|
|
|
 Fairy Women, the goddess in
the fey tradition
Just as Celtic bards preserved the deities of
the old religion as the heroes and heroines of their songs, legends and
poetry, the Mother Goddess also survived in myth and secret worship as the
Good Fairy, the Fairy Godmother or Queen of the Fairies.
For example in Slavic folk lore Rodenica or
Rozhenica was the Lady and Creating Mother of the universe. When
Christianity came Rodenica was downsized to an ethereal white fairy who with
her daughter, according to folk lore, visited newborn children to determine
their future destiny.
The Fairy Godmother
The Fate Goddesses, usually three sisters who
are weavers or spinners of the Web of Destiny, appear in the fairy tales of
many cultures, separated into the good fairy godmother, protectress
and granter of wishes and the wicked fairy/witch.
The bad fairy sometimes doubles as the evil
stepmother who possesses magical powers as in the tale of Snow White.
The aristocratic fairy was born in 1697 with
the publication of the fairy tales of Charles Perrault in France. For
example, in Perrault’s Cinderella, the fairy godmother assumes the role of
Cinderella’s dead mother, using her magic to fulfil Cinderella’s dream to go
to the dance at the palace to win the heart of the prince. But Cinderella
must be home by midnight or the magical props will disappear. Here the fairy
godmother doubles as guardian of virginity.
In these more courtly stories, many of which
were based on the older far more savage tales in which the heroine showed a
great deal of initiative, the qualities of beauty, innocence and obedience
meant that fairy power and protection was directed less into helping the
heroine to negotiate through the wild wood of life and more finding her a
prince who would supply the happy ever after and do all the driving.
The Disney versions of the popular fairy
stories from the 1950s onwards, intended as much for adults as children,
reinforced the message that finding the right guy was the road to bliss for
modern women. This was not entirely in the cause of romance, but an official
guideline. For in the post war period women were being forced back into the
home after their war service, so there would be enough jobs for the
returning servicemen. So if you could whistle a happy tune or wish on a star
while hovering up, life washing dishes didn’t seem so bad.
In the folk lore of places where Celtic
descendants are numerous, the Caillieach crone has survived in a fairy
godmother role as the Bean-Tighe. An Irish fairy
housekeeper/grandmother who cares for mothers, children, and pets. She will
finish chores around the home while the family sleeps. Like her more
terrifying sister the banshee she may be attached to a family for
generations...
Powerful Fairy Women who were formerly
goddesses
The Celtic Aine, fairy queen of Munster,
continued even during the last century to be regarded, especially in the
area surrounding the Hill of Aine, as a powerful fertility icon.
On St. John’s Eve (Midsummer), close to the
Summer Solstice, local people climbed the hill as they had done for many
centuries to pay tribute to the Moon, for Aine was formerly a lunar as well
as solar deity. Then carrying blazing torches of straw tied to poles, they
walked in procession, led it was said by the fairy goddess herself, down the
hillside and through the fields and cattle barns to bring fertility to land,
animals and people.
FairyQueen temptresses
As the goddesses were downgraded into fairies,
some acquired the role of temptresses and abductors of innocent males (fairy
kings were portrayed in the same way).
In Scotland, myths tell of the Bean chaol
a chot uaine ‘s na gruaige buidhe, ‘the slender woman
with green kirtle and yellow hair’, a fairy queen who had the ability to
turn water into red wine and spin the threads of the spiders into tartan..
She would by playing her magical reed pipe, lure young men into her fairy
hill. Unless they left a piece of iron over the lintel of the entrance
they would be forced to dance and serve the pleasure of the fairy queen
until she tired of them and sent them home. But they would find that though
it only seemed one night had passed in fairyland decades had gone by in the
mortal world and the fresh-faced milkmaid sweetheart to whom they had sworn
eternal fidelity was now an ageing great grandmother.
The most famous young male abductee who seems
to have actually gained from his visit to fairyland was Thomas the Rhymer
whose ballad is still performed in folk clubs. The real or true Thomas
as he is sometimes called was Thomas of Earlston (Erceldoune), a thirteenth
century poet who claims to have met the Queen of Elfland under a magical
elder tree. In return for a kiss he was forced to go to fairyland with her,
though other versions suggest Thomas was more than willing to be seduced. In
a few accounts the Queen becomes an ugly hag and the ritual mating of youth
with the ancient crone goddess occurred to maintain the cycle of the seasons
and ensure the fertility of the land. Thomas remained in Fairyland for seven
years, though they were only three days in fairy time. He was rewarded with
the gifts of poetry, of prophecy and a magical harp.
