I chat with Owen Staton, host of storytelling podcast, Time Between Times and Spectre of the Sea, an atmospheric thriller series weaving Welsh legend and folklore, which he co-hosts with Bethan Briggs-Miller (pictured above). We are treated to not one but TWO fantastic stories…including my personal favourite about the Tylwyth Teg (Welsh Fae folk) plus we hear Welsh legend, Gwion and the Witch .
Time Between Times Podcast
We hear about Owen’s childhood orb experience and he recounts some strange occurrences that took place during his days working as a police officer in south Wales.
Get yourselves comfortable and settle down for this tremendous treat of a storytelling session. Warning: while listening to Owen’s stories do not drive or operate machinery.
Warning: These are not fairytales. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for viewers and listeners 16 years and older. This show is unsuitable for children or anyone who might be sensitive to creepy content.
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🌟 Please subscribe to the YouTube Channel 🌟Owen hosts ‘Spectre of the Sea’ podcast with Bethan Briggs-Miller.
Two Bonus Patreon Episodes!
⭐️The first bonus episode on Patreon is a Pixie talk by Claire Casely, fairy researcher and Host of Faery Whispering Podcast, who lives in Devon. As a further bonus, Owen will join The Curious Crew on Patreon, 22nd August for a Zoom chat, Q and A plus an exclusive story-time.⭐️
If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon
Want to report a sighting?
Contact me at: scarlettofthefae@gmail.com
If you love the show and want support it and join our loving community you can find us at Patreon
This episode, full of childhood encounters, holds a particularly enchanting quality. As a sick child lies in bed, he is visited by pixies. On another occasion, at the end of the Second World War, a terrifying goblin appears at the end of his bed. A member of the same family later experiences a bedtime parade of magical wonders. Her resulting dream journeys to a ‘Burgundy Kingdom’ makes her wish dearly that she could return.
Some of those experiences are beautiful and wondrous while others are quite unsettling. A further reminder that this podcast is not suitable for children or for those who are sensitive to creepy content.
⭐️On the bonus episode we hear more about the history of the house including a particularly unnerving event which took place soon after the passing of its owner. In that same bonus we will hear about our guest’s experience at the famous 800 year old oak tree, Old Knobbly in Essex.⭐️
Main Image: ‘The Sleepless Child’ by H. Stratton from ‘Songs for Little People’ (1896)
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Warning: These are not fairytales. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for viewers andlisteners 16 years and older. This show is unsuitable for children or anyone who might be sensitive to creepy content.
Subscribe, rate, review and share the wonder ❤️✨
If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon
Want to report a sighting?
Contact me at: scarlettofthefae@gmail.com
If you love the show and want support it and join our loving community you can find us at Patreon
A plethora of encounters and experiences from two sisters who grew up in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Twins, Gemma and Kate lived on a farm in Leek and their experiences shared here include: trooping gnomes, lights in trees, a visitation from a Raven at a funeral, spectral chanting monks, disappearing and reappearing objects and much much more!
⭐️In the exclusive bonus on Patreon, our guests share further spooky events which took place at a haunted hotel in Devon that used to be owned by a member of her family. Plus, I will read some supernatural lore and weird tales of Staffordshire including the headless horseman of Onecote, local fairies dancing in a ring near Leek, the Black Mere of Morridge and Lud’s Church. Staffordshire seems to be quite a hot spot!⭐️
Main Image: “Pro Pàtria” fragment of verses from the same chapter of Liliana. by Apel les Mestres 1907
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Warning: These are not fairytales. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for viewers andlisteners 16 years and older. This show is unsuitable for children or anyone who might be sensitive to creepy content.
Show notes
A photo I took on the path to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall (the legendary place of King Arthur’s conception and birth!). I think it’s a raven. Or is it a crow?
Ravens
Ravens, the largest birds in the corvid family, are well known in folklore as psychopomps – creatures who lead the recently deceased souls to and from the afterlife as part of the transmigration process.
The Morrigan famously takes the form of the raven as does the Welsh god, Bran the Blessed. In Native American mythology they are known as messenger spirits and guardians of magic. In Northern European folklore, ravens were viewed as guides for the dead. Odin himself had two ravens, Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) who flew around the world gathering knowledge on his account, similar to Lugh the Irish God who also had two ravens.
Processional Gnomes
It was the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats who originally divided the fairies into ‘trooping’ and ‘solitary’ in his book, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. The general sense is that the troopers are largely benevolent while the solitary folk can be mischievious or dangerous. However, from my own pleasant experience with what appeared to be a solitary Fae man, the above does not necessarily ring true!
