The Origins of the Faeries: Changes in Conscious Perception – Part II

The faeries appear in folklore from all over the world as metaphysical beings, who, given the right conditions, are able to interact with the physical world. They’re known by many names but there is a conformity to what they represent, and perhaps also to their origins.

[Read Part I]

In his 2005 book Supernatural, Graham Hancock puts forward the hypothesis that the shamanistic cultures of the Stone Age were also interacting with these beings. Around 40,000 years ago there was an explosion of symbolism in human cultures throughout the world, primarily represented by cave art. This cave art is usually located in hard to access underground spaces that must have had significant meaning for the artists and those who would have been experiencing these strange images by firelight. And strange they are. Much of the cave art represents therianthropic beings, that is half human, half animal shape-shifters.

Cave painting from Altamira, Spain, c.15,000 BCE. (Public Domain)