The Faerie Pagan Faith



Understanding the Faerie Faith can be very confusing. There are many groups who
practice what they term THE Faerie Faith. The Faerie Faith I practice is a 
blending of many of these groups and individuals, including Victor Anderson and 
Kisma Stepanich. I tend to extract that which I feel is most powerful from these 
Faiths, (attempt to) remove the Wiccan aspects, and add a solid mythological 
background to my workings. The Faerie Pagan Faith I speak of is based mainly 
upon the Celtic Lore of the Sidhe, or People of the Mounds, and the Norse Lore 
of the Alfar, or Elves. I am not overly concerned with the "actual" practices of 
the ancient Irish Celts and Norse Pagans, rather, I gain insight into their 
practices from their myths, legends, and stories. In order to avoid confusion, I 
term that which I practice the "Faerie Pagan Faith," or as someone one told me, 
"A Faerie Faith."

There are many distinguishing factors of the Faerie Pagan Faith: the use of 
Faerie Gifts and Faerie Power, achieving ecstatic or alternate states of 
consciousness, Faerie (Vision) Questing to the Other Worlds, it is 
ecstatic/seasonal/cyclic (rather than fertility) oriented, the invocational 
nature of the magick, and the inviting of the Faeries to the rites, ritual, and 
magick.

One of the first things one notices about the Faerie Pagan Faith is the use of 
the Faerie Gifts: powers bestowed by the Fey (Faeries) upon those who will dance 
and sing with them. We all have a Faerie Gift buried deep within. That gift may 
be poetry, clairvoyance, artistic skill, or any number of things. The Gifts of 
the Fey are great in number. The Faerie Pagan acknowledges this Faerie Power and 
uses it to achieve ecstatic states, or alternate states of consciousness, when 
one becomes "Enchanted."

There is the understanding that there are many overlapping worlds. this world 
(Bith, Midgard) and the Other Worlds. That which exists in This World also 
exists in the Other Worlds. In Faerie Paganism, there are two different 
cosmological models used to view these Other Worlds: the Celtic World Tree and 
the Norse Tree Yggdrasil. Upon close inspection it will be noted that these two 
models compliment, and do not conflict with, each other.  There is the emphasis 
in the Faerie Pagan Faith of the enchanting journeys to the Other Worlds, called 
Faerie Questing, or Vision Questing. There, one encounters the denizens of the 
Faerie Realm. A Shadow Self also exists in this other realm: a "negative" of the 
self we all know and present to the outer world. This self that exists in the 
Other World is mutable and thus we have the idea of shape-shifting.

One of the most noticeable differences in the Faerie Pagan Faith (as opposed to 
other pagan/Wiccan faiths) is that it is ecstatic, rather than fertility, 
oriented. A great emphasis is placed on sensual experiences, body awareness, and 
sexual mysticism. There are four main Faerie Days: October 31, February 2, May 
30, and August 1. They have different names in the Norse and Celtic tongue but 
their core meanings remain the same.  The Solstices and Equinoxes are sometimes 
observed as a change from one season to the next. There are also Faerie Times. 
time when the reality as we know it is between worlds. This usually occurs when 
there is a major shift in the environment: dawn, dusk, a rainstorm, an eclipse, 
etc. Finally, the 13 lunar months are observed.

The magickal practices of the Faerie Pagan Faith rely heavily on invocation and 
invitation of the Sidhe and Elves. The rites and rituals are full of great 
poetry, Bardic satire, and Faerie Song. One attempts to increase one's Faerie 
Gift to a plateau of consistent power, perform the desired magick, and then 
release that power out to do its work. It is also important to invite the Fey to 
the rites, ritual, and magickal workings. This is often overlooked in other 
forms of paganism, yet it is vital to the Faerie Pagan Faith.