The Faerytale Apothecary

Continuing from the beginning-ending place of the Winter Solstice, the second part of our mythic weaving comes again from 2016, a piece invoked for a Bard of Bath soiree. Re-recorded in the newness of 2026 as I sat by the hearth fire while the frost twinkled in the full moon’s light, and the stars sang of magicks…

In October 2016, I was given the story you are about to hear, knowing it was a part of something much bigger. I have told this story in a darkened basement, in the midst of a Moroccan market place, to hedgedwellers and skyflyers, and now, dear Substackers, to you. It is an ending of sorts, but also a beginning. For the next year and a day, because of course, all the best of witchery is often held within the spell of one year and one day, we will excavate a little more of this bigger story. It may appear for us in the middle of the night, or when the noon day sun shines through a dusty window. The moon might have wandered out of our sight, or be at its brightest. For who can know the way of a thing that lives outside of human linear time. With this in mind, the fragments of tale that arrive will not be in the expected beginning-middle-end format but as and when that particular part wishes to make itself known. Beseeches and offerings will, of course be made, to the One who first gave me the story all those years ago and we can only hold our collective breaths that she will answer and grant us the priveledge of more. So, join me as we begin, with this Winter Solstice New Moon, the cycle that will call forth the ash and bone of the mythic…

I confess to an immence affection and sense of protection for Rosebud. I first met him, and his pals when I worked intentionally with story in a shamanic way during a training programme with the wonderful Jonathan Horwitz and Zara Walderback in Sweden several years ago (they have an online version of working with story in connection with nature available as a self-study here). Rosebud came and curled up next to me again over the last couple of days, and I just knew I couldn’t try to keep him safe in the confines of a laptop memory store any longer. Please treat him with tenderness, for I feel he is the very best of things - a gentle soul with great courage.

Her by The Faerytale Apothecary

Haunted by The Faerytale Apothecary

Halloween by The Faerytale Apothecary

Given it is a New Moon Eclipse, perhaps there ought to be a story of a Hidden Sun, but I have long realised, I don’t get to make the rules when it comes to what wants to move in and through and out of me. The Hidden or Buried or Dead (this one I still haven’t figured out) Moon is a traditional folk tale unique to Lincolnshire - never ever let anyone tell you otherwise. It suddenly felt a little bit important to share with you the recording of it that I made at the Summer Solstice. It might have been last year, or the year before. Somehow my mind is reluctant to clarify. Regardless, it was captured as I sat in my most beloved place by Crow Cottage, having wandered through the Gap in the Old Stone Wall here in Rutland (don’t look for it on a map, you probably won’t find it), speaking the story with the peoples that live hereabouts. I dedicate it to our grandmothers, wherever they now reside, to their fortitude and grit, for how they have shown up in the world, and all that had to be discarded so we might begin the possibility of our own lives deep, deep, deep in their bellies.

On a gorgeous evening in May, I sat by a well-tended fire with a group of people I didn’t really know as stories were told in the best of possible ways. It had been a long day and I was all ready to go snuggle up in my tent, rising from my seat to do so, when one name caught my ears. Coyote. My behind found itself plonked firmly back into the chair as my body leaned forward eager to be engulfed by the story that emerged from Joseph Heywood’s lips. The next day, on seeing Coyote tattooed on my inner right arm, Joseph insisted it was a story I had to carry with me from that day onwards. Just as he has carried it after being gifted it himself by an Indigenous Elder (my apologies for not knowing who this Elder was). It is a traveller kind of story I think, one that likes to meet new people. Peer into them, through them, with them. What you are about to listen to is not a verbatim speaking of the story Joseph told that night by the fire. It is how it moved through me one morning. Next time, I suspect, it will have something different to tell us all. I had tried to sit with this story for the last few months but it always felt to be there, yet at a distance. As if sat at the far corner of the room from me, though willing to share space, not willing to converse. I wasn’t sure how it wanted to use my voice, or if it was even possible that the two of us might be companions. As much as I delighted in its company, I wasn’t sure if it was happy with mine. But then it suddenly arrived. ‘Now’ the story said ‘now we are good to go.’ It proceeded to pour through me in the way you are about to hear. Taking me as much by surprise as it might take you, for I have the suspicion that this particular Coyote is not done with either of us yet. We shall just have to wait and see…

