Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

FAIRY (aka FAERY, FAERIE, FAY, FAE, etc)

Fairies are a host of supernatural beings and spirits who occupy a limbo between earth and heaven. Both good and evil, fairies have, at various times in. history, been blended and confused with Witches. During the witch-hunts in Europe and the British Isles, accused witches often sought to save their lives by claiming they were taught their witch arts by fairies, which seemed less malevolent than if they had been taught by the Devil. For the most part, fairies have remained in a category of their own, though when convenient, the clergy allied them with the Devil.

Belief in fairies is universal and ancient, dating back to pagan deities. Fairies come in all shapes and sizes and are known by scores of names, among them brownie, elf, dwarf, troll, gnome, pooka, ko-bold, leprechaun and banshee. They exist in virtually all cultures but are most common in Europe and the British Isles. In the colonization of America, fairy beliefs were transported across the Atlantic, where they still survive in the Appalachians, the Ozarks and other remote mountainous areas.

The word fairy comes from the Latin term, fata, or "fate." The Fates were supernatural women who liked to visit newborn children. The archaic English term for fairy is fay, which means enchanted or bewitched; the state of enchantment is fayerie, which gradually became faerie and fairy.

There are four principle theories as to the origins of fairies:

Fairies are the souls of the pagan dead. Being unbaptized, the shades are caught in a netherworld and are not bad enough to descend into hell nor good enough to rise into heaven.
Fairies are fallen angels. When God cast Lucifer from heaven, the angels who were loyal to Lucifer plunged down toward hell with him. But God raised his hand and stopped them in midflight, condemning them to remain where they were. Some were in the air, some in the earth and some in the seas and rivers. This belief is widespread in the lore of Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia.
Fairies are Nature Spirits. Somewhat similar to the fallen-angel theory, this belief holds that fairies are among the many spirits that populate all things and places on the planet.
Fairies are diminutive human beings. Evidence exists that small-statured races populated parts of Europe and the British Isles in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, before the spread of the Celts. According to some, in Ireland, they were known as the Thuatha de Da-naan. They lived in barrows and in shelters burrowed under hills and mounds. They were shy and hard-working, and, as stronger races invaded and conquered with their iron weapons, they retreated into the woodlands to live secretive lives.
They were pagan and continued to worship pagan deities. They were close to nature and had keen Psychic senses. Some were skilled in metals and mining, and some were herdsmen, keeping stocks of diminutive cattle and horses. Some maintained a guerilla warfare against the invaders: witness the legends of Robin Hood and his band of twelve, and of Rob Roy.
The elusive fairy races were regarded with suspicion and superstition by the larger races and gradually became endowed in popular belief with magical attributes and characteristics. These races, such as the Lapps, Picts and Romano-British-Iberian peoples, were not so small as to be unable to mingle with the Celts, Normans and Saxons. Many were made into servants and serfs, while some married and mixed bloodlines. Prior to the 13th century, having fairy blood was admired.

Of the four main theories, the latter two are most likely: the small races became identified as fairies and were ascribed the supernatural abilities and charac-teristics of Nature Spirits in lore.

FAIRY LORE: Physical characteristics of fairies vary. Some are tiny, winged, gossamer creatures a few inches tall, who can alight on a drop of water and barely make it tremble. Some are dwarfs and "little people" barely smaller than mortals. Others are huge giants. Fairies are both ugly and beautiful. They are usually mischievous and unpredictable and must be placated by gifts of food and spotlessly clean houses. The superstitious refer to them as "the good people" or "the good neighbours" in order to stay in the fairies' good graces.

When won over by a mortal, fairies may be very generous with gifts, both material and Psychic. Some are evil and malevolent. Most are lascivious and enjoy seducing mortals; some even marry mortals. In general, it is considered bad luck to talk about fairies and their activities. To do so invites a beating and the instantaneous disappearance of all the gifts bestowed by the fairies, such as wealth and posses-sions, and even the fairy lovers or spouses themselves.

