Making a Fairy House

This week Zahra and I got it into our heads to make a fairy house, but firstly let me say that making a fairy house is very serious business and should not be taken lightly.

The fae have very specific needs and this must not be overlooked when taking upon oneself the task of inviting them into a home you have build yourself, otherwise you may find yourself missing important items around the house, waking up with knotty hair or worse!

The first thing we had to do was gather together all the best things that fairies like. This was an easy task as the kids bring in all sorts of pine cones and goodies from our weekly walks in the forest. Then I had an idea to bring up to the deck an old stump we had in the garden to put the house on top of, which worked like a charm!

Then we tied together a triangle structure with sticks and string and then glued bark all over it, most of which came from the old stump.

Then of course we had to  add moss and make little mushrooms and ladybugs and a table, and a swing……

It really is in the small details, like a ladder to get in and out from, a hidden nest at the back, and berries for the fairies to eat, but most importantly, lets not forget to write them a note to let them know that the house is for them!

And when it is all done place it in the garden just by the offering shrine and tucked behind the bees for good luck!

And now we wait for the magic to happen!

Welcome Fairies!

Honeycomb and Bees, Amber and Citrine…..

This week I have been working hard on some new creations, keeping with the theme of spring and my beloved honeybees!

I proudly announce my new series of silver work Honeycomb!

Each one is a unique and one of a kind piece and set with Amber cabochons.

Finally yesterday I strung these beauties up with some of my favorite stones to work with Amber and Citrine to represent honey.

Both are now up at Red Moon Designs along with some other honey and bee related necklaces!

Sacred Honey Mead.

A drink I took of the magic mead,

Taken out of Othrorir.

Then I began to know and to be wise,

To grow and to weave poems.

Mead is known to have been made the world around, from the British Isles, to Ireland and Germany and as far away as India. Mead, or Soma, was brewed and used as a sacred drink, causing those who partook of it to dance and be filled with ecstatic joy.

The folklore around the honey bee, and mead making is rich and full of magic, and it was from reading these inspirations I was compelled to brew my own, from my own bees honey and to use it for sacred purposes.

Now what is a witch to do when she has need of learning you ask?

Well she calls another witch of course! So I put in a “sacred phone call” to my friend Sarah, Witch of Forest Grove the “meadstress” and planned a day of sacred mead making and mischief!

But before I get to that, I just have to share a little lore about mead, one story I promise, then I will get on with the fun details of our day…..

There is one bit of lore that says that the name Melissa was applied to nymphs as well as priestesses. That nymphs were closely associated with bees because of their affinity of living in hollowed out trees and caves where wild bees are also said to live.  The myth says that when the nymphs lured men away from their earthly life they would feed them honey comb and sweet milk and honey. One nymph in particular whose name was Melissa, is said to have made mead and taught the other nymphs how to mix honey with water , to allow it to ferment and to feed the men that came their way trapping them for infinity. It was from this nymph “Melissa”that it is said, that the bees got their name Melisse.

As you can imagine with such a wonderful and rich amount of magic and lore surrounding it, I just had to make my own and could not, would not wait any longer!

Oh yes, I had dreams of making a rich red pomegranate, so I was utterly grateful for Sarah for her suggestions and advice on this, as she has been making all sorts of mead’s for a good many years now and said that pomegranate on it’s own is usually sour and very terrible tasting. And so it was decided that it would become a Blackberry Pomegranate mead, which was simply alright by me!

Before we actually got down to getting all the equipment though we had to have tea, and then it was time for lunch, so a spontaneous trip to Chinatown happened for dim sum and loads of laughter as we made our way up the sunny street to the restaurant getting excitedly sidetracked along the way.

Finally, finally, hours after we first began, we made it to Dan’s Homebrew for supplies. There was an initial investment that needed to be made, which can be reused for years to come so I was happy to commit. Dan{whoever he is} made it easy by selling everything together as a kit.

Dan’s is a wonderfully cozy place filled to the rafters with everything one could possibly need for brewing everything from wine and mead to a thousand different kinds of beer.

Once we trucked everything into the car and picked up about 5 gallons of organic honey juice and berries we were all set to begin. First the honey was gently heated with water to kill all of the wild yeast that is naturally occurring and then mixed in a sanitized pail with all of the juice and berries, we used pomegranate juice and blackberries.

For the first part of mead making, the honey that is used is specifically to be killed, so it is not usually important what kind you use as you will not actually be able to taste it. Thanks to Sarah’s advice on this before we began I opted for a local clover honey, knowing that later when we get to the next step I will add mine from my hives and this honey will be tasted and not killed off! Lastly we added wine yeast to the pot and gave it a big stir.

As one can imagine, it was important to us both that this mead have some magic to it,  so we did a beautiful and very simple ritual, calling in all my bee helpers and ancestors asking them to make it sweet and tasty and filled with magic. We used the last of of Sarah’s  sweet handmade melissae incense and she consecrated the whole brew while I drummed and sweet Zahra watched.

I am now the happy owner of a big cauldron{Ok pail -LOL} of mead happily bubbling away, the yeast eating the honey and working away at the berries and juice making a sweet concoction that according to my daughter Zahra already smells like magic…….