When I saw this headline to an article in the Guardian online, “Away with the fairies: magic and mystery at a unique festival”, I assumed it was something to do with the general witchery-and-magic-in-the-air feel that gets generated in the time just before and after Hallowe’en. But when I looked into it I found that the “3 Wishes Fairy Festival” actually takes place in August. So it’s more of a midsummer magic thing than anything else, although it’s actually a bit late to count as midsummer. But then, at midsummer children in the UK are still in school and anyone wanting to take their children along (under 7s go free apparently) would find it rather difficult.
Mind you, they say it’s not aimed specifically at children, but rather at people who believe in magic, a “gathering of the Celtic faerie clans”. karen Kay, the founder, claims to be “half fairy, half mermaid and half human”, which makes her into one and a half people but that’s by the by. Good magic is quite a serious business, with sound therapy, crystals with a wide range of powers, and water blessed with special spells. There are no rules other than “be nice”. “It’s about spreading love, light and joy into the world,” explains Karen Kay.
Of course it all takes place in Glastonbury, where lay lines meet and intersect. And presumably some people take it all, quite seriously. But it’s also a kind of three day fancy dress party for grown-ups. And most of us like to dress up. We do it every day when we decide what we are going to wear. Most of us vary our outfits to match the day’s activities but also to match our mood, not just to match the weather conditions. I suspect that most women have more clothes than most men, or at any rate more variety of types of clothing, but I may well be wrong. It’s just that some people make a bigger thing of it, concentrating on the power of the various crystals. Anyway, the Fairy Festival seems to be mostly harmless, and certainly not much odder than arranging your furniture and plants according to feng shui, (sometimes called Chinese geomancy, a traditional form of geomancy that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment), or, indeed, praying to saints to intercede on your behalf and sort your life out.
(Aside: by the way, geomancy translates literally to "earth divination," and the term was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rocks, or sand. Its definition has expanded over time, to include any spiritual, metaphysical, or pseudoscientific practice that is related to the Earth. There you go!)
There’s something attractive about being king. Tom Petty sings about the advantages:
It's good to be king and have your own world
It helps to make friends, it's good to meet girls
A sweet little queen who can't run away
It's good to be king, whatever it pays.
Which brings me to our own King, and the Prince of Wales for that matter. According to this article, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall make a lot of money by leasing properties to charities and organisation such as the NHS and prisons. I read recently about Prince William’s project to help the homeless:
“It’s a sad reality that in 2023 homelessness still exists. That is why Prince William and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales have launched Homewards: a transformative five-year, locally led programme that will aim to demonstrate that together it’s possible to end homelessness – making it rare, brief and unrepeated.”
A lovely initiative, I’m sure; but perhaps he and his father could help some of our institutions by waiving the fee to use some of their land and properties. Just a thought! Do they even know that their estates work this way? How hands-on is their management in the midst of all their other duties?
Magic and tradition in the modern world!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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