The second leg of our Cornish adventure took us to mystical Tintagel, reputed home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. My mother had come here and walked the ruins of Tintagel Island when six months pregnant with me; now, here was I, around the same amount of months pregnant with my little one. I often joke that the spirits of the place must have got to me when I was still in the womb, because I have had a lifelong fascination with King Arthur and Avalon ever since I can remember.

We stay at the Avalon (naturally!), run by the lovely couple Peter and Julie. I feel right at home straight away, as an entrance of angels, stones and a fairy frog prince greet us, along with an incredible view of Tintagel Island from our window, looking out across the Vale of Avalon, where we can watch the sun set over the island each evening.

Our first day takes us to Tintagel Island, where the ruins of Tintagel Castle (reputedly once the castle of King Arthur) lie. Originally thought to be the stronghold of a Cornish king or prince, it was eventually taken over by Earl Richard of Cornwall in 1233, when it was already the stuff of legends!

The coast walk to the island is magical in itself. Gradually approaching the wild, untamed sea, the walk takes you past Merlin's Cave and up to the bridge that leads from the mainland to the island itself.

Previously daunted by the 100 or so steps that faced my pregnant self, I found that the climb was actually quite pleasant! Less strenuous, in fact, than the coast walk back, which was extremely steep! Most likely this was due to the fact that every few steps you want to pause and take in the incredible ocean, the surrounding peninsula, and the looming ruins above.

Stepping through the archway into the main ruins, I felt like I was home. This was by far the most amazing, magical place I had ever visited, and I felt like I knew it so well. Revealing myself as a former child of Avalon? Perhaps. I certainly felt like I had been here before, and sitting on the cliff, watching the sea, I didn't want to leave.

 

It seemed the weather faeries wanted to play mischievously with us; having joked about how the foreign tourists were not made of as stern stuff as we British, being that they were decked out in waterproofs while we were in short sleeves, we were soon eating humble pie as a skin-soaking rainstorm of epic proportions swept in with little warning, drenching us to the core! I said it before when visiting Cornwall at the age of nine, and will say it again - there is no rain like Cornish rain. It is driving, hard, and relentless, yet somehow magical at the same time!

We began heading back to the entrance, with me having to put on my sunglasses for fear of my contact lenses washing away (yes, it was THAT bad!), and the fact that the rain was so hard it was making my eyes sting! Traipsing precariously through the rocks and mud, we had only gotten as far as the chapel ruins, when the rain was over as abruptly as it had begun, and the sunshine returned to warm our soaking bones.

We crossed back to the mainland to explore the mainland courtyard, and it was here that Morgan Le Fay herself appeared. Standing at the wall together, watching the ocean, I felt an even stronger connection reminding me of a past life forgotten. During our conversation I was shown visions: looking out at an ancient ship on the churning waves below; women of court on the turrets; a man; a young girl, playing in the courtyards; a swan, flying towards me; and a woman on the cliffs, jumping. This last, haunting vision revisited me several times during our stay, and I would like to try and find out if any young woman took her life on that cliff in the centuries gone by.

Morgan Le Fay is considered a faerie queen, and will work with you if you summon her. She advised planting a circle of apple trees in the garden to use as our sacred space, so if you have the room, I think this is a lovely idea for creating an area in which to work with both her, and the Fae in general.

Upon return from the castle, we looked a little longer at Merlin's Cave. The entrance was beyond reach due to the high tide, so we vowed to return another day. We paused to look inside the castle shop, and were immediately enchanted with the beautiful tapestries available to purchase. Many were of Avalonian-style knights and ladies, while another was a reproduction of a beautiful 15^th century tapestry called The Unicorn at the Fountain. Another that caught my eye was of a beautiful lady - we were told she was weeping for her husband, who had just been killed. Entitled Lady of the Fountain, this was taken from a painting by the wonderful artist Alan Lee himself!

Needless to say, along with two swords (Excalibur and the Sword of Avalon), one of the tapestries came home with us - the Accolade, depicting a lady knighting a warrior. Not long afterwards, a parcel arrived in the post - I had been treated to the unicorn one too, which now take pride of place in my faerie reading room! You can find these beautiful tapestries and swords on the English Heritage shop online.

 

After a night of howling wind and rain (apparently our hosts had never experienced the amount of rain we saw during our stay in the entire three years they had been there!), we were greeted the following morning by beautiful sunshine! And so we headed for St. Nectan's Glen, site of a beautiful waterfall with reputed healing powers.

St. Nectan's Glen is an area of woodland near to Tintagel in Trethevy, which stretches for about a mile along both banks of the Trevillet River. The highlight is the Kieve, which houses a spectacular 60-foot waterfall, the only one of its kind in the world where it falls through a holed rock into the basin below. Offerings of all kinds are left beside the waterfall, which is said to have extremely strong healing properties. Above the waterfall, in what is called The Hermitage, is St. Nectan's cell, which is open to people to sit and meditate, as the healing powers of the waterfall rise up inside it.

Parking at the waterfall car park in Trethevy, we walk along the path that points in the direction of the falls, passing St. Piran's Well Cottage on the way (Saint Piran being the national saint of Cornwall). Access to the falls is through a beautiful wooded riverside walk along the Trevillet River, which immediately transports you to another world - the Otherworld, in fact, so faerie-like is its appearance!

