Fairies

by Morgan Daimler

  5. I’ll add one exception to that, in emergency situations obviously, you may end up offering what you have on hand, but it should still be the best you can muster.

  6. Danaher also discusses the power of a black handled iron knife against the fey in The Year in Ireland; although no one seems able to offer a clear reason why it must be black handled such an item is referenced often enough in folklore that I would be confident relying on it for protection.

  7. The Good People detest filth and things like dirty wash water and urine are known to disgust them, and so act as protections against them.

  8. It doesn’t matter what your living situation is, provided only that you live in a building that usually has people sleeping in it. Even hotels and motels have what could be loosely termed house fairies in them. You don’t have to own the building, you don’t have to be the primary resident, you don’t even have to be a permanent resident. If you are sleeping there for any length of time you can reach out to the spirit of that house.

  Conclusion

  Find what you love and let it kill you.

  Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh

  you down into eventual nothingness.

  Let it kill you and let it devour your remains.

  For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much

  better to be killed by a lover.

  Charles Bukowski

  People have always had a certain fascination with the world of Fairy, and there have always been those who found a special connection to it and the beings within it. Folklore is full of stories of people who earned favor among the fairies with their boldness, cleverness, and good manners, as well as people who suffered for offending them. Looking at the array of fairylore is like looking at a colorful quilt spread out in front of us, and knowing that the surface we see, as dazzling and artful as it may be, conceals another side that we aren’t seeing.

  The more you seek to study Fairy the more you begin to understand that every answer is a contradiction and every truth has its equally true opposite. It is a maddening maze to work through trying to find your way to solid answers, and at some point you will realize that in this case at least it really is the journey that has value, not the destination. I like to think that Thomas the Rhymer realized that as well, as he rode for forty days and nights, in darkness, in deserts, wading through blood; that it wasn’t where he was going that was the goal, but the process of getting there.

  If you have read through this entire text than you have read a great deal about fairies and Fairy. Hopefully you have gained some small insight into the traditional beliefs and some of the aspects of fairylore that are increasingly being lost in modern paganism. Perhaps you already knew some of these things, or perhaps this was all new to you. Either way I hope that this journey has had some value for you.

  It pains me to think of centuries or more of belief and practice, which were vital and central to people’s lives, just fading away and being lost. The old fairy beliefs have a lot of power and wisdom to them, if we take the time to learn them. And it really does bother me to see people not making any effort to learn the old ways – which are there to be found and learned with a little bit of effort – and instead relying just on their own imaginations, intuition, and modern pulp fiction coming out with things that directly contradict the old beliefs. Basically doing things that would never have been done previously for specific reasons, usually relating to safety. And sometimes that doesn’t end well for them.

  Preserving the old beliefs matters, and we should care about it – and bringing those beliefs into modern times doesn’t mean erasing the past and making it all up anew, but realizing that those beings and beliefs never went anywhere and have been and are still with us – all we have to do is understand how they evolved with us into this century. Because they did.

  We live in a world today where the old fairy beliefs are quickly being lost. This isn’t anything new, more than a hundred years ago people were already aware that this was happening, that the cynicism, skepticism, and desire by people not to seem backwards or superstitious was eroding away the old fairy beliefs. Douglas Hyde, a collector of Irish folklore, said in 1911: ‘My own experience is that beliefs in the Sidhe folk, and in other denizen of the invisible world is, in many places, rapidly dying.’ (Evans-Wentz, 1911, p26) He then goes on to relate how even in his time people had largely forgotten that a certain hill was named Mullach na Sidhe (hilltop of the fairies), and that another place, Cluain Siabhra (meadow of the fairies) had been mistakenly associated with ‘shiver’ because people didn’t remember the correct name or the stories about the place. His experience as someone who was actively gathering these stories illustrated an important point that is still valid today: what we do not continue to value and actively pass on will die with us.

  This book has been my attempt to draw attention back to the older traditional beliefs. In our world today where belief is shaped less by tradition and lore that has been passed down through generations and more by personal opinions and imagination the old ways and beliefs are still there to be found, but it requires effort. We must be willing to look beyond the bulk of what is offered to readers today by pagan publishers and look instead to the older sources and to the living cultures, to the storytellers; to the wisdom of tradition and to the modern experiences that still happen and reflect the older lore. The fairy beliefs, like the fairies themselves, still exist if we are willing to look for them and willing to embrace knowledge that had, until recently, been passed down through generations. This book then, is the summary of much of what I know and what tradition tells us about the fairies, as well as some of my own modern experiences. It is a distillation of the information and beliefs that are available, gathered here into a single resource.

  People seeking to deal with fairies in the modern world have just as many opportunities as people a hundred or a thousand years ago did. The question is whether you will choose to do so or not. Ideally now you have the knowledge and tools to begin.

