This is part one of a two part interview. I was sent a copy of her delightful book and asked if I would read it.I loved the book and found her search for fairies similar to my journey with angels. Signe was kind enough to answer some questions for me and I think you will find the answers useful in your journey as well.

How has interacting with fairies and gnomes affected your life?

When I first began writing Faery Tale, I was living in Manhattan working 12-hour days as a book editor. I was preoccupied with necessary material things, like working two jobs to afford my rent, clothing, shoes, groceries – and I was also still suffering from the loss of my father, who’d died unexpectedly only two years before. My solution was to throw myself into my work, and many nights, I’d come home and secretly just cry and cry, grieving in what felt like an emotional bottomless pit. I had little to no spiritual background that felt organic enough for me to believe in, or believable enough for me to fall back on.

I began researching faeries because I’d always felt so connected to them as a little girl – as a child I had always seen nature as imbued with spirit and wonder, even if I didn’t know how to articulate it at the time. I’d always loved history and historical research, so when I began delving back into faeries and folklore out of curiosity, it was a thrilling (and soothing) diversion.

As I placed myself, foot by skeptical foot on the faery path, I couldn’t
help but notice how things fell into place – I wrote a proposal and got
a book deal. My fiancé and I relocated to Charleston, South Carolina
where we had a yard, wild birds, the ocean. A few weeks later I left for
England, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man to do field research,
where I took every opportunity to open myself up to the faery realm – to
try and have experiences with it, interact with it. Things began to
happen to me that I couldn’t explain, magical things, and I began to see
the world around me in an entirely new, more beautiful and meaningful
way.

The faery realm — I’ve come to believe — consists of as many varieties
of spiritual beings as we have species of animals on earth. We make
names for them: troll, gnome, faery (which, by the way, is a very
inaccurate catch-all!), sprite, nymph, sylph, leprechaun, etc. But we
seldom can hear them clearly enough to ask them what they wish to be
called. So the biggest change in my life since I began interacting with
the faery realm was to realize that hey, we’re not alone. And not only
are we not alone, there’s an entire unseen world out there that exists
at the edge of everything. Brian Froud once told me, “There are no
endings, only beginnings,” and I’ve found that to be true. Now that I am
home, my journey — as well as my interactions — continues to unfold.

Is there much change in your every day, nitty gritty part of your life since your adventures?

Now I feel… awake. Of course on the nitty gritty side of things,
everything is different. I no longer work in the corporate world – I
write and I run my own editorial business, and instead of New York City,
I live in Charleston where I can wake up every morning and go to the
beach if I want to feel closer to nature. But deeper than that, when I
look out at my back yard, I don’t just see the red pine tree, or the
laurel bushes. I see the energy that flows within and beneath each of
these things – it’s the energy that manifests through everything living
and non-living thing on planet earth – this is the realm of the faeries.

Everything I experienced and learned on my journey, I brought home to
my backyard where I continue to reach out. On my journey I learned the
value of intuition – it’s the bridge that connects us to everything
spiritual that surrounds us. So before I begin gardening, I take a
moment to breathe, connect with what’s around me, ground myself, tune
in. Then I find that I instinctively know, or can “hear” instructions:
cut that piece of the lily away, or leave that one there, don’t touch
it.

I also take the time to connect to the world around me on a daily
basis through meditation, yoga, walking outdoors, or simply sitting
outside and listening to the natural sounds as I enjoy a glass of wine.
Now, I find that if I don’t take the time to tune in, I begin to feel
disconnected, out of sorts, or sad. So I strive to stay plugged in and
balanced in a way I never knew how to do before. I listen to what my
intuition is telling me, and I trust it.

Watch for part two of this interview tomorrow.

With love and aloha,
Susan

Angels are everywhere just open your mind and your heart to the signs.

Make Angels on Your Shoulder part of your daily routine and share it with a friend!