1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,520 Welcome to Between Three Witches, where we talk about 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,960 witchcraft in plain sight. Everyday magic lived honestly, 3 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:07,400 and it's hosted by three witches. 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,000 Me. GAIL, the witch next door. 5 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:11,480 Me. The weedy green witch and me 6 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,680 Anon the anonymous witch. We all walk different paths with 7 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,520 different levels of experience, but we share a deep respect for 8 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,320 the craft as it is actually practiced and not the dramatized 9 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,600 version people expect. Well hello, it's Anon You, the 10 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:29,440 anonymous witch from Between 3 Witches and today this is my 11 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,479 episode of Words from the Witches. 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,480 Today I would like to talk to you about the ferries or the 13 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:40,600 Faye or the others. I mean the terms and the labels 14 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,440 go on. I was first introduced to the 15 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:49,280 others by my mamgi or my grandmother when I was about 3 16 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:54,800 or 4 years of age, and I've been collaborating and working with 17 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:03,040 them now for over 4 decades. I'm old man, so this is going to 18 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,440 be a brief introduction of my beliefs and understanding. 19 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:13,240 So let's step into that magical realm and leave this world for 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:19,640 just a moment. Now it's hard to pinpoint when 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,360 we as humans first interacted with the fairies. 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:31,440 To me they are as ancient as the elements themselves and I would 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:37,080 usually refer to them as the Ancient Ones or the Immortals. 24 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:42,840 The first rough ideas of them appearing however are more 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:49,160 nature based spirits and we see this in Homerd's Iliad where he 26 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:54,400 describes nymphs and dryads, these semi divine beings that 27 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:59,200 were connected to sacred spaces, trees and springs. 28 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,440 They were also described as human in appearance and 29 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,759 protectors and this goes back about 1000 BC. 30 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:17,360 Also in Persian mythology we see Perrys being described as 31 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:23,120 beautiful winged spirits, but neither good or bad. 32 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,200 Now I'm not saying these are the fairies that we understand 33 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:33,480 today, but I was very intrigued of the description. 34 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:40,360 We also see similar imagery of human like beings with a sense 35 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:46,920 of supernatural power with images such as Eros, cherubs and 36 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:53,960 dare I even say the angels. Not in a modern sense, but if we 37 00:02:53,960 --> 00:03:01,480 strip things right back, the parallels of imagery is there. 38 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,560 In Celtic and Germanic traditions, fairies were often 39 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:13,160 seen or considered as shrunken versions of former gods. 40 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:20,040 Now fairies were described as human in appearance, sometimes 41 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:25,160 tall, sometimes small, some with wings, some without. 42 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:32,200 This is a complex mix and it may be due to natural migration and 43 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:37,680 or war and complex old beliefs and traditions that have been 44 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:44,560 interwoven through time and not forgetting potential language 45 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:50,760 barriers and someone's personal interpretation of oral tales. 46 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,520 So they might say it back in a version that they would actually 47 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,960 prefer. And I believe we see a sense of 48 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:06,240 author's interpretation of these ancient tales when monks decided 49 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,760 to record and write them down. We see a sense of Christian 50 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:17,680 ideas being threaded through. We see this motif where they 51 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:23,080 have described fairies as fallen angels rather than their true 52 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:29,840 identity, describing them not good enough for heaven and not 53 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,520 bad enough for hell. Despite the Christian ideas 54 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,040 being interwoven. They did record these tales 55 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:44,040 within history and I'm going back to the 12th, 13th and 14th 56 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:49,480 century. They understood how important 57 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:54,520 these spirits were to our ancestors, they saw how much 58 00:04:54,520 --> 00:05:01,480 value we held for them and knew they would not be eradicated out 59 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,000 of our culture and belief system. 