Jump to content
IGNORED

Fairies and Pixies and Trolls, oh my!


salex

Recommended Posts

I have a facebook account to read some of the fundie blogs, and have joined some christian groups to keep it from being just Salex on 4 blogs we follow on FJ. So, I have some "friends" and actually, I find some of the entertaining and interesting, but.....

Yesterday in a thread a woman said God had her look up trolls, elves, pixies and fairies and she learned they are all fallen angels/demons. :pink-shock:

I asked if she believed pixies were real. She said yes, but she'd always thought they were cute creatures and now she knew they were evil. :?

Even my most fundie friends and relatives have never gone down this path, and I am still trying to figure out WTF she was on about. Is it common for adult people in 2015 to think that pixies are our roaming about, working as minions for satan? Or is this a fundie belief like fear of cabbage patch dolls?

Understand-- I was raised in a church (and family) that taught that in the new testament, when it referred to Jesus casting out demons as part of a healing, it likely meant he cured someone of some kind of mental health issue or something like epilepsy, that would have appeared like an outside force "possessed" the person, but was not magical.

Now, I"m reading on separate facebook threads from people who are not involved in the same church, from what I can tell that one believes in Pixies and another had "invisible witches" in his house, which he knew were there because the cats saw them and he had to pray to have them removed. :nenner:

We won't even go into my being grilled about my belief in nephilim (where my don't know don't care answer was found wanting) and the vast numbers of people who are convinced that any extra-terrestrial life is/will be demons.

So, what is it about all this stuff that comes across to me as superstitious mumbo jumbo.... are any of you familiar with Christian churches that believe in evil pixies roaming the earth?

Is it to make one's life feel more important in this ongoing battle between God and evil or are these people what they appear to be---nuts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I do know of a person that believes fairies are real and she says that they do not have good intentions. I do not recall her saying what religion she was raised and/or practices but she is not fundie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, for many there is a certainly belief in an ever present Satan and some do believe in demon possession, but not in pixies that I'm familiar with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do know of a person that believes fairies are real and she says that they do not have good intentions. I do not recall her saying what religion she was raised and/or practices but she is not fundie.

Ditto -- my friend is pagan, though.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure I have an infestation of invisible witches in my house. They steal socks and barrettes, they eat all my ingredients so that I don't have any when I go to cook something, and they play with my kids' stuff and then leave it all over the house. It's really freaking annoying, but I never thought to pray them away. (No offense to any actual Wiccans. The "invisible witches" just made me giggle to myself.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ditto -- my friend is pagan, though.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure I have an infestation of invisible witches in my house. They steal socks and barrettes, they eat all my ingredients so that I don't have any when I go to cook something, and they play with my kids' stuff and then leave it all over the house. It's really freaking annoying, but I never thought to pray them away. (No offense to any actual Wiccans. The "invisible witches" just made me giggle to myself.)

I have a couple of those myself :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmmm in my experience it tends to be Pagans or New Agey people who believe in fairies and pixies, and that they're not like fairytale ones. But it wouldn't surprise me that some Christians see them as demonic like Harry Potter is seen as demonic by them.

Myself, I am not too sure (re demonic possession generally, I don't believe in pixies etc). There are some very sensible and very un-fundie Catholics and Anglicans who believe in it and who have (apparently) seen it. I interpret the passage about driving demons into pigs as Jesus casting out the demons of imperialism and Roman occupation (their name is legion for a reason) - but I'm not going to say demons don't exist because I don't know, and wiser Christians than me have believed in them.

I am an Anglican, and in the Church of England each diocese has a priest in charge of exorcism. I think it mostly gets used to reassure people with bad drug reactions or mental health issues though.

I have to say that I'm really not keen on the whole 'people at this time thought mental disorders were demons' thing - it seems massively ethnocentric and presumptuous. Actually ancient civilisations and even medieval Europe (which suffers more than most time periods from being regarded as being populated by superstitious idiots) had very sophisticated societies and although mental health disorders were not understood, people suffering from them were cared for by their communities and not considered demonic. Mental healthcare took a real nosedive with the advent of the Enlightenment and modern capitalism, where mentally ill people were no longer cared for within their communities but given over to private institutions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a faerie fest I go to every year on May day weekend. It's usually me, the fam, our friends and their kids. It's a lot of fun with great music and great vendors. The fest has been going on for 25 years. A couple of years back, for a couple of years in a row, there were a group of some kind of Christians protesting at the fest with signs, and they were yelling things like we were corrupting our kid's souls, and the fairies were from demons, ect. That was the first time I had ever been exposed to something like that at something as innocuous as a faerie fest, and I was surprised and amused, and largely ignored them, until I saw they had a video camera. Then I covered my children's faces up and continually and loudly stated they had no permission to record me or my children. I don't know what their deal was, but they were only there a couple of years, and I haven't seen them since. (Much to my now 19 year old's disappointment)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, everyone for your comments.

