Fairy Spells: Seeing and Communicating with the Fairies

by Claire Nahmad

Claire Nahmad not only believes in them but she can communicate with them. Fairies are benign spirits who can guide us to knowledge of our inner selves and restore our unity with the natural world.

Reawaken your childhood self and recapture the sense of awe and wonder that we lose as adults. Only then can you approach the fairy realm and become the friend of fairy folk.

This is a complete guide to how to meet fairies, explaining the most favourable days and times for meeting the fairies, the tests you will experience, the most likely places to search and the best way to win the goodwill of these elemental beings. Once our feelings are attuned, we can again learn the fairy lore of magic and herbal medicine and use these skills to restore the world.

With a wealth of full colour illustrations of Victorian Fairy Paintings, this book will show anyone the way back to fairyland.

Genres: Fantasy, Folklore, Mythology

64 pages, Hardcover

Published May 21, 1998

About the author

Claire Nahmad is descended from a long line of herbalists and wise women, and has spent her life learning the ancient arts and attuning herself to the life of the spirit. She has published eight books on new age themes. She lives in a remote part of South Yorkshire where she is studying the local lore and legends.

- description from cover jacket of the 1998 edition of Fairy Spells

Reviews

[Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had picked up Fairy Spells as a child, I have no doubt that I would have swallowed it whole and loved every bit. As an adult, I can only see that it is written by a woman who picks and chooses bits of dozens of religions to suit her theories and will believe just about anything as long as it's unlikely.

I love stories about fairies and I spent a lot of time as a child hunting for them... and even more time as an adult making little furniture and houses for my niece to discover on her own hunts. I was hoping Fairy Spells would be a nice bit of whimsy (which, apart from anything else is one of my favourite words!) but alas, no. For fairy whimsy I unreservedly recommend picking up Fairyopolis: A Flower Fairies Journal instead.

I shall try and not be too facetious, but I thought I'd distill a little list of lessons to be learned from Fairy Spells FYI:

1. Christian angels will totally help you find fairies. Meeting fairies is the first step to your ticket to heaven. Jesus love(s/d) fairies.
2. Rational thought is evil. EVIL. In fact, if you believe only in the rational, visible world, you are probably a cynical demon worshiper. And not just any demon, no. The Lord of Darkness.
3. Intellect? The lower mind. And by lower, I mean, controlled by the Lord of Darkness.
4. The ozone layer = a mantle of divine light and angelic substance. I'll come to climate change in a minute.
5. Fairies have secret access to your brain and can influence your thoughts. Actually, if you have a creative idea, don't be arrogant and assume it was yours. You can't do that shit without a fairy on your proverbial shoulder.
6. You can open your mind to spirituality by reading poetry and listening to music - as long as it's not that dreadful pop stuff.
7. Even though you're asking CHRISTIAN angels to help you find fairies, it will be much more likely to work on pagan holidays. Believing in Jesus and Pan and the Mother Goddess is not contradictory.
8. Bulimic? Binge Eater? Gosh those fairies are tricksy. If you've got a wise-woman on speed-dial she can cure you of your over-eating by exorcising a naughty fairy or two. (Why did no one tell me I could blame my love of Ben & Jerry's on the fairies?)
9. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday are good days of the week to find fairies. Wednesday and Saturday are fine too.
10. If you slip over while misspending your youth standing around in ponds, you didn't really slip. It was totally a fairy pushing you.
11. If, while hiking in the middle of nowhere, you get out of breath, that's the fairies protecting you, telling you to give up. And if you should get afraid, out in the middle of nowhere by yourself, it's not because you're being reckless and are vulnerable. It's fairy mischief, a bit like that wind that blew off your hat.
12. If a fairy should trick you into getting lost in the woods or whatever, take off your coat and put it on backwards. You may look like an idiot and it may not work, but you might find your map. If not wearing a coat, any piece of clothing is worth a try.
13. If they get too naughty, all you need do is step into that 6 pointed star that Blue Peter made earlier, pull out the shining white cloak of protection you keep in your handbag and dial up your Guardian Angel. It's all good.
14. Fairies can clear up those pimples in 9 days, only slightly longer than Clearasil.
15. Oh, and last but not least, the greenhouse effect and thereby, climate change, can be mitigated by the power of positive thought. Why has no one tried this before?

