There has long been an association with fungi and fairies. Tales and folklore suggest you should never step into a fairy ring, as the fairies will be angry with you. This is their territory. Stepping into a fairy ring was thought to bring you blindness or you might become a slave to the fairies in the inner world.
(A fairy ring is a ring of mushrooms or toadstools which sometimes lies within a circle of darker or greener grass. Occasionally there are two circles of greener grass on either side of the fungi.)
However with children it can be very different. When I was a child we had a fairy ring beneath the old oak tree at 
the bottom of our garden. I would sit inside it with my two sisters and we would play our games of fairies and witches. We were not afraid, and our mother, who told us about the fairy ring, never stopped us but would watch from the kitchen window. We never came to any harm. But then it wasn’t at Samhain when the veil is thin. Recently on a walk my hubby took these lovely photos of various fungi in Blarney Castle grounds. There’s nothing better than strolling (away from the tourist areas) and around the beautiful gardens and woodland. You find such wonderful hidden things within nature.
And by coincidence, the same day, my sister Francesca sent me this photo of the Fly Argaric which was taken in her daughter’s garden. Perfect! Samhain Blessings! And below this, a photo of part of a large fairy ring in Ireland.
Since writing the above and moving to the north-east of Ireland it’s a lovely drive around the coast of the Cooley Peninsula and into County Down and up to Tollemore forest (where the first season of Game of Thrones was filmed). It’s one of my favourite magical and mystical places and in autumn a perfect time to go hunting for fungi. During rainy weather you have fewer tourists and the mist over the trees just add to the atmosphere. The banner on the home page is a photo of the stepping stones over the river. And below are just some of the photos we took of the fungi we found. Just being out in nature at a magical place fungi spotting provides food for the soul.
