Friday, January 10, 2025

Cozy Random Encounters for Fairies and Fairy Art

 Random Encounters

You can get a free pdf and other cozy ttrpg materials including cozy 5e and dnd on my https://tyhulse.itch.io/

Although you should always feel free to simply create a scenario and or character to encounter, these are some options that will hopefully help to stir your imagination. Some of these random encounters might lead to solutions to challenges you have, while others might present new challenges, and still others are simply things for you to take a moment and write or talk about. 



Either draw a Tarot Card and Roll a 6 Sided Dice.

Or Roll a 6 Sided Dice, draw a regular card, and roll a 6 sided die again.


Ace of Wands or 1 and Ace

1. You run into the ruler of the forest looking for someone to play cards with. You can win a new thing you can do in your playbook or a pet bumble, squirrel, or fish that gives you a +1 on your Find Score.

2. You smell a rich and delicious bread at the borders between two lands. If you mention how delicious the bread smells, you will find some left on a plate with butter for you by the fairies. Perhaps these are fairies you could make friends with.

3. You notice some pixies watching you as you travel.

4. You meet a giant snail which knows where some berries or herbs or some place of beauty is. It offers a trade to show you. What do you chat about while it plods slowly through the forest towards your goal?

5. Someone is injured, how did this happen and how can you help, or what fairy can you seek out to help?

6. Someone is injured, how did this happen and how can you help, or what fairy can you seek out to help?


Two of Wands or 1 and Card2

1. Some trolls play loud music while you are trying to sleep.

2. You meet an old fairy who is anxious to share a story with you.

3. Puck shows up to stir up some chaos

4. A giant toad babysitting his pollywogs is worried about the shrinking water level. He asks you for help getting the water to raise a little. Perhaps some of the pollywogs engage in mischief with you, as they don’t fully understand what is happening and want to play.

5. There is a charity auction.

6. Sick animals are coming into town causing trouble, but they need help. 


Three of Wands or 1 and Card3

1. A fairy wedding is going to be held in a place that is supposed to be empty, especially a church or kitchen just before sunrise. These fairies might ask you for help setting up and taking down for the wedding.

2. Invisible fairy children playing pranks.

3. Puck wants to hear some folk tales

4. A cricket whose ability to play music has been damaged. He’s worried that he won’t find someone to love before the summers over.

5. It is raining while it is sunny, creating a huge rainbow. 

6. Raccoons get into your house/camp and wreak havoc. 



Four of Wands or 1 and Card4

1. A fairy in disguise, trying to buy things with gold that will later turn into leaves.

2. A cold fairy asking to share your fire with you. They don’t understand fire much and so you must explain to them how to avoid getting burned and keep an eye on them, so they don’t get too close or hit by sparks.

3. You get lost because of some pixies and have to ask for directions

4. The spirit of the land on which you are living comes to talk to you. Do they need something or are they just curious about the witch in the area?

5. You notice how stunning the stars are on a clear night

6. A fairy joins in with a village dance, startling people with its wild dancing and laughter. 


Five of Wands or 1 and Card5

1. A curious fairy that shows up to silently watch people work.

2. A fairy who punishes troublemakers and leaves gifts for those who do good deeds.

3. A broonie seeks help with the harvest, will provide help to cure plant and spirit ailments.

4. A visitor from your past comes to call.

5. A visitor from your past comes to call.

6. You come across a farm that’s been overgrown, perhaps the farmer is sick or having trouble clearing and planting their field.



Six of Wands or 1 and Card6

1. A fairy asks you to fix a broken object like a pot or kitchen knife. 

2. You encounter some fairies dancing. If you join, a week or entire event passes in the hour you dance with them.

3. Goblins called Tattybugs have been ruining the gardens of a human village.

4. You find a human in the woods with a quirky hobby.

5. You come across a flower filled meadow. Perhaps there is a herb within it?

6. You come across a large cluster of forest flowers such as violets.



Seven of Wands or 1 and Card7

1. A fairy confronts you with a riddle. Takes a token if you get the wrong answer and gives you one if you get the right one. 

2. You come across a cottage of people you don’t realize are really fairies until some bears or stag beetles who can talk comes to visit them. 

3. You discover a small crystal ball that always shows some silly, embarrassing, goofy moment from the past present or future. Often of people from distant lands who you don’t know. 

4. You discover a children’s hide out or fort a bit deeper in the woods than might be safe.

5. You stumble across a grotto filled with mushrooms and moss.

6. You stumble across a grotto filled with cave paintings from times long past.


Eight of Wands or 1 and Card8

1. The fairies make you think you are walking through a forest, when you are really walking in circles, until a helpful someone tells you what’s happening. 

2. A fairy gathering food, get a Serendipity if you help.

3. A hut walking around on chicken legs, where Baba Yaga lives.

4. You discover a gorge in the forest filled with talking giant snails and moths. Perhaps you can make friends with one of them. 

5. A fairy gathering herbs to make a potion. Get a Serendipity if you help.

6. A giant snail is moving their babies to a new location but needs some help as there are too many of them for it to easily carry at once and it doesn’t want to leave some behind.



Nine of Wands or 1 and Card9

1. There is a meal or feast which the wild fey join, even though they talk to no one.

2. You hear the fairy’s song underneath the ground and see them peeking out windows in a hillside that vanishes when you get close.

3. A banshee approaches you who is hungry for conversation after watching over their living family without speaking to someone for quite a while. 

4. You come across a crumbling stone wall.

5. You run into a chap person who travels around selling odd little books of folk stories, salacious gossip, and minor adventure tales. You begin talking about stories. They have a book they think you might be interested in.

6. A hearth fire spirit talks to you, telling you about something you might be interested in and gives you directions to it using riddle 1.


Ten of Wands or 1 and Card10

1. You are invited into a fairy court, where you can’t understand anything the fairies say, but you can tell they are all friendly as they hand you herbs, potions, and objects with unknown magical powers.

2. Learn music from a cheerful fairy by surrendering something you care about.

3. A forest guardian plays a prank on you

4. Children collecting fireflies.

5. Children out looking for elves, just to do it.

6. Learn to weave from a serious fairy in exchange for your help cleaning their cottage for a time. 

Page of Wands or 1 and Jack

1. A fairy gives you advice on how you might help someone in the place you are headed towards before vanishing.

2. A headless spirit which seeks to chase you somewhere you didn’t expect to go, but where you were needed more.

3. A headly kow pretends to be a treasure in order to try to get you to pick them up, so that they can startle you.

4. Someone throws a party. What are they celebrating?

5. Someone throws a party. What are they celebrating? At the party, a zwerg joins in with the dancing, then after having fun gives riddle 3. Perhaps there is something interesting to find if you follow these directions. 

6. A goblin causes some mischief, tells you a crude joke, and gives you advice on how you might help someone, who you either know or whom you will meet soon. Their advice is to look for something by using Riddle 2. 


Knight of Wands or 1 and Queen

1. An old fairy that asks for some food   gives good advice if you show kindness.

2. Fairies that fly up into the air, accidently carrying you with them on an adventure to explore human homes and markets where you can act as a guide, explaining the things they see and potentially become friends.

3. There is a niskipuk on someone’s eve, listening for possible gossip

4. You find an injured animal, perhaps a fairy can help you heal it. 

5. You are asked to play hide and seek by some fairy children.

6. You help someone who has to cook a large meal, or perhaps a fairy who can’t cook but wants a hot meal. There are many fairies in lore who didn’t have the magic of cooking, this being primarily a human gift. 


Queen of Wands or 1 and King

1. Some fairies teach you how to wander aimlessly, yet somehow end up where you want, so that you can never truly be lost.

2. You overhear a fairy’s song that causes you to realize something you thought of as mundane is more beautiful than you ever would have noticed otherwise.  