Fairies are nocturnal creatures and like to drink, dance and sing. Their music is reputedly exquisite. Their colour is green, which is also often identified with witches. Green clothing perhaps helps them to blend into their forests; some are said to have green skin. They keep many animals, including dogs, cattle and sheep, which usually are red and white in colour, but they do not keep cats or fowl. In Ireland, cats are regarded as fairies, generally as evil ones. The crowing of cocks reputedly drives away fairies, as well as witches and demons.

Like the Fates, fairies love to visit the newborn babies of mortals and will not hesitate to steal those that are unbaptized, or "little pagans," substituting in their place changelings - wizened fairy children. Fairies particularly desire fair-haired children, to im-prove their own hairy stock. To protect infants against kidnapping by fairies, an open pair of iron scissors traditionally was hung over them in the cradle-for iron is believed to repel fairies-or an iron PIN was stuck in their clothes.

Other measures included laying the trousers of the child's father across the cradle; drawing a circle of fire around the cradle; making a sign of the cross over the child; sprinkling it add the cradle with holy water; and giving it a nickname. The latter relates to beliefs in the magic power of names (see NAMES OF POWER). If fairies do not know the true name of a child, they will not be able to cast a magical spell over it. In lore, witches were often said to collude with fairies to steal babies or children for money.

From the Middle Ages through the 17th century, when fairy beliefs peaked, infants who were ugly, retarded or unruly were written off as changelings. It was believed that the changelings could be induced to confess if they were set afire, and many babies undoubtedly died that way.

In the early Middle Ages, fairies were said to be visible to all. As time went on, they acquired more and more supernatural powers and became invisible to all but those with Second Sight. Fairies who were captured by mortals were said to pine away and die quickly if they could not escape. Mortals who visited Fairyland, an enchanted land beneath the ground, discovered that time passes very slowly for fairies: what seemed like a few days translated into years when the mortals returned to the physical world.

Some fairies were said to suck human blood like Vampires. On the Isle of Man, it was believed that if water was not left out for them, they would suck the blood of the sleepers in the house or bleed them and make a cake with the blood. The fairies would then leave some of the blood cake hidden in the house; it had to be found and given to the sleepers to eat, or they would die of a sleeping sickness.

FAIRIES AND WITCHES: According to discredited British anthropologist Margaret Alice Murray and other historians, real "little people" gradually became identified with witches. In the 16th and 17th centuries, when fairy beliefs were at their height, fairies and witches were often blended together. Both allegedly could cast and break Spells, heal people and divine lost objects and the future. Both allegedly danced and sang beneath a full moon - often together-and trafficked with the Devil. Both allegedly could change shape, fly, levitate and cause others to levitate. Both allegedly stole unbaptized children and poisoned people. Both allegedly stole horses at night and rode them hard to their Sabbats, returning them exhausted by dawn. Both allegedly avoided salt and Both allegedly were repelled by iron.

James I of England, in Daernonologie, his book about witches, called the Goddess Diana, the "Queen of Faerie." Oberon, the name of the King of Fairies, was also the name of a demon summoned by magicians. Fairies were said to be the Familiars of witches. It is no surprise, then, that fairies figtifed in numerous witch trials. Those richest in detail took place in the British Isles.

In 1566 John Walsh of Dorset was accused of witchcraft. He admitted being able to tell if a person was bewitched, a gift bestowed upon him partly by fairies, he said. The fairies, he claimed, lived in great heaps of earth in Dorsetshire and could be consulted for one hour, at either noon or midnight. Walsh also defined three kinds of fairies: green, white and black, and said the black were the worst.

Bessy Dunlop, a wise woman healer of Ayrshire, was accused of witchcraft and Sorcery on November 8, 1576. She suddenly became a successful herbalist and healer and gained Second Sight, which helped her predict the recovery or death of patients and the location of lost objects.

