Meditation to Open to the Faery Symbols

In 2009 I put together a PDF called The Nine Secrets of the Faery Witches that included this meditation. There was a link to a recording but the link kept breaking and I couldn’t fix it. So I made a video of it and posted it on my YouTube channel, The Mysterious Domain. This video was harder to make than I thought it would be because I had to balance the audio clips with my rudimentary knowledge of how to do that.

You can download this PDF via the subscribe box in the sidebar of this website. I am planning to make videos of the Nine Secrets on my channel as a adjunct to the video about the tarot deck.

I learned this Yoganidra meditation in the 1980s and it had a very powerful effect on me as far opening up my already strong psychic abilities. I did it daily. When I had a Kundalini awakening in 1990, the images came to life in my imagination and I believe contributed greatly to the power my awakening. When I got involved with Faery Tradition, I added the Faery symbols and next thing I knew, portals started opening into Faery and brought through the experiences that led to the creation of my Tuatha de Danaan: Arthurian Legacy Tarot deck.

Doing this meditation daily may be your first step in becoming a Faery Seer. It is safe way to increase your clairvoyance and infuse the Faery symbols into your subconscious mind.

Here it is! Please check it out and let me know what you think. I have other exercises I can make videos for and would like to know how I can improve or if this one works for you as it is.

If you’re curious about the thumbnail, it is a photo of me in 1998 when I was deep in tarot creation. You don’t always have original images handy, so I thought Why not?

There are lots of videos about the Tuatha de Danaan Tarot deck on my channel as well.

Ogham: The Magical Language of Trees: Hawthorn

Witches Wheel

Hawthorn twisted and spined in a hedge;
with you all about us we keep to ourselves
and dance in our garden with innocent eyes
opening and blooming with April's white flowers.

Hawthorn (Huath)

The Hawthorn is a Faery tree of great renown. Covered in clouds of fragrant white or pink flowers, it is lovely, but all along its branches are long, thin thorns that evoke spindle pricks, and daggers to the hearts of wax dolls. Hawthorn can be found in hedges so ancient that they tower over the humans and animals they surround as a vast network of protection, all the while attracting bees drawn into the juicy cups of their flowers.

Woe to those who dare to cut the Faery tree! Tales of disaster are many, and some in modern times when warnings against offending the Faeries are scoffed at as ignorant superstition. For example, in the 1990s, John De Lorean built a car factory in Ireland and, despite being warned against cutting down an ancient Hawthorn tree, they did it anyway. For those of us old enough to remember, we know what happened to the De Lorean.

The Hawthorn is also called White Thorn and May Tree and Wishing Tree, usually a wish for love. In April, in preparation for Beltane, the white and pink Hawthorn flowers are gathered and woven into a crown for the May Queen. A crown of May also tops the May Pole, a feminine ring pierced by the phallic staff. This is a tree of fertility, of sex and procreation. Its heady scent induces an erotic trance. One may forget who one is meant to be and seek expression of pure lust where ever you may find it. Hawthorn conjures the instinct of Nature and all of Nature is erotic and sexual.

An interesting observation is that the May Crown without flowers is a Crown of Thorns. Jesus Christ taught us how to escape the power of the of the Pagan World and their child sacrifices to Baal, at Beltane. The Crown of Thorns was a mockery of Christ’s efforts towards Salvation. This is also why He was so passionate about protecting children. “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt. 18:1–6.)

A strong suggestion that this interpretation is not a guess, is in the English tale of Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was Jesus’s uncle. He was present at the Crucifix where he collected the water and blood of Christ in two cruets. Shortly after, Joseph was captured by the Romans and put into prison where the holy blood and water kept him alive with their sacred emanations. On release, he fled to Britain carrying a thorn staff. Arriving in Glastonbury, he planted this staff on Wearyall Hill where it bloomed into a scared Hawthorn tree where it stands to this day. He went on to build Glastonbury Abbey in honor of the Virgin Mary.

Joseph of Arimathea. The Heirophant
in my Tuatha de Danaan Tarot

Wherever a Hawthorn tree is found, there is a portal to Faery. In the magical Faery ballad, Thomas the Rhymer, Thomas of Ercildoun is resting on a mound under the Eildon Tree, or Hawthorn Tree. In his reverie, he sees the green gowned Faery Queen approaching. She takes him up on her horse and carries him into Faery where he stays as her consort for seven years.

