The Problem with Fairies

My favorite werewolf and I visited a local New Age shop. I love going to these shops because you run into the most amazing things. As you come in, there was the usual obligatory overload of incense, beads, tapestries, and Incan flute music. As I fidgeted around with the Kali / Ganesh/ Indian god finger puppets, my friend pointed out the Celtic section. Always worth a glance! (My personal library will eventually fold space due to its size.) There were the standard John and Caitlin Matthews books, Stephen Blamires, and then I saw it: A huge section on Fairies. “How to summon fairies,” “Work with fairy magic,” and theoretically persuade them to fix your car, make stock investments, or what have you. Now as a working Celtic storyteller, many of these books annoy me. Usually in these knock-off fairy books there’s a little paragraph on the dangers of working with the fairies. But if you and I had grown up in an area where we had listened to fairie folklore and tradition, we would know the obvious. YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE FAIRIES!

In the traditional stories, the fairies were referred to as the “Good Folk” and you did what you could to avoid their attention. You did not dig up fairy mounds, steal their treasure, or make a compliment on beautiful baby, for fear that you might attract their attention. It seems like in seventy percent of the stories you hear about the fairie folk, bad things happen to someone. And in the remaining thirty percent, the hero got lucky and was extremely respectful and polite and was intensely glad to have escaped with his or her life.

First, allow me to clarify some things. Fairie folklore covers a wide variety of myth and legend. Everything from the proud and noble Tuatha De Danaan, who are god-like in their powers, to the tiny little Victorian flower fairies. Within this vast arena of the weird, beautiful, ugly, and just plain different creatures, there are a million different rules. Some fairies don’t like cold iron. Some love cold iron and have not a problem with it. Some love abuse while others will put a curse on you if you say “thank you.” Smart, dumb, weak, powerful, all of this is compounded by the fact that fairies are said to use Glamour, a type of magical illusion, which allows them to look pretty much like anything they want. In Ireland, fairy doctors and henwives (the people that had truck with the fairies) were considered a bit mad, and even they usually had some secret or item that allowed them to have some leverage and power to protect themselves.

A lot of these beliefs in the shining folk are still quietly held by the folks back in our Celtic lands. They may call them silly superstitions and may have no other reason for why they leave the last apple on the tree, or put out any dirty water, or leave a bit of milk and bread on the sill, other than “it’s an ol tradition of my Gran.” But when people from outside the local area come to put a freeway through a hillock with blackthorn on it (a fairie mound), they will be the ones to quietly tell the contractors that it might be a damn fine idea to go around it. The wise ones listen. The stupid ones try bulldozing and all sorts of “accidental” death, mayhem, maiming, and bad luck usually follows. The country folk shrug and say “told ya so!”

By all means, read up on fairie folklore and traditions. But keep in mind to look for traditional sources. There are many fine books. One of the best is Katherine Briggs, “An Encyclopedia of Fairies.” It is just chock full of great little stories and descriptions. By the end, you will have a healthy respect for what dealing with the fairies can really mean! And while I am not saying the fairie folk live or no, here’s some basic rules should you find yourself in an uncanny situation and you may be dealing with someone who is not from around here, if you get my drift.

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1. Sneak away if you can and run like hell.
2. If it’s too late for that, be respectful and polite, but don’t say “thank you” (just compliment them).
3. Never take anything, even if they do.
4. Always keep your word.
5. Don’t eat or drink anything.
6. Listen to what the storytellers say… you never know when some of their silly nonsense may not be so silly.

Blessings, and may all your stories be magical!