The Summerlands are the last of the fae realms. They are permeable enough for fae to pass between them and the mortal realm. Since Oberon closed deeper Faerie (c. 1500s-1600s), the Summerlands are the only realm currently accessible to most fae.
About[]
Where the border between Summerlands and mortal realm are thinnest, fae are able to carve out a knowe, a liminal space connecting the two worlds. Knowes are typically used as noble holdings, as they take considerable power to create and maintain. Even smaller is a skerry, typically carved out by a single fae and used for personal purposes.
Time passes differently in the Summerlands. Hours spent in the mortal world could in fact be days in the Summerlands, or hours spent in the Summerlands could be days, weeks, or even years in the mortal world.[1] It may be day in the Summerlands, and night outside the knowe, in the mortal world Changelings feel these effects more strongly, causing them to age more slowly, or backward, or not at all.
Distances fluctuate, as well. Depending on the will of the fae who creates a knowe, the length of time needed to walk somewhere may pass in the blink of an eye or stretch on seemingly forever.[2]
Passing through the veil between mortal world and Summerlands is difficult on changelings. The more human their blood, the more difficult the passage tends to be.[3][4] Conversely, the more powerful the fae, the more subtle the passage between places.[citation needed]
In the Series[]
- Most full-blooded fae, given the opportunity, choose to live in the Summerlands rather than the mortal world. They create knowes such as Shadowed Hills and Tamed Lightning with entrances to both lands.
- October's adolescence had stretched into her twenties, but when she left Amandine's tower for the mortal world, physically she appeared approximately sixteen.[5]
- When Alex Olsen exits a window of Tamed Lightning (part of the knowe) at night, he emerges on the lawn of ALH Computing (the mortal-side business) in daylight, which forces a night/day transformation due to his Gean-Cannah nature.
- Patrick Lorden at one time intended to use the quirks of Summerlands geography to ease Faerie transportation between Europe and America.[6]
- Simon Torquill recalls visiting the Summerlands as a child, before the deeper realms were closed off.[2]
- Simon helps a pixie colony move to the Summerlands to protect them from the dangers of the mortal world.[2]
Mythology[]
"Summerland" or "The Summerland" is what some religions, including some Wiccans and neo-pagans, call the afterlife.[7][8] Some consider it heaven-like while others view it more neutrally:
"This realm is neither in heaven nor the underworld. It simply is: a non-physical reality much less dense than ours. Some Wiccan traditions describe it as a land of eternal summer, with grassy fields and sweet flowing rivers, perhaps the Earth before the advent of humans. Others see it vaguely as a realm without forms, where energy swirls coexist with the greatest energies: the Goddess and God in their celestial identities." --Scott Cunningham[9]
Trivia[]
- The Summerlands have four lilac moons.[10]
Quotes[]
- "The place that exists on the other side of every mirror and beyond every unpierced veil of mist."[11]
References[]
- ↑ A Red-Rose Chain
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Brightest Fell
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue
- ↑ The Unkindest Tide
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue
- ↑ Heaps of Pearl
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summerland
- ↑ https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-the-summerland-2562874
- ↑ Scott Cunningham. Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
- ↑ Through This House
- ↑ Rosemary and Rue, Ch. 1