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The evening of Friday, May 16 brought about an important evening for three men and recent arrivals to the realm of Heathfield and her sister castles. Gabriel Vaughn, Cole Lachian and Ian Waincross were officially invested with the rank of Knight and sworn to the service of Peter James O'Neill, King of Innis Daingneach, as well as to the preservation and defense of the sister castles. The ceremony, conducted in the King's office, was done in the presence of Heathfield's Crown Prince and Princess, as well as Princess Elaina of Innis Daingneach and her ladies, and three of King Peter's knights - Sir Aiden Collins, Sir Calhoun Quinlan and Sir Lancely Caster.

Though the ceremony was conducted simply, each man entered with solemnity as his mantle and chivalry as his watchword. Upon being called to the King by name, each knelt to swear his oath to the King, promising to protect and defend those under his care, to remain honest and loyal to his fellows, and to serve with honor and courtesy at all times. King Peter then named each man Knight, tapping him three times on the shoulders with his sword and urged him to rise to receive the badges of his rank in the form of a black cape being the O'Neill insignia, a sword belt and shield.

Crown Prince Andrew presented the men with their swords once the pages attired the newly made knights appropriately and offered a quiet word to each. For the newly made Sir Gabriel and Sir Ian, both men were invested with one of the Hundred Swords of Heathfield as granted by the hand of and empowered by Prince Andrew. Sir Cole chose one of the finely crafted blades.

After the ceremony, those assembled gathered to enjoy a quiet celebration and congratulate the newly made knights, plied with food and drink, and a toast was raised to those who followed the path of chivalry with Heathfield's own special brewed potcheen in the glasses to bring the night to a close. --submitted by Cara Thompson

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Telarus Market: The monthly QCC Market took place on Monday, May 14, in the great Telarus Market Square. Hosted by the Kingdom of Telarus, the vendors and the participants arrived alike in search of bustling business and an array of fine wares. Bartering, trading and buying flew fast and furious amongst those looking to buy with those looking to sell, ranging from everything from sweets to horses to a new ship!

Some of the month's featured vendors were Dreamweaver Baskets, MacKenna Drydocks, Out of the Woodwork, A Touch of Light, Stigma Tatu House, and a number of stables - Telarus, BreezeWings, Whispering Willows and the McDale Stables. And of course, the ever welcomed Haunted Valley Brewpub!

The market was well-attended by a broad number of participating members of the Quest Coin Coalition, coming together to enjoy the evening. The Kingdom of Heathfield was represented by the arrival of the McDonoughs, while a number of Telarus citizens mingled with various Independents, creating a festive atmosphere enjoyed by all. --submitted by Cordelia Sandrine

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Healer's Touch
by Samantha Golden

Burdock - the name is a combination of bur from its tenacious burrs, and dock, Old English for 'plant' -- seems to reach out and grab anything that comes near it. And the same could be said for its place in modern herbal healing. While many scientists have dismissed burdock as useless, ti seems destined to hang on a a healing herb, particularly as a potential treatment for cancer. Burdock has its up and downs in the past. When it wasn't being reviled as a pest, it was being recommended as a healing treatment for a surprising variety of conditions. One herbalist used it to treat cancerous tumors. Chinese physicians considered it a remedy for colds, flu, throat infections and pneumonia.

Other physicians considered it an excellent diuretic and prescribed it for urinary tract infections, kidney problems and painful urination, in addition to skin infections and arthritis. Contemporary herbalists have abandoned burdock as a cancer treatment (perhaps prematurely) but continue to recommend it for skin problems, wound treatment, urinary tract infections, arthritis, sciatica, ulcers and even anorexia nervosa.

Infection: German researchers have discovered fresh burdock root contains chemical (polyacetylenes) that kill disease-causing bacteria and fungi. Though dried burdock contains less of these chemicals, their presence may help explain the herb's traditional use against ringworm, a fungal infection and several bacterial infections including gonorrhea, skin infections and urinary tract infections.

Intriguing Possibilities: Burdock has been used extensively around the world as a cancer treatment, and several studies show that substances found in the herb do, in fact, have anti-tumor activity. Of course cancer requires professional care. If you'd like to try burdock in addition to standard therapy, discuss it with your physician. Finally, burdock has an as-yet-unexplained anti-poisoning effect. Experimental animals fed the herb were somehow protected against several chemicals known to be toxic. In view of these findings, let's hope scientists cling to burdock research as tenaciously as the plant's burrs cling to just about anything. As with any herb, use in moderation and recommended dosages after consulting your physician. It is considered safe in normal dosages. -- Excerpts Taken from The Healing Herbs by Michael Castleman

Life Around Here

Citizen's Submission: To begin this article, I must plead for the reader's indulgence and forbearance; I am a cryptozoologist by vocation, not an established writer of any acclaim.  In yet another digression before I move on to the main body of this article, I would like to thank the citizens at large of Heathfield for welcoming a stranger into your midst, and making me feel comfortably to home.

