Fairy Doors, Hidden Gateways, and Travelling to the Otherworld

For eons, we have whispered tales to each other of secret entrances to hidden, magical places, where only a password gained through a dangerous quest will allow you to walk past the guardian and enter. We’ve told stories of cloaked travelers on horseback riding into a box canyon and disappearing, of the sacred crystal cavern behind a waterfall, of the doorway into the mound that opens on the first full moon of summer.

No mystical tale is complete without a doorway through which a seeker must pass; no quest is successful without that terrifying (and exciting) moment of standing with hand on doorknob, with no idea of what’s on the other side.

Besides being actual passageways from one place to another, doors are also metaphors for transition, for change, for stepping into new pathways in life. Phrases like “open the door” and “cross the threshold” have become synonymous with major life changes and new beginnings.

We all know the butterflies of excitement and trepidation that flutter around in our stomachs when we stand before a door, physical or metaphorical, and don’t know what awaits us on the other side. Still, we search for doors that will transport us to another place in our lives. For those who yearn for greater connection to the Otherworld, finding a Fairy Door is a sacred quest.

Are you seeking an entrance into Faerie? What would it look like? Is there a door to knock on? A bell to ring? You can, of course, leave a gift at the door of your Fairy House on each full moon until the Fairies invite you in, but openings into the Otherworld are also everywhere you turn, in every wood and grove, in each Earth place that remembers the wild. If you are searching, here are a few ideas to help you on your quest:

–Walk through shimmering air between two Hazel trees.

–Dive into the full moon’s reflection in a pool.

–Stop at the spider web across your path and ask permission to continue before you carefully duck under the web.

–Trace the outline of the hollow in the ancient tree, lay your hands above the opening, then crawl inside.

–Settle in to dream in the space between boulders

–Sit on the riverbank and allow yourself to be mesmerized by flowing water framed between overhanging willows.

–Make or buy a Fairy Door and install it in a special place and ask the Fairies to help you dream your way through the door.

Will this pathway lead to a Gateway to Faerie?

Once you’ve spent some time adjusting your consciousness to the idea that there might really be doors that allow you to enter the Faerie Realm, wander into any wood, any slightly wild place, down any trail. Follow your intuition, barely heard music, a butterfly, bird, or furry creature. Notice when the smell and temperature of the air change. A shimmer appears very faintly between two trees that stand in perfect symmetry, one either side of the path, their branches intertwining overhead, as though Mother Nature herself had built the arbor. If you walk on between the trees, noting only the lovely symmetry, you’ll have an uneventful stroll in the woods.

But if you recognize that this is a Faerie Door, you’ll stop. Sit in the middle of the track. Lie with your belly on the earth. Come back at dusk, at dawn, tomorrow, next month, on the full moon, on the solstice, the equinox, the cross quarter days. Bring offerings of food, wine, water from a sacred well, jewels. Bring a book of Faerie stories and read them aloud. Bring a child to read the stories to. You may grow old, waiting to be called. You may find the doorway opening immediately. But once you’ve recognized the door, sooner or later you will be invited to step across the threshold, through the doorway, and come home.

There is always a Guardian who keeps the doorway open and listens for the footsteps of those who seek the way. Allow the Guardian to take you by the hand and lead you to the threshold. You won’t know what’s on the other side but, whatever it is, it will be an adventure.

–@Bridget Wolfe, 2014

If you want to begin your quest by installing a Fairy Door close to you to dream with each day, please visit the Fairy Woodland website for an enchanting selection.

You can also find Fairy Doorways in John Crawford’s mystical prints. Meditate with these doorways so that, when the time comes for you to go questing in the wild, your heart will recognize the gateway when you find it.

 

For more about “Gateways to Faerie,” watch the movie. It’s available online through iTunes, or Hulu and as a 2 DVD set on the Fairy Woodland Website.