Faery Fact and Fairy Fiction

Faery Fact

and

Fairy Fiction

By

Patrick W Kavanagh

with art by

William Oliver

Book Title Copyright © 2019 by Patrick W Kavanagh.

All Rights Reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. 

Cover designed by William Oliver 

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 

Author Name

Patrick W Kavanagh

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE  In the beginning

page 2

CHAPTER TWO  Away with the Faeries

page 11

CHAPTER THREE  Faery sightings

page 23

CHAPTER FOUR  The Faeries as messengers and guide

page 32

CHAPTER FIVE  Some Faery tales for all ages

page 44

CHAPTER SIX  Sean Murphy and the Faery princess

page 62

CHAPTER SEVEN  Away with the Faeries

page 77

CHAPTER EIGHT  Tiny Blue Lights

page 86

CHAPTER NINE  The Dark faeries

page 97

CHAPTER TEN  The Faeries in rhyme

page 113

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR   

page 116

How this story came to be.

––––––––

Writer, poet, Patrick W Kavanagh was born in Dublin and now lives and works in Lincolnshire in a small rural town. Patrick became fascinated by the strange abilities of the human mind from watching his mother give psychic readings using tea-leaves and playing cards. With a lifelong interest in metaphysics and parapsychology, he has given tarot and spirit readings for over 40 years. He travels to many events with his wife Tina, exploring the power of shamanic drumming to heal, and induce therapeutic trance states. They also hold a regular drumming circle in the picturesque Lincolnshire Wolds.

Vancouver artist William (Bill) Oliver has had a deep lifetime interest in the paranormal and his earlier artwork reflected these interests. As his artwork progressed, he found himself drawn away from the paranormal and towards the world of Celtic myth and legend. This has led him to a further and deeper relation and understanding of his own ancestry and a collective consciousness. With family lineage deeply rooted in Ireland, Scotland, and England, he now draws from the deep well of the traditions and lore of ancient Celtic culture and ancestral memories.

Bill and Patrick came into contact through the intervention of a well-known Psychic, Eileen Akrill, from North Cave in Yorkshire. Mrs Akrill insisted that Patrick should contact Bill, on the advice of her spirit guide. After several weeks of constant reminders from Eileen, Patrick viewed Bills page and was immediately captivated by his stunning artwork. He sent him a sample to match a published picture. Bill found in Patrick's poetry and prose, a perfect complement for the inspiration behind his art.

Chapter 1

In the beginning

This book is a tribute to the entities and earth spirits which are commonly known as Fairies. I call them ‘The Fae’ or the Faeries as a reminder that they are not the harmless caricatures which are portrayed by modern society. They are whimsical and they can be very helpful if approached correctly, but it is important to remember that they have been feared and avoided over many centuries for good reason. I knew them as a child and then I forgot that they ever existed.

They returned to me about ten years ago with the gifts of laughter and poetry. Along with sightings, spells, meditations and stories, there will many poems in this book. I do not apologise for that. Words have power, and words which have been fashioned into rhyme are more powerful still.

I have however, moved many of the poems to the end of this book as a supplement, as they are also freely available on my social network pages, FROM THE MUSE and PATRICK W KAVANAGH.

I believe that it was the wish of the Faeries that I give the reader more information on my growing relationship with them and offer insights and ideas on psychic development and spirituality. Spirituality is about becoming the best version of ourselves that is possible. In searching for those aspects of life which are not immediately obvious (or Occult), we begin to come face-to-face with our own hidden needs and potential. It is in bringing these latent impulses to life that we find a sense of purpose and broaden our view of the world as far as it is possible for us to do in whatever circumstances surround us.

To change our lives, we need to learn and change the stories by which we interpret the world. These stories are the assumptions on which we base our decisions and behaviour. They are mostly unremembered, and they operate at the unconscious levels of our minds. They are essential to our ability to function and to abandon - or lose faith in them without finding new stories to replace them, would have a disastrous effect on us. They tell us who we are and how we should behave. When we learn new stories and validate them by applying their messages in our lives, we become more flexible in our behaviour and more fit for survival. We may realise that we have held an unexamined assumption about ourselves or the world which has made us unhappy, or unable to progress with our lives, for many years.

We may have grown up in a religion which makes us feel bad and discover a new belief system which frees us to accept ourselves and begin to question all our old toxic assumptions as we learn new stories to apply to our lives. Equally, we may become Atheists, and develop new freedom in this way. For others, leaving an atheistic viewpoint behind and discovering the mysterious and the ‘occult’ may bring new meaning and purpose to our lives.

Life is about stories. These stories are the ‘truths’ and the compass points by which we navigate our path through life. All ‘truth’ is personal truth. If there is an absolute truth, - we would be incapable of fully comprehending it. I often joke that I have learned more wisdom from Clint Eastwood films than I have gleaned from the many books on philosophy, psychology and the ‘Occult’ which I have trawled through over the years.  Everything we think we know is merely a story. It is only ‘true’ in a personal sense and only worth accepting, to the extent to which it’s application in our lives brings positive and life-enhancing results. If not, then we need to learn a new story on which to base our lives. If something helps, then accept it and use it until it no longer fits in your life. There is a time and a season for everything.