On a spontaneous whim one rainy Saturday morning, Tom began to read a storybook to me through whatsapp voice notes. A storybook that he had not quite got round to reading before. You know the type - you skim the illustrations, grab it on impulse, then on returning home it sits patiently in the ‘waiting pile’, sighing to itself at the wonder the book knows it contains within its interior. And oh my, what a storybook it was! I argued with it, questioned it, took offence to it and peered dubiously at it. I also marvelled at it, gasped with awe at it, surrendered with delight to it and ultimately fell into a spellbound swoon. How could I not want to share such a tale and such a teller with you! So, here for your listening pleasure is the story of Eemook as read by Tom… Eemook’s story is from The Sea Lion written by master storyteller Ken Kesey and illustrated by Neal Waldman, published in 1991. It is described by the publishers as an original tale that takes its inspiration from the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The Peoples include the Chinook, Salish, Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw and the Tlingit. More information can be found at https://www.nativehistory.info/pacific-northwest-native-tribes-culture/ And as an extra bonus I wanted to share a stunning short film by Jules Guerin entitle A Shaman’s Tale - https://julesguerin.tv/a-shamans-tale Tom lives in a small cottage in the Bay Area of California where he designs and maintains gnome friendly gardens that incorporate native plants, which are also friendly toward birds and bees. He is a part time astrologer who loves viewing the night sky from the desert. His recent interest in giving voice to story has emerged along with a rekindled interest in song. It has been helped along from having had the events of his life lovingly mirrored back to him as story, and the gentle encouragement of his uncensored voice. Find out more about his interactions with the plant people at tegardendesign.com With love Elizabeth of the Faerytale Apothecary

It is a bittersweet joyousness with which I share the beginning story of JackHat SuperCat with you. For it arrived into being at the time of my Beloved Cat Husband of over 15 years, Mr Dave the Merlin’s departure for shores to be newly explored. In honouring Mr D’s remarkable life, I invite you to relish in the delicious delight of the story that my Beloved Human Mr T entangled me in the weaving of. It’s a true treasure of a thing and leaves just one question for you, dear listener/reader. What might the next installment sound like? Where would you take the story? Send in your recordings, your essays, your jots and notes, your ink spills and word rambles, and I will collate them all together for a special winter jumble of voices and adventures. For, I feel, Mr Dave the Merlin would have it no other way. Mr T himself lives in a small cottage in the Bay Area of California where he designs and maintains gnome friendly gardens that incorporate native plants, which are also friendly toward birds and bees. He is a part time astrologer who loves viewing the night sky from the desert. His recent interest in giving voice to story has emerged along with a rekindled interest in song. It has been helped along from having had the events of his life lovingly mirrored back to him as story, and the gentle encouragement of his uncensored voice. Find out more about his interactions with the plant people at tegardendesign.com

Welcome old and new, to the old and new.We began this Spring with a new cycle of story experimentation. There is no neat telling from beginning to middle to end but an unceremonious dropping into one of the silent moments between the established words of a tale. We are leaving the reassurringly known maps behind and opening up to, not where we might want to go, but where the story decides to take us this time. The invitation is to surrender to the journey.Don’t try to find the neat edges of it, but let it envelope you in a foundness rather than a lostness. And where you go after it leaves you in some new location? Well, that is up to you… (image by Edmund Dulac)

the cracking of bones the breaking of skin yowls that do not know if they are delighted or desecrated you are in flux unknowing of yourself anymore nothing will stay in phase long enough to be grasped held on to you are released from obligations yet steady regular metronomic for now anyway what is the original mould of you? what shape of love is in you? who are you meant to be? press play….

I am always delighted and humbled and in awe of the people I get to share with you here. So imagine how gleeful and grateful I was when the incredible legend of storytelling that is Laura Simms offered up this tale for us as an extra special bonus on a cold January Full Moon. We both felt that across the world, particularly in North America, an extra large dose of Story Medicine was needed right now. Laura had this to say - “The Crystal Cup is a revision of a fairytale from Vietnam. I recorded it in 1979 with Weston Woods, Old As The World, Fresh As The Rain. I have not told it since. Given our world today, I found it a story with tremendous heart and significance.” I truly feel honoured that Laura called forth the story again for us now. Please join me wrapped in favourite blankets with favourite mugs of steaming drinks as we drop into the richness of what is shared… Laura is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, writer, teacher and humanitarian. She combines traditional stories with personal narrative. She is artistic Director of the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center in NYC, and served as a Senior Research Fellow for Rutgers University Peace Center under the auspices of UNESCO. She is a founding member of the Healing Story Alliance and serves on their programming committee. Laura saved a zoo in Romania and won the Sesame Street SUNNY DAYS AWARD for work with children worldwide. She received the Hasbro September 11 Grant creating a manual for storytelling for children in crisis, and a training for storytelling and trauma. She is a certified dharma art teacher, and senior meditation instructor in mindfulness awareness practice. Presently she has five books and many recordings. Most recently Laura worked for the Fetzer Foundation Sacred Story Project. She continues to work with The Constellation. www.laurasimms.com With love Elizabeth Jane of the Faerytale Apothecary Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Intro music by Audiobay from Pixabay Outro music by viprodmusic from Pixabay

I am secretly delighted in ways I do not fully intellectually understand that the calendar year ends with a New Moon. My ancientness knows though. Feeds on the ways of natural cycles that follow no logical human order. One of the dear friends and some time mentor that reminds me of these soul nourishments is the fantastical Sarah Mooney. Sarah produces a weekly podcast called Mooney's Mythic Podcast. I would highly recommend curling up with her each week to be transported on rich and luxurious magic carpets of words She graced us all with her words for the Winter Solstice last season and returns once more for a glorious dive into the winter darkness within. We dare you to not get comfortable, to be niggled by your discomfort, and walk with us anyway through an ending that is also a beginning…

