I recently closed down my sacred landscape blog, The Faery Fort, and moved its contents to the CauldronFire Witchcraft site. Let’s face it–it’s easier to manage a single resource, and I find that too much social media drains me. In honor of fairy forts, here’s a podcast on this fascinating topic by one of my favorite podcasting teams @ Blúiriní Béaloidis, with Claire and Jonny from the National Folklore Collection at University College, Dublin.
Claire and Jonny have their own wonderful patter, and this episode is particularly interesting. If you’d like to know more about the intersection between modern life in Ireland and old faery traditions and prohibitions, give this a listen.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I returned from Pantheacon, that enormous pagan conference in San Jose, CA. I had a reservation this year at the Doubletree, and arrived
A view of the Ohlone Regional Wilderness from the back windows of the Doubletree Hotel.
fresh from the airport on Friday evening to a scene of complete mayhem. Three or four suited-up firefighters stood about, axes in hand, adjacent to the registration desk, and fire trucks with flashing lights were visible through the side entrance. Crowds of Con attendees swarmed the desk, either trying to check in, or trying to find out why they couldn’t get on the elevators to get upstairs to the hospitality suites. When I arrived at the desk, I gave my name to the clerk, and was horrified to hear that she had no room available for me–in spite of a long-standing reservation. Whaaaat? I stayed very calm, and watched while an angry guest cut in front of me and promptly cancelled his room reservation because he couldn’t get on the elevator. Nice timing. So, a moment later, unruffled, I had a room after all. I was glad I had stuck to my mindfulness practice.
My room was on the 9th floor, diagonally across from the Coru Cathubodua hospitality suite. My first thought about the 9th floor was, “oh, great…I won’t get any sleep due to the parties.” It turned out to be a fun experience, and not as loud as I’d expected. I unpacked,
My simplified Pantheacon altar.
settled in, set up my altar, and set wards on the entrances to help keep the environment calm. Then I went out to the suites to browse and meet people.
If you’ve been following the controversy swirling around Pantheacon this year, with a few presenters becoming uninvited for reasons that some found spurious, you’ll know that some people were worried about the feel of this year’s event. I think the numbers were actually down, with about 2000 registered on Saturday morning. It didn’t feel particularly fractious this year, and I had a lot of conversations over the course of the four days. Here are a few highlights of the Con.
I attended a session on “How to Start and Run (not Ruin) a Group.” It was held by Thorn Mooney, the Gardnerian priestess from North Carolina whose book, Traditional Wicca: A Seeker’s Guide, was just published. I read it a few months ago, and thought that she had abundant good sense. She had with her a friend from Maine, Julia, who organizes The Witches of Downeast group. Their presentation, held in the Northwest Circles Association hospitality suite down the hall from my room, pulled in about a dozen participants. While there was the inevitable guest who tried to back seat drive the presentation, the discussion and presentation were useful and highly relevant to the group formation work I’m currently doing. We’ve all had groups that simmered and fizzled, and some that just imploded. I particularly liked what they had to say about the utility of Meetup groups, and how they have worked with them successfully.
Selena Fox, the warm, wise elder of Circle Sanctuary, led a midday workshop in the Amici Mortem hospitality suite. For those who aren’t sure, Amici Mortem means “Friends of Death,” and those friends turned out to be a great deal younger than I expected. I was older than most of them, and was impressed to hear several people express interest in training as death doulas. Fox described the establishment of a green pagan burial cemetery at their sanctuary. She spoke with knowledge, curiosity, an open mind, and a great deal of experience in coordinating the ceremonial elements of death rituals. If you haven’t met her, Selena Fox is one of the community’s great treasures, and is welcoming and kind to everyone. I have a particularly fond feeling for her, as my mother used to subscribe to the old Circle Network News back in the 1980s, when witchy publications were scarce indeed!
I’ll start this post with the disclaimer that I have travelled a number of times to Cornwall, but am very far from having a comprehensive knowledge of the region’s sacred sites. There are so many things to see. Here are some of my favorites.
North Cornwall
St. Nectan’s Glen is located in the village of Trethevy, north of Tintagel, and south of Boscastle. There is a small parking lot on the west side of the road where you may leave a car. I passed the glen on an earlier trip in 2005, but in the summer of 2016, while staying in Devon, we made a special day trip.
You’ll cross the street and walk down a path adjacent to a tiny stone church, and from there, into the woods. This is pilgrimage at its best on a small scale. The approach to the glen takes some time, and involves liminal crossings of a gushing stream, and walking on soft duff, muddy lowland paths, and a bit of climbing into the hills. I savored the walk, and used it as a meditation in preparation for some spiritual work I needed to do. Upon arriving at the building perched atop the stone cliffs, we paid our admission fee, and were offered some musty wellies from a nearby shed. (Bring your own if you’re sensitive to mildew!) We slowly descended the stairways, stopping on the viewing platforms to gaze down at the loud, rushing falls. It is a faery glen, with mosses, ferns, and life sprouting everywhere. At the bottom, the glen opens out, and the waters are shallow.
My partner examines a log filled with coins.
Let your instincts guide where you walk, and what you do next. People have filled the glen with an abundance of clouties and other offerings. I took a long time just standing in front of the spectacular round opening in the stone at the base of the falls, my glasses fogging from the spray. Something in me cracked wide open, and I enjoyed a mystical unbinding of some energies that had been very stuck before. This moment set the tone for the next three weeks of our
Stand in front of the falls and take your time.
pilgrimage. When we were ready, we made our way back to the entrance, returned our musty boots, and walked back along the stream, down through the woods. On the return visit I felt so light and full of joy. It was indescribable.
I live in Oregon, and there are dozens of spectacular waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. This was a different experience entirely, with the spirits of the place speaking very strongly and benevolently.
I’ll add a great deal more to the Cornwall page over the coming weeks. This is just the beginning. Next up: The Rocky Valley, the labyrinths, and that wild saddle of rock, Tintagel.
Mooney, the Gardnerian priestess from North Carolina whose book, 
CauldronFire Witchcraft 