These new stories may come from what seem to be many sources. I have outgrown many beliefs over my lifetime, but that does not invalidate them. They may still be a valid and useful map for many others. But in finding the Faeries – I found a font of living wisdom from which I have drawn so much comfort and inspiration that I feel I must share it with as many as possible.

The Tale of Amairgin 'White Knee'

OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, Faeries have become an important part of my life. I have a strong link with the Celtic root races, and it is these Fairies that I shall be mainly writing about in this volume, although the Fairy Folk are known all over the world by many names. For me, the fairies will always be the children of Dana, the goddess of the Tuatha de Danaan. Legend has it that they retired to the ancient barrows and burial places on the day that the first church bell rang in Ireland. But long before that, they fought against many magical opponents, with whom they eventually had to make peace and share the tiny island of Eire. One of these races were the Milesians. Amongst their number was their chief poet and shaman. Amairgin 'White Knee'. He cast a powerful enchantment over Eire and claimed the land and the sea around it for the Milesians, overcoming the spells of the Tuatha De Danaan.

This is the poem of Amairgin 'White Knee' from The Book of Invasions.

"I seek the land of Ireland.

Forceful is the fruitful sea,

Fruitful the serried mountains,

Serried the showery woods,

Showery the cascade of rivers,

Cascaded the tributaries of lakes,

A crafty incantation,

Craftiness of Bres’ wives,

Bres, of Buagne’s wives,

Great Lady Eire:

Eremon harried her,

Ir and Eber sought for her, -

I seek the land of Ireland"

Tributaried the wells of hills,

Welling the people of gatherings,

Gathering of Tara's king,

Tara, hill of tribes,

Tribes of Mil’s people,

Mil's ships and galleys,

Galleys of mighty Eire,

Eire, mighty and green,

SUCH IS THE POWER OF Bardic Magic, that the Tuatha De Danaan are still underground. This mighty race has become known as the 'Gentry', the 'Little People' or the Faeries. I have seen their power and I have been helped by them. I would never dare to arouse their anger.

Although I have always had an interest in psychology, parapsychology and the occult, I tended to be sceptical of most claims of unusual abilities. I read the Tarot and was quite successful at it, but I could never make a final decision on the source of the inspirations and intuitions which I received. I was a member of the Irish Society for Psychic and Spiritual Studies and spent most of my time in debunking spiritualists and psychics. After a public reading with Doris Stokes, I was forced to admit that there were at least some genuine mediums, but I continued to be wary of accepting personal accounts at face value. My partner, Tina is a very accomplished natural medium and I gave her a pretty hard time of it when she gave me messages from Spirit, - even when she repeated messages from my late wife which contained information which no one else knew. I now realise that I was in denial to some extent.

When I was a child, I saw the Faeries in the flames and embers of the fire when I was at home alone in the evenings. I had quite forgotten about it until I went to a workshop which was held in Cabourne Parva in Caistor. Cabourne Parva is a farm in the Lincolnshire Wolds which also holds many events. It is a truly magical place and full of positive energies.

A well-known local druid, Kevin Guy, was running the workshop and I had several strange experiences that day.

When we were meditating in the barn, I saw a little spirit girl running around playing.

She had a lovely white lace dress and was chanting, Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!

Tina suddenly got up and left the barn. I followed her. She was in tears. She told me that she had seen the little girl that she had miscarried. As we leaned against a wooden fence, looking over the Wolds, I told her what I had seen and heard. She said that she was going to call her little girl Danielle.

I apologised and said that I must have been just picking up on her sadness.

However, I had a reading from a lovely lady called Lynda and the Pagan Pride festival that summer.

Something about her intrigued me and I booked a tarot reading with her. When I picked up the cards, I realised that they had teeth marks and that there were some missing. She told me that her dog had eaten them, but that they were her favourite deck!

Rather than be rude, I allowed her to continue, although I was no longer in high hopes of a good Tarot reading. She was amazing! She gave us enough past information to know that she had a real gift. Then she said that Tina would be on stage and that I would be working with her. She said many things which later became true, but the real shocker was when she told Tina that she had a little girl in Spirit called Lucy. We were to be given this name four more times that year. Although we follow a more shamanic tradition, Tina and I were to become much more involved with the Spiritualist movement in the following years. We discovered later that it is a tradition in Spiritualism that ‘Angels born sleeping’ often choose a new name when they return to the spirit world. Lucy was never far away, and she returned many times, when Tina gave spirit readings, to give comfort to those who had lost their own little ones. I soon realised that my work with the Faeries and Tina’s work with Spirit were one and the same thing, but under different ‘labels. I will include this poem which I was given by my ‘Muse’. She is both an Earth Goddess and the ‘Queen of the Faeries’.

Angels Born Sleeping.

I am sorry that my passing caused you so much heartache and such pain.

Although my sleeping form looks still and cold, - I am reborn again.

A higher call has summoned me to worlds beyond your sight.

And I am in a place of love and wonder, - and delight.

I will visit often, though you may not know that I am near.

But, if you listen carefully, who knows what you may hear?

My quiet voice will whisper words of comfort and of love,

For I have had the grace of being chosen by the one above.

Your sacrifice and sorrow will have never been in vain.

For our spirit lives forever and we all will meet again.

But I must be a messenger of hope and love