J is for Jovial – a Pagan Blog post

I’m having a sort of crisis of faith not that I believe faith has anything to do with paganism because I don’t but I don’t know what else to call it. When I first came into the community 30 years ago things were a lot less serious but now a great part of the community seems to me to be lacking a sense of humour and has a sort of superiority complex. I follow around 300 blogs most of which are pagan and the majority of them take themselves too damn seriously. Folks you aren’t getting out of this alive so you need to see the lighter side of things.

 

There is a reason I don’t use the title Rev. before my name in public. I’m entitled to it legally but I don’t use it ever. It’s one more pompous thing to put in someone’s face and quite frankly a lot of people who do use it don’t seem to really have the credentials for it. That and due to some freak of the cosmos I was born into a family without the reverence gene. The only one who had it was my brother and he’s dead now, sometimes I think he got brain cancer from trying to pun like the rest of the family. Life is very funny and funny things happen to pagans constantly so why does no one talk about our deep dark secret? We’re so damn serious.

 

I know some of you must have a sense of humour, some of you read Terry Pratchett and Jim Butcher. There are funny pagan gods and goddesses like Baubo, and Bes/Bisu, Dionysus, all have funny sides. When was the last time you read about Baubo? No, its’ Hecate, Ares, some of the other stalwart serious beings.

 

Life is funny, circle can be funny. Ever had the cat catch his tail on fire in the South candle and seen a bunch priestess chase the cat? I have? Ever been in a public circle where East was called at all four corners. I have. Ever seen the priestess with her robe caught in her underwear after she exited the bathroom too quickly? I have. Ever sang the wrong words to a chant in a public circle? I’ve done it but I firmly say it was Scott’s fault. He was singing the bastardized words in my ear but it was still funny. Ever been to a circle where some priestess has dubbed herself the next Isadora Duncan and the interpretive dance portion is just plain silly? I have.

 

I know I can’t be the only one seeing and doing these things and finding life funny.

Mirth and reverence (but not Reverend) people. It’s right there in the Charge of the Goddess. It’s time more of us remember that.

 

 

BunniHoTep and Hathor’s Mirror

BunniHoTep and Hathor’s Mirror

 

Ammit was having a really bad day. Her job was to eat the hearts that were rejected by Ma’at. These were very bad people who had not lived well. People whose hearts weighed more than a feather on Ma’at’s scales. These were people that had no good in them or very little at all. People who willingly chose to do bad things.

 

Most days Ammit stood by the scales and did not have to eat a single heart for most people in the world are good and choose not to hurt other beings. And Ammit was glad. She would much rather eat something that did not taste as bad as a bad person’s heart. It takes a very good and kind person to do Ammit’s job. Nobody else could eat all those hearts full of negativity, apathy and just plain evil and still be a good loving being.

 

Today she had had to eat three people’s hearts. That almost never happened. All of them had said mean things about how ugly she was and that someday she would be just like them. That night after she had finished her day with Ma’at, Ammit slunk back to her small mud temple and didn’t even stop for tea with BunniHoTep like she usually did. She was feeling very ugly and hurt. She had let herself listen to what the people has said to her and the things that they had said her were mean. She lay in her mud wallow and cried. Sometimes she wished there was someone else who could do her job but she knew there was no one else to do it. She had been created to do it.

 

Ammit the Devourer, the people called her and she had been made to look as scary as possible. She was part crocodile and part hippo and part lion. She had looked in the Nile one morning when it was calm and still and seen herself and vowed never to do it again. She scared herself and if she scared herself what would other people do when they saw her? She had no idea why BunniHoTep would want to be her friend but she was and that made a little pool of comfort in her stomach most of the time but not tonight.

 

Ammit dug deeper in her mud wallow and saw only darkness around her. She was so sad. She wished she had a nice job to do for the gods and goddesses. She lay there in the quiet mud and wallowed in it.

 

 

BunniHoTep sat in her Temple with the tea all made and she’d found some of the nice papyrus roots for Ammit to eat. Ammit said they tasted sweet and washed the bad out of her mouth. BunniHoTep waited and waited and Ammit didn’t come and then BunniHoTep went looking for her in Ammit’s Temple and it was dark and not even the porch light was on and BunniHoTep knew that Ammit had had a really bad day.

