Product Description

Between the Worlds.

They inhabit the enchanted realm of dreams and legends, often crossing the threshold between this world and the Otherworld. They have been called the Little People, the fae, or the People of the Hills. With the ability to bestow great gifts if favored or wreak household havoc if angered, fairies have long been much loved and much feared in the Celtic lands.

Listen to the wisdom of the Little People as they speak through the cards of The Fairy Ring. This new oracle will enchant with its evocative artwork as it enlightens with insightful readings. The full-sized guidebook includes fairy lore, upright and reversed card interpretations, and nine unique card layouts.

Many fairies are seasonal creatures, so the cards of The Fairy Ring are divided into four suits: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. This motley assortment of fairies-from helpful brownies to ghostly banshees to the ethereal Morgan le Fay-appear on the cards in the suit of the season in which they are most likely to be seen. Eight additional cards celebrate the ancient Celtic solar and pastoral holidays, long considered to be auspicious days for working with the fae.

The gateway to the Otherworld stands open. Cross the threshold and enter the Fairy Ring, where the gifts and guidance of the fairy folk await you.

First Runner Up for the 2003 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Award for Best Sidelines/Gifts--Interactive Category

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189703 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08
• Format: Box set
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

About the Author
Anna Franklin [England] has been a witch for 30 years, and a Pagan in her heart for all her life. She has conducted many rituals, handfastings and sabbat rites. She is the High Priestess of the Hearth of Arianrhod, a coven of the Coranieid Clan, a group of traditional witches with their roots in the New Forest, and branches in several parts of the UK. The Hearth publishes the long running Silver Wheel Magazine, runs teaching circles and postal courses as well as a working coven. Anna Franklin is the author of eighteen books on the Craft including the popular Sacred Circle Tarot, Midsummer, Lammas [with Paul Mason], and The Fairy Ring.

Paul Mason is an English Pagan artist, photographer, and illustrator best known for his stunning photomontage images and book jacket designs.  He has worked previously with Franklin as illustrator of "The Sacred Circle Tarot" and co-author of Lammas.  Mason lives in the English Midlands. 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction

In the cards of The Fairy Ring, you will find beautiful fairies and ugly fairies, good fairies and wicked fairies, helpful creatures and mischievous beings who will try to trick you and lead you astray. We have gathered them all together to form this divination deck where each fairy may work its own particular magic for you.

Today, people are as interested in fairies as they ever were, though most now think of them as amusing myths. However, only a few hundred years ago, belief in fairies was absolute in every strata of society. Gradually this notion dwindled among town dwellers and so-called "sophisticated" people, but country folk well into the twentieth century worried about offending the fairies. Building on a fairy path, digging into a fairy mound, forgetting to leave out cream, or omitting to pour milk on a fairy stone, all of these things and more could incur the wrath of the Little People. The crops might be ruined, the cows might sicken and the milk dry in the udder, the family might be cursed with bad luck, the baby stolen and replaced by a withered changeling, or the breadwinner paralyzed by an elf stroke.

If the fairies are treated with respect and given their due, they will help those who honor them, and may bestow great gifts on their favorites. They can teach a bard how to play music that will move an audience to tears or have them dancing with joy. They can bestow the power of healing on a mortal. The famous witch Biddy Early (d. 1873) maintained that she derived her powers from the fairies. She used a blue bottle, given to her by them, for healing. At her death it was thrown into a lake.

During the persecutions, many witches insisted that their powers were derived from fairies, not devils, as their prosecutors insisted. In the north of England, a man was accused of witchcraft and trafficking with the devil to gain a medicinal white powder. The man contended that he had received the medicine from the fairies. He would go up to the fairy mound, knock three times, and the hill would open. He would then go inside and confer with the fairies, after which they would give him a white powder with which he was able to cure those who requested his aid. He offered to take the judge and jury to the fairy hill to see for themselves. The judge was unimpressed, but the jury refused to convict him.1

In Ireland, the young girls that fairies carried off for brides would be sent back to the human world when they grew old and ugly, but with the knowledge of herbs, philters, and secret spells to give them power over men.2 In 1613, Isobel Halfdane of Perth in Scotland was carried from her bed into the fairy hills where she spent three days learning the secrets of witchcraft.

Fairies and witches were on good terms with each other, and witches were frequent visitors to the fairy hills; being accused of such visits was enough to secure a conviction as a witch. Witches were also known to grow many of the fairy plants (such as foxgloves, elder, primrose, thyme, and bluebells) in their gardens or to gather them from the wild to attract their fairy friends. At one time, even the presence of such plants in a garden was enough to warrant an accusation of witchcraft. Modern witches working in the traditional way still derive the greater part of their knowledge from the wildfolk spirits of the land.

Fairies hate idleness and are very hardworking. They will help favored humans around the house and farm, spinning, weaving, baking, churning, and building, or working as gold or silversmiths. This work is all done at night as the people sleep, as long as the house is left tidy and the hearth is swept, as fairies cannot tolerate dirt and mess. If the customary dish of cream is not left as the small reward the fairies require, then the helpful home sprite will be mortally offended and smash the crockery, wreck the spinning, and hide valuable objects. Fairies like luxury and have contempt for those who penny pinch, especially those who drain the last drop of milk from the churn or strip all the fruit from the trees, leaving none for the fairies. They punish kitchen maids who do not sweep the hearth clean and put out clean water for bathing fairy babies with pinches, cramps, and lameness, while conscientious maids are rewarded with money in their shoes and good luck.