60 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:12,640 Now I do hear this phrase a lot, the umbrella term associated 61 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,520 with the fairies, which to be honest isn't always helpful, is 62 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:20,800 it? Some view elves and brownies or 63 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:27,400 the bull barks from Wales as being part of this under that 64 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:33,400 umbrella fairy term. Now these beings are usually 65 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:38,160 connected to the land and the home, small in stature and some 66 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:44,680 say small enough to be unseen. If treated kindly and with 67 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,400 respect, it is said that they will help protect livestock, 68 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:54,920 churn butter, sweep the floors, thank you very much, protect the 69 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,280 home and the animals, and attract luck. 70 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:04,280 Now, I'm not sure if I would place them under this umbrella 71 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:10,280 term of the fairies. However, I do believe they are 72 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:17,680 part of that other world. So where does this term fairly 73 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,320 come from I hear you ask? Well hang on, I'll tell you now. 74 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:27,240 It is said it originated from the Latin word fetum or feta, 75 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:33,200 which basically means that which has been spoken. 76 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,600 So in a sense it's like prophecy or fate. 77 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:43,920 Now language evolved and we then start to see French influence 78 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:51,040 with the term Faye. We then add the suffix of Arie 79 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,360 and together what do we get? Ferryman. 80 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:00,720 This however was not used to describe these spirits. 81 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,880 It was more connected to describing enchantment or magic. 82 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:12,400 Eventually it became a way of describing enchanted land or 83 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,920 fairy land. And then much later, around the 84 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:24,280 late 14th century, we see the word being used for individual 85 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,880 beings. Now, the tales of fairies not 86 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:33,800 only became popular with these written texts, but also through 87 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:40,400 plays and art, and we see this beautiful romanticized version 88 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:46,760 of the fairies being depicted by artists such as Cecile Barker. 89 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,360 And I have to say, I'm a huge fan. 90 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,680 I love these creations. We can see how people were 91 00:07:54,680 --> 00:08:00,480 inspired by nature itself and depicted their wings and art 92 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:07,560 like insect wings, butterfly wings, and even using petals for 93 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:12,880 wings. Here we see the artist fully 94 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:18,200 connecting the image of the fairy and bringing it back into 95 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:23,040 nature. We see fairies being attacked, 96 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,560 matched to flowers, trees and the elements once again, and I 97 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:32,400 believe these ideas have always been there, but this era 98 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:39,280 rejuvenated it once again. Now I hear a lot of people in a 99 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:44,280 way completely disregarding this image of fairies, these small, 100 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:49,800 whimsical, beautiful beings. Almost in a way of if you 101 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,840 believe this image then you're wrong, you're too naive. 102 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:59,840 Absolute rubbish, right? As I've already described the 103 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,520 the image of fairies, the idea of fairies is vast and 104 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,400 beautifully mixed. These spirits are ancient, and 105 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,960 believe you me, they will present themselves to you in 106 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,760 ways that is comfortable to you. If you are respectful of their 107 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:22,480 space and their land, and that image is actually all you can 108 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,960 manage, they will work with you in that. 109 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:34,040 We need to stop demoralizing someone's personal experiences 110 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:41,040 with these ancient spirits. Even if their experience is very 111 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:48,720 different from yours, it does not make it wrong now. 112 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,080 OK, I hold my hands up. Traditionally when we look back 113 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:59,360 at ancient and medieval texts. Not forgetting you had author's 114 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:04,680 interpretation right? But fairies were described as 115 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:12,760 human, human form, as real as you or I, and we as humans were 116 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:17,600 able to interact with them. They were described as beautiful 117 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:23,400 and alluring, dressed in fine clothing and connected to deep 118 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:29,880 moral codes and rules connected to nature, sacred spaces, 119 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:36,640 spirits we can collaborate with, but with knowledge that if we 120 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,960 break our promises to them, they're naturally they will not 121 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,360 receive this well. There are also threads of the 122 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:49,640 being connected to abductions and even death. 123 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:57,080 I believe this idea of them being described as fair which 124 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,920 some have connected to their appearance, as in beautiful. 125 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,800 I rather connect the fairness to justice. 126 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:12,120 We see this thread or theme in so many folklore stories. 127 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:18,200 One is from my homeland of Wales where we see that actually 128 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:24,120 fairies can be very fair to us as humans. 129 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,160 Tale is the Physicians of the Mudvai and it's centres around a 130 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:35,240 remote lake, Klinlivan Vark, in the Black Mountains of 131 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:40,800 Carmarthenshire. A young farmer falls endlessly 132 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,800 in love with a fairy woman who emerged from the lake. 133 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:51,840 He proved his love to her by making her a variety of 134 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:58,760 different breads, hard, soft, medium and eventually he found 135 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:05,320 the right type of bread for her and eventually they married. 