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 leaped at me off the page. Whoa. I slid back into my chair as I also slid 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 until reaching to the shore where I stood. I was no more alienated from parts of myself that had to be rediscovered through someone else’s words. Then 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 tomorrownwell 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, “the shows up close to Midsummer when the Sânziene^[2] come out flying by moonlight and starlight. They go over fields and meadows to bless all herbs for healing and magic. We 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. Then I devoured the book. Then I went back to spend more time with the same memory twisting and turning it on all sides, trying to squeeze out of it as much meaning as possible.  I truly felt drawn toward developing this approach to fairy faith where star lore, afiry lore and a personal mythology would weave into something beautiful and magical.

And so I began to chase the Pleiades. I believed that sterile observation wasn't enough, and in this newly emerging paradigm, establishing a personal connection was important. 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 stars or celestial bodies 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 are also important as sources to consult for information but not substitutes for direct engagement through observation. I proceeded to dig up all the info I could. Then I started to create a calendar of fairy holy days which was focused on the Pleiades. As a starting point I had the dates given in “Living Fairy” but  I knew that there must be more.

 

Astronomical charts gave me headaches, both figuratively and for real. I didn’t have much success with direct observation either. In the end, I overcame the reluctance of relying so much on technology and I got a phone app^[4]  that does a decent job at tracking celestial bodies, stars, and of course the Pleiades. 

 

Then, in June 2022, I went again to Ireland. While there, my connection to fairies reached a new level of tangibility. My understanding of  Liminal Powers^[5], Fairy Gods expanded too. I took on the assignemt of opening portals at specific times throughout the year ^[6] , which times are related to the Pleiades' positions. 

 

Help came in unexpectedly.  One of my favorite teachers in the whole world, Cat Heath.^[7]  offered a class aptly titled "Elves &Witches: A Survival Guides". I signed up impulsively, without thinking much.  In that class I learned new skills to apply in psychic work to gain clarity, insight and direction - all of which turned out very helpful in my pursuit, tracking the Pleiades and develop a calendar of fairy holy days. 

After that, I began to internalize connections that for some time I only understood intellectually.  On the night of October 26, 2022 acting on a hunch, I tracked  the Pleiades with my phone app. I caught the exact position when they touched the horizon line just after dark. 

The Pleiades just below the eastern horizon on October 28, 2022 at 9:17pm (left)

The Pleiades just above above eastern horizon on Oct0ber 28, 2022 at 9:35pm (right)

Photo credit Daniela Simina, using SkyView app.

 

I noticed that more often than not I'd look at the sky at just the right time to notice something of relative significance. One early morning I located with the naked eye the tiny blue cluster about to fade in the growing light. I opened the phone app right away to double check whether I am looking at the Pleiades or something else. It felt like a small victory.

 

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

Photo credit: Daniela Simina

 

I stumbled upon an online calculator^[11] for the 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.” Then I looked at all the pictures, screen shots, and notes that I took over the past two years. The sense of familiarity, closeness, and connection with the stars, with the sky and implicitly with the energies of the seasons - I had developed those through   active observation, through trying to track the stars and failing so many times.

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 on the eastern horizon at night fall, occurs this year on October 31, Samhain Eve^[12]. Wow. Few months ago, I had almost decided to let Samhain be just Halloween!

I once read an account of a holiday when sacrifices were made to the Álfar. The Norwegian skald Sigvatr Pórdarson retells this episode in the poem Austrfaravísur. The story conveys  the importance of Álfablót, the Sacrifice to the Elves. There’s much debate about the date when the blót was celebrated since no date is mentioned in Austrfaravísur . While offerings to elves and land spirits were made on diferent other occasions, the Álfablót was the big holy day dedicated to Elves, thus something I was very interested in observing.  I learnned ^[13] that Álfablót would correlate honoring ancestors and  preparing for winter which to me sounded a lot like the timeframe for Samhain^[14] and the very similar Romanian holiday of Sâmedru. FInally, I had found a time when Pleiades position on the horizon at nightfall connected with honoring ancestors, elves and other fairy beings. 

