The Necessary Valley: Part 2 of Searching for Faerie, Finding Me

The second part of Searching for Faerie, Finding Me is not a happy part of the story. The dark and difficult search for answers at a time when hope is hidden and there is only uncertainty is an uncomfortable state. But happiness is never quite as bright without the experience of some dark times as contrast. We understand light because we have experienced darkness. We appreciate the hills because we have valleys. The morning is a welcome sight after the long hours of darkness. Contrast shapes our experience and allows for the recognition of the enhanced state that follows.

Challenges and trials have an importance in that they bring on the power of the pause, and calls for a meaningful examination of the current state. This pause, the momentary doing nothing, is a season of releasing—shedding beliefs, expectations, and even identities no longer serve the state we are becoming. Not everything released is necessarily wrong. Some things are exactly what is needed for a particular season - as protection, guide, or warning. But eventually, these are outgrown when the season does not call for it anymore. The shedding, when seen from a growth perspective becomes something to be thankful for. The way we would thank a vessel that carried us to another place. Releasing old states with appreciation because it created the foundation for something new and fully formed.

In the second edition of Searching for Faerie, the creation of the new edition is an honoring of the first edition as the source of everything the second edition has become. The original book gave the story a body and meaning. It gave the dream a place in the world. It allowed me to see what worked, and also what needed to grow, and what was still waiting to be expressed more clearly. Much like life where the memories, experience and perspective were created in the past to carry forward to a meaningful future. Without the perspective of the past, we would all be flailing around like newborn babies - meeting every challenge for the first time. The valley is not separate from the journey. The darkness is not separate from the light. The first edition is not separate from the second. They belong together. This Part 2 of Searching for Fairie reminds me that growth often begins in the quieter places—the places where something old is being released and something new has not yet fully appeared. It may not be the happiest part of the story, but it is a necessary part of the journey because this is where transformation begins.

https://youtu.be/rbMProSl5ow