The Unexpected Flights of Fairies

In days of old, when I was running my Marketing and PR Company, I had an office in Kentish Town. Kentish Town then was not the most glorious corner of London, and 30 years ago it was a bit rough, yet aspiring to be genteel and trendy. Our company office was in a mews, and it was quite charming in a bijou sort of mewsy way. We were located opposite a builder, and our other neighbours were thoroughly mixed, varying from an arty-farty photographer to something that was faceless and anonymous, and remained so, and then disappeared very suddenly.

We worked hard, employed quite a few people, and had quite a few adventures. My joke, which was a half joke half-something else was all about how to appeal-to and also appease the household gods. Apparently household gods fall into two categories – the number one hearth goddess and the fairies – better known as Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Cobweb and Moth… or Twinkle, Dinkle and Stinkle depending on your choice of literature.

I have always had a strong feeling for good and bad in places, and for many years our office seemed to be a good place, honoured by good spirits, and optimism. As a company we were modest, hard-working and jolly and delivered good work to our clients. Time passed and clients came and went, and the company flourished, and things were good while we were there.  Meanwhile… although I didn’t have shrine to the household gods, I regularly deferred to them, and the staff and co-director put up with my eccentricity, and joined in the fun. 

Then things started to happen in the mews. We had an armed robbery opposite us, and the weekly wages for the builder, which were all in cash, were snatched. After this the vulnerability of the mews started to become apparent. The photographer suffered from a theft, and about six months later so did some other neighbours, and we with our notorious optimism and the support of the household gods continued unaffected…until a year or two passed-by. Then one day we arrived at the office to discover that the very large and expensive five lever lock had been prised off the door, and taken away, and computers and their chips had been grabbed.  A couple of weeks later the thieves came back to take whatever they fancied and had left behind the first time.

 We left shortly afterwards, taking a circuitous route, firstly staying for a short time with an advertising agency that had taken over the photographer’s studio and installed heavy-duty security, and then on to an office in Kensal Rise. But the most intriguing thing was the change that underwent the Kentish Town mews office after the burglary. However much we attempted to shore up the equipment, or the furniture in that place, after the robbery, the fairies were gone, so much so that the staff would comment on it regularly, and they were a lot more astonished by the change in atmosphere than myself. The difference was palpable. The good fairies had flown… for good.

That departure by certain spirits from certain places is something we can all identify. It’s not about the colour of the paint, or the warmth or the smell. It’s something to do with the people occupying a space, something to do with feng shui but its more than that. It’s to do with ambience, love, spirit and other things that defy language. It explains why certain cultures have powerful forces that favour them for eons, and then those spiritual or godly elements depart as quickly as they arrived. The presence of mystical and mysterious forces, both positive and negative in rooms, temples, churches and also open spaces is something that children and animals can identify, and adults less so, unless they are spiritually sensitive.

Very recently, when I was on holiday with my partner; we visited all sorts of gardens and stately homes and castles. One of these gardens and its associated castle filled us with a deep sense of apprehension. We couldn’t even enter the building, and although we walked around the gardens, which were large and wild, we still could not shake off the feeling of dread until we had departed from that place. I will never be persuaded that such feelings are imaginary, because they are as real as toothache or bad weather. They are there, and until we start to connect with such feelings, in a healthy and sensible way, we may find ourselves blundering through life without any reference to our intuition which is there for a purpose.

Intuition is a force and feeling that is wise, even if in the short term it appears not to be the case. Intuition is an intrinsic part in our lives and the lives of others, with its lovely knowledge and interaction with the spirits of Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Moth and Cobweb, to name but a few fabulous and famous fairies… that you have to admit… can be so very loveable.