Gem talks about some anomalous lights in her shed, which I will upload on Monday 24th April. In the meantime, check out this strange photo which seems to capture a being with a hat wandering around her garden!! If anyone out there is an expert on photos and videos, please contact me.
If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon
Want to report a sighting?
Contact me at: scarlettofthefae@gmail.com
If you love the show and want support it and join our loving community you can find us at Patreon
I talked with Todd about the apparent upsurge in encounters and people’s personal awakenings. He describes his observation of an orb-like ship that shot into the sky from a lake, near his previous home. He and his wife later experienced entering the ship. After that time he began communicating with what he describes as, ‘Star Beings’.
Todd shares some more recent experiences he’s had with what appear to be yoga deities. He also suggests some meditations and exercises for letting go of old thinking patterns.
On the bonus episode on Patreon, he reveals another experience with what sounds like a being from another Star System, who had a message for him
Todd teaches yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gung in Sweden where he lives with his family. He provided our Patreon group with a ‘tea ceremony’ workshop last year which introduced us to a whole new way of connecting with Otherworldly beings.
Main image: https://www.reunitingall.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Starseed.jpg
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Show notes
☕️ Tea Ceremony Workshop Introduction to Tea Meditation and Ceremony (Cha-Dao):
Tea meditation or Cha-dao is a ancient form of Shamanic meditation practice coming from south China using the plant medicine Camellia Sinensis or tea!
🧚♂️It was used by shamans, healers and Taoist for about 20 thousand years and was used as a tool to communicate with the gods, Fae, elementals, guides, Star people and power animals.
🌱Tea is a plant teacher and medicine which helps open you to receive messages and even communicate with different Fae and light beings!
🌟In this workshop I will talk about : history of tea : how to do a tea meditation : what teas are good for tea meditations : philosophy of tea meditation : how to use tea as a medicine, and a connection with the Fae and light beings : and any questions you may have to get started!
✨We’ll run a ritual ceremony during the workshop followed by an opportunity to share our experiences and ask questions etc. The whole workshop should take around 1 to 1.5 hours depending on numbers of participants. Todd will advise various teas that you can use for the ceremony, ahead of the workshop.
Register your interest for the tea ceremony workshop at scarlettofthefae@gmail.com
Here’s what the Patreon group said about the workshop:
🌟“That was brilliant! Thank you soo much for setting up the tea ceremony workshop!”
🌟“Todd was just lovely and an informative teacher too. I had no idea that tea had this spiritual history to it. I’m looking forward to experimenting with it too”
🌟“The tea ceremony yesterday was amazing!! Thank you again for hosting. I’m looking forward to another possible future exchange.”
🌟“it was inspiring… I look forward to experimenting with it!”
QiGong Workshop
🧘🏼♂️ Shamanic Qigong 6 week course
Suitable for all levels, this 6 week course is a introduction to Shamanic Qigong. Legend says it was created by the Feitan (Chinese nature spirits). It’s an easy to learn, yet very powerful practice that:
-consists of both standing and sitting movements. -opens the energy body -heals the Yin and Yang aspects of the body -heals DNA -connects you to the Angelic heavens.
In this course you will learn: -water breathing qigong, as warm ups -shamanic qigong standing postures -sitting postures -qigong self massage
The course is six weeks, each session is 1 hr. The cost is £50 and deposit is £20.
This course is only open to Curious Crew Patron members at Patreon. The course will start in January 2023.
Star Beings and Star Seeds
Todd has provided the following links that may be helpful for listeners interested in learning more about Star Seeds:
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If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon
Want to report a sighting?
Contact me at: scarlettofthefae@gmail.com
If you love the show and want support it and join our loving community you can find us at Patreon
A woman in the UK describes an extended ‘conversation’ with an intelligent blue light form which appeared in her home. The experience featured lost/altered time and a sense of innate familiarity.
Just what did this Otherworldly being of consciousness come to tell her? And were previous geometric light visitors connected in some way?
In part two, (Episode 29) this conversation continues and the same woman shares a powerful fairy experience, which had a very different feel.
Have you had similar experiences with intelligent light forms? Please do contact me and let me know your thoughts on all of this.
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Some episodes may contain details which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
Blue lights and Otherworldly Beings
The following share collected as part of Simon Young’s (Fairy Investigation Society) Fairy Census (2014-2017) is most intriguing. The encounter features communication and a shift in visual form:
§339) US (New York State). Female; 1990s; 31-40; in a city; on my own ‘I was walking my dog late at night on *** [New York street]. We did a once-round the parking lot as always, and a large figure stepped out of a dark corner. He said some very personal things to me, but not unkind, more advice-like, then laughed and turned and vanished, leaving a point of light blue light about the size of a lightbulb, then that winked out.’ ‘Dressed like a ‘homeless’ person, dark skinned but I couldn’t see any features, he had a hood or something around his head.’ ‘After I’d left the city I mentioned it to two ex-NYers, who said they had also had strange encounters with beings that looked like homeless people who dispensed advice and encouragement and vanished.’