Hawthorn Working

Hawthorn, Maythorn is a powerful stimulant of fertility, love, sexuality and erotic pleasures. The lusty month of May is right over the threshold, a time when flowers and trees are in full bloom, the birds are singing and hatching their young, and the bees are collecting honey. Everything is amazingly alive in the procreative activities of Spring. Bring love and creativity into your life by celebrating the Hawthorn with a flowery crown and a dance around the May pole. It is the perfect time for marriage.

Divination by Hawthorn: Hawthorn signifies the flowering of one’s activities to a more potent level. Creative projects will be realized to a finer degree and wield greater influence. But as there are thorns hidden amongst the flowers, we must also be aware that all life contains the seeds of death. Transformation is cyclical. Like the moon, light turns to darkness and back again to light, this burst of intense life in Spring, gives way to the sleep of Winter. The law of the unity of opposites is forever expressed.

Magical Correspondences:

Ogham Letter: Huath
Letter: H
Deities: The Flower Maiden Blodeuwedd, Faery Queen, Joseph of Arimathea
Color: Purple
Bird: Crow, Magpie, Cuckoo. owl, nightjar
Animal: Goat, dragonfly

Fallen Angels, Faeries and Luciferian Consciousness

Kickstarter is now LIVE! If you want a copy of the Tuatha de Danaan Tarot and the book, go here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gothicmedievaltarot/the-tuatha-de-danaan-tarot

I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The first time I checked the page after it went live, my total support was $666. You can’t make it up! I guess this video prompted something….. Its over that now. Thank God!

This is the another video going into depth on my Tuatha de Danaan Tarot. Its an origin story and perhaps an controversial one, but that makes it more exciting. Right?

Paranormal Origins: The Tarot of the Tuatha de Danaan

I now have a Youtube channel for real now! It will be an art channel, but because I’m crap at video, I thought the easiest way to start would be to make videos about the tarot deck. This one tells how it all started, but I will talk about the stories behind the cards and other paranormal adventures. I hope I can make videos in the same style as I wrote the blog posts. I may even make videos of some of the blog posts. The tarot deck brings together art and magic, so there are two heads to this monster. I’m aiming for once a week. I think it will get easier and therefore faster to film and edit and upload and all that stuff.

Anyway…. I’ve written this story a few times but I never told it. so in the video, I tell it. I’m waiting for a sample deck so I can see how it looks, and can also do readings with it! I have to figure a way to do readings for people who join the blog or something. If you have any ideas…….Comment away!

So if you watch this, pleased don’t laugh. I’m a tech phobe. I was planning a Youtube channel for 3 years! If you like the video please Like and subscribe and share if you can.

I have many irons in the fire, but this is my focus now and the Kickstarter and painting.

Take care and stay strong!

Jonna Jinton: The Wolf Song

Jonna Jintin is a Swedish blogger and film maker of many talents. I discovered her Youtube channel recently and was reminded of where I had been before I had my accident and had to move from the beautoful place I was into the city.

Indeed, for creative people, envirnment is everything. She left the city to move to the north of Sweden where her ancesters had lived for 12 generations and in doing so, has tapped into her soul and the Soul of the Earth.

I hope you love this as much as I do and will go to her channel and find many inpsirations there for your magical path. She’s been on Youtube for 9 yeras, and I just discovered her, so maybe you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing her many deep and wonderful videos yet.

In these strange days, it is a more important than every to stay true our humanity and our kinship with the wild and hold on tight. Otherwise the powers that should not be will turn us into something wrong.

The Mansions of the Moon

 

1937—Leonora Carrington

Esoterically, the Moon is know as the Treasure House of Images. Being an artist with a vivid imagination, I’ve always been fascinated by this. I used a painting by the surrealist artist, Leonora Carrington above because she seemed to be well attuned to the Mansions of the Moon, and her white horse symbolism could have sprung from the influence of that sphere.

There are 28 mansions. This poem begins with #27 to correspond with the entry of the sun into Aries, the first light of spring. and first sign of the zodiac. You will see tarot images in this poem and images familiar to witchcraft. The Egyptian imagery may indicate the age of this system, and it has stayed alive longest in Spain where a fusion of philosophical, mystical and magical thought gave rise to documents of far-reaching influence.  I am posting this ancient piece so that you may be inspired to meditate on these images and open your imagination to the deep energies operating therein.

