It's Only a Fairy Tale
"Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." C.S. Lewis
With everything happening in the material world, why would anyone care to blog about the immaterial world of fairies and spirits?[i]
Lately, I’ve found myself listening to podcasts on niche subjects whenever my social media feed gets insufferable. I gravitate to podcasts about archaeology, history and science, particularly interviews with authors and other creative people. In so doing, I discovered Cliff Dunning’s “Earth Ancients”, a podcast about advanced civilizations that some believe existed during Paleolithic times[ii]. Normally, I skip episodes of his show that address extraterrestrial visitations, New Age mysticism, and other offbeat topics. But last week, I resisted self-censorship and listened to Dunning’s interview of Michael Pilarski, the founder of the Fairy & Human Relations Congress[iii].
I didn’t get the comic relief I expected. Instead, I was fascinated by Dunning’s thoughtful dialogue with the bibliographer of over 200 books about fairies, nature spirits and other inhabitants of the astral realm. Listening to these two men seriously discuss the world of fairies and a British woman named Daphne Charters who supposedly met with 34 fairies over 40 years[iv] brought to mind the many references to fairies in the Western Canon. Although I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered a guardian angel, much less a fairy godmother, I know a few people who say they have.[v]
Fairy Tales Can Be Instructive Without Being True
Fairy tales don’t need to be entirely true to be instructive or inspirational. Releasing oneself from the real world via a good story, if only briefly, allows you to imagine what life would be like if certain unseen things were in fact true.
English author and philosopher G.K. Chesterton once said:
“If you happen to read fairy tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other – the idea that peace and happiness can only exist [under] some conditions. This idea is at the core of ethics; it’s the core of all nursery tales.”[vi]
A Brief History of Fairy Tales
While the idea of fairies is quite ancient, dating back to Celtic times, the Westernized view of fairies seems to have originated during the 12th and 13th centuries when the term was first applied to otherworldly spirits. These incorporeal beings were thought to pass between the known and unseen worlds and occasionally make themselves visible to humans.
The modern meaning of fairies arose during the Victorian Era when art and literature began to embrace a more romantic, pagan view of nature. Although the Victorians disavowed an actual belief in fairies, they used them as characters in children’s entertainment, infantilizing them and making them more benign than they had traditionally been conceived.
But it was the 1904 theatrical production of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and his subsequent novel Peter and Wendy (1911) that introduced fairies to mainstream culture. The success of the play and book quickly transformed the character of Tinkerbell into the prototypical fairy – a small winged female sprite. Although sometimes ill-tempered and often jealous, she was portrayed as being generally helpful and kind to Peter Pan. As explained in the story, Tinkerbell’s small size prevented her from having more than one feeling at a time. Consequently, when she was angry, she could show no counter-balancing compassion.[vii]
Paranormal Occurrences Today
Beyond the entertainment industry, interest in paranormal occurrences continues to grow globally. It seems that everyone has or knows of someone who has experienced certain unexplained phenomena. Whether such encounters are classified as hauntings or simply the perception of poltergeists or ghosts, stories like these often leave me tongue-tied.
The starting point for any discussion of such a sensitive matter is my unequivocal belief in things I can neither see nor fully understand. Although I’m primarily an empirical thinker, my Christian faith allows me room to reach conclusions not entirely based on personal experience or observation. As much as I’d prefer to have hard evidence to back up my beliefs, I am comfortable relying upon reason, logic and the wisdom of others. Therefore, I don’t need to experience something as surreal as a fairy to leave open the possibility that spirits like them do exist.
Testing the Spirits
The Bible makes numerous references to spiritual beings[viii] but cautions us to test the spirits to be certain they are from God:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the word.”
- 1 John 4:1
Similarly, writing to the Thessalonians, Paul said:
“Test all things, holding fast to what is good.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Living in a society which often denies the existence of God but readily assumes the veracity of every viral news story, I’m inclined to give everyone the benefit of the doubt– at least initially. If something seems too good to be true, it’s probably false. If something is described as unprecedented or historic, it probably has happened many times in the past.
The Wellspring of Creativity
Creative thought frequently springs from nonlinear reasoning (“thinking outside the box”). Fantasy is not necessarily make-believe; it may just be an unconventional way of looking at familiar things.
Sometimes a fairy tale is only that – an imaginative story that challenges us to suspend our preconceived notions of what is true and what is not. Sometimes the best way of sharing a universal truth is through a parable or a fable.
Perhaps the greatest mind of the 20th century put it this way:
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”[ix]
- Albert Einstein
He also said this:
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”[x]
It doesn’t matter to me whether fairies really exist. So long as the tales about them inspire us to be the best we can be, I have no problem with fairies communing with us from time to time.
[i] This is not my first blog on the surreal. See https://alessandrocamp.com/2023/09/05/believing-in-unidentified-anomalous-things/
[ii] The Paleolithic Era also known as the “Old Stone Age” demarks the time when anatomically modern homo sapiens are believed to have been primarily hunter-gatherers, who had a nomadic lifestyle without agriculture, pottery making and more sophisticated stone tools. The period ended with a cataclysm known as the Younger-Dryas Event about 11,600 years BP.
[iii] Since 2001, the Fairy & Human Relations Congress has been an annual meeting of hundreds of people who regularly seek to commune with fairies, and according to them is also attended by “countless” fairies seeking to have better relationships with humans.
[iv] Daphne Charters, Forty Years with the Fairies: The Collected Fairy Manuscripts of Daphne Charters, edited by Michael Pilarski (2008).
[v] On a music tour of Ireland many years ago, an Irishman named Tom Piggot assured me that fairies do exist but he would never admit to telling me that.
[vi] Essays of Gilbert K. Chesterton, All Things Considered by G. K. Chesterton | Project Gutenberg
[vii] The public’s love of fairies continued throughout the 20th century, as illustrated by the 1997 movie Fairy Tale: A True Story, loosely based on the 1917 Cottingley Fairies hoax.
[viii] From the beginning of the Old Testament, we hear that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground where he was slain by Cain (Genesis 4:10-11) to the final book of the New Testament, where we read John’s prophesy that the souls of the martyrs will cry out from the heavenly altar demanding justice for having been slain (Revelation 6:9-11).
[ix] Goodreads, Albert Einstein quotes.
[x] Stephen Winick, “Einstein’s Folklore”, Library of Congress Blogs December 18, 2013.