspects. Such powers, I was told, are present within the cycles of seasons and in every single aspect of the natural world as well as in peoples’ lives. 

The idea of Liminal Powers and Fairy Gods isn’t a new one neither to me in particular nor in general. In their work, Morgan Daimler describes several such Powers standing at the core of Fairy Witchcraft as they teach it. (Daimler, 2014.)  I can’t even begin to describe my reaction when I first read about such Powers in Daimler’s work. The thrill and explosive joy were almost too much to bear. I read those pages again and again, carried the book in my bag for a while and re-read, until the dog-eared pages came lose and there was no space left on margins for how many side notes I had written. The reaction may seem out of proportion, right?  But, there I was after many years of trying to put a finger on, to name  something so elusive that I was not even certain they existed outside my own perception. Those were concepts that I had touched on intuitively, but I never dared to openly speak about because I did not know how. I was also afraid of ridicule, and anguished with uncertainty and self- doubt. 

 But…

 “The Liminal gods are not like other deities – they have no millennia of myths and stories behind them, no layers of theology, no nuanced understandings. They are both primal and wild and the only way to truly understand them is to experience them directly…The Liminal Gods are deities of the transitional space between wild and tame, between safety and danger, between our world and Fairy. They are not Gods of the mundane. They are the essence of Fairy, of enchantment, even as they are at the heart of our reality. They exist in ordinary moments and in magic. They are urban as much as they are in the wild woods…They are immortal, endless, and relentless. They are eternal and fleeting, constant and ever-changing. They are unspeakably beautiful and horrifyingly ugly. They are gentle; they are cruel. They are all of these things at all times.” (Daimler, 2015)

Reading these words gave me the courage to revisit my own glimpses of intuition and my childhood years, freed from cumbersome feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. In my mind’s eye, or through the window that opened in my heart, I saw a very young Daniela wearing a burgundy table cloth fashioned as a cloak, a tinsel crown, and a wand (this was a real thing, fully functional, made of Blackthorn), walking around in the backyard and solemnly addressing “ the highest among the Fairy Kings and Queens, and Powers who reign above all that is, who come and go with the seasons on Earth and in Fairy.” Or something like this. I had used many times the word Powers that I had heard from Grandma. Its meaning was ambiguous, same as the feeling associated with them: Powers that go even above fairies? Powers that are themselves of Fairy? I agonized over these and other questions for quite some time until everything in my young life went south and my relationship with my fairy familiar fell apart. I found myself on a completely different track where fairies had no place, and questions about the reality and nature of higher powers had to be shooed away. But this is a whole different story⁴. 

Fast forward, I found thus in Daimler’s work not only validation, but also the vocabulary I was lacking to organize, define, and ultimately talk about my relationship with those whom I called by the generic name, Powers. 

Inspired by what I read and learned, I began to listen again to how and what they, the Powers, speak to me.  Ever since, I’ve been walking by starlight, by moons risings and sunsets, and following the cycles of equinoxes and solstices. 

Calling the Powers. Art credit: Pixabay

I am aware that there are many, many more Powers such as the seven I was told to acknowledge. Maybe for some who are reading this post the seven Powers listed here will ring true. Some other people may find out that they connect with Liminal Powers who are completely different from those listed here. I truly hope that what I wrote and the resources listed at the end of this post will help readers on the individual paths they follow. 

- Queen of Apples: vitality, joy and zest for life, health and vibrancy, sensuality and sexuality, encapsulates the energies of the seed that will become the apple tree (of any tree for that matter) whose twigs can be made into wands used in healing work, and whose fruit nourishes and heals (...an apple a day...); empowered feminine and personal sovereignty. 


- Queen of Ancient Earth and Stones: stands for the earth itself, the fertile soil, the rock of mountains and sandy bottom of oceans and seas. She holds the potential for seeds to hibernate, germinate, grow into mighty trees, and then receive them back when they 

- Queen of Winds: she holds power over first and last breath, she is the air in the freshly aerated soil awaiting the seeds to fell and nestle in; the hollow and mysteries of caves, and bubbles in the lacy crests of ocean waves; she’s in the burning fire logs, the flame and the popping; she’s in the fluffiness of snow but also in the deadly blizzards: she in the summer storms, hurricane winds, the gentle breeze in springtime, and the forest’s cool shadow in summer. 

- The Ever-Shining One/ Queen of Flame She is the gold on treetops at sunset; she is behind the reds and purples in the morning sky; she’s in the tender warmth that make snow melt and first flowers peak through in springtime; she’s in the merciless heat the scourges man and beast and leaving deep cracks into rock-hard ground; she’s deep into the Earth where all is but fire, where molten rocks flow like rivers carrying continental plates on their backs. She’s in the moonshine that brightens up night, and she’s the spark making every star burn bright.  


- The Queen of Waters/ The Ever-flowing One is the spirit present in the raindrops enlivening the land, nourishing vegetation and animals; she’s is present in the downpour making torrents and rivers swell and drown everything in their path; she’s is present in oceans and sees as much as it is present in the crystal-clear lakes, mountain springs and small puddles. She is within tears and dew drops, in the pearls of sweat rolling down the skin, in the blood, as well as in the plants’ juices.  

- The Spinning Goddess/The Great Weaver: she’s the one who spins the thread of anything or everything, who turns wool into thread, and thread into tapestry or clothing, doing both work of art or utilitarian- as needed. Time itself is strung on the thread she spins: past, present, and future for her are one. She gives out her thread for people to use it, but then what individuals do with it is their own choice: she’s there to help, provide, teach but cannot complete the task for you; she’ll teach you how to work – magically and otherwise- but will not do the work for you. I personally associate her with the symbol of Triquettra, a triple spiral resulting from three overlapping circles, a never-ending cycle.

