The Elucidation of The Faery Accord
From Medieval Poem to Contemporary Myth and from Despair to Devotion: How the Well Maidens Transformed My Path
The curse that only we can lift in our sovereign right, when we are able to wake from our numbing slumber and relate responsibly in service to truth.
The Faery Accord from The Elucidation, a medieval origin story of the Grail Quest, is my personal creation myth and source of devotion as a Priestess of Avalon. I am sharing it with you today in form of my own retelling of the early 13th century French poem that serves as a prologue to Chrétien de Troyes’ Percival.
For you to listen to.
The Elucidation tells us how the curse of the wasteland was laid onto the fertile fields of sacred lands through the unlawful doing of greedy men who disrespected the reciprocal ways of the Faery Accord. The fragmented text contains many symbols, mythological references and teachings which fill libraries and many can be found in The Lost Book of the Grail by
and , so I won’t go into further detail and instead highlight what is most important for my personal priestess path as well as writing inspiration and motivation as a mother and priestess in this time and age.It might be an old story (it’s template maybe even older than we understand) but it could be used to describe the world in which we live in now.
However it misses the path forward, the resolution, the way to implement devotion in our contemporary world. Which is why I dedicated myself to writing a continuation as it needs to be reimagined for our time through the hands of women and fuelled by embodied experience instead of religious propaganda. A first attempt to this is my mythic fairytale A Nymph’s Tale which is published as part of the international bestselling book
: Healing in the Time of the Feminine: Women’s Stories of Liberation - alongside 28 other stories of women in various life stages and ages to share our voices for the voiceless and join our hands to raise funds for MECA for peace (emergency support for families in Gaza).For more background of my story and a sneak peak read further!
Myths of Nine Maidens, Muses, Sirens and Sisters have fascinated me since childhood. When I discovered that feminine deities of springs and water sources exist(ed) something was stirred awake within me.
About six months before my life would drastically change and slowly steer me towards the path I am on today, nine nymph-like women came to me in a dream, dressed in white, dancing within a birch tree grove on an island surrounded by water through which I had to swim in order to land on their shores and join the dance.
It was 2016 and I was studying art in Germany, painting throughout the day and being miserable at night. It was one of my emotionally lowest year; I felt lonely, uninspired and depressed. I even smoked. This dream woke me up to something bigger, something I couldn’t yet comprehend, something mysterious that I once knew, as a child.
As soon as I got out of bed I sketched the dream, bought a 10x3-metre roll of canvas and was determined to paint the vision. As soon as I was in the studio my confidence vanished and I doubted my ability to capture the feeling. I decided to finish my recent project first to free up space on the wall. Soon after I got accepted for an exchange in Reykjavík, Iceland and without the possibility to paint big format overseas I soon forgot the project and started filming and directing performance pieces - nevertheless inspired by mythology. (If you want to check out my multimedia theatre piece based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses you can find it here.)
It took some time until I picked up those threads of fate. I encountered Ceremonial Cacao, met my first Reclaiming Witch mentor and finally followed what once brought me so much joy as a child: fairytales. After graduating at the art academy I dove deep into my literature studies and the Arthurian legends and eventually Avalon called.
In 2021, when I already lived in Glastonbury and trained ceremonialists, I got the chance to hang up my huge canvas in the living room of a shared house and I started painting again. The unfinished piece served as the decoration for a house concert which I organised for singer-songwriter Carrie Tree and her new release “Sweet Earth”.
The painting is unfinished still because I fell in love, got pregnant as soon and moved into a 1-bed flat soon after. The canvas got put into the storage unit where it might slumber for yet another couple of years.
My now-partner had bought a ticket for himself and his mother for Carrie’s concert and as soon as I opened the door for him, the sun lit up my heart. He is sitting behind the kitchen counter (second picture), not yet knowing about his luck whilst Carrie was enchanting us with her voice. For those interested in some real life romantasy: the crazy story of how our exes brought us together (classic Glastonbury magic) is in the making and will be available to my paid members soon.
Writing about detours had me go down memory lane. Sorry, back to the Well Maidens and their story.
When I got told about the Faery Accord by one of my teachers I didn´t know any context but the term itself sent shivers down my spine. I eventually found the story and knew it was all connected. As long as I remember I have wanted to be a nymph - a shapeshifting creature part tree and river, part human and fairy. My studies send me down the rabbit hole of goddess tradition and I found her in those stories like facets on a dragonfly wing. I hoped to also find her within myself.
The Voices of the Wells to me are the voices of the goddesses who have been lost, the voices of the witches who have been drowned and the voices of the women who have been shamed for their nature.
The paradise of the Earth Mother was exploited by the greedy claws of patriarchy and it had us all in its hands. Yet through stories and soulful humans the goddess and her many faces survived. And so do our stories when we allow them to be heard. This is what drove me to write A Nymph’s Tale. A story which invokes magic and speaks to the subconscious. A story of you and me, from disconnection and doubt to belonging. A story of returning home to the here and now, fully human and innately divine.
“See, the enchantment was strong, the curse powerful, yet within every web of magic is woven a thread of transformation, a cord of change.”
Quote from A Nymph’s Tale
To contribute to a regenerative nature one must act honourably and truthfully to mend the broken trust that resides within ourselves and was caused through harmful actions by humans who didn’t accept reciprocity nor the might of the mother. Men and women alike must act in integrity, because we all are victims, perpetrators and heroes, and to create a new world we are required to step out of this drama triangle!
We are all descendants from the Otherworldly Well Maidens and the dishonourable knights.
Even without this inheritance - if you do not believe in it - you were raised in the Wasteland, under the influence of the unrightful laws of the Rich Company1. We have to relate to each other in sovereignty which we reclaim through the land: nature and human in harmony, men and women in interdependence, mundane and sacred integrated and cherished.
This is my purpose and work as a Priestess and a Mother. They are actually not too different: As a mother you have to regulate yourself in order to witness your child in their growing pains and as a priestess you have to hold space for the transformation of others (and accept should they return to the comfort of staying the same). Both roles require presence, patience and participation. Inner (child) work, shadow work, alchemical and archetypal work are my main focus, which I engage in through the plant ally cacao which helped me find my joy, the elemental rituals of the Reclaiming Tradition, which bring mundane magic that grounds me in my humanity and the mythologies and mysteries of Avalon which inform my ceremonial devotion and remind me of my divinity.
What are the inner and outer workings you engage with to stir your heart and help you to gather courage on your path of purpose?
Remember the Voices of the Wells and join your voice in the choir of enchantment. Let our voices be heard, sisters!
And brothers, lovers, fathers: we need and want you in our lives, this is not a manifesto for feminism, this is remembering our interdependent nature, and joining forces. Hold us in your strong embrace, listen to us sing and help us to stand firm in our truth. It is in our relationship that we reclaim and restore the faery accord. Not in competition.
Will you accept the cup of reciprocity?
Rich Company is the term used to describe the unlawful knights and their court in the original text of The Elucidation - to me it couldn’t be any more fitting to describe not only the medieval political and societal state but the one we live in today.
All of this is glimmering in magic dear Laura! xx
Sounds like your dreams are guiding you in the right (write?) direction Ms. Durban