Faery, Fairy, Faerie….?

Let’s start with the name – Faery. This is spelt many differing ways depending on who you are talking to, what you are talking about, and even where you are talking about it…

The honest truth is that language is fluid, and the denizens of Faery don’t really care about our human language anyway, so it really does not matter how you spell it!

My preferred spelling is Faery as that feels the most comfortable to me and none of the Faery have complained about it… yet…

So with spelling out of the way, let’s take a look at Faery.

What is Faery?

There are differing thoughts on exactly what Faery is. I will delve deeper into the topic, looking into academic, philosophical, folklore sources, in future posts, but for the purpose of this brief introduction I am giving the information as I know it based on my interactions with Faery.

Faery is the name used for the entire realm that encompasses all elementals, nature spirits, natural energies, etc. that are part of the Earth as much as, or in fact possibly more than, we humans.

It is also the collective name for all of the entities that live within that realm… and an individual race of entities that are part of that collective, living in that realm…

So… there is a Faery, who is a Faery, that lives in Faery…. As you can see this can be quite confusing but in itself tells us quite a lot about Faery as a whole.

Many myths and legends exist surrounding Faery from many cultures, places, and times. The Faery described in these myths and legends can be:

• very similar but with different names,
• given the same names but are very different depending on where/when they are from,
• entirely unique to the particular culture/place with which they are associated.

Faery has existed for as long as the physical realm has and Faery denizens are intertwined with all natural elements of Earth, as well as the wider Universe.

They are connected to our physical realm and although they are ethereal, having quite differing views on time and material elements, they have lifespans, feel emotions, and understand all elements of life and death.

Unfortunately, over time, the connection with Faery has been supressed, profaned, and forced out of everyday life. This has occurred for numerous reasons, the main one being the strength that unifying with Faery lends to the world. Those wishing to control do not want magic and Faery strengthening those they wish to have control over.

I would like to change this and hopefully this introduction will begin the process of rebuilding those connections!

Who are the denizens of Faery?

There are many, many entities that live within the realm of Faery. Here are a few of the more well known ones:

• Elves
• Faeries
• Dragons
• Mermaids
• Dwarves
• Pixies

To list them all would likely take as much work as creating the first dictionary. I will therefore leave the list short. I will explore different individual types of Faery in greater detail in future posts so let me know in the comments who you would like me to focus on.

You can think of Faery like this – for every element / mineral / animal / physical/spiritual/mental aspect / etc. of the natural world there is likely a Faery that is an expert in it. A guardian / keeper / watcher who is tasked with caring for that particular area.

When the word nature is used people often think “oh yes nature – trees, birds, soil, that sort of thing” but nature in terms of Faery encompasses every natural element of the physical realm. Certainly this includes trees, birds, and soil, but also; the seasons, life and death, the sun, moon, and stars, natural concepts such as charity, transformation, justice, etc., emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, etc., and any other aspect you can think of (and likely many that you can’t considering the limits of the “human” mind).

For all these aspects there will be a Faery that knows and understands it as part of their very being, as well as understanding how their aspect fits in with all the others through their Faery connections (they have family and friends just as we do, although their relationships are often more complicated than ours).

Aren’t the Faery Scary?

Due to how well the Faery understand this realm and our world, and due to their willingness to share this knowledge with humans thereby helping them along the Journey, Faery has suffered a “bad press” throughout history.

Those who would seek to control and rule over humankind, and the Earth, seek to destroy our connection to our Faery family and friends. They do not want knowledge, or understanding, shared and they definitely do not want humankind to learn how to be in balance/harmony with itself and nature. They require humankind to be fearful and weak so that no questions are asked about what they are up to in the background.

This has led to rumours, false stories, blame, and fear being festered and spread. “Beware – the Faeries will steal your baby”. “Don’t go out at night – you will be led to your death by Faery lights”. “Don’t go to near the water – you will be dragged to the depths”. “Haven’t you heard – Faery is a dangerous place – Faery delight in torturing and harming humans”.

These things are not true!

It is true that Faery is not all sweetness and light. Many do look and feel dark, “ugly”, and can seem terrifying. This is because the areas of the natural world they are associated with are dark, “ugly”, and seem terrifying, and that is exactly the point.

Life is not all sweetness and light. Life is often, yep you guessed it, dark, “ugly”, and terrifying. The Faeries that help us through these steps on the Journey force us to confront this fact and guide us to put in the hard work and effort it takes to overcome our fears and take the next steps. Once you understand the reality of the dark, “ugly”, and terrifying, you begin to see that even these have their own kind of beauty, humour, and love that touches the deepest parts of the soul.

It is beings other than Faery that do the torturing and harming. They imitate Faery, they take the guise of Faery, or they just plain lie about being Faery, and do horrific things in their name. They intentionally drive a wedge between humans and Faery, between the natural and the artificial. Information is shared with “facts” that create unhappy endings for those involved with Faery in order to obscure the truth. Separation is forced from the “negative” sides of nature so that humans seek out only the “nice” parts that are “easy” and can no longer deal with the “hard” parts in a healthy, natural way.

There are ways to tell the difference between Faery and these others, and we will explore that in detail in future posts. The first step is knowing that there is a difference.

Final Faery Thoughts…

Understanding must start somewhere and I am hoping that the information in this post has sparked your desire to Journey with the Faery.

We would love to see you again soon as we delve deeper into exploration of Faery and rebuilding those lost connections. You can also book a Faery Reading with The Avalon Faery if you can’t wait till the next post.

Let us know in the comments what your thoughts on Faery are – are you nervous about connecting with them? – Why? What is stopping you? – Have you encountered Faery before? – Have you encountered some of those “others” pretending to be Faery?

Through discussion and honesty we can learn and shine light on the hidden truths!