3. A pack of blink dogs which follows you home, blinking to prevent being left behind if necessary.

4. You end up spending the night at a friend’s house. 

5. A troll that has many heads which are debating the meaning of some trivial bit of gossip, or perhaps some aspect of a popular book.

6. A royal cat comes to live with you for a while. They may not speak at first, as they enjoy simply living as a cat.


King of Wands or 2 and Ace

1. You discover a little nook where a fairy lives and will occasionally throw food at those passing, in hopes of starting a food fight.

2. A helpful house fairy has recently grown troublesome, and the people who live with it are worried they might have done something wrong. 

3. A helpful house fairy has started panicking, as they need something which is to be found at riddle 4, which they can’t quite figure out. 

4. There is a new baby born in the town. What is their family like? You might seek out a fairy to provide a blessing for them. When pondering who should give the blessing you are given riddle 5. 

5. There is a new baby born in the town. What is their family like? You might seek out a fairy to provide a blessing for them. When pondering who should give the blessing you are given riddle 6. 

6. Someone built a new home and some, not quite domestic fairies, quickly moved in. Their house fairy needs help convincing these interlopers to leave or act more friendly.


Ace of Cups or 2 and Card2

1. A fairy that causes you to become introspective about your own aspirations. Gain a token if you share your thoughts.

2. A lonely fairy that causes trouble so that people pay attention to them.

3. There is a dragon hosting tea for some of the forest fairies, perhaps you can attend?

4. You spend a day baking pies and or breads. 

5. You spend a day baking pies and or breads.

6. A lonely fairy that causes trouble so that people pay attention to them.


Two of Cups or 2 and Card3

1. The poppet of a mundane object or idea causes you to be amazed by something that you used to think of as ordinary. Gain a token if you explain your new perspective.

2. A fairy that will tell your fortune by rolling knucklebones. 

3. Pixies are sneaking into kitchens and adding spices to the food without anyone knowing what they’ve done. Sometimes they cause mischief by making the food taste funny and sometimes they make it taste better. 

4. There is a confused dog like fairy trying to herd rabbits because it thinks they are sheep.

5. You go to the top of a hill to watch the animals below and recenter yourself. 

6. You go animal spotting by a lake to relax.


Three of Cups or 2 and Card4

1. Gain a sense of euphoria about the state of things. Gain a Serendipity if you share your thoughts on why things are beautiful.

2. A fairy which plays a song that reminds you of your childhood. Discuss the moment it reminds you of, get a Serendipity if you do.

3. The cats are hosting a dance in the forest, and they want every witch and fairy to attend. What is a cat hosted dance like? Do they play games? What kind of music do they like? Do you meet anyone interesting?

4. You get roped into decorating for a festival.

5. You get roped into helping someone decorate their new home. 

6. A cat wants to have tea with you, should you prepare a delicious little meal and tea it will give you riddle 7. If you can answer and follow where it leads, what do you find?


Four of Cups or 2 and Card5

1. Tattybugs (goblins that look a little like potato people) or other fairies filching crops. You might be able to teach them how to help farms prosper so there is plenty for all.

2. A fairy that needs you to babysit its children for a time. Get a Serendipity if you do.

3. A puppy of a fairy dog who can blink from one place to another decided your backpack would be a fun place to be.

4. You come across someone who is lost. 

5. You come across someone who is lost. 

6. A fairy appears for a moment to give you riddle 8, telling you that there is someone lost who can be found if you follow it. 


Five of Cups or 2 and Card6

1. You see a strange fairy city. It vanishes after just a moment. 

2. A bright fairy market where the fairies are trading things that can always be done from their playbook in return for other things that can always be done from someone else’s playbook

3. You go berry picking. Do you go with anyone?

4. You go berry picking. Do you go with anyone?

5. You discover a young, enchanted boar which can tell the future.

6. You meet a fairy who offers to teach you the art of fortune telling by looking at the flight of birds.


Six of Cups or 2 and Card7

1. You notice a fairy in disguise, trying to buy things with gold that will later turn into leaves.

2. Discover that if you walk around a monastery counter sun wise three times you end up in fairyland. Or perhaps a child discovers this by accident and gets lost.

3. A dryad whose tree is in a courtyard near a popular dating spot has started trying to help people fall in love and will even secretly play matchmaker. 

4. Some fairies steal something from you

5. A bridge collapses and people need help figuring out how to get across the river that is filled with troublesome water fairies now.

6. Some fairies steal something from you. 


Seven of Cups or 2 and Card8

1. A kitsune or some type of fairy in the forest offers to help you get magical ingredients from the woods if you take it on as an apprentice for a time.

2. A young giant wants to play with you like a doll.

3. A group of fairies is obsessed with trading items and they keep showing up trying to trade things with you. What isn’t exactly important, they are in part just playing at merchanting. 

4. Some giant honeybees build a hive near the village. They are going to need a lot of help finding enough flowers to create the honey necessary to feed their young and perhaps share with the village as well. 

5. Some fairies offer to take you into fairyland for a year and a day to learn their secrets. If you go you emerge later with moss growing in your hair, a sign that you aren’t entirely human any longer. 

6. You encounter someone who is really good at skipping stones in the lake. 


Eight of Cups or 2 and Card9

1. A group of baby dragons is playing at building their horde by gathering interesting looking rocks and other bits and bobs.

2. You see a unicorn. It leads you to something beautiful or someone in need of help. 

3. You discover a strange café that was never there before.

4. A sudden storm catches you out in the wild. 

5. A sudden storm catches you out in the wild. The wind whispers riddle 9 to you. Will you follow it through the storm, and if you do, what do you find?

6. There is a spring or summer flower festival, a winter icicle festival, or a fall puddle and leaf viewing festival. 


Nine of Cups or 2 and Card10

1. A giant primordial deity pauses in the woods to look at you. What do you feel in that moment?

2. Young fairies want to hear a story from you, they gather just outside of sight while you’re camping and call out.

3. A fairy child wants to play. Perhaps they come down the chimney one night or jump out to startle you while you are walking.

4. Find a patch of herbs. 

5. Find a patch of herbs. 

6. A fairy keeps stealing milk from the cows. Perhaps they have a little fairy who is sick and needs human food to grow stronger. You are going to have to talk to them to find out what is happening.


Ten of Cups or 2 and Jack

1. You find a lost fairy child.

2. A fairy child has snuck away from their mother and is using illusions to play with some human children. The child is clearly enjoying the attention and adoration.

3. A fairy wanting to play a game of riddles, they are extremely bored after spending a long time alone in the wilds. Choose a random riddle for it to tell. If you can’t figure it out, it will give you the answer. Perhaps this will help you in the future. 

4. You’re invited to dinner, by who, what is dinner with them like?

5. You’re invited to dinner, by who, what is dinner with them like?

6. A boat or horse race being hosted by the village you are in and has drawn huge crowds from all over.


Page of Cups or 2 and Queen

1. You meet a fairy who makes your food taste better.

2. There is a fairy who is angry about something small, but which seems big to them.

3. A tree you are passing whispers your name.

4. You take a stroll when you find something strange, what is it?

5. You take a stroll when you encounter a little pack of buffardello singing riddle ten, and about the treasure hidden at the end of it. 

6. There is a spring or summer flower festival, a winter icicle festival, or a fall puddle and leaf viewing festival.


Knight of Cups or 2 and King

1. Fairies singing a song, they grant you a minor wish or heal a complaint if you respectfully join in.

2. You awake to find a fairy braiding and tying knots in your hair.

3. You join a barn dance. Who do you dance with? 

4. You join a barn dance. Who do you dance with?

5. A minstrel is wandering through town. What type of music do they sing?

6. A minstrel is wandering through town. What type of music do they sing?


Queen of Cups or 3 and Ace

1. A fairy gives you a potion to deliver to a sick person in a nearby village. 

2. You discover a small pool of water that heals one hurt, physical or emotional.

3. Mermaids ask you for some apple pies.

4. Mummers come to your door, are you prepared for them? What do they do?

5. Mummers come to your door, are you prepared for them? What do they do?

6. You are invited to attend a moon viewing party.


King of Cups or 3 and Card2

1. You find a beautiful feature of nature and its spirit which leaves you with a sense of awe and wonder

2. A wise old dragon which shares a philosophy you never knew about before.

3. You encounter an old and eccentric fortune teller in an out of the way tower or hut.

4. A little fairy wants to show off a spell they’ve learned, in this case the ability to make flashes of light appear when they hum a song. 