In her trial, Dunlop testified that she had been taught these abilities by a phantom fairy named Thome or Thome Reid. Reid told her that he had been ordered to be her attendant by the Queen of Elfhane. Many years before, when Dunlop was in childbirth, the Queen appeared before her as a stout woman, asked for a drink and was given one. Reid explained to Dunlop that afterwards, he had been killed in the battle of Pinkie on September 10, 1547 and had gone to Fairyland. He now served the Queen of Elfhane.

The ghostly Reid appeared many times before Dunlop, beseeching her to go away with him to Fairyland or to deny the Christian faith, in exchange for which he would grant her every wish. She denied him repeatedly, she testified. One day, Reid ap-peared with a company of eight women and four men. Reid explained that they were "good wights" (fairies) who lived in Elfland. They asked Dunlop to accompany them. When Dunlop remained silent, they left "with a hideous ugly howling sound, like that of a hurricane."

Reid continued to visit Dunlop, offering his assistance in healing sick animals and people. Eventually, he gave her herbal ointments and taught her how to use them and predict their effectiveness.

Dunlop would see Reid in town from time to time, though he remained invisible to others. He always appeared if she summoned him thrice. On every occasion, he begged her to come with him to Fairyland, sometimes tugging at her apron, but she always refused, which sometimes put him in an ill humour.

These supernatural visits went on for four years before Dunlop was brought down on charges of witchcraft. The fact that Dunlop had always used her new skills for good did not help her case; neither did her testimony that her benefactor was a fairy and not the Devil. Dunlop was convicted and burned at the stake.

A few years later, in 1588, Alison Pearson of Byrehill was charged with invoking the spirits of the Devil. She also was said to have had a fairy Familiar: her cousin, William Sympson, a physician who had been kidnapped by a Gypsy and had died. One day while Pearson was traveling, she felt ill and lay down. A Green Man (Sympson) appeared and said he would do her good if she would be faithful to him. The Green Man vanished and reappeared with a band of fairies, who cajoled Pearson into accompanying them and taking part in their drinking and merrymaking.

Pearson gradually became comfortable with her fairy friends. If she talked about their activities, however, she was tormented with blows that left insensitive spots on her skin. Sympson advised her of when the fairies were coming to her and of the fact that they usually arrived in a whirlwind. Sympson also taught her how to use herbal remedies and told her that every year, the Devil took one-tenth of the fairies away to hell as a tithe.

Like Dunlop, Pearson's confession only worsened her case. She also was convicted and burned.

Isobel Gowdie, Scotland's renowned witch who voluntarily confessed in 1662, said she had frequent doings with fairies. Gowdie went often to Fairyland, entering through various caverns and mounds. The entrance of Fairyland was populated with elf-bulls, whose "roaring" always frightened her. She often met with the King and Queen of Fairy, who were finely dressed and offered her more meat than she could eat. Gowdie, her fellow witches and the fairies would amuse themselves by metamorphosing into animals and destroying the homes of mortals.

Gowdie said the fairies manufactured their poisonous elf-arrow heads in their caverns, and she had seen the Devil working alongside them, putting the finishing touches on the flints. Fairies taught her how to fly, by mounting corn-straws and beanstalks and crying, "Horse and Hattock, in the Devil's name!"

As late as 1894 beliefs in fairies and witches in Ireland caused the murder of Bridget Cleary of Clonmel, who was accused by her own husband and family of being a changeling wife. The trials of Michael Cleary and Bridget's relatives were Ireland's last involving witchcraft.

Today, the most common encounter with fairies is obtained as a child through leaving a tooth beneath one's pillow at night which they will, if pleased with its owner, exchange for money. The notion amongst some modem authors on Witchcraft, that the fairies represent vestiges of an army of dwarfish beings who peopled parts of the British Isles in pre-Celtic times is more the product of imagination than an historical or archaeological reality.

Neo-Pagan Witches believe in fairies and some see them Clairvoyantly. Some Witches say their Craft was passed down from fairies through the generations of their families.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc