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Fairycraft

Following the Path of Fairy Witchcraft

John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

Beliefs

Far more often [than asking the question 'Is it true?'] they [children] have asked me: 'Was he good? Was he wicked?' That is, they were far more concerned to get the Right side and the Wrong side clear. For that is a question equally important in History and in Faerie.

– J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories

Perhaps the constable was right. It is better doubtless to believe much unreason and a little truth than to deny for denial's sake truth and unreason alike, for when we do this we have not even a rush candle to guide our steps, not even a poor sowlth to dance before us on the marsh, and must needs fumble our way into the great emptiness where dwell the misshapen dhouls. And after all, can we come to so great evil if we keep a little fire on our hearths and in our souls, and welcome with open hand whatever of excellent come to warm itself, whether it be man or phantom, and do not say too fiercely, even to the dhouls themselves, 'Be ye gone'? When all is said and done, how do we not know but that our own unreason may be better than another's truth?

– W. B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight, 1893

This story related by William Butler Yeats in one of his books, written over a hundred years ago, fairly concisely sums up the approach we use in Fairy Witchcraft. Much of what we do is what Yeats called 'unreason', things that might be dubbed superstition or practices, which are based in long-standing folk methods whose roots and reasons are lost to time. We do them still not because we can explain rationally exactly how they work, but because we know that they do work, and that they have been tested and proved true over many long lifetimes. In the story when the girl disappeared the police officer had every house searched in an effort to find her, but he also burned all the ragwort in the fields to force the Other Crowd to release her, if it was indeed they who had taken her. In the same way the Fairy Witch seeks to use all resources at our disposal – reason and unreason – to effect the outcome we desire.

There are a variety of core beliefs that make Fairy Witchcraft what it is. Some of these beliefs are shared with other groups or traditions, but it is the particular combination of beliefs and practices that make this path unique. It isn't just that we believe in the Fair Folk, but that we actively seek to ally ourselves with them and honor them. It isn't just that we practice witchcraft, but that we practice a historically based folk magic. It isn't just that we celebrate the eight holy days and the moons, but why we celebrate them. Each of these details is important to understand in order to fully embrace this path and live it.

Theology

Fairy Witchcraft is a polytheistic and animistic religion first and foremost, which means that we believe in many individual Gods and also that all things have a spirit. This is a vital difference between Fairy Witchcraft and some other forms of modern neopaganism, which may see the Gods as archetypes or as manifestations of a single Godhead (or Goddess-head as it were). Our Gods are no more or less reflections of an even higher Power than we ourselves are, and as we know them they are unique individuals with personality and presence.

The exact Gods of this path will be discussed in detail later, but the important point at this stage is that the Gods are separate from humanity – not projections of the human mind or dependent on human belief – and have their own personalities and agendas. It might also be noted at this point that our Gods are understood in the context of the Kings and Queens of Fairy, so that there is a very fine line at best between the Gods and the Fair Folk.

As an animistic faith, we believe that all physical things have a spirit, which can with training or an innate gift be perceived and communicated with. This applies to both natural things like animals, plants, stones, and places as well as created things like cars, houses, and swords. These spirits are the same as a human soul, in that as our soul is tied to our body during life, these spirits are tied to the physical thing that they are part of.

The Good People

We also acknowledge a wide array of spirits, for simplicity called fairies, who inhabit a land separate from but connected to ours, which we call Fairyland, or Fairy. These spirits also interact with our world and have the ability to affect us in a variety of ways. The term 'fairy' is used for any spirits that are Otherworldly in nature, but is also used as a catch-all to describe animistic spirits and land spirits. Entire books have been written about fairies because of the complexity of the subject and any Fairy Witch should make a serious study of this subject. In a later chapter we will take a closer look at fairies and discuss in-depth several of the types that we are more likely to encounter, but some general things that should be mentioned here:

• It is almost impossible to generalize about fairies as there are always exceptions to any rule about them. Everything said here, or in any book, about fairies should be understood as being the most widely held beliefs or common truths, but will still sometimes be contradicted.

• Because fairies can influence our lives for good or ill it is important that anyone whose practice focuses on them make a strong effort to have a proper relationship with them.

