Faries

I have bought and read The Fairy Bible by Teresa Moorey. It is a wonderful book and I really loved it. I wanted to get other peoples views on fairies though. How they act and what makes them tick sort of things. Maybe even tell me your experience with fairies. I would really love to hear about it

Ladybugskiss

[FalseAwakening]

I don't have a fairy bible :( and I don't know what makes fairies tick... I do know they don't like cats! And since I have lots of cats.... Well they aren't likely to be around for long... I guess they don't like cats because they chase them like how cats chase butterflies and mice... Fast moving little things :P

FalseAwakening,

See! The book never mentioned anything about fairies not liking cats. That stinks seeing as I have 4 of my own :P Thank you for the advice!

Ladybugskiss

[Albalida]

The Fairy Bible is a great assorted resource, but not my favorite for something comprehensible. I mean, on the one hand, fairies can be whatever you want them to be. This documentary named "the fairy faith" suggested that maybe alien abductions were a new interpretation of faeries, or that faeries were an old interpretation of alien abductions.

On the other hand, I have difficulty with separating the vocabulary from the culture. So, the yokai of Japan count as faeries to me, and I live in Asia so that sort of "fae" is what I usually see...but usually talking about fae means I refer to Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, maybe Cornish, Icelandic and mainland European cultural observations about fae because that's where they're actually called fae. And there are traditions in Europe that Asia doesn't have, and there are traditions in Asia that Europe doesn't have, even if they might be about the same type of being.

Faeries love cats. There's a type of Faery called the Cait Sidhe that's a cat, and some stories which suggest that all domestic cats are faeries in disguise.

Moorey mentioned in her book the realms of Falias, Muirias, Gorias, and Findias. If I recall correctly, she forgot to mention that these realms were mentioned in the medieval history of Ireland, the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, but it takes a lot of interpretation to get from there to "Realms of the Greek classical elements."

There's contradictory folklore about faeries and bells. Celtic faeries love the sound of bells, but Scandinavian faeries hate them. So, just like with cats, it really depends on what we're talking about. It can be as different as yokai to the Tuatha de Dannan.

I have always been drawn to Faeries. It was only recently that they revealed they were around. I am new so cannot post photos yet but will when I can. One morning I get up to find a lot of mushrooms in my front yard. I thought nothing of it until my neighbor called that night and asked me what was up with the circle of mushrooms in my front yard. I laughed and said I did not know. That same night I went out back to let the dogs out and there was another circle even larger then the one out front. At that point I came in and looked it up. Mushroom circles are also known a Fairy Circles. I found that very interesting. The next day I was intrigued/inspired and thought to look for more. I found another in both of my neighbors yards. So I had a circle on every side of my home. A few days ago I purchased the book "Wisdom of the Faeries Volume One, Befriending Faeries: A Detailed Guide to Connect with Nature Spirits." I am finding it very informative and helpful.

Originally Posted by Albalida

The Fairy Bible is a great assorted resource, but not my favorite for something comprehensible. I mean, on the one hand, fairies can be whatever you want them to be. This documentary named "the fairy faith" suggested that maybe alien abductions were a new interpretation of faeries, or that faeries were an old interpretation of alien abductions.

On the other hand, I have difficulty with separating the vocabulary from the culture. So, the yokai of Japan count as faeries to me, and I live in Asia so that sort of "fae" is what I usually see...but usually talking about fae means I refer to Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, maybe Cornish, Icelandic and mainland European cultural observations about fae because that's where they're actually called fae. And there are traditions in Europe that Asia doesn't have, and there are traditions in Asia that Europe doesn't have, even if they might be about the same type of being.

Faeries love cats. There's a type of Faery called the Cait Sidhe that's a cat, and some stories which suggest that all domestic cats are faeries in disguise.

Moorey mentioned in her book the realms of Falias, Muirias, Gorias, and Findias. If I recall correctly, she forgot to mention that these realms were mentioned in the medieval history of Ireland, the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, but it takes a lot of interpretation to get from there to "Realms of the Greek classical elements."

There's contradictory folklore about faeries and bells. Celtic faeries love the sound of bells, but Scandinavian faeries hate them. So, just like with cats, it really depends on what we're talking about. It can be as different as yokai to the Tuatha de Dannan.

I agree with you! I think fairies can be what you make them out to be. Although I really loved the book I couldn't help but feel that some of it was off like the fact she would often call the fairies fickle and very easily offended. Where that may be true in some cases I don't feel that it is the same for every fairy. The very fact that she even said that would seem, to me, to offend the fairies and lead them to never show themselves to her (something she said would often happen if you did offend a fairy). After so many times of her saying that started to agitate me to the point where I just wanted to say, "you are wrong." Also, I love the fact that you mention fairies taking on cat forms and the type of fairies called Cait Sidhe. I would like to hear more on this type of fairy if your willing to tell more. That helps ease my mind on the whole fairies not liking cats idea. I love that you know your history of fairies and the fact that it depends on which religion you choose. It just goes to show you that fairies like many other topics of the magical world cannot be defined to a box.

