For many people the concept of fairies and the land of Fairy is the subject of children’s stories and cartoons; for some of us though these beings and their home is very real. Finding the truth about them, however, is a difficult proposition in a world that in many ways would rather relegate them to the toy bin and juvenile book shelf. Yet stories of fairies and encounters with them persist, enough that author Simon Young conducted a fairy census published in early 2018 that included hundreds of modern sighting of fairies which filled over 400 pages. Rather than relics of the past or twee kids’ tales we find a rich history of fairylore that extends fully into our modern era and persists today, but which is being buried beneath the more well known and popular mainstream cultural views. And that could be a problem when those mainstream cultural views only show one tiny piece of the picture and leave out the parts with teeth and claws.

In the last several years there have been murmurs among some people who are more sensitive to or connected to the Otherworld about the way that these beings and the energy of their world seem to be increasingly active in our world. Several bloggers have mentioned this publicly and there was even an article on a UK magazine website discussing the rise in fairy sightings and mentioning that the sightings were not all of friendly spirits but included scary ones. I know its been a frequent topic of conversation between myself and my friends. I’ve also seen a noticeable uptick in pagans interested in the subject or talking about having issues with these beings, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

It seemed a good idea considering all of that to roll out a blog that would be focused on traditional fairylore and folklore associated with Themselves. Something that would offer both an understanding of fairies grounded in academia and folklore but would also be written from a perspective of belief and include experiences and anecdotes. That is my goal here with this new blog, to show readers what the traditional beliefs are while also sharing modern experiences and practices.

You might be reading this now and thinking it sounds interesting or timely for you. Maybe like Janet in the Ballad of Tam Lin you’re the sort of person who has gone off searching for fairies; maybe like Janet you even found them. Or you might be reading this and thinking that it won’t apply to you because you already know better than to go messing with the Good People. I suppose to that I’d just say that we don’t always get to choose whether we interact with them or not, for good or ill. In the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer Thomas is sitting on a hillside when he sees the Queen of Fairy coming towards him and one might argue that everything that happens after that is far more at her will than his.

Sometimes we seek the road; other times we stumble upon it entirely by accident.

References

• Young, S., (2018) "The Fairy Census" http://www.fairyist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/The-Fairy-Census-2014-2017-1.pdf
  McCann, J., (2014) "Forget the Tales, Fairies Are Back with an Attitude" https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/546800/Fairy-sightings-on-the-rise-and-this-time-they-re-scary
  Child, F., (1882) English and Scottish Popular Ballads