Let me know in the comments what happens if you try this experiment.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Mansions of the Moon

The threefold Lady, Maiden Moon, the Bride, the wise old Mother,

Across the living deeps of night, the bright pavilions of the Gods.

 

XXVII.

Two signs begin the passing year: we see the horse’s head and mane,

But yet of him who guides, appear no tokens but the garment’s train.

 

XXVIII.

The Moon is borne through caverned cloud: shall night prevail against her beams?

Shall this Saturnian gloom enshroud the brightness of immortal dreams?

 

  1. O Blade of Fire that cleaves the skies! O mystic flash that wakes to life!

The Moon in splendor shall arise supreme above the tempest’s strife.

 

  1. The Red Deer seeks the Huntress now, the novice seeks Dictynna’s net;

Her altar witnesses his vow, and never doth the Moon forget!

 

III.  Upon the Stag’s proud brow there stands a shining Moon-spot silver white,

Showing the woods and meadow-lands the blazon of the Queen of Night.

 

  1. Out from the Moon-mists luminous three drops distill, afar from Earth,

To fall into the deep, and thus a pearl is brought to gleaming birth.

 

  1. Her shrines are set in sea and land, her signature in fruit and flower,

And in the tides we see her hand, and in the seasons find her power.

 

The threefold Lady, Maiden Moon, the Bride, the wise old Mother, moves

Across the living deeps of night, the bright pavilions of the Gods.

 

  1. But seek no rest beneath her will, for change and chance to her belong;

The cradle on the arrow’s tip is swaying, and the night is long!

 

VII.  As with a lion’s burning gaze through ever-living willow boughs,

She bids the heavens with earth embrace, life’s wheel with perfect form endows.

 

VIII. The Moon upon a window bright graces the dwelling from afar:

Ah splendor, if the soul’s own light upon the forehead sets a star!

 

IX. Yet, mortal, if thy head should rest in sloth upon thy pillowed bed,

Her bow is turned against thy breast; up, haste, before the shaft be sped!

X. But lust she bans not, with its train of changing pleasures fiery sweet—-

If thou wouldst forge thyself a chain, to bind thy head beneath her feet.

 

XI. See where across the dappled skies quest wide the hounds of Hecate!

The wild goose from their coming flies, the lurking owl cries sobbingly.

 

XII.  But he who gives her homage meet, yet is not bowed in servile fear,

Shall have a staff to guide his feet, and on his paths a lantern clear.

 

The threefold Lady, Maiden Moon, the Bride, the wise old Mother, moves

Across the living deeps of night, the bright pavilions of the Gods.

 

XIII.  Let strength and skill thy shield afford, let thine own thought thy head bedeck:

Even a bead may turn a sword upraised to strike the wearer’s neck!

 

XIV.  Not at the sculptured gateway pause whose mocking forms eclipse the stars:

The bear has only carven claws, the gate has only shadow bars.

 

XV. She wears the crescent as a crown, above the mountain ridge to roam,

And radiant she gazes down, leading the victor to his home.

 

XVI. She measures week and month and year, an age is but a little part,

And like jewel at her ear trembles awhile thy beating heart!

 

XVII. The Lion’s might is all unfeigned: even his tail-tip bears a tooth:

So say not when the Moon has waned. Her power is gone. ‘Tis there, in truth!

 

XVIII. Swift, swift and dauntless shall she rise, from all the mesh of darkness freed,

Bearing her sickle through the skies, unconquerable ivory!

 

XIX.  So calls the men to rise beyond the measure of their common state,

From abject Earth to loose their bond, their vision’s worth to vindicate.

 

The threefold Lady, Maiden Moon, the Bride, the wise old Mother, moves

Across the living deeps of night, the bright pavilions of the Gods.

 

XX. Behold the great signs magical which gave the Gods their victory

To overcome the demons all, the Nut whose shell has summits three!

 

XXI.  Again behold the peaceful land: the Moon doth bless each growing thing

And Ocean knows her ruling hand, its cargoes safe in homecoming.

 

XXII. And hail to those upon whose birth she smiles! Their fortune’s early found:

But has their triumph lasting worth? The hollow drum gives joyful sound!

 

XXIII.  But those who seek a hidden gem, who shun no perils on their way,

Those wise ones, the elect of Khem, her power shall aid them as it may.

 

XXIV. Before their blessed feet she pours divine the bounty of her light;

Their house from discord she assumes, their rest she guards throughout the night.

