The Faeries and Consciousness

Thank you Chris...

Thanks to you and Anthony - I thought it was a very interesting interview.

Thanks to you and Anthony - I thought it was a very interesting interview.

Me too.  I was also really interested in the blog article discussing the perceived link between nature spirits and faeries that you linked to.  I have often tried to see the similarity but to me, there seem to be more differences than connections.

Courtesy of The Anomalist - "The Professor" [Michael D. Swords] at The Big Study blog is posting a selection of accounts of faeries and related beings from various sources, under the title "Leprecat". Two instalments have appeared so far, dealing with cases from the 18th century and earlier:
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...e-one.html
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...at-1a.html

Courtesy of The Anomalist - "The Professor" [Michael D. Swords] at The Big Study blog is posting a selection of accounts of faeries and related beings from various sources, under the title "Leprecat". Two instalments have appeared so far, dealing with cases from the 18th century and earlier:
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...e-one.html
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...at-1a.html

There are now two more instalments of "Leprecat", drawing to a conclusion the coverage of historical cases:
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...at-1b.html
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...stuff.html

And also two other posts:

Walker Between The Worlds???
A review of "The Secret Commonwealth" by the Rev. Robert Kirk (d. 1692)
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...orlds.html

Did Henry Hudson see American Fairies??
An examination of the claim that in 1609 Hudson encountered a race of hairy people with dark complexions, about 2-3 feet tall.
https://thebiggeststudy.blogspot.com/202...iries.html

[Laird]

There are now two more instalments of "Leprecat", drawing to a conclusion the coverage of historical cases

It seems that there has in the last couple of days been another installment of "Leprecat" beyond that (questioned by the author in his title) "conclusion":

LEPRECAT pp.two and three, pt. b

[Laird]

In a new post on his deadbutdreaming blog ‘Marjorie Johnson, Shaman of Suburbia’ by Simon Young, Neil reproduces (with Simon's permission) the story of Marjorie Johnson (1911-2011) as Simon told in the newsletter of The Fairy Investigation Society (no. 7, 2018).

The sweetest part of this story for me was Marjorie's dream encounter (in her own words) with a deva fairy who, in that "true" dream, gave Marjorie not just permission to seek and publish accounts of the normally publicity-shy fey, but magical assistance in doing so:

One day in the 1940s, I was thinking seriously about [publishing a book on fairies], but was a bit apprehensive as to whether the fairies themselves would like it, and I wished I could obtain their consent. That night I went to bed thinking about it, and early the next morning I had a wonderful true dream. Standing in front of me was one of the higher devas, or ‘Shining Ones,’ and I had never before seen such a vision of loveliness. She glowed with light; her hair was long and golden; her gown was flowing and opalescent; and the aura, which surrounded her, coruscated with all the colours of the rainbow, I christened her ‘Iris,’ and felt she was a Guardian of the Fairy Borderland. She was standing in front of a symbolic filmy curtain of gauze, which she drew aside and beckoned me through, so I knew I had been accepted. She was showing me some interesting things when something – perhaps a sudden noise – made me waken, but not before she had impressed on me that whenever I saw the rainbow-flash of her aura I was to ask the person who might be next to me in a street, shop, or other building, etc., if he or she had, or knew someone who’d had, any fairy experiences.

And the most fascinating thing for me about this is that according to Simon's account, Marjorie did go on to see these "rainbow flashes" around various people, and did have success in obtaining accounts of fairies from those people, some of whom she approached out of the blue as a stranger.

[Laird]

It seems that there has in the last couple of days been another installment of "Leprecat"

And here's another: Very Olde Critters Again

[Laird]

Dr. Jack Hunter recently wrote a topical piece which I'm cross-posting from another thread:

Faeries at the Bottom of the Garden: Non-Human Intelligence and Connection to Nature

As I wrote in that thread, it contains such gems as this:

The association of the little-folk with gardens also continues into more recent times. In the 1960s a group who claimed to be in communication with supernatural beings variously conceived as God, devas, faeries and elemental spirits established a garden at Findhorn on the eastern coast of Scotland. Led by Eileen Caddy (1917-2006), Peter Caddy (1917-1994) and Dorothy Maclean (1920-2020), the Findhorn garden developed into a highly productive plot with vast quantities of fruit and (often oversized) vegetables, all in spite of being situated on relatively poor growing land. The success of the Findhorn garden was attributed to guidance from the devas and elementals - who each had their own roles and functions in the garden:

While the devas may be considered the “architects” of plant forms, the nature spirits or elementals, such as gnomes and fairies, may be seen as the “craftsmen,” using the blueprint and energy channelled to them by the devas to build up the plant form (The Findhorn Foundation, 1975, pp. 58-59)

By working with the elementals, the Findhorn gardeners claimed that they were operating according to natural principles, which in turn led to an abundant and diverse garden.

[Laird]

The Big Study has moved its reporting closer to modernity with TURNING THE PAGE ON THE CENTURY, asking "ARE 20th CENTURY ENTITIES ANY DIFFERENT?"