Faerie World

This past weekend I took myself on an Artist Date to FaerieCon.  If you know the Cons then you know they are for people who are really really into whatever Con they relate to.  In this case all things related to the Faerie (or Fairy!) Realm:  Faeries, Elves, Mermaids, Goddesses and other woodland creatures.  I would even factor in Norsemen, Druids, Knights and other Midieval folks.  Essentially, its the hotel version of Middle Earth.

It was my first visit to one of these and I saw lots of people dressed to the max in amazing costumes, You see them first hanging outside on real earth which seems off if only because its not October anymore.  If you didn't have a costume and wanted one, then you were in the right place.  There was a full array of artist's booths with folks selling their artwork and wear.   This was not your Halloween pop-up store.  The costume-wear here was often handmade and high quality with a price tag to match.  Velvet gown with Renaissance sleeves?  No problem! Corset for your gorgeous handmade wired Faerie Wings?  Take your pick.   And the velvet jacket with the phases of the moon burned out on the back? That will be $400, thank you, its a one-of-a-kind.

You could go small too, because while FaerieCon is for the magical kids inside of us, its also for actual kids!   On Sunday, the last day of the event,  it's Family Day and kids get in free!  I saw many, mostly little girls, of varying sizes running around all decked out in wings and flouncy skirts.  Once again, if your little elf was lacking proper attire there was plenty of it to choose from.  I snatched up an adorable skirt and wristlet set with pink ribbons and roses for my own (winged) creature who was not with me this time.

If you just want to dip your toe or ear in the Faerie realm, then there was plenty of artwork to look at including jewelry, sculpture, paintings, drawings and such as well as masks and a vast array of ear cuffs for mermaids, faeries, elves, and dwarves.  For a future costume, I couldn't resist getting myself a most enchanting pair of handmade leaves. 

Its not just showing off costumes and exhibitors either. There are programs ongoing throughout the event featuring musicians, artists and authors, as well as workshops, fashion shows and contests.  And both Friday and Saturday nights of the weekend featured Good-Faery and Bad-Faery (respectively) Masquerade Balls which sold out long before the event. 

So if you ever crave to spend time in an actual magical realm, I think this is as close as you can get. Its an incredibly satisfying real world 3-D (vs. 2-D Electronic Device) experience.  Soak it in while you can because Faerie Con comes around only once a year, unless you want to travel to the other coast.  If you're up for a bit of a spectacle, or you are in dire need of a Hobbit Cloak, this is where you can find one!

Free Yourself! 

Pay attention people.  Pay attention.  There is a very very quiet alarm clock going off.  If you stop for a minute you might be able to hear it.  Its telling you to wake up.  Wake up.  Wake up sleepy head.  Wake up, rub your eyes and take a good look around and see what is really, really going on. 

Like rats in a cage the minute you start to come to your "senses" you are fed another pellet aimed at providing you as much faux joy and bliss as possible so that you focus on getting more pellets and not the cage.  

Because like it or not you are still in the cage.   And the pellets look a lot like the following: 

• contrived media blitzes,
• superficial finger pointing at celebrities,
• stories that get you all fired up about something and then keep you going about that some thing over and over again
• disasters and weather
• electronics and other distractions
• cheap, yummy, colorless or artificially colored food
• drugs, legal and illegal
• people that make you think they care about you but don't

In the movie Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, Frodo, bless his little Hobbit self, finally gets to the last, and perhaps most difficult leg of his journey; the ascent to Mt. Doom to throw the Ring of Power into the pool of lava where it will be gone forever.

What is left of the fellowship bands together, and in a last ditch effort heads to the gates of Mordor where they prepare to sacrifice themselves to the enemy in what is sure to be a lost battle (there's like 6 of them against herds of men, orcs and trolls and other disgusting beasts), in the name of Frodo.  They haven't seen him in ages but know he hasn't fulfilled his mission yet because here they stand against the ugly, relentless team of assholes that pervades every crack of Middle Earth.

It doesn't sound very smart but it is actually genius.  Because in the next moment we see that terrifying, all-seeing eye of Sauron whip-turn his gaze from elsewhere to look directly at the seemingly important battle about to take place, thus distracting it from the even bigger and more urgent situation- that of Frodo getting rid of the ring forever and destroying Sauron and all of Mordor---which we know he does.

Middle Earth is actually a lot like real Earth. We too are being distracted but in our case its the bad guys doing the distracting, and sometimes they are a lot more pretty or trustworthy than an obviously evil orc.

I hate to tell you this but while you are in the cage, focusing on the pellets, you are actually being moved to an even smaller and shittier cage.  And when you take a look around that home, there will no longer be any pellets left.   You are going to either become deeply depressed or completely enraged and beg for help.  But by then it will be too late.  Everyone you know and love will be in tiny cages too.

But if you're reading this, its not too late. Not eating pellets looks a lot like the following:

• Being around people that actually care about you
• Eating and/or cooking yummy high quality naturally colorful food
• Joining people that are working for things you really care about
• Leaving the commercials behind
• Being outdoors
• Saying "who cares?" to the latest celebrity finger pointing
• Asking yourself what you think is true or important
• Talking with people, neighbors, friends in person
• Sharing, or as 2-year-olds call it "taking turns"

So if you can, get quiet now, and listen, wake up, see what being conscious feels like.  Be one of the few who is actually watching Frodo climb the mountain. ♥