Do You Believe in the Fey?

[Raskolnikov]

I have had eye floaters before and can definitely differentiate between an eye float and a sprite.

I have a lot of floaters and just now I saw a light in the bathroom. They go together actually.

http://www.southwestvision.org/medic...ights-floaters

[Pyramidologist]

Oh, so now you want to start flinging insults at people who believe in the otherworldly creatures when you have no proof that they don't exist? This shows that you have nothing to refute it with and are lowering yourself to insults to try and tear down someone else's argument.

This is coming from you, who puts down the ethnological theory of fairies, claiming it as ''ridiculous'' when you don't know anything about it.

You are clearly not someone educated on myth or folklore to understand how they started. People thousands of years ago were not literally seeing spirits, ghosts, demons etc as they are described, but as exaggerations or gross distortions of historic populations through retelling. If you tell a story, that story after being orally transmitted a thousand years later will be distorted, but it will still have an underlying embedded historical truth. The elves, fairies and so forth in British Mythology are simply rooted in short statured people, who inhabited here during the Neolithic. Barrow tombs this far back have revealed people who inhabited these Isles were on average no taller than 5 ft 4, and many much smaller.

Instead what exactly are you proposing? Fairies are real spirits from another dimension who traveled with the Pilgrims to America? But you don't know how they got on with the Native American fairy spirits? Is this for real?

[Argyll]

I know my folklore, I am very "for real". No one else here seems to be buying into your theories as well.

[Argyll]

Why do you keep saying that all faeries are short? That's a common misperception these days

[Heart of Oak]

http://uk.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A7.../Morgan_le_Fay


One or two fairie stories make sense, I voted yes, as I do believe in such things, however I have never been lucky enough to have seen any.
I do know people that say or believe they have, I will continue to believe just in case they do exist...
Post. Script.
Fairies

Fairies, elves, dryads, brownies, gnomes, trolls, sprites, elementals, and devas: all of these are fey. The fey are commonly understood to be Earth or Nature Spirits who reside in an alternate mystical and vibrational realm. There are myriad tribes in the fairy realms - as there are in the mortal domain. The fey are also just as busy, friendly, benevolent, mischievous, wicked, and passionate as we are. They can be opinionated, malicious, affectionate and timid; some are spiteful and vile, and they are sometimes just as mean spirited as humans occasionally are. I have enjoyed being connected to them and they to me since childhood.
The English language is painfully lacking when it comes to characterizing these beings, it has no words for them. We must borrow from other countries and cultures languages, as in the case of Dryad and Deva. I struggle to find words to illustrate my perceptions and experiences, of the fey, so please bear with me. It has only been in the last 10 or 15 years that I got a name for them at all - they don't call themselves fairies or elves, or the fey. They call themselves The Ones or The Kind, and us The Others.

I remember playing with the fairies, devas and elves around my grandparents homes, making them little houses and furniture in among the flowers and bushes. I recalled the stories from my grandmother about them and I wanted to be one of them. They always told me I was, but I couldn't shapeshift exactly as they could. I couldn't make myself bigger or smaller at will, I couldn't become totally invisible as they could, but eventually, I got pretty good at it. They were always playing their mischievous tricks on me and still do from time to time.

Being jolted awake by a loud knocking or someone, shouting my name - when there is no human or animal present - is not uncommon for me. The fey I reside and work with, know, and love, have somewhat peculiar ideas about what I should be doing and when. They will tap me on the shoulder sometimes - literally, I feel someone's touch. They usually do this when they want something, or when I need to water the plants or some really important thing like that is pressing.

I have known them always, but never have been as intimate with them as I am now. They have been in my perception forever, but never have I really understood them until recently. They are important in mine and my Groves' lives. They are there to assist us, both in the ordinary world for material things and in the Magickal realms for more esoteric issues. I ask for their assistance in some way every day and give them what I can.

So, what are they? Geoffry Hodsin characterizes one well in his book Fairies at Work and Play. He recalls meeting a golden fairy: "She is decidedly fair in colouring, full of laughter and happiness, very open and fearless in expression, and is surrounded by an aura of golden radiance in which the outline of her wings can be traced. There is also a hint of mockery in her attitude and expression, as of one who is enjoying a joke against the poor mortals who are studying her."

What is the difference between a fairy and an elf, an elemental and a deva? I will tell you from my perspective of working with them for many years. The fey exist all over the world. Here in the United States they differ from the European variety, just as the ethnicity of any area will differ from another. So, too do the earth and nature spirits of places differ. Here they tend to be more dense, a bit slower vibration.

