Let's talk about consent. Its quite a big deal for humans, as it should be. You don't force your will on another unless they've agreed to it, its an emergency, or I suppose if we are discussing children who need medicine. Consent matters and its usually agreed that to force a person to do something without consent is a bad thing.
And yet.
And yet so much of the magic that's out there to do with the Fair Folk completely ignores the idea of consent. Books on witchcraft that teach a human how to 'make' their own fairy, how to charge a fairy with a task like guarding a home, or a pet. Spells to summon fairies, to force them against their own will to appear. To take the magician as a lover. Expected from the old grimoire material to be honest because that was written at a time when consent among humans wasn't a thing either and many humans were forced against their will too. But today, in a world that speaks of bodily autonomy and sovereignty of will, to see witches and magicians treating fairies as if they had no independence and no ability to choose for themselves...is disappointing. You would be a witch who engages with the Good Folk yet you approach the Other as something to be ordered and forced with sorcerous names and bindings.
Now I admit that the fairy concept of consent is a bit different from the human one. Once consent is given it can't be withdrawn which is unlike human consent which changes and can be withdrawn. And consent in Fairy isn't always freely given because all's fair in magic and mayhem. But still consent is a necessary thing, a prerequisite to what follows. Even the each uisce waits until the human consents to ride it before rushing off and devouring them after all.
Are fairies not beings with their own will and agency? Do fairies not deserve to be treated as well as one would treat a fellow human? Perhaps it is time for humans that seek the Good Folk out to reflect on this, and to consider whether a being forced against its will into a relationship can ever be any kind of ally or friend to the one forcing them.
Obviously the answer is no, and the Fair Folk have very long memories indeed and a great deal of time to wait and plan.
Brush up on some selkie folklore if you don't believe me that fairy/human relationships born from lack of consent never end well, and you will see that as soon as the one being forced is freed she flees, not even love of her own half-human children can hold her. Perhaps think of how you would feel if the positions were reversed.
So much focus on the superiority of humans out there, so many who would treat fairies as pets or clever animals rather than beings equal to or superior to humans. If your worldview is predicated on the Fair Folk as twee little sprites, even then, do they not deserve to have their will respected? Why are they treated like toys, or inferior things that must be protected or controlled? And if you do believe in the more powerful, dangerous fairies then why would you believe humans are better than they are, or more powerful?
Where does fairy consent fit in to your witchcraft? These are important questions.
If you seek fairy amity, seek it with an understanding that the Othercrowd are independent, sentient beings who owe humans nothing. Seek those that would willingly aid you and respect those that want no part of you or your magic.
* Obviously if something is trying to kill you or eat you do what you must to defend yourself, just as you would against another human. Consent ends were mortal harm or threat thereof begins.
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| Rackham's 'Goblin Market' Even the goblins couldn't work their wasting magic unless the girl consented to eat the fruit |
