Why would an ordinarily reasonable ADF Druid choose to honor Fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania at Beltane? The protestations of the reconstructionists ascend to the heavens: “Fairies? At Beltane? And literary Fairies at that! ‘Why, this is very midsummer madness!'” (Shakespeare “Twelfth Night” III.4.55) But from a neo-pagan perspective, it’s not such an outlandish suggestion.
There is long tradition of Fairy influence on May Eve in the British Isles. Nineteenth-century Irish poet Lady Jane Wilde was an important gatherer of fairy stories and describes numerous Irish traditions associated with the first three days of May, including: taking care to keep Fairies out of the house, as they have “fatal power” over mortals at this time of year (rowan wood fires seem to be particularly helpful!); not eating any food that may have been left out overnight on May Eve, because Fairies would have stolen the real food and replaced it with magically altered turf; and the usual stealing of children and beautiful young women. We know Elizabethan audiences were familiar with the infamous rites of May. In The Anatomie of Abuses published in 1583, Philip Stubbes details customs still common enough that he felt a need to preach against them. Shakespeare was quite familiar with superstitions and folklore and often incorporated them into his writings (the ghost in Hamlet, the bleeding corpse in Richard III, and the witches in Macbeth are primary examples). Just as Elizabethan audiences recognized the underlying power of these beings, we as neo-pagans recognize and accept the possibility of the “supernatural” in our times.
So Fairies at Beltane might be acceptable, but why choose Oberon and Titania? Didn’t Shakespeare just make them up? Very few actual Fairy names have come down to us through the lore; most names we associate with fairy are literary inventions. The names Shakespeare gave to his Fairies are more appropriately considered titles or job descriptions than actual names. Puck, Oberon’s loyal attendant, is more properly called Robin Goodfellow, and only one of Titania’s trusty retainers dares to use his real name to taunt him. The name Puck comes from his attributes: he is a pooka, a shape-shifter, a trickster who regularly crosses the boundaries between Fairy and the mundane, mortal world.
Shakespeare probably borrowed the name Titania from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, where it is used by Ovid to describe Diana, as well as other “Daughters of the Titans,” including Circe, Hecate, Latona and Pyrrha. Each of these has associations to night, shadow, magic and initiation. The name can also mean “mighty one,” and many literary critics associate Titania directly with Diana and her Nymphs.
Oberon comes from the French names Alberon (“elf bear”) or Auberon (“royal bear”) and was probably borrowed from the fairy kings of medieval French romance. It is also related to the German names Alberich and Aubrey (“elf” or “supernatural power”).
We know that names have power in the world of Fairy (remember Rumpelstiltskin?). Fairy nobility are surely clever enough not to share their true names willy-nilly. When we invoke Oberon and Titania in ritual, we are not calling on 16th-century literary characters – we are invoking the King and Queen of Fairy by those particular titles and for several reasons. The names have been in use for over 400 years and are familiar to nearly all native English speakers who ever sat through a high-school Shakespeare class. They also give us a Focus. Invoking the rulers of Fairy would be unwise indeed if we did not have some way to limit them. Using these titles binds the beings to the names and to the characteristics associated with those names. Oberon is the master of the wild places – passionate and swift to anger, to punish and to forgive. Titania is mistress of innocence; she is proud, a nurturer of foundlings and compassionate to the needs of mortals. While the king and queen are at odds, the natural world – weather, seasons, birth and death – are in chaos. Their reconciliation restores Order to the Worlds. The names may not have been part of English lore until the 16th century, but they have become part of the lore in the 21st. The names and the ancient laws of hospitality we invoke in ritual allow us to treat with these ancient beings on somewhat even ground.
Let us take a brief look at the play itself. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is dated to 1595–1596. The play was commissioned to celebrate the wedding of a nobleman and follows the love and conflicts of love on three levels: 1) the reasonable, political union of Theseus and Hippolyta; 2) the courtly, ancient, spiritual union of Oberon and Titania; and 3) the lust of two rash young couples lost in the woods and confounded by magic on May Eve. Though it was first performed at Midsummer, the main internal action of the play takes place on the eve and morning of May 1st. Upon finding the young couples asleep in the wood, Theseus explains the reason they are there (in various states of undress!):
“No doubt they rose up early to observe
The rite of May; and, hearing our intent
Came here in grace of our solemnity.”
-Shakespeare “Midsummer” IV.1.135-137
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of only three of Shakespeare’s plays not based on other literary sources (The Tempest, which also concerns Fairy, is another). The mortal characters are Greek – reasonable, stoic and law-abiding – until they are thrust into a very English forest on May Eve. The description of the woods, and the names of the minor Fairies (Peasesblossom, Mustardseed, Moth) are English, just as Oberon and Titania are based in British and French Fairy lore and Elizabethan court dynamics. It is only by crossing the boundaries of classical reason and losing themselves in the world of folklore that the lovers can truly find their hearts’ desires.
Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer, fertility and love. Oberon and Titania show us the majesty of a love that is ancient and new, proper and passionate. Love with the power to affect changes in the world. Love that overcomes pride and willfulness. Their relationship, while not always perfectly harmonious, has the courage and strength to forgive, to grow and to change.
Love and fertility come in many forms, not just the love/lust of young men and women on a warm spring evening. The world of Fairy is one of infinite imagination and possibility. Let us celebrate the many expressions of love! Let us rejoice in the creative acts of art, craft, music and scholarship! Child or adult, gay or straight, married or single, on many individual levels, we can all find inspiration for love and fertility in the magic of the Perilous Realm of Fairy.
Bibliography
Baynes, Thomas Spencer and Lewis Campbell, “Shakespeare Studies and Essay on English Dictionaries”. New York: Longmans, Green & Company, 1896.
William Shakespeare Info. “Twelfth Night the Play by William Shakespeare.” william- shakespeare.info, 2005. Web. 27 Dec. 2010. .
William Shakespeare Info. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” william- shakespeare.info, 2005. Web. 27 Dec. 2010. http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-a-midsummer-nights-dream.htm
Wilde, Jane. Irish Cures, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions. New York: Sterling Pub., 1991. Print.