5. Some tragedy strikes the village and a fairy tells you Riddle 11 to find the solution. 

6. Some tragedy strikes the village



Ace of Swords or 3 and Card3

1. A dragon which seeks to help gardeners who are growing flowers.

2. A fairy that turns you into an animal for a little while, to help you remember that you are part of the natural world.


3. Some moon rakers smuggling plushies to avoid the taxes on them. They have some fairies helping them.

4. A passing scholar is asked to give a lecture, and there is a lot of excitement building up to the event.

5. People are preparing for a parade of some form.

6. People are preparing for a parade of some form.


Two of Swords or 3 and Card4

1. Discover a forgotten history of an ordinary person. Gain a token if you share this story and how it relates to you.

2. Something that taps you invisibly on the shoulder and helps you feel its silent support when you need it.

3. There are some young zwerg playing pranks on weddings

4. Someone is hurt and they come to you for help.

5. Someone is hurt and they come to you for help. They were given riddle 12 by a fairy to find a solution. 

6. There are some young zwerg playing pranks on weddings


Three of Swords or 3 and Card5

1. An old fairy which brings a lantern to help you see when you are in the dark, but never says a word.

2. A fairy in disguise who has a drink too many in a tavern and accidently reveals what they are to those who they didn’t want to know.

3. A young lutin trying to become a knight

4. You take up a new craft, sewing, carving, etc.

5. You take up a new craft, sewing, carving, etc.

6. You encounter some people whose dream selves have taken a wispy, but somewhat solid form and are walking around the village. They can’t find their bodies and need help, even if they don’t yet realize it. 


Four of Swords or 3 and Card6

1. A fairy dances in front of you, while you are walking, making you uncertain about your path.

2. There is a fairy who gives advice to people on how to find love.

3. You discover some clothes and realize that there are witches you didn’t know about that turned into animals to go have a party with the fey. They’ll be back for their clothes eventually.

4. Someone comes to you because they have lost something.

5. Someone comes to you because a goblin has snatched something from them. When you seek help from a tree it tells you to travel along riddle 13. 

6. You meet some fairies who are sneaking into people’s cellars to get drinks and hold secret celebrations. They invite you to join them. 


Five of Swords or 3 and Card7

1. You encounter a fairy in a ruin that is morning what once was.

2. You encounter a dragon in a maelstrom that asks something of you.

3. You encounter a fairy singing a raunchy and embarrassing ballad

4. People have decided to invent a new holiday. Why and what preparations are involved? Does everyone agree that it should be a holiday?

5. You witness some people dancing in a village square.

6. You witness some people dancing in a village square. 


Six of Swords or 3 and Card8

1. You witness a fairy dance and or song that grants you a new zest for life. Gain a token if you say what you are going to pursue.

2. A fairy who can fix nearly anything that is broken if you leave it on their mound with some food.

3. Fairies need a human to join them in playing a sport that is similar to field hockey with spells.

4. You go to get a drink at a café, pub, what kind of place is it?

5. You discover a pub keeper who is a changeling, they can tell fortunes by watching the foam disappear on a drink. They give you riddle 14. 

6. You discover a strange but beautiful smelling herb that small fairies flock to. What do you think it might do? Is there someone you might be able to ask about it?


Seven of Swords or 3 and Card9

1. A fairy shows you where to go while they are in the form of a bird, rabbit, or bumble.

2. A little fairy pretends to be something big and scary because they are afraid and uncertain.

3. A fairy steals someone’s hat or similar object to get them to give chase, giggling when they do.

4. You visit someone just because. What do you talk about, do you eat or drink anything?

5. You visit an old witch who lives deep in the woods. Do you know them? What do you talk about? They give you riddle 15 after your conversation. 

6. A giant caterpillar hasn’t been able to get enough food to make their cocoon and transform into a giant moth. 


Eight of Swords or 3 and Card10

1. There are rumors of a fairy in an old tower that comes if you call them while standing by a fire to perform a single service of a specific type.

2. A Fairy that whispers a new way of designing a tool or invention to you. Or perhaps riddle 16. 

3. A dobby tried to help a cattle farm by milking the cows, but accidently let all the cows out of their pens. They need your help getting them back in.

4. You are working on a potion and need help from someone. Who do you seek help from?

5. You are working on a potion and need help from someone. Who do you seek help from?

6. An owl nests above you, either in the eves of your home or dorm, or in the tree where you are camping. 


Nine of Swords or 3 and Jack

1. A fairy gives you something someone lost and asks you to return it. They may not know who lost it.

2. There is a hill where you can fall asleep for a whole year. When you wake up you don’t need to sleep again for six years.  

3. You see an old wizard creating illusions with the smoke from their pipe in order to confuse bees and get their honey.

4. You are invited to dinner, who do you eat with, do you enjoy spending time with them?

5. You are invited to dinner by an odd little fairy. Do you enjoy spending time with them?

6. A poppling of the well has taken on a new roll to help people, what is it and how might you help them?



Ten of Swords or 3 and Queen

1. You find a place where you will be younger when you set foot on it, only to age again when you leave.

2. You find a place where people can’t stop laughing with joy while they are there. 

3. A fairy that was caught out in a storm, having lost strength from Fey Ricketts they need to be warmed and fed. They might live with you for a few days or even a month before they get their strength back. 

4. Mummers come to your door, are you prepared for them? What do they do?

5. You decide to host a dinner. Who do you invite and what do you make.

6. You decide to host a dinner. Who do you invite and what do you make.


Page of Swords or 3 and King

1. A fairy stuck on one side of the river, unable to cross without someone’s help. 

2. A song writer, poet, artist, or some other creative comes to you for advice.

3. A fairy from the forest asks you to deliver a message to one of the fairies living as a cat in the village. What is the message and who are the fairies?

4. Unable to sleep you take a walk at night and notice something about the village you hadn’t before. 

5. Unable to sleep you take a walk at night and overhear some fairies talking about something to be found if riddle 17 is followed. 

6. A bard has been invited to play a festival for some fairies, they are nervous about going alone as this is one of their first actual paid performances, they ask you to join them. 


Knight of Swords or 4 and Ace

1. A fairy calls out a warning that a storm is coming. Now you must warn everyone else and help them get ready.

2.  Haunted Bathroom

3. You go to an elegant fairy dance. What is this like? Who do you talk to?

4. Bear cubs crawl in through a window left open a crack and are wrecking merry mischief in a kitchen. This can be at your house or someone else’s, who asks you for help. 

5. A storm rages through the village, making it difficult to go out. How does it make you feel? How do you help with the aftermath?

6. A storm rages through the village, making it difficult to go out. How does it make you feel? How do you help with the aftermath?


Queen of Swords or 4 and Card2

1. A fairy needs help watching over their sheep, for a troll keeps showing up to carry them off. 

2. A dobby has been guarding a treasure for over a hundred years and doesn’t realize the owner is never coming back. Bored he seeks some sort of release and starts causing trouble.

3. You discover a grove of dryads which need someone to take their acorns and plant them in a new grove. Do you agree to help? Where do you plant the new grove of trees?

4. You are sitting by a babbling brook when someone comes along who is trying to write poems, or perhaps play in the water. Who is it, what happens?

