Faerie faith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Faerie Faith is a Neopagan tradition that branched off from the Old Dianic tradition (later renamed McFarland Dianic) through the work of Mark Roberts and the High Priestess Epona.
Faerie Faith is often confused with other traditions of similar name, including:
- Artemisian Faerie Faith
- Feri Tradition of Victor Anderson
- Radical Faeries, a queer-themed spiritual, political, and nature group.
- Faery Wicca
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[edit] History
The history of the Faerie Faith begins with the Dallas Dianics, later named the McFarland Dianic Tradition in 1999, founded by Mark Roberts and Morgan McFarland in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas. McFarland joined with Roberts, another practicing solitary Witch and, together, they founded the Covenstead of Morrigana. According to the McFarland Dianic Homepage, "It was Mark who pointed out to Morgan the reference to "Dianic cults" in Margaret Murray's The Witch Cult in Western Europe. It spoke to their beliefs and practices, and they adopted the designation "Dianic" as that of their tradition. Later that year, Morgan began writing down the rituals handed down orally through the Old Dianic tradition. Morgan went on to initiate several High Priestesses who hived off to start other covens. In 1977, Mark left the Covenstead of Morrigana to start a new path called Hyperborea. In 1979 Morgan withdrew as High Priestess from her covens, and now serves as matriarch and advisor to the Council of High Priestesses of the McFarland Dianic Tradition.
After Mark left Texas, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1979 where he met Epona. Mark taught her the lessons he had learned while with Morgan, and she became the founder of the Eponian branch of the McFarland Dianics what is now known as the Faerie Faith. Mark Roberts was the first to use the term "Faerie Faith." The name was most likely taken from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans Wentz, published in 1911. This book describes a variety of folk beliefs and practices in the past. Under Mark's teaching, Epona was trained as a High Priestess of the Faerie Faith mysteries the Beth Luis Nion system. After only eighteen months, Mark left to start a new path called Hyperborea in Dallas in 1981. Epona, however, proved to be fertile ground for the teachings of the BLN system. She took what she had learned of the system and pursued it to new heights, teaching a new form of the Old Dianic mysteries, which became the Faerie Faith [1].
Epona went on to teach the mysteries of the Faerie Faith. It grew and spread under her teachings, and today there are members of the Faerie Faith spread out across the Southeastern United States. Because of the difficulty of the path, however, very few students make it to the level of High Priest/ess.
[edit] Beliefs & Practices
The distinguishing characteristic of Faerie Faith is the use of the Beth-Luis-Nion Celtic tree calendar, as originally put forth by Robert Graves, in his book The White Goddess. This system is based on the Celtic ogham alphabet, in which each letter corresponds with a lunar month, or a solar season. In the Faerie Faith, specific lessons are associated with each lunar month, and students experience personal transformation in connection to each tree/lunar/letter.