• For simplicity's sake we often choose to divide the Good Folk into two groups – the good fairies and the bad fairies. This should never be taken as a hard and fast division, but rather as a general guideline. A so-called good fairy is just as capable of doing us harm as a bad fairy is of doing us good, should they be motivated to. Also there is fluidity even with an individual fairy in which grouping they may belong to. People do tend to like the division of the Fey by courts – Seelie and Unseelie, or Light and Dark – but that shouldn't be understood as a rigid division so much as a general guideline.

• The Fey Folk have a very different understanding of morality and etiquette than we do, and they do not grade on a curve or excuse our ignorance. In dealing with them you must be prepared to learn their ways, rather than expecting them to understand yours.

• Time moves differently in the Otherworld, so that what is a day here may be a year there, or a day there may be a lifetime here.

Personal Power

As much as it is a religion, Fairy Witchcraft is also a magical practice and the two are intrinsically related. The practice of folk magic is a main part of this type of witchcraft and inherent to that is the idea of the witch's personal power. The concept of personal power is an important one in Fairy Witchcraft because the witch's ability to successfully influence things with magic is rooted entirely in the strength of the witch's will. Your belief in your own power is part of what fuels that power and in doing anything magically you must have full confidence in yourself. Any spell you undertake should be done with the total belief that it will succeed and any spirits that you deal with must be approached with the confidence that you can deal with them. As part of this it is important that the witch be utterly honest in her speech, because this will reinforce the strength of her will. If you only ever speak the truth then when you speak in a magical context your words have more weight.

Death and Rebirth

The Fairy Witchcraft view of death and the afterlife is a thoroughly Celtic one, reinforced with some Heathenry. We know from Roman and Greek sources that the Celts believed that the soul was immortal and that after dying in this world it was reborn into the Otherworld for a certain amount of time before being reborn here again (Freeman, 2000). Caesar mentions in his work The Gallic Wars that the great courage the Celts had in battle came from this belief, because they did not fear death, but saw it as merely a transition into another life. They believed this so strongly in fact that people could write an I.O.U. promising to repay debts in the next life.

From this we know that the soul is eternal and lives on after death, but what we do not know for sure is where exactly it goes. In Irish belief we have stories of islands in the west, of Tech Duinn, the house of Donn, and of people who went among the fairies. We also have stories of wandering souls and ghosts of people who remain earthbound. Every witch should decide for themselves where exactly the dead go between lives; there is no right or wrong answer. Personally, I look to the older Irish myths and stories for guidance.

Several different Irish myths discuss the topic of the immortal soul including the story of Tuan mac Cairill in the Yellow Book of Lecan. In this story Tuan mac Cairill tells the tale of Ireland from the beginning, which he has witnessed throughout his various lives in various forms: a man, a stag, a wild boar, an eagle, a salmon, a man again. This seems to hint at a belief in the continuity of the soul during the rebirth process, something we also see in the story of the Two Pigkeepers, who go through a variety of transformations as different animals, and in the tale of Etain who also is reborn in a variety of forms.

We can also look to Norse beliefs for guidance. This tells us that some dead become mound dwellers; their souls going into the land. In Eyrbyggja Saga after Thorolfr's son drowns it is believed he goes into a hill on his father's land where he is welcomed with feasting (Eyrbyggja Saga, 1972). In Gisli Saga, a man who is called a friend of Freyr dies and is buried in a mound and it is said that no frost will form on the hill because Freyr does not want frost to come between them (Our Troth, 2006). In the Voluspa, Odin goes to get the prophecy from an ancient seer in a mound and, indeed, the entire process of out-sitting (utisetta) is based on the idea of contacting spirits within grave mounds. Additionally it has been suggested that some alfar are the male dead of a family as the disir are the female dead (Our Troth, 2006). Speaking of disir, it is entirely possible for a woman, after death, to become a disir, or idis, that is a specific type of spirit that watches over her family line (Our Troth, 2006).

Reincarnation is also an old Heathen belief. Specifically it is believed that a soul might be reborn within a family line and that naming a child after a deceased ancestor can mean the rebirth of that ancestor in the child (Ellis Davidson, 1968). In some cases a child might be born with similar marks or the appearance of a deceased family member, which could indicate a soul relationship (Our Troth, 2006). I have also heard it said, although I can't place the reference at the moment, that it was considered bad luck to name a child after a living relative for this reason.