I understand the concept of actual demon possession, but I would be more like the old official Vatican position I once heard, that it is (may be) real but rare. This would put me at odds with a lot of the people I am now reading who basically see or perform exorcisms nearly every week!

Another woman chimed in that she had destroyed her garden gnomes / elves when she learned they were evil.... so, there you go. Apparently Facebook is offering me a glimpse into a paralleled universe, because even among the more fundie of my aquaintances, this is a whole new world.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phhbt. If people can find demonic evil in a relatively nice-looking house (like Amityville), they can probably find it in flowers and trees too. Fairies are not pleasant in folklore, even less so if a mere mortal fails to treat them with respect. That's when they start kidnapping babies and switching them for their own changelings or just spoiling milk, spooking livestock and generally becoming a pesky pain in the knickers. There are also the Banshees - they are considered fay-folk in legends - and I can see ignorant doofuses calling them "demonic" simply due to their warnings of impending death and doom to those who see or hear them.

Generally speaking of demons, fairies, pixies and trolls, I'd be more scared of a Pontianak than any of the above. A Pontianak used to be a woman who died in childbirth. Their cries now mimic a baby's cry to lure people to their "all my organs have been devoured" demise. Men are especially tasty to Pontianaks. Vampire folklore is much more interesting when one gets past the typical "Dracula" tripe.

I believe lots of the “demon panic†in modern times was kick-started anew by my "favourite" couple of religious nuts -and- con artists. Others may know them as Ed and Lorraine Warren. See, at first, they hunted ghosts. Or rather, they painted haunted houses and called that “investigatingâ€. Somewhere down the line, they decided that demons are more profitable and soon, everything creepy was a demon! (o/' I got a theory that it's a demon! A dancing demon! Eh, something isn't right there o/') They are also the only "paranormal experts" that I know of who actually were prepared to use the "The Devil Made Him Do It" defence in a criminal case for one of their clients. Luckily it didn't hold up well with the judge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at a Tupperware party a good 35 years ago. Nearly all fundy wives, skirts and fluffy hair, etc. I overheard one woman saying how her husband didn't like going to church--it was "too crowded" for his comfort-but she "just knew it was Satan and his demons making him stay away."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a YouTube video of Robert Tilton claiming that "we had demons opening and shutting doors in our house. Lot of people think that's ghosts. That's not ghosts, that's *DEMONS*!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard about the Cabbage Patch Kid issue, and was aware that trolls were somehow distasteful (perhaps Satanic?) to Gothardites, but I've not heard of a problem with fairies, pixies, or trolls in general. Fascinating!

Where are these folks located? Does it seem more regional, or something affiliated with their particular church?

I do know that Iceland (and a few other locations around the globe) has a very interesting relationship with elves and fairyfolk. They've spent quite a bit of money making sure large rocks are properly moved. Perhaps this one would be okay for fundies, since apparently these elves had an established church: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from ... e-31987941

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No mention of Neil Gaiman's American Gods? I guess that was a leprechaun, not a pixie.

I've never heard of the pixie/demon connection. My experience is that it's the charismatics and Pentecostala who believe so readily in demon possession. The reformed fundamentalists not so much, they are more likely to be in the "could happen" rather than the "does happen" group.

And what is the deal with cabbage patch kid?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, (snipped)...

Another woman chimed in that she had destroyed her garden gnomes / elves when she learned they were evil.... so, there you go. Apparently Facebook is offering me a glimpse into a paralleled universe, because even among the more fundie of my aquaintances, this is a whole new world.

:)

Announcement: who approaches my Whitey Herzog garden gnome with a blunt object, approaches his/her own world of hurt.

Raised conservative (scholarly, respectful) Lutheran here and only heard this mentioned once: when a pastor included a preemptive exorcism while baptizing his infant daughter.

I do faintly remember the uber conservative host of the Lutheran radio show Issues, Etc ., saying extraterrestrials were demonic.

As the only oblivious person in my family - all others have some degree of the 6th sense - I've concluded that evil exists, and that it can be expressed in a variety of forms. As can goodness. I'm grateful to have merely 5 senses but I'd never mock anyone who saw evil around every corner.

However, I would ask that person to put faith in God and Jesus, and to focus on honoring the Deity while helping others. Because anything that takes our foci off of honoring God and helping others indeed is very bad.

Tikkun olam, as my Jewish friends describe it. Repairing the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you ever seen the invisible witches?

No?

See, that proves they're invisible.

Do they do anything while you're there?

No?

See, the prayers worked and they're gone now.

Seriously I think if you believe in angels, demons, evil spirits, it's just a small step to believing in pixies, faeries, gnomes and whatnot. If there is a supernatural evil presence in the spirit world it could take many forms and pixie, faerie, alien, ghost etc could be just names that the folklore gives to its different manifestations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've definitely heard of the concept that all supernatural things come from/are part of God. I know my grandfather who is Lutheran has this view but I'm sure I've heard it somewhere else too. I think it comes from the idea of not worshiping false gods or idols. If somebody acknowledges the existence of fairies or trolls, it can be seen as also acknowledging that they have power. Once you do that, you are one step closer to that supernatural being challenging the power of God. So basically, it's a safeguard put in place so people won't be tempted to stray from believing in only one God. As a result, what I've seen is supernatural beings being absorbed into the Christian cosmology. So, fairies being seen as demons makes sense. This way, there's no chance that someone will start to view them as being more worthy of worship than, or having more power than God.

