The Great Oak Table
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At the gate to Faerie
Once upon a time there was a magical forest named Pigwiggen Wood. Nestled in the folds of the Dartmoor landscape, a short walk away from the idyllic and enchanted village of Chagford, this parcel of land is guarded by a lovely fairy sprite with wild dark curly hair, an infectious grin, and a gift for playing her harp so beautifully that even the fey gentry will pause in their rivalries and be led to the dance. The fairy sprite, by the name of Elizabeth-Jane (call her E-J) Baldry, bought the piece of woodland years ago in order to create a sanctuary for nature, joy, wonder, and of course the fey.
Over time, E-J has listened to the woods, fostering little nooks and crannies for different purposes in the space. She has planted some trees, taken down others when they grew too sick. The land is a gathering space for local creatives and kindred spirits, where joy and laughter and celebration (and sometimes ritual and momentous life experiences) have occurred. When you walk through the gate and enter the property (after first seeking permission from the land, as E-J requests) you can instantly feel the happy energy, thick and effervescent, in the air. Continue walking through the space, and you might come across a singing waterfall, a small patch of the very rare British temperate rainforest dripping with lush green moss, stone steps leading to two tall stile stones like a gate to Faerie (where a second waterfall forms during heavy rain). It is among the most magical places I’ve ever been.
The crew moving the slabs of oak into Pigwiggen wood
E-J on the tables after they were installed in their temporary locations.
E-J is just the sort of person who can walk up to a friend and say “I want to find an oak tree, a big ancient tree, so that we can make a long table. The longest table ever made from a single oak” and they will nod, agreeing that such a thing makes perfect sense and she is just the one to do so. Of course such a thing would belong in her forest. And so she did just that: searching for years for the perfect old oak with stories etched into every groove and line of his body.
Picture, if you will, a forest avenue lined with young oak trees, and down the center of that avenue, an impossibly long table in three parts that fit together seamlessly like one long piece. Gathered at this festivity are some of the world’s greatest and best-known mythic artists in all fields: Brian and Wendy Froud from down the Chagford lane, along with Terri Windling, Alan Lee, and so many more. Alan designed the carved wood throne that will sit at the far head of the table as an invitation and honor to the forest spirits who are and always will be invited to every gathering.
A place for stories to be told and legends made
And oh, how those forest spirits will receive the invitation and come and gather with the creative mythmakers and storytellers, and so much laughter and inspiration and no small amount of mead and wine will flow between and betwixt and among. And anchoring them all to the local landscape will be the strength and beauty of this table, hewn from the old oak who gathered up centuries of stories until he fell in a storm.
Riotous joy and hope
In her own words, E-J describes it: “This will be the longest table on the planet fashioned from a single English oak tree: a place for connection, for sharing food under the trees, for nurturing community, for debate about how to create a future that holds all of us. In its own small way, my hope is that this table will help 'tip the world towards joy.’”
Imagining all of this makes the hair on my arms stand on end, and my eyes fill with tears. And imagine one more thing if you will: you can be a part of this. You can help make this dream an actual reality. The table already sits at the oak lane in Pigwiggen Wood, and a woodworking artist stands at the ready to bring the table into its next stage of completion. But dreams as bold and big as E-J’s require support from all the kindred spirits she can find.
Us at a party, after someone told a joke so funny I was crying laughing.
You may not know E-J personally, but I’m guessing you know me, even if we’ve never met in person. And I’d like to presume that if you’ve read this far, you value my opinion to some degree. So when I say that E-J is one of the most magical and wonderful beings I’ve ever met in my life, I hope that means something. I have visited Pigwiggen, and I have felt the magic. But even if I hadn’t ever met E-J, I suspect that I would be utterly bewitched hearing about this project…just to know that such a place exists somewhere. Just knowing that somewhere there is a long, long, ancient oak table where magic makers gather to spark stories and riotous acts of creative defiance among themselves.
The Crowdfunder is live. The incentives are enticing. And dreams hardly ever get as beautiful as hers. So please, do consider adding your own contribution? The faeries are already gathering there. Don’t they deserve a beautiful table on which to feast?
The table waits to be completed.