It is clear that there are a wide array of possible places for a soul to go after death. As individuals we do not seem to have much real control over where we might go when we die, so I honestly don't see the point in worrying much about it. Live a good honorable life while you are here and worry about the afterlife when you get there.

Positive Qualities in Yourself

One of the basic ways to begin connecting to the Otherworld is to focus on creating or increasing certain qualities within yourself. There are seven qualities, in particular, to nurture for good relations with the Other Crowd: hospitality, generosity, kindness, compassion, courage, politeness, and adventuresomeness. These are all qualities we see exemplified in folklore and myths as the things that draw the blessings of the Good Neighbors to people and earn their appreciation and respect. We might choose to call them virtues. It follows then, quite logically, that if you want to be the sort of witch whose practice is centered on the Gentry then you need to manifest these same qualities in yourself.

Hospitality: Hospitality has long been an essential quality that people were expected to show. This includes welcoming those who come to your space and sharing what you have with guests. This quality is about both being a good host and being a good guest and hinges on the idea of having a welcoming attitude in life.

Generosity: A related aspect is generosity. We should freely give what we have to those in need or those who have less. This doesn't mean giving away what we ourselves need, necessarily, but sharing what we have an excess of. Generosity is also more than just generosity with material things or money; we can be generous with our time, our knowledge, and our abilities as well.

Kindness: Kindness often comes down to treating others as we would like to be treated. It is about an attitude that is friendly and considerate of others. Kindness extends to all living things and within the animist world view of Fairy Witchcraft to non-living things as well. We should strive to be gentle and considerate to the beings around us, whether or not they are human, although as with the quality of generosity this doesn't mean kindness to excess. We should be kind, but not to a point where we allow ourselves to be taken advantage of or hurt.

Compassion: Compassion is an essential quality in humans in general, it is what lets us be sympathetic and concerned for the suffering of others. Compassion is what moves us to act in ways that are helpful to those who are suffering.

Courage: In Fairy Witchcraft courage is defined as the ability to face fear and keep going; this is an essential quality in either witchcraft or the Fairy Faith.

Politeness: This may seem an odd virtue, but in dealing with Otherworldly spirits, good manners are absolutely vital.

Adventuresomeness: There's a saying 'fortune favors the bold' and that certainly holds true when dealing with the Otherworld. Although caution and a willingness to deal with the consequences of any action are also important, the Fey Folk have always seemed to respect and be drawn to people who take chances.

The Fetch/Guide

Everyone has a spirit double, sometimes called a fetch. In Fairy Witchcraft this spirit is an essential spiritual guide. The fetch is, in truth, not a separate being, but a part of the witch's spirit, which can appear immaterially in either human or animal form; in the Norse this is called the fylgja (Lecouteux, 1992). The fetch or fylgja can appear as a literal double of the person, but usually appears as the opposite gender of the witch and can communicate with them as an independent being, able to give guidance and bring luck. There is some blurring, however, between the witch's own soul here and the realm of fairy, and perhaps we might venture to say that just as some believe the soul is reborn in the Otherworld after death before being born again here, the fetch is that part of ourselves which is most strongly tied to the Otherworld. In some stories the fetch/fylgja is directly connected to the person's destiny and may send an animal to lead the person to them in order to guide the person into the fulfillment of their potential (Lecouteux, 1992).

Fate

Many cultures have a concept of destiny or a person's purpose in life. We tend to call this idea fate, from the Latin 'fatum', which means 'that which was spoken', and our understanding of fate is something predestined or predetermined, which cannot be changed. This concept is illustrated in Greek tragedies such as Oedipus, where even a person aware of their fate is unable to change it, but rather usually causes it in trying to avoid it. In Fairy Witchcraft our concept of fate is influenced by two things: the Anglo-Saxon concepts of orlog and wyrd and the Irish concept of dán. These cultural concepts shape how we approach the idea of fate and see it as relating to our religion and magical practices.

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Excerpted from Fairycraft by Morgan Daimler. Copyright © 2015 Morgan Daimler. Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
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