 

BunniHoTep decided to hop up to TempleRow to see how bad it had been. She got halfway down TempleRow before she found anybody to ask. Hathor was standing outside her Temple decorating it for the next festival in a few days with fresh flowers.

 

“Hi BunniHoTep, how are you this fine evening?” Hathor asked.

 

“Wondering how Ammit’s day went. She didn’t come to tea and her porch light isn’t lit and her Temple is very dark. That never means anything good.” BunniHoTep answered.

 

“Oh! You didn’t hear? Ammit had to eat three people’s hearts today. It was awful but then the people were too. Poor Ammit! They said awful things to her.” Hathor said thoughtfully.

 

“Did anyone say something nice to her after she had to eat the hearts?”

 

Hathor thought carefully. “No, I hadn’t heard anyone had. I wasn’t there so I really don’t know.

 

“Uh oh, I bet she is hiding. She feels every bad thing they say to her, you know. Then she goes into her Temple and hides because she thinks everyone feels that way.”

 

The two goddesses thought for a moment and then BunniHoTep had an idea. “Hathor, is your mirror near by?”

 

“Always.” Hathor pulled it off the belt she wore around her robe. “Why? Do you think we can help?”

 

“It shows how you really are on one side and what others think of you on the other, right?”

 

“Yes, do you think we should show it to Ammit?” asked Hathor.

 

“I think we should.” replied BunniHoTep.

 

And the two goddesses hurried down TempleRow to Ammit’s small mud Temple.

 

“Ammit, are you in there?” They called.

 

“Yes, go away.” came a small low voice.

 

“No, Ammit you need to come out of there. You missed your tea and I missed my friend.” BunniHoTep said.

 

“No, you didn’t. No one misses me.” said Ammit sadly.

 

“Yes, I do and come out here right now!” BunniHoTep said firmly.

 

There was a long pause while they could tell Ammit was thinking. “You really want to see me?” She asked.

 

“Yes, we do and we have something to show you.” said Hathor.

 

“Hathor? You’re there too?”

 

“Yes and you need to come out here right now.” she said even more firmly than BunniHoTep had.

 

There was a sucking sound and Ammit’s crocodile head came out and then the rest of her followed.

 

“What did you want to show me.” Ammit asked suspiciously.

 

Hathor took her mirror out from behind her back. “What do you see Ammit.”

 

Ammit looked cautiously and cowered away. “That’s awful! It’s horrible! Why did you want to show me that when I know how I look.” Ammit collapsed to the ground and started to cry.

 

“Oh, Ammit! We’re sorry but that is the side that shows how other people think of you like the people whose hearts you ate today. That isn’t really you.” Hathor quickly flipped her mirror around.

 

“Now look.” She commanded.

 

Ammit took a cautious peek and then another and then she stared.

 

“That’s the real me?” She said in wonder. “Honest?” Ammit couldn’t stop starring. “I’m beautiful.”

 

BunniHoTep patted her friend. “Yes, Ammit, you are. This is the side we see not the side the evil ones see. People who love you usually see you better than you do yourself and Ammit your outside can be scary but your heart isn’t.

 

Ammit just stared at the mirror. “That’s how you see me?” and her tears began to fall.

 

Hathor answered this time. “That’s we see you.” and she leaned down to hug Ammit.

 

“Don’t believe what all those evil people say about you. They’re being evil, that’s why you have to eat their hearts so that they can’t do more evil. Now could we all go have tea and get cleaned up? I have some of your favourite things today.”

 

Hathor nodded and reached down to help Ammit out of the mud. “Just remember it’s what you look like in the eyes of people who love you and what you know about yourself that counts.” She brushed the mud off her robe and the three walked over to BunniHoTep’s Temple and sat quietly watching the sun set at the end of TempleRow. Ammit smiled for the first time that awful day. It was good to be loved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Thoth invented writing – a BunniHoTep tale

Once upon a time there was no way to write things down. There was no way to send a friend a note. No way to write a story down. No way to remember the words to a song. No way to say I am and have anyone remember who you were. The gods and goddesses were concerned about this. How could they let people know how to behave and who to pray to? How could anyone know what each god did? Isis and Osiris got together with the other gods and decided since Thoth always marked on the nice clean Temple walls with charcoal from the fires, he could put those scribbles to good use. So Thoth was elected by the group to find a way to do this. There was only one problem Thoth wasn’t there when they decided this. That’s what happens when you miss a meeting.