5. You discover an old, ruined castle. 

6. Without realizing it someone has built a stable over some fairies’ underground home. The fairies need your help convincing the owner of the barn to move it so that the horse snookum stops raining down on them. 


King of Swords or 4 and Card3

1. You meet a dwarf who can turn into a spider and spread dreams, which are sometimes nightmares and sometimes pleasant.

2. Buffardello keep tickling people’s feet right as they are about to fall asleep

3. Someone comes asking to be your apprentice. Who are they? If you accept, remember to include them in some of the scenes or entries from now on. 

4. You encounter a sky ship, the captain invites you on board for a bit, perhaps to talk about the local area or your travels.

5. You lose something.

6. You lose something. 


Ace of Pentacles or 4 and Card4

1. The Countess of Mice is upset by a spike in the number of feral owlcats roaming around.

2. Bearbeavers are damming up a stream and flooding a small village

3. A fairy comes to you seeking some pastries. 

4. You decide to bring a gift to one of the fairies? What are you bringing and who are you bringing it to?

5. You gaze at some tea leaves with friends, what do you see? What do they see?

6. You gaze at some tea leaves with friends and discover riddle 18. 


Two of Pentacles or 4 and Card5

1. A poltergeist moves the toilets into a classroom, and the desks into the now flooding bathrooms. 

2. A fairy trading for spells and items that cause mischief for a target and the user. So, if the items are used to curse someone to have flatulence, the user will have it too, if they curse someone to have an itchy nose at the worst moment, their nose might itch right as they are drifting off to sleep. 

3. Meet a traveling house fairy without a home. Are they now feral and need to find a place like a berry patch to settle, or are they looking for a human home? What happened with their old home?

4. You discover a witch who is trying to start a dairy where they milk moose. Moose milk is richer than cow’s milk and is said to have healing and strengthening properties. 

5. You catch a glimpse of someone who might need help in your tea leaves.

6. A bored fairy interrupts you to play something. They give riddle 19 as part of the game, but you feel that it was perhaps directions? What to, you’ll find out if you follow it.  


Three of Pentacles or 4 and Card6

1. A magical skunk sneaks onto campus. It can appear and disappear, and seemingly squeeze under doors. Worst of all, it is constantly climbing into bed with people. What is happening? Is the question on everyone’s mind, along with “is vinegar or tomato juice better for getting the stench of skunk out of your hair?”

2. A pair of dwarves is arguing over ownership of a magical item, and they want you to settle it. 

3. A new witch moves into the village. Who are they and what kind of magical service do they provide? You might invite them over for tea and cookies, or whatever other meal you prefer.

4. A new artist breezes into the village. Who are they and what is their art like? – You might seek out a nymph to help provide them with inspiration 

5. Someone gives you a gift. Who, what, and why?

6. Someone had a dream they can’t shake, in which they were told to follow Riddle 20, but they don’t want to go alone. 


Four of Pentacles or 4 and Card7

1. There is a magical garden of mushrooms which has gotten out of control and now mushrooms are starting to grow everywhere.

2. The trees, flowers, and grasses are moving about the forest as a prank to cause you to walk in circles.

3. The people need a new well dug, perhaps you can find a giant who would be willing to help.

4. You find a pile of old swords rusting in the wild.

5. A child has gotten lost in the woods, and you are asked to help find them.

6. A child has gotten lost in the woods, and you are asked to help find them. 


Five of Pentacles or 4 and Card8

1. Baby unicorn learning how to dimension door, it’s still clumsy at it and might end up teleporting anywhere in range. 

2. A Fissure with strange magic that makes giant animals small and small animals giant, so that squirrels are the size of deer and deer the size of squirrels for about a square mile of area.

3. Some pixies want to play a game with you.

4. You meet a druid who is tending to the forest.

5. You take a moment for yourself, to sit and reflect on things.

6. You take a moment for yourself, to sit and reflect on things.


Six of Pentacles or 4 and Card9

1. Everyone received a letter detailing their most embarrassing moment. No one knows where the letter is from, and many people don’t want to talk about it.

2. Some pixies stole a wagon wheel and are taunting the driver.

3. The villages water has become polluted with flotsam from the forest after a storm. Perhaps you can find and talk a dragon into helping purify and clean it. 

4. A magical creature moves into the corner of your hut. Do they become a pet, a friend, or are they just passing through after a bit?

5. You overhear an interesting conversation. Do you join in?

6. You overhear an interesting conversation between a hag and a giant, in which the hag tells the giant about riddle 21. 


Seven of Pentacles or 4 and Card10

1. You are invited to a poetry reading at a sylvan dragon’s lair by accident.

2. You are asked to check on an elderly witch who lives in the forest, perhaps to carry some Christmas or other holiday treats to them. 

3. The cows have gotten sick. Perhaps you can speak to a nymph about helping to heal them. 

4. You find a fairy which wants to swap folktales and stories.

5. Someone has lost their pet.

6. Someone has lost their pet, while searching for it in the woods you meet a bigfoot like creature who gives you riddle 22. 


Eight of Pentacles or 4 and Jack

1. A traveling theatre troop wants to get your input on an aspect of their performance. 

2. A popular song gets stuck in your head. When you mention it, everyone around you says its stuck in their head as well. Soon you come to realize something invisible is wandering around humming the song.

3. The decorations used for a festival have all been water damaged. Perhaps you and or the fairies could help make new ones. 

4. Some bogles throw mud pies or slosh water on you from the treetops.

5. You have an accident and are hurt.

6. You have an accident and are hurt, during which you have a vision of a beautiful being who gives you riddle 23. 


Nine of Pentacles or 4 and Queen

1. You come across a tailor teaching a giant how to restitch a massive hole in their pants. They need a much larger needle to do this. Perhaps a dwarf, cyclops, or blacksmith could create such a needle. 

2. A troop of confused fairies have entered the human world for the first time from the deeper wilds of fairyland. They want a guide to help explain all the odd behaviors and things they are seeing. 

3. A wildfey thinks it’s funny to chase and rile up the village animals, especially the sheep and cows.

4. Some goblins invite you to dine with them on snails, honeyed crickets, fish algae, and other things of their swamp.

5. You discover a small place of beauty?

6. A nymph is seeking someone to become a beekeeper. Perhaps you would want the job or could help her find someone to take it.


Ten of Pentacles or 4 and King

1. Someone was gifted a magic potion by one of the fairies. They ask you what it is? Who are they, what is the potion and who gave it to them?

2. One of the fairies has caused a bit of bother for one of the villagers. What happened and how do you help?

3. You find a vine that is dangling down from the clouds.

4. A new teacher comes to town in the middle of the year, and they seem a little quirky.

5. You have a disagreement with someone in the village. What is it about and what can be done to resolve it?

6. You have a disagreement with someone in the village. What is it about and what can be done to resolve it?


Page of Pentacles or 5 and Ace

1. Some birds follow you, chittering merrily, soon you start to hear occasional snippets of conversation in their chirps, as they talk about you, not just your present but bits of your past and possibly your future. They likely also reveal the location of some hidden treasure. Perhaps through riddle 24. 

2. You are caught in a sudden magical storm and invited to stay in a cottage you’ve never seen before.

3. The spirit of someone who just died comes to you to talk.

4. You find out about a maze of hedges and brambles created by a colony of mice. They are said to have gathered many secretive folktales.

5. Gossip sweeps through the village. What is it about?

6. Gossip sweeps through the village. It comes in the form of riddle 25. 


Knight of Pentacles or 5 and Card2

1. Children covering trees and houses in brightly colored yarn, perhaps as decoration or perhaps as mischief. 

2. A scarecrow has made friends with the local birds and is now feeding them the farmers crops on purpose. 

3. A market faire opens, either in this village or a nearby one and everyone goes to it. 

4. A market faire opens, either in this village or a nearby one and everyone goes to it. 

5. An old hermit comes into town, their cabin is beginning to fall apart, and they don’t want to cut down any of the trees around it, so they are seeking a way to get bricks out into the forest. 

