healingwords: poetry for the soul

Today I was reminded by a poetry prompt of fairy stories with my Dad when I was a tiny child. He continued to tell us fairy adventures based in our garden or the countryside all through my childhood and with my own children. Now I still see the fairy hand in a breeze of dandelion clocks, autumn toadstools rings, mossy tree stumps and wooded areas that have that special feel. 

Chamomile grows freely on the hills in this region of Spain, some large clumps growing as big as an armchair. Locals have always picked stems of the flower to boil and drink both for all kinds of digestive problems but also as an aid to sleep. I drink 'manzanilla' for both issues. Along with mint tea, known as menta here, it is a popular choice after a meal, especially if it is too late for a dose of caffeine. Many people will not drink coffee in the evening as it keeps them awake. If I wake in the night and insomnia strikes, after an hour or so of tossing and turning I will make a manzanilla and soon drop back to sleep.  

Herbal infusions are popular in Spain, many different kinds are sold in supermarkets and locals still make their own with herbs picked from the countryside. In my local area rosemary, thyme, chamomile and fennel grow wild. Thyme is recommended as an antiseptic and for use with coughs, colds and respiratory infections. It is also said to have a calming effect, bringing serenity and strength. Folklore calls thyme tea 'infusion de las hadas', as it said if you drink this and sleep on a fairy hill or in a fairy wood you will meet with the fairies and goblins or speak to them in your dreams. 

These woodland seats are in Crackley Woods in Warwickshire, one of my favourite places. Since childhood I have walked in these woods, holding my mother's hand and then her arm as she aged. My children have run through the trees and perched on the faerie chairs and I hope to take my grandchildren there.  Part of the woods are under threat from HS2 and I hope the campaigners succeed in preventing more damage to this ancient and precious woodland.  © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The Three Fairies Dancing sculpture at the Rollright stones is the work of environmental sculptor David Gosling and his son Adam and reflects one of the legends associated with the stones. It is said that fairies live beneath the Kings stone and come out at night to dance around the stone circle. The sculpture is inspired by William Blake's painting 'Oberon, Titania and Puck with fairies dancing' from A Midsummer night's dream. It is a nice thought that Shakespeare may have known the Stones as they lie close to the old Stratford to London road. The dancing fairies have an amazing energy, they seemed semi real on a windy, grey day and were perfectly at home next to the Stone Circle and near the beautiful wood sculptures in the Whispering Knight's wood project a few hundred yards from the stones.   © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The King's Men  is a stone circle near the village of Great Rollright in Oxfordshire. It is one of three megalithic monuments known as the Rollright Stones which also feature a single standing stone, the King Stone and a group of stones thought to be a burial chamber called The Whispering Knights. The monuments are from three different time periods, the oldest being The Whispering Knights from the early Neolithic, about 3,500 to 3,800 BC. The stone circle dates to the late Neolithic, circa 2,500 years BC and the King's Stone from the early Bronze age, approximately 1,500 BC. More information on the archaeological investigation of the stones is given on the Rollright website,  https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/ A number of myths have grown up to explain the sites. One describes how a witch  challenged a King and his army saying 'Seven long strides shalt thou take and if Long Compton thou canst see, King of England thou shalt be'. As he took his seventh stride the...