“I just love making beautiful things. I’ve always made things since I was tiny and just want to spread the magic, to bring it back into people’s lives. My sources of inspiration come from folklore and nature; one stems from the other. I want to try and bring the beauty back so that people can see—be inspired by nature—and know that we don’t all have to live in a concrete jungle.”
Chyna de la Mer
(www.tangleheads.co.uk)
Faery events always have unique handmade
arts and crafts for sale, such as the beautiful things
on offer from craftsperson Chyna de la Mer.
The lovely Tamara Newman is one of many talented, glamorous artists emerging on the Faery scene.
There is always a wide choice of entertainment
for children in the daytime…
...and for adults at nightime!
Also for the adults, there are all manner of magical potions available at the bar.
Flame by name, flame by nature!
(photo courtesy of TPF Images and Arts, www.tpftpf.com)
above: Felicity Fyr Le Fay and my daughter, Willow.
below: Aspiring artist and children’s author Natalee May is clearly an elf—no question!
above: Artist Laura Daligan’s love of mythology shows itself in her serpentine
choice of costume for the Faery Ball! Medussssssssssaaaa…
right: The mighty Kim Huggens, esoteric author, takes on the Faery Ball as an awesome tribal Faery warrior! (Photo courtesy of Nic Philips)
above: Kathryn Kerr has created a delightful
peacock-inspired outfit with fascinating peacock
feather eyebrows!
left: Many people love the creative challenge
of making their own Faery outfits,
such as fifteen-year-old
Cara Jones, who created this stunning ensemble
with the help of her mother.
below: Juliet Prentice
identifies with the spirits of the sea
in this glorious mermaid costume that creatively
incorporates her wheelchair.
But she has been caught by a fierce pirate!
(He’d better watch out…mermaids bite.)
Unicorn Faerie FaeNix dances
beautifully with her Isis wings.
left: Faery festivals often incorporate theatrical performances. Here, actor Matthew Wade makes a dashing Oberon, the Faery King, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (photo courtesy of Oliver McNeil, www.legend-photography.com). below: Helen Robinson shows us that pirates are a force to be reckoned with (photo and pirate costume courtesy of TPF images and arts, www.tpftpf.com).
Don’t forget to buy a new pair of wings from Twisted Twinkle before you go!
The Depth Behind the Glitter…
One of the many people who provide a bit of sparkle to Faery events—or, more accurately, a great bucket-load of sparkle—is the glamorous Felicity Fyr Le Fay, a circus performer and entertainer from New Zealand who now lives and works in the UK as well as travels around the world teaching about Faery through entertainment. Here she gives a very personal and fascinating insight into the depth behind the sparkle, about the difficulties of growing up in New Zealand without a community of like-minded people, and why the festivals and events give a much-needed clan identity to those who may always have felt different or lonely because of their identification with Faery.
There is a lot of Faery energy in New Zealand, and the mythology is predominantly Maori, where there is a lot of Faery lore…they have giants, they have a kind of dragon, and they have the Faery people, who are very similar to the Tuatha de Danann. They have red hair, they’re very tall, ethereal, and godlike. But when I was growing up, New Zealand was not at the point culturally where Maori lore was being taught in schools, and so I didn’t know anything about it, though I did read British mythology. I do believe that when the British came over to New Zealand they brought the faeries with them, especially with the trees and foreign flora that was brought there.
So as a child there was a lot of magic around but no one to talk to about it at all. I felt really lonely, really sad, I was the funny-looking girl at school who got picked on. I was very obviously different and I didn’t fit in. This is really common with Faery people: we’re very passionate and sensitive, and we feel everything so intensely. We feel the environment pouring through our souls, we feel the pain in the trees and the suffering of animals. We can relate to and connect with animals, but when talking to other humans we’re sometimes confused because there are so many façades. Faery children find that confusing—they’re not used to all the human layers, not having experienced them in their previous incarnations.
It was really difficult for me, especially after the age of about ten. Before that I told everyone, all my family, about being a faerie—I would have exquisitely vivid dreams about going to Faeryland and my experiences there and all of a sudden, when I was ten, it wasn’t cool anymore. All your friends are being cool and suave and hanging out at the mall, trying to smoke and all that. This girl whose mind was full of unicorns and magic and who would get lost in the woods following the sound of bells just didn’t fit in.
I decided the thing for me to do was to look inwards and learn from nature, so I became a Pagan before I knew anything about what a Pagan was. I went through a phase where I read about every religion I could get my hands on. When I read about Druidry and Wicca, I realised that it was everything I had worked out entirely for myself. It was truth that I had found for myself. There were no books about Faery specifically, but I realised that if these other things I had discovered were true, then the part of me that was Faery was also true.
There’s a lot of different