This is why it is difficult for humans to see or perceive the fey, they have a much higher vibration level than we do. Their atoms are moving at a much faster rate which makes them almost invisible to the human eye. I certainly don't mean to imply that they are stupid, they are very quick! I just mean that they have more density to their vibration, they are more "earthy" and less "airy".

They also tend to have browner skin or a greener appearance than the ones from the European countries. Most of the fey that I have met here are not particularly friendly to most humans, although if they take a liking to you they stay with you forever. As I was writing this article I was trying to remember how I first got connected to the fey. I can't pinpoint a time when I don't remember them. I have always known them, but the ones I knew from here were much more animal like than the ones described in the fairy tales from Europe.

Some of the fey are fairly similar, no matter where in the world you go. "Garden" or "flower fairies" are small, mostly tiny winged creatures. Usually fairly delicate in appearance with the same type of energy as a hummingbird, if you've ever encountered one. They tend to be translucent, sort of shimmery, which is where we get the Tinkerbelle syndrome. If you look around out in the woods, or in your garden, you may see them as shimmering balls of energy.

There are also the Air or Wind fairies who are really big, like 50 feet tall, with huge wings. They look a lot like the traditional Christian depictions of angels. I often ask them to move clouds around for me so I can sit in my hot tub. When it's raining everywhere else, there will be a small clearing just overhead and we can star gaze from the relaxing heat of the tub!

Earth fairies look like small dirty brown children. They have a decidedly Native American look. I used to love to play with these fairies when I was a child and they got me into trouble more than once, by telling me not to go home when I heard my mother calling me.

Dryads are some of my favorite fairies, although they belong in another category altogether. Dryads are the spirits that live in trees, not the tree itself which would be the Deva. Dryads can walk around and may move from tree to tree, with the favorites being Willow and Oak. The Druids are said to have heard the Dryad's Song and were thus inspired.

Speaking of Devas, they are the spirits of places, like the combined elements that make up a meadow, or a stream, or a tree. Most everything is made of more than one element and has a spirit or Deva that resides with in it, its soul, for lack of a better description.

Elementals are the pure essence or spirit of an element, not to be confused with elementaries, mentioned in another article in this issue. If you could "be" water, earth, air or fire, you'd feel what an elemental is. It's good to do a meditation on each of the elements if you can, to really "get a feel" for them. The elementals, pure as they are, like to mingle with people sometimes, so if you meditate on them, be sure to ground well afterward.

Elves are the most common to see, and there are a lot of people walking around who I think are descended from the European elf lineage. Look around at people you know, you will notice some distinctly elven qualities about some of them. Besides pointed ears and being short (under 5'6" usually) what other qualities are there to look for? Well, a pointed face, pointed nose and round cheeks often denoted elven heritage. Some people just look like elves, there's no getting around it, and I think it's because some of them chose to interbreed with mortals. A lot of my friends are elves.

It seems that the resurgence in the popularity of the Celtic traditions has brought the fey to the public's attention again, and in a way that they haven't enjoyed for many years. I know that the Celtic traditions had a lot of lore and that they were very concerned with the fey kingdom, but that is not the only tradition that acknowledges or works with these nature spirits. Look around to our great and beautiful land to see the fey that exist here, you just may find that you don't have to go to Ireland to find fairies!

Try meditating on them if you have never seen them before and you want to learn how!

If you were to do a meditation to meet or see the fey, you would begin by sitting on the grass, maybe under a tree, or in one even. Somewhere outside where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Closing your eyes and breathing in the soft scent of the warm summer air, the wonderful smell of green wafting into your nostrils and down to your lungs. As you breathe, you notice a tickle, almost like the touch of dandelion down on your nose. You focus your perception (in your third eye) and narrow it down to the space directly in front of your nose.

Ask out loud to see or be shown you closest ally in the fairy realm. You may not "see" them at first, it's OK if you don't - they don't always show themselves the first time you ask, and you also may not have your perception to the point where you can see them. So, talk to them out loud at first, then later you may telepath to them, once you've established communication. It's very important to let go of any notions you might have about how they look, because that will prevent you from actually seeing them if they don't look as you expect.

One woman I know kept saying she could never make contact with the fey, but every time she talked to them, this strange cat would appear in her house and disturb her meditation. So, she would chase it away and continue on. This happened about 10 or 12 times before she actually mentioned it to me and I said, "why are you chasing them away?" It had never occurred to her that the cat might be a fairy appearing in a form she could understand.