I don't think there's anything wrong in believing that there might be things beyond the visible world as per se, but I can't go along with this joke. I suspect Nahmad would call me a cynic.

*I'm sorry Faye! I wanted to like it!*

[Serena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I . . . what on earth. From the first pages appropriating a piece of Iranian mythology, Ms. Nahmad picks and chooses and blends pieces of different religions in a fashion like a child with a chemistry set - always most heavily returning to Christianity and the angels, which she tells us the fairies are the Earthly hand-servants of.

There are no references for the many places where she quotes "it is known" or "mortals have always known" or "it is said", or indeed for the supposedly ancient spells she teaches (despite the title, there is only one chapter, also entitled 'Fairy Spells', that covers them, and they are all in that chapter for awakening "fairy vision").

Her quoting of 'fairy-related deities' was a particularly bogglesome moment - for example quoted as three aspects of the Nature Goddess, by their Greek names, are "Diana, Artemis, and Aradia". Diana being the Roman name of the Greek goddess Artemis, and Aradia supposedly from witchcraft in Italian history from the 1300s, but never found referenced save in a single text translated (and patched with things he made up) by a single man in 1899.

As a pagan and witch walking my path for decades, I found nothing useful in this book, much that made me boggle, and a good deal that was offensive or hurtful to varying religions or beliefs.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusingly crazy. At one point the author implies that if you can't see fairies you must be under the influence of demons. But I really like fairy lore, so I like reading about this kind of stuff.

[Adrienne Blaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book as a Fairy-obsessed child and only just finished it as a thirty-something woman. And I can see why I was not able to finish it earlier in life. This text is written academically and with many references that would have confounded my 12-year-old self. For a book about tapping into Fairy realms through childlike wonder, this book is quite self-serious. It is also a product of its 90’s New Age times: mixing ancestral cultures and cherry-picking traditions. Despite this cultural breadth it is oh-so white and British Isle centered. I still love it for everything it has meant to me as a fixture of my shelf for decades.

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up because a friend of mine is into fairy folklore. I found out quickly that this is more of a 'do-it-yourself' guide, but nonetheless, it was interesting. I can't say it makes me believe in fairies or want to go find them, but her message of going back to the basics and just listening is something I think everyone can understand and respect.

[Shadow the Hedgehog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and charming with beautiful illustrations, this book a relaxing way to spend a small chunk of time. It has some fun fairy lore as well as some weirder stuff, but nothing that should be taken too seriously. Think of it as fiction and you will likely enjoy it.

[Rachel Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My dad brought this book back for me from a business trip years ago.
It’s full of some pretty nonsensical things, but the illustrations are lovely and I’ve always enjoyed flipping through it to enjoy the art.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised this doesn't have better reviews. There are some really good bits in here and overall very sweet, light book. I love fairies and found this book at a vintage shop under a stack of random stuff, made it feel like a treasure meant for me :)

[Dawn Boukhatem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for the illustrations. This little book is very pretty but the author has no actual knowledge of folk and fairylore and just seems to make and mix it up as she goes along. This book is not for people who are serious about learning more about the lore surrounding the faery folk!

[Margo olson E Olson]

NO NO NO NOT ME!!!

[Paige Kriebel]

Dnf it I love the artwork though so I will definitely be using the pictures in my art journal. 🧚✨

[Mae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't agree with some of this, but I like the spells and ideas and it's easily adaptable for an eclectic witch.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave an abbreviated account of each of the following topics:
Fairy Days and Hours
Fairy Spells
Fairy haunts
Fairies and Angels
Fairy Healing
Seeing and Talking with the Fairies
...and several other chapters...

Additionally, after the table of contents page, there's a comprehensive listing of "The Hours of the Angels," where all 24 hours are named after a different angel. Despite this not being a book of the angels,I'd have liked to know the co-relation between these hours of the angels and the fairies better. As is, I'm not really sure why the author has included such a detailed list in this book, which is obviously important in her thinking, but sadly lost in translation.

The writing was easy to flow through, and I enjoyed the authors style and look forward to picking up more of her books for casual exploration into introductory topics.

[William O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet little book

[Bella Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tiny book with cute cover but nothing interesting in it. I wouldnt recommend it.

[Leannear24 · Rating 2 out of 5]

it had some good info
but it was just not what i was looking for