Art by Galileo Chini
Since starting the European Fairy Tales Series, I've been struck with just how much of the ancient native European worldview is embedded within our folk and fairy tale tradition. There are several ways that this appears, but one important theme found in a majority of fairy tales is the concept of fate and destiny.
| So far in the European Fairy Tales Series, and there are six volumes at the time of this writing, we have seen how ancient mythological figures live on in hidden ways in fairy tales. But, they almost always seem somewhat connected to the fate and destiny of the protagonist. In Vol I, "The Three Heads of the Well," we saw the Teutonic figures known as the Norns, analogous to the Greek Moirai or the Fates, who played a role in directing the fate of the protagonist in that tale. In Vol III, Thomas the Rhymer, we saw Thomas' fate altered by his experience with the Queen of Elphame. In Vol IV, "The Star Money," we explored the notion of Karma. It was explained that while Europeans did not have a specific word for "Karma" as such, that we certainly did have a cultural notion about fate that lent to a karma-like understanding. |  Art by Hans Zatzka |
Then, moving on to Vol V, "Aschenputtel," we explored the indigenous European belief in ancestral guardian spirits who watched over their descendants to guide them on their life's journey. All before circling back again to the Fates in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs."
Art by Edward Reginald Frampton
Establishing an Indigenous Spirituality Framework
Part of the reason that the true spiritual essence of fairy tales is lost upon us is that we are so very disconnected from our own indigenous spiritual understandings. I work within the European cultural tradition, but the fundamentals of how this works will be universal, so I urge people of ALL cultural backgrounds to look into both the indigenous faith of their ancestors and then look to their own folk and fairy tale tradition. Once you have an understanding of the mythic world of your ancestral culture, it makes fairy tales endowed with the kind of depth that you never imagined was there.
Japanese Fairy Tale illustration by Warwick Goble
The idea of researching ancient faith sounds daunting to those who have no familiarity with it. In some cases, there are long established and respected religions which still retain indigenous shamanic elements, such as Japanese Shintoism and Indian Hinduism. In those cases, diving into the faith is very easy and there is an abundance of source material to help you explore those long established ethnic-world-views.
And, because so many Europeans have awoken to the short-comings and overtly uncomfortable feel that Judeo-Christianity has on the European psyche, many ethnic-Europeans have looked Eastward and embraced these faiths. However, a great deal of material is now available to reconnect ethnic-Europeans with our own ancestral faith.
And, because so many Europeans have awoken to the short-comings and overtly uncomfortable feel that Judeo-Christianity has on the European psyche, many ethnic-Europeans have looked Eastward and embraced these faiths. However, a great deal of material is now available to reconnect ethnic-Europeans with our own ancestral faith.
Art by Edward Robert Hughes
| That said, indigenous ancestral faiths of almost every ethnic group under the sun have been revived in recent years. The Mexican native faith never really died, it was just married with Catholicism in that country, and this is seen in much of South America. African native faith, and faiths that developed by Africans in the New World which stemmed from African origins, have a growing following. Egyptian religion has a movement, and even the ancient faith of the Canaanites of the Bible has been revived. Essentially, people of virtually all ethnic backgrounds who wish to break free of Abrahamic mono-thought have a path to reconnect with their own native faith. It's simply a matter of knowing your own roots and then looking up the ancient beliefs of your cultural heritage. Start with mythology, read the old myths, read legends, sagas, folklore. |  Indian fairy tale illustration by Warwick Goble |
We can certainly enjoy myths, legends, folk and fairy tales from all world cultures. But, without the deeper spiritual understandings, you will miss some of the important spiritual components found within the tale. Having that understanding is what takes these stories from being simplistic children's fantasy stories into being faith-infused mythic tales that give us inspiration, motivation, and direction for living.