  As I finished this book I found myself thinking of the quote by Bukowski that started this chapter and how very much his words can be applied to the fey and the Otherworld. What we love consumes us in the end, whether it is fair or fierce, and because of our love we fling ourselves willingly into our own destruction. That is probably why it was always better to fear the fairies than to be enchanted by them – fear brings a healthy caution and a measure of safety, but enchantment brings a desire for that which will destroy us in the end, one way or another.

  And yet…all things die and all lives end. So maybe Bukowski’s right, better to be killed by what we love.

  Resources

  Books

  This is a list of some of the books that I find more essential to begin with when starting a study of fairies:

  A Dictionary of Fairies by Katherine Briggs – an essential look at a wide array of different fairies and folklore including some stories.

  A Practical Guide to Irish Spirituality: Sli Aon Dhraoi by Lora O’Brien – a great overall introduction to modern Irish paganism and ways to relate to the native powers of Ireland. I’d also recommend the author’s older book, Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch.

  Fairy and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry by W. B. Yeats – a look at folklore and belief, especially fairylore.

  The Gaelic Otherworld by John Campbell – an overview of Scottish folk beliefs and folklore.

  The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans Wentz – the classic text on the Fairy Faith. It’s a bit dated at this point having come out in 1911, but it includes fairy beliefs from a wide array of Celtic cultures.

  Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore – by Ellen Evert Hopman – a great book on traditional Scottish fairy beliefs and related practices.

  Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee – excellent artwork and some great tidbits of folklore sprinkled in.

  Elves, Wights and Trolls by Kveldulfr Gundarson – a look at Norse and
German fairy beliefs and some comparison with the Celtic beliefs. Very useful for looking at how different closely related cultures viewed their fairies.

  The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies by The Reverend Robert Kirk – written in the 17th century, it’s a short, but fascinating look at traditional Scottish fairy beliefs.

  The Secret Commonwealth and the Fairy Belief Complex by Brian Walsh – a review and analysis of the Rev Kirk’s book, but extremely insightful and should be read in addition to Kirk’s book for its commentary on beliefs about fairies.

  Meeting the Other Crowd by Eddie Lenihan and Carolyn Green – an excellent book on Irish fairylore.

  The Good People: New Fairylore Essays, edited by Peter Narvez – a collection of scholarly essays discussing a variety of aspects of fairylore and including a wide array of anecdotal evidence.

  Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall – a very thorough discussion of how Elves were viewed and understood historically in England. Although not explicitly Celtic there is cultural overlap and influence that merits study here.

  Movies

  Besides books there are some movies that I’ve found helpful in conveying the general feel of the beliefs themselves, and these include: The Secret of Roan Inish (1995) Sony Pictures – the story of a family that used to live on a remote Irish island, but has moved to the mainland and their connection to the seal people, called roan.

  Into the West (2011) Echo Bridge Home Entertainment – two boys try to free a horse they believe to be a Pooka.

  Legend (1986) Universal Studios – a complex story of good and evil, full of unicorns and fairies.

  The Secret of Kells (2010) New Video Group – an animated film about a boy apprenticed to a monk who befriends a forest spirit.

  Labyrinth (1986) Sony Pictures – the story of a girl’s quest to regain her little brother from the Goblin King after she accidently gives him away.

  Song of the Sea (2014) Universal Studios – an amazing animated film that tells the tale of Ben and his sister Saoirse who is the last Selkie left and the only one who can save all the Irish Aos Sí with her song – except she’s mute. (This one is my younger daughter’s favorite movie.)

  The Last Unicorn (1982) Shout! Factory – an animated film about the last unicorns attempt to find out where all of the other unicorns have gone, and eventually to free them.

  Fairy Faith (2001) Wellspring Media – a documentary by a Canadian film maker who traveled around North America, Ireland, and the United Kingdom interviewing people about their beliefs relating to the Fair Folk. Unfortunately out of production and hard to find on DVD now, but you can watch it on YouTube.

  Kin (2013) Five Knights Production – part of a series, hard to easily describe in words, but this short film is visceral and very fey. It can be watched on Vimeo: vimeo.com/73747093

  A Note on Anecdotal Evidence

  Often when you start to look for books on paganism one of the first pieces of advice you might get from more experienced people is to avoid things published prior to and during the Victorian era (with the exception of much older manuscripts, particularly myths) or books that rely too much on these as sources. Generally speaking this is good advice as this period was a time when scholarship was heavy on unsupported supposition and opinion and short on factual evidence. There is, however, one large exception to this general rule that I’d like to address today because it’s an important one, especially for those who have an interest in fairylore.

  There was a movement during this same time period for folklorists and anthropologists to begin collecting the stories of the people, both the old folk tales that had been passed on for generations and also stories of personal experiences and family lore. The motives for doing so were likely less than ideal in some cases, but the result is a multitude of books that are full of stories that relate people’s first or second hand experiences with the Good Neighbors and the complex beliefs surrounding them over the past several hundred years. For modern people, especially those interested in the Fairy Faith as a viable system, these stories are vital. While the usual rule of thumb may be to avoid books dated prior to the mid-1900s or so when we are looking at books of folklore, the rules are different. Although I still advocate being careful with anything sold as ‘retellings’ because those usually involve a lot of fictitious additions, and translations, because they often alter material in the translating, there are many important folklore collections to be found from the 1800s.

