Lady of the Cunning Folk
I live a slow rural life on the cliffs of West Cork, above the waves of the Wild Atlantic. The wind here carries salt, weather and old stories. The land is old and untouched. Beautiful, bountiful and bleak in equal measure.
This is the life that feels most natural to me. Perhaps that is my Pisces Sun and Taurus Moon energy. A little bit of magic, intuition, a deep connection to the earth, and a love of the simple rituals of the hearth and the home.
I have never tried to label my practice. It is a way of life for me, but kitchen wytch, hedge wytch and animist pagan feels about right.
I read the Tarot, and people often find me when they are at a crossroads in their life; I craft magickal tools with crystals and wood the land has gifted; I honour both the land and the trees. I live in my own little world, happy in the company of the creatures and spirits who share this land with me, where the days follow the moon and the seasons slowly turn to the time of gathering from the hedgerows. I grew up on stories of the little folk, the fae, and I have never stopped seeing them, and honouring their ways.
Autumn Equinox is the time of the year when light and dark stand in equal balance and we return our energy to our hearth and our home. Here the sea turns silver, the rosehips redden in the hedges, and my baskets fill with apples and blackberries. I begin to stock the pantry with jams and chutney and cakes. Soups and stews wait in the freezer ready for the winter.
When Naomi asked me to be the muse for the Autumn Equinox, I felt humbled and honoured and seen. She has drawn me at my table in my garden, with the cards in my hands, the tea poured and the bees humming around the cake. There is always cake. The small folk tuck themselves into the vines, and the trees, and the baskets. My two rescue dogs are with me, as they are every day, and two of the kitties have already found their way into our lives. Animals have always been my companions.
Naomi has drawn the world I live in, the one I have always seen and few others do, and I am so very grateful. This is the way I live my life. To everyone who has ever sat at my table, be it in front of the hearthfire or on top of a hill watching the sunset, or drumming to the wind, or quietly in the secret cove, thank you... and to Naomi for seeing me so clearly, bless you.
~ Stacey