Written by Deb Svanefelt,
Sound Healer and Friend of the Faeries, www.CourageousQuesting.com
I guess you could say my adventures first began when I was a child… visiting with my Danish great-uncle, who always told us the story of how, when he’d been a young boy growing up in Denmark, he’d fallen asleep one day on a mossy pillow near the edge of a forest… and had awakened to the Little People making him small, so he could go with them, right into their tree for a lovely cuppa tea…
Totally entranced, we always begged him to see the tiny, wee cup and saucer he said he’d been given by them. But he could never find it to show us…
Or, I could say it began when my mother told us the story of having traveled on a streetcar in Toronto when she was a young girl… and having seen a faerie standing on a small, round-topped bridge in the middle of a small park in downtown Toronto.
But these only deeply nourished my world of possibilities… as did my reading of fantasy books, once I became a pre-teen.
Then, in the late 1970’s, I was given a book about the Findhorn community in northern Scotland… and was first introduced to ROC’s work there, with the faeries, devas, elementals and Pan. I felt an immediate and powerful attraction to his work – I desperately wanted to meet him. (Little did I know that, by the time I found his work, he had already crossed over just a few years before).
At that point, I just felt convinced that somehow, I’d end up working with the faeries too. And if it took waiting until my later years (as it did with ROC), so be it.
Funny how life goes… On my 60th birthday, I found myself not only living in England for a while, but staying for a couple of weeks in the Findhorn community.
At the beginning of the second week, I met a woman who was working with faeries. Again, I felt an uncommonly strong connection, a fascination with her work. I expected to see her over the course of the week, but (disappointingly) did not.
However, on the morning of the last day, she gave an impromptu seminar presentation about her work… and you can be sure I was there to hear it!
Arriving a bit late, to a very full room of others also interested in her talk, I ended up sitting right at her feet. Mesmerized, just like when I was a child, I listened to her sharing that we each of us have a faery friend, and how she’d found a way to help us all connect with our faery friends. At the end of her talk, I lingered near her, as she spoke with another woman…
They were talking about the Faery Flag (of which I’d never heard). The presenter, as it happened, was going to the Isle of Skye within a couple of days hence, to see the Flag. The B&B space she’d booked on the castle grounds had room for others as well. The other woman asked if she could go along, and was told yes. Unexpectedly, I found myself asking too… And that’s how I ended up, quite unexpectedly, taking the train to Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye.
Not only did I end up seeing the Faery Flag… I got to hear the story of how the Flag came to Dunvegan Castle… and how it’s continued to protect the McLeod clan (which you can read about on Wikipedia – it’s pretty close to the version told by the castle’s interpreter). And to hear the lullaby sung to her hafling son (half human, half faery) by his faery mother. Ahhh, words cannot describe how hauntingly beautiful this song was! (And funnily, when we returned with the others to hear the song, that interpreter was not there – and none others there could sing the song for us).
In our time together on the Isle, I was also given more instructions, to discover what my work with my faerie friend would focus on. Most surprisingly, I found my message to be quite specific and concrete – we were to promote peace in the world, by working together by planting seeds of peace. This was to be done by volunteering to be present (with me as a human witness, and my faerie friend as a faery witness) as portals between our two worlds are opened.
What I’ve since seen is that these portals are becoming places on the Earth where our two worlds are again joined together. Like a series of Light-points, they’re all connected together by Light leylines, forming almost a grid-like pattern of re-connected energy.
I’ve also discovered that, since the Faerie world ‘withdrew’ long ago from our increasingly unbalanced human world, their Earth holds a different vibration than ours – one that’s more balanced. Because of this they, and their world, hold an important key for healing our planet… They see and know options that aren’t apparent to us, allowing us to weave our worlds back together again, in harmony.
Since then, I’ve volunteered to participate in a number of these portal openings. They’re always different (in terms of what I see), but always powerful and beautiful. I feel deeply honored to be able to serve Earth, the faerie realm, and our human family, in this way.
But, back to my story on the Isle of Skye. For, as magical and mysterious as my adventures there had been, there was yet another almost inexplicable experience which unfolded the next day, when we were scheduled to leave.
I awoke very early that morning, before dawn. And felt a powerful urge to go once more to one of the gardens there, where the waterfalls are. (I’d gone the day before, after having seen the faery flag). So, camera in hand (but no flashlight!), off I went, feeling my way forward along the unfamiliar paths in the dark.
Arriving just outside this particular garden, I thought I’d take a photo of the outside plants. The light blazed brightly, as I took the photo. And then my camera battery died entirely. Feeling a bit disheartened by this, I decided to keep going anyways (rather than going back to recharge my battery). Once inside the garden, it was only just beginning to get light – the earlier shadowy plant shapes were becoming more clearly visible.
Intuitively going to one of the bridges, to watch the waterfalls crashing down nearby, I glanced at the plant to one side of the bridge…
And honestly, never was I more astonished!
The leaves on that plant were humungous – beyond anything I’ve ever seen before or since. I could easily have laid on each leaf and not been able to reach the top or bottom of the leaf. Each leaf was much bigger than my 5’6” height! How could this be possible?
I was mesmerized, and stood staring, for some time. Then I walked to another side of the plant, to see it from another angle. My head just couldn’t seem to understand how a plant could be so huge. No matter which side I went to, what angle I looked from, or how long I looked, the leaves were all so much bigger than me!
The light was coming on – I kept rubbing my eyes, and blinking to check what I was seeing. It was just this incredibly, almost unbelievably large-leafed plant.
I decided to go back to the cottage to recharge my battery, so I could take some pictures of it. But, of course, by the time I’d returned a couple of hours later, the plant (though still a large-leafed variety) was back to “normal” size. This too was almost unbelievable to me – I knew what I’d seen was somehow real… and yet now, the plant had returned to ‘ordinary’ size!
Afterwards, it occurred to me to wonder whether, somehow, I’d been gifted with a short journey inside the borders of the world of Faery. That still feels right to me, and I’m so grateful.
I’ve since been a willing witness at a number of these portal opening ceremonies – first in England, and now In Canada (where I’ve returned to live).
Then for the first time, a couple of weeks ago, I offered others an opportunity (though my Project Peace, Orillia meetup group) to hear most of my story (minus the plant in the garden experience), and to learn how to meet their faery friend.
I was actually kind of freaked out about ‘going public’ with this… But I’ve found so many awesome new experiences as a result of my sharing. And I know at some point, we all need to stand in our Truth, in our Light, and risk being seen.
Our world desperately needs new solutions to our age-old, divisive problems and suffering patterns. So for me, I’m committed to continuing my work with my faerie friend, planting seeds for peace wherever we can. And to meet and share with others about their work with the faerie realm.
Maybe together, each in our own way, we can shift first our own hearts, then our human family and our planet, back into greater harmony… into peace on Earth.