It is with gorgeous delight that I am happy to share another dear friend in the form of Irish designer for TV and Film Damian Draven agreed to co-create a Tea for us. He said 'while tapping into memories ushered by Betty's ingredients and listening intently to my heartbeat I was drawn to a rhythm that ebbed and flowed with the drumming of my ancestors. Then taking a pause, it was at this moment that clarity ensued me to write these words...' I encourage you to let yourself fall back into them, surrender to them, feel into what they awaken in your own inheritances. Damian is also a film director, contemporary artist and exhibiting member of the RGA (Reading Guild of Artists). As a journeyman he takes great inspiration and perspective from his travels for which he cites ‘Momentum is king because inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone but the trick is to look behind the curtain for a different narrative, a different energy...’. Damian’s work can be found here www.instagram.com/damian_draven

It was such an incredible experience to co-create this tea with Tracy Chipman. She is a quite profound Story Channel who can carry the medicine to such remarkable depths, traverse the Underworlds that many dare not tread or even contemplate navigating. A part of what makes these tea recordings feel so very special for me is that when we sit to speak them, neither of us knows what the other person is going to say. They will give me the title of the tea, I will let them know only the ingredients that have shown themselves to me and that is all we know of the other before hand. And yet they always feel so beautifully woven into being. Tracy Chipman, (she/her/they) MA is a healing artist, author, a TRE® provider and oral storyteller weaving with ancient & new experiences inviting us into deeper connections with ourselves and life. She resides in northern Wisconsin, occupying the traditional territories of the Ojibwe peoples. In March 2023 Tracy published her first book, Borealis Mundi - Resting in Place, Loss & Grace. She'll be collaborating with Jackie Singer in Oxford on November 10 facilitating a day-long women's retreat - Open Your Ear to the Great Below. More info and to register by November 8 here. For more about Tracy's work in the world, please visit her website https://www.tracychipman.net/ It took me some while to pull myself back into the everyday again after this one, take your time, be gentle, but do make take this extraordinary tea with us…

I have been watching a squirrel through the study window here at the cottage, my but doesn’t that sound grand! Really my study is a desk in a corridor by a window, a window blessed with visitations from the blue tit gang peering in, the rabbit family arriving for their tea, the solitary muntjac deer making a rare visit (it literally lives at the bottom of the garden in the brambles) at exactly the right time - like a dance party for my child self and my birthday. And of course, squirrel. Watching squirrel reminded me of another squirrel I met in another place at another time….

I am utterly thrilled to share that both Willow and Agnes agreed to come visit with us once more in order to create this autumnal joy of a brew. If you missed when they stopped by last time, you can listen here. To find out where they might have led our muddy skirts for this October New Moon, simply press play, then join me in hoping they will come calling on us again. Willow is a Shaman, a Hedgewitch, Tree Witch, a Wisewoman and Druid. She is also a Shamanic Teacher of Healing and the Old Ways. Willow loves nothing more than to be deep in the mysterious Wildwoods connecting to ancient Ancestors and the magic and mystery. She is a Mother of 2 and Grandmother of 6...who delight in her magical nighttime fairy tales! You can find out more about her on her website -www.shamanicwillow.co.uk

I am humbled to co-create once again with my dear friend Leah Barnes. After we finished the Tea Transmission, I sat silently with jewelled tears nestling in my eyes. Not because there was anything wrong or upsetting but because of how cracked open to Beauty I felt from listening to her speak True Words. What is especially astounding, it feels to me, is that Leah and I have known each other for about 7 years (I think) and have only ever met in person once, earlier this year in Camden. There were tears in my eyes then too. It reminds me that in amongst all the crazy, unsettling, overwhelming noise of an online life, there are pockets of deep connection, sovereignty, positive impact, inspiration and genuine connection. I think perhaps we just need to get still enough to be cracked open by it. Leah describes herself as a curator of wearable art. Which is another way of saying much of the jewellery, clothing, bags or shoes she’s fallen in love with and bought over the years were all made by individual artisans or small businesses who bring a vision to life with their own hands. As the world speeds up and homogenises, buying things made solely by human hands feels like an important act of resistance. We invite you to pause, rest, be, and listen along with us to the Hummingbird Moon Tea’s still voice amongst the chaos…

I was delighted when a few days ago, BBC Radio Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln and Leicester all shared one of the Faerytale Apothecary stories. As the themes for this month’s super full moon in Aquarius are around the encouragement of releasing emotions, humanitarianism, honesty and innovative thinking, it felt apt to share it with you all here too. It is one of my favourite of the Faerytale Apothecary stories, and I always Love-swoon a little when it finishes! The tale often makes me think of kindnesses, what does it make you think of?