Now, to the main point of this article, and it is a subject that I am quite enthusiastic about; plans for a zoological garden for the realm are in the works.  In my travels, I came across the previous edition of this very periodical, and contained within those pages, I found an advert seeking a person or persons that might be interested in the position of zookeeper.  I was both intrigued and excited by the prospect.  As an active researcher in the field of cryptozoology, I have spent the bulk of my career afield, traveling extensively.  In all candor and honesty, I was growing weary of life on the road, and had been contemplating the notion of putting roots down, but I had not decided as to where.  It was then that I happened across the aforementioned copy of "The Heathfield Gazette", and the opportunity seemed a Godsend, and appeared to be too fine an opportunity not to make inquiry of.  So, I fixed my sights on Heathfield, and as I had alluded to in the opening paragraph of this article, I have found the realm and it's people to be very hospitable, and very accommodating.  I am happy to say that I have signed citizenship papers very recently.

Recently, I was afforded the occasion to meet with Mr. Maurice McDonough, who will be overseeing the prospective sites and construction of the zoological exhibits, and Miss Kaylea MacKay, with whom I will be working closely in the day to day operations of the exhibit gardens and grounds.  I believe that I may speak for both Mr. McDonough and Miss MacKay when I say that we hope to present the finest zoological attractions for Heathfield, it's citizens, and for visitors and tourists. --submitted by Calum Creighton

Births:  None this Month. Marriages: None this Month. Engagements: None this Month.  Deaths: None this Month. Citizenship: Please welcome Calum Creighton and Kaylea MacKay, who will be running the new zoo being built, along with Alaina MacKenna running the drydocks in Kildare and Alyse McKenna in Heathfield made head of the Orphanage.

Wil-o'-the-Wisps -- The luminous will-o'-the-wisps are spotted deep in forests, swamps, and other desolate places and appear as glowing orbs that move slowly over the landscape. These phantom lights are called by many different names and are even sometimes thought to be the prank of some malicious faerie. Elves particularly delight in using will-o'-the-wisps as a source of illumination and decoration for their revels.

Lost travelers spotting wisps often believe they are seeing an artificial light and head toward it, causing them to become even more lost. Many have died, lost and alone, or fallen prey to some more dangerous faerie. As wit stray sod, it is unlikely that the wisps know that they cause so much havoc for mortals. Even if they did, however, there is little reason to think that they would change.

Like magnificent fireflies, the ethereal wisps are breathtaking to see on a moonlit night. Wisps are attracted to lanterns as well as other bugs. Many times will-o'-the-wisps were depicted as devils or demons because of their association with the death of the hapless human who followed their lights. Because they preferred habitat is more remote and distanced from civilized settlements, they are rarely seen anymore. -- submitted by Kathleen Frasier - from Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide. Everyone should have one!

Note: This is the last in this series and the column will be replaced by another in the coming months.

June

June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. The month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera. At the start of June, the sun rises in the constellation of TauOrus; at the end of June, the sun rises in the constellation of Gemini. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, June begins with the sun in the astrological sign of Gemini, and ends with the sun in the astrological sign of Cancer.. June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.  The month of June—in the Northern Hemisphere—is in Spring until the 21st, when Summer begins. The traditional June birthstone is the pearl. The June flower is the rose or the honeysuckle, as roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June. June is also sometimes called the "Rose month."  June is known for the large amount of marriages that occur over the course of the month. This large quantity of marriages can be attributed to the Goddess that June is named after, Juno or Hera.  Juno is the protecting goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so it is considered good luck to be married in this month. -   Wikipedia

