Welcome to Between Three Witches, where we talk about
witchcraft in plain sight. Everyday magic lived honestly,
and it's hosted by three witches.
Me. GAIL, the witch next door.
Me. The weedy green witch and me
Anon the anonymous witch. We all walk different paths with
different levels of experience, but we share a deep respect for
the craft as it is actually practiced and not the dramatized
version people expect. Well hello, it's Anon You, the
anonymous witch from Between 3 Witches and today this is my
episode of Words from the Witches.
Today I would like to talk to you about the ferries or the
Faye or the others. I mean the terms and the labels
go on. I was first introduced to the
others by my mamgi or my grandmother when I was about 3
or 4 years of age, and I've been collaborating and working with
them now for over 4 decades. I'm old man, so this is going to
be a brief introduction of my beliefs and understanding.
So let's step into that magical realm and leave this world for
just a moment. Now it's hard to pinpoint when
we as humans first interacted with the fairies.
To me they are as ancient as the elements themselves and I would
usually refer to them as the Ancient Ones or the Immortals.
The first rough ideas of them appearing however are more
nature based spirits and we see this in Homerd's Iliad where he
describes nymphs and dryads, these semi divine beings that
were connected to sacred spaces, trees and springs.
They were also described as human in appearance and
protectors and this goes back about 1000 BC.
Also in Persian mythology we see Perrys being described as
beautiful winged spirits, but neither good or bad.
Now I'm not saying these are the fairies that we understand
today, but I was very intrigued of the description.
We also see similar imagery of human like beings with a sense
of supernatural power with images such as Eros, cherubs and
dare I even say the angels. Not in a modern sense, but if we
strip things right back, the parallels of imagery is there.
In Celtic and Germanic traditions, fairies were often
seen or considered as shrunken versions of former gods.
Now fairies were described as human in appearance, sometimes
tall, sometimes small, some with wings, some without.
This is a complex mix and it may be due to natural migration and
or war and complex old beliefs and traditions that have been
interwoven through time and not forgetting potential language
barriers and someone's personal interpretation of oral tales.
So they might say it back in a version that they would actually
prefer. And I believe we see a sense of
author's interpretation of these ancient tales when monks decided
to record and write them down. We see a sense of Christian
ideas being threaded through. We see this motif where they
have described fairies as fallen angels rather than their true
identity, describing them not good enough for heaven and not
bad enough for hell. Despite the Christian ideas
being interwoven. They did record these tales
within history and I'm going back to the 12th, 13th and 14th
century. They understood how important
these spirits were to our ancestors, they saw how much
value we held for them and knew they would not be eradicated out
of our culture and belief system.
Now I do hear this phrase a lot, the umbrella term associated
with the fairies, which to be honest isn't always helpful, is
it? Some view elves and brownies or
the bull barks from Wales as being part of this under that
umbrella fairy term. Now these beings are usually
connected to the land and the home, small in stature and some
say small enough to be unseen. If treated kindly and with
respect, it is said that they will help protect livestock,
churn butter, sweep the floors, thank you very much, protect the
home and the animals, and attract luck.
Now, I'm not sure if I would place them under this umbrella
term of the fairies. However, I do believe they are
part of that other world. So where does this term fairly
come from I hear you ask? Well hang on, I'll tell you now.
It is said it originated from the Latin word fetum or feta,
which basically means that which has been spoken.
So in a sense it's like prophecy or fate.
Now language evolved and we then start to see French influence
with the term Faye. We then add the suffix of Arie
and together what do we get? Ferryman.
This however was not used to describe these spirits.
It was more connected to describing enchantment or magic.
Eventually it became a way of describing enchanted land or
fairy land. And then much later, around the
late 14th century, we see the word being used for individual
beings. Now, the tales of fairies not
only became popular with these written texts, but also through
plays and art, and we see this beautiful romanticized version
of the fairies being depicted by artists such as Cecile Barker.
And I have to say, I'm a huge fan.
I love these creations. We can see how people were
inspired by nature itself and depicted their wings and art
like insect wings, butterfly wings, and even using petals for
wings. Here we see the artist fully
connecting the image of the fairy and bringing it back into
nature. We see fairies being attacked,
matched to flowers, trees and the elements once again, and I
believe these ideas have always been there, but this era
rejuvenated it once again. Now I hear a lot of people in a
way completely disregarding this image of fairies, these small,
whimsical, beautiful beings. Almost in a way of if you
believe this image then you're wrong, you're too naive.
