Faeries Wear Boots: The Journal of Spike Gayfeather.

Back from hiatus

2010-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Faeries Hi!!
Can't believe it's been since August since I last posted. Samhain is past and Yule is just around the corner.

For your eyes, I've created a visual magazine of sorts, that I'll stuff full of bizarre, erotic, steampunk, goth, hippie, pagan, dandy, images. It's called "Faerie Home Companion" and can be found here:
Faerie Home Companion

Head over and enjoy a visual treat of the kind of things that turn me on.

Spike

Some Wise Words

2010-08-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Namaste.

Just a short little blog to share with you some words that I live by. I found this awhile back and it has become my personal manifesto. Here goes:

"Do not mistake Religion for Spiritual Life
Do not mistake Scriptures for Divine Wisdom
Do not mistake Civilization for Progress
Do not mistake Endurance for Happiness
Do not mistake Submission or Assimilation for Acceptance
Do not mistake Obedience for Freedom

For the Cosmos upon one rule is built,
And the only Law is Do as You Wilt."

This to me is a manifesto for living a life of free thought and taking responsibilities for ones own actions. I repeat these words everyday.

Blessed Be.

...Spike

Pan Points the Way

2010-06-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, another Gay Pride weekend has come and gone. For me it was spent quietly around the apartment and going through some photos of Pride Day's gone by. Perhaps it was the hot humid weather, or the fact that I'm living a distance from Chicago proper, but I felt like being quiet and meditative rather than outright celebratory. I've come a long way from my first coming out days and I do remember the elation I used to feel about feeling totally special, and that my queerness was a true gift. I hope that at least some of the queer men attending the festivities for the first time feel the same. For me that was over 30 years ago. And I've changed a lot outwardly. But over the years, I've found myself resisting the gay assimilationist movement with all my soul. I no longer feel the need to be validated or accepted into the matrix. I know that I am different even from most of the gay men in the community at large. But it's that makes me unique and a Faerie. And I've come to be very comfortable in my own skin.

Astrologically, I'm having some very profound and intense transits to my natal map/chart. With Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The process has been interesting and has brought into my life some very special men on their own spiritual journeys. I've been meeting men who are intensely erotically charged, and they have been a great source of joy. When one blends sex and spirit, true magick happens. And it has helped even in my relationship with my life partner. When one finds one's true path in life, things begin to really fall into place.

For me, my sexual coming out process, and the discovery of witchcraft and a spiritual approach to paganism through the Radical Faeries, were nearly simultaneous. And they will be forever linked that way I think. They are both extremely inseparable in my psyche. I have tried to ignore one or the other at times in life, and I've been miserable doing so. When I've stopped denying who I am, and realize that these sexual and pagan currents are mixed together in my life, magick begins to manifest once again on the earthly plane for me. And I feel directed and grounded. And able to give more of myself to others, as I'm not completely self absorbed with my own psychic battles. It's at this place I find myself now and ready to continue my walk further down the pagan path. There are some really intense mysteries ahead I am sure.

On the eve of the Summer Solstice, I was away at a camp ground and I took a walk down a path I had not been down before. When I turned the bend there was a beautiful statue of Pan staring straight at me. It took me by complete surprise. I took it as a sign that I was headed the right way.

Peace my brothers...
Spike

Gay Spirit

2010-06-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

In honour of our elder queer brothers, here is a song by Charlie Murphy. I remember when this first came out. Listen and enjoy!

A New Beacon In CyberWorld

2010-06-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Namaste.

Hello my Faerie brothers. I'd like to point you in the direction of a new blog by my friend David. It truly is a beacon of hope in the dark search for true queer spirituality. Please go visit his new blog, "Anchorhold" The name is the link. Just click.

It's a beautiful blog by a beautiful man. Do visit soon.

Peace brothers..

Spike

Lights of Radical Faeriedom

2010-06-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Namaste.

For me, the path of the Radical Faerie has always been a spiritual one. Fun?...yes. Frolic?...yes. Magickal?...without a doubt. Erotic and sexual....most certainly. All these, and spiritual at the core essence. Honouring, rather than objectifying. Engaging in subject/subject consciousness with another man.

It's hard sometimes to put into words just what being a Radical Faerie is all about. ( ....It wasn't until Arthur Evans and Harry Hay synchronistically started to put together the pieces of a tribe that never existed historically, yet somehow was united by a common bond of the heart, that the Faeries came into being with a name.)

