Modern concepts of fairies divide them into four main groups aligned with the four elements of nature:
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.
Perhaps you have heard the term ‘deva’ applied to fairies, nature spirits or angels. What exactly are devas, and what is their proper place in relationship to fairies and angels?
The term ‘deva’ is Sanskrit, and means ‘shining one’. In Eastern spirituality, there are different types of devas. For example, Hinduism recognizes three. The first is a brahman in the form of a personal God. A brahman is an abstract concept expressing absolute being or absolute consciousness, a state of pure transcendence that defies precise description. The second is a mortal who has attained a state of divinity, but remains mortal. The third is an enlightened person who has realized God.
In Buddhism, a deva is a god who lives in one of the 28 good celestial realms. Formerly mortal, they enjoy a long and happy life in these realms as rewards for their good earthly lives. However, they are subject to the wheel of reincarnation and still must overcome attachments that require them to reincarnate.
In popular Western spirituality, a deva is an advanced spirit or god-being who governs the elementals and nature spirits and the wellbeing of all things in nature. Thus, the devas can be seen as a type of administrator or manager. They are of a more refined energy than the fairy realm, closer to that of angels. When perceived clairvoyantly, they have flowing, shining forms of various colours.
Are devas angel or fairy? Actually, it is impossible to completely separate the spiritual realms, for they flow into each other. Devas more or less occupy a middle realm between fairies and angels.
In popular Western spirituality, a deva is an advanced spirit or god-being who governs the elementals and nature spirits and the wellbeing of all things in nature.
Our ideas about devas have developed out