Ending the Silence

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Fairies Magick

Welcome to my pages dedicated to Fairies. Faeries, also known as the little people, green men, good folk, fayerye, fairye, fayre, faery, fairy, fatae (Latin), fee (French) and fay (Anglican), are one of the most popularized fanciful races in mythology and literature. They are featured in myths from the early Norse-men, Celts, Romans as well as in Medieval French, English, Irish and Scottish tales. In literature faeries have been written about by Chaucer and Shakesphere and many others.

Scottish Unsellie Court

Bendith Y Mamau

Trickster faeries

Leanan Sidhe

The Elemental Spirits

There are many different faerie organizations. Each has its own hierarchy and local legends. In Scotland there is the Sellie Court, a group of rather beneficial spirits, who may none-the-less play the occasional trick on a mortal. The Selie Court are some of the more aristrocratic faeries, and are known as tropping, or heroic faeries. The dark Unsellie Court deserves special mention, and a serious warning. 
The great Tuatha de Danann of Ireland flead to Tir Nan Og after their defeat by the Milesians, however those who remained in Ireland became the Daoine Sidhe. Side (Shee) is gaelic for 'people of the hills' Orriginally it referred to the mounds in which faeries lived, though it has now come to reffer to the inhabitants as well. With the introduction of christianity to Ireland, the Daoine Sidhe diminished in importance, and also shrank in size, from the gigantic Tuatha de Danann to that of more traditionally sized faeries. Their king is Finvarra, who like all of his clan is a skilled warrior. He is also fond of chess playing and womanizing. Despite the fact that his wife, Donagh, is one of the most beautiful women above or below the ground, he is known to abduct brides-to-be. Like the Seelie Court, the Daoine Sidhe, enjoy riding and are famous for their faerie steeds, which can carry a rider faster than the wind over land or water.

Another group of faeries in Ireland inhabit the Lough Lean. their ruler is O'Donoghue who rides forth from the lake every May Day on a war steed to ride into the surrounding mist.

Wales has perhaps more clans of faeries than any other area. In Glastonburry Tor, famous from Arturian legends, Gwyn ap Nudd rules over the Plant Annwn (roughly- family of hades). Whoever eats of their food is doomed to remain forever. The welsh Gwyllion, mountain faeries, have a disturbing habbit of sitting on rocks on either side of a path and staring silently at passers by. The Tylwyth Teg (Terlooeth teig) can only be seen by mortals who first rub their eyes with a special faerie oinment, so strong is their glaymor.

However the most famous Welsh faeries are the Gwrgedd Annwn (Gwrageh anoon), the water faeries who are though to live in a submerged town beneath a lake. They are occasionally known to take human husbands, but if the mortal should strike his wife, then she wil leave him, never to return. Long ago, on every New Year's Day, a door would appear in the side of a great rock next to a certain lake. Those who entered found that it lead to a passage that ended on the island in the middle of the lake. This island was a beatiful garden kept by the Gwrgedd Annwn, who would serve wonderful food to the travelers and treat them as honored guests. They warned the fortunate mortals that the doorway was a secret and that nothing could be taken from the garden. One mortal took a single flower from the garden and as soon as he touched the soil of earth, all of the other other travelers were expelled and the doorway was closed, never to reopen again.

The Cornish small people are reduced in size every time they use their shape-changing abilities. They grow smaller and smaller, finally ending their days as ants. For obvious reasons, it is considered in Cornwall unlucky to kill ants.

In the Orkneys, the sea faeries are known as Selkies, who appear seal-like. The females will often shed their seal skins and walk upon the shore as beautiful damsels. If a man should take the seal-skin, he can force the Selkie to become his wife. If she should ever find her skin however, she will leave with it never to return.