  Of course when we read these stories we must still be cautious to watch for the editor’s influence on them. It is usually easy to tell where the person writing them down has inserted their own opinions into the narrative or where they have simply written down exactly what they were told as it was told to them. In many cases we get a mixed result where there may be a great deal of wonderful anecdotal information preserved, but we must pick through secondary opinions to get to it. We see this with the Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, which espouses some popular theories of its time that should not be trusted now – like the fairies as native British pygmies – while also giving us some valuable folklore. We shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, but rather learn the discernment to judge what is valuable and what is just some Victorian academic’s personal opinion.

  We also need to keep in mind something else. Anecdotal evidence is not limited to a hundred years ago – it still exists today. We have the strangest habit as a culture (speaking especially of Americans here) of giving some credit to people a hundred years ago for actually possibly having had some genuine experience of the Otherworld while simultaneously doing everything possible to rationalize away people in our time saying the same things. We can believe that a hundred years ago someone saw or experienced Fairy, but simultaneously believe that no one can really have those same experiences today except intangibly in dreams or meditations. And yet people do still see and experience Fairy as they always have; we are just more reluctant to talk about it today because of the strength of the disbelief. Not to say we should immediately believe every claim by every person, because discernment is always valuable, under any circumstances, but I’d caution against deciding that our own cynicism should be the measure for everyone. What we personally see or understand is not the limit or ability of everyone else. It may be best to find a balance between a healthy skepticism and an attitude that espouses, as Shakespeare’s character Hamlet said: ‘There are more things on heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ There have been some efforts to collect modern anecdotes, such as Seeing Fairies by Marjorie Johnson and Simon Young as well as an excellent documentary The Fairy Faith – In Search of Fairies. These modern collections are just as important as the older ones because they show that the beliefs are still vital and alive, if less visible.

  Ultimately anecdotal evidence is important because it gives us a snapshot of the beliefs of the people at different points of time. It shows us not only what they believed, but also in practical terms how they felt the different worlds interacted and affected each other. Reading a range of anecdotal evidence across different periods of time is important, and for those interested in fairylore it is essential to see the beliefs in different areas and the changes to beliefs over time. We can learn a great deal from this material, if we are willing to embrace the older as well as the new.

  Appendix A

  Fairies, Witches, and Dangerous Magic

  When many people think of the classical image of the witch it comes with the implicit shadow of the Devil looming over it and an inherent sense of danger. When the folklore is studied in Scotland and Ireland, however, it is not cloven hooves and hellfire that mark many witches, but the touch of Fairy and interaction with the Otherworld that made them what they were, and for some of us what we are still. But people are right nonetheless to associate this kind of fairy-touched witchcraft with dangerous magic, the sort that up-ends social orders and defies the status quo, the sort that runs wild under the night sky singing to itself
of madness and mystery, the sort that seeks to give power to those who society sees as powerless. And that sort of magic is without a doubt dangerous, because it is boundless and unrestricted by what Yeats called (in another context entirely) ‘the nets of wrong and right’.

  From a traditional point of view the cunningfolk and wise women1 worked with the right order and helped the community, but the witch worked against that order – and so did the fairies. Witches might steal a cow’s milk, or stop butter from churning, or take a person’s health, or a family’s luck – and so might the fairies. Elfshot was wielded by the Good People, but it was also used by witches. Witches might take the form of hares to travel the countryside – and so might fairies. A witch’s purpose was often personal, instead of communal, and might seem inexplicable to their neighbors, in the same way that the Other Crowd seemed to operate with their own concerns in mind, regardless of the human community. The witch defied the social order, retaliating against offenses and taking actions to ensure their own success and prosperity instead of that of the greater communal good, a good that often enough was at odds with the witch’s own interests, exactly as people might view the Good Folk acting for their own good over human interests.

  Isobel Gowdie said that it was from the Fair Folk that she and the other witches got elfshot and by some accounts it was from the fairies that Biddy Early obtained her famous blue bottle. Alison Pearson, a confessed witch from Scotland, said that she learned her knowledge of herbs and herbal cures from the fairies, and I have previously discussed the claims by some historic witches that they were given familiar spirits from Fairy. The idea of witches gaining knowledge from Otherworldly sources is an old one, and in itself an idea that threatened the proper order, because things taught to people by the Gentry were inherently out-of-bounds and in defiance of a system that sought to regulate and control information and education. The Other Crowd give people weapons to fight against other humans – elfshot, Otherworldly arrows that humans cannot generally even see to defend against; they give herbal knowledge that provides magical cures in defiance of established medicine; they give visions of what is and what may be to help a witch find lost items and predict the future2.