...But as a Faerie, I can tell you this.. you know at a cellular level that you are inherently different from heterosexuals. ...that you don't fit into the current patriarchal religio/social paradigm. ...that you are different even from your (accepted?) gay brothers ...and you are born this way ...it's only a matter rediscovering who you truly are. And most important....that you and your body are sacred. There is no part of you that is not of the gods. All acts of love and pleasure are rituals. The essence of what you are is ancient. Only the name is new. You are a Radical Faerie once you recognize your true self and say you are such. There are no hard and fast rules. No dogma and no theology. No gurus and no heads of state. Now, having said all this, ...if you ask another faerie what being a faerie is all about, you will probably get a different, albeit similar answer.

Although the Faeries have no actual leader, there were founders. Lights of Radical Faeriedom, I shall call them. Some are still with us. And some have passed on to other non physical realities. Here is a string of lights:

Harry Hay, Arthur Evans, Edward Carpenter, Mitch Walker, Mark Thompson, Don Kilhefner, Gavin Arthur, Walt Whitman, Leo Martello

All these spectacular flames have illumined my way along the path of Radical Faeriedom for many years. They are my spiritual and social heroes.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to delve into the light of these great souls. You may use Googleomancy as your divinatory tool in finding out who they are and their legacy to our tribe.

Hope you all are enjoying Gay Pride Month.

Peace and Faerie Love...

Spike

Gay Pride Month 2010

2010-06-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Namaste.
Well here it is the first of June already. The first day of Gay Pride Month. Let's talk about real liberation.

We've come a long way since Stonewall and the first Gay Pride Marches:

Or have we? Are we more free now than then? Have we truly come in to our own? Or are we, as gay men, more interested in acceptance and assimilation by, and into, so called straight society? Have we lost our true spirit only to find that we are now merely a marketing niche? One cannot have Gay Enspiritment and Gay Assimilation at the same time. For me I'll wear the pink triangle until we are truly free and respected for the people we are. In these next blogs over Gay Pride Month, I hope to explore some of these questions. Included here are some photos to start the process of examining where we've come from in our march to real freedom.

Beards Everywhere

2010-05-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Namaste.

Hi all. Dont know about you, but I've been seeing beards and facial hair on men again. Seems like all the young men nowadays want to grow one. Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied....beards are now showing up in all kinds of permutations. Personally I love it. And I think we're going to see more guys trying to look like real individuals. Especially now with Uranus moving into Aries. The urge for individual freedom is very strong.

I'd like to direct you to two places where you can see what's happening with your very own eyes. First up is photographer Dave Mead's site and his new exhibit entitled "Magnificent Specimens". I was in awe of some of these beards. And the models he has chosen are exquisite. Go here: www.davemead.com

And here is something extraordinary indeed:

So look around. It may be happening in your town too.

The Merry Month of May

2010-05-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Merry Meet. Namaste

My name is Spike Gayfeather and welcome to my blog. I'm one of those souls that doesn't easily fit into any kind of mold. Part urban bohemian, part steampunk, part hippie, part radical faerie, part dandy, full time musician , sometime astrologer and queer pagan at heart. This is a personal journal about my own observations of faerie life in the city, and the sharing of my likes, dislikes and interests. Hopefully you'll find something of interest here. The places where we intersect.

Here it is the last week of May already. My intent was to start this on Beltane, but better late than never I suppose. Did you know that May is Masturbation Month? Yes indeed. The sex shop, "Good Vibrations", began celebrating National Masturbation Month in 1995. Earlier that year, then-Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders was fired for saying that masturbation should be discussed as part of young peoples' sex education. People were astounded. It was one of the most sensible things ever said by a government official -- and it cost Elders her job! National Masturbation Month was started to raise awareness, and to highlight the importance of masturbation for nearly everyone: it's safe, it's healthy, it's free, it's pleasurable and it helps people get to know their bodies and their sexual responses. Of all the kinds of sex people can have, masturbation is the most universal and important, yet few people talk about it freely -- worse, many people still feel it is "second best" or problematic in some way. National Masturbation Month lets us emphasize how great it is: it's natural, common and fun!

So guys I hope you are celebrating. I know I am. Now we just need a big old fashioned, circle jack, pagan style, with drums, incense and lots of naked men. I think I may need to go back to San Francisco for that. Chicago is not exactly a hotbed of faerie activity. Particularly of the erotic kind. Maybe I'll plan one for next year. I'll put some signs up like this:

That should get some attention. The world sure would be a better a place if we traded in guns for fleshlights. So get busy guys. Peace is in your hands. Literally.