In the Land of Fairies

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Rivers of London: In Foxglove Summer, Peter gets taken into Fairyland from Herefordshire. It has the same basic landscape, except there are no villages, the old English forests still stretch as far as the eye can see, and even the Roman road is just a slight scar on the landscape. The Fair Folk, who seemed impossibly perfect inhuman beings in the real world, seem more human and "real" on their own turf... which only makes them more scary.

Others are mischievous. They delight in misleading travelers or luring them into exhausting dances that go one for days. They also like to taunt domestic animals, pinching horses to make them gallop, stealing milk from cows, and playing cat-and-mouse with cats. There is an outdated theory that fairy folklore evolved from folk memories of a prehistoric race: newcomers superseded a body of earlier human or humanoid peoples, and the memories of this defeated race developed into modern conceptions of fairies. Proponents find support in the tradition of cold iron as a charm against fairies, viewed as a cultural memory of invaders with iron weapons displacing peoples who had just stone, bone, wood, etc., at their disposal, and were easily defeated. 19th-century archaeologists uncovered underground rooms in the Orkney islands that resembled the Elfland described in Childe Rowland, [42] which lent additional support. In folklore, flint arrowheads from the Stone Age were attributed to the fairies as " elfshot", [43] while their green clothing and underground homes spoke to a need for camouflage and covert shelter from hostile humans, their magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry. In a Victorian tenet of evolution, mythic cannibalism among ogres was attributed to memories of more savage races, practising alongside "superior" races of more refined sensibilities. [44] Elementals Mr. Tumpy's caravan was another Enid Blyton book that had in it a caravan with two enormous feet for locomotion! ( Prisoners of the Dobbadies). In Celtic mythology, there’s another place parallel to ours, or sometimes underneath ours, called the Otherworld. The fae folk are often featured in myths about the Otherworld. In the Silver Gadelica, Teigue takes a journey across the sea (an Immramma) and meets the fairy queen Cliodhna in the Celtic Otherworld. In fact, many of the myths about the Celtic Otherworld tell us that it’s a land through the mist and/or across the ocean. And that it’s often a place made up of many mystical islands…similar to earth yet different. It’s a beautiful place, and sometimes a terrifying place, filled with wonders, healing trees, and fairies. But it can also prove dangerous and be a horrible place filled with monsters. This truly depends on the myth and whose journey it is. Many believe the Celtic Otherworld is also where we go when we die. Arthur Conan Doyle, in his 1922 book The Coming of the Fairies; The Theosophic View of Fairies, reported that eminent theosophist E. L. Gardner had likened fairies to butterflies, whose function was to provide an essential link between the energy of the sun and the plants of Earth, describing them as having no clean-cut shape ... small, hazy, and somewhat luminous clouds of colour with a brighter sparkish nucleus. "That growth of a plant which we regard as the customary and inevitable result of associating the three factors of sun, seed, and soil would never take place if the fairy builders were absent." [29]

Before the advent of modern medicine, many physiological conditions were untreatable and when children were born with abnormalities, it was common to blame the fairies. [73] Legends In England's Theosophist circles of the 19th century, a belief in the "angelic" nature of fairies was reported. [26] Entities referred to as Devas were said to guide many processes of nature, such as evolution of organisms, growth of plants, etc., many of which resided inside the Sun (Solar Angels). The more Earthbound Devas included nature spirits, elementals, and fairies, [27] which were described as appearing in the form of colored flames, roughly the size of a human. [28] Fairyland is identical with Svartalfheim in Norse Mythology and can be accessed through the Cotswolds; the Fair Folk are actually Malekith the Accursed and his legions of Dark Elves. But to continue defining the fae folk, we’d have to call them both good and bad. They are an oxymoron. A divine paradox. Because even though the Scottish called the Seelie mostly benevolent, they still considered them dangerous to humans. This is because fairies don’t adhere to human rules. They don’t follow our logic on ethics or morals. They have their own set of rules they go by, which on this plane of existence might seem very “gray”. The Capriciousness of the Fae The Hobbit: One of the facts the narrator gives about the Wood-elves is that they "were descended from the ancient tribes that never went to Faerie in the West", suggesting that Faerie is a distant land across the sea. It is also mentioned that the elves who went to Faerie "grew fairer and wiser and more learned" than the Wood-elves.