6. You meet a beekeeper who has been having trouble with something going after the honey and hives which is hurting the bees. 


Queen of Pentacles or 5 and Card3

1. A dobby wants to help you with various tasks, which they obviously mess up in some way, but they may still provide help in another. 

2. You encounter a magical mirror standing in the forest.

3. You are asked to babysit the children of a sick sylvan. Which one, how does that go?

4. A child shows you something interesting they discovered.

5. A child shows you something interesting they discovered. Perhaps it is a spring that is singing riddle 26?

6. A former knight passes through town, not certain what to do with their life now.


King of Pentacles or 5 and Card4

1. There is a cauldron that creates dreams hidden somewhere in the forest. Something has gone wrong with it and it is now giving out nightmares. Find it and if you can, fix it.

2. There is a magical dog which can help the now sickly crops grow. See if you can find it in the woods and get it to follow you with treats, back to the farms.

3. A fairy child sneaks into the human town to play with the local children. 

4. You meet someone who has an interesting perspective on religion and or philosophy. What are their ideas, and what do you think about it?

5. You make an offering to some fairies. Who are they and what are you seeking?

6. You make an offering to some fairies. Who are they and what are you seeking? Perhaps they give you riddle 27 in return. 


The Fool or 5 and Card5

1. A magical food cart has food so delicious it keeps attracting troublesome spirits.

2. A horse headed fairy has run past the castle warning of an impending fire. People believe that a tiny dragon might have nested somewhere flammable. It needs to be found and moved to a safer location.

3. The children have begun playing some game around your house, perhaps they are sledding off the roof into the snow below, perhaps they are making piles of leaves, perhaps they are simply playing hide and seek. 

4. The children have begun playing some game around your house, perhaps they are sledding off the roof into the snow below, perhaps they are making piles of leaves, perhaps they are simply playing hide and seek. Perhaps there is a changling with them who gives them riddle 28. 

5. Someone who lost their job is trying to start a company making pastries from wild berries, the problem is that the wild fey keep flitching the berries they are picking. 

6. A giant toad tried resting on someone’s roof but fell through and is now too large to get back out the door, plus their roof is ruined.  


The Magician or 5 and Card6

1. A spice dragon has been seen nearby. They breath out a delicious and highly prized but painful powder, instead of fire. 

2. You receive a divination reading that tells you about a forgotten secret of the region you are in.

3. You meet someone on a journey of their own.

4. You meet someone on a journey of their own.

5. You discover some interesting plants, herb, berries, either tasty or with magical properties.

6. You discover some interesting plants, herb, berries, either tasty or with magical properties. Perhaps eating them allows you to receive riddle 29. 


The High Priestess or 5 and Card7

1. A gnome has made a potion which has gone awry, it is now crawling about eating other potions and magical ingredients and using this magic in bizarre ways, such as transforming flowers into angry pink bumble bees, or changing people’s voices. The gnome gives you a secret way to stop the living potion in return for your silence on who created it. They’ll also pay.

2. A giant from the deep fairyland has stumbled into the human world. This giant doesn’t really understand houses and when they smell something delicious inside, they’ll simply pull the roof off to grab it. Try to explain to them that houses are a little like animal dens, and they can’t just go pulling them apart, you may need to subdue them a little first as they aren’t in the best mood. 

3. An animal comes closer than normal to you, perhaps it even gets into something in your house or camp. What is it and how do you react?

4. An animal comes closer than normal to you, perhaps it even gets into something in your house or camp. What is it and how do you react?

5. Some fairies accidently ended up with human cows in their herd, and they can’t touch or go near the cows’ droppings that have been piling up in the stables. 

6. A ghost has been haunting a house, what might they want?


The Empress or 5 and Card8

1. An owlbear cub following a nervous looking person who is glancing around the trees wondering where the mother might be.

2. A portal to another world has opened up under a child's bed or in their closet.

3. People are excited about an upcoming sporting event. What is it?

4. People are excited about an upcoming sporting event. What is it?

5. People are excited about an upcoming sporting event. What is it?

6. Some local children have been taught to turn into hares by a fairy. 


The Emperor or 5 and Card9

1. People’s shadows are breaking away from them and gathering in the forests or other out of the way places.

2. Buffardello are haunting a house

3.  You feel a swell of nostalgia, what brought it on and what do you remember?

4. You feel a swell of nostalgia, what brought it on and what do you remember?

5. You need to clean out your home or packs which have gotten out of order. What is something that you have which is precious only to you?

6. You need to clean out your home or packs which have gotten out of order. What is something that you have which is precious only to you?


The Hierophant or 5 and Card10

1. Buffardello are giving people strange dreams

2. Buffardello are making it windy in random locations, such as hallways, kitchens, classrooms filled with loose papers. 

3. A gift giving festival is coming up.

4. A gift giving festival is coming up.

5. You get invited to a game night.

6. You get invited to a game night.


The Lovers or 5 and Jack

1. You meet a tomte who is trying to prepare for Yule.

2. You meet a nymph who has taught many heroes in the past and is wondering what to do with themselves now. 

3. A hungry sylvan comes to you.

4. A hungry sylvan comes to you. Perhaps in return for food it shares riddle 30. 

5. You experiment with making a new poultice, magical soap, treat, or potion. What are you trying to do? What ingredients does it need? Who do you ask for advice? Does it succeed?

6. Some birds nest in your attic or show up to try to sneak crumbs of food as you eat.


The Chariot or 5 and Queen

1. You encounter an almgeister herding some deer.

2. You spot a faun playing music

3. An item of clothing wears down, you need to get a new one.

4. An item of clothing wears down, you need to get a new one.

5. Some animals randomly encounter some magic that gives them the gift of speech, confusing them as much as everyone else.  

6. You meet an impoverished young person out to seek their fortune. 


Strength or 5 and King

1. A unicorn leads you to someone in need of help

2. A banshee wants you to help one of her relations

3. A walking holiday in which people hike out into the wilderness and picnic is coming up.

4. A walking holiday in which people hike out into the wilderness and picnic is coming up.

5. A unicorn leads you to someone in need of help

6. A banshee wants you to help one of her relations


The Hermit or 6 and Ace

1. A nixie shows you to their village beneath the lake.

2. A nixie wants to get a hold a good needle not made with iron.

3. Festival with more intimate family feasts, does someone invite you to join them? Do you invite someone to join you? If no, what do you do?

4. Festival with more intimate family feasts, does someone invite you to join them? Do you invite someone to join you? If no, what do you do?

5. You are invited to join a spinning and or sewing circle. 

6. You see an unusual sylvan you’ve never heard of before. 


Wheel of Fortune or 6 and Card2

1. Moon dragon seeking to watch animals and people the way some people bird watch.

2. Aqua dragon needs help cleaning their pond, as human filth has gotten into it.

3. You are reminded of some past mistake. What brought on that memory, what was the mistake?

4. You are reminded of some past mistake. What brought on that memory, what was the mistake?

5. A hobbit has moved into a little cavern nearby and wants help gathering healing herbs so it can begin aiding the sick of the region.  

6. A pregnant fairy needs a humans help to safely give birth. Her husband comes looking for someone trustworthy who can provide this aid.


Justice or 6 and Card3

1. A young Ashwood dragon seeking to play

2. You encounter the Sidhe singing a mournful but beautiful opera. What are they singing of?

3. A festival filled with music and theatre is coming up.

4. A festival filled with music and theatre is coming up.

5. You encounter a lost baby dragon crying for its parents. 

6. A fox and its cubs move in under your house or come near your camp. The parents are leery of you, but the cubs love to try to scratch things from you or pounce on your feet. 