136 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,920 However, there was a clause, there was a contract. 137 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:17,800 The fairies warned him. Trigger warning, if you hit this 138 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:25,960 fairy woman three times, she will leave you and over time he 139 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:31,360 did. During this time, however, she 140 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:39,640 birthed 3 beautiful sons. When she leapt, she took her 141 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:45,480 fairy dowry with her, the magical cattle, the magical 142 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,640 livestock, and returned back to the lake. 143 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:56,680 The farmer was devastated. However, she did not leave her 144 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:01,240 three sons behind. She would regularly interact 145 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:06,520 with them and teach them herbalism and medicinal healing. 146 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,960 She taught them the properties of nature. 147 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:17,000 And the sons, once they became older, became the physicians of 148 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:23,600 the Mudvai and was recorded in the 14th century and they shared 149 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,320 their knowledge with the people around them. 150 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,160 Now we don't see stories like this just from Wales. 151 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,840 We have stories of fairies warning us not to take from 152 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,480 their lands or not to eat their food. 153 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:45,080 They are trying to warn us. They're trying to work with us. 154 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:50,200 They know that as humans we make mistakes. 155 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,600 There are time. We need a bit of guidance. 156 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:59,000 We are warned not to defile their sacred lands. 157 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,000 We are warned not to enter fairy rings. 158 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,200 I mean, how would you feel, honestly, if someone 159 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:12,840 deliberately and purposefully entered your home, your sacred 160 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:14,040 space? Yeah. 161 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:19,800 And showed no respect, no gratitude, Ruined your home, 162 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,720 broke your precious objects and stole from you. 163 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:30,080 Think about it. And yes, these are tales to warn 164 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:35,000 people to stay on the known path, not to wander too far. 165 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,280 Just because someone is beautiful and dressed in finery 166 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,040 does not mean they can be trusted. 167 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:48,520 But they're more than tales. They're more than warnings. 168 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:56,080 These tales of evidence that these spirits exist, and they 169 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,720 exist now. They are ancient powerful 170 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:06,040 spirits that have lasted an eternity and they've been 171 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:12,760 walking among us since we as humans came on to this earth 172 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,560 since we were created. They live in the other world 173 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:24,160 between that very thin veil. We don't have to see them. 174 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:29,960 Sometimes we can sense them, we can feel that they are near, we 175 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,400 can hear them, we have a sense of them. 176 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,680 And you don't have to be in a forest to experience them. 177 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:44,120 Unfortunately, things have been built on ancient grounds and I 178 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:49,320 truly believe you have a sense of them every so often, even in 179 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:55,480 busy city centres. If you are curious about 180 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:00,080 fairies, it's quite likely you've already encountered them 181 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,920 already. My personal belief is that they 182 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:11,480 are genuinely beautiful spirits. And yeah, treat with respect 183 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,600 like you would any spirit that we work with. 184 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,960 You know, all this about being really cautious. 185 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:25,040 And don't work with the fairies. There are many people out there 186 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,600 that would say don't work with this certain deity either. 187 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,600 Don't work with that certain God or goddess. 188 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:38,400 Follow your gut, follow your heart, follow what is calling 189 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,800 you. If you enter with respect, with 190 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:47,160 love and with kindness, and have this understanding that 191 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:55,120 relationships to build upon take time, then they will slowly 192 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:59,600 build up that trust with you. They will slowly work with you. 193 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:05,000 It is said that they are more likely to be attracted to people 194 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,000 that are connected to that enchantment, that magic, that 195 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:15,560 inner child vitality man. So if you're curious, then we 196 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,280 can absolutely discuss this further. 197 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:25,040 My next episode is going to be how can we connect, how can we 198 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:30,520 invite them in, but also how we can deter them. 199 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,680 If you want to, right there we are. 200 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:33,400 Love you, bye.