The gods also figured if he was god of wisdom and he found a way to do it he would have some way to record it and it would be a good thing all around. They thought Thoth might get annoyed so They sent BunniHoTep to find Thoth to tell him of his new job. Always send the smallest, fastest god when delivering interesting news. BunniHoTep hopped down Temple Row and found Thoth on his back porch staring at a big, blank, white wall with a piece of charcoal in his hand. BunniHotep told Thoth that Isis and the other gods had given him a new and important job; He was to invent writing and then She ducked and waited for the storm. The storm didn’t come and She raised her head. “Aren’t you mad?” She asked. “No”, said Thoth, “I think its what I’ve been waiting for all along.” And He started to mark on the wall. He drew an ibis and said to BunniHoTep, “Here is my name”. “ I think because the Great Cackler created the sun from an egg I will make an egg around all kings and gods names to show they came from the sun and the egg.”

He stood thinking to himself. “The gods are easy to show, a hawk for Horus, a cow for Hathor. This is way too easy.” He continued marking down the walls. He had completely forgotten BunniHoTep in his excitement. He went faster and faster down the wall naming everything he could think of to name. He only stopped when he started to run out of room. Then he got another idea and ran to borrow some ground stone paints some men were using to make enamel jewelry. He mixed them with water and quickly began to fill in the drawings He had made on the wall. The wall began to come alive with the symbols and the colour. Beautiful reds and blues and greens glowed from the wall.

Soon a crowd began to gather. Isis, Nepthys and Hathor brought their folding chairs and sat quietly watching at the birth of this wondrous thing. They wanted badly to ask what everything meant but they didn’t want to disturb his concentration. They sat and watched and waited as the white walls came to life with the colour.

BunniHotep sat in Isis’s lap totally entranced with the rest of the goddesses. But finally she couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “ How do you say we are here?” She asked, breaking the silence. Thoth stopped for the first time in hours and took a deep breath. “Hmmm,” He mused. “ I don’t know.” I have drawn the story of the soul’s journey and I have named us all. I’ve told how to make and offering and what sort to use but I haven’t found a way to say that we exist. But I think I know now.” He lifted an eyebrow at Isis and she nodded back.

Thoth faced the wall again and drew a new character, a small rabbit running. “ In honour of having the courage to speak up and because you had the courage to come tell me about my new job when the others wouldn’t I shall make you the sign that we exist. That we have come into being.”

BunniHoTep smiled shyly from Isis’s lap. “ Thank you” She said very quietly. Thoth went on drawing and painting and they all passed the afternoon in peace watching Thoth and offering suggestions when He asked.

And that was how writing was invented and why we say “Be hare now” when we cast a circle.

Goddess of Los Angeles

BunniHoTep, Isis and the NoNo chair

Once upon a time Isis, Hathor and BunniHoTep were having tea on the Temple porch. Young Horus was playing on the steps below them while they chatted about events on Temple Row.

BunniHotep happened to look at Horus and was horrified. He was pulling the iridescent wings off the poor scarab beetles that had the misfortune to come within his reach. Isis looked up when BunniHotep gasped and was equally horrified. “No! Horus! No! We do not harm other living beings! How would you like it if someone pulled your wings off!”

Horus, who had been happily playing started to cry. Isis decided it was time for the dreaded No! No! chair and she went into the Temple to go get it. She came back and put it down on the Porch and hauled the godling into the chair. Horus did not like this so when Isis’s back was turned he used his wings to float himself out of her direct sight. Isis looked up and brought him back. This went on three times before Isis lost her temper. She had had it. She thought to herself, “I’m the Goddess of Magic. I will just have to use it to teach him lesson.”  She cast a spell to shrink Horus and the chair and put it on her head. “He isn’t going anywhere now! She said to Hathor and BunniHoTep. The goddesse continued with their tea and Horus was stuck and finally calmed down. He decided he really hated the No! No! chair.

And that, my children, is why you see Isis pictured with a throne on her head. It was the only way she could keep track of Horus when he was in the No! No! chair.

Meanwhile BunnHoTep had been healing the poor scarab beetles and decided that as a part of the healing and as an apology they should have an important job. The goddesses made the scarab beetles the rollers of the world through the cosmos. So that the world would always keep turning and the beetles have been doing their job ever since.

