Friday 24 August 2012

magic of the ljósálfar


magic of the ljósálfar

I, aos sí - a supernatural race in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology comparable to the fairies or elves.
Ii,  aos sí means "people of the mounds" (the mounds are known in Irish as "the sídhe"). In Irish literature the people of the mounds are also called daoine sídhe, in Scottish mythology they are daoine sìth. Tuatha Dé Danann ("People of the Goddess Danu") – the deities and deified ancestors of Irish mythology. Some sources describe them as the survivors of the Tuatha Dé Danann who retreated into the Otherworld
Iii, Aos sí are sometimes seen as fierce guardians of their abodes – whether a fairy hill, a fairy ring, a special tree (often a hawthorn) or a particular loch or wood. The Gaelic Otherworld is seen as closer at the times of dusk and dawn, therefore this is a special time to the aos sí, as are some festivals such as Samhain, Beltane and Midsummer.
Iv, Ljósálfar – Álfr/ álfar ambivalent beings with certain magical abilities capable of helping or hindering humans.
V, Albh- meaning "white", from which also stems the Latin albus "white".
Vi, Originally ælf and its plural ælfe were the masculine forms, while the corresponding feminine form was ælfen or elfen (with a possible feminine plural -ælfa, found in dunælfa).
Vii, Alberich "king of ljósálfar ".
Viii, Alfvin - "elf-friend"
iX, Ælfwaru (f.) "elf-guardian"
X, Ælfwynn (f.) "elf-bliss"
Xi, Ælfflæd (f.) "elf-beauty"
Xii, "Light-elves" – Ljósálfar
love & light
Trace
xoxo 

Thursday 23 August 2012

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci", by John Keats

Hi I wanted to share with you a beautiful poem in a short post by Keats.

'This pursued through volumes might take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration.'
-- Keats (Dec. 21, 1817)

Keats wrote a tremendous amount of great poetry during 1819,
 including "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".


The Story

The poet meets a knight by a woodland lake in late autumn.
The man has been there for a long time, and is evidently dying.

The knight says he met a beautiful, wild-looking woman in a meadow.
He visited with her, and decked her with flowers.
She did not speak, but looked and sighed as if she loved him.
He gave her his horse to ride, and he walked beside them.
He saw nothing but her, because she leaned over in his face and sang a mysterious song.
She spoke a language he could not understand, but he was confident she said she loved him.
He kissed her to sleep, and fell asleep himself.

He dreamed of a host of kings, princes, and warriors, all pale as death.
They shouted a terrible warning -- they were the woman's slaves.
And now he was her slave, too.
Awakening, the woman was gone, and the knight was left on the cold hillside.


Manuscript
                          I

Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

                          II
Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.

                          III
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

                          IV
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful - a faery's child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

                          V
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

                          VI
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.

                          VII
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said -
'I love thee true'.

                          VIII
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

                          IX
And there she lulled me asleep
And there I dreamed - Ah! woe betide! -
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.

                          X
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried - 'La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!'

                          XI
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.

                          XII
And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.


"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" means "the beautiful woman without mercy." It's the title of an old French court poem by Alain Chartier. ("Merci" in today's French is of course "thank you".) Keats probably knew a current translation which was supposed to be by Chaucer. In Keats's "Eve of Saint Agnes", the lover sings this old song as he is awakening his beloved.

"Wight" is an archaic name for a person. Like most people, I prefer "knight at arms"
to "wretched wight", and obviously the illustrators of the poem did, too.
("Until I met her, I was a man of action!")

"Sedge" is any of several grassy marsh plants which can dominate a wet meadow.

"Fever dew" is the sweat (diaphoresis) of sickness.
Keats originally wrote "death's lily" and "death's rose",
and he refers to the flush and the pallor of illness.
If the poet can actually see the normal red color leaving the cheeks of the knight,
 then the knight must be going rapidly into shock, i.e.,
the poet has come across the knight right as he is dying, and is recording his last words.
(The knight is too enwrapped in his own experience to notice.)

Medieval fairies (dwellers in the realm of faerie) were usually human-sized,
though Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream allowed them
(by negative capability)
to be sometimes-diminutive.

"Sidelong" means sideways. A "fragrant zone" is a flower belt.
"Elfin" means "pertaining to the elves", or the fairy world.
A "grot" is of course a grotto. "Betide" means "happen", and "woe betide"
 is a more romantical version of the contemporary expression "----
 happens". "Gloam" means gloom. A "thrall" is an abject slave.


love & light
Trace
xoxo



Monday 20 August 2012

Dollirium

Hi everyone :0)
As promised I am showing the poster for the
Doll gallery in Canada - Dollirium.

I am so excited to have my dolls exhibit with all the other 
wonderful, talented artists. 
Dollirium facebook page HERE

Below are some of the dolls you will be able to view/buy
that I created filling with love & light  :0)
These dolls'are made with either cloth & clay/just clay.
All completely hand-made, hand painted. 
No molds/templates used.

I hoped to create a light & airy feel to these dolls.
They could sit in a room - shabby chic or bohemian style!
Maybe they can be presented as a gift ie:
Peace for a friend, 
or as a reminder of a dream to not be forgotten?

love & light
Trace
xoxo