Tag Archives: melanie dawn

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How We Honor Samhain ~ Halloween

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For many people Halloween is a time of year to get dressed up in costume, carve pumpkins, go trick or treating, and go out and party. But for some of us, it marks a very magical and blessed time of year. To those who practice our way, it’s Samhain, a festival to mark the harvest and the beginning of the darker half of the year.

We like the fun parts of Halloween to and certainly embrace them, but to us it’s also a very sacred time of year. In reverence of the Sabbat, we also light candles, leave offerings, build altars, and connect with and honor our ancestors, as it’s a time of year where the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest.

Along with honoring our ancestors, Anne and I also take this time of year to honor a very mystical part of our selves. We dig deep, tap into our core and invoke a spirit, elemental or deity that wants to rise. We allow that entity to come to life through us and we take on its form, so that it can see the world through our eyes. And the world, can see it through us.

We like embracing the Sabbat in this way because it’s rooted in the most magickal aspects of our being, and it also teaches us something about our selves and our journey through life on this side of the veil.

This year I am working with Tiamat. She is a Mesopotamian primodial chaos goddess from 2000 BC. She gave birth to the first generation of deities and is sometimes identified with a dragon or sea serpent. It is said that when she was slain, the top half of her body formed the heavens and bottom the earth.

Anne is embracing this great work with the Roman goddess of seawater Salacia. She presides over the depths of the ocean and is Neptune’s queen. She is personified through the calm and sunlit attributes of the sea, all qualities that are very befitting of Faerie Anne Elizabeth.

However you choose to embrace the season, we hope you can find its sacred aspects and honor them in way that makes your light shine bright through the darkness of the year.

Blessed Be! ~ Faerie Melanie

Love, light and faerie dust!¨`*.✫*¨*.¸¸.*¨`*.✫*¨*¨`*.✫*¨*.¸¸.*¨`*.✫*¨*.¸¸.*¨`*.✫*¨*¨`*.✫*¨*.¸¸.*¨`*.✫*

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How to Celebrate Summer Solstice ~ Midsummer ~ The Cusp of Magic ~ Litha

Altar by Living Fae ~ Melanie Dawn & Anne Elizabeth

Altar by Living Fae ~ Melanie Dawn & Anne Elizabeth

Summer Solstice is a magical time and one of my favorite times of the year. For one it’s my birthday and it’s also a faerie day, where the veil between our world and the land a faerie is thin. For these reasons I have a very personal connection to this season. Even before I started on my spiritual path I would celebrate my birthday outside in nature, and often dancing under the stars. It was when I met my faerie partner in magic Melanie Dawn that Solstice started to have an even deeper meaning for me. It was the first of the Sabbats that I began to honor and celebrate. It marked my initiation into the “Old Ways” which has lead to fully embracing my inner faerie and spiritual self.

Summer Solstice occurs sometime between June 20th – 21st in the northern hemisphere. Solstice means sun stands still and this is because as the sun reaches its highest point in the sky for the few days on and around Solstice the sun appears to stand still in the heavens. It is the longest day of the year, where the night is short and the light reigns. Just imagine how magical this must have been to ancient peoples who worshiped the sun as their God. The Sun represents the divine masculine and is the giver of life. Ancient peoples depended on the sun for sustenance and food for the coming winter months ahead. Cultures all around the world for eons have held celebrations, festivals, gatherings and rituals to mark this special time of year. Fire ceremonies are traditional for Solstice to pay homage and honor to the sun.

Another name for the Summer Solstice is The Cusp of Magic because all the land is bathed in warmth and light and the earth is lush and full of worldly delights. Everyone loves the summertime. It’s a time to play and enjoy the warm season. We also get to enjoy seasonal fruits such as berries, stone fruits and other delicious treats from the earth. All these things are possible because of the sun and the other elements that generously give to us year after year. It is also the time you are most likely to see or encounter a faerie or faeries. Faeries love this magical time and celebrate by dancing, singing, playing, making mischief and partaking in the drink and fruits of the season!