The Littlest Druid has a talk with the Bean Sidhe

Aisling sat on the stone in front of the door. She was exhausted. Her mentor Eithne had had her baby girl last night and it was Aisling’s first time attending a birth. She hadn’t had a big important job like the midwife but it had been her job to hold the energy of a healing space and she was tired. She slumped against the door and wondered if she had the strength to get up and go to breakfast.

All was quiet in the village but she could hear a cow lowing far off. The sun had just crested the hill at the east of the village when she heard steps on the gravel and looked up. It was the woman in green she had met by the stream and Aisling was paralyzed with fear for a moment and then she burst out, “No! You can’t have them I won’t let you!”

Aisling stood up and spread her arms in front of the door and the woman laughed softly. “Bean sidhe don’t only come for death, Aisling, but I appreciate what you are doing.”

She motioned for Aisling to sit back down and sat down beside her. “I see you’ve only heard the stories about how we warn of death.” Aisling nodded still a little frozen.

“Bean Sidhes also come at births to bestow blessings. Indeed we are invited to attend all life’s big occasions. We don’t only come at death. That is just what people talk about.”

Aisling stared at the woman and hoped she could believe her. “You bestow blessings?”

The woman nodded, “Don’t you think every baby deserves a welcoming blessing after their perilous journey into the life?”

Aisling thought about this and about her night. “Yes, being born seems to be hard work.” She thought about how red and tired the baby had been.

“So you come to bless her? What do you bless her with?”

“What do you think would be a good blessing?” the bean sidhe asked Aisling and she looked like she really wanted to know what Aisling thought.

Aisling was quiet for awhile. “I think I’d wish for her to make good choices. To ask for a long life seems not always be a good thing.” She was thinking about an elderly druid who was being cared for in the village. He was very old but he didn’t seem to know what was going on. What was the point of being alive without knowing what was going on?

The bean sidhe smiled at Aisling, “Very wise. Are you thinking of Seamus?”

Aisling nodded.

“Sometimes when you live a long time it isn’t about you anymore. It gives the people who love you a chance to take care of you after you have taken care of them. It’s a chance to give back.”

Aisling thought about this. “Really?”

“Really, at least if you have been a caring and good person maybe not so much if you are too mean to die.” The bean sidhe laughed as she said those words because the both knew Seamus had been a very wonderful teacher and person. The bean sidhe reassured Aisling.

“What else do the bean sidhe do?”

“Well I watch over the village and sometimes if the Chief Druid asks I will tell him what I think but most of the time I watch. That’s how I know when to warn of death coming and to prepare for it.”

“You have to prepare for death?” Aisling asked surprised.

“Didn’t Eithne prepare for the birth of her little girl?” Aisling nodded remembering the months or making things for the coming baby and how her mentor had changed.

“Well, death is a lot like birth and if you are lucky you get to prepare for it and say your goodbyes.”

“Oh” Aisling looked thoughtful. “Like preparing for Autumn and saying goodbye to summer.”

The bean sidhe, laughed, “Yes, a lot like that! So will you come and help me bless the baby?”

Aisling stood up. “Yes, of course. She deserves the best.”

And a very thoughtful Aisling followed her into the cottage.

I is for the Fellowship of Isis – pagan blog post

I is for Fellowship of Isis, a bit early but none the less:

http://www.fellowshipofisis.com/ Old website

https://sites.google.com/site/fellowshipofisiscentral/fellowship-of-isis-manifesto New website

I belong to the Fellowship of Isis which is an international group and locally to the Temple of Isis/Los Angeles http://toila.org as well as their Druid Clan of Dana and our local Hazelwood Grove.

The Fellowship of Isis is an International organization dedicated to She of 10,000 names and that any one can join for free if they agree with the Manifesto and the Statement of Ethics. It was founded by Lawrence, Pamela and Olivia Durdin-Robertson back in 1976 and only Lady Olivia is still living and just celebrated her 96th birthday.

