Forest Journey

In Fencraft, the map directions are applied on top of another concept, creating different aspects. We tend to assume all things appear in all these aspects (although some concepts have a greater affinity to some domains than others, and therefore appear more frequently; and some concepts are so opposed that they are either very rare, or represent a being-too-far-from-its-own-nature)

Let's see an example of this!

Forests are inherently Solar-to-Stellar, related to the interplay of light-and-shade; the landscape; living things upon the land; the cyclical changing of things, such as autumn leaves and winter ermines; and in terms of sacred meaning, they are psychedelic and related to dreaming, realising you are part of everything, childlike wonder, 'purposeless' travel/dropping out, the interplay of man and the wild, losing your identity within the greater whole of nature, being transformed into something new and predominantly a kind of warm mood.

Under the Solar

A really lovely forest, in the sun.

This position represents an ordinary walk in the woods - not distinctly magical or awakened. It might be no forest at all - the ancient trees cleared for fields and cities. Or it might be a scattering of isolated, friendly trees. It could be a spirit of the forest which is unmixed goodness and safety - as friendly as a Green Man carving bought from the Avebury shop, a merry woodland fellow, who is mighty but has no difficulty or terror about him.

Painting of a pastoral landscape, in yellow-green with long shadows. Fields, some striped and some plain; a clutch of sheep; dotted trees and a country road lined by hedges. — 'Junction at High Newstead and Hammer Farm', Simon Palmer

classic style painting of a gathered band of 30 friends in medieval garb underneath a spreading oak tree, old enough to have a deep crack and thick branches. They sit in a circle around it, quarterstaves left aside. Dappled gold light comes through the green leaves and there is a sense of peace and happiness

children's illustration of animals having a picnic in an apple orchard. A badger in a hat and apron stands near a long table with a white tablecloth. Little mice in clothes are sat eating and helping lay the table. In the background is a church tower. It is sunny. — Redwall Summer Picnic - Christopher Denise

A picture in a soft style. Four Hobbits in walking clothes and with staves in the foreground are dominated by the size of the landscape around them. They are about to cross a little stream with a blissful waterfall heading on a path towards a woodland cottage with lit windows and a smoking chimney. They are being beckoned by Tom Bombadil, a taller figure in a blue coat waving a yellow hat with a feather. On his side of the river there is a brown pony standing. The mood is extremely cosy. — Joe Gilronan

Between the Solar & Lunar

There are two moods here. The first is the brink between man and the woods, the boundary itself, like two distinct things placed side by side with a firm cut in between. This mood is exciting, frightening, a threshold of courage, an irrevocable step. It can be the forest seen from the outside or the fields seen from under trees - a sense of being looked at

The second is the celestial forest - a forest which is both magical and beneficial to man, a place where Solar and Lunar light mingle. Silver, gold, or the bright colours of young trees with sunny spaces between them (spring and autumn are both changetimes as is solar-lunar, so it can also be an autumn woodland but alive in bright orange and gold rather than dusty and brown). An example of encounters here is a man meeting with elves or a child with fairies, and the encounter being safe or positive.

ink illustration of an open woodland. Trees have slender white trunks and their leaves are green and gold-green. Some orange leaves lie on the ground. The mood is magical and welcoming. — by J.R.R. Tolkien

a soft painting of a path along a woodland's edge, shaded by trees. Some scattered gold light on the path but the mood is more quiet and pensive than under the Solar. You can see an open field on one side, and on the other side a mass of white flowers - cow parsley and dandelions along the path edge, and white hawthorn flowers on the trees.

imposing contemporary oil painting. You are looking into a forest, but beyond a few trees lit by a bold light there is pure blackness. The trunks are smooth, without leaves or mosses. The mood is frightening.

screencap from the Witch by Robert Eggars. A family kneel with their backs to the viewer. They are in 1630s puritan clothes, and beside them is a wagon loaded with posessions. The father and mother raise their hands in prayer. They are facing the tree line of an inpenetrable forest.

screencap from the Village by M. Night Shyamalan. The camera is at ground level. Trousers and feet of a character wearing a mustard yellow cloak, and a little bit of a bucket being held. The character is standing right next to the tree line of the forest, as if considering stepping in.

screencap from the Village by M. Night Shyamalan. A young woman's face is almost totally covered with a mustard yellow cloak hood. She faces to the right. Parallel with her eyeline behind her is open field, then a fence, then a little more field before the tree-line of a forest

Screenshots from The VVitch and The Village (screencaps from moviescreenshots.blogspot.com)

Under the Lunar

A forest with lunar qualities. It may become fairylike...secret...alive with magic...restful...it may also be sinister. It might bring encounters with Lunar beings - fairies and witches, or forests alive with their moods. It could the the archetypal white stag which draws the hunter out of the everyday, or a trespassing into the edges of the fairywoods. This is the wildwood of fairytales - consider Snow White. This is the forest that people of the Solar village fear.

The kingdom of the fairy queen or an elf stronghold - i.e. a hidden place within a forest - is archetypally Lunar as a static sphere.