Fairies still abide in lakes and mountains, forests and fields. You might also find them flourishing in flower gardens and vegetable patches. They still take seriously their role as nature’s stewards, nurturing and protecting not only plants, but stones, animals, and other creatures as well. Many fairies, legends tell us, also possess magical healing powers and excel in the use of herbs and minerals to cure ills of all kinds. Yeats, W. B. (1988). "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry". A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore. Gramercy. p.1. ISBN 0-517-48904-X.

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Windling, Terri (2006-11-11). "Victorian Fairy Paintings". endicott-studio.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-11. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link) The MMORPG ALFheim Online that appears in the second story arc of Sword Art Online counts, if the name didn't tip you off. It's called ALFheim, the players are various races of Faerie, and the ultimate goal of the game is to meet the Faerie King and Queen. These Siths or Fairies they call Sleagh Maith or the Good People...are said to be of middle nature between Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidous Spirits, and light changeable bodies (lyke those called Astral) somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the sublety of Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear at pleasure [87] In literature Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queene by Johann Heinrich Füssli ( c. 1788); scene from The Faerie Queene David Bentley Hart (30 December 2022). "Saving Scholé with David Bentley Hart". Classical Academic Press. At the 2:42 mark: Remind them, and this is absolutely vital, that fairies are real. At one time it was thought that fairies were originally worshiped as deities, such as nymphs and tree spirits, [30] and with the burgeoning predominance of the Christian Church, reverence for these deities carried on, but in a dwindling state of perceived power. Many deprecated deities of older folklore and myth were repurposed as fairies in Victorian fiction (See the works of W. B. Yeats for examples).

The Astral Plane in Berserk is a realm of existence generated by the subconscious beliefs of humanity, and is populated by supernatural creatures ranging from pixies to the demonic Godhand and various unnamed eldritch things. The layer of existence between the Astral Plane and the human world, where such creatures can manifest, is called the Interstice, and functions more like a traditional fairyland.

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Gnomes are little people who live in the gnarled, twisted roots of ancient trees. They frequently are seen wearing red caps, and the men have long white or gray beards. In ceremonial magical traditions, gnomes are also a type of elemental. Which means they are a nature guardian spirit that guard the cardinal direction North, along with the element of Earth. They are evoked as Guardians of the Watchtower of the North in Wiccan and high magic circles. When seen in their natural habitats, they are elusive and sometimes dangerous if their territory is encroached upon. What The Faery Folk Dislike + Protection from Malevolent Fae

Three groups of poems have been inserted and they deal with topics as varied as fairies (naturally), a robin bird, and even a scene in London's Oxford Street David Bentley Hart (2020). "Selkies and Nixies: The Penguin Book of Mermaids." The Lamp: A Catholic Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Etc. Issue 2. Assumption 2020. pp. 49-50. In The Mortal Instruments is mentioned that there is this kingdom. In fact, the heroes visit it twice on their adventures. In the sequel, The Dark Artifices, the heroes experience an adventure there. Tomkinson, John L. Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, (Anagnosis, 2004) ISBN 960-88087-0-7 Nature is often wilder and more vivid than in the human world. Mountains are taller, trees more majestic, flowers more fragrant, and mythical and fantastical creatures roam the land. The Enchanted Forest is a common sight in Fairyland, if the entire setting isn't one such forest to begin with.

Changelings

Fairies: The Myths, Legends, & Lore by Skye Alexander and the online presentation from The Origin and Lore of Fairies and Fairy Land, by Eric Edwards