The Arrival of the Space Fairies

Fairy Rings and Toadstools by Richard Doyle, 1875

Blessed MidSummer 2024 friends! The year has gone by so quickly already and I'm excited to see what the second half of this year has in store. What can I say, I'm an eternal optimist. 

After drinking a nice brew of mugwort tea I made a connection yesterday between the magic of MidSummer eve and the arrival of the modern UFO almost eight decades ago. A connection I know that others have made before, but I thought I would share my thoughts with you here. 

The modern UFO era at least in North America began at MidSummer June 24th 1947 

Image credit Norio F. Hayakawa

Norio shared the image above on the Radio Misterioso Facebook group with the caption: 

"The modern-day era of “Flying Saucers” sighting reports practically started 77 years ago, on June 24, 1947, with still no solution in sight of this mysterious phenomenon !" 

MidSummer in European folklore is a time when the fairy folk are close at hand as they make their procession between our world and theirs. If UFOs are a living folklore for our current space-age era. Jacques Vallee among other scholars noted this in the 1960s-70s than this connection is truly fitting. 

It makes complete sense to me that these mysterious bedeviling space vehicles and their equally enigmatic pilots should enter our western world and imagination on this most auspicious day.  

My own earliest experiences with this phenomenon resembles encounters with elves and dwarves more than modern depictions of greys, so I'm very partial to the interpretation that UFO encounters are an extension of the fairy encounters described for centuries before. 

Flying Fairies Transport a Sleeping Prince Manohar back to His Palace Gulshan-i 'Ishq (Rose Garden of Love) 1743 Artist/maker unknown, Indian  Philadelphia Museum of Art 

 The above image is taken from the story of Gulshan-i Ishq. I found it through a web search for fairies + art + MidSummer and was immediately captivated. It portrays the fairies with stylised triangular wings, and dark, braided hair like temple dancers, beautiful and purposeful.  - Owlcation I am reminded at once of the fairy winds, which blow warm and carry us from our beds into the other realm. I also think of modern extraterrestrial abduction encounters. 

The story which translates to the Rose Garden of Love (roses - sub rosa - hidden knowledge) recounts "a North Indian Hindu love story recast as a Sufi tale for an Islamic court in south-central India. The poet creates a world filled with lush gardens and magical beings as star-crossed lovers face daunting challenges and painful separations before they can live "happily ever after"—a metaphor of the soul’s search for the divine."  Philadelphia Museum of Art 

MidSummer or June 24th is also St John's Day in the Christian calendar. 

St John's Day Bonfire 

"All over Europe "Saint John's fires" are lighted on mountains and hilltops on the eve of his feast. As the first day of summer, Saint John's Day is considered in ancient folklore one of the great "charmed" festivals of the year. Hidden treasures are said to lie open in lonely places, waiting for the lucky finder. Divining rods should be cut on this day. Herbs are given unusual powers of healing, which they retain if they are plucked during the night of the feast. In Germany they call these herbs Johanneskraut (St. John's herbs), and people bring them to church for a special blessing. In Scandinavia and in the Slavic countries it is an ancient superstition that on Saint John's Day witches and demons are allowed to roam the earth. As at Halloween, children go the rounds and demand "treats," straw figures are thrown into the flames, and much noise is made to drive the demons away." - Source: Catholic Culture 

As I ponder  the connection between UFOs, magic, fairies and the soul on this MidSummer in a mugwort tea haze, I cannot help but think that the ultimate message behind the UFO experience is that no matter where our life paths may take us or on our search for answers to these cosmic mysteries -  we are not and we never have been alone. 

Wishing whoever reads this a blessed Summer or Winter season filled with magic xx