THE FOREST HOUSE INSIDE A FAIRY RING

Revisiting the Changeling

Last night Norse god Thor visited our Forest House. He put on a spectacular display: flashes of lightning were zigzagging over the treetops and then bouncing through our house, followed by loud thunderclaps. I switched off all lights, sat in the (almost) darkness (it still doesn’t get pitch dark here, we are still within the orbit of the Midnight Sun) and gave my full attention on this. I received a powerful rune lesson and eventually Thor moved on.

This morning I woke up to find that a Fairy Circle had sprung up around our small house, meaning that I now find myself living inside a Fairy Circle! My first thought was: Wow, the Fairies (Fair Folk, Fae or Fey) will be my teachers and visit me in my dreams! Then I decided to read up on the folklore and it was not… entirely reassuring…shall we say.

What is a Fairy Ring? It is a naturally occurring ring (or circle, sometimes incomplete) of mushrooms in grass, or in a wooded location. (I once found a large and perfect one in the Forest behind our house, which has since been destroyed by the large machines used by loggers). A Fairy Ring forms when the mycelium of a mushroom drops in a favourable spot and starts sending out a subterranean network of fine tubular threads (called hyphae). Such rings start off small in size but grow larger over time.

Fairy rings are also called Elf Rings or Pixie Rings. In German folklore this phenomenon is called a Hexentanz and in Dutch a Heksenkring, because it was believed that witches danced here on Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht in Dutch and Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish. It falls on April 30rd, meaning that it sits exactly opposite Hallowe’en on the circle that some people call the Wheel of the Year.

One superstition says that if you see a Fairy Ring, you should run around it nine times by the light of a full moon. I checked: the next full moon is on August 9th (interesting how the number nine repeats here. It is the most magical number in Norse mythology! The Anglo Saxon name is the Grain Full Moon (Rune JARA or JERA).

Another superstition says that once a person sets foot inside a Fairy Ring, their life will be cut short. The general idea here is that Fairy Rings are caused by Faeries or Elves dancing in a circle. If a human being joins the dance, they are forced to dance and dance until they pass out from exhaustion.

When you enter a Fairy Ring you might also be cursed or eaten by a giant toad! I will keep an eye out for frogs and toads…

Things get worse: a sinister tradition from Somerset (in England) calls the Fairy Ring a “galley trap” because a murderer or thief, who sets foot inside it, will end up being hanged.

Some cultures believe that Fairy Rings are portals to other worlds and that the mushrooms are small tables for the faeries to eat at. Their presence may well indicate an entire faery village underground!

The Fae or Fair folk have always been there and we find references to them in folklore from all over Western Europe.

The Huldufólk or Hidden People are the elves of Icelandic and Faroese folklore, perceived as supernatural beings that (most commonly) live in nature. They look and behave similarly to humans, but live in a realm parallel to Earth. They can make themselves visible at will.

LABISMINA, painting by the author, inspired by a mushroom spore print

In Iceland the public administration sometimes delays or re-routes road construction to avoid what locals believe are elf habitations. And yes, they send in a an Elf Communicator to check in with the Elves about which places to avoid and where it is OK to build a road.

In Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) they are called Hulder or Huldra. Again the root word means “hidden, covered or veiled”. Huldra looms large here in the Forest. She is also known as the Skogsrå (forest spirit or Ruler of the Forest) or Tallemaja (Pine Tree Mary). She is called Ulda in Sámi folklore. Etymologically speaking there are connections to Huld (a Völva mentions her in the Ynglinga Saga, [where Driva bribed the witch-wife Huld, to either bewitch Vanlande to return to Finland, or kill him]. There is also a connection to the German Holda or Frau Holle (Mother Holle).

In Nordic mythology the Álfar (a word which literally translates as Elves, they live in the realm called Álfheim) are male ancestors connected to matters of land, fertility and crops and animal husbandry. We honour them by means of the Álfablót, the original Swedish counterpart of Hallowe’en). The Álfar watch over the liminal zone between Life and Death.

