13/21 Haunting the House

13/21 "Haunting the House" (album: Hemlock Honey and Crows) was inspired by an Irish folktale called "House of Dreams" from Jane Yolen's Favorite Folktales from around the World. 

Mrs Butler goes to sleep and imagines herself walking into a house. Each night, if she dreams about the house, she explores more of it. Every room and garden. When she wakes, she tells her family about it and this goes on for years. 

When she and her husband retire from Ireland to somewhere outside London, they're brought to a house by an estate agent and before the tour can begin, Mrs Butler says, "I know where I'm going." 

The house is on the market at a reduced price but they don't ask questions before buying it. When they meet someone from the household after the deal is closed, they're told the house is haunted, but not to worry: Mrs Butler is the ghost! 

I was taken by this thought completely. To dream my own house into existence. My own place. Just mine. Gardens filled with poisonous plants, near to the woods. Crows on the rooftop. A greenhouse, a studio, a piano in the kitchen. I've planned it all out. Some of that place became this song.  

"I want to dream like Mrs Butler dreams..." 

Listen & lyrics here 

Stacy Koviak-Davison lends her vocals to the harmonies with Jen Midkiff on harp. I love love LOVE singing this one. Every time I do it feels like I'm adding to the magic strength of the spell it weaves, and I'm one step closer. 

I desperately miss having my own garden. Listening to the roots and the soil, watching the leaves turn toward the sun, the thickening of healthy branches, trees growing tall from the seedlings I planted. I miss that organic sculpting of living systems, learning their individual and collective parts. Letting them teach me what they most need. 

I want to live in a place that has welcomed me. Where I speak the language of the spirits who live there. For me, that place is Ireland. One day, mo stor. One day.

 

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