My Realest Experience With a Faerie Being

The most meaningful interaction I have ever had in my daily life with a faerie being was with a dryad. I've always been a bit envious of people who talk about how they have seen faeries ever since childhood, and had numerous encounters where they appeared, plain as day, or spoke to them clearly. My encounters have always been more nebulous, based on feelings, energy, signs in nature, and a mind open to wonder. And if that's how it is always meant to be, then so be it. I have cherished every magical encounter I've had, and I believe in faeries no less for having never seen one plain as day in front of my eyes. But I did have one encounter that stands out from all the rest. 

I attended college right in the city I lived in in high school, at a branch of the state university. But my university years were still a time of awakening, becoming, blossoming to who I wanted to be. And part of that was meeting people who introduced me to things like the art of the Frouds, the writings of Charles de Lint and so on. Since I had only known about a trickle of these things before my twenties or so, (this was in the pre-internet days where information flowed a lot slower) it was a heady time of awakening to magic and the possibilities of the world all at once. I could feel the electrical energy of magic stronger than ever before, and it was enticing and potent. 

The college campus itself felt like a magical place. I wouldn't be surprised to someday find out it was on a leyline, or was somehow part of the local ancient mounds that we have here in my city (the circle mound and octagon mound earthworks are going to be up for inclusion as a World Heritage site next year).

One night, I went for a walk on the bike path near the campus, alone. Looking back on it now, it was an absolutely idiotic choice. It was probably about nine or ten at night, and pitch black. But all I can say is don't do anything so foolish, and at least no harm came to me. 

The bike path follows the trail of a river, next to a forest. And then there is a stone bridge you cross and you are surrounded by trees on both sides. I crossed the bridge (a liminal space of course), and sat down by the path with my back to a tree. 

I don't quite know how to describe what happened next. It was twenty-two years ago, so the details are a bit furry, but I believe I asked for Faerie to show itself to me in some way. And immediately afterward I felt the presence of someone behind me. Strongly. Very strongly. The hairs on my arms stood up straight. I'm sure everyone knows the feeling you get when you know someone is either right behind you or looking at you, even when you haven't turned around to confirm it. 

I was on a bike path at night. It might have been another person meaning me harm behind me. But that was absolutely not the feeling I got, and I know with all of me that it wasn't the case. Because the feeling of the energy I felt was so unlike any other human energy I've ever experienced. The only way to describe it was fey...wild. The energy felt neither malevolent or benevolent, but entirely different, and terrifying for that reason. 

Looking back on it now and remembering how it felt, I can understand why humans who encounter the fey lose all reason and forget the rules and smarts of how to interact with Faerie. Because it felt so entirely Other to me, it made my mind blank and my heart race. Again, there was no malevolence to it, but it was so jarring to actually encounter something that felt so different, my body and mind reacted the same as if it was. 

And it felt branchy. Earthy. Like peat and moss and creaking limbs. I might have even heard some creaking limbs. I don't recall the details, but the memory of the feeling is still instant and immediate. It felt old, very old. Curious. Neither good nor evil. Strong. So very strong. And it was right behind me. 

So after a moment of being frozen in place, I stood up and I ran. I ran as fast as I could back to street lights and asphalt. I'd like to say I turned around first to see what I had felt, but I didn't. I was terrified, and I ran. 

But I know with absolute certainty that that presence was a dryad. And I keep the memory of that experience close whenever some small part of me might doubt that Faerie is a real truth. I also honestly love that the most immediate, tangible, and close encounter I've ever had with a fey being was with a dryad, since the older I get, the more I realize that I feel less kinship with winged or high faeries, and more with dryads and fauns, branches and antlers. 

So that is the closest thing I have to a real encounter with a faerie being. I still live in the same city, just down the street from that bike path. I've gone back during the day many times (never at night) and I've never felt that presence again. But I know it was real. 

Header art by Iris Compiet. She reminds me of how this being felt.