FAIRY STEPS

I was interested to note on Robyn's site the photograph of the fairy steps she had taken, and that made me remember that in my county we also have some fairy steps. Photographs of which are at the beginning of this blog and below.

In the bottom western part of Cumbria here is a village called Beetham, and from that village a path through woodland climbs to Beetham fell [mountain] and that leads to the Fairy Steps. The steps are a natural staircase in limestone crags. On two levels. As you can see it is a narrow passage that squeezes between two sheer rock face crags. The legend says that if you manage to ascend or descend these steps without touching either of the limestone crags the fairies will grant you a wish. I fear that unless you are of the stature of a fairy there is no chance of an adult human achieving this task. Those with second sight are believed to be able to witness the fairy folk skipping up the steps.



Beetham Steps are on what are known in the region of Cumbria as a Corpse trail. These are paths that criss cross Cumbria where corpses were carried in their coffins to burial at a local church, usually they are in the remoter parts of the region. You can see the iron rings in the crags where the ropes were put through to lower the coffin down to the next level. A lot of these old corpse roads abound in legends. Another legend about Beetham and the corpse road is of The Cappel a fiery eyed demon dog that can appear.

The fairies of Beetham Steps are in the bottom part of Cumbria, but there is a legend concerning the fairy people, much nearer to me which is called The Luck of Edenhall. Edenhall was the residence of the Musgrave family. It is said that in the garden of this house there was a well full of excellent springwater known as St Cuthbert's Well. There was a sacred chalice that had once belonged to the nearby church, also known as St Cuthbert's which the fairies had long ago purloined. It is said that one evening a servant went to draw water from this well and surprised a group of fairies playing on the green near the well. They had dropped the chalice by the well whilst they amused themselves and the crafty servant snatched it up, they flew at him and tried to recover it but after a struggle gave it up. They flew away chanting 'If that glass either break or fall, Farewell the luck of Edenhall'.



The actual chalice is now in the V & A museum in London. It is made of Syrian glass in the 13th century, and enamelled. It has a leather case to be kept in [ there is a photograph of it above]. It is obviously some artifact brought back from the Crusades. It stayed with Musgrave family for a couple of hundreds of years, one of Musgraves, was said to have a party trick of tossing the chalice in the air and letting a manservant catch it. Another generation of Musgraves used to take turns of drinking out of it, a napkin, held beneath the glass so no harm could come to it. However, I fear that although the chalice remains unbroken, the luck of Edenhall did run out as it burnt down in 1934.



I can now show you, as in the photograph above, the healing spirit doll I made for the Hello Dolly, doll swap for Stacia. I didn't want to show this doll on my site until she had received it. This doll is called 'Lady of the Greenery' and is a healing spirit doll that also wishes to heal planet Earth as well. I am now beginning this month's doll which I am making for Kai, this is a Moon Goddess, as that is the theme this month. I am hoping to be able to personally hand this one over to her. What fun! - I feel nervous and giggly already!



This gorgeous box of goodies from a Secret Fairy landed on my doorstep on Saturday. Thank you so much Kris, it is absolutely gorgeous. All so beautifully wrapped, it contained a sweet handmade cushion decorated with pompoms and with an appliqued cupcake on, a lovely squishy teddy bear, a notebook which is a two year planner, that should keep me on track with my projects, a lovely ATC and handmade card and some yummy chocolates, Ferraro Rocher [my favourites], some samples of other chocolates and a Hershey Bar, of the most gorgeous dark chocolate filled with cranberries and macedonia nuts - delish! And the fulfillment of a dream, when I was a little girl and my cousin used to send me American comics, I always wanted to try a Hershey bar, and decades later I have.



A coda to my musings on time, I have just come across an article that mentions the fact that most people now say that time is accelerating, [which is what I had been thinking] and suggests that this is due to us coming near to the end of the Mayan calendar wheel. I shall be looking into this theory and reporting back to you all.