The Firefly Chronicles

My good friend, Sarah, and I made the drive to Crownsville, Maryland…about a half hour outside of D.C. There is so much to see that it’s impossible to do everything in one visit. Revel Grove is a small village that is comprised of pubs, stages, food booths and more than 130 craft shops. For about 10 weekends a year, people gather in 125 acres of woods that rolls back time way before cars, computers, and cell phones. We come to 1539.

Upon our arrival, we felt out of place. It had never crossed my mind to dress up, and we were surrounded by groups who obvious took great joy in playing the part as court spectators and village inhabitants. If you ever wander in and find that you are out of costume, they have many elegant pieces of the time that you can rent for the day. And, many of the vendors sell clothes, both Renaissance and stuff that you can wear to work and not get funny looks.

We were immediately drawn to a small stage, where music was playing. The pan flute melody contrived by Cercamon set the scene instantly to the Renaissance.

CERCAMON MUSIC

This French group knew how to jam. You will find them at www.ensembleceramon.com I’ve got a link to it on our website. Fireflyacademy.org and click on PODCAST. The jigs played by various groups carried us through the scores of trees and medieval buildings…mixed in a symbiotic relationship.

I had expected something a little more theme-park-ish, but we were wholly integrated with nature. Something else that I immediately noticed what that there wasn’t any litter. The ground, the tables, and the benches were as if the village had just opened for the season. There was one program on the ground, and it was so out of place, Sarah had to pick it up and put it in the trash.

We tasted many different flavors of honey from the Bee Folks, including blueberry honey, buckwheat honey (which tastes like molasses) and orange blossom honey. Sarah winded up buying some raspberry honey. I can’t say that I didn’t coax her into getting that one. It was really good. On top of 20 different kinds of honey, they make honey soap and honey lip balm, too. Yum-yum. I got a Echinacea honey stick and suckled that while I watched the bees. Outside of their shop, they had a case with lots of combs and bees in it. A shoot allowed the bees to come and go from the roof. The worker honey bees follow the queen around. You could tell which one the queen was, because she stuck her back end up in the air like she knew she was all-that. Also, a lot of the bees would crowd around her, facing her. They would clean and feed the queen, so that she can lay eggs. She lays some insane number a day. The queen reigns the hive for about a year. When her time is up, the other bees give 4 of her eggs a special protein that makes them queen bees. The first queen to hatch kills the others, and takes the throne.

You can visit their website at www.beefolks.com.

There was a booth that could research the ancestry of your last name. We did Sarah’s name, which is of Germanic roots, and we found the history and family coat of arms that went along with it. My last name is English, but I am half Irish, so I like to learn about those roots.

My prized purchase was a wooden book of shadows. A pentagram is engraved and painted with silver leaf. The words BOOK OF SHADOWS is also woodburned around the circle, but in the runic language. It is a beautiful piece. The booth I picked it up at has not website, and only sells their items at the fair. However, I would make the trip from anywhere just to visit it again. One woman woodburns intricate designs. I don’t think that intricate is the word for them. They are friggin spectacular. Complex dragons and deep worldly goddess faces are just the beginning. Another woman paints and decorates each piece. Their husbands sell the finished product at the booth. Each year, they make one feature piece. This year, it was a large wooden chest, in which a dragon was finely burned and painted across the top.

There were so many other vendors. From swords and shields to jewelry and tarot…we could have spent two days just looking at the shops. But, we would have missed the rest of the fun. Villagers and courtiers of King Henry VIII populate Revel Grove. Character interaction with visitors is the cornerstone of a visit to the Renaissance Festival. There’s opportunity for close-up entertainment from a strolling magician, mingling with a mime, or listening to court gossip from a noble Lady. One vendor demonstrated perfecting the art of glass blowing next to three trapeze artists doing there thing in the trees. I have some pictures of those gymnasts on the website.

Each year is marked with a storyline and various parts of it are acted out on various stages throughout the day. The year is 1539. Henry VIII marks his thirtieth year as King of England. The village of Revel Grove prepares a spectacular harvest celebration to mark this milestone. It has now been two years since the death of Queen Jane. The heir to the throne, Prince Edward, is thriving – but the fate of the Tudor dynasty cannot rest on the shoulders of one baby boy. It is imperative that the King marry again and secure the succession. But who will wed the King? Secretary Thomas Cromwell advises Henry to marry a European princess to secure a foreign alliance, but the King’s matrimonial record is not encouraging to most women. As the Duchess of Milan remarked when hearing of Henry’s interest in her – if she had two heads then “one should be at His Grace’s service.” As Cromwell searches for a foreign bride for the King, Henry and his courtiers pay a visit to Revel Grove and he merrily enjoys his day as a bachelor King.

We did take a moment to stop and visit the crown jewels. Though they are only replicas one cannot help but to imagine what it would be like to sport them through the court.

In the Middle Ages a “lance” was a group of soldiers consisting of a knight, his squire, a valet and twelve men at arms. If a knight’s lord was to die or if the knight had not sworn fealty to a lord, then he and his followers were called a “free lance” and entitled to be hired as mercenaries by the highest bidder. The Free Lancers return for a season of action packed excitement. Years of formal research, professional stage credits, combat and stunt training has provided the know-how to keep presentations exciting and safe for humans and their steeds. Only the most dedicated and physically adept of players qualify as jousters. The Free Lancers are distinguished in the attention and care for the safety and well-being of human and animal performers.