Indian fairy tale illustration by Warwick Goble
| So, by all means, enjoy myths and legends of all the wide world, there is a rich tapestry of myth and folklore out there and we can enjoy it all. But if you want to delve deeply into the spiritual worldview of your ancestors, because it is a part of you, and it will help you better understand both the world and your own psyche, then be sure to focus on your own heritage, no matter what your heritage is. And then explore the folk and fairy tales within your own ancestral cultural tradition. Once you have a grounding and a framework to place the tales in, things will pop out at you that bring so many layers of deep meaning that you've been missing all these years of hearing these age old stories. You will also find variations of the tales and entirely new tales that carry layers of intuitive understandings that were missed in the Disney versions. |  Amerindian fairy tale illustration by H. J. Ford |
What Fairy Tales Tell Us
About the Native European Spiritual View of Fate
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Well I should preface this again by saying I work in the Northern European, that is Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavic, culture groups. You will see similarities with Southern European cultural mythos, to be sure, but you will also see distinctions and differences. You will certainly see differences between the Celts, Teutons, and Slavs, of course. But these three groups tend to share more similarities to each other while Greco-Latin cultures of Mediterranean Europe share more similarities with each other. Greco-Roman mythic tradition tends to depict a harsher view of fate. Northern European peoples were more fiercely independant with a strong emphasis on the strength and self-determination of the individual, and this is reflected in the view of fate that appears in their mythos and folk tradition. |  Greco-Roman mythical figure known as Pan, illustration by Helen Stratton |
Again, this is why I emphasize focusing on the culture you want to know well. We're being told today that ethnicity and culture is irrelevant, but it couldn't be further from the truth. There are some similarities found worldwide, but there are also both stark and fine tuned differences. By failing to respect ethno-culture, we're missing the depth and nuance found in unique cultures worldwide.
Celtic-Christian mythical art by Edward Reginald Frampton
A Self-Directed View of Fate
So far in the fairy tales series, personal agency and self-determination has been one major theme, and this always has a direct affect on the protagonists we've encountered. Apart from Thomas, in "Thomas the Rhymer" (it was explained in that volume that this story is not a "fairy tale" in the strict definition of the genre), who was sort of hijacked into the realm of Fairy, the rest of the protagonists we've encountered all made decisions that determined their course in life.
| "The Three Heads of the Well" was a princess fairy tale, similar to "Cinderella" and "Snow White" in that the young woman was hated by her step-mother and step-sister who together made her life a misery. However, rather than waiting to be thrust into the arms of fate, the heroine made the decision herself to leave this toxic situation. This example of self-determination is echoed again and again in European fairy tales, especially as we look at different versions or tales that are closer to the oral tradition than, say, Disney. "Per Gynt" is a Norwegian tale we explored in Vol II. Although it does not fit 100% with the definition of fairy tale, I chose it specifically for its portrayal of the Northern European ideal of masculinity. |  Illustration for "The Three Heads of the Well" by Arthur Rackham. Click image to download the book for free. |
The protagonist, called Per Gynt, portrays an example of manhood that our people once prided ourselves in, and that I saw exemplified in the men of my Northern European heritage family, but that which is sadly under attack by Western liberal cultural assault today. And, again, we see self-reliance and determination of the individual a key theme of the tale.
Per Gynt is the quintessential hero of legend. While the countryside is beset with malicious trolls, it is Per Gynt who takes the initiative to confront these otherworldly beasties. It is down to his own determination and confidence that he saves the day and his neighbors can sleep soundly.
In fact, the notion that your own decisions and your ability to take control of your situation and guide your own fate is seen in every tale in the series, apart from "Thomas the Rhymer," as mentioned.
Per Gynt is the quintessential hero of legend. While the countryside is beset with malicious trolls, it is Per Gynt who takes the initiative to confront these otherworldly beasties. It is down to his own determination and confidence that he saves the day and his neighbors can sleep soundly.
In fact, the notion that your own decisions and your ability to take control of your situation and guide your own fate is seen in every tale in the series, apart from "Thomas the Rhymer," as mentioned.
Teutonic hunter depicted by artist, Julius Mařák Myslivec. Click to view this book.
