Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend and I hope everyone has a great Holiday week.  Yesterday was the Winter Solstice and for pagans and wiccans it is one of the most important days of our "religion".  I've written extensively about it in post from years past and won't bore you all with the stories again, instead I'll tell you about my encounter with a Faerie that happened this last summer.

    I was on break from work and not scheduled to return for a few hours so I grabbed my camera and hit some trails near the lake.  I had grown up playing on these particular trails and as I meandered through them 30 years later I couldn't help but feel a tad nostalgic.  It was particularly warm that day and my backpack was really making my back sweaty so I stopped to adjust my gear.  As I was taking off the 35 pound pack ( I carried everything in it but the kitchen sink, although I did have water purification tablets so I could drink the water from the kitchen sink, but that's not important right now) I bent the wrong way and lost my balance.  I was half bent over with my back pack hanging on my right arm which caused me to tip forward and tumble down a small but rocky slope.  I managed to hang onto my backpack with my right arm while tucking my camera under my left arm cradling it like it was a football as I rolled toward the beach below.  Thankfully I stopped myself from crashing into the water as my momentum slowed enough for me to once again control my body as I skidded to a halt just inches from the lake.  It wouldn't mattered if I had gotten wet but if my backpack or camera would have went in it would have been a very bad day.  I rolled onto my back, let out an exasperated sigh and then yelled, "Really?" staring straight up into the sky like someone up there did this on purpose.  I tossed my pack a few feet behind me away from the water and sat up to inspect the camera.  Everything looked okay, luckily I hadn't taken a picture yet so the lens cap was still on and the screen was still closed.
"Have a nice trip?"
I scooted back a few inches out of fear as I was certain there was no one else near by.  The small beach I had tumbled into was well hidden from both the trail above me and the lake ahead of me.  It was set back about twenty feet from the lake and hidden on both sides by massive sandstone cliffs, I have posted pictures of this little beach before, anyhow, I scanned the entire little beach and saw no one.  I was starting to think maybe it was just my imagination and just as I dismissed it as such it spoke again.
"I'm over here, under the log."  The voice was soft and feminine and was barely audible, and as I shifted my body to look toward the log, it spoke again.
"I've seen you before here.  Long ago, when you where just a seedling and again a few times more recently.  I thought it was time we met."
  My eyes had just found the log when it stopped speaking and at first I didn't see anything and then out of the darkness underneath the log came two small yellow flowers that looked just like eyes.  Sure enough as they became more clear to me I saw them blink!
"My name is Astrid.  I am a wood Faerie and I only show myself to true Nemophilists, and you most certainly qualify."
  I smiled and replied, "Well thanks, I'm definitely a nemophilite.  My name is Edgar and it is an honor to meet you." I put out a hand but quickly remembered that wood Faeries live in the sprit world and communicate or appear through plants and animals, this one had chosen the two yellow flowers to use as her medium.  In all of my travels and of all the creatures I've met, Dragons, aliens, talking animals, reptilian barbarians, none have been more entertaining or awesome to be around.  I can't tell you what we spoke about but it was mostly just personal stuff or her thoughts on what is happening in our world and the future of both our world and the future world.  Some of the stuff she told me scared me really bad but the majority of her words were positive, she did say that I could share this one fact with you all.  Mother Nature is fighting for humanity and the more Nemophilists she can recruit to her side the better chance we have of making a huge difference in saving this planet before it is too.  I left that little beach with a case of  vorfreude as I thought of a future where Nature and all of her beauty come before greed and industry.   Astrid allowed me to take her picture so people would believe me and believe in a brighter, happier future where Peace and Love do conquer all..................................................PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: I figured I'd use a few new words I found throughout my research.  Feel free to use them.........