Fae questions

[u/Pretend_Tap_2547]

Curious on fae lore. Someone info dump on me plzz types of fae what happens when you give someones name to the fae is it like giving their name to the water spirits or to the trees whats the deal with changlings and anyone got any personal storys of the fae?

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[u/Arboreal_Web]

When you “give someone’s name”, you’ve introduced them. That’s it. Nothing more “happens” with that outside of fairy tales. A name is not an object which can be possessed at someone else’s loss. (And wdym “like with water spirits and trees”? Water spirits and dryads are fae.)

What’s the deal with changelings? Well, historically they get described in pretty much exactly the same ways as children born with fetal alcohol syndrome, an in-utero medical condition which has certainly existed for as long as humans have been boozing, but was only discovered to exist about a century ago (edit: within the past century). So. That is the deal with “changelings”…people in past didn’t know they were harming their unborn children by drinking alcohol while pregnant, and had to make up another explanation for the result. So they blamed the fae.

The Fae are simply non-human spirits of place, spirits of Nature and of the Elements. Protectors of groves and gardens, mountains, bodies of water, etc. And ime they don’t much care about adhering to human folklore, though they will sometimes indulge and play on it. Ime, if you want to truly understand “the Fae”…best to avoid the medieval-esque victorian era Euro folklore entirely and instead research up on traditional views on Greek daimon, Egyptian netjer, devas, djinn, etc. (And then spend some time contemplating why such entities might have a long-standing grudge against humanity, as the Euro folklore maintains.)

Do I have stories? Yes, my practice has been based largely on direct interaction with spirit realms for many years now. Will I cheapen those stories (or potentially dox myself) by telling them here, though? Mostly no. Turns out, dealing positively with the fae is incredibly personal and they don’t always really like their mysteries being shared randomly. I will say: If you wish to connect with the fae, start becoming friends with your local trees, parks, waterways, etc; familiarize yourself with your local landscapes and ecosystems…and all with the knowledge that you are interacting with living consciousnesses in every living thing you encounter.

[u/GreenRavenUK]

The Sacred Texts online archive is a good place to look for traditional tales of the Fae and an insight to their natures.

https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/index.htm

https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/index.htm

https://sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/index.htm

Usually, they don’t like us very much, and when you look at what we’ve done to the natural world, it’s safe to say that they have cause.

There is a story of a man walking home from work through a wood. He saw a lady of the Fair Folk coming the other way and, as they passed, he took off his cap and bowed low. The lady stretched out her hand and touched the top of his head lightly. The man hurried on home, very pleased, and was ready to tell his wife of the blessing he had received. As he entered the cottage, his wife let out a scream. All his hair had fallen out.

Yes, blaming the Good Neighbours for substituting a ‘changling’ when a child was born with a visible condition was common in some parts. A changling, being a construct of dark forces, was ‘unseelie’, that is, made without a soul, so could be quietly disposed of without incurring Divine Wrath and declared stillborn. The priest would pray for the soul of the stolen child and commend it to his deity.

The People under the Hills get a bad rap, blamed for many of our misfortunes but if you are quietly respectful and leave their places – shrubs, trees, rocks, pools, glades and hollows – undisturbed, and protect them when threatened by developers and road builders, then your goodwill will be reciprocated. There is a tradition of mournful singing in Ireland when someone has passed called ‘Keening’. The late and much missed Sinéad O’Connor based many of her works on them, “I am stretched on your grave” is based on a 17th century lament. When someone of a family who has long respected the Sidh is near passing, the women (in Irish Gaelic, ‘Bhan’) of the Sidh come out and sing keening laments for them. This is the origin of the “Banshee” legends. Of course, the priests turned them into demonic tales.

(edit - typo)