There are even little stacks of river stones, which look just like faerie dwellings or altars. The sunlight falls on the beautiful myriad of rocks, making them sparkle like iridescent snakeskin. I would love to return one May, when the walk is said to be carpeted in bluebells.

Heading upstream, passing magical trees and an abundance of quartz stone and lush tree ferns, we hop over a fallen tree, felled in last night's storm, and eventually reach the step (and extremely muddy!) climb to the Hermitage. This encompasses a small dwelling and St. Nectan's cell, where the current owners run a small café and take admissions for entry to the waterfall. A gate leads to the steps winding down to the falls, a mixture of stone slabs and tree roots, where water trickles down in miniature waterfalls of its own, and steam rises up from the kieve! It is so moist you can see steam coming from our mouths and water drips onto our heads - I feel like we are walking into a rainforest! A short but slippery descent through gorgeous jungle-like greenery takes us down to the kieve - we can hear the roar of the waterfall before we see it! Rounding the rocky corner, now a shrine bedecked in offerings, we catch our first glimpse of the utterly breathtaking falls, tucked into craggy rocks covered in lichen.

 

This is considered to be a very significant faerie dwelling. In her book West Country Faerie, Diana Mullis says that she feels the faerie presence every time she visits, and so do I. She refers to the offerings left as being called clouties (pronounced "clooties") - they can be found at many West Country sites such as sacred wells and stone circles. They include rags and trinkets tied to trees, flowers, shells and crystals, left as offerings to the spirits of place. They are hugely attractive to faeries and any such site housing these items will be visited by the Fae often, as they bridge the divide between the Faerie realm and our own.

Indeed, it would seem that the place is blessed with many spirits, both Fae and otherwise. In the photographs we take, I find many containing orbs. Back at the Hermitage there was a note about a high presence of orbs at the site, with people's photographs collected there. According to the likes of author Diana Cooper, orbs are supposed to represent the presence of angels, elementals, unicorns and other spirit beings. Their appearance in photographs, particularly digital ones, has long been the subject of much discussion. The sceptical would point out that they are simply the reflection of moisture in the air, but they only ever appear in my photos when we are in a magical place, or haunted or sacred site, so I'm going with the spirit theory!

We are fortunate in our timing; not only did we enjoy the river walk completely to ourselves, but we are rewarded with around ten minutes alone at the kieve also, before what I imagine is the daily deluge of people arriving to visit. I charge an amethyst heart crystal in the healing waters, and place an offering on the shrine in honour of our beloved late Merrie Fae Tresses, who at the time was in need of our prayers and healing.

Just before we leave, I am treated with a glimpse of a strange-looking water sprite, green and long in appearance, covered in lichen and watery moss. It rises from the rocks and then vanishes, as though never there at all.

Before returning home, we pause a while in the cell back at the Hermitage. The interior has been transformed into a beautiful meditation shrine, decorated with candles and statues of goddesses such as Coventina, the god Cernunnos, angels and faeries, and many other symbolic objects. It is filled with little notes left by visitors, praying for the souls of their dearly departed and sick loved ones, and each visitor is able to light a candle and leave it on the display.

Sadly, the future of St. Nectan's Glen is unsure. The current owners are having to sell up, and a group has been formed to try and raise enough money (around £1 million) to purchase the Glen and secure its future, saving it from being bought and developed for some insensitive commercial purpose, and preserving it as a sacred site available to all for generations to come. If you wish to help or support this group you can join the Friends of St. Nectan's Glen at http://stnectansglen.ning.com.

Walking back towards the road and car park, we discover St. Piran's Well. Saint Piran is the patron saint of tin miners and the national saint of Cornwall. Originally from Ireland, he sailed to Cornwall and set up his St Piran's Oratory, now buried in the expanse of Penhale Sands. He died in his hermitage on 5^th March, which is now celebrated as St. Piran's Day. The well contains healing water, and faery folk are thought to be associated with it. More on that next time...

 

 

The final part of this tale will take us on the Grail Trail, where Arthur's last battleground reveals a field full of faeries, and we encounter pixie houses, witches and Merlin himself!

 

See you in the summer issue of Faezine...

By Louise Heyden

Miss MerFaery - From the Faerie Witch's Kitchen

Louise is a happy little free spirit who grew up by the southeast English sea and now lives in Cheshire with her beloved fiance John, where she enjoys rambling through the old streets of Chester and musing amongst the blackbirds and squirrels by the ruins of the old Gothic church.

She has lived in the magic since childhood, having always believed most fervently in faeries, unicorns and angels, and loves nothing more than to write, create, read and daydream.

You are most likely to find her under a favourite tree, talking to the birds, watching the ocean or working on a new fantastical project.

Louise is a writer and artist, with a forthcoming educational book, numerous articles out there on the web, and a plethora of ideas and dreams for future faerie crafts and fantasy novels, if she ever gets that oh so precious time...

Louise has been a member of Enchanted Folk since June 2008

members.enchantedfolk.com/firewalkswithspirit

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