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Fae

Ancient beings to be feared and respected

7 min readOct 1, 2026

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What a way to kick off the month of October! I knew that sooner or later, Falcon was going to have me address this topic, but I’m not feeling particularly enthusiastic about it. It’s one of those things where, from my perspective, there’s already so much information out there about this that I feel like what I have to share is just a raindrop in the ocean. Additionally, this is a topic where no two situations are alike, so for every bit of information I share, there could be a thousand other people shouting that I’m wrong. Even so, Falcon is really nudging me to do this, so I’ll share what I know, and you’re welcome to take it or leave it.

I’ve worked with the fae my entire life. They’re actually one of the first types of beings I can recall interacting with as a child, before I shut myself off to spirit work due to my family pushing their strict religious beliefs onto me. While the fae weren’t the very first, they were one of the first groups of beings that re-introduced themselves into my life once I opened myself back up to spirit work as an adult. I say “groups,” because I don’t work just with one, but with many fae beings.

The thing is, while my experiences have been positive, unless fae beings are already a direct part of your spirit family or act as your spirit guides, I would strongly advise against going out of your way to get involved with them. Even my own fae guides are saying that if you don’t already work with the fae, it’s best to avoid them altogether.

They’re the types of beings who, if the mood strikes them to do so, will put an arm around your shoulder, talk to you like you’re their best friend, and smile in your face right as they walk you off the edge of a cliff. I mean no disrespect to them, because the thing is, coming from their perspectives, it’s not that they’re negative beings, it’s just that their culture is so entirely different from ours that it’s very, very complicated to try to work with them. With the example I gave above, they’d see that as having a bit of fun, not truly meaning any harm by it. It’s just an entirely different culture.

Even the manner in which you speak with them is entirely different. You should never, ever thank them, for example, because in their culture, that’s immediately seen as a binding contract. If you thank them, in their terms, that means that you’re somehow indebted to them. And since typically when we say “thank you,” we’re just doing so to be polite, we don’t set any terms. Because you stated that without setting any terms, that’s now entirely open to their interpretation regarding how you’re expected to go about fulfilling that debt. The way they see it, they weren’t trying to trick you or trip you up; you did that all on your own. Now, though, they get to benefit from it. It’d be like if someone walked up to you and said “I owe you” without any additional context, and you took it literally.

Don’t get me wrong, the fae can be trickster spirits, but any type of spirit can be a trickster spirit. It doesn’t mean that one group is more prone to that than others. It’s moreso the fact that fae culture is so vastly different from our own understanding, as human beings, that we can entrap ourselves to them in the simplest of ways, without realizing it.

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I’m not saying I know exactly what to do or how to act, because I don’t. I don’t have all the answers. That’s why I’m not going to share an exhaustive list of fae cultural norms or expectations here. The only reason I’ve been safe to work with the fae beings in my own spirit family is because I’ve worked with them in past lifetimes, so I know I can trust them, and they know they can trust me. They help me and protect me from myself, stopping me from saying or doing the wrong things that could be seen as binding or indebting myself to them in any way, unintentionally. However, the fae in my spirit family bend over backwards to do this because they love me. If a fae being isn’t already a direct part of your spirit family, though, they likely won’t go out of their way to do that. This is why I myself wouldn’t attempt to work with fae beings outside of my spirit family.

Another part of the reason I’m not going to try to list things out is because it varies from being to being. There are countless types of fae beings out there. The three most prominent types of fae that I work with are Sidhe, Bwbach, and water pixies. Some may argue that pixies aren’t technically fae, but the ones that I work with count themselves as fae beings, so I’m not going to argue with them. Each type is from a different region and has vastly different histories and cultural norms attached to them. It would be overwhelming to try to share that all here.

This is why I was hesitant to get into this topic to begin with, because I feel like I can summarize this article by saying yes, I work with some fae beings because they’ve always been a part of my life, but if you don’t already have fae beings as a part of your life/spirit family, I don’t recommend it. I really don’t know how to take it deeper than that.

Falcon is guiding me in a different direction, and he’s having me share a memory. As a child, even when I’d tried to shut myself off to spirit beings, one of the Sidhe fae beings, in particular, still managed to find ways to reach out to me. I remember I had a specific recurring dream off and on all throughout my childhood, adolescence, and even into adulthood. It never felt like a dream, but more like a memory, although I never understood it. What I didn’t realize was that I was being shown one of my past lives with this particular Sidhe being. He was trying to reach out to me to remind me of his existence.

The thing is, he was able to do this because the fae are unique when it comes to the spirit realm. The best way to describe it is that they have one foot in both worlds. They aren’t entirely in the physical world, but they also aren’t entirely spirit beings. It’s like they walk the boundary between the two, regarding how they exist. It’s what allows them to operate outside of certain spiritual laws that other spirit beings are bound to, because they aren’t all spirit, but they also aren’t all physical. Some people might consider them elementals, but even that’s not quite right. They’re truly their very own category of being. This makes them fascinating, but because they aren’t bound to the same laws that spirit beings are, this can also make them incredibly dangerous.

So with my earlier example of shutting myself off to the spirit world, I couldn’t fully shut myself off to the fae, because they aren’t fully spirit beings. They were able to reach out to me even when I tried to hide myself from the others. They never did so in a frightening way, but rather, they were always very loving and playful. With my memories of them as a child, before I shut myself off to the spirit world, I never saw them as scary, but rather, they were my playmates and friends. They even left me little gifts from time to time, just to make me smile. They were delightful then, and they still are now.

Another thing to understand about fae beings, however, is that they aren’t like Tinker Bell. The vast majority I work with don’t even have wings, and they’re far from being tiny. Although this isn’t a great example, as he’s technically an elf, think of Legolas from Lord of the Rings — that’s sort of what one of the Sidhe beings I work with looks like, except the Sidhe being is much taller, with a more slender build. He’s not a tiny sparkly fairy; rather, he’s a wild, ancient being of nature that easily towers over me. He’s beautiful, but he can also be incredibly dangerous.

It’s why, again, I wouldn’t recommend working with fae beings to anyone, unless they’re already part of your spirit team or you’re already incredibly experienced in that type of work. Even with fae beings having been with me my whole life, I still don’t feel like I have the first clue about their world or culture, and I certainly don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. I just trust that the fae beings in my spirit family love me as I love them, which is why they’ve continued to look out for me. Additionally, I know I can trust that if there were a problem, my other guides would speak up or step in to protect me.

I was going to add a bit more, but I’ve been told to bring this to a stop and not share more than this, so I guess I’ll leave it here for today. I hope everyone has a beautiful, safe day! Happy October!

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Smalind
Smalind

Written by Smalind

Spirit worker sharing my healing journey and relationship with my spirit family, alongside my spirit guide, Falcon.