The Hanged Man or 6 and Card4

1. Ashwood dragon wants to find a way to attend a feast in the human village without anyone knowing about it.

2. You encounter a Quiet Lantern Fairy.

3. The Ruler of cat asks you to take care of a wild fey child

4. A dragon is calling out a loud song, searching for a possible mate.

5. Preparing for a village wide feast, do you help, if so, how?

6. Preparing for a village wide feast, do you help, if so, how?


Death or 6 and Card5

1. Aqua dragon resting on the shore, needs someone to help them comb their hair

2. Hearth dragon gives you a lost knickknack in hopes that you can return it to the owner.

3. A Nixie talks to you enthusiastically about a hobby you never considered trying until now. Perhaps the nixie can help you get started. 

4. You wander a little close to the den of an owlbear and are chased off. 

5. You go shopping, what are your favorite local shops?

6. You go shopping, what are your favorite local shops?


Temperance or 6 and Card6

1. Sylvan dragon knitting sweaters for the local animals, perhaps it needs help or more yarn at least.

2. A Sylvan dragon tells you some tales about a local hero.

3. The Royal ruler of the cats in a region is preparing for a parade

4. You are invited to visit a local noble. Why did they want to visit with you? What do you talk about?

5. A celebration with display, such as large bonfires, bright lanterns, fireworks, etc. 

6. A celebration with display, such as large bonfires, bright lanterns, fireworks, etc. 


The Devil or 6 and Card7

1. A lutin comes to you when you are feeling pensive

2. Thorn bush fairies snag you as you try to walk past

3. Perchta needs help fixing a wagon wheel in which she was carrying the spirits of children.

4. A person in the village asks you to babysit their children. Perhaps you take them for a stroll through the woods, how does that go, do you see any animals or perhaps fairies.

5. You are asked to perform a ritual to bless the village or crop.

6. You are asked to perform a ritual to bless the village or crop.


The Tower or 6 and Card8

1. You encounter an Abada who is training some squirrels to help it with tasks around the forest.

2. You come across an Abada’s massive tree, which is so large it seems impossible.

3. An elverfolk offers to take you for a flight on a giant moth

4. Someone new arrives in the village, a minstrel, a theatre troop perhaps? Who are they?

5. Someone new arrives in the village, a minstrel, a theatre troop perhaps? Who are they?

6. A giant moth is looking for a safe place to lay their eggs.


The Star or 6 and Card9

1. A waldgeist needs a place to stay with their sick child for a while.

2. Trow jumps unexpectedly into a dance, startling everyone and making them laugh.

3. Elverfolk want to dance with you.

4. A find a wind-swept bluff.

5. You take some time to find serenity. Where do you go to reflect? What do you ponder?

6. You take some time to find serenity. Where do you go to reflect? What do you ponder?


The Moon or 6 and Card10

1. You encounter some Wichtelmänner seeking to find someone to give a gift to. 

2. You encounter a small roadside food booth. What do they serve? What do you talk with the proprietor about?

3. You find a cottage of zwerg and someone they are taking care of who has to hide out from the world for a while.

4. You come across an artist who is trying to find inspiration in goblindom.

5. The mayor invites you over for tea.

6. The mayor invites you over for tea.


The Sun or 6 and Jack

1. A mermaid wants to hear about the world beyond the ocean or river.

2. A mermaid warns you of a coming storm, and offers to show you a cave to shelter in.

3. Hearth dragon shows you a hoard of unappreciated treasure such as the tossed out drawings of children, sweaters made by women who are don’t understand modern fashion, etc. 

4. The water has become dirty, perhaps there is a dragon who could help purify it.

5. You have a vision of the past of the place you are in, which stirs up strong emotions in you.

6. You have a vision of the past of the place you are in, which stirs up strong emotions in you.


Judgment or 6 and Queen

1. A mermaid is sneaking into town to sing in a choir

2. You meet a Tiddy mun, the spirit of a swamp which no longer exists playing in a puddle

3. You meet a Hearth dragon who wants to talk about the people of the village, either to tell you about them and if you know anything, to hear about them.

4. Some strange footprints appear in a village that make everyone uneasy. What did they come from? No one knows, but perhaps you can find out.

5. You come across an artist who is trying to find inspiration in fairydom

6. You hear a rare wizard and witches’ faire is going to be in a neighboring region, you may want to visit it to try to learn something or purchase something. 


The World or 6 and King

1. A shaggy urisk wants to show you something interesting

2. Zwerg seeking to bless gardens to thrive

3. Zwerg having a party, one of them falls into the river

4. A giant turtle with an island of plants on its back is worried about a squirrel that has built a nest in one of the trees, for he needs to dive to the bottom of the lake for a moment.

5. The fairies want you to play a sport with them against a rival clan.

6. The fairies want you to play a sport with them against a rival clan.



Friday, November 15, 2024

Cozy TTRPG System

 


I am expanding my two most popular books on itch.io, and turning them into a single comprehensive guide. 

Cozy Oracle System

This book provides you with a method to play TTRPGs without a gamemaster or to expand journaling games such as “Last Tea Shop” or “Apothecary”, which often offer very little support to help you go beyond just a few random encounters.

 In addition, this system is meant to help you turn every game into a journaling game, while injecting slice-of-life and cozy moments into any RPG so that you can journal the downtime of your favorite TTRPG character, and or their retirement. Want to play 5e, Pathfinder, Dungeon World, Wanderhome, Fiasco, and more by sitting down and writing creatively? Great!

You can also use this system to play cooperatively, by helping you build the world and quests around you as you play, by inspiring you to discover what happens to your character.

If this sounds complicated, don’t worry, solo roleplay is deceptively straightforward, which is good, because in TTRPGs the simple solution is often the best one. 

See the free version 

Dialogue System 

Expanding TTRPGs beyond simple charisma and persuasion. My hope is to provide you some possible tools and information that will help you expand upon conversations and interactions with characters in TTRPGs. I developed this system of dialogue for TTRPGs and Journaling RPGs by studying the psychology of charisma and the archetypes from slice of life, romance, and cozy mysteries.











Friday, October 18, 2024

Why do witch’s fly on Broomsticks?

In the modern world the notion that witches ride on broomsticks is so iconic we perhaps only occasionally think how odd it is. For once witches could fly without any help or on the backs of animals such as goats or were carried by the fairies and other beings. The first mention of a person using a broom to fly comes from a witch trial near the end of the Medieval (it was the Early Modern when most of the witch trials were conducted). In 1453 a priest was forced to confess to flying on a broom to meet the devil, but no one can know for certain why he or later depictions of witches involved brooms for certain. 

There are three sources of speculation I will discuss but none are absolute matches as there is no direct path to be found anywhere between the reasons witches road brooms and their use of brooms or broom like objects in rituals. 

First and is that in Classical Rome brooms were used as rituals for to drive away Sylvanus by a person who represented a household deity in a Roman ritual (Dorcey), Cleanliness was generally important to protecting people’s homes, if a house was dirty, or didn’t have clean water a vampire could enter it without permission. Fairies too would give blessings to houses that had been swept but become dangerous and feral if a house was left unsweapt. Within this world of cleanness having the power to drive off evil, and dirtiness having the power to corrupt good or invite evil, the broom had very specific power. 

Thus, brooms were frequently used by magical ritualists to gain the support of good fairies and to drive off evil fairies. Given the fact that many people would be hired or kidnapped by the fairies to do work for them, such as watching children and cattle, or cleaning their homes the broom might have been a tool that many people picked up before traveling/flying to fairy land. 

Another idea comes from Carlo Ginzburg's book “Deciphering the Witch's Sabbath” he states that certain people would send their souls “to the realm of the dead, in the shape of an animal, on the back of animals or other magical vehicles. The gandus or wand of the shamans of Lapland resembles, on the one hand, the horseshoe-shaped wand used by the Buryat shaman and, on the other, the broomstick on which the witches claim they rode to the Sabbath. The folkloric nucleus of the Sabbath — magic flight and metamorphosis — seems to derive from a remote Eurasian substratum."

