„This was a sensational gathering from 1st to last day, the brilliant Faerie spirit, did NOT allow inclement weather in the middle to dampen our spirits, not for a moment! From small numbers at the beginning we grew to 45/50 faeries at times, Faeries came& went. New arrivals brought their beauty & charisma. I’m thinking particularly of Star Dust, Wairua & S. So many beautiful & loving, sharing folk. The No Talent Show revealed again the amazing hidden talents of many of us. Fabulously compared by Angel voiced Pixie & the lip-sinking wonder Theokymenos. Food was exceptional, each meal outshining the previous one. Tom (Cassandra) particularly outshone himself, our one Kitchen Dad. Heart Circles began to heal any rifts in our Gathering & I hope lay foundations for more shared responsibility in future events I was glad to have a mundane day in Salzburg to ease me back into being in London again. Can you believe the most popular gay venue was closed till September, are they MAD!! Buckets of Love to all attendees, my experiences with you will feed me thru the chill winter. I think very valuable stuff happened there which I hope will strengthen the Austrian Radical Faerie Movement. I LOVE YOU ALL!“ Mother Goose. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!Hmmmmm!

„I just want to simply say thank you for all your efforts to bring the Austrian gathering to fruition. It was really great. My best gatherings have been in Austria, partly due to the fact that I’m growing in faerie energy, and also because the environment is so totally amazing. I never would have been exposed to the Austrian Alps had you not organized these gatherings. I know it’s a lot of hard, and at times, seemingly „thankless“ work, but I know that we thoroughly enjoyed and valued our time there. So a huge „MERCI““ from Jim from Rural France, Not Paris! XOX

„Thanks again for this amazing gathering !!!! I had a wonderful time there. And now I feel like a faerie :-)“ Lots of love, Eric/Ursulo

„I enjoyed our wonderful „2nd Sound of faeries gathering“ in Austria with you lovely faeries soooooo much! Once again it’s my pleasure and honor to say „Thank you yery much!“ to Mata Hari and Red Rose and the other organizers! You are so fabulous and we sooooo liked to carry you around the fire during the closing ceremony! And I am thankful that all you lovely faeries shared your love and light and your inner treasure and creativity deep from your heart. All together we created this warm and wonderful atmosphere which we had during the gathering!

I’ve been reading Mata Hari’s amazing book „Rise like a faerie“ and am deeply touched by the very intense sharing of his life experiences in and outside faerie space deep from his heart and soul which I was able to feel very well between each single line. Thanks a lot for spreading your faerie energy into the world! A highly recommended book!“

I hope to meet you again at some next gathering – maybe the one announced in Spa/Ardennes? (or whenever and whereever else)! Until then don’t forget: „We are a circle / within a circle / with no beginning / and never ending.“ Be hugged and blessed by Theoklymenos

The “2^nd Sound of Faeries Gathering 2015” Report by Mata Hari

If I would rename this gathering it was the “Gathering of Appreciation and of Deep Emotions” It was not a rollercoaster like two years before, but of constant intensity of our inner feelings. 43 Faeries met again in this breathtaking scenery of hard rocks and hot hearts. They were a wonderful combination of the right people on the right place at the right moment who found each other to discover the most wonderful moments that human beings can give each other when they meet in a brotherhood and sisterhood of lovely Faeries. We fled from the heat wave of the last weeks in the lowlands and found it again in the hearts of our “Sound of Faeries” community. Even though the weather was from day 2 to 6 very rough to us, these “raining men” brought us more together as a community than we ever expected. These intense feelings were never interrupted and culminated in two very emotional closing ceremonies. For Red Rose, one of the main organizers of the gathering – always trying hard to be a good kitchen goddess, the first closing ritual was his highlight of the gathering. After the last Heart-Love Circle the Faeries looked into the eyes of each other in the circle about 20 to 30 seconds and some of us really had big tears in their eyes or trembled, especially if it was their first gathering. We had about 12 new Faeries here and they all were enthusiastic about what they experienced. They all want to come back. Flora, one of our two women at the gathering, arrived already two days before to prepare the indoor and outdoor love temple and the altar room with much love, and everybody could feel how happy she was to be here for the first time and to do a lot for the Faeries and to be appreciated so much for all her heart-work. I also filled the ski boots room – now drag room, with a lot of my drag stuff and was happy to see that the Faeries enjoyed wearing it.

So what were other special moments of this gathering? A huge thanks to our kitchen moms and dads, the Austrian veggie food was again excellent! For some of us also the spontaneous kitchen party on Sunday night was a transforming highlight where we were dancing Waltz and Rumba through the kitchen and gliding on serving trolleys through the whole ground floor. Also our fabulous No Talent Show was again a highlight, starting with the Viennese Operetta “Die Kaiserin/The Empress” and finishing with a song that was sung by Israeli singer Amit Hayo personally: “I am happy, I am gay”. Some Faeries including me expressed that this No Talent Show was the most enchanting one they had ever seen. Maybe it was because the spirit this time was a special one after I had to announce the sad news that the beloved father of a participating Faerie had died today and we should that we should remember him in a minute of silence. This helped us all to transform into a new hemisphere of togetherness and understanding. I still get tears into my eyes whenever I remember this moment.