Juno is a counterpart of Janus and the divine watcher over the female sex, so this month is considered the best time to marry. As Juno Moneta, guardian of wealth and money, she had a temple on the Capitoline hill in Rome where the empire’s coins were minted. Among Juno’s attributes, she is queen of heaven, approximating Frigg in the Northern Tradition, and Mary in the Christian. She is ruler of the high point of year, when there is maximum light and minimum darkness (the northern Summer Solstice.).  Today, the Matronalia, was sacred to the goddess in her aspect known as Juno Lucina, protectress of women and marriage, a later representation of Eileityia, Greek goddess of childbirth. Matronalia was celebrated at the temple called the Aedes Junonis Lucinae which was built in  375 BC in a grove that had been consecrated to the goddess from very early times. Livy records that the grove (lucus) on the Esquiline Hill is the origin of the goddess's name. We know from Ovid's Fasti (iii.247) that the Matronalia was commemorated annually on this day, the day of the temple’s consecration.  Women and girls prayed to her and brought offerings where the goddess was represented veiled, with a flower in her right hand, and an infant in swaddling clothes in her left. Prayers for prosperity in marriage were offered.  By the second century BCE, this aspect of Juno was associated with childbirth because the name Lucina was thought to have come from the Latin word lux (light); thus, when a child was born it was said to have been “brought to light”. In this aspect the goddess was a lunar deity, often paired with Diana and depicted as holding a torch. In the worship of Juno Lucina, women had to untie knots and unplait their hair – sympathetic magic to prevent entanglements in the delivery of babies. In Roman homes, prayers were offered for prosperity in marriage, and women waited on the slaves, just as the men did at the Saturnalia. (June, Spring:  Poems, Quotes, Sayings, Folklore, Celebrations, Lore, Ideas, Gardening Chores.)

Summer Solstice: Falling midway between Beltaine and Lúnasa /Lammas is the Summer Solstice, marking the peak of the sun’s influence on Earth. The spiral of the year has expanded to its widest point and now the hours of light are as long as they will ever be. After June 20th or 21st , the sun’s power will begin to wane and the days grow shorter. The sun has touched the northernmost point along the horizon and is about to embark upon the long journey back south, ending at the Winter Solstice in December.

Ancient Celebrations: The Summer Solstice was an event of tremendous importance to the early inhabitants of the British Isles and Ireland, who built a number of magnificent megaliths aligned to the sunrise on this day. In southwest England, an unbroken thread of tradition connects the 5,000-year-old temple of Stonehenge with ritual activities through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and into modern times.

Northern Lights: Another great stone temple to the Summer Solstice is at Callanish on the island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. Here, four rows of stones lead into a circle from the four directions, forming a Celtic cross in the landscape, and the stones form an astronomical observatory aligned to the solstice sunrises and sunsets, as well as to the equinoxes. Callanish is so far north, the sky never actually darkens on a midsummer night. This is also the case at the mysteriously beautiful stone circle, the Ring of Brodgar, on Orkney, which was known for centuries by local people as the Temple of the Sun, aligned as it is to the midsummer sunrise.

The Bonfire Dance: Up until recently, this moment of the triumph of the light, and yet also the beginning of its decline, was celebrated with great bonfires when the whole community gathered once again on the hilltops to celebrate life through feasting, dance, ritual and song, to rejoice in the sun at the height of its power – and perhaps also to pray that it not die too soon.  In later years, these celebrations usually took place the night of June 23rd, which was called St. John’s Eve, as the Christian Church dedicated the ancient pagan festival to Saint John the Baptist, the prophet born six months before Jesus Christ.

Herbs of Blessing: This was an especially good time to cull magical and healing herbs: fern seed gathered on midsummer’s eve could make one invisible; elderberries warded off enchantment; stonecrop, vervain, and yarrow were hung in special places around the house for protection against the evil eye and death. Above all, this was the time for plucking St. John’s wort, the golden, star-shaped flower that was first of all herbs to be gathered on St. John's Eve. Called the ‘blessed plant’ in Wales, it was renowned throughout the Celtic lands for bringing peace and prosperity to the house, health to the animals and a bountiful harvest. It was cast into the midsummer bonfires in Scotland, and placed over the doors of houses and farm buildings for its protective powers.  For these magical plants were filled with the energy of the sun at its peak, now transformed into green blessings for the human kingdom.