For the past 15 years we have been involved in or have thrown a party in honor of Summer Solstice. The first big outdoor party we went to was for my 21st birthday up in the Sierra Mountains where the altitude connects you to the heavens in a truly magical way. A synchronistic day indeed, my golden birthday 21 on the 21st! At this event we made many long lasting friendships which have been a true blessing and changed our lives and many wondrous and lovely ways. Over the years we have held our celebration all over California, but since 2003 we have been lucky to have the use of our good friends Dane and Derek’s property on the Carmel River. This land is very magical and having the river, trees, animals and elements makes this a very special place. Friends and family gather for the weekend to enjoy the land, listen to music, eat well and celebrate under the sun, moon and stars.

The thing I look forward to most about Solstice is our traditional ritual and the creative inspiration that comes with the planning and preparation. All year we work hard coming up with ideas for the altars, the ceremony and attending to the little details that make each year special and meaningful.

Each year we do a gratitude ritual to give thanks for all the good things in our lives. We also use this opportunity to release anything that is not serving us and begin the process of manifesting our dreams into reality. Attendees dress in white, and we each add magical herbs and other offerings to a collective offering to honor and thank Mother Earth, Father Sky, Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun. The idea of the ritual is based on the Goddess Pachamama, she is a Mother Goddess who’s name means Mother World or Good Mother. She is native to indigenous peoples of the Andes. We of course add our own individuality and creativity to this ceremony based on our intuition and feelings, thus making it our own. We prepare a sacred ritual fire, and allow it to burn down. We then add our offering to the embers and wait and see if Mother Earth will accept our offering. We know its accepted if bursts into flames and burns. Every year we lose our breath a little while we wait to see if our offering is accepted. A truly magical and blessed moment! It is truly amazing to witness how our celebration can touch and inspire the people who attend.

Many moons ago Melanie Dawn made a wish for me. Her wish was that I would grow and embrace my true spiritual nature. Guess what? That wish came true! All because she lighted the way for me and opened the door. For this I am eternally grateful and honored. This is our heartfelt wish for everyone who is lucky enough to experience our Solstice celebration and ritual. We want to light the path that opens the way to embracing all your spiritual gifts and raise the collective consciousness of all who are open to recognizing that there are many blessings in life to celebrate. The power of belief is real and by expressing your heartfelt gratitude and focusing your intent you can make all your dreams come true!

May your Summer Solstice be filled with magic, and faerie dust!

Blessings to the light!
Blessings to the Faeries and Ascended Masters who guide us!

Blessings, love and light to you!

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Melanie Dawn Bio

bio pictureMelanie Dawn has had a passion for faeries as long she can remember. Her mother will attest that every year for Halloween growing up when asked what she wanted to be, she always answered “a faerie”.

Melanie grew up devoted to a few different faiths but it wasn’t until she was in her 20’s that she decided to dive full force into the study and practice of the spiritual path she walks today. When asked to describe it she’ll tell you, “it’s really just an amalgamation of all the things I’ve studied and practiced, but most importantly it’s the creative source that comes out of me intuitively. I think that’s what my study and practice really taught me. And of course it always has some faerie flair to it because my inner being is faerie. One of my spiritual teachers once said to me, ‘once a faerie always a faerie.’ At the time I wasn’t sure what he meant by it but I do now. To top it off I was born on the Lammas, a popular faerie day. I think that plays a part in it.”

She grew up in Winnipeg, MB Canada. After graduating from university she moved to Canada’s west coast and made Vancouver, BC her home. It was the spiritual work she did in Vancouver that helped build her foundation. When she was 30 she decided it was time to fulfill a childhood dream and moved down to California. Her spiritual practice was taken to a whole different level down in California when she began taking it more public by performing blessings, designing altars and sacred space for events, and hosting group breath work sessions.

Melanie has led blessing, altar and sacred space design for San Francisco’s Sunset Party Collective since 2002 for its Sunset Parties and the Sunset Campout. She has also bestowed her light in blessings and altar design for Lightning in a Bottle, The Gathering 19th Anniversary, with LA’s urban shaman, Shaman Durek, and for Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. Melanie worked with Agape’s Gracious Spaces Ministry for three years decorating and designing altars and sacred meditation areas in the spiritual center, healing practitioner’s office, for graduations, celebrity memorials, Easter, Christmas and for it’s annual event Revelations.

Melanie met Anne Elizabeth shortly after she arrived in California. They have been magical partners in ritual and altar creation ever since.

To contact Melanie Dawn email us at LivingFae@FaerieArts.com.