We also showed the new and first Filmdocuvaganza “Symbiofaerietaxiplasm” about the beginning of the Faerie Movement in Austria and Central Europe, which is also the first movie ever filmed in Europe about the Radical Faeries. The first time ever in Europe also a TV-Team with the Austrian Film director Paul Poet was accepted and invited to Faerie space on the open house day doing some interviews for a report in the Austrian TV. This TV-project was the biggest risk in Faerie space for me personally and also in my life, for my family and for my job in the civilized world, as I really hope that we still can reach some more Faeries in the world who feel the Faerie spirit in themselves and still do not know that Faerie space really exists. We will never be Mainstream, that is my true conviction, but we can help to ensure that the world will become a little bit more faerielike and to change the world a little, as much we can do according to our responsibilities. I also presented the first ever Faerie Book written in Europe “Rise Like a Faerie” written by me – mainly in German Language, but also with many contributions from Faeries in their own language like English, French, Hungarian and Dutch. We also had a nice trip to Salzburg to see a guided exhibition at the Galerie5020 or a funny drag walk to the waterfalls at Hochkönig. We again were jumping at the great trampoline contributed by Yellow Longhair and a massage table brought by Walter. We had wonderful meditation workshops like “Aura Reading” and “Opening our Heart Chakra” by NIP (Name in Progress) which touched me deeply, and “Planetary constellations”. We had a first attempt for an Alpine Glitter Shower Party with a beautiful cake from Gabi and the Music from Donna Summer (Deep down inside). But maybe the most intensive moment for me was the memorial circle initiated by Red Rose remembering all the dead Faeries and family members that had recently died. During this circle something happened that I had never experienced all the 8 years before in Faerie Space: all the 20 Faeries in this circle started to cry bitterly. Nearly every Faerie here had lost his father or even his mother or a Faerie friend just recently and this made this circle and the following night walk with the candles to the creek so special, where Saint Barbara was awaiting us. At the end of the walk we threw our thoughts of remembrance into the bonfire, “I am into your fire” (James Broughton), and we all knew that this was a great healing moment for us all.

We should never compare gatherings: Every gathering is different and also a sanctuary is different from a place which has to be prepared somewhere to become Faerie space. Faerie space is created by ALL Faeries: what we are sharing and how we are connecting to each other when we meet and what we make out of it. We – the organizers – worked hard to make it happen and we all should appreciate each other much more for what we do and be more tolerant for what we do not and also share more responsibility and help each other, especially before a gathering has started. We all try to improve ourselves, but we can never be perfect as human beings. “We are what we are – and what we are is an illusion!” sings the chorus of showgirlz from “La Cage aux Folles”. Yeah, we Faeries are all perfect and good – if we just ARE what we are… and that is all right! We are NO illusion!

I experienced that trying to participate at two big 10 days gatherings successively is not the best decision for every Faerie. Sometimes they need to rest in between. Gatherings can be very intensive. So be aware that the Austrian Gathering is NOT a regular event happening every year, it may be happening again in 2 or rather likely in 3 years, and it depends on if we can find enough Faeries to find the energy to act in solidarity and are willing to share responsibility in the preparation process BEFORE the gathering has started.

Our intention was also to spread the Faerie Spirit of our Tribal Vision from Folleterre to all the Faeries outside of Sanctuaries in Europe (who are alone or cannot come to places where Faeries gather) and to continue this process by creating new Euro Tribe Visions. That is why we facilitated a tribal vision circle about our Faerie future with or without sanctuaries. I expressed my strong wish that we are ONE tribe of Faeries wherever we are and that we never should exclude each other and always speak respectful with each other. We came to the conclusion that we continue this vision creating process by meeting in about half a year again for another tribal vision gatherette in Germany or somewhere else to find out our next inner intentions about possible sanctuaries and houses in Central Europe or gathering places.

The gathering ended with a second little closing ceremony around the fire with the beautiful image of our Hochkönig in the background as a sleeping beauty or a smiling dragon and we were singing “The River Is Flowing (Mother Carry Me)” … and while we were singing this wonderful song the Faeries have lifted the main organizers of this gathering, Red Rose and me, and were carrying us around the fire in appreciation for what we have done. Ohhh how releasing that was! We were happy to feel that the Faeries wanted to share the responsibility with us, because we all made this Faerie Space possible!

At the end “Long Distance” from Israel gave us his wonderful drawing as a gift saying “Yoo-Hoo!! The 3^rd Alpine Faerie Gathering is on its way” … Yes we all agreed that this was the perfect call and flyer for the next gathering in 2 or 3 years, if the main responsibility can be shared to one hundred percent with Red Rose and me. And Wairua from New Zealand called in his gift for a “Practical Circle YooHoo!!!” But what I will keep from this gathering in memory most is the bright and lovely smile as we looked into our eyes, young eyes and older eyes. We are all one! We all have wonderful beautiful and magical eyes. Our souls!

We as organizers are also happy that the faeries gave generously, so we collected an unexpected surplus of 1200 Euros that we will ensure to make other gatherings in Austria or in other countries like Hungary possible or to collect it for a possible sanctuary wherever it will be created. So next year we could meet again at a place where not much organizing work is necessary. We have found already a wonderful healing space for the Faeries at the world’s largest thermal lake in Hévíz near Lake Balaton not far from the Austrian border. Expect the unexpected! This would be the first Faerie Gathering in an Eastern European Country. A legváratlanabb eseményekre is!

But first Kuscheltier and we have plans for a FaerieChristmas in a “Harry Potter” castle in the Ardennes at Spa in Belgium that we could combine also with our next tribal vision gathering. We are excited to hear more about it! We zijn enthousiast! (Faerielove Mata Hari)