It Looked Human

But it Wasn't ...

I’m a bit late with my newsletter this month, but for those who haven’t visited the channel, my latest video is up and available to watch. This one features eight stories from people who believe they encountered a fairy who was deceptively human-looking.

The idea of fairies looking human, that is fairies without wings that are human-sized, fairies that resemble us in all but subtle ways, is not surprising to me. When I think of fairies, the image that comes first to mind is not one of tiny winged flower people but of something more along the lines of the elves of Tolkien—tall, wingless, proud and beautiful. This is perhaps because the fairy folklore I’m most drawn to presents the fairy people in this way, as a species like us but not us. The trouble is when it comes to the fairies, nothing is as it seems.

According to folklore, the fairies are capable of a thing called glamour, an illusion so powerful they can not only change their own appearance but the look and even the feel of objects and locations in the human world. They can make a pile of leaves look and feel like gold or jewelry. They can make a dank cave appear to be a exquisite castle. They can make a handful of mud appear and even taste like the most delicious food. If they can do this, then how can we ever trust what we see when it comes to the fairies?

I don’t think we can. As Walter Scott once proclaimed, with the fairies “All was delusion, nought was truth.”¹ So what does this tell us about how the fairies really look? Are they stately, graceful and tall, squat and wizened, or tiny and winged? The answer is, they could be all of these things or none or several at once, who knows, but in this month’s video, they look human … for the most part.

I hope you enjoy it!

A few images that appear in this months video:

Photo credits: 1 2 3 4 5 6

What I am I must not show
What I am thou couldst not know 
Something betwixt heaven and hell 
Something that neither stood nor fell 
Something that through thy wit or will 
May work thee good—may work thee ill.
Neither substance quite, nor shadow, 
Haunting lonely moor and meadow, 
Dancing by the haunted spring, 
Riding on the whirlwind's wing 
Aping in fantastic fashion
Every change of human passion, 
While o'er our frozen minds they pass, 
Like shadows from the mirror'd glass. 
Wayward, fickle, is our mood. 
Hovering betwixt bad and good. 
Happier than brief-dated man, 
Living ten times o'er his span
Far less happy, for we have
Help nor hope beyond the grave!

~Walter Scott

🍄 Featured Artist

I don’t have a featured artist this month, so I thought I’d feature my own novel, The Ghosts of Nothing, which just won an award! The award is called the Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion (Book Readers Appreciation Group). Here is the official announcement from Indie Brag: We are proud to announce that THE GHOSTS OF NOTHING by Cecily Walters has been honored with the B.R.A.G. Medallion (Book Readers Appreciation Group). It now joins the very select award-winning, reader-recommended books at indieBRAG.

I’m very honoured to receive this award. It’s strange thing to share a big project like a novel with the world. I’ve become so attached to the world and the characters I created that it actually feels strange to say I created them. It’s like I didn’t create them, it’s like I just know them and am only sharing them with everyone now. But to share this world and these characters was still a nerve-wracking experience. I had no idea if anyone would see in them what I do. Knowing now that there are others out there who feel as I do about them is gratifying in a way it’s difficult to express. But I do want to thank all those who read the book and especially those who left me a review. It really means a lot to me that you took a chance on this book.

If you haven’t checked out my novel and are interested, here’s the link to all the places carrying it: universal book link.

Until next time,

Your Scary Fairy Godmother

1. An excellent article on fairy glamour by the blog British Fairies can be found here.