The trickster faeries range from the relatively benign pixies to the malicious Fir Darrig . Many faeries enjoy performing pranks of a good, or not so good nature. Leprachauns delight in making greedy mortals look like fools, and find it surprisingly easy. With their abilities of illusion and quick wit, they are rarely disappointed with an encounter. Their rather mean-spirited cousins, the Fir Darrig, delight in more gruesome pranks and should be avoided. Most faeries are not quite so malicious and employ tricks of opportunity, like causing all of the landmarks in a woods to appear the same, making a hapless human walk around in circles trying to get home. Spriggans on the other hand find stealing human babies and replacing them with hideous spriggan children highly amusing. 
A similar prank played by many faeries is the exchange of a changeling for a human child. The faerie child appears the same as the human one, but has a large appetite, is mischievous, malicious and may have some deformity. The best way to prevent the faeries from replacing a baby with a changling is to put a bible, piece of iron , red thread or ash berries in the cradle. For all of these are wards against faeries. If a child is thought to be a changling, then the best way to get your child back is to startle the changling into revealing its true name. For instance one wife from Brittany boiled milk in eggshells, and the startled changling blurted out "I shall soon be a hundred years old, but I never saw so many shells boiling! I was born in Pif and in Paf, in the country where the cats are made, and I never saw anything like it!" Sometimes the amazement of the changling is enough to make him depart, but more often once his identity is proved he must be thrown on the fire or in the river to get rid of him. He will cry out and his elfin parents will rescue him, bringing the lost human bay back as well.

Many faeries use their shape-changing abilities to play tricks on mortals. The Chevel Bayard often takes the form of a horse and when humans ride him, he throws them into the bushes. the Phooka plays similar tricks, but takes a wider range of animal forms. The kelpie also uses the horse ruse, as well as that of a beautiful maiden to lure men into the water with it, where it drowns them.

Faeries also torment humans indirectly by causeing all sorts of household mischief, like breaking or spilling objects, causing chores to take twice as long, and harming or stealing livestock. Many of the problems with animals are blamed on the little people, including sudden illnesses and deaths. Wounds would be blamed on elf shot, and even if no wound could be found the shot might have caused a strange paralysis. To this day the term stroke is often used to describe a paralytic seizure, but originally came from the expression 'elf-stroke'

Nature faeries are include mermaids, water-spirits, gnomes, tree-spirits and elementals. They align with the elements; air, fire, water, and earth.

Belief in these beings - who have powers to move quickly through the air and change their shape at will - once played a huge part in the lives of people living in rural Ireland and Scotland. In the testimonies of many rural folk there are faeries who are seen walking on the ground after sunset, and those who travel through the air at night. There are also guardians of most of the lakes of Ireland and Scotland. These distinct categories of faerie beings - "Sidhe" - ties in with the testimonies of others who divide them into forest (earth) spirits, water spirits, air spirits and fire spirits.

The ancient concept of the four elements is the key to understanding. The elements are living personalities that have dominion over their material counterparts. They are tied to simple objects that they care for. A tree, rock, or pond can have an elemental spirit tied to it that looks after it at all times.

Above these in the chain are faeries and then angels. Although they coexist with our world, they live in a world of their own. They may be called upon to assist us, but they must be treated with respect.

Air Elementals travel far and wide. They are associated with mental work as spreaders of knowledge and great ideas. The muse of artists and writers, their source of inspiration and information is limitless. They are attracted by perfume oils, incense, fragrances and well constructed incantations. They are Sylphs and Zephyrs, led by Paralda.

Fire Elementals are Spirits of Sun. They are least interested in humans. They can clear away problems of a psychic nature. They are attracted by the candle flames, charcoal, and incense. Well rhyming incantations may induce them to burn away troubles without harm. They are Salamanders who often escaped from logs that were thrown on the fire. They are led by Djin.

Water Elementals have the essence of plant life in their charge. Associated with emotions and the healing of plants, animals and humans. They are attracted by water and herbs and often work in cooperation with earth elementals. They are Nymphs and Undines. Their leader is Neckna.

Earth Elementals are happy spirits entrusted with the treasures of the earth, such as gem stones, gold, silver, and platinum, as well as soil and rock. They are associated with matter and lower nature and are attracted by powders, salts and happy sounds. They are Gnomes and Trolls led by Gob. They don't particularly like people.

All of these sprites are perfect, pure, bodiless spirits; they are active and intelligent, possessing great knowledge. They are less dependent upon space and location than we are, but are capable of self-development. Gremlins, a term developed by early pilots to place blame on unknown things that go wrong with technology, can be very real.

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