 

XXV. Before their blessed feet she flings her store of dreams most wonderful

That they across those gleaming things may pass to Truth invisible.

 

XXVI. And when the darkness swallows them, as once the Seer of Nineveh,

Their brows receive her diadem, to be reborn to victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Did You Come to Witchcraft?

 

I don’t know the average age of people who come to this site, but for those of you who have grown up in the Age of Computers, I am curious about how you were drawn to this way of life because I am sure it was very different to how I found myself here.

For me it was result of

  1. Inborn psychic ability that enabled me to see spirits in nature. I also had telepathy with animlas and trees
  2. .I read a lot of poetry. fiary tales and fantasy literature, and was inspired by artists, especially the Surrealists.
  3. I grew up in the New England woods and lived outside most of the time. The changes of light and seasons, the small creatures and birds and wild flowers  were wonderful to me.
  4. I loved folklore and superstitions and especially British folk music and ballads. These are pretty witchy. I also loved fairy tales and they still fascinate me.
  5. In the process of trying to understand my psychic abilities and gain control of  the bleedthrough from other dimensions, I took classes in psychic development. From there I found out I was deeply ttuned into the archtypes, got into astrolgy and tarot and read books on paganism, mythology and magic.

The first books I found that had a profound inlfuence on me were Margaret Murray’s God of the Witches, Starhawk’s Spiral Dance, and Dion Fortune’s Sea Proestess. The imagery in these books tapped into a deep resvoir of ancestral memory, or past life memories. They inspired lots of images in my imagaination and became of a source of artistic inspiration. I made a lot of artwork with the ideas that popped inot my head because of these books. and also wrote a lot of poetry and stories that were weirdly witchy. At that age and in that time, I had no idea why my mind was like that, but blamed it on growimg up near Salem Massachusetts.

When I was living in the UK in the late 90s-and early 2000s, lots of people assumed that I was in this for power. That has never been true. Spells were not my thing, though I would do the odd money spell.—which worked by the way!  I worked with fluid condesors in the 80s and found they backfired in unexpected ways. I was mostly looking for artistic inspiration and personal expression. I found those things in folkloric stirrings in my consiousness.

I was raised strong Roman Catholic, and belive it or not, never felt a clash between Catholicism and Paganism. In the early days in Europe, the Church absorbed the traditions and folkways of the people and did not punish them for these parcitces. They Spanish Inqusistion was a political institution designed to deal with high level heretics and traitors to the monarchy. They used monks to do the dirty work and pass the buck. that worked real good.

The witch craze in Europe and Britain actually occured in the divide created by the Protestant Reformation. Lots of the books I read would always blame Christianity for the witch hunts without differntiating between the Catholic Church and the Protestant rebellion. Nor do they metion King James who was terrified of the North Berwick Witches that inspired Macbeth- which Shakespeare wroet during King James’s reign, or the Demonology written by the king himself out of his obsession with demons. King James also, in having the Bible translated, added the statement “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” That wasn’t in the original.

I have been rereading some of the books from years ago that I still have and am amazed at how different witchcraft was perceived back then compared to how it is looked at now. Part of this is that the dark side has taken over. This is partly why I because discouraged writing to this blog—-I have never been on the dark side except in writing fiction which for me is Shadow Work, not a way of life. I think I could restore my interest in this subject by sharing history. I have these old books full of wisdom and details not apparent in the culture now. They might offer perspective.

I would love to see how you did come to witchcraft. Please feel free to comment below. That way I can get to know you and know what to write as I resurrect this blog.

Foxes and Witches

Kindred by Arlene Whiteswan

 

I made this painting intending it to ba about the rowan tree, then this girl stepped in and then the fox.

The fox has been coming up a lot for me, and in the process of looking for art references, I found this wonderful images of fox witches. In cases like this, I don’t like to box any of God’s creatures into belonging anywhere. Women have had a strong connection to animlas and nature since the begining of time, and those of us who are still in touch with the soul of the earth, will feel this affinity and the depths of meaning that come along with this state of consciousness.

