The Magical Faerie Whisk

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Last year at this time we had a house full of guests, among them an elementary-school aged girl. Helping in the kitchen—apron clad—she was fascinated with our faerie whisk. Busy with the tasks at hand, “Are there really such things as faeries?” she asked in wide-eyed fascination.

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Carefully sprinkling colored sugar and a wee bit of pixie dust on the cookie tops, I smiled at her thinking, “Who am I to deny their existence, especially at this magical time of year?”

Rather than the Americanized spelling fairy, I prefer the Gaelic spelling faerie, meaning from the realm of fae—those who know. And yes, there’s a difference between faeries, sprites, and pixies:

  • Faeries are woodland dwellers.
  • Sprites live near water.
  • Pixies—highly mischievous!—oversee moorlands, underground dwellings, and stone circles.

What do you find magical this holiday season?

Wishing you health, peace, and joy!

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

The Book—Discovering the Seven Selves
The Experience—Life Harmony

© Laurie Buchanan 2013

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100 thoughts on “The Magical Faerie Whisk”

  2. The return of the light is magical, making the dark and the cold a time of inspiration. Hope you have wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with peace and joy.

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  4. My grandchildren still believe the Christmas elf perched high on a shelf monitors their behavior to see if they “deserve” nice Christmas presents. Believing in the magic whisk is much more whimsical. And, yes, I like your spelling of faerie, fanciful indeed.

    By the way, I believe you must be a combination of all three: faerie, sprite, and pixie. I don’t know for sure about you, Laurie, but after seeing your husband dressed as a cereal killer, he is definitely a mischievous pixie!

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    • Marian – Your comment made me laugh out loud. I’ve worn a pixie haircut for decades, and my uncanny resemblance to Peter Pan has been commented on for as many years. So maybe, just maybe, I’ve got a dash of whimsy in my blood 🙂

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  6. I get a sense of peace on a cold, crisp, clear, and calm Christmas night because I have a strong sense that it’s the most peaceful moment of the year, since even the violent, evil beings among us might take a break for one night and be civil to their friends and family for a few hours. I guess that’s sort of magical, having even a moment of real peace in the world.

    Chris

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    • I love the light of excitement and wonder in the eyes of children. They still see thec magic and hear the Christmas bell.
      Magic has always existed in the world if we have open hearts and minds to welcome it.
      I believe the veil between this world and the mystery world is tthinnest this time of year.
      Merry Christmas to you Laurie and to Len !

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      • Audrey – I love the word picture you painted: “I believe the veil between this world and the mystery world is thinnest this time of year.” Beautiful — thank you!

  8. This made me smile big–when our daughter came home this summer she lamented that we did NOT have a single whisk in our house! I am half expecting to open one when we unwrap her Christmas gifts this evening. Another Merry Christmas to you!

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  9. A psychic once said to me, “Ah, you see the faeries!” I replied, “Not exactly, but I see where they live.” As I walk down the old Fox Lake Road, the sun can reach the path, but the woods are in shadow…except now and then, with no rhyme or reason, a patch of deep woods glows with sunshine, illuminating everything in that small area. it always feels magical to me. Merry Christmas!

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  10. I don’t care for the commercialism that surrounds Christmas …But did I hear you say Magic Laurie ? Do you remember in a previous post that my husband reckoned I’m away with the fairies or faeries most of the time lol
    I can see magic at any time of the year …but I have a soft spot for snow. I think it is so beautiful as it falls and leaves a carpet of white diamonds over the land when we wake . I refuse to think of all the confusion it causes . Actually I think it’s the ‘bit of a stir’ I quite like ( as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone of course )
    Have a lovely Christmas and can I have your faerie whisk when you’ve finished with it lol
    Cherry x

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  13. I like your response to the little girl, Laurie. And I commend you on keeping magic alive. And thank you for increasing my own knowledge of the magical.
    There is magic every where you look. You just have to look. For example, after attending a house party last night, I’m amazed at how many happy Mayne Islanders can squeeze into one average size house. It is magical.
    Have a magical holiday, Laurie.

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  14. I find Christmas lights magical and always have. As you know Laurie, my parents do not have electricity and use a generator sparingly to fill the holding tank for the house water and to water the animals and to wash the laundry (there wasn’t always even a holding tank for water and we packed it in buckets from the river for a good number of years). Christmas Eve was an exceptions. You see, the house was wired for electricity but the generator was noisy and expensive to operate. So when it started to get dark on Christmas Eve we would hold are breath waiting. Dad never failed us. Well, he would say, I better go start the plant (what the generator was called). We would look at each other and grin. In a few minutes we knew the lights on our freshly decorated tree that we had tramped through deep snow to get would light up. Such luxury to waste precious fuel on tree lights! Christmas had arrived.

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  15. We have a faerie (I like that spelling as well) house at the base of the 3 sister trees, that form a little courtyard for their doorway. My children discovered it, although it is in plain site along the dirt road that parallels the creek, quite close to my sacred place and the place that I married my husband 25 yrs ago. That faeries dwell there has stayed with me ever since; and in springtime I bring them a gift of early wildflowers, nuts and dried fruit to celebrate Beltane (Spring Equinox).

    But what is magical for me in this season is my children’s excitement and belief in the magic, even as it begins to dawn fully upon them that mom & dad participate. It’s still magic, isn’t it ? Very little under the tree at bedtime on Christmas Eve; and then on Christmas Morning – the joy of discovering what is hidden beneath all the gay wrappings of a multitude of gifts, that have “appeared” overnight like “magic”.

    There really isn’t anything about the season – from Winter Solstice to New Years – that I don’t fully appreciate and enjoy. Wishing all that are here – Merry & Bright – and much joy and laughter in the coming year. Merry Christmas to all & to all a Happy New Year !!!