In the past it was considered unlucky to name the fairies, or even to use the word fairy, perhaps because to do so may have summoned them, or because using a name without its owner''s permission was a threat or challenge. It was wise to call them "the Good People," "the Little People," "the Gentry," "the Mother''s Blessing," "Good Neighbors," "Wee Folk," or "the Hidden People."

The English word fairy, or faerie, is derived by way of the French fée, from the Latin fatare, meaning "to enchant." Variations on the spelling include fayerye, fairye, fayre, and faery. In England, Geoffrey Chaucer made the words fairy and elf interchangeable, though the word elf is from the Scandinavian alfar, a term that seems to mean "bright" or "shining."

Though this deck features fairies from Britain and Ireland, there are legends of fairies all over the world, from the tiny South African Abatwa, to the Japanese Chin-Chin Kobakama, the Arabian Djinn, the Russian Deduska Domovoi, the ancient Greek nymphs, and the Albanian Zera. I have been collecting legends of fairies for many years and have recorded over three thousand individuals, and realize that I have only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. Around the world, fairies are mysterious creatures who live apart from the race of humankind, but who are sometimes seen in wild and...(Continues)

Customer Reviews

Not tarot cards, oracle cards
As much as I enjoyed the beautiful pictures & meanings of the cards, this was not the deck for me - brand-new to tarot. Things that detract on this deck:
--no major & minor arcana
--no listings of how the cards might equate to the major & minor arcana of a more "standard" deck
--no one word listing on the face of the card stating the most general meaning.
--these cards are not good for doing readings for others (my purpose), because you will spend more time explaining your deck and how it does/doesn't correspond to the standard deck than doing the reading!

Things that are great in this deck:
--beautiful pictures
--interesting history of the fairy on the card
--good ideas for self readings

An Otherworldy liminal twilight oracle based on real/traditional faeries....
This is a top of the line sumptous and profound oracle and book.

If you're interested in or wanting to learn about the traditional British, Irish and Scottish faeries or yore, this is THE set. The author knows her stuff, this is Briggs land here = ). Franklin writes in a mystical, informative and lively way about the lore, and stories behind each faery depicted in these gorgeous cards. The interpertation given is very spot-on, and it's very easy to expand and deepen these meanings. The 8 festival cards was a grand idea! Great for timing and for the more major forces at work in your life. This book is a thick and deep, but fun, read.

The cards and images themselves are just charming and pure enchantment! So many of the images just take your breath away with their magic and haunting otherworldliness. You really do enter another realm when working with this deck. It feels like each faery is right with you when you gaze on the images. It's quite wonderful. The landscapes, forests, ancient and historical buildings of the UK are used to exquisite and very eerie effect! The images have the effect of msking me feel completely immersed in this shadow kingdom.....transporting me away from the mundane and boring in daily life. This effect really makes my readings quite something else, full of serendipity and spiritual realizations and guidance.

I really adore how the suits are divided into the seasons, the matching borders for easch season are so striking and add another level to each card, it was a brillant idea. Usually borders just annoy me, not in this deck! They add so much to the completed image.

This will be an excellent divination deck for traditional witches (as I am) or those who work with the Underworld and faery realms. Besides the divination aspect this set can do so much more....I use it in my spiritual practice as I do work mainly and extensively with the Underworld/faery realms. Also excellent for ritual and faery specific workings, such as becoming attune with one and it's energies in your life.

All in all, this set is a constant companion in my life and has enriched my heart and spiritual practice beyond measure. I can't recommend it enough.

A Pagan should know what a waxing moon looks like!
Others have described this deck so I won't repeat them. I give this deck 4 stars mainly for the artwork, which others may or may not like as art is so subjective. I've had this deck over a year and a half and bought the creators' previous deck, The Sacred Circle, well before that. Many of the problems I had with Sacred Circle's artwork are gone from this deck. The Fairy Ring's artwork is much more refined and perfected. The models fit their parts much better and the blending & distorting of images creates a much more surreal and integrated world. If you don't like the artwork, don't buy the deck (the same advice as with any deck really).

This deck reminds me of Brian Froud's Fairy Oracle, which I also own, in that it's more of a large, mostly random list of various fairies. As far as I can tell, there's no real reason why each fairy was assigned to a particular seasonal court or given a number. For example, why is Brownie in the Spring Court and a number three? Traditionally Spring would indicate something like renewal or rebirth and three symbolizes fertility. You'd really have to stretch the meaning of the card to fit with that symbolism. The card could easily fit into the other seasons and other numbers as well. I can similarly find no reason why certain fairies are court cards as opposed to lower numbers. This is my biggest problem with the deck. Probably a lot of beginners won't miss the symbolism, but it also makes it much harder to remember specific card meanings. And it gives less depth to the cards.

As a Pagan, I am drawn to the emphasis of the seasons, nature, and the eight festival cards, especially. Perhaps that is why I wish the four courts did have more seasonal impact. As I said in my title, it bothers me to no end when basic symbolism is wrong though. For example, the Boggart card has a waxing moon in the background. The description of the card indicates it's supposed to be waning and that phase of the moon is totally supposed to correspond with the meaning of the rest of the card. An identical mistake appeared in the Sacred Circle deck, which makes me think the creators simply have no idea what the moon's phases look like - a rather telling error from someone claiming to be Pagan for 30 years and to be a High Priestess. Makes you wonder what else they got wrong.