Faery Who Was Kissed By The Pixies
Perched upon her enchanted faery stool, this faery shines with her own inner light while surrounded by saucy pixies and other tricksy creatures. She laughs with the joy that a pixie kiss brings. The pixies say there cannot be too much kissing! A faery kiss is a blessing indeed.
Some mushrooms are called toadstools, but I've never seen a toad sitting on one. I've often seen faeries perched on them, though, for toadstools and other fungi have always been linked to Faeryland. Toadstools emerge where the faeries have danced and are the preferred food of Welsh faeries. Having a plantlike structure but no chlorophyll, and an animal - like digestive system, toadstools and fungi are often referred to as the "third kingdom" -- a true faery phenomenon.
People have always felt ambivalent toward these strange, mysterious forms pungent with life (in the form of food) and death (in the form of poison),. Fungi are part of a vast system that includes yeasts and molds, agents of decay and disease -- yet also a vital part of bread, intoxicant brews, and antibiotics. To indigenous peoples of Mexico and South America, certain mushrooms, called "God's flesh," provide gateways to other worlds. Siberian shamans use the fly agaric (the definitive faery toadstool) as a psychoactive drug to open psychic gateways, just as Celtic shamans once used Dartmoor's "magic mushrooms" in their rituals.
The fruiting body of the toadstool is but a brief, focused manifestation of a vast hidden underground system of fine filaments (called mycelia) all interconnected and penetrating large areas of soil. The true life of the fungi is not seen above but hidden below, underground. Fungi help decompose and transform worn - out material, moving it along the cycle of life, ad thus, in faery lore, are symbol of regeneration.
As many old folktales will tell you, where there are toadstools there are sure to be faeries. The next time you find one, listen for the laughter of a faery who may have just been kissed.
