The Fair Folk

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The people of the mounds, those who live in the hollow hills, are held within the earth’s deep embrace.
These are often known as the Fair Folk,
Faerie or the Sidhe: the inhabitants of the realms of Faerie.
We can travel to their world through special entrances at special times of the year, some more easily than others.
The veils are said to be particularly thin at the festivals of Samhain and Beltane.
We can use the axis mundi, the World Tree, to move between the worlds.
We’re often taught from childhood in today’s society that the faerie folk are in our imagination only.
But as we walk further down the pagan witches path, we realise that there is more than what we can perceive with our dulled physical senses.
Hopefully, we will have opened up our awareness
in seeking a path of the Pagan Witch, and come to an understanding that there is more than what conventional society tells us exists.
We may even begin to believe in faeries.
Perhaps even the word “belief” is not quite accurate in this context.
We begin to know, rather than believe.
We have enchanted our world by opening our perception to it.
Enchantment – en chantement – is French for “to sing into”.
We begin to hear other songs, songs other than our own.
We sing our own song back, and find where we are in the great song.
There, we find no need for belief.
Alot of Pagan Witches traditions will work with aspects of Faery.
Coming as it does from a Celtic tradition, these fair folk feature prominently in the myths and stories of the Celtic people.
The Celtic term “Sidhe” literally translates as “The People from the Hollow Hills”.
Entering Faerie – Elves, Ancestors & Imagination states:
It is evident that some people possess “the Sight” either temporarily or without being particularly aware of it, as encounters with these “invisible” persons or creatures are relatively rare.
Thus two characteristics of the denizens of Faerie are

That they can appear and disappear in a way that is uncanny to human senses,
Their contacts with mortal humans are rare enough to make good stories around the fire.

We have stories from ancestors old and new and from our contemporaries, who have given us accounts of their communication and sightings of the Hidden People.
In addition to older legends and romances, scholars have written down many oral accounts over the past two hundred years.
Some of these are given as first-person accounts, some second-hand, and some as literary accounts that take the form of mythic or legendary narratives, or as fantasy literature.
It is important to note that none of these categories to be more true than others.
One does not have to label one story true and another false, even if they contradict each
other in many points.
They are all stories created through the human imagination and only the authors of those stories can tell to what extent they believe themselves to have been inspired by communication with the denizens of Faerie.
Many who write literary tales of the Otherworlds are in fact inspired by true visions of those worlds, whether they know it or not.
The process of Imbas or inspiration is mysterious.
Making the pilgrimage to a physical area is an act of dedication in and of itself.

It is advisable , in the Pagan Witches Craft, to make the journey for ourselves, if we can, both in our minds and in the world.
Only then will we truly learn integration of the seen and unseen, the experience transforming our knowledge into wisdom.
Find a place that you can visit where you feel the call of the Fair Folk to be the strongest.
There will be power spots around you, at liminal places where the practice of the Pagan Witches Craft feels most comfortable.
Seek these out, come to know them and let them come to know you.