Myth, Matriarchy, and the Mystique of Fairies

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This week we look at the "Quene of Elfame", the later popular spelling being "Queen of Elphame," or the queen of the land of fairies. But what is "Elphame"--is it a kind of pagan paradise between Heaven and Hell, an interdimensional space under the sidhe (mounds) of Ireland, or a beautiful illusion created by fairy beings--or something else? And what do we mean by the term "fairy"? We look at the appearance of the term Queen of Elphame in witch trial documents, in poetry, and its use by imaginative historians of paganism. We do take a little bit of a side turn into witchcraft history and the confusions created by Robert Graves, who is responsible for our common associations with the name.