A Midsummer Herbal Bouquet: 1. Choose any nine of the following sacred plants and leaves, as availability allows: roses, foxgloves, St. John’s wort elderflowers, wild hop, agrimony, rue,  fennel, clover, oak leaves, broom, meadowsweet, wormwood, hedge mustard, mugwort, yarrow, rowan leaves, mistletoe, vervain, valerian, sage, mallow, elecampane. 2.  Don't let them come into contact with iron. 3. Tie them with ribbons of the following colors and symbolism from Cornish tradition: Color Symbolism:  White - strength. Green - wisdom. Blue - love. Red - sacrifice. Yellow - the sun. 4. Give them to friends, display on your altar or hang over the door. (A Ritual for June) -- submitted by Mary Colleen McAndrews

June...June...June...June
by Frank James Ryan, Jr

This is for June, and all the summers it brings
For the chiming of the church bells... that sing
In songs of matrimony o'er top hats and lace
'Fore June passes torch, to July's scarlet face

And the trees in full jacket, leaves forest green
The last pink of magnolia, can still yet be seen
Theres a breeze in the air, that carries a scent
Sweet rose and honeysuckle, in efflorescence

Nights still cast a chill, but June has its motives
An evening gift for all those amorously devoted
To feel the magic of love whilst under the moon
Makes one thankful, there be the month of June

--submitted by Deirdre Callihan

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Dulcet Time
by Peter S Quinn

Dulcet time is always coming
When the clouds are away with tears
Little birds in trees are humming
New songs from forgotten years

Pleasing love is colour blooming
To sweetest you who is so dear
All the seeds in earth are booming
Reaching out for growth and flare

Trust me you will likewise be glad
When in your garden roses grow
And take away your lonesome sad
That from winter past did show

Pleasing love is colour blooming
To sweetest you who is so dear
All the seeds in earth are booming
Reaching out for growth and flare

My eyes wander throughout the night
Looking to a faraway star
Which blazes out its twinkle light
Without knowing who we are

Dulcet time...

--submitted by Marcy McGuire

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A Something in a Summer's Day
by Emily Dickinson

"A something in a summer's Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.

A something in a summer's noon --
A depth -- an Azure -- a perfume --
Transcending ecstasy.

And still within a summer's night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see --

Then veil my too inspecting face
Lets such a subtle -- shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me --

The wizard fingers never rest --
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes it narrow bed --

Still rears the East her amber Flag --
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red --

So looking on -- the night -- the morn
Conclude the wonder gay --
And I meet, coming thro' the dews
Another summer's Day!"

--submitted by Carisa McCormick

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In Fountain Court
by Arthur Symons

The fountain murmuring of sleep,
A drowsy tune;
The flickering green of leaves that keep
The light of June;
Peace, through a slumbering afternoon,
The peace of June.

A waiting ghost, in the blue sky,
The white curved moon;
June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I
Wait too, with June;
Come, through the lingering afternoon,
Soon, love, come soon

--submitted by Deirdre Callihan

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Did You Know?

The Magic Journey - The Shaman was the one person within the tribe who had the skill and power to undertake quests to the world of spirits in search of special knowledge about the future or healing for the sick. Often the shaman ascended into the spirit world by physically climbing a tree or ladder that represented the world tree or cosmic axis.

Many cultures believe that the world tree made the shamanic journey to other worlds possible. The tree stood at the center of three worlds, the upper world, the physical earth and the underworld and allowed the initiated to pass between these worlds. Climbing this world tree or pole that represented it, symbolized the inner journey of the shaman's soul. In some cultures in order to reach the otherworlds of spirit, the entranced shaman would embark on a visionary 'journey' to the world tree and would then climb it either to enter heaven or go down into the underworld.

In Siberian tradition the shell of the shaman's drum was made from a branch of this world tree. According to Romanian anthropologist Micrea Eliade, because of this connection with the world tree, the shaman, by his drumming is 'magically' projected into the vicinity of the Tree. In other traditions, the shaman climbs a tree, notched pole, or a ladder to show that he is journeying to the spirit world. The Pomos of northern California, for example, climbed a pole 20 to 30 feet high during a four day long initiation ceremony. One day was devoted entirely to climbing the pole. In southern Africa figures teetering on top of ladders are frequently depicted in the shamanic rock art of the San people (once known as the Bushmen).

The Assiniboine Indians of the Great Plains practiced long periods of fasting to induce visions. A drum was used decorated with spirit images that were probably inspired by the hallucinations fasting produced. Spirit flight could be dangerous to the shaman and in some traditions guides were used to help them on their journey. A bronze image of a wild beast was used by one of hte Kama River Tribes of Russia and believed by their shamans to have miraculous properties. American Indian shamans also used bird imagery to symbolize the shaman's flight such as the Tlingit rattle which is in the form of a bird with a human figure and a frog sitting on top. Hole-in-the-sky pole was carved by the Tsimshian Indians of the Pacific Northwest, this wooden pole originally marked the ceremonial entrance to the house of Haidzemerks, one of their chiefs.  -- submitted by Samantha Golden (taken from the book Earth's Mysterious Places, Reader's Digest)

RECIPES of the MONTH