Alice's Journey

You are standing at the start of a storytelling journey. Your responses will contribute to a story that will tell itself. The story will be made by many minds...woven into a pattern that no-one can foresee...the unthought tale…

There will be questions and challenges.

Let them echo in your memory. Use that memory as your starting point.

Challenge Number One

Please answer the following questions:

Cautious or risk-taking? < Alice chose Risk-Taking

Nature or gadgets? < Alice chose Gadget

Birds or fish? < Alice chose Bird

In the middle of the night you arrive at a campsite driving a mobile home. You park next to a forest and immediately remove your favourite devices for recording birds. As you fiddle with the recording equipment, you hear a voice that asks you for a story. What story do you tell them and why?

Alice wrote

Startled, I stand stock-still, scanning the deserted camp site for any signs of life. Wishing I had waited until morning to continue searching, I begin to feel fear rising inside me and scream out 'Who's there?'. Everything is deathly quiet, I laugh to myself as the initial shock wears off, maybe I didn't hear anything. I begin to wonder what story I would tell.....

I think back on how I got here, the arduous journey it has taken to finally get a solid lead on this place. How my father dedicated his life to the legends and myths of this forest, how no one believed him and how his obsession eventually drove him mad. I would tell them of how I had to come and see if he was right, to prove to myself and all his doubter's, that his life's work was not in vain. That I feel a calling to this place that I don't understand but somehow know that this forest is alive and speaking to me! I begin to feel fear rising inside myself again, as I realise the voice was in my head this whole time and I can still hear it.

Alice wrote

The voice repeats the same warning over and over:

Traveller beware and only enter if you dare.

There will be a price that you must sacrifice.

What lays beyond is wondrous but prove that you are one of us!

I had found it, the entrance to the realm of the fair folk, where the ancient Queen Althea resides

The faery world is a world of illusion where you must travel light. But still you must bring gifts or the Bright Ones will be disappointed. It is easy to step across the entrance, but hard to return. There are rules to be remembered you know all very well from your father’s warnings.

What did he tell you about life in the Faery Realm?

What gifts do you take with you as you step out?

Alice replied

Rummaging through my bag I find a small leather-bound notebook with a crest imprinted on the cover; my father's journal. The book is crammed full of notes, maps and drawings, every page filled with his tightly scrawling handwriting. If it wasn't for this book I never would have got this far. I flip to the page about the gateway....

'The gateway is invisible to mortal eyes.

To cross over safely, avoiding the hidden traps and patrolling guards, a sacrifice must be made.

There is only one way to reveal the barrier between our worlds - a blood sacrifice to prove you are one of them.'

"Cruel beasts" my father has annotated next to this paragraph but before I come to terms with the impossible thought of killing something or someone, I see another note "only a drop is needed". Relief floods through me as I take up a branch and snap it in half, making a sharp point with which to prick my finger... a drop of blood wells up and I let it fall to the floor. I pray this will be enough to work. Suddenly the shimmering barrier appears before me, illuminating the once dark forest with its pearlescent glimmer.

I scan the notebook for the next instruction:

'What lies beyond is beautiful but terrible, remember to follow these rules:

1. Move quickly as your time is short - the longer you stay the weaker you become.

2. Bring nothing unnatural - anything electrical is more likely to explode than be of any use .

3. Lies cannot be concealed - even the smallest white lies will be detected and bring grave peril.

4. Do not believe all you see in this is a world of illusion - the Bright Ones conceal their jealousy and deceit.

5. Bring gifts you can bestow - This is the only way to leave, the Queen is a very fickle being.'

I remember the stories my father told me as a child, about the beauty of this realm and the creatures that live there. The faeries always fascinated me most, mythical creatures of immense beauty and magic. My father always warned me that they were not as they seemed. As a child I never understood how he could think that something so magical could be cruel. What I did not know was that the Bright Ones entranced travellers to cross into their land so they could steal their life force (hopes and dreams). These flickering balls of light could transform into hauntingly beautiful beings that would ensnare a human with just one glance. The Queen is the greatest of them all: beautiful and deadly. She is the most powerful being in all of the Realm and her jealousy for mortals runs deep.

I spot a footnote scrawled in my father's handwriting:

'It is easy to step across the veil but beware, returning will only be possible with the Queens command.'

This realm of illusion hides many secrets ....

Do you wish to be

Alice chose: A shaper of things

I imagine being able to shape objects or living things, to mould them at will, to change them from one form to another or create something completely new. I feel the power that could change a small clump of trees into a forest, change rocks into gold (I would never be short of money again) or create anything I've ever wanted. The possibilities are endless. Could I make all my dreams and desires come true? Images flash through my mind at a dizzying speed and start to run wild. If I could change physical things then could I alter things I cannot see.... like someone's mind?

Could I finally make everyone see that my father was not mad, that he did not waste his life on useless fairy legends? With this power I could change my world! My thoughts start to turn darker as I imagine the impossible; to bring my father back. I realise how much my heart aches for this desire, how he would love to be here with me and to know that he was right all along. A single tear tracks down my cheek. My desire to be able to shape things has turned into a dangerous hunger for power, this isn't me!

I snap back to the present as the blinding light transforms into a figure radiating immense power... the Queen!

The queen of faery is there in front of you, but how has she been created? She has come out of your own energy and your own truth. The Queen is you, and you are the Queen. And in this blinding moment of connection you understand that your father also came this way and that the energy all around you contains him too.

The queen speaks - or is it that you speak to yourself?

‘You have spoken in truth. You have not tried to hide the darkness in yourself, the greed and ambition and grief that all humans carry. And also you have found your deepest hopes and fiercest passions. You have done well. You are of this forest now.

As she speaks, the lights begin to dim and the visions around you begin to fade. The words of the Queen echo and merge with the murmur of the forest. Now the forest returns, in all its darkness and dangers and possibilities.

You walk on, confident that you know your way. Just as your father came this way, there must be others too. Can you find them and join with them?

Who are these others? Frannie-May and Fran and Aimee have each come this way too. Each has stepped into the world of Faery and found that it was shaped according to their needs and desires. Each has learned their own truth. If you find them, you will find that the truth takes many forms and that between you it will be possible to sustain and communicate it.

You call their names tentatively. The forest replies. You walk on.