Faery is said to be a bardic tradition, meaning that practitioners are called upon to be poets, storytellers, artists, musicians, and the like, tapping into the creative powers of the universe and expressing them for the betterment of the self, coven, community, tradition, or even the world.
An essential component of Faery is the magical and ritual use of poetry. When we read or listen to poetry, we enter into a type of light trance in which we are able to move beyond our normal, waking consciousness and into a state of magical awareness and connection that I refer to as Enchantment. When we are in this state we are better able to work our magical wills, as well as to gather knowledge from non-conventional sources. We have moved beyond the confines of the rational and in doing so are able to reach out and touch powers that to us would otherwise be invisible and unreachable.
What follows are poems which are meant to be fully engaged. The two Scottish ballads are my rewriting of various traditional versions. They are intended to remain true to the originals while still offering something new. Read them aloud. Imagine them as trance journeys unto themselves. Allow them to inspire you.
Also included are the BlueRose invocations for the Faery Watchers, the ancient otherworldly beings which guard and guide our tradition.
A Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer
True Thomas slept upon a hill
And there a vision did he see:
A lady wondrous and bright
Riding near the old oak tree.
Her dress was all grass green and silk
Her velvet mantle just as fine
And on each strand of her horse’s mane
Were silver bells of fifty-nine.
True Thomas, he took off his hat
Kneeled low and with bended knee
“A Blessed Day, O, Queen of heaven!
Your like on earth I’ve never seen.”
“O Thomas, no,” the lady said
“That name does not belong to me;
For I am the Queen of all Elfland,
And I have come to visit thee.
“Harp and play, Thomas,” she said,
“Harp and play along with me;
But should you dare to kiss my lips,
Your body’s sovereign Queen I’ll be.”
“I may be rich or I may be poor,
But never daunted shall I be.”
With that he kissed her rose-soft lips
While underneath the old oak tree.
“By contract you are bound,” she said,
“And so you now must go with me;
And you must serve me seven years,
Through whatever fate by chance we’ll see.”
Majestic on her milk-white steed,
And he behind took up the end;
And whenever those bells did ring
That steed flew faster than the wind.
On they rode, and further still
They flew faster than the mind
Until they reached a desert land
And all of life was left behind.
On they rode, and further still
And came they to a garden green.
“O Lady we can eat our fill,
These fruits I shall here pluck for thee.”
“O no, Thomas,” the Elf Queen said,
“This fruit may not be touched by thee.
For every curse that’s born in hell
Is upon the fruit of this country.”
“But here lie down, O Thomas True,
To rest your head upon my knee;
And dine on bread and claret wine,
And I will show you wonders three.
“O see you there that narrow road,
So tightly fraught with thorn and stone
Behold the road of righteousness
Though nearly all leave it alone.
“And see you there, that widespread road
With fruit and flower, figs and dates,
There lies the road of wickedness,
By some confused for heavens’ Gates.
“And do you see that good fine road,
That winds around the grassy hill?
That is the road to my own Elfland,
Where you and I must journey still.
“O Thomas you must hold your tongue,
No matter what you hear or see;
For if you speak while in Elfland,
You’ll not return to your own country.”
On they rode, and further still
To wade through rivers above the knee;
And saw they neither sun nor moon,
But heard the ancient roaring sea.
So in the darkest of the night
They moved through blood up to the knee;
For all the blood that’s shed on earth,
Runs through this land that lies between.
Next, they stopped at an orchard’s edge
And she plucked a fruit from a branch so high
“This for your wages, True Thomas,
To grant the tongue that can never lie.”
“My tongue is mine and mine alone,”
To her he said so carefully.
“Keep thy peace,” the Elf Queen said
“For as I say, so must it be.”
So Thomas then became the True,
But from the Queen one more decree:
“You may choose another gift:
Master the harp, or prophecy.”
True Thomas, prophet of old Scotland
Who spoke the truth of what would be,
True Thomas, who moved between the lands
Awoke beneath the old oak tree.
Gifted a coat of elven cloth,
And the finest shoes of velvet green;
But seven years had come and gone
While Thomas on earth was never seen.
A Ballad of Tam Lin
Forbidden are the maidens all
With eyes and skin so fair
To grace the woods of Carterhaugh
For the elf Tam Lin is there.
By Carterhaugh who comes and goes
Must leave within those woods
Their rings of gold or grass-green cloaks
Or else their maidenhoods.
But Janet dreams of Carterhaugh
And sews hem above her knee
And slips away to Carterhaugh
As fast as she could flee.
When she arrived at Carterhaugh
At the well, a milk-white steed
But no Tam Lin there to be found
And so she took no heed.
She’d only plucked a double rose
Like two, but only one
When then appeared, the young Tam Lin
Who said, “What have you done?”
“Why do you pluck the double rose?
Why do you break its wand?
