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
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
Happy midsummer to you too Susan! Today I've felt a lot of the negative thoughts and emotions I've struggled with recently finally fading into the background, I hope this lasts. Here in Denmark there are swallows and swifts everywhere in the sky, especially in harbour areas where swallows make their nests underneath wooden piers, as well as even more flowers blooming in many different colours. Also saw several dragonflies of species I couldn't recognise today. (fairies in disguise?)
ReplyDeleteInteresting reading about midsummer folklore and celebrations from all over the world, including the St. John's Fires we have here in Denmark. They are along with the Saint Lucia celebration on the winter solstice one Catholic festival here which survived the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Also learned about others which I was unfamiliar with myself until now. I should mention that quite a few Danish neopagans have put a lot of work into reviving older midsummer celebrations predating Christianity and promoting them over the St. John's fire, to the point that those have caught on outside neopagan circles.
It's interesting that you belabour that your own UFO entity encounters are more similar to older folklore surrounding elves and fairies than those involving grey aliens, since those in turn resemble space age versions of elves and fairies in many ways. In fact when I had those similarities pointed out to me, I stopped finding greys and stories of them so unnerving.
Modern fantasy artists also tend to draw elves with the same long, thin triangular faces as Strieber's Visitors, a fact I do not consider coincidental!