- The Horned Lord/Green Lord: he is solar, fiery, embodies the energy of spring when nature awakens to life, and the energy of early autumn, the mating season: he is merriment and laughter, and spirit of competitions; he is the exuberance of lighting in the storms, and the Sky Lord with power over weather. 

The H. 

- The Hunter King, Lord of Arrows, Hunter, The Arrow Master: he (she, they) impersonates separation of life force from the physical form; cessation of life in physical form; physical death. His/their arrow releases the last breath which then the Queen of Winds receives upon life departing the body. He/they ends suffering for the very old and the pained ones who are tired of dragging on yet another day. He trims down the numbers of animals in the wild maintaining balance: none shall exceed in numbers and none shall starve on his watch

-  Keeper of Passages, Key Master/ Master of Keys, The Gate Keeper, initially assigned to the list of foundational Powers, he then explained his role as go between people (of Fairy or human world) and the Powers themselves. He is the guardian of portals between worlds, opener of doors that are locked in the human world and the Other, and when he doesn’t have a key to offer you directly, he’ll help you blast the obstacles that block your path. He is behind the energy released in magic to manifest or dissolve. However, be wise in choosing what path you are asking him to open for you because he’s also known as Lord of Shenanigans, and bears this name for a reason.

Mine is still a work in progress[1]: The Powers’ attributes and their mythologies distill gradually as I work both with and for Them.
 

About two weeks after having written the post, and in line with the mentioning that this is a work in progress, more Powers with seasonal and regional agency added themselves to the list. They complement the action of the initial nine who form a core in the sense that without the existence of the nine, the other two won’t exist nor make any sense. 

- King of Waves and Queen of Tides. The King is ever-present in the ocean waves - the rise and fall of a giant’s chest while he sleeps, in the vastness of fluid emerald that glitters in the sun, in the howl and crash of mountains of water raising and dropping to crash the boat of the fisherman and drown him and his crew- the ultimate price, the blood tribute the Kings of Waves exacts. The Queen follows the moon-lit path, perpetually returning and going away from sandy shores; she moves quietly but is undeterred, her powers unstoppable. She’ll bring ashore gifts from hidden realms beneath waters, and sweep away whatever she encounters, washing it off into the sea. 

 
-The Queen of Snow and Ice is the spirit in the snowflakes dancing through the air, the snow blanketing the earth, in the icecaps, in the sheets of glass covering bodies of water or the silvery-white coating grasses and rooftops with the first frost in late autumn, within the grains of hail in summer storms. She is the cold soul devoid of emotion or devastated by loss as much as she is spark of joy, perfection and beauty, and sheer potential awaiting to express itself.
 
These last two sets of Powers, like the other nine, may appear in various other forms to other people and everybody can relate to them in their own personal way.

Thanks for reading, and until we next meet, blessings of the Liminal Powers to all of you.
Daniela

Bibliography and Resources

Books:

Daimler, Morgan “Fairycraft. Following te Path of Fairy Witchcraft”, 2015

Daimler Morgan “Traveling the Fairy Path”, 2018

Daimler, Morgan “Living Fairy”, 2020

Heath, Cat, “Elves, Witches & Gods”, 2021

Simina, Daniela, “A Fairy Path: The Memoir of a Young Fairy Seer in Training”, 2023

Blogs:

Morgan Daimler, “Liminal Gods- Deeper Theology” https://lairbhan.blogspot.com/search?q=liminal+Powers

Morgan Daimler, “New Liminal God- The Queen of Apples” https://lairbhan.blogspot.com/2019/12/new-liminal-god-queen-of-apples.html

Morgan Daimler, “Meting a New Liminal God” https://lairbhan.blogspot.com/2016/11/meeting-new-liminal-god.html

Morgan Daimler, “Meeting New Liminal Gods- Thallea and Thessilae” https://lairbhan.blogspot.com/2018/04/meeting-new-liminal-gods-thallea-and.html

            Seo Helrune, “Elves and Witchcraft, Seidr and Grimoirs”  https://seohelrune.com

 
           Rose, Winifred Hodge, “Landwights and Human Ecology”, https://heathensoullore.net/landwights-and-human-ecology/

Classes:

Seo Helrune, “Elves and Witches: A Survival Guide”, class. For access, contact Seo Helrune at seo.helrune@gmail.com

Daniela Simina, "Fairycrafting: The Art of Fairy Magic", 3 parts course offered bi-annually. Email Daniela Simina at dsimina@gmail.com or check SiminaYoga on Facebook for announcements about course dates and description. 

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[1] As of last night, October 2^nd, 2022, after observing the positions of the Pleiades to track the moment they will rise above the horizon, and the time when they are first visible from my location, two more Liminal Powers made themselves known and announced that only now the list is complete. Part of the reason for these two Powers adding themselves to the list later on, is their regional character. For example, the Queen of Snow and Ice is not a strong presence in the Sahara Desert. The Queen of Waters too takes various aspects, depending on Her manifesting oceans, seas, large rivers, torrents, raindrops, dew, tears, sweat, or blood. Depending of context, she may be entirely absent, such as dew or rivers in the desert, and only manifest in some forms, such as body fluids in plant and animal people who live in such areas. The Keeper of the Passages relates to the energy gathered and released in ritual, magic, and prayer - energy that is intrinsic to both manifestation and dissolution