The Hag Stone and the Portal: a Guided Meditation
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Close your eyes and open your heart. We are going somewhere safe, even though Faerie sometimes holds perils. Feel your feet rooted into the soil beneath this floor. Ground deeply into the earth. Let go of all thoughts about your day, your plans for later, the things you need to do and places you need to go. Let's take three deep breaths, in through your nose, and out through your mouth. And with the third breath, imagine your heart opening wide to the journey we are taking together.
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Let's travel together on a walk through the forest. It is late May and the trees are all in full leaf with the golden sun glowing behind each emerald-jeweled branch. There is a gentle warm breeze that seems to whisper words to you just beyond what you can understand. Although you are walking on the path, you are in no hurry at all. You stop occasionally to admire a beautiful mushroom tucked into the hollow behind a fallen log, or stand perfectly still when you see a squirrel pause in its journey to look into your eyes. Soon you come to a clearing full of beautiful wildflowers. Small insects and colorful butterflies dart and meander across the tops of the fragrant quilt of flowers, and from the corners of your eyes you can see shapes that seem almost human in form, though they are as small as dragonflies.
On the other side of the meadow, you can see a tree beside the path. You have seen many trees on your journey, but this one is different. At some point, possibly years ago, the twin trunks that make the tree split, and one of them arced across the trail. She is still very much alive, with broad fan-shaped leaves branching from both sides of the divided trunks, but she has also turned into a gateway through which all passersby must walk.
As you step closer, you can see her lower branches are scattered with ribbons and scraps of fabric, faded with time and weather. Each one is a wish someone once tied around her. You search your pockets for a scrap of fabric, and end up tearing a strip from the frayed hem of your flannel you brought in case it got cold. You step toward the tree, whispering words of respect and gentleness, admiring her strength and her beauty. Finding a limb covered in a shawl of soft green moss, you stroke it like a cat's fur, and tie your small scrap of cloth to a branch. As you do, you make a wish.
Make a wish.
In a moment, your heart feels lighter. It doesn't seem to matter quite as much anymore if your wish is granted or not granted. Somehow knowing that this kind and compassionate being has listened and heard, and is holding your hopes close is a great comfort in and of itself. You smile, a full and weightless smile with no trace of complication or worry, as you look up at the blossoms in her branches.
Looking at your feet, you spy a smooth rock and something makes you reach for it. At the center of it is a hole. Holding it to your eye, you smile, half hoping that you'll spy a glimpse of magic, half feeling a bit silly for holding out any expectations.
But then she is there. You see her sitting at the V-ed intersection of the tree's limbs, back arced, arms spread wide like a monarch on a throne greeting her subjects. The pixies from the meadow spin around her head like a diadem, small young trolls, goblins, and faerie beings you can't identify gather at her bare feet, staring raptly up at her. Some of them hold objects in their hands reverently, placing them in piles as offerings. She wears a gossamer gown in the green of new leaves in early spring, as thin as a spiderweb yet flowing from her like ripples on the water. As you catch her eye, she smiles, the same sort of full and weightless smile you just gave the gateway tree, but magnified a hundred fold. Overwhelmed by the sight of her, you fall to your knees, and she laughs, the sound of the sweetest water in the most bubbling brook at midsummer.
"Stand up, oh human child. Let me see you."
You get up, but keep your eyes downcast. At your feet you see the hagstone that allowed you to see her. You wonder if she left it there for you to find, or if one of the trolls brought it and lost it as their offering.
"It is for you," she answers your unspoken question. "You seek to learn the ways of Faerie. It is both an enticing and dangerous thing for mortals to want to know. But I can see that your heart is true and your desires are pure. They brought you to the tree of the faerie queen who can safely guide and protect you on this journey. Though Faerie is not without danger, you have shown me that you wish to give to the fey and not simply take. And so I will protect you in this journey. Along the way, you may meet those who will cause you mischief..." At this, she smiles down at a group of goblins near the tree, daring each other to untie a wish from the branches. They stop when they see her, exchanging sheepish glances, and she laughs again. "But mischief is one thing, and harm is another. I will see to it that you will come to no harm. May my protection be around you, as a shield and a guide down this road that winds the fernie brae. Take the stone with you, use it wisely. And know that even if you cannot see us through the portal at its center, we are always with you within your open and wondering heart. Keep awe, dear one. Keep magic. Keep belief. And know that you are loved."
With one last radiant smile, she disappears, along with all of the faeries around her. And yet you know she is still there, simply draped in the thin veil that separates this world from the others. The sound of a laughing brook whispers in the air, affirming your belief. You smile, drop into a graceful low and sincere bow, and turn away to walk back through the meadow, past the squirrel and mushroom. Someday you will walk under the arch of her tree and beyond the fields we know, but not today.
Today is to learn. Today is to grow. Today is to love the wonder and enchantment of Faerie.
Open your eyes. We are ready to begin.
This guided meditation was part of the first in-person meeting of the Central Ohio Faerie Faith and Folklore Group that met Saturday May 27th at the Magical Druid in Columbus. Our next meeting will be Saturday July 29th.
Music “Just Inside,” by Loco Lobo, Free Music Archive CC BY-NC-ND
