Tag: faeries

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics


FAIRIES


A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child. Even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds. Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. One Christian belief held that fairies were a class of “demoted” angels. One popular story described how, when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates of heaven shut: those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became demons, and those caught in between became fairies. Others suggested that the fairies, not being good enough, had been thrown out of heaven, but they were not evil enough for hell. This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a “teind” or tithe to hell: as fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subjects of the devil. X

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics


CHANGELINGS

A changeling is a creature found in folklore and folk religion. A changeling child was believed to be a fairy child that had been left in place of a human child stolen by the fairies. One belief is that trolls thought that it was more respectable to be raised by humans and that they wanted to give their own children a human upbringing. Some people believed that trolls would take unbaptized children. Once children had been baptized and therefore become part of the Church, the trolls could not take them. Beauty in human children and young women, particularly traits which, say enact metallic nature in blond hair and blue or gray eyes are said to attract the fairies as the fairies perhaps find preciousness in these perceived traits. In Scottish folklore, the children might be replacements for fairy children in the tithe to Hell. Some stories tell of changelings who forget they are not human and proceed to live a human life. X

megarah-moon:

“Queen of the Bad Faeries” by Brian Froud

Here in the light of the waning moon is the Queen of the Bad Faeries. In Scotland she is known as Nicnivin, Elph Queine of the Unseelie Court. In Germany she’s Berchta, leading the savage dogs of the Wild Hunt. In Spain she is the Queen of the Estantigua, the ancient hosts of spirits, telling all she meets: “Travel by day, for the night belongs to me.” Her domain is the night. She rules over dusk and darkness, shadows and shades. The Dark Queen’s power emanates from the dark side of the moon. Much and secret and hidden here, cloaked by dark and illusion. Out of the gloaming beckons the faery woman whose enchantments create madness. An Irish banshee wails her deaths song, echoed by La Llorona, her baleful cousin in the American West. Black Annis, the wretched blue-faced hag, sits and grinds her long white teeth. Hobgoblins and bogles torment the ghostly black dogs who haunt dark country lanes. The human dead are ambassadors to the court of this dark faery queen, for the mounds that faeries inhabit were burial mounds in centuries past.

But every shroud has a silver lining. All things must die to be reborn. The transformative power of Faery turns much into magic, dross into shining gold, black despair into crystalline joy. Just as life grows out of death, good can grow from those things we call bad. The banshee cry foretells change, not death. Blue-faced hags, if we pass the test and embrace them, turn into beautiful women- or perhaps it’s not the hags who change, but merely our vision of them. In Irish folklore, hags were once revered as powerful wisewomen, credited with building the ancient cairns and Ireland’s sacred mountains.

In the darkness the seeds of good germinate, unfold, grow upward toward the light. Faeryland is the land of paradox: in light there is darkness; in darkness, light.* You will find no absolute evil here within the Dark Queen’s realm, for she is the queen of nature, a force of nature, formed from the dreaming earth. True evil exists only in the shadow of man, when he turns his back to the light.

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