The Fellowship is divided into three arms, the Fellowship of Isis, the Druid Clan of Dana and the Noble Order of Tara. People usually join their local Iseum or Lyceum if there is one and we are lucky to have several in our area and we also have one of the Circles that Olivia allows the Circle of Pelagia. http://www.circleofpelagia.net/ There are five Circles and Stars chartered directly by Lady Olivia and the Iseum of BunniHoTep is part of that Circle. There are only 8 Members in a Circle. I just looked at the Directory and it looks like there are more Iseums in California than in any other place in the world which probably explains part of why Lady Olivia comes out to visit Isis Oasis in Northern Cal every year at Columbus Day weekend. This is the website of the Star of Elen http://starofelen.org/index.html

https://sites.google.com/site/fellowshipofisisliturgy/ This is the list of specific deity rituals but our bunch usually write our own for our public and private rituals. Along with our sister group Long Beach Womenspirit we put on two public Faires each year at Summer and Winter Solstice as well as public rituals for Yule and sometimes other holidays. Our next Faire is June 23 at the Long Beach Unitarian Church and anyone is welcome to come. We have a wonderful time and you can shop til you drop as well as enjoying all the day long entertainment.

Here are a list of the members who are authors and illustrators and such. https://sites.google.com/site/fellowshipofisiscentral/foi-members-who-are-authors-editors-illustrators-publishers I’m sure you will recognize some of the names and it will give some ideas for books by other new people. I’m honoured to be able to be a part of the list.

We have attunements that are world wide that anyone can participate in wherever they are in the world every morning . “Lady Olivia writes that although the times listed for attunement at Clonegal Castle are GMT, every member can tune in between 6:30 to 8:30 in the morning and evening in their own particular time zone.”

http://www.isisoasis.org/ this is the retreat center where the annual retreat is held at in California.

You don’t have to be a follower of Isis to be a member. We have many people that follow Brighid, Quan Yin, Hecate, Yemaya and many others. You just have to be a follower of the Goddess. Anyway, you are welcome to be a part of the organization as part of the group or as a solitary. All I know is that I have met some of the best people in my life as a part of this organization.

I is for initiation – A Pagan Blog Post

I is for Initiation

A lot of us plan and hope for our ordinations and our initiations. We can’t wait until we take the next step up. We get so excited about the event we don’t think about what can come after. What comes after is preparation for the next step and we are often not prepared for that.

Why? Because the Goddess listens.

And she laughs…

I have yet to have any kind of peace after an initiation. It takes about a year and a day and sometimes more for life to calm down to a new normal and before you are ready to take any next step, I have found my emotions tested. My sanity tested. Sometimes my body tested, usually all of the above.

It’s one reason I turned down the idea of becoming a Heirophant in FOI when I was asked a few years ago. I saw two Heirophants before me get crushed in short order and really was not prepared to go there. The bigger the step up the bigger the challenges. Now I’m thinking it’s time to take the next step up to ArchDruidess and maybe start my own local grove and wonder what will happen.

I’ve made stupid pledges like asking for change and going home from a gathering and finding out I had a month to move. I’ve lost jobs. I’ve had serious injury, serious enough to be on crutches for a year and a half and a wheelchair for 2 months. I’m down several body parts and should rattle like the Tin Man. (The Goddess version of a time out) I’ve had family deaths that I had to deal with. I’ve lost partners. She has taken away things that I loved like the ability to dance to focus me on other things. I suppose it may be the only for a variety loving Gemini to focus.

What have I gotten out of it? A lot of loving deep spiritual relationships with my goddesses and my fellow priestesses. A lot of stories to tell. A sureness about where to go and which direction to head. It’s given me time to become proficient in the things I should do and time to say goodbye to things that needed to go. I made me evaluate what was important to me and to grieve things that weren’t. It’s given me a lot of things to write and pieces of art to make.

The Goddess takes you at your pledge and says,"okay, let’s see if you mean it". If you pass, the way to the next step will open. If you don’t you either keep getting the same lesson presented in different ways or you totally abandon everything and shut down. I’ve done both, I admit, over the last 30 years.

The Goddess’ lessons can start out subtly as a tap on the shoulder and a whisper to take some action. She then moves up to love taps on the side of the head and when I’m being particularly obtuse, a Louisville slugger makes the point. This is why you will find a tiny Dodger Louisville Slugger bat on my altar. I suppose if you are in Britain she might use a cricket bat and for Canadians, a hockey stick. Any way you slice it, it tends to hurt a whole lot when you don’t pay attention.

I know if you are about to undergo an initiation, you think I’m nuts or exaggerating. If you are serious about doing it right and you’re heart and mind are in it, you will find out.

