The Importance Of Faerie Gardens

If you have read The Claire Saga, you will appreciate my fascination with the Fae (derived from Old French). Indeed, I have left the Fae as the bridge to whatever may come next.

I revere the magic of nature. It’s been part of my Celtic culture from a time before St. Patrick chased the snakes from Ireland. The Fae are a woven part of that fabric, handed down from one generation to the next. The connection has emigrated from one mystical emerald island to another wild and equally magical continent over the past few centuries.

The Irish are most commonly known for their affiliation with Leprechauns. Indeed, you can see hundreds of them walking the streets of Manhattan every St. Patty’s Day. The human representation is often very drunk, another Irish pleasurable curse. But when you drill down you’ll find that Leprechauns are just a solitary race of fairies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun

From as far back as the nymphs of Homer, and the characters of Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream, and the wonderful Tinkerbell in Barrie’s Peter Pan, the Fae have been repeatedly represented in popular literature in various manifestations, most recently in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Rowling’s Harry Potter and Martin’s Game of Thrones.

Indeed, the Fae remain so popular at least one graduate student wrote their doctoral thesis on the representation of Faeries in Medieval Poetry: https://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/fairies-and-the-fairy-world-in-middle-english-literature-the-orpheus-tradition-from-the-classical-era-to-the-middle-ages/

So, the attraction persists. And that attraction manifests itself in many ways.

Speaking of Medieval times, one form of that manifestation is Faerie Gardens. People have been creating Faerie Gardens – recognized as magical portals that bridge the human realm with the mythical – since the Middle Ages.

In Celtic mythology, “fairies were seen as guardians of nature and protectors of the land. They were believed to possess healing powers and could grant wishes for those who showed them respect.” See

As the above article explains, the creation of Faerie Gardens fed creativity, and were considered sacred spaces that drew the Fae and their good fortune into the lives of the creators.

One way to show your respect is to build your faeries a home.

Having the grans at Casa Claire has allowed me to share that belief system with the latest generation of my Celtic blood line. Luckily, their parents are equally enamored with the magic of nature – the beautiful Georgie tieing the bloodline to the mysticism of the United Kingdom – and Australia. So, to fill their time at Casa Claire, the grans have been encouraged to exercise their imagination and test Einstein’s theory that it will advance their intelligence.

When I went out to check on the water level in the front trough yesterday evening – we have been suffering a bit of a heat wave so easy access to cool, clean, fresh water is a must for Claire, Honey, Blue and all of the feral creatures on Casa Claire – I came across a wonderful little Faerie Garden in the base of small copse of trees adjacent to The Old Man.

Now I know the three little witches have been playing out there, as there is an inflated pool out under the shade of The Old Man, where I love to spend time listening to the chimes while I do a little grounding.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this magical development.

And this little Faerie Garden had Georgie’s (who is an amazing artist) and Scarlett’s fingerprints all over it.

It is a particularly mystical area, second only to the Jack The Spruce Grotto.

Indeed, I spotted Luke out there yesterday evening enjoying some magical moments of contemplative solitude.

Probably thinking about the sequel to his wonderful debut novel, Lebanon Red,

which has added a mystical element to the continuation of the action/adventure storyline of O’Hara Poit. I’m glad we read Luke lots of Fairy Tales when he was young.

So I’m thrilled to see the Fae staking out their territory on Casa Claire. It bodes good fortune for all of us who get to experience the property’s natural and supernatural bounty.

Speaking of which, the property calls, and I have weekend chores to attend to. I better get moving.

You fine, five readers go take care of your errands and then put your feet up by a pond, natural or Koi, or the ocean. Under the shade of a large and nurturing tree. Get outdoors. Engage nature. It’s the summer!

Maybe read a book. A modern fairy tale perhaps. The Claire Saga comes to mind.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Claire-Saga-5-book-series/dp/B094DLS4JD

But no matter what we get up to, let us make today a great one.