For a deeper explration of the fox witch archetype, go to my other blos:

Gothic Faery Tales

If you are interested in my art go to:

The Mysterious Domain

Some of these photos are by the marvelous photographer Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Grail Tarot: A Portal to Faery

Friends of mine discovered the Tarot I painted over 20 years ago and want me to get it printed. Sooo… we are going to have to crowdfund it. You can participate if you want, or just see what it is and offer feedback at this stage. It was inspired by my Tuatha de Dannaaan contacts in the 90’s but now we are changing the title to Medieval Gothic Tarot so as not to compete with other Grail tarots out there. It also allows more creative license. It also give me a way to use my page! Lol!

There are two options for the back side of the cards. My friends like the original deer one, and I am adding two significators to the deck that will use the white stag and hart theme. Want to vote?

 Back Side 1

Back Side 2

The Medieval Gothic Tarot

 

On the night after Halloween in 1997, the Holy Grail entered my house. I was eating dinner when, in a powerful vision, my table opened up to reveal a deep underworld cavern, and a large golden goblet of intense three-dimensional light rose up to shimmer in the air before my eyes. I smelled roses and turned to see another source of light coming through my front door. What unfolded was an astonishing supernatural vision. A long procession of three-dimensional light beings of exquisite beauty, as tall as us, and dressed in jeweled medieval robes, carried the Hallows of the Holy Grail across my living room, and on reaching the windows, vanished.

This was a shocking experience, for though I have a vivid imagination, I had never had actual spiritual beings materialize before my eyes. A voice in my head told me to start drawing.  I was reluctant because I hadn’t made art in many years and was rusty, and besides, weren’t there already too many tarot decks out there? The messenger insisted that that didn’t matter. This tarot was a teaching tool. The seminal story of the achievement of a seemingly impossible Spiritual Quest, and the healing of the Wasteland, had to be retold and revivified in order to bring our world into balance.

Three-dimensional holographic visions, portals into Faery, visitations by Faery spirits, and teachings via Merlin, continued for the three and half years it took me to complete the paintings for this tarot deck. This was an intense and tumultuous time that drew me to the UK and France. For the entire month of April, 1997, I researched the Arthurian Romance in its indigenous lands, experienced the atmosphere of the Medieval world that still bears traces in those lands, and visited the magical Welsh, Irish and Cornish pre-Christian sites that are the foundation of the Arthurian mythos. I went to Scotland to visit Rosslyn Chapel, for there is a Templar influence on the Grail Mythos as well.

This was also the year of the Hale Bop comet which first appeared to the naked eye April 1st, 1997. In March, the Heaven’s Gate cult committed group suicide to join a spaceship they believed was coming in behind the comet. Getting ready to leave for England on April 1st, I didn’t think much about this incident. Then in mid-April, on a warm, clear night on the southernmost tip of Cornwall, I saw a spectacular real-life vision: the Hale Bop comet hanging in the sky like an enormous fireball.

It was totally still, flaming and magical. The synchronicity was staggering, for I had just visited Tintagel Castle where Arthur was said to have been born under the dragonish blaze of a comet.

Comets have been branded with such titles as “the Harbinger of Doom” and “the Menace of the Universe.” They are considered omens of disaster and messengers of the gods. Small wonder, perhaps, that a message in the form of a Holy Grail tarot was sent through me by the Tuatha de Daannaan, when a powerful comet was about to appear over Tintagle Castle. In times of upheaval, it is often helpful to remember our heroes, the power of our ancient traditions, and the need to aim for the highest spiritual goal our souls can reach.

1997 was also a year of solar eclipses in Taurus and Scorpio, and the year when Princess Diana died. Royalty seems to be strongly affected by comets. As a side note, when I was in England in April, there was much excitement and optimism in the air. When I returned to London in September to visit a friend, Princess Diana had died. Hyde Park was filled with flowers in her honor. The atmosphere was dark, gritty, awful. The Hale Bop comet, that perhaps portended this disaster, was visible for 18 months. Harbinger of Doom or not, darkness had risen was going to stay.

It was the wildest, most unpredictable, time of my life.

Enamored with the radiance of my visions, I was not expecting to experience, first-hand, the darkness that comes when the Wheel turns, for the white stag who leads us into the tangled forest of the quest, may introduce us not to the radiant God that appears before the pure and innocent eyes of a Parsifal, but to a devil who manifests our unresolved issues and deepest fears.

As in all spiritual systems, including tarot, the great beauty and inspiration we absorb and emit can attract the dark side to us. It is our task to win the battle that ensues, and emerge strengthened by wisdom, and the esoteric knowledge gained in surviving this dark awakening, this transformation.

