Were it not for Fairies...B Y M O N T E F A R B E R & A M Y Z E R N E R
THE TERM "FAIRY" is derived from the Latin word "fatum" meaning "fate." This is an ancient acknowledgement that recognizes the talent fairies have in affecting human destiny and the powers of prediction, something my wife and I know quite a bit about.
My name is Monte Farber. Amy and I are the world’s foremost designers of interactive, self-help guidance systems, more commonly known as “divination systems” because they are designed to help you “divine” the future. We believe that divination systems can help you do this because they help you get in touch with the spark of The Divine that is within you and all things. To us, The Fairies are the embodiment of that divine spark. In fact, most of us who believe in fairies claim that when they allow themselves to be seen, it is usually out of the outer edges of our eyes and in our gardens as sparks of light, often when major life events are taking place or about to.
Amy and I have always believed in fairies—that’s the truth! If it were not for fairy tales and my belief in happily ever after, I would not have been able to survive my difficult childhood, grow into the kind of man who could attract to himself someone as wise, beautiful and talented as Amy and together create our own Enchanted World of love, light and laughter – sharing it with the world through our published works and through Amy’s collage artworks which grace their pages.
Since 1988 Amy and I have enabled more than a million people around the world to contact the unseen realms of guidance, support and protection that surround and sustain us all. The essence of our work and of our life, but especially of The Truth Fairy (Thorsons/element 2004), our newest creation, is to help us all recapture the sense of awe and wonder that we had as children and were transported to magical kingdoms by the goodness and power of fairy tales and the art that graced their pages.
"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's finger."– Hans Christian Anderson
Children literally grow up on fairy tales. As little children we were supposed to be sheltered from the harsh realities of life by parents and other caregivers who were there to love, nurture and protect us. Fairy tales helped them to gently show us the truth about life and helped us to grow up a little at a time. As we were exposed to the many important life lessons contained in fairy tales, we were slowly and safely introduced to some of the best and worst aspects of life in the adult world. If you are fortunate enough to be able to remember back to when you were a child, you can see that the fairy tales and the questions and answers that were inspired during their readings were very important to you in later life – your earliest introduction to the system of formal education.
Amy’s mother, Jessie Spicer Zerner, was also a renowned illustrator of many children’s books. Her specialty was fairy tales, masterfully drawn in pen and ink, with intricate flowers and animals and all the costumed characters that inhabited her detailed fairy lands. One of Amy’s favorite memories is her mother reading Victorian fairy tales to her. Jessie, herself, was like a fairy godmother – gentle, smart, spiritual and beautiful. Jessie’s own mother, Lilias, had read these same stories to Jessie when she was a child. In fact, as a child, Jessie had bestowed the nickname “Rena” on Amy’s grandmother after a fairy named “The Grand Marina” from one of the old fairy tales.
Yes, Amy and I believe in fairies and we trust that you believe in fairies, too, because fairies believe in you. In fact, that’s the main thing that fairies do—they believe. Fairies are true believers—they are cheerleaders for Truth, Good and Beauty. They even believe in those who don’t believe in them.
Fairies are not mortal, but they know how hard life can be for those who are. They don’t judge or condemn. Instead, they demonstrate sense and sensibility. They trust in the basic goodness of everyone, affirming truth and compassion, hoping that we will follow their lead and work to create a world of peace, beauty and mutual respect for all beings. If such an enchanted world is ever to come into being, we must all first emulate the fairies and believe with all of our heart that it can, indeed, be born from even these times we live in.Fairies believe that baby plants can push their soft, spring-green heads up through frozen, rocky or deeply soggy soil, even when the plants themselves are mired with doubts and growing pains, not to mention mire itself!Fairies believe that ponies and fawns can stand themselves up on their spindly little legs and walk to their nursing mothers just moments after they are born.Fairies believe that furry caterpillars can spin themselves into their silk cocoons and transform themselves from crawling insects into the most beautiful butterflies. Some of them, Monarch butterflies for one, are able to fly for hundreds of miles. And who do you think believes in them and cheers them on as they’re making their long-haul flights? You guessed it!Fairies even believe in the rocks, water, air and fire that make up this wonderful Earth of ours. Even though fairies can choose to appear to us as eternally youthful, they are the guardians of Nature and have been around since our Earth was formed four billion years ago.Back then, I guess all they had to believe in was that the super-hot gases swirling around our neighborhood star, The Sun, would keep cooling off and solidifying to form our planet and the raw materials for everything in it and on it. I suppose that’s why they’re such good friends with the rocks and the crystals—they’ve known them the longest!