Why have you come to Carterhaugh
Without my clear command?”
She said, “These woods of Carterhaugh
By right belong to me,
I’ll come and go by Carterhaugh
I’ll ask no leave of thee.”
He took sweet Janet by the hand
And then her heart did swell
And there upon the wooded land
They knew each other well.
Then at the breaking of the day
the rising of the sun
Fair Janet homeward made her way
As fast as she could run.
Four and twenty ladies fair
Were dancing in the hall
And Janet, pale with golden hair
Was fairer than them all.
Four and twenty gentlemen
Were playing games of chess
And Janet walked among them all
As green as ocean glass
Then she did hear her father dear
He spoke both calm and mild
He said, “Sweet daughter do I fear
That you may be with child.”
She said, “Dear father, if now I go
With child, I’m to blame,
But no lord here about your hall
Shall give the babe his name.”
“If my love were an earthly knight
and not an elfin grey,
I’d love the babe each cold long night
And every blessed day.”
So she returned to Carterhaugh
With heart so dark with loss
233Among the weeds and jagged thorns
Among the Stag’s Horn moss.
“Why do you pluck the poison herb?”
Spoke Tam Lin beneath a tree.
“Why must you harm the little babe
That I have sired with thee?”
She said, “If you were a human knight,
Then would my heart be gay.
I’d love you both each cold long night,
And love you every day.”
“If my love you’d have,” Tam Lin did say,
“Then this much to you I’ll tell:
That I was once a human child
And from my horse I fell.
“I was caught by Faery’s Queen
And then was made her slave
And forced to serve for seven years
But now I fear my grave.
“For each and every seven years
She pays a tithe to hell
And I’m so young and full of flesh
I fear it be myself.
“If you would but accept my love
And do just as I said
I may then return to earthly land
And there we may be wed.
“On Hallowe’en at midnight hour
At Miles Cross do hide
And as the fairy folk there gather
From the dark upon them spy.
“First let pass the night-black steed
And then let pass the brown
But to the milk-white run with speed
And pull the rider down.
“Hold me tightly in your arms
And hold me in your heart
And ne’er let go, though fright and shade
Will try these plans to thwart.
“First within your arms I’ll change
Into a hissing snake
But hold me close and fear me not
I am your child’s namesake.
“And then within your arms I’ll change
Into a feral bear,
But hold me close and fear me not,
I am your love so dear.
“And then within your arms I’ll change
Into a lion wild.
But hold me close and fear me not,
And you shall love your child.
“And then within your arms I’ll change
Into an iron hot
But hold me close and fear me not
And injured you’ll be not.
“At last within your arms I’ll change
Into a glowing coal
Then quickly into waters cast
Me down into the well.
“And then I’ll be your own true love
I’ll be a naked knight,
235Then cover me with mantle green
And keep me far from sight.”
Dark and gloomy was the night
And eerie was the day.
As Janet hid with green mantle
Just as Tam Lin did say.
Then at the stroke of midnight’s hour
She heard the bridles ring
First passed the black, then passed the brown,
To the white she did then spring.
She pulled Tam Lin, the rider down
The Faery Queen did scream
And then by magic not of earth
All became a twisted dream.
Tam Lin within her arms he changed
Into a hissing snake
She held him close and feared him not
He was her child’s namesake.
And then within her arms he changed
Into a feral bear,
She held him close and feared him not,
He was her love so dear.
And then within her arms he changed
Into a lion wild.
She held him close and feared him not,
The father of her child.
And then within her arms he changed
Into an iron hot
She held him close and feared him not
And injured she was not.
At last within her arms he changed
Into a glowing coal
She quickly into waters cast
Him down into the well.
And then she saw own her true love
He was a naked knight,
She covered him with mantle green
And kept him far from sight.
The Faery Queen did rage and roar
About the broken spell
For stung the loss of her favored knight
And now no tithe for hell.
“Oh had I known,” said Faery Queen,
“This day he’d go from me
I’d have plucked his eyes out then put in
Two eyes carved from a tree.”
And so it was that brave Janet
And young Tam Lin then fled
Unto her home, her own true love
And in that love, were wed.
Invocations of the Watchers
“Star Finder, Star Finder, Star Finder!
In darkness deep between the stars,
You glide and soar on wings of light
Watcher of the rising sun
We call your knowledge and your sight!”
“Shining Flame! Shining Flame! Shining Flame!
Within the candle and the star
Burning vortex, spark and flash
Watcher of the liquid flame
Reduce illusions all to ash!”
“Water Maker! Water Maker! Water Maker!
In darkness deep, you dream and sleep
In love and madness reawaken
Watcher of the Watery Abyss
Arise in passion, thou ancient kraken!”
“Black Mother! Black Mother! Black Mother!
From forest dark, you now emerge
With pungent scent of goat and earth
Watcher of the Well of Space
To a thousand young you’ve given birth!”