If they don't appear after a couple of tries it may be that you are blocked by your expectations of them. Because they are not human, they have a completely different sensibility than we. They also are great shapeshifters, so you might be seeing them already and thinking they are squirrels, birds or cats! You never know, but you can get a feeling for them and eventually you will be able to tell which is the real animal and which is fey.

When you do see them or feel them, acknowledge them, thank them profusely for showing themselves, and assure them you mean no harm. Also ask them to make a deal with you, to not act from malicious or mean spiritedness. Asking them for their assistance or saying that you know they are far superior to "mere humans" is a good idea. A little flattery never hurts! They like to help, and they love to think that they can do things we humans can't manage, so they are usually inclined to comply if you ask for help.

You may want to leave offerings to them, milk and honey being traditional, but I have found that they are especially fond of Gewurtztraminer wine. They always insist on a libation when we have it in ritual and if we don't comply, they take it anyway - sometimes the whole bottle! They also like cookies and chocolate.

Ask them questions, ask them to answer in your dreams and then record your dreams. You will find them very cooperative, slightly mischievous and down right naughty sometimes! But if you are sincere, and you give them energy, offerings, acknowledgment and respect you should be fine.

There is a huge band of trooping fairies and elves that attends our rituals and I am convinced that they are there because we see and take care of them. The thing I appreciate so much about them is that they are very whimsical. They bring their laughter and their magick when they come into the circle (we invite them into our circle in my tradition). You can feel them running, skipping, hopping, and cavorting about. They like to cause us to say something silly sometimes, if for no other reason than to show us they are here. They are usually happy; happy that they get to play with us, whether WE know what that means of not!

[heathen_son]

Oh, so now you want to start flinging insults at people who believe in the otherworldly creatures when you have no proof that they don't exist?

Argyll, I am quite comfortable in saying I honour the "hidden folk", but even I say that the logic in your statement fails.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

You'd be on stronger ground advocating that you live a tradition rather than applying rationality to the arena of superstition.

[Electronic God-Man]

Fairies are rooted in real people who were short of stature, particularly the Picts of Britain but obviously exaggerated overtime. Therefore i consider them my ancestors. Scholars and folklorists such as John Francis Campbell, David MacRitchie, Edward Burnett Tylor and Walter Scott all believed in the ethnological basis of fairies. Likewise i regard all myths or fairytales as having a rational historical (euhemerist) basis. To quote Haddon: ''fairy tales were stories told by men of the Iron Age of events which happened to men of the Bronze Age in their conflicts with men of the Neolithic Age''.

The Picts were not pygmies. Furthermore, these scholars you mention all gave this ethnological basis for fairies in the 1800's and they were laughed at then.

Perhaps they didn't draw the connection that there were beings known as elves or fairies or similar beings throughout Europe and even the world. I suppose the world was rife with pygmies at one point? Pygmies on the one hand and also a quiet numerous race of giants as well.

Euhemerism would have us believe, for example, that the Aesir were really historical kings from Asia who ruled over Scandinavia. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of mythology.

[Electronic God-Man]

No, they weren't Dwarves were a whole different entity. But I'll let a person who's more well versed on Norse folklore explain that.

In Norse mythology the dwergar and the jötnar are not the same beings. The race of giants were born from Ymir's armpit and from the mating of his two feet. The dwarfs later appeared "like maggots" from Ymir's dead flesh and were gifted with reason by the Gods.

[Electronic God-Man]

This is coming from you, who puts down the ethnological theory of fairies, claiming it as ''ridiculous'' when you don't know anything about it.

You are clearly not someone educated on myth or folklore to understand how they started. People thousands of years ago were not literally seeing spirits, ghosts, demons etc as they are described, but as exaggerations or gross distortions of historic populations through retelling. If you tell a story, that story after being orally transmitted a thousand years later will be distorted, but it will still have an underlying embedded historical truth. The elves, fairies and so forth in British Mythology are simply rooted in short statured people, who inhabited here during the Neolithic. Barrow tombs this far back have revealed people who inhabited these Isles were on average no taller than 5 ft 4, and many much smaller.

Out of curiosity, how does an euhemerist explain the similarites between the Indo-European mythologies? Did there just happen to be a great number of great pre-historical kings, who just happened to share similar names, and institute religious practices remarkably similar, all in areas great distances apart where they now speak languages that are Indo-European?

[Argyll]

Argyll, I am quite comfortable in saying I honour the "hidden folk", but even I say that the logic in your statement fails.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance

You'd be on stronger ground advocating that you live a tradition rather than applying rationality to the arena of superstition.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. But if you are saying I'm ignorant on the subject, then you are sadly mistaken.