I could say I went through the complete cycle of these teachings so you don’t have to. This tarot deck is a much safer way to explore the most mysterious and elusive aspects of our psyches. The cards can help us puzzle out the many clashing and confusing emotions and beliefs we have within us that result in the difficult situations we experience in our lives. At the same time, the images of the Grail Quest and Arthurian Legends, given to us by the ancient Celtic race of the Tuatha de Dannaan, may awaken our ancestors in our blood, and with that, a primal understanding of who we are as individuals and as a people.

The tale of the Wasteland and the Grail is present in the world now. Perhaps this is the perfect time for this tarot deck to be published and made available to all of those who wish to help heal the Wasteland, and restore the Soul of the Earth for all that live upon it..

Ogham: The Mysterious Language of Trees: Elder

 

Ogham: The Mysterious Language of Trees: Elder

 

Black Lace Elder by Alyne

Elder— Ruis

December is the gateway to winter, and at the gate stands a dark tree of great beauty: the wild and mysterious Elder. The Black Lace Elder wears the widow’s weeds in memory of the light half of the year; elegant, mournful but ever so powerful, for she is the witch in the tree, the Elder Mother. Hyldemore.  One must ask permission of the Old Lady, or Old Girl to approach her tree, saying, “Old Woman, give me some of thy wood and I will give thee some of mine when I grow into a tree.”

The elder is approached because she is ever so useful. her elder berries are made int  wine, jams and medicinal syrups. Her hollow branches are useful for all manner of pipes and bellows. Her twigs are excellent for kindling fires. In fact the Anglo Saxon word eller means kindler of fire. Indeed, fire was a great necessity in the month she presides over.

 

 

Magical Correspondences

Magic is Everywhere.

The Queen of Herbs

Ogham Letter: Ruis

Letter: R

Numbers: 5 and 13

Deities:  Hel, Hela Holda, Venus, Hilde, The White Lady

Animals: Birds: Pheasant, Raven Rook

Color: Black, Dark Green, Blood Red

Planets: Venus

Element; Water

Gem: Olivine, Jet (Black Amber)

Chief attributes: Exorcism, Prosperity, Banishment and Healing

The leaves and berries are used for protection and in breaking spells that were cast against you or to undo spells of evil intent. Growing an elder in your garden will protect your property from misfortune and harm. In Europe they planted elder in cemeteries to keep away the evil spirits.

Here is a magnificent poem by Conrad Aiken that evokes the power of the Elder Tree. I hope you love it as much I do..

Elder Tree

by Conrad Aiken

“The sensual will have its moment? The brain”
Sleep? . . . You can prophesy? . . .’

—Thus laughed the woman,
Tall, thin, and bitter as an elder tree,
Lifting her white face like a crown of bloom.
And so I swore by darkness, trees, and blood,
And rivers underground, and felt my brain,
(Thus challenged by her brain) fall steeply down
Like a dead leaf upon the rushing flood.
‘Yes, I can prophesy,’ I laughed in answer;
And lost my life in hers, which brighter shone,
Radiant and derisive. ‘Never yet,’
She darkly smiled, ‘has voice of man flown in
To break my chords of being. You but waste
The evening, with its bank of clouds, where stars
Plunge down to swim . . . Look, how the lights now come
Like perforations in that wall of trees—
Where through the Ultimate winks!’

And she was still,
Clasping long hands around her lifted knee.
These touched I twice, with teasing finger-tip,
Three times and four, then wearied. But the darkness
And that profounder sound where rushed the river,
Nocturnal, under all, and moving all,—
Took both of us, annulled the brain, devoured
The elder tree, with white faint face of bloom,
And me, who sat beneath it.

Then my blood
Was filled with elder blossom cold and white,
My arms embraced the tree of singing wood,
My hands took leaves and broke them. We were lost,
Thus mingled, in the world. No speech we had.
Till suddenly (as at the end of death,
The darkness being silent) we stood up
Once more; the woman hushed, an elder tree,
And I a voice. And then she smiled, and said—
‘Ah, it is true! The sensual has its moment.
The trickster brain—thank God—can be deposed . . .’

Then I, ‘Look now! how all the trees rush back
From the dark stream! and every blade of grass
New-washed in starlight!’

‘Starlight?’ . . . She laughed, rustling,—
Rustling, nodding her elder-blossom face,—
‘Not starlight, no! The trees, the grass, the brain,
Come back again from blood; and they are strong.’