In essence it seems that the broom might have been a stand in for the idea of horses, an idea which comes from the Uralic people who lived in places like Hungry, Livonia, and Siberia. Certainly, many fairytale motifs were passed between the Uralic people of Easter Europe and the people of Central Europe. For example, the idea of certain witch like creatures being blind (as in Hansel and Gretel) and being tricked with a chicken bone is present in Sami story, as well as a story from Mari-El, in addition to the German one.

Certainly, fairies in Scotland would often fly by crying "Horse and Hattock" and people could follow after them. Although a stick wasn't always involved in this it could sometimes be. In his article on the Trolls and Hillfolk of the Finns and Picts, Alan Bruford states that "the reference to riding on a bulwand (mugwort or dock stem) is a local interpretation of the 'horse.'"

It's important to remember at this point that witches were often believed to send their soul out of their body to go to fairyland, to meet with the fairies, the devil, to follow some divine being, etc. This was a symbolic and spiritual world and a wand, a weed, or a broom could have contained the spirit of a horse for use in this world, or could have been turned into a horse in it. 


It might also be that the broom was seen as a weapon used by evil witches when battling the good werewolves and witches, as Ginzburg also mentions that: “In 1692 at Jürgensburg in Livonia an eighty-year-old man named Thiess… confessed to the judges interrogating him that he was a werewolf. Three times a year, he said, on St. Lucy’s night before Christmas, the night of St John, and of the Pentecost, the werewolves of Livonia go into hell, ‘at the end of the sea’ (he later corrected himself: ‘underground’), to fight with the devil and the sorcerers)… the werewolves pursue the devil and sorcerers, who are armed with broomsticks wrapped in horse tails…. At stake in the battles was the fertility of the fields: the sorcerers steal the shoots of the grain, and if they cannot be wrested from them there will be famine.”

The Benandanti, witches from Northern Italy, would send their souls from their bodies and carry bundles of fennel stalks in their battles against evil witches and the devil in order to protect the fertility of the land. Their enemies, evil witches, fought using Sorghum, also known as broomcorn because they were used to make brooms. Sorghum was generally considered a lesser grain (millet), although it could also be a weed if it grew in the fields of more desirable crops. It is difficult to say, however, which came first, the use of it by evil witches or the use of brooms and while Ginzburg mentions the evil sorcerers using sorghum stalks in his book on Benandatai, he doesn’t mention this connection.

 

This brings us to a last point, what has become the most popular claim, that witches rode brooms in connection to a fertility ritual. This was written in a book by an anthologist but they gave no sources for this idea and I have yet to find any original source. This doesn’t mean that such sources don’t exist exactly, but no one who mentions this idea cites any original source. As a result this idea is purely speculative based on their own wishes and the general old obsession with the idea that everything involved fertility rituals. But spiritual belief was often much more complex than, everything is about fertility. Even those things that were about fertility were often related to more than just this idea. For example, it is true that the shamans of Siberia would frequently travel to the spirit world to guarantee a good run of salmon, a large flock of geese, or large herds of reindeer, thus their wand like objects might have been connected to fertility rituals in this sense, but in another they often represented a horse or other spirit animal which they rode up. At the same time the other two mentions of the broom in actual lore connected it to something used by the sorcerers who were trying to destroy the crop, rather than the witch figures who were fighting for the fertility of the land. In Rome and among the fairies the broom was literally connected to cleanliness and used as a way to drive off or protect against evil spirits, vampires, gods that were acting feral, etc. In this sense the broom was connected to the idea of fighting against disease, rather than fertility. 


 

 

 

 

Sources:

Peter T. Leeson, Jacob W. Russ, Witch Trials, The Economic Journal, Volume 128, Issue 613, 1 August 2018, Pages 2066–2105, https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12498

 

Dorcey, Peter F. (1989) The Role of Women in the Cult of Silvanus. Numen Vol. 36, Fasc. 2 (Dec., 1989), pp. 143-155

 

Ginzburg, Carlo (1966) The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Routledge.

 

Ginzburg, C. (2004). Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath. United States: University of Chicago Press.

 Bruford, Alan, Trolls, Hillfolk, Finns, and Picts: The Identity of the Good Neighbors in Orkey and Shetland, from the book "The Good People: New Fairylore Essays" edited by Peter Narv ez

 

 

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Owlbear Cubs Story and Game

A free coloring book, picture book, and game.

Deep in the forest adventure awaits you and your friends, not as valiant knights nor powerful wizards, but as cute owlbear cubs on a mission to fill your bellies before the icy grip of winter comes. 

In this game you'll take on the role of fluffy owlbear cubs, using your cunning and teamwork to filch food from witch's cottages, fairy celebrations, pirate ships, and other locations.  

The woods are waiting, and winter is coming!

Owlbear Cub Picture Book

Owlbear Cub Coloring Book

Owlbear Cub Game 


















Thursday, November 2, 2023

Free Fairy Encyclopedia and Other eBooks

 I've posted a number of ebooks online for Free and am going to post more as time goes on. 

"Fairy Encyclopedia"


Many of the fairies and spirits mentioned within this book come from regions where information on the fairies isn’t readily available in English elsewhere. A few of these include; Mari-El – In the heart of an ancient forest which was so vast and isolated it allowed the people within to remain the last pagans in Europe. For the people of this land never converted to Islam or Christianity, and so to this day they still value the spirits of the forest. Their woodlands are filled with a dizzying array of spirits, from bathhouse spirits that appear as shooting stars to spirits which always run and move backwards.

Coloring Books

Pooh in Fairy Land and Christmas Gnomes Part 1

  



Wander Witch, a Journal TTRPG










Friday, May 5, 2023

Puck: Fairy Lore

by Ty Hulse

 I've posted a large encyclopedia of fairies on Google Books for free. "Fairy Encyclopedia"

 

Today I would like to talk about Puck.

You know the ruggedly handsome man who helped women with their chores and of whom they had many naughty stories. 

Or as Buccola put it, 

"Nothing pleases Puck more, Latham claims, than to make the morning fire, sweep the house, grind mustard and malt, draw water, and help the maids with breaking hemp, bolting and dressing flax, as well as spinning…. Robin Goodfellow was typically depicted with a huge phallus and a broom. It takes little present-day imagination to come up with reasons why early modern women might have sat around the fire over their darning sharing tales about a figure with such attributes….


That’s right women sewing and spinning loved to tell stories about a huge fairy man who could help them with their chores. 


Puck is connected to the Robin Goodfellow and the hobgoblins,  “rough hairy spirits, which do domestic chores…. Useful as they are they are easily offended and often mischievous. They are not exclusively domestic, but are often associated with streams, pools, and rocks…”


At this point it is worth looking at a related fairy from Puck’s Anglo-Saxon homeland, the Puk or Niskepuk. These stories evolved elsewhere and so don’t represent an original Puck but the similarities in their characters are interesting. Here Puck were often wild fairies that people would bring into their homes by building them nests out of straws or logs with holes in them, they could then capture or offer the fairy some food, often butter or oatmeal to live with them. Those homes with these fairies would prosper, beer brewed better, cattle thrived, household choirs got done quicker, and everything seemed to generally go well. 


That said, inviting a wild fairy into your house is a little like inviting a wild cat into your house. I mean it can go great most of the time, but every once in a while, the mood for mischief will strike, and the cat will pounce on your keyboard while you’re trying to type, or scratch up some of your furniture. Further, niskepuk could steal from the neighbors, but they would fight the neighbor niskepuk if it tried stealing from you. 


Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” it is interesting to note that the fairy and Puck introduce him differently. For the fairy mentions that he is the one who frightens maidens, steals the cream from milk, makes it harder for butter to churn, and beer to brew properly, causes people to get lost. Yet, she also mentions that those who call him Hobgoblin will have their work done by him and good luck. 