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    • Deb – Oh how I love what you’ve shared here, it warms my heart. Thank you, too, for the rich blessings to one and all. May this holiday season smile gently upon you and yours, and may the New Year bring you light and joy.

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  16. Laurie, I wish both you and Len the best Christmas season ever! The great enthusiasm and spirited behavior of the kids at this time of year has a magical undercurrent, and it seems that everyone is always chipping in. While I know there are some out there who embrace cynicism instead of positive energy I can only see smiles and contentment at a very special time.

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    • Sam – Yes, to view the world through a child’s eyes and heart with “enthusiasm and spirited behavior” — how wonderful. And you’ve got a house full of them. You and Louise are fortunate, indeed 🙂

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  17. well, Laurie, I have just had an experience with reincarnation and, to tell you the truth, it was not all that unexpected. I will tell the tale hopefully tomorrow over at Eternal Presence. It involves the Magic kitty.

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  18. It is a Season of Magic and Miracles. For me the Magic lies in the way, that if only for a few days, entire strangers will smile and say Merry Christmas! as they pass each other through the crowded aisles of grocery stores. That people who look as if they could use some financial help themselves, will stop at the Salvation Army tripod and push a few dollar bills into the bucket. That the crabby old woman at church will hug you like a sister as you leave the sanctuary after the Candle light service. That children will mind their P’s and Q’s just long enough to fool Santa, or so they think. That the Christ Consciousness engulfs the entire Earth if only for a night and Angels, unseen and unheard, sing sweetly among the stars in memory of a little baby born in a stable.

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  19. I definitely live with magical faeries and sprites in my life and my father told such wonderful stories about these magical folks in his life. My cousin was so taken by Findhorn that she lived and taught there for a number of years. She would tell of the giant vegetables which sustained the first family when they moved there – survival by faerie blessings.

    My mum did not believe nor my sister or brother so we had to be careful as we got older; it the magic that I try to create for my children.

    Thank you for all your sharing this season very special group of posts you have written and I am still thinking about being part stardust. Thank you so much

    I hope it is a wonderful holiday season for you and yours and all your wonderful readers.
    Merry, merry, Happy, happy.

    ( I can not go to church this season or Easter because I am so troubled by the toxic perfumes, laundry products, and scented candles etc. But I love Universal Peace Dancing on New Years Eve, know that it is happening all over the world….)

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  21. Hi Laurie & Sandi & all

    Its late Christmas evening, and Ailsa and I are home after a 400 mile journey and two widely spread family feasts. A great day, and very happy to be home again.

    I can’t get past Arthur C Clarke’s famous quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. This seems to be true in an realm of technology – be it physical tools (like computers – which appear magical to many), or in the realm of ideas (like some of the ideas attributed to Christ).

    So yeah, I love magic (advanced technology) and I like to see it employed in the service of all life.

    We can all do with more magic in our lives, some more so than others.

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    • Ted – I just love the new-to-me quote you shared here. What a lovely gift, thank you! If I calculated correctly, you and Ailsa are 17 hours ahead of Len and I so you’re settling down after quite a holiday adventure — 400 miles and two (count ’em two) family feasts!

      May this holiday season smile gently upon you and yours, and may the New Year bring you light and joy.

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  27. I always thought fairies were scary. Little folk with wings on their back, mermaids and dolls were and aren’t my thing. I would’ve dismissed the whole fairy thing to that young’un in your kitchen. Maybe you’d’ve put me out and I’d’ve had to chunk rocks at your back door. I don’t know what would’ve happened after that. Maybe jail, perhaps?

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  30. What do you find magical this holiday season?
    Wishing you health, peace, and joy! … ditto
    I found magic in your blog. Using imagination each day brings in new magic.
    The love I see shared over the holidays is good to go each day of the new year.

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  32. Hi Laurie! Wishing you health, peace and joy now and into 2014! I love the spelling nuance you pointed out. I was reading…and then that grammar girl in me thought, “hmmmm…” then there you are again with another unique voice of wisdom! 🙂 I love the new header pic, by the way. Looks great! Will check back soon. Gotta head over to “Frank’s Place.” 🙂 (bet you know who that is?)

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    • Deborah – Thank you for the well wishes! I’m glad you like the new “header” photo — my husband took that photograph at Poplar Grove Airport (Illinois) when we were there for a bluegrass festival in late September.

      Frank’s Place? Now I’m intrigued…

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  35. “realm of fae” — still the dutch word today — when I was small, I used to dream them, 24 was their number 🙂 — never found them when mind is active, but in silence, they appear, close to the brooks, in the woodlands, where I snap most of my pictures …

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  36. This is an awesome post, Laurie! For many reasons (to me) One–I am a personal chef–and for the longest time had that tiny whisk on my key chain (I lost those keys, drat it) also–I did not know of the etymology of faerie–although visually i like the spelling better (I am a character that way; liking certain letters better than others) also–did not know the difference between the critters…

    whew. Lots of stuff. and whimsy, and magick, to boot. 🙂

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      • SageDoyle – Yes, it’s most certainly an airport. My husband pilots small (2-4 seater) airplanes. Those types of planes need to steer well clear of O’Hare with the gigantic commercial planes. Hence, there’s loads of little airports sprinkled hither and yon. That particular trestle bridge is at the Poplar Grove airport about 1/2 west of where we live in Illinois.

      • Oh ok, looks very scenic. I was on a 6 passenger plane to Nantucket once. It was loud and shaky and kind of scary lol The turbulence was discomforting.

      • I’m sure that’s true, it was over the ocean to the island so maybe there was a lot of wind. I say scary, but I mean in an exciting way, like a rollercoaster 😉

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