Sarah and I took in just such a joust. Each contestant was decked out in full body armor. The skill involved was evident, and though it is a rough sport, there was one lady participating in the competition. However, her horse was not into the festivities, and would not stay on track. He sort of made up his own rules and refused to stay in his lane. At one point he chose the lane that the other horse was riding down, and ended up throwing the lady into one of the poles. Ouch. But, she got right back up like a fighter. There was one horse that galloped like lightning and was black as night. In fact, it looked like the horse of a black knight. Even though it was a friendly competition, I bet that none of the other jousters wanted to go up against him. He put a mean dent in one man’s armor, having struck him hard in the collar bone. For a moment, it had looked like he had knocked that rider out. He definitely won the joust.

There were so many interesting choices for lunch, such as smoked turkey leg, steak on a stake, and Canterbury pork pocket, but we went for the Mac and cheese on a stick. I will let you use your imagination as to how they got it on the stick.

We listened to The Rogues…a bag pipe group…while we ate. They seriously made bag pipes sound cool. A talented group. Therogues.com

This is only a snap shot of what one can find at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. For pictures, a list of vendors and websites, history, and events, check out www.rennfest.com.

From metaphysical stores and publishers to healers and nutritionists, I saw it all at a local natural living expo. My breath was taken away by the deeply feminine artwork of Timothy Flatt. I will talk about his work in a moment.

AURA READING

I have never paid for a reading in my life. I have always read my own tarot. I have always looked up my own astrology. And if there was something that I wanted to experiment with, such as runes, crystal balls, or scrying mirrors…I would pick up the skill myself. But, at the expo, I had my aura read. I do not know why I was compelled to do so. There had been a shop with an aura camera in Toledo. I remember thinking that it sounded kinda hokey. However, my mind kept telling me to do it.

An aura is the energy field that exists around living creatures. It is connected to the activity of the charkas. The color of the aura gives us information about the quality of our consciousness, emotions, thoughts, abilities, and vital energies of a person. The human energy field changes from time to time, as a function of ones experience and views on life.

A special camera was designed to photograph the aura. It measures the differences in the energy field around us. When I had my picture taken, I sat in front of a large, box-shaped camera. Both of my hands were placed on sensors. Though the camera was bulky, it took standard Polaroid film. One man snapped my picture and it took about a minute to develop. The photographer said that my picture was pretty, referring to the rainbow that was my aura. I was quite shocked to see it. Most everyone else had one color…maybe 2. I had a whole lot of colors. I have posted a copy of it on our website. Go to fireflyacademy.org and click on PODCAST on the left-hand side.

An aura reader interpreted my photo. This is what she told me. White is the color of healing. There are three white balls on the upper left. These are my healing gods. Outlining these healing gods is the color purple, which indicates that I am deeply magickal or spiritual. The vibrant orange-red all along the top indicates that I am very joyful, creative, and energetic. Along the bottom right, blue is coming into my body…indicating that healing energy is coming in…and exiting as green energy on the left…indicating that I use this energy for counseling or teaching. Along the bottom center, a strong blue sphere is apparent. The reader asked me if I work in the communication field. In fact, I do. I work in television.

ARTIST

DIVINE MOTHER…YOU ARE THE MIRROR I HAVE SEARCHED FOR ALL THESE LONG LIFE WALKS…SINCE YOUR FACE WAS HIDDEN…YOUR TEMPLES DEFILED. I SEE AGAIN YOUR GLORIOUS, GOLDEN RAINBOW LIGHT AND REJOICE THAT I CAN REMEMBER YOU. THAT I HAVE RETURNED MY GASE SO MY EYES CAN FOCUS ONCE AGAIN TO SEE FROM THE INSIDE.

I came across the booth of Timothy Flatt as I wandered the many vendors and displays. Every person in the building would stop to gaze upon these visionary paintings. Each painting makes me feel as if I am just waking up again. And again. Secrets are revealed in every moment, just as new ones are hidden. In the prayer of the Virgin… graced by the moon…in the face of the sun. His work is so rich with detail, and tell such elaborate stories, they almost exist in a place between worlds.

Inspired just standing there, I choose to take a Personal Goddess Invocation booklet with me. It had smaller versions of many of the paintings. It is accompanied by affirmations written by Timothy’s wife, Kathleen…including the one I read earlier. In speaking with him, he told me Kathleen did not think that women get to see enough of the feminine face of the divine.

I urge you to take a moment and visit the work of visionary artist Timothy Flatt. You will find his work at www.timothyflatt.com.

SPIRIT SCHOOL

And one of my final discoveries at the Natural Living Expo was the Spirit School of the Intuitive Arts. This is a very general approach to spiritual enlightenment. This school offers 3 levels of spirit classes. This class focuses on connecting with your spirit guides, listening to your spirit’s purpose and desires, beginning a relationship with guardian angels, and empowering your inner light to enact peace and harmony in your life. They also explore divination and other tools for spiritual communication. Becoming more advanced in skill, one goes on to learn about psychic protection, auras, and charkas, as well as communicating with nature, medical intuition, dowsing, past lives, and DNA coding.

This concept of Spirit School is quite interesting. Their thinking is that the process of exploring and deciding is what is most exciting for the soul, because of all of the personal discoveries and growth along the way. This grouping of disciplines is quite different from the approach of Wicca. Instead of connecting with the divine through the self, we use the knowledge of the divine to discover more about the self.

This particular school teaches throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. If you would like to know more, visit spiritschool.net.