Note: a Lunar characteristic is that it has many colours, because there are so many different kinds of moon, so imagery in this phase can be extremely wide.

Painting of a woman in historic peasant style dress walking through a mossy, foggy forest. She is carrying a basket of red fruit, and looking up in shock and horror at the tree. The tree is all exposed roots and spooky looking. It is filled with six supernatural-looking humanoids, the colours of spider web and autumn leaf. They are draped alluringly and frighteningly over the branches, reaching down towards her. — Unknown

a cobweb at night time made magical by dew. The full moon is shining through it. A white sylphlike woman sits on the cobweb, sewing it, and in the foreground a tiny figure with a red cap is putting dewdrops on. Surrounding it are woodland flowers. — by Asako Eguchi

animated illustration of moonlit undergrowth. White moths with black spots on their wings are fluttering. The undergrowth is a variety of leaf plants. — Unknown

blue sky and moonrise over the side of a hill, with black bare trunks. The hillside is covered with magical mushrooms in pale purple and pale green. The nearest mushroom is warm orange and has two fairies hiding underneath it. — By Asako Eguchi

A stylised painting of fairies on procession through the woods, bare trees and a crescent moon. The fairy costumes are elaborate, with flower patterned fabrics. One is flying on a small bird, another flying while holding a dandelion. One fairy has a snail shell for a hat, another is riding on a walking peacock, another on a unicorn. One plays a trumpet. The leader of the procession holds a dandelion. At the back, a fairy in black with a pointed hat and pointed wings peers around a tree at the procession. — By Errol le Cain (1971)

an ink and watercolour illustration. A twisted, bare tree dominates the image. Behind it, a pale yellowish moon is rising. In the foreground are a cluster of traditional-looking little fairies in pale blue-white. — By Arthur Rackham (1928)

an illustration filled with a forest of mushrooms of all shapes and sizes, some twice the height of a person, others cluttering the foreground utterly. A girl is deep in the forest, back to the viewer, with her skirt and hair being caught with motion. — Adam Oehlers

a pale girl with black hair and a gold dress lies as if dead in a forest clearing. Behind her, bare thick twisted and spooky trees. Above her, a swirl of colourful birds of all kids - a parrot, a crow, a woodpecker, and other kinds — bluefooted-birds

a brown sketchy ink illustration of a little witch girl standing on a hillside being caught in autumn winds. She holds a gold lantern and a broom. A black cat by her feet and a swirl of bats behind her. There are black city spires at the base of the hill, and behind her is a bare twisted tree. — Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

a fairylike figure in white flowing garb walks through the woodland, black hair behind her. The trees are twisted but peaceful seeming, beneath her feet are white flowers and between the netted branches white stars. She is being followed by birds in motion of different kinds - among them, a magpie and bluejay — Elena Kukanova

Between the Lunar and Stellar

The forest becomes darker, deeper, and stranger. The wanderer leaves the fairy-woods which are dangerous but can be encountered with skill and courage, which are unusual but can be comprehended with patience, which are frightening to the everyday but hold no terror for the witch. The dark heart of all forests is Stellar, and beyond description (or representation).

The spirits here, at first, might be termed as fairies - but inherently hostile to all-comers. They are too unlike man to be approached safely, and the forest is a source of intense horror. Change and things eating other things: like the wood rotting down into the water, marsh gasses and coal, mushrooms living on the bodies of dead trees; like the terror of becoming consumed by the wood itself, of becoming a wolf, of becoming a forest, of becoming food, of being hunted, of disappearing completely.

Beyond them, and increasingly, the powers are are immense presences, the ecosystem itself as a presence; and the forest is silent to those who cannot hear - the center of awe, a place beyond all imagining, and to discover it is to lose the way home

mysterous painting - a white figure on a tiny boat uses a pole to push herself down a black river. Around her, bare trees dropping autumn leaves. She is travelling towards a black nothingness that is the continuation of the river. The mood of the image is slightly surreal. — Adam Oehlers

green-black still water with rotting trunks poking out. Along the waterline is solid tall trees, green and with black between them, so you cannot see into or beyond the forest. A heron is taking flight. — AJ Casson

a photo of tangled tree branches and in the foreground tree trunks wholly overgrown with moss. — Albert Dros

digital art. a small human figure is dwarfed by thick trees of incredible hight. The trees are leaved and have leaves up their sides. Shafts of light come into the forest clearing, with white birds fluttering away. In the foreground, a horse watches the girl. The mood overall is awesome and otherworldly. — ELIOLIart

photo with no light or sky visible at all. Mossy tree trunks and criss crossing branches, with ferns all over the ground. Deep black and yellow-greens.

illustration of a greenish pool surrounded by evil-looking trees of immense size. The forest is foggy, dark and mossy. On an incredible root is a tiny human figure holding a light.

picture of an autumnal forest, with trees so thick and bowled over and weirdly shaped you cannot tell where one ends and one begins. Red leaves on the ground and mosses everywhere.

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