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This episode is a deep chat about a number of extraordinary events and contact that my guest has experienced. The subject of a UFO/orb experience is covered early on but we do return to the subject of Fae. There’s so much cross over between fairy experiences and alien encounters and it’s been generating a lot of discussion for some time now. From my discussions with many listeners, topics about aliens and UFOs have also been gaining general interest, alongside fairy encounters.
My guest shares how these encounters have developed for him over time, resulting in an ever-deepening spiritual path. The discussion was recorded back in May 2021.
There’s a bonus chat on Patreon where we discuss more personal healing experiences and he enlightens me on the idea of Starseeds – people on earth who come from other planets and are here to help the earth and its inhabitants.
Please do subscribe, rate and share this podcast. Thank you ❤️
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Episodes may contain descriptions which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
Tea Ceremonies
My guest shared some information about tea ceremonies, which feature strongly in his practice.
Chinese tea ceremony (artist unknown)
“Tea has been used for over 10,000 years in China as a plant teacher and medicine by shamans who later travelled to Japan. Tea is very connected to the elementals and nature spirits, as you will experience when you drink the tea. For meditation, I use Oolongs or Pu-erh tea, from China or Taiwan – organic if possible. The Fae tea is called Shuixian tea or sometimes Wuyi Shuixian tea. Shuixian means ‘water fae’ and people who drink it often see Fae. Phoenix Oolong is also a good choice as it connects you to the heavenly creatures (dragons, phoenixes etc). China has a large number of Fae found throughout their folklore, because they were Taoist. The tea does contain a small amount of caffeine but it calms, helps you meditate and opens the upper chakras. It’s all in the brewing: a teaspoon of the Fae oolong tea to one cup of boiled water. Put the leaves in the cup and take out after one or two minutes. Wait until the tea has cooled down a little, then take it to a sacred place (this could be your garden or somewhere safe to meditate in a park). Stay empty and flow with what comes in. You can ask the tea if it has any messages.”
My deep gratitude to our guest for sharing this information. We may provide an episode about tea ceremonies at a later date. Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in!
If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon ❤️
This episode offers a very gentle conversation with an Australian woman who encountered an orb during a very beautiful and intimate event, whilst in nature. The experience drew her ever closer to nature and into environmentalism. We discuss her relationship with the Fae and how that connection was originally initiated through visiting her grandmother’s magical garden with her siblings, as a child.
There is an accompanying FREE PATHWORKING MEDITATION on Patreon which is available to anyone. It’s a gentle guide to recentring yourself and it’s particularly aimed that those who need a bit of help during this difficult time to let go of anxieties and focus on what’s meaningful. You can find it by searching for ‘free meditation’ or ‘recentring’ on Patreon.
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Episodes may contain details which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
Orbs
Many people believe orbs to be physical manifestations of energy. If we work with that idea and see ourselves as energy beings we can understand that it might be the same with Otherworldly beings. Perhaps orbs are the densest manifestation of the being that we’re able to see. Orbs are round and can be different sizes and colours, but they’re usually partially opaque, sometimes with swirling movement inside. People often report seeing orbs with the naked eye but sometimes they can also turn up in photographs.
In this case, our guest saw an orb in nature and felt it was some kind of energy manifestation of a fairy. She observed a sense of fluttering from within the orb, but it was more the feeling of awe that she experienced from the event which led her to feel it was a fairy experience.
Here’s an orb fairy experience which took place in Australia from Simon Young’s excellent ‘Fairy Census’ 2014-2017::
§82) England (London). Female; 1980s* [‘1990s’]; 21-30; in woodland;…The second time I saw the fae I was living in my old house in Melbourne. I lived in a dark alleyway, off the Main Street. I was sitting in my living room one night and I saw a little ball of light whizz past the window. Then there were several other little orbs of glowing light. They were around the size of tennis balls, and on closer inspection you could see the outline of spindly little bodies glowing. This sighting went on for a few hours. Since my fae sightings I have become fascinated by the wee folk. I collect little sculptures of them, books, faerie tarot cards, I paint them and I am fascinated by them. Not obsessed honest. I have also been in some very wild places around the world and I have felt their presence. Feeling these presences have made me want to stay in places where they live. They are always like personifications of the spirit of places.’ ‘(They) were like orbs of light darting around, you could see light bursting from their bodies. The made a kind of whirring fluttering sound as they moved, like a cross between birds flapping their wings and paper fluttering.’ ‘They’re very mischievous little buggers who like to poke fun at humans.’ ‘I have only told a small handful of people about my fae experiences, most folk would think I’m nuts, and I’m definitely quite sane, well educated, thoughtful and quite open minded. I’ve never been on any psyche drugs ever or seen any doctor for mental health conditions. On both nights where I saw the fae they were very real and tangible. I have felt their presence at other times.