It’s one reason I always refused to do any kind of initiation at the end of my Wicca 101 classes. You really need a year and a day to live with it. I would do a dedication to the path instead. The ones that stayed on the path for the most part have grown and thrived. The ones that found it too hard either went back to Christianity or just disappeared altogether.

The minute you take a vow you become a solitary, even if you are initiated into a coven, grove or group because they can’t do it for you. You have to walk the path yourself and learn the lessons that are yours to learn. You have to put one foot in front of the other down a path you won’t be able to see farther than a few steps and trust in yourself and your chosen deities not to let you fall or at least fall harder than you can deal with. And some times you will wonder if you really can because it hurts to go on. But do go on … the view up ahead is wonderful.

Heart Town

Once upon a time there was town where the people were all made of very strong crystal and if they fell down they didn’t break. They were a very beautiful people and the most beautiful thing about them was their hearts. Their hearts were made of red crystal and looked like Valentine hearts. And one of the many unique things about this very special town is that they were all well loved and every one knew just how loved they were.
How did they know how loved they were? When some one was loved in this town their heart would have a lovely ribbon tied around it with a bow because love leaves a mark on your heart. Everyone always made sure that their ribbons were tied with a bow so that everyone was free to walk around. Because everyone in this small town had a different colour ribbon the hearts were full and amazingly colourful. And in this lucky town no one ever tried to see how many ribbons were on the hearts they just enjoyed their beauty.
One day a new person moved into the town. She changed the balance of things. When she met people she liked she put her ribbon on like every one else but because she was afraid of losing people she held on to the ribbon and tied a knot instead. She was afraid of losing the love she had collected.
Pretty soon people in town were falling down because she hadn’t let go of the ribbons. For the first time in their lives they were showing cracks. It was terrible. The ribbons trailed all over the street and got tangled around street lamps and cats played with them, dogs tried to bury them and birds tried to carry them off to make nests.
The town’s people got together and decided something had to be done. Their children would never make it to adulthood if they started having cracks like this. Some day they might break. So they decided to do something for the witch, for a witch she was. They normally liked witches. Witches did a lot of good work in town but this one needed help badly. She just had the wrong idea about things. So they went to the witch with a pair of big scissors.
“Dear Miss Witch,” they said, for they were always polite to each other in this town. “Would you let us cut the ribbons you are holding and tie you some beautiful bows?”
“No!” said the witch. “How will I know who loves me and who I love if I cut the ribbon and don’t hold on tight?”
“You will just have to trust like the rest of us that you are well loved.” said the town’s people.
“But that’s not right. What if someone doesn’t love me? What will I do?” wailed the witch.
“Not everyone is always loved by everyone. We all leave marks on people’s hearts. We just always try here to make a beautiful mark. We let go and let people come back and tie a bow on our heart when we are ready for them. And if they are never ready to do that we find other people in town who will love us. Tripping people and holding on to their heart ribbons is wrong and makes people like horses on reins in other towns. Even our horses here don’t have reins. You need to let go and trust and I as Mayor of the town will tie the first bow.” He picked up his ribbon and followed it back to the lonely witch and as she cried and shivered he tied a beautiful bow. One by one the people who had met her and cared for her tied bows on their ribbons. She was shivering so hard they thought she might crack herself. Not every one tied a bow, some people didn’t know her well enough and some people didn’t like her very much so they cut their ribbon. This made the witch cry with the loss but not everyone as the Mayor had said is loved by all. Some people just don’t like being held on to so tightly. You just have to grow up and accept this as fact.
The witch looked down when they were done and stopped crying. There were simple bows and frilly bows and silly bows but still there were enough bows to show that she was loved and liked. The town’s people had made their point and she was just going to have to trust that she was loved as much as her heart showed. And from then on there were no more cracked crystal people in town from tripping on ribbons and this made all the town and the witch happy.

The littlest druid makes a friend

Once upon a time the Littlest Druid was down by the shore. The Druids had moved to their summer village by the water a few weeks before. Aisling had been sent to gather dulse again. It’s all she had done since they had moved and she was a little tired of it. What she was really tired of was not sleeping. Every time she wanted to sleep she felt like some one was watching her and it was diving her a little crazy and it was making her even clumsier that usual. So she was gathering the seaweed. She didn’t even like eating seaweed that much.

