What is the Christian equivalent of a fairy? I cried in earnest.
I don’t think my husband ever expected to be asked such a question. It is a strange question, I suppose. But after reading Paracelsus’ theories on supernatural beings (which we’ll cover next time), it was a natural question for me. Paracelsus goes into great detail about how supernatural beings serve a divine purpose, which includes “water women” – our sea maidens. I think most of what he says is wrong, but it made me think: what is the Christian equivalent for middle-ground forces?
Christianity has never been good at the both/ands of the world, even though it’s so crucial to our faith. We split everything into light and dark, good and evil. And yet, there is a middle ground where the two seem blurred.
For centuries, the middle ground was filled with fairies, pixies, leprechauns, and mermaids. They were mischievous, but not necessarily diabolical. Some of them certainly had a mean streak, but when the bread falls butter-side-down or you trip over your own feet…it’s just ironic, not evil. These things and others used to be attributed to supernatural beings such as fairies.
Certainly we wouldn’t say a demon flipped the toast mid-air, or we tripped over a demon. That just sounds silly. They may not be pleasant, but they are not evil in and of themselves…But neither do I think that there are supernatural beings that cause it. So what is our equivalent?
The Investigation
Thus, I began a quest: to find where the fairies and mermaids – these “middle-ground” forces – fit into “real” life.
Let’s be honest: you never hear about a mischievous angel, and so logic dictates that fairies, etc., are not angels; if they are not angels…they must be demons. I’m willing to consider that as true (and I will below), but I didn’t want to blatantly accept it. So, I asked my husband and a couple friends. Here’s what we came up with:
First, the middle ground is where grace meets the decay of life. We know the entire earth is affected by sin and is decaying (Rom. 8:21-22). That does not mean the decay is sinful in and of itself. It’s not sinful to grow old, but we grow old as a result of sin.
The “ironic” things, like tripping over your own feet, are just part of that process. It’s not sinful to trip over your own feet; but you trip because sin entered the world. However, if you constantly tripped over your feet, you might become angry…unless you met it with grace. Unless you chose to laugh, to smile, and to move on.
Thus, the middle ground is where grace meets and overcomes the decay of life. But this depends on our reaction to the decay. Which means…humans are the middle ground forces.
That’s right! We’re the fairies and other middle-ground forces! We are all sinful, and yet we all bear the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Any good in this world – and there is good in all because we bear His image – is due to “common grace”.[1] Thus, humans have the potential for both good and evil, with a bit of mischief thrown in – just like the supernatural beings of old.
The Conclusion
So, we have three possibilities for our fairies and other supernatural beings. The first, discussed above, is humans have deified themselves – projecting our own potential for good and evil as well as our desire for power over forces around us onto alternate beings. This is not hard to imagine. We all worship ourselves in some way.
The second and third have to do with the spiritual realm: they could be demons, or angels. For centuries, men have been led astray through the worship of nature (Rom. 1:25), and it’s plausible men were “helped” to this conclusion by appearances of demons.
However, it’s equally plausible they were warped remembrances of angels. This does not make the fact that we deified angels into fairies a good thing; but I like the idea that angels were sent by God to take care of the earth…much the way fairies, mermaids, and gnomes were said to do.
But is there biblical support for that? Possibly. In Zechariah, angels are seen patrolling the earth, and holding conversations “among the myrtle trees” (Zech. 1:10-11). Sounds a bit like our connotations of fairies and other supernatural creatures, doesn’t it?
You can read more about angels here (don’t worry, it’s Grudem!). It was fascinating to read about them with stories of fairies and other beings in mind; the chance of these supernatural creatures being derived from angels increases, in my opinion.
Middle-Ground Forces and Mermaids
The truth is, we probably will never know for certain how these stories got started. However, my own personal theory is both…or in this instance, all. I believe all three have contributed to our belief in fairies, gnomes, leprechauns, and mermaids.
It seems evident that many of the stories have a very human component, and (I believe) stem from grains of truth, like our mermaids do. As we know, mankind often chooses to see the supernatural where the ironic is involved, like in our jealous mountain fairy. It was easier to make up a timeless story and make it meaningful rather than chalk it up to dumb luck.
I know this was a slight rabbit trail, but I found it interesting and wanted to share it. What’s more, it’s important to ponder this before going forward. After all, our sea maidens are now far removed from history and have now entered the realm of fairies…
