Happy Halloween!

The Faery Ride

Forget the hearth,

Forget the roof,

Set the wheel aside:

Leave your weaving,

Warp and woof,

Steal out to us this Samhain-Tide.

Steal out to us, our tossing hair

Sets sun and moon and stars aflare.

The racing winds are hounds beside

The cloud-maned horses that we ride.

Come ride with us, have heart to dare

The plunging steed; the steeps of air;

The swirling, high, tumultuous flight,

The aery hooves — this Samhain night!

-Ella Young

These our actors

As I foretold you, were all spirits and

Are melted into air, into thin air;

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit shall dissolve,

And like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

-From The Tempest, William Shakespeare

It is remarkable that nowhere...do the gypsies regard the witch as utterly horrible, diabolical and damnable. She is with them simply a woman who has gained supernatural power, which she uses for good or misuses for evil according to her disposition.

-From Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune-Telling, Charles Godfrey Leland

In memory of my grandmother, beloved Mama Kitty, who was called Gypsy.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

-AWW