mad woman

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith (details)

And on dark nights lit up from within by the cold light of stars and the full lit moon, while others dreamt of sugarplum wine and christmas cheer, she kept vigil. She carefully made her lavender tea (with a dusting of cinnamon sugar and an incantation on top), and she sat by the window, with her candle and Cassius her cat. ‘You see, Cassius’ she whispered, as he began to purr at the mere sound of her voice, ‘it’s not that people can’t do their own magic, or weave their own spells, but that most would prefer to keep the mystery intact. That it come from some other source, outside themselves. And I, well, who am I to ruin a good fantasy, or a good source of income?’ she smiled in her tea.

The Need to Stay

metsänpeitto – forest blanket. In Finnish mythology, this is the name of a place or state of mind where you can be led by magical creatures of the forest (dwarves?) and where even a familiar forest can seem strange and deceptive. in the past, people who got lost in the forest for unexplained reasons said that they 'fell under the forest cover'. 'but there's a way out!' that's what my grandmother used to say, which her mother taught her once when they got lost in a cloudberry swamp. 'I need to turn my socks inside out!'

— Saara Alhopuro