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Sacred Sites: The Faerie Grove
There are still places where the veil is thin, where the fae cross over from their world into ours. One of those places is located in Oregon's Coast Range Mountains.
I was studying under the guidance of Nukah, learning the ins and outs of ritual work, working with an old quarry driving up a winding, one lane mountain road as I headed into the wilderness. As I rounded a corner in the road, I came to a complete stop. There, sitting in the middle of the road in front of me, sat a huge white wolf, as big as a large German Shepherd. While it's unusual for a wolf to be completely white, it's doubly rare for one to be so large - especially when wolves are supposed to be extinct in this part of Oregon.
And what's more, the wolf didn't run away. Instead, it turned and looked at me over its shoulder, staring straight into my eyes. And when it met them, it slowly began to run down the center of the road as if it wanted me to follow it.
The wolf ran down the center of the road for almost a quarter of a mile, occasionally looking back as if to make sure I was still following it. At last, it turned and ran up a nearly hidden, overgrown logging road.
An old logging road approaches the entrance to the faerie grove.
I was excited. In the lore of Nukah's people, the Mi'kmaq, Wolf is symbolic of Teacher. As I was set on exploring concepts of ritual work on this day, it seemed a good omen. And after a day of ritual, I began to head back home. As I approached the same corner of the road, I slowed the car, hoping to spy the wolf once more.
On the same corner of the road, on the same hidden logging road, a large female deer slowly stepped out of the forest. Just like the wolf, it turned and looked directly into my eyes. Then it slowly walked backward up the logging road.
Nukah was named after the deer in her people's lore that leads initiates into the spirit world. Suddenly it clicked. I needed to follow the animal guides up the logging road. I was being guided into the spirit world.