Читать книгу Fairy Magic: All about fairies and how to bring their magic into your life - Rosemary Guiley Ellen - Страница 5
ОглавлениеParallel to our world is an invisible world, the realm of the fairies. The existence of this realm has been known since ancient times the world over. Fairies occupy a middle realm between earth and the heavenly spiritual planes, and they are more closely tied to and associated with the concerns of earth than are angels, demi-gods and gods.
Descriptions of fairies and explanations of their origins vary, as do the nature of human interactions with fairies. Some fairies are feared and others are courted. They are supernaturally endowed and can do magic, and for that reason people throughout the ages have sought their help and favours.
Perhaps you’ve already glimpsed their secret world as they work industriously in nature and around human households and places of work. Fairies are elusive, and many prefer to keep to themselves. However, it is possible to build a relationship with the fairy realm that is rewarding and productive. This book will tell you how to do it.
Fairies are supernaturally endowed and can do magic, and for that reason people throughout the ages have sought their help and favours.
The term ‘fairy’ comes from the Latin word fata, or fate, which refers to the Fates of mythology: three women who spin, twist and cut the threads of life. ‘Fairy’ came into usage in medieval times and was often used to refer to women who had magical powers. ‘Fairy’ originally meant ‘fae-erie’, or a state of enchantment. According to lore, fairies themselves do not like the word, but prefer such labels as ‘the Good Neighbours’, ‘the Gentry’, ‘the People of Peace’, ‘the Strangers’, ‘Themselves’, ‘The Seely (Blessed) Court’ and similar terms. Fairies are often referred to as ‘the Little People’.
Fairy beliefs are universal and, despite their variations, are strikingly similar. While their lore can be found around the world, fairy beliefs are particularly strong in the British Isles and in Europe.
Contemporary popular Western beliefs about angels link fairies to angels as a subordinate class of beings, in accordance with the idea of ministering angels – everything in nature has its guiding, or ministering, angel. In folklore tradition, however, fairies are not a type of heavenly angel, but a separate class of being.
Fairy lore is older than Christianity, but much of it has acquired Christian elements. The major explanations for the origins of fairies are:
They are the souls of the pagan dead. Those who were not baptized Christian became at death trapped between heaven and earth.
They are the guardians of the dead. Their realm is a between-place between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.
They are themselves the ghosts of venerated ancestors.
They are fallen angels who were cast out of heaven with Lucifer but condemned by God to remain in the elements of the earth.
They are nature spirits who are attached to particular places or to the four elements.
They are supernatural creatures who are monsters or half-human, half-monster.
They are small-statured human beings, a primitive race that went into hiding in order to survive.
In all likelihood, there is no one origin or explanation of fairies. Some may be nature spirits and elementals, others belong to the realm of supernatural forces, others are associated with the land of the dead, and still others have a distant relationship to humans.
Types and descriptions of fairies
Fairies have many names and descriptions. They usually are invisible save to those with clairvoyant sight. They can make themselves visible to humans if they so desire. Some are diminutive, even tiny, while others are huge, larger than humans. Some are beautiful and some are ugly. Some resemble humans, while others are spirit-like, with wings.
Some are morally ambivalent, while others are always benevolent, and still others are believed to be always malevolent, such as those that guard certain places in nature, or who like to trick the unwary traveller.
Some fairies are solitary, especially those that inhabit the wild. Others live as a fairy race or nation, usually said to be underground and accessed through mounds, caves, burrows and holes in the ground. The Land of Fairy, also called Elfland, has characteristics of the land of the dead. Time is altered, so that a day in human life might stretch into years in fairyland. There is no day or night, but a perpetual twilight.
Modern concepts of fairies divide them into four main groups aligned with the four elements of nature:
Earth fairies are associated with gardens, woodlands, nature, flora, animals, minerals, places in nature, mines, caves, and so on. Earth fairies also include those who work in human households, such as brownies. Dwarfs, gnomes, elves, pixies, trolls and knockers are earth-oriented fairies.
Water fairies inhabit lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of water, including seas and oceans. Sprites, nymphs, selkies and mermaids are among the many kinds of water fairies.
Air fairies, often called sylphs, govern the winds, clouds and weather. They are especially associated with storms and tempests.
Fire fairies live in wild fires, volcanoes, bonfires, the fires of the home hearth and electricity.
Fairies take care of and guard the world of nature. The interactions of fairies with humans depend upon the kind of fairy and its purpose. For example, a fairy of a river will not have as much interaction with humans as a fairy who looks after human tools.
Traditionally, the existence and activities of fairies have explained the reasons for illnesses, deformities and untimely deaths among children; epidemics among livestock, and various disasters of weather. Fairies bewitched animals and people. They stole human women for wives. And, they stole human babies and substituted their own sickly children, or changelings, in their place.
In order to stay in the good graces of fairies, humans kept clean houses and left out food and drink. In return, fairies bestowed gifts, luck, fertility and money, and helped humans with their chores. Fairies also were given offerings at sacred wells, fountains, lakes, tree groves and other places said to be ‘fairy haunts’, so that humans could ward off illness and misfortune.
The folk concept of benign or malignant fairies is often ambiguous. Whatever the disposition of a particular fairy or group of fairies, human respect for them is essential. Many folk tales illustrate the desirability of kindness, politeness, observance of taboos and correct etiquette in dealing with the fairies.
Human respect for fairies is essential.
Many people are still careful of the fairy folk, but today our relationship with them has changed in more beneficial and productive ways. We have advanced in our understanding of our relationships with the unseen and spiritual realms, and we are more desirous of establishing a cooperative partnership with them.
We have much we can learn from the fairy realm. Their roles in nature and the living forces of nature, their ability to move about time and space, and their seemingly magical ability to manifest things are not limited to only them. In lore, fairies bestow their magical gifts as favours. By cultivating cooperative relationships with them, we stand to learn how to bring their magic into our world.
Working with fairies also makes us more aware of our impact on the natural world and increases our respect for all things in nature. We cannot abuse the natural world through waste, destruction and pollution and expect it to sustain us. Creation is a balance of giving and receiving. We must support the natural world in order to be supported by it.
The fairy realm knows only too keenly the negative effects of human ignorance. It is in their interests to engage us in communication and mutual work, and they respond whenever we send out a sincere intent.
By cultivating cooperative relationships with fairies, we stand to learn how to bring their magic into our world.
Fairy magic is the establishment of communication and a working partnership with the fairy realm. It is magical in that it takes us beyond our limited physical world into other states of awareness that advance our personal and spiritual growth.
Fairy magic is simple. It is not a magic laden with odd procedures or rituals, but is an expansion of consciousness that anyone can attain.
In 1691, Reverend Robert Kirk of Scotland wrote a now-famous essay on fairies, The Secret Commonwealth (of Elves, Fauns and Fairies), which was published in 1815. Kirk described the Scottish fairy lore of his times, and gave two techniques for developing fairy sight, or the clairvoyant ability to perceive fairies:
1. Take a tether of hair which has bound a corpse to a bier. Wind it around your waist. Stoop down and look backwards through your legs until a funeral procession passes.
2. Find an accomplished seer. Have him (or her) place his right foot over your left foot and lay his hand on your head. This will confer clairvoyant power to you.
One can only wonder if readers actually obtained fairy sight in either of these manners!
Acquiring fairy sight is far less complicated. Follow the simple tips in this book to open a truly magical and wonderful world.
Fairy magic is not a magic laden with odd procedures or rituals, but is an expansion of consciousness that anyone can attain.