§41) England (Devon). Female; 2010s; 61-70; ‘I have a friend who does photography. She took pictures of a flower and water and put them together to look as though the flower was growing out of the water. She emailed me the picture. I didn’t see anything at first, but after I enlarged the picture I saw a pink faerie rise out of the flower, with what looked like several orbs each side of the flower with elves in them. They all rose up together. The faerie was pink. I was surprised, especially as not only did I see her ‘live’ in a picture, but the picture was ‘second hand’ so to speak.’ ‘She had a pink dress on with pink wings.’
Young S. (2018) The Fairy Census 2014-2017,
The Paranormal and Ecology
For more information about extraordinary experiences and environmentalism, I highly recommend reading Dr Jack Hunter‘s book, Greening the Paranormal.
The collection of essays explores the parallels between all aspects of paranormal experience and the study of living systems and offers a fresh perspective on our relationship with our living planet, Earth.
If you enjoy the show, please consider sharing your favourite episodes with friends. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you listen, and if you can, please support by joining The Curious Crew on Patreon ❤️
Jo talks to a Dutch folklore storyteller who experienced two contrastingly different encounters during his twenties. The first epitomises the very essence of a beautiful nature spot and the second, the stuff of nightmares. They explore how each event played out and the potential meanings behind them.
A bonus episode available on Patreon features extra material from the conversation and further explores possibilities.
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Some episodes may contain details which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
Support Modern Fairy Sightings
Please subscribe, rate and review on whichever app you listen on. Or become a Patron on Patreon and join The Curious Crew! Thanks 🙂
We commonly refer to nightmares as terrifying subconscious sleep journeys. But in times past, the nightmare was said to be caused by visitations from Otherworldly beings. These spectres would sneak into bedchambers, lie on a victim’s chest and give them bad dreams, or worse, suffocate them.
Henry Fuseli (1781)
The older Germanic “Nachtmahr” relates to the word “nightmare” in Old English maere, or mara in Anglo Saxon. It is thought that, in English this word, rather than meaning a horse, referred to an incubus or succubus – a mythical demonic creature who would ride the chest of the sleeper, rendering them powerless to their disturbing vivid dreams and imposing a sense of breathlessness.
“Oh, you ugly beast, do not come here this night. You shall blow all the waters, You shall blow all the trees, You shall count all the muscles of barley, Do not come to torment me this night. ” (Unknown)
Goya Image
The sleep of reason produces monsters
The sketch I referred to in the episode is Francisco Goya’s (1746-1828) The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. It’s number 43 of a series of 80 aquatint etchings entitled, Los Caprichos. Published in 1799, they feature his response to the political, religious and social atrocities of the time.
Interestingly, our guest contacted me afterwards and told me that the one he had in mind was the image featured below. Plate 72: A bat-like creature sucking at the chest of a corpse, from Disasters of War (c.1810-12).
A bat-like creature sucking at the chest of a corpse
Orbs, Vapours and Energy Bodies
From my own experiences and that of others, I believe that orbs and vapours are a dense form of energy or ‘spirit’. Not quite dense enough to become manifest physically, as we are but enough to form and be perceived. Some people are able to see these forms more easily than others. It’s possible to practice by attempting to see the aura (energy body) of another person.
Allow your eyes to become relaxed and out of focus and then just observe their outline. If that person can be seated with a white background (hung up sheet or white wall) then all the better. Watch to see any colours or shapes that manifest around them. What you are perceiving are that person’s energy bodies.
We are all beings of energy and our physical body is simply our densest form – how we usually perceive each other. But the next most dense is our emotional body, followed by the mental body and then the astral, etheric, Buddhic and causal bodies.
One possibility is that the energetic manifestations of spirits, fairies or other Otherworldly beings are also made of energy, as is the entire Universe. From this point of view perhaps they are perceived by us while we are observing from that corresponding level of consciousness or energy body.
We can move through these bubbles of perception in various altered states, caused by meditation, relaxation, the use of psychedelics or even during states of passion.