She just wished what ever was watching her would stop so she could sleep. Maybe if she took a nap? She rolled up in a skin she had found down by the shore to take a nap behind some rocks. She couldn’t believe her luck at finding it. It was a beautiful seal skin and some one had taken a lot of care to make it soft and cozy. She wondered who had been careless enough to leave it here in the rocks but since they had she was going to use it.

It wasn’t working. The sun was still too bright and the sand was itchy and the rocks were poking and she just wanted to sleep! So she gave up and folded the skin back up and went back to collecting the dulse.

She watched the gulls fly in and out and stalk the tiny crabs that lived by the shore and she picked up more dulse. She wandered up and down the rocky beach. She’d watched the druids take the coracles out to fish earlier in the morning and she saw them when they brought their catch home. She even saw the fish eagles out at sea hovering over the waves. The colony of seals up the beach had been making a lot of noise earlier but now they seemed to have quieted down to take their own naps in the sun.

Every once in awhile she sat by the waves  and watched the sets come and in and tried to see beyond the ninth wave where there was supposed to be magic happening all the time according to the boys but she never saw anything magical. She saw some dolphins leaping in and out of the waves playing. She saw some flying fish way out on the water. She watched the sunlight dance and sparkle on the waves and all the time she felt eyes watching her. She felt like they were focused on her back and for some reason not very happy with her. Well, she thought, that wasn’t exactly a new feeling. It seemed someone was always unhappy with her for some thing. Although, that seemed to not be happening as much lately. Things seemed to have been getting a little better until now. No one had really yelled at her in weeks. Just maybe raised an eyebrow. She just wanted to sleep, really, really, and truly sleep. She wondered if the faeries were doing this to her. Why they would want to do that she didn’t know she didn’t think she’d done anything to them. She got into enough trouble with out making them mad.

She huddled by the shore as the sun was starting to go down. It was almost time to head back to the village for dinner. She wrapped the skin around her. She was the only one left on the beach. She turned to go…

“Give it back!” she heard.

Aisling whipped around and didn’t see anyone. It hadn’t been very loud maybe she was just imagining it. She looked up and down the shingle. Rocks and a few gulls and sandpipers and that was it. Who had spoken?

“Give it back! It’s mine and I need it?”

This time she turned and saw someone her size on the rocks.

“Who are you?” Aisling asked. “And what do you want?”

The person leapt off the rocks and ran toward her pointing at the skin around her shoulders.

“I hid it in the rocks and you took it! Give it back!” the person said.

“How do I know it’s yours and you aren’t just saying that?” Aisling replied.

He stood looking down and said quietly, “Because it fits me.” The boy was just her size and strangely silvery looking skin. He had huge kind brown eyes that at the moment were looking both uncertain and angry.

Aisling was confused. “Are you the one who has been watching me and what do you mean, it fits?”

“It’s my skin. This was my first time alone and I thought I had hidden it well and you took it.” The boy started to cry.

Aisling took off the skin in a hurry and handed it to the boy. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was yours. It’s just warm and soft and very beautiful. What do you mean it’s your first time alone?”

The boy looked a bit guilty. “I’m not supposed to go ashore without my parents or the rest but I wanted to see what the land was like?”

“Do you mean you live in the ocean.!!!” Aisling goggled at the boy.

“Yes and it’s supposed to be a secret. You won’t tell will you?”

Aisling thought a bit. She thought it might cause a lot of trouble if she did tell and no one believed her so she said, “Help me pack up my basket and I won’t tell but you have to stop watching me!”

The boy looked at her. “Alright… You’re sure you won’t tell?”

“I promise on the hope of a silver bough.” Aisling swore. “if you promise to stop staring at me.

“Okay, what ever a silver bough is and I promise to stop staring at you unless you want it. I swear by the ninth wave.”

The two smiled at each other and packed up the baskets of dulse quickly.”

Aisling had been thinking. “Are you a ?”

“Yes,” the boy answered before she could finish.

“But I didn’t finish!!!”

“You were going to ask if I was a selkie, weren’t you? Yes, I am.”

“Okay, will you come and visit me again sometime? I get lonely gathering this stuff.” “If you let me have some,” the boy said with a grin. He slipped the beautiful silver skin over his shoulders and changed into a small equally beautiful seal and lollopped into the waves. A flash of a flipper and he was gone.

For the first time in weeks no one was watching her and Aisling relaxed and sighed. She picked up the baskets and headed towards the village and wondered when she’d see her new friend again.