Yes, Europeans Believed in Karma
As explained very clearly in Vol IV, "The Star Money," Europeans absolutely had a concept of Karma, they just didn't have such a word for it. But, we did have very complex views of fate and destiny, and how your own actions affect your fate, as explained above regarding self-determination. We discussed the Anglo-Saxon concept of Wyrd in Volume I (available as a free download here) and the Baltic concept of Darna, analogous to Hindu Darma, in Vol IV, "The Star Money."
| The Anglo-Saxon concept of Wyrd held that your fate is sort of an interdimensional web where your life is plotted out in the otherworld. The Norns, as discussed in "The Three Heads of the Well," are the three Fates who weave your Wyrd. However, one big difference between Teutonic and Greek concepts of Fate is that you can affect your Wyrd and re-chart your course. There are various means by which you can do this. Self-determined agency, by which you have the gumption to take matters into your own hands, is one way. Karma (since we don't have a specific European word for this concept) is another way. And appealing to higher powers is a third way. |  The Three Fates by Paul Thumann |
What we see time and time again in European fairy tales, and even in the Disney renditions, is that the good characters are rewarded while the evil and self-centered characters are punished. The most obvious example that comes to mind is "Cinderella." The same storyline is presented in "The Three Heads of the Well." In "The Star Money," we don't see the punishment of bad figures, but we see that a poor little orphan who had lost her parents and had nothing was rewarded for her generous spirit.
The message is always the same: Be a good person, be kind and generous, also, be cheerful and have hope, and good things will come your way.
The message is always the same: Be a good person, be kind and generous, also, be cheerful and have hope, and good things will come your way.
The Spirit World Watches and Guides You
| I think that one of the most important, and yet the most difficult, aspect of indigenous European faith for modern folk to wrap their head around is the cosmology and spiritual realm. I published an excerpt from Fairy Tales Series Vol V, "Aschenputtel," that discusses how the modern person has to recalibrate their worldview to understand the how our ancestors viewed the world. I do recommend reading that in full, but we shall have a quick discussion here. Abrahamic monotheism, in any manifestation that it presents in, and the subsequent atheistic rationalist view that has pervaded Western thought since the erosion of Christianity began, both view the world in a linear fashion, in black and white. Whether we're talking religion or a cold and clinical scientific view, it is a view dominated by dogma and a very restricted lens. |  Click to view the series |
This was also discussed briefly in Vol VI of this series, "The Three Golden Hairs." The spirit world that is depicted in the European folk tradition is one that shifts, blends, merges, separates. We are trained to be singularly focused and to seek black and white answers. The reality that I have arrived at, and I assert this in all areas whether it's medical science or spirituality, is that the rigid linear mindset is restrictive and misses the mark.
Art by Henry Meynell Rheam
In fairy tales we see memories of ancient indigenous European deities who assist us on our life path, as shown in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs." We see ancient archetypes appearing, such as a wizened old man appearing as a beggar in Vol I, "The Three Heads of the Well." This is a famous guise of Odin.
The Fates turn up far more than you would ever imagine in the fairy tale canon. They appeared in Vol I and Vol VI of this series, but you will have seen them as the three fairies in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" and most likely had no conception of what they represented.
The Fates turn up far more than you would ever imagine in the fairy tale canon. They appeared in Vol I and Vol VI of this series, but you will have seen them as the three fairies in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" and most likely had no conception of what they represented.
| Vol V, "Aschenputtel," showed us a very clear example of ancestor veneration that lingered on in the European cultural consciousness well into the modern era. We discussed in that volume how the archetype of a fairy godmother is tied to ancestral guardian spirits. But, as we moved into Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs," we saw that the fairy godmother archetype was also tied to the figures of the Fates. Returning to the notion of recalibrating our worldview, these shifting connotations could be very confusing when viewed through a lens that wants to view the world in a linear format. We have to break our training that tells us to see the world, and therefore our religious conception, as black and white. It's not "this or that." Rather, conceptions can shift, blend, and blur. |  The hearth is associated with the maternal as well as with spiritual visitation. Cinderella illustration by an unnamed artist, 1909 |
We live in a society that, in my view, is completely skewed in perception. On one hand, society is telling us to eschew definitions that our ancestors always held dear, like our very own ethnic identity, or biological gender. This society is telling us to demoni
ze our own ancestors. But, conversely, while it is shunning definitions that we have always held as universal truths, it asserts a cold, dogmatic, black and white philosophical view of the universe - be it Abrahamic monotheism or atheistic rationalism, the boxed-in lens is the same.
