To Live with the Fairy Folk: A Guide to Attract Benevolent Spirits

By Marina T. Stern

Book Overview

To Live with the Fairy Folk is a guide to changing one's surroundings inside the house and in the garden to attract the elusive sprites seen frolicking and dancing in folklore of cultures as widely separated and diverse as Japan, Ireland, Spain, Denmark, and the Americas. "To be surrounded by cheerful Folk," writes Marina Stern, "is to be cheerful, buoyed up by the laughter of Nature Herself. To arrange your life, home, and especially garden in order to make the Folk welcome is to invite happiness, luck, and love."

There are as many theories about the origins and identities of Fairy Folk as there are people who believe in them. They are known variously as "the Good People," "the Little People," "the Good Neighbors," "the Gentry," and "the People of Peace." The Folk are made of memory, imagination, tradition, and desire. They exist wherever people are -- they are ever present, like air.

To Live with the Fairy Folk teaches the etiquette favored by the Folks. Respect for privacy, generosity, neatness, fairness, and romance are essential. Then there's the matter of where the Folk like to live -- what trees to plant and how to best care for them, tips about lighting (inside and outside), and instructions for using water, shade, sunshine, and fragrances to make a Folkfriendly habitat. Stern concludes the book with magical garden designs you can easily duplicate.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578632730
• ISBN13: 9781578632732
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Weiser Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Stuff

I got this book out of curiosity. It's really helpful if you subscribe to the idea that Good Folk might exist. If you think it's all hooey, it's still a great little book. There are some really good suggestions about gardening, if nothing else. An elegant layout, with lovely illustrations, though I wish there were more. The style of writing is quite pleasant and succinct. If you are interested in Fairy folk, this is good place to start.