For those of you who do not know me I am a recent addition to the forum. My name is Mike although my nick as you can see is Neopagan, I have been pagan inclined for many years but have never taken it further. My grandfather who really raised me always considered me a 'natures child', when I was small I didn't know what he meant. All I knew is that I loved being out and about in wild places especially heavily wooded valleys with frothing rivers running through them.

I love nature both the flora and fauna and they seemed to love me - I always see hidden animals before anyone else and even domestic pets always feel at ease around me and I have ALWAYS believed in Faeries. I went for a job interview the other day but arrived early so went for a walk around the village and found a quaint little gift shop. I began to browse, being a self confessed bibliophile I made a bee line for the area that contained local books. Had a look through saw lots of books I would love to have bought but one really caught my attention. It was called West Country Faerie, or How and Where to see Nature Spirits by Diana Mullis.

I got home after the interview and read the book cover to cover in one sitting it basically details what faeries are, how and where you can see them and their recent reawakening now more people are looking to nature rather than technology. It is wonderfully written and after taking it all in I didn't feel so self conscious about my belief in the Little Folk. I walk alot on Exmoor and in the Mendip hills and have been lucky to find some wonderful almost magical places that look like they have never been seen by human eyes before. When I find these places I like to imagine that the Faeries are still there watching me almost stuck in time but I would dearly love to see them for some part of me still feels they are all in my imagination. The author of the book said she has seen a faery spirit three times in her whole life, once would be enough for me just so I know they are truly out there.

I was wondering whether anyone else has had experiences with such nature spirits and would like to know about them and whether they did anything special to 'see' them?

Well for many here nature spirits and fairies are very different. Also fairies are very different to how the victorians portrayed them as nice, friendly and happy. They can be vicious, nasty difficult and malicious. You definately don't need to do anything special to see them, but learning how to know and feel the land especially in the areas you are drawn to will help you tune in. You need to be attuned to the land and the spirits or fairies may appear - if they wish or want to. Dryads can be exceptionally obstreporous, (sp!) or quietly shy and cheeky, know your land and let the land know you

I too am the same as you and fasinated with little folk or fairies but have never seen them.

As weatherwitch states you have to connected to the land and i will be the first to admit that i am not.I don't spend enough time outdoors to even get close to seeing anything like little folk.

I have always belived they exsist but as WW mentioned i also see them as little devils who can be quite difficult.Like me(lol)

My tarot cards are fairy based as i feel to me this is a strong connection to nature and hopefully one day i will be proved right.Untill then i will just keep looking.

I will also be checking out the book you mentioned.

Bright blessings

sarah

Have a read of Pratchett's Lords and Ladies and then tell me if you see the Fae in the same way

Nature spirits for me are just the anthropromorphisation (too long a word for this time of the morning) of the souls of the place/tree/blackberry bush/nettle patch.

Kev

Thanks for the replies so far this seems to be a warm and welcoming forum. I have read Lords and Ladies (and most of his other books!) so I appreciate that Fae folk are capricious and unpredictable some are bad some are good and to borrow from folklore some are Seelie and some are Unseelie so I know what you mean!

I feel nature spirits strongly, mostly trees and plants, stones and water too but I dont think of them the same as faeries. Occasionally I feel a spirit with me guiding me, he stays just out of sight on my right shoulder, I know what he looks like but never seen him, I'm sure he isnt a faery either.

Ive often seen 'something else' out of the corner of my eye for a fleeting moment when in the forests, not sure what though, perhaps one day I'll be lucky enough to.

I had a Sidhe turn up in a pathworking once. I only saw him once and he hasn't been back since. I was doing some totem work in the setting of a shamanic forest and while I was there, night fell, I couldn't find my way out and I could hear wolves getting closer. I looked up and there was a light in the distance. I made my way towards it and there was a tall, pale skinned figure with straight black hair and intensely blue eyes holding a lantern. He nodded at me and lo and behold, he was standing next to the door by which I'd entered the forest.

I really need to find out more about him...

any luck so far?

I find aspects of faery invoked or present in my friends when I am working with them magickally.

I also see them in my peripheral vision sometimes, gathering around my working, full moon or dark moon - quite what as spirits or elementals they are I am not sure.

When I had to put my dog down she lay at my feet outside and I was desperately calling for an answer as to whether it was time for me to do the necessary, I accepted the responsibility but was so unsure of the rightness of the act. A large yellow, scarred dog walked past me and her, ignoring me as I called him and she followed him until he entered a large shadow and didn't come out the other side, just disappeared .. I felt it was time and right to do, she just lay down in that shadow and looked at me, so I did what I had to. I think he was the elemental king of dogs.

Some people I work with happily describe them and their form, often here in Aus. as very tall, thin dark figures - another friend I trust a lot actually sees them as little folk, like smaller humans, and talks to them even in the supermarket! She has been known to pull up her car and say g'day to nothing others could see. Her daughter does the same and they have been known to share a conversation with the same one, next to the egg cartons!
She says one spends a lot of time in my front room in the chair next to my wood stove and another spends a lot of time next to the wormwood bush. Another separate and unconnected person sees the same being, same places.

I feel the presence more and more these days as I work magickally outside in or near the bush all the time. This is a part of magick I also would like to open myself to more.

jape