In no way are they cute young children with butterfly wings. That is a depiction from the Victorian Age (and a beautiful fantasy). As fellow Moon Books author Morgan Daimler puts it: “[They are not] a happy twinkling sprite that can grant wishes or lull our children to sleep. It’s far more likely that a faery would steal the child and leave one of there own then anything else. See my essay titled THE CHANGELING.

It is clear that one should not rush into working with the Fair Folk or Fae (after all only fools rush where angels fear to tread). If you stumble upon one, you need to leave an offering (such us milk and honey) and it is a good idea to carry some iron on your person or in your pocket for protection. They really like small offerings of real silver. We inherited a large pile of family silver from the people we bought our house from. Would they like an antique ornate silver tea spoon? I will try…

The folklore and guidance is all very well, but all of a sudden I find myself living inside a Fairy Ring. That is next level! Last year this Fairy Ring was already present in front of our house, but much smaller. Now it curves all around our house so may well be living on top of an entire Fairy Village. This requires investigation.

Picture: Another corner of our house where the Fairy Ring continues. You also see a glimpse of my Forest School in the background!

I obviously have some shamanic work to do and, if anyone is interested, I will keep you all posted of my discoveries. Exactly a year ago I wrote an essay here titled The Changeling (of Selves and Elves). It unearthed (and healed) some very deep dynamics in my personal life. I have a strong feeling that this Fairy Circle represents the continuation of that (inner and outer) spiritual work. As I type this in, nine barn swallows start circling our house (another magical circle, another occurrence of the number nine!) and shrieking loudly. This is striking, because normally they are very vocal in the evening but not around noon. The messages are coming from all directions and dimensions is clear: There is work to be done!

Let me know in the comments if you want to hear what happens next, here in the enchanted forest.

THE BLACK SUN, pen-and-ink sketch by the author, inspired by a tree fungus

Further Reading about Fairy Rings and the Fairy Folk

How fungi form ‘fairy rings’ and inspire superstitions | National Geographic

Do you dare enter a fairy ring? The mythical mushroom portals of the supernatural | Ancient Origins

Forbidden Forests and Fae Folk: The Unusual and Chilling Scandinavian Folklore

A New Dictionary of Fairies by Morgan Daimler, published by Moon Books (I wrote an endorsement for this book).

I try (but sometimes fail) to get out at least one essay a week (sometimes more), due to travel, international teaching commitments and family care responsibilities (our family lives with Alzheimer’s and I have written several posts about that). If you would like to see regular posts about about Nordic spirituality and my life as a Forest Witch (and of course short videos of all the wildlife here!), please follow me on Instagram or Facebook, thank you!

Imelda Almqvist, Forest House and Forest School, Sweden

BIO FOR IMELDA ALMQVIST

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). So far she has written four non-fiction books and two picture books for children. Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019, Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in Possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020 and North Sea Water In My Veins (The Pre-Christian spirituality of the Low Countries) was published in June 2022.

The Green Bear is a series of picture book for children, aged 3 – 8 years. The stories and vibrant artwork, set in Scandinavia, invite children to explore enchanting parallel worlds and to keep their sense of magic alive as they grow up.

Imelda appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Mesolithic arctic deer shamanism.

Imelda’s eagerly awaited book about the runes (the title is Portals, Patterns and Pathways, a Handbook for Rune Magicians, Star Gazers and Myth Makers) will be published by Collective Ink on 26 May 2026). She is currently working on a book about Inuit deities and mythology.

Imelda prefers being contacted by email. She only rarely checks (or responds) to DM’s on social media platforms.

Please note that Imelda’s on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings, where all classes she teaches remained available as recordings, will go off-line on 3 September 2025! PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT AND FULL EXPLANATION

Website:

http://www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk/

YouTube Channel: youtube.com/user/imeldaalmqvist

Online School: https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/courses/

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