Puck, however, speaks of making Oberon smile and of punishing those he feels have violated some fairy morality. He takes the shape of a roasted crab apple in a gossips drink, so that he can bob and cause her to spill ale on herself. He also takes the form of a three-foot stool in order to cause those telling sad or boring stories to fall, so that everyone will laugh and have a marrier time. 


Within these lines we can see the push between Puck’s multiple natures. He is a mischievous trickster on whom bad things were blamed, a helpful figure which was believed to bring fortune, and of course a moralizing figure. 


Contrasting their wild fairy nature in chapbooks, Robin Goodfellow was often said to be the half human child of the fairy king Oberon, who was granted the power of shapeshifting by his father. Which adds a fun layer when watching him cause Oberon trouble during Midsummer Night’s dream. 


It’s difficult to say how early this aspect of his character was added, if it was a purely literary device. 


During this time there was a spike in literacy and Yeomen began writing about the fairies. These writers knew the fairies “well from their mothers and grandmothers, and their new readers knew them, and loved them because they were familiar… they appealed to the court as well as to the country, and the fairy vogue was made.”


Further, in the past, people didn’t want to display too much knowledge of fairy lore which could have led to charges of heresy. When this changed, people wrote more regularly and honestly about the delightful aspects of fairy nature. 


At this time the English world had been turned on its head as it went through rapid changes as well, the religious assumptions were being reexamined. The English Civil War had beheaded a king, holidays like Christmas had been outlawed by his non-king successor. 

People were grasping for something, what people often grasped for during times like this was in part spiritualism and fairies. 


During this time people began to focus on the more frolicsome, frivolous and tiny side of fairies. 


“a little school of friends among the poets, Drayton, Browne, Herrick, and the almost unknown Simon stewards, caught by the deliciousness of Shakespeare’s fairies, and coming from counties where small fairies belonged to the folk tradition, amused themselves and each other by writing fantasies on littleness.”


Nimphidia and the Wedding of a Fey

 

The fairies are hopping, 

The small flowers, cropping,

And with dew dropping,

Skip thorow the greaves

At barly break they play

Merrily all the day

At night themselves they lay

Upon the soft leaves


The idea of tiny frolicsome and whimsical fairies didn’t begin at this time. Rather these aspects of their nature were emphasized.


Another aspect of Puck was emphasized early on, but faded later, that of Puck as a moralizing figure. Like most house fairies he hated laziness and certain bad behavior writers used Puck as a way teach people the importance domestic morality. 

Over time this was replaced, however, with a focus on whimsy and mischief. 

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Gnome Mythology

I have a much longer article about the gnomes or zwerg as they are called in Germany in my discussion on Snow White.  Also, I answer some of the most common internet questions about gnomes at the end of this article.


“Once a woman was suffering through a difficult labor alone, when the zwerg that lived underneath her home appeared and served as her midwife, easing her pain and helping her give birth.  (Franz Leibing, 1868)” 

This little memorate of a fairy living underneath a German lady’s home, who has clearly come to care about her, illustrates perhaps the most important thing about the fairies, they are humanities neighbors. Garden gnomes or Gartenzwerge, as they are known in Germany from which they came, were named such because they didn’t live in some distant land, but because they frequently inhabited our gardens. Here these zwerg could bless the crops to grow in abundance or could steal the peas, as they so frequently did.

The German folklorist Grasse (1868) noted that in Wilstermarsch Germany: "Every morning, the housemaids would spill milk for the underground people. Beer and crumbs from the table were also offered to them in a similar way. If the milk wasn't offered, the underground people would steal it. 

People wanted them happy, for everywhere they went they caused the beer brewed better. In Alversdorf, the underground people would steal pots and kettles, and cause other mischiefs. Yet they also blessed people's cattle to never become sick [cattle were a primary means of wealth, so this mattered a lot]. They also left magical pots for people which caused the seeds held in them to grow faster, milk gathered into them to churn richer, and water held in them to make those who drank from them healthier" 

It makes sense that humans would share their food with the zwerg, for fairies needed human food in many tales, or at least food prepared using human ovens and or utensils. 

These zwerg were mischievous to be certain, and could even be dangerous, for as with all fairies and humans there was a contrast between individuals. On the whole, however, they were helpful creatures, not just of the woods, but of the more beautiful lands around our homes and villages. 

the Zwerg were constantly seeking out human food and cooking tools. This connection through food helped to form strong bonds between the humans and the fairies. In one story;  

 

A zwerg would frequently borrow a pot from a farmer. Once when she came to borrow the pot to boil some potatoes the farmer noticed that she was pregnant and mentioned he would be interested in standing godfather for the baby. Later the zwerg’s husband came and formally asked the farmer to be the godfather to his and his wife’s child. 

Later the farmer grew nervous about the prospect of being a fairy’s godfather and went to the pastor for council. The pastor told him that he had to stand godfather, since one couldn’t rescind the offer to do so. So the farmer went to the baptism of the baby zwerg and the feast in the mountain. As he was leaving the zwerg asked him to look behind the door, where he found garbage, which they asked him to sweep up and carry home with him. Annoyed he did so, but to his joy he discovered that the garbage had turned to gold when he got home. 

Zwerg gave people blessings in return for the food and drink that they shared. Yet, because they were our neighbors they might also share their food with people. It was common for a man to be plowing at the edge of his field, in the middle of nowhere, when he smelled some delicious cakes being cooked. He commented on how much he would enjoy those cakes, and when he’d plowed back to the same spot he found a plate with an offering of the cakes upon them, which he ate and thanked the zwerg for the meal. 

I find these tales of humans interacting with the fairies like neighbors absolutely enchanting. 

A few final notes

In addition to gnome zwerg is often translated into dwarf in English. As in Snow White and the Seven Zwerg. 

The zwerg’s red hats are what they use to turn invisible, so when they stole people’s peas, the people would use sticks to try to knock their hats off so they could see them.

Breaking these zwerg down is more complex than we have time for, and so it will need to be done in a future video, along with the darker side of zwerg and dwarves. 

Learn more about Snow White and the Seven Zwerg

What are gnomes? - Gnomes are zwerg in German fairy tales, the same as the 'dwarves' who helped Snow White. They are a synchronization of Norse dwarves and Celtic fairies. 

What do gnomes do? - Gnomes obviously do a lot of things, although they love dancing and celebrating. Indeed, they seemed to have so much fun most of the time that some people wished to marry a gnome and be happy, and some people even did marry gnomes. They would often give good presents to their nieces and nephews after this. Some gnomes liked to mine, many would bless gardens, or on occasion steal from them. Because of the diversity of the things they did it is difficult to come up with a comprehensive answer for "what do gnomes do?"

What is the story behind gnomes? - If you are wondering about garden gnomes, the story is that gnomes or zwerg as they were called, could bless gardens to grow better, but also might steal form them. If you are wondering about the Dungeons and Dragons and World of Warcraft gnomes, the story behind gnomes is that they were spirits created by alchemists. It is this connection with alchemists that makes them tinkers and researchers in these games. Keep in mind that garden gnome is actually a bad translation of zwerg, so the alchemical gnomes and the garden or fairy gnomes have nothing to do with each other in mythology. 

What is the meaning behind gnomes? There are many, as the zwerg that gnome was translated from could be tutelary spirits of the land, they could be a separate set of magical people, they could be semi-divine beings in old pagan religions. 

Gnomes what are they? I feel like I've answered this already.

What is the meaning of garden gnomes? It is difficult to say what the original meaning was. They started being made in the 17th century, a time when many people began to amuse themselves by writing stories of fairies and decorating with fairy related items. So it may just be that someone thought they were fun decorations, a call back to the folklore of creatures that helped people in their homes, gardens, and farms.