I got a good lecture on this topic when I wanted to play with a Ouija board as a kid. My grandfather said that there was no way I would be able to contact anything benevolent because only God was good and the only thing left was demons because there was nothing in between. I'm pretty sure he was reluctant to believe in human ghosts because of this concept too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm familiar with this belief and I know people who practice it, but I've only seen it from super traditional (usually elderly) Roman Catholics of Eastern Canadian or Irish heritage. I've never heard of it being associated with evangelical culture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My grandmother never allowed cats in her house, because "they steal your soul while you sleep." Birds were also very unlucky, even just pictures of birds. But she didn't believe in fairies or pixies or anything like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jinns too if you're a Muslim:

Muslim exorcist who expelled demons by quoting passages from the Koran is stabbed to death at his east London black magic healing centre

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3lqYghaj4

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Tasawer Islam added: 'The only person that I can think would have something against him is someone to do with his work.

'It will be someone who controls these powers 'Jinns'. They have to go through a lot of effort to attack someone with Jinns and if he has exorcised someone then they have to go through all the trouble again.

'They appear ordinary on the street but in the darkness of night that's what they do.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a faerie fest I go to every year on May day weekend. It's usually me, the fam, our friends and their kids. It's a lot of fun with great music and great vendors. The fest has been going on for 25 years. A couple of years back, for a couple of years in a row, there were a group of some kind of Christians protesting at the fest with signs, and they were yelling things like we were corrupting our kid's souls, and the fairies were from demons, ect. That was the first time I had ever been exposed to something like that at something as innocuous as a faerie fest, and I was surprised and amused, and largely ignored them, until I saw they had a video camera. Then I covered my children's faces up and continually and loudly stated they had no permission to record me or my children. I don't know what their deal was, but they were only there a couple of years, and I haven't seen them since. (Much to my now 19 year old's disappointment)

Burpies - Can I ask if this was Spoutwood? If so, I remember this weekend well. I even leaned over the fence and told one protetoer how unChristian-like her behavior was. We go every year and have never seen this since. I think the farm says they can't be against the fence. And any farther away the protesters would be in the road. They should have just joined in the fun and music and storytelling. It's very liberating. Their loss. If you like the faerie thing, head on down to Baltimore to the FaerieCon in November.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Burpies - Can I ask if this was Spoutwood? If so, I remember this weekend well. I even leaned over the fence and told one protetoer how unChristian-like her behavior was. We go every year and have never seen this since. I think the farm says they can't be against the fence. And any farther away the protesters would be in the road. They should have just joined in the fun and music and storytelling. It's very liberating. Their loss. If you like the faerie thing, head on down to Baltimore to the FaerieCon in November.

LOL-yea, it's Spoutwood! :-D I was wondering if anyone would be familiar with it. We love it there and try to get there every year. It's not very close to us, so sometimes we don't make it, but the missed years are few and far between. My kids like to make their own wings and dress up, and most of the time we just hang out on the hill and listen to the acts there. My daughter had an awesome time with the glitter fairy wands last year and got a lot of glitter refills.

They also used to have a harvest fest the last weekend of September. I don't know if they still have it, but we went to that twice. It's really nice how both festivals reflected the rhythm of the season, with the May day fest being boisterous and loud, like the earth coming to light after winter's long slumber, and the Sept fest was more laid back and relaxed, like the earth beginning to rest after the bustle of summer and the harvest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Burpies - Can I ask if this was Spoutwood? If so, I remember this weekend well. I even leaned over the fence and told one protetoer how unChristian-like her behavior was. We go every year and have never seen this since. I think the farm says they can't be against the fence. And any farther away the protesters would be in the road. They should have just joined in the fun and music and storytelling. It's very liberating. Their loss. If you like the faerie thing, head on down to Baltimore to the FaerieCon in November.

LOL-yea, it's Spoutwood! :-D I was wondering if anyone would be familiar with it. We love it there and try to get there every year. It's not very close to us, so sometimes we don't make it, but the missed years are few and far between. My kids like to make their own wings and dress up, and most of the time we just hang out on the hill and listen to the acts there. My daughter had an awesome time with the glitter fairy wands last year and got a lot of glitter refills.

They also used to have a harvest fest the last weekend of September. I don't know if they still have it, but we went to that twice. It's really nice how both festivals reflected the rhythm of the season, with the May day fest being boisterous and loud, like the earth coming to light after winter's long slumber, and the Sept fest was more laid back and relaxed, like the earth beginning to rest after the bustle of summer and the harvest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.