Episode 19: The Fae Realm: Magic Portals

The folklore of magic portals in a nutshell, how I reimagined it for my writing, and magic portals translated into Afrikaans.

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2021 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about magic portals here.

Get the transcript here.

Music: Secrets by David Fesliyan (FesliyanStudios.com) and Dramatic Heartbeat by FesliyanStudios.com

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my book Once… Tales, Myths and Legends of Faerie available in eBook, paperback and audiobook. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books for more.

We’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

Today’s Subject: Magic Portals and Entrances to Faerie

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Most of the time, portals that lead to the eerie, seldom visited and sought after hidden places are called “magic portals”. Only an elite few even know of their location, which they jealously guard, while some may stumble upon them when the stars align.

The truth is that the fae only really live in Faerie. The places in our world where we can interact with them is only due to the Rift which has allowed parts of Faerie to break off and end up in our realm – these places act as portals between Faerie and the human realm.

In Wales, fairy rings are quite common. It is believed to be created by the fae as they danced. Humans and most animals avoid it, but sheep have no issue with it and will gladly eat the trodden grass. Most fairy rings aren’t just made up of trodden grass, but also surrounded by mushrooms, forming a nice border. And though there are scientific reasons for some mushrooms to grow like this, spreading in a complete circle, there is no scientific explanation for the person stepping into the ring being transported to Faerie or frenetically dancing until exhaustion or death takes them.

Though there aren’t many fairy rings in Ireland, it does have countless other portals: hills, hawthorn trees, caves, wells and other sacred places.

If one doesn’t wish to go to Faerie, it’s best to keep curiosity at bay.

And now for my interpretation of the fae in an origin of the fae:

The In-Between

The In-Between is a shadow world, a prison.

Only powerful Fae can move easily between it and the other Realms (only the Faerie Queen, the Dark King and the Assassin can accomplish this – even Ankou stays away, but only because death doesn’t exist there). Others need special ingredients that come at a price: the first fire given to man by Dragons – Eternal Flame; water from a sacred spring carried in a special crystal chalice; wood from the heart of an oak tree – only a Dryad’s tree will work.

The In-Between takes the life-essence from those trapped there, though it doesn’t kill them. It sloughs away their body and soul.

Those who are powerful – or in great need – can communicate with someone close to them on the outside. But it takes even more of their life-essence to do so. The In-Between is a cruel place.

Fae – led by the Caìt Sìth – have to take light to the In-Between to keep balance between darkness and light or all the Realms will fall to the all-consuming darkness of the In-Between.

The Wild Wood

The Wild Wood was formed after the Rift that tore Faerie to pieces.

It is a place neither in the Mortal Realm nor Faerie, yet is filled with magic and wonder. Wild Fae live there – they have changed over time in ways that other Fae hadn’t.

It is the easiest way to travel between Realms – but it is extremely dangerous. Wild Magic runs through the Wild Wood. But if you can find a copse of trees that connect to the Wild Wood, you can safely travel to where you need to go – especially if travelling out in the open is too dangerous.

Faery Rings

The only safe rings to use are those with white flowers, white stones and white mushrooms. These rings will take you safely to wherever they end up. Pairs of faery rings work together, creating a portal from one location to another.

The grass inside a faery ring will always be different than the grass outside of the ring – something to do with their portal quality and where they lead to.

Pixie rings are technically faery rings, but they do not have stones and always have tulips among the mushrooms. These rings shouldn’t be trusted: pixies are fond of pranks.

Never destroy the mushrooms of a faery ring, as it will cause great tragedy to you. If a faery ring needs to be dismantled before it can be finished (the mushrooms sprout first), carefully remove the mushrooms without breaking them, put them in a plastic bag, seal the bag and dispose of in the garbage – it will end up somewhere safe for the fae to create a new ring.

Faery Circles

Their only defining characteristic: a different grass type growing in a circle within another type of grass. Sometimes it is obvious: kikuyu growing in veld grass. But the true faery circle, the one created by the Cù Sìth, usually has a type of lily in the circle that still looks like grass to fool the eye.

Faery circles can take you wherever you wish to go and do not need another faery circle to deliver you safely at your destination. Faery circles are rare – the Cù Sìth do not believe in allowing great power to be accessible to just anyone.

A dead faery circle will have nothing growing inside: it will be a circle of barren soil surrounded by grass. This can mean various things, but usually it means that all the magic in the area is depleted by a great battle. Or that the Cù Sìth who had created it was dead and had been the last of their bloodline.

Magic Portals

Momentary. Created by human magic-users (warlocks, witches, druids, etc.). Something strong has to be channelled to create these portals: standing stones, meteoroids, the full moon, the blood, bones and scales of dragons, etc.

Caves and Tunnels

Thanks to the dwarves and duergar, what happens within the earth can be in either Faerie or the mortal realm. Caves and tunnels can lead anywhere… even dangerous places no-one should ever go.

As a little bonus, let’s look at the translation of Magic Portals into Afrikaans: Towerweë.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faerie.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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