Personally, I’ve been working with these ideas since the mid-nineties and in 2005 I trained in The Body Mirror System with Martin Brofman. I offer one-to-one healings in person or remote healing appointments. If you’re interested in learning more about these, please see here.
I will be releasing further episodes featuring orbs. Please subscribe to this blog to receive alerts about forthcoming episodes.
This episode features the sort of experience that we might visualise from 19th century collections of Irish folklore. The encounter took place in Ireland, but was experienced just a few years ago, by a young Australian man as he toured around in his camper van. It’s a pretty epic story and he feels very lucky to have experienced this first hand. A whole host of apparitions popped up and each brought their own vibe to the events which unfolded.
Some listeners may find parts of the content in this episode frightening.
Warning: These are not fairytales and the content is unsuitable for children. Some episodes may contain details which some may find unsettling or frightening. The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast is designed for listeners 16 years and older.
Fairy folklore is full of little folk dancing in circles. In most cases, humans are tempted to enter the circle or even to dance and are sometimes lost forever. In other cases, the abductee can re-appear hours or even years later, though they’d swear they’d only been away for a few minutes. They may be bestowed with unusual powers or destined to sicken and die early.
And here’s an excerpt from Dr Simon Young’s Fairy Census 2014-2017 which describes a similar encounter in Ireland:
§151A) Ireland (Co. Limerick). Female, 1940s; 11-20 ‘When my mother was a young girl, her father sent her to fetch a bucket of water many fields away from where they lived. On the way back with the water, she stopped at the top of a low lying hill to rest. Looking back down over the fields, she saw a large group of ‘people’ all dancing around in a circle in one of the many local ‘faery forts’. (faery circles) She described their collective dress as comprising of similar colours: red, green and blue. The people were also wearing hats or caps. My mother knew that the area in which she lived at the time of the sighting was sparsely populated, with only a few neighbours close by and those who lived there were not rich or rich enough to have that many people partaking in that type of merriment. Even if they were, it was very early in the day to be doing so and the faery fort was several fields away from the nearest road. It dawned on her that these people were no ordinary people and could sense that she was not supposed to be looking at this ‘dance’. She took off running, back to her father’s house, spilling most of the water on the way and in doing so, upon her return, got a ‘good telling off’! She relayed this story to me many years ago only after listening to a local radio station documentary on Irish folklore and legends. A caller phoned in and told a story, which was very similar to hers: a group of people, dancing around in a circle in a faery fort, wearing similarly coloured clothes. This caller’s story would have taken place in the same decade that my mother had hers. My mother kept this story to herself for many decades! I suppose from a combination of ridicule, growing up in Catholic Ireland and the fact that one was to be careful when speaking about ‘the Little People’! The particular faery fort in question still exists and is located behind ***, ***, Limerick. Though now, it is completely overgrown with trees and undergrowth. It is now mainly used by some of the local people who throw their grass cuttings in over the ditch.’
Orbs
Orb image: Joanne Ehling Harper, Pinterest
There are differing ideas about what orbs are exactly but from my own experience, I believe they are condensed manifestations of energy, be it spirit, thoughts, fae or otherwise. They appear as translucent globes or circles of light. They can be different colours but they’re often white and some people report that they’ve changed in size as they’ve been viewing them.
§242) US (Carolina). Female; 1990s; 11-20; in woodland. ‘My friend invited me to go out into the woods to look for fairy rings. We took wine from her parents’ pantry as a friendship offering. We left at sunset, having been given permission to go camping. We walked a little way out into the woods, maybe fifty yards, stopping in a clearing among cedar trees. We each took a small sip of wine, toasting the good health of any spirits who happened to be about, left some in a sea shell which we had brought for that purpose, and poured the rest out on the ground. We then lit a small fire from deadwood since it was getting cold. When we got tired, we poured water on the embers and stirred them to make sure it was all out. We then wrapped ourselves in blankets and lay down to wait. What felt like hours past, and then, when the night was very dark, and my friend was talking about the dark spirits I had seen previously in another forest, there was suddenly a wild presence, a sense of something entirely outside the normal, safe, civilized world. And where we had left the wine we saw small, colorful lights hovering in a circle about a foot or two above the ground. They went round for a while as we stared in mute amazement (I don’t think either of us expected anything to actually show up) and then just as abruptly they vanished. We decided it might not be best to spend the whole night there and rushed back to her house, or at least tried to rush since the path which had been clear on the way seemed to lead us in circles and we were forced to cut through deep underbrush before reaching her back door all out of breath. My friend’s mother was at the back door and said she had been calling for us for the last hour, thinking it was too cold to stay out, but we never heard her.’