It has been argued in recent years that Thomas
was in fact initiated into a local witch cult and that his visions of
fairyland were shamanic.
 Downsizing in Literature
The Celtic Goddess Maeve, Queen of Connaught
and warrior Queen became Mab, Queen of the Fairies. Mab is a corruption of
the Gaelic form of her name, Medb which means she who intoxicates.
Once a goddess of war, the sight of whom
blinded enemies, Maeve could be seen fighting in the centre of any battle on
the side of her favoured clan and was able to outrun the fastest horse or
the swiftest arrow...
Compare her with the sanitised Mab in
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, of whom Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, says:
O then, I see, queen Mab hath been with
you,
She is the fairy's midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
The fairy midwife was another form of the Fate
Goddesses so called because she appeared in the birth chamber. Mab did
retain a little of her power in that she brought nightmares to humans when
she visited. But she is pictured as driving her hazelnut-shell wagon
across sleeping faces.
The hazel is the magical tree of wisdom and
divination.
Mab is also sometimes associated with Titania,
most famous in literature as the mortal-sized wife of Oberon, King of the
fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this play she is
depicted as petulant, willing to let the seasons go to rack and ruin while
she pursues her vendetta against Oberon.
The green corn
Hath rotted ‘ere his youth attained a
beard;
The fold stands empty in the drowned
field
The Spring, Summer, the chiding Autumn,
angry Winter,
Change their wonted liveries and the’
mazed world
By their increase, know not which is
which.’
However her power over nature is still
acknowledged. For originally Titania was Themis the Ancient Greek Titan
Goddess of Justice and Order, and the mother of the Fates and the Seasons
She was daughter of Gaia, the Earth Goddess. She is also linked with Diana,
the Greek moon and huntress goddess and mistress of magic.
Top of page
|
|
Being your own Fairy
Godmother-making wishes come true
-
Surround a crystal or glass bowl with silver
candles and for your wish pebbles use small crystals or glass nuggets,
green for love, orange for clear identity yellow for logic and matters of
the mind, blue for success and wisdom, purple for psychic development and
spirituality, brown for the home, family and security, grey for secrets,
pink for babies, children and reconciliation, white for energy and new
beginnings, red for change and passion and black for acceptance and
nurturing.
-
Light each of the candles in turn, naming a
power or quality you already possess that will help you fulfil your dream.
If you allow the words to come without conscious effort, you may be
surprised at hidden talents you had never considered developing.
-
Next in true fairy godmother style you
require a wand. You may already have a long pointed clear quartz crystal
or another favourite sparkling crystal. However you can make a true magic
wand with a long straight twig from a hazel, an ash or a willow tree,
that you can rub smooth. Some people split the twig and secure a tiny
crystal in the top but this is not essential.
-
Place a crystal for each of the wishes you
are going to make (as many as you like) in a smaller glass bowl
-
Draw in the air nine ever increasing sunwise
circles with your wand over the dish of crystals, saying out loud each of
your wishes beginning with the most important.
-
Alternatively you can recite the age old
magical chant, while visualising a brilliant star moving closer and closer
as you speak: Starlight ,star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish
I may, I wish I might, wish the wish I wish tonight
-
Cast your first wish crystal into the bowl
of water, this time making the wish silently and continue until you have
dropped them all into the magic pool.
-
Leave the candles to burn through and if the
stars are bright, go outside and repeat the star chant, choosing your
special star and reciting your wishes once more. I believe we all have a
spiritual guardian, whether we visualise him/her as an angel, a fairy
godmother or spirit helper In carrying out wish rituals we can tap into
this source of power and encouragement.
- But most important is
the inner fairy godmother, the power of those personal strengths you named
that can make almost anything possible with belief and sheer
determination. So take the first steps in the real world, however, small
and let the magic follow.
To learn more of fairies read my A
Complete Guide to Fairies and Magical Beings, published by Piatkus in the UK
and Weiser\Red Wheel in the US
Your can also learn more of nature spirits
in my Complete Book of Natural Magick (Quantum\Foulsham)
|