Originally Posted by chaser2013

I have always been drawn to Faeries. It was only recently that they revealed they were around. I am new so cannot post photos yet but will when I can. One morning I get up to find a lot of mushrooms in my front yard. I thought nothing of it until my neighbor called that night and asked me what was up with the circle of mushrooms in my front yard. I laughed and said I did not know. That same night I went out back to let the dogs out and there was another circle even larger then the one out front. At that point I came in and looked it up. Mushroom circles are also known a Fairy Circles. I found that very interesting. The next day I was intrigued/inspired and thought to look for more. I found another in both of my neighbors yards. So I had a circle on every side of my home. A few days ago I purchased the book "Wisdom of the Faeries Volume One, Befriending Faeries: A Detailed Guide to Connect with Nature Spirits." I am finding it very informative and helpful.

I too, have always been drawn to fairies. (and excuse me if i'm spelling it wrong ) Fairies have always been one of my main favorite magical creatures as a child. If you are willing would you share some information on the book your reading? I would love to hear more!

Ladybugskiss

Originally Posted by Ladybugskiss

I too, have always been drawn to fairies. (and excuse me if i'm spelling it wrong ) Fairies have always been one of my main favorite magical creatures as a child. If you are willing would you share some information on the book your reading? I would love to hear more!

Ladybugskiss

The first half (which is all I have read so far) is introducing you to the many types of Fae...Faeries, Trolls, Elfs..etc their history and their jobs. He explains that unlike Angels, Faeries do have feelings and can act out when upset. You have to invite them into your life with love, compassion and respect. It was us humans who chased them away and caused them to hide from us now. I just got to where he is teaching you how to meditate to invite them into your life and meet them. That is the first step.

Awesome! Lemme know when you learn more I would really love to hear about it!

Ladybugskiss

Originally Posted by Ladybugskiss

Awesome! Lemme know when you learn more I would really love to hear about it!

Ladybugskiss

Will be happy to share.. :)

[Albalida]

Originally Posted by Ladybugskiss

I love the fact that you mention fairies taking on cat forms and the type of fairies called Cait Sidhe. I would like to hear more on this type of fairy if your willing to tell more.

Of course! It's one of my favorite stories.

I'm pretty sure it came from Ireland, but it just so happened that this man was walking down the street, and a cat started to talk to him. The cat said, "Pass this on: Old Tom is dead!" and it was gone.

So the man went back to his cottage and told his wife and their pet cat about the strange day he had. He finished with, "The cat said 'Old Tom is dead'".

"Old Tom dead!" blurted out the man's own dear pet cat. "Why, that means that I'm king o' the cats!"

And then the cat left them and was never seen again. It must have been a little sad for the man, but it makes a great story (because that cat must have been living with that couple all that time and it never talked, so--surprise!) and it did seem like his cat was very happy to be royalty.

In more modern stories, the Cait Sidhe show up in Seanan McGuire's Rosemary and Rue. King Tybalt of the Cait Sidhe is one of my favorite fictional characters, now, because he's so cheeky and immature. McGuire majored in folklore at UC Berkeley, so even though it's fiction, the world-building is very much rooted in some fairy lore or other. In Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust (not the movie), I think it's strongly hinted that the main character's mother is one of the Cait Sidhe, although he also has a pet cat for a while that definitely is a fairy cat.

I think that it might because cats and fairies are so close that some fairies might not like some cats. It's going to be more like, "Oh, no. Not your kind again." But that's because cats naturally connect with fairyland so often. And, you can't please everyone.

fairies like many other topics of the magical world cannot be defined to a box.

True!

I too, have always been drawn to fairies. (and excuse me if i'm spelling it wrong ) Fairies have always been one of my main favorite magical creatures as a child. If you are willing would you share some information on the book your reading? I would love to hear more!

Fortunately, most of what I've been reading has been copyright-expired, so the full text is accessible online! Yay! You can just highlight and copy-paste to a word processor if you're on dial-up or something.

The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley is my favorite, though a lot of information overlaps with one of his print books I have, "The World Guide to Elves, Gnomes, Fairies, and Other Little People" (I think that's where I first read about the pet cat becoming king of the cats, but I might be misremembering.) Keightley analyzed where the word "fairy" came from (or faery) so I can be sure by him that neither of us are spelling it wrong. The fay/fae/fey are beings, and faery or faerie or fairy refers to their world. (Compare nun to nunnery). But "fairy" also became an adjective, so you get all those stories about "fairy princesses" which didn't mean that these were princesses who were fae/fay/fey, but that they were enchanted. So, "the fairy Lady of Shalott" from King Arthur wasn't a fairy, she was just a cursed human noblewoman, and "fairy" was a polite way to put it. Fairyland is a Germanic compound that came later, so it means "the land of the place of the fay".

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz has more about the Tuatha De Danann, but it also says a lot of strange stuff that later academic studies might have refuted since this was published like one hundred years ago (King Arthur being a Welsh sun god, for example, or Brighid and Danu/Dana being the same goddess.) It also says more about Otherworlds than Keightley does.

The Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane looks really good preview here, but it's not free--but I'd compensate Bane for all the thorough research she did.


I like that there's no real "Bible" of fairy lore, but up to now it's just a lot of personal experiences that hint at how the fay do whatever. The Child Ballads by James Child is a compilation of traditional songs, so it's not all fairy tales, but fairy tales were definitely going to find their way in there. "The Ballad of Tam Lin" and "Thomas the Rhymer" are worth looking into.