 

 

I have a vested interest in the area where Irish and Norse-Germanic fairy lore and traditions overlap.  For me personally, having found a possible connection between Pleiades position and Samhain/transition from fall to winter, 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 position of the Pleiades in the sky, 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, Happy Álfablót, and happy everything else you might be celebrating at this time.

 

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 as deities. These Powers appear to be both of Fairy and transcending Fairy. They operate on a much bigger scale in Fairy but also in the human world. They act at a broad level but 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, I understand.  But, there I was, after many years of trying to name  something so elusive that I was not even certain it 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 didn't have the vocabulary, I was 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 from my childhood years. I was 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 Themselves. Powers that go even above fairies? Powers that are themselves of Fairy? But this is a whole different story⁴. 

Fast forward, I found thus in Morgan’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 and hear again the Powers seeking. 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 besides the ones I was told to acknowledge. Maybe for some people reading this post, the Powers described 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 at the end of this post will help readers on the individual paths they follow. 

- Queen of Apples: beholder of vitality and life-force, she embodies abundance, whether on fields, orchards, or as the health and vigor of mind and body. She is joy and zest for life, health and vibrancy, sensuality and sexuality. She 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 to use in healing work and whose fruit nourishes and heals. She is the essence of personal power personal sovereignty. 

- Queen of Ancient Earth and Sacred Stones: She is part of the Earth itself and any earthy body in our Universe. She is within the rocky grounds and fertile soil. She holds the potential for seeds to hibernate, germinate, grow into mighty trees, and then receive them back when they die. She is the power within crystals, gems, and metals. She’s in the walls of caves and sandy bottom of seas and rivers. She’s the one who hides or uncovers springs, and is behind the healing powers of waters. She’s present within the magnificent desolation of deserts and the alluring sandy beaches. She supports life and receives the bodies which life has deserted: she is both the nurturer and the recycler. 

- 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. She is in the hollow and mysteries of caves, and in bubbles in the lacy crests of ocean waves. She’s in the burning fire logs, in the flame and the popping sound, 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. She's in the first cry and the last sigh when breath leaves the body for good.  

- The Ever-Shining One/ Queen of Flame She is the gold on treetops at sunset. She's behind the reds and purples in the morning sky. She’s in the tender warmth that make snow melt and nurtures the first flowers peeking 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's entrails 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 is present in the downpour making torrents and rivers swell and the the savage flow drowning everything in its path. She’s in oceans and seas as much as in the crystal-clear lakes, mountain springs and small puddles. She is within tears, in the pearls of sweat rolling down the skin, in the blood, in the plants’ juices and drops of dew..  

- 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. 

- The Horned Lord/Green Lord: He is the energy of the ripe grapes ready to turn into wine, the plentiful of crops reaching the storage, the physical strength of people, domestic beasts and wildlife. He is the beauty of the season when leaves turn color, and the fierceness of stags fighting for mates and territory. He is solar, fiery, and embodies the energy of spring when nature awakens to life. 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 when life departs from 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, The Gate Keeper, Lord of Shenanigans, Knight of Love. 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 teach you usefull tricks to go around obstacles. 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 Tides and Queen of Waves. The Queen is ever-present in the ocean waves - the rise and fall of a giant’s chest while it 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 shatter the fisherman's boat and drown him and his crew- the ultimate price, the blood tribute the Queen of Waves exacts. The King of Tides follows the moon-lit path, perpetually returning and going away from sandy shores; he moves quietly but is undeterred, his powers unstoppable. He’ll bring ashore gifts from hidden realms beneath waters, and sweeps away whatever he encounters, washing it off into the sea. 

 
-The White Lady, The Queen of Snow and Ice is the spirit in the snowflakes dancing through the air and in  the snow blanketing the earth. She's in the icecaps, in the sheets of glass covering bodies of water and the silvery-white coat laid on grasses and rooftops by the first frost.  She's within the grains of hail in summer storms. She is the cold soul devoid of emotion or devastated by loss. She's 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 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 on 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