Traditional tales teach us respect for ancestral heritage and to honor those who came before us. Art by John Everett Millais
So what I'm getting at, is it matters very little how the spiritual interactions that are represented in the fairy tale tradition are labeled. Are they mythological archetypes? Yes. Are they specifically the Fates? Often, yes. Are they ancestral guardians? Often, yes. These manifestations are not necessarily independent of one another. The point that matters is that indigenous European worldview believed that there were protective spirits in the Otherworld who looked out for us.
You Have A Fairy Godmother, Too
It is topsy turvy, indeed, when we have a society hell bent on denying us our own identity, but that wants to put rigid definitions on the fluid world of spiritual mystery. In any case, one thing is clear: the fairy tale tradition tells us that the spirits who watch over you are connected to YOU.
| In "The Three Golden Hairs," a Czech tale, we explored how cultural history shapes the folklore of a people. We also looked at the Fates as a pan-European conception. We looked at how ancient goddesses lived on in the fairy godmother archetype. But, as mentioned above, your female ancestors were also thought to linger on as protective fairy godmother figures. Native European spirituality is like animistic faiths of other worldwide indigenous people. It is rooted and grounded in ancestor veneration. It would take another article to go into how this relates to deity. |  Click to view this series |
The important thing to take from this is that there are protective spirits who watch over you. They are tied to your heritage, your ancestral line, and your culture. MOST, if not all, ethnic groups in the world believed this at one time. The Shintoism of Japan is one such example. Even Disney's representation of the Chinese legend of "Mulan" represents this nearly universal concept.
The Essentials of Native European Worldview of Fate
The essentials that I have gleaned from the European fairy tale tradition thus far, as it pertains to our individual fate and destinies, is that we are visited by the Fates shortly after birth. This belief is found clear across Europe, and across language barriers. The Fates bless us with gifts. These gifts might seem like burdens, but we will grow from them (as seen in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs, where Plavachek is "blessed" that he will meet many dangers).
The "three weird sisters" depicted in an early screen rendition of Shakespeare's "MacBeth." The "weird sisters" were a memory of the Norns who weave Wyrd.
But, what is also made clear in the tradition is that, while we are directed by the Fates on a path, that there are forces rooting for us, provided that we are proactive in striving for self actualization.
| The fairy tale tradition shows us that there will be those who wish to thwart us on our journey. We discussed the common princess tale, where "evil step-mothers" are the nemesis. But, Vol VI in the series, "The Three Golden Hairs," demonstrated this in another way. In this tale, it was a king who could not accept that the lowly peasant boy would marry his daughter, and thus, he worked hard to thwart the young man's destiny. The hero of that tale, called Plavachek, rose to the challenge. He accepted the call to prove his worth. He embarked on a Hero's Journey. And, he showed he was worthy of his destiny. Thus, he was self-actualized to his fate. |  Art by Frank Pape |
But, other tales show us that when we are presented with unfortunate circumstances, that if we are steadfast and true, if we believe, (above all, belief is important), if we seek assistance from our spiritual guardians, if we are aware of guides and listen to them, and if we act in a way that is honorable with integrity, courage, and kindness, that we will self-actualize to the destiny that the Fates have in store for us.
"Twilight fantasies" by Edward Robert Hughes
Join Me in Digging Deeper into Indigenous European Faith
There is much more to uncover, and we're only getting started. We'll keep digging into European native spirituality on this blog, and in the booklets I'm publishing each month. Subscribe on Patreon to receive these books in PDF at a discounted rate each month.
 | My name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe. Explore this website for more on European history, mythology, and folk tradition. Please check out the section for my books! And, please follow me on Facebook! |
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