Faerie Faith is a

Neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

tradition that branched off from the "Old Dianic" tradition (later renamed

McFarland Dianic Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, and, to some also as "Dianism," "Dianic Feminist Witchcraft," or simply "Feminist Witchcraft"' is a modern pagan, goddess tradition, focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by wo ...

) through the work of Mark Roberts and his high priestess, Epona. The

Faerie Faith founded by Roberts and Epona is often confused with other traditions of similar name, such as the

Feri Tradition The Feri Tradition is an initiatory tradition of modern Pagan witchcraft. It was founded in California in the 1960s by the Americans Victor Henry Anderson and his wife Cora Anderson. Practitioners have described it as an ecstatic tradition rather ...

, brought to the public by Victor Anderson circa 1960;

Radical Faeries The Radical Faeries are a loosely affiliated worldwide network and countercultural movement seeking to redefine queer consciousness through secular spirituality. Sometimes deemed a form of modern Paganism, the movement also adopts elements from an ...

, a nature-worshiping, spiritual and political group, primarily consisting of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

men; or Faery Wicca.

History

The history of the Faerie Faith begins with "the Dallas Dianics," founded by Mark Roberts and Morgan McFarland in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

(in 1999, the name of the tradition was changed to the

Tradition). McFarland, Roberts, and a third member together formed the Covenstead of Morrigana. According to the McFarland Dianic Homepage, "It was Mark who pointed out to Morgan the reference to "Dianic cults" in

Margaret Murray Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptology, Egyptologist, archaeology, archaeologist, anthropology, anthropologist, historian, and folkloristics, folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a l ...

's ''The Witch Cult in Western Europe''. It spoke to their beliefs and practices, and they adopted the name "Dianic" for their tradition. Later that year, Mark and Morgan began creating rituals based on the Ogham. McFarland went on to initiate several high priestesses who hived off to start other covens. In 1979 she withdrew as high priestess, and now serves as matriarch and advisor to the Council of High Priestesses of the McFarland Dianic Tradition. In 1979 Roberts moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where he met a woman named Epona. Roberts taught her the lessons he had written while with McFarland, and Epona became a high priestess and the founder of the "Eponian" branch of the McFarland Dianics - what is now known as the Faerie Faith. Roberts most likely took the name for this new tradition from ''The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries'' by

W.Y. Evans-Wentz Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (February 2, 1878 – July 17, 1965) was an American anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism, and in transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the Western world, most known for publishin ...

, published in 1911. This book is an oral history and describes a variety of folk beliefs and practices, many still extant at the time the book was written. Roberts returned to Dallas and started a new tradition, called Hyperborea. Epona continued to teach the Faerie Faith tradition she and Roberts developed, and today there are members of the Faerie Faith spread out across the Southeastern United States.

Beliefs and practices

The characteristic of Faerie Faith is the use of the Beth-Luis-Nion "Celtic tree calendar", allegedly invented by

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

in his book, ''

The White Goddess ''The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'' is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, the book is based on earlier articles published in ''Wales'' magazi ...

: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth''. The system is based on Graves's re-interpretation of the Celtic

ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

alphabet; however, scholars believe Graves's invention is not based on any actual

Celtic calendar The Celtic calendar is a compilation of pre-Christian Celtic systems of timekeeping, including the Gaulish Coligny calendar, used by Celtic countries to define the beginning and length of the day, the week, the month, the seasons, quarter days, ...

. In the Faerie Faith, specific lessons are associated with each lunar month, and students experience personal transformation in connection to each tree/letter.

References

{{Authority control Modern pagan traditions Radical Faeries

History

Beliefs and practices

See also

References