Absolute rubbish, right? As I've already described the
the image of fairies, the idea of fairies is vast and
beautifully mixed. These spirits are ancient, and
believe you me, they will present themselves to you in
ways that is comfortable to you. If you are respectful of their
space and their land, and that image is actually all you can
manage, they will work with you in that.
We need to stop demoralizing someone's personal experiences
with these ancient spirits. Even if their experience is very
different from yours, it does not make it wrong now.
OK, I hold my hands up. Traditionally when we look back
at ancient and medieval texts. Not forgetting you had author's
interpretation right? But fairies were described as
human, human form, as real as you or I, and we as humans were
able to interact with them. They were described as beautiful
and alluring, dressed in fine clothing and connected to deep
moral codes and rules connected to nature, sacred spaces,
spirits we can collaborate with, but with knowledge that if we
break our promises to them, they're naturally they will not
receive this well. There are also threads of the
being connected to abductions and even death.
I believe this idea of them being described as fair which
some have connected to their appearance, as in beautiful.
I rather connect the fairness to justice.
We see this thread or theme in so many folklore stories.
One is from my homeland of Wales where we see that actually
fairies can be very fair to us as humans.
Tale is the Physicians of the Mudvai and it's centres around a
remote lake, Klinlivan Vark, in the Black Mountains of
Carmarthenshire. A young farmer falls endlessly
in love with a fairy woman who emerged from the lake.
He proved his love to her by making her a variety of
different breads, hard, soft, medium and eventually he found
the right type of bread for her and eventually they married.
However, there was a clause, there was a contract.
The fairies warned him. Trigger warning, if you hit this
fairy woman three times, she will leave you and over time he
did. During this time, however, she
birthed 3 beautiful sons. When she leapt, she took her
fairy dowry with her, the magical cattle, the magical
livestock, and returned back to the lake.
The farmer was devastated. However, she did not leave her
three sons behind. She would regularly interact
with them and teach them herbalism and medicinal healing.
She taught them the properties of nature.
And the sons, once they became older, became the physicians of
the Mudvai and was recorded in the 14th century and they shared
their knowledge with the people around them.
Now we don't see stories like this just from Wales.
We have stories of fairies warning us not to take from
their lands or not to eat their food.
They are trying to warn us. They're trying to work with us.
They know that as humans we make mistakes.
There are time. We need a bit of guidance.
We are warned not to defile their sacred lands.
We are warned not to enter fairy rings.
I mean, how would you feel, honestly, if someone
deliberately and purposefully entered your home, your sacred
space? Yeah.
And showed no respect, no gratitude, Ruined your home,
broke your precious objects and stole from you.
Think about it. And yes, these are tales to warn
people to stay on the known path, not to wander too far.
Just because someone is beautiful and dressed in finery
does not mean they can be trusted.
But they're more than tales. They're more than warnings.
These tales of evidence that these spirits exist, and they
exist now. They are ancient powerful
spirits that have lasted an eternity and they've been
walking among us since we as humans came on to this earth
since we were created. They live in the other world
between that very thin veil. We don't have to see them.
Sometimes we can sense them, we can feel that they are near, we
can hear them, we have a sense of them.
And you don't have to be in a forest to experience them.
Unfortunately, things have been built on ancient grounds and I
truly believe you have a sense of them every so often, even in
busy city centres. If you are curious about
fairies, it's quite likely you've already encountered them
already. My personal belief is that they
are genuinely beautiful spirits. And yeah, treat with respect
like you would any spirit that we work with.
You know, all this about being really cautious.
And don't work with the fairies. There are many people out there
that would say don't work with this certain deity either.
Don't work with that certain God or goddess.
Follow your gut, follow your heart, follow what is calling
you. If you enter with respect, with
love and with kindness, and have this understanding that
relationships to build upon take time, then they will slowly
build up that trust with you. They will slowly work with you.
It is said that they are more likely to be attracted to people
that are connected to that enchantment, that magic, that
inner child vitality man. So if you're curious, then we
can absolutely discuss this further.
My next episode is going to be how can we connect, how can we
invite them in, but also how we can deter them.
If you want to, right there we are.
Love you, bye.