"Bernard Sleigh (born in the 1800's) is best known for his “ANCIENT MAPPE OF FAIRYLAND, NEWLY DISCOVERED AND SET FORTH”. I found this map quite by chance (or fate) after having already written my elemental books, so it was to my great surprise upon finding out that I was able to recognize and navigate through every section of the map according to experiences that I had already been through in the faerie worlds.
I immediately knew what each section referred to and I was able to accurately predict what I would find in the many areas of the map through having already been there.
This was perhaps one of the clearest physical evidences I have received that the locations I have been visiting exist in a real place which has been traveled by many others before me, and will also be traveled by many others to follow.
In Bernard Sleigh's “Guide to the Map of Fairyland” he writes: “these are real indeed to the eyes of faith, but from the unbeliever they hide remorselessly, showing themselves as mere trees and stones, rocks and rippling streams, and wild flowers, where you and I, and all of the faithful, will be enchanted with green-haired Dryads, with singing swaying Oreads, filmy-clothed, with wistful fairy maids of wood and forest, of stream and splashing fountain.”
To create a Map of Faerieland would be a most difficult and painstaking task, especially due to its many shifting, shimmering, and changeable tricky ways – so it is of great wonder that he was even able to at least attempt such a task as this and to succeed at it in such a way that I feel does it great justice considering the many limitations.
When I was traveling to these worlds, I would often jot down very basic map sketches of the locations I had been to recall them later – and several of them are so clear to me that I know them better than the streets of my own town. This is why I was so astonished upon seeing them perfectly depicted in his ancient map of the same realm.
Sleigh said: “for the use and guidance of future explorers it has been thought well to make some slight survey of the available paths in this land, where some tracks, though well trodden and seemingly familiar, yet vanish and re-appear – and vanish again in bewildering fashion – baffling and discouraging even to the most earnest traveler.”
You can find out more about my own faerie experiences with the map right here." - Jeremy Garner, Sky Gloria
An earlier version of the map:
"This map was done by mye hande
& finished on the daye of oure Ladye MCMIX - as a guide to alle
Children olde and younge, whose belief is in the pleasant dreams of
Faerieland." - Bernard Sleigh
To access a portion of an earlier Rosebank Fabric version of the map, click here.
To access a brighter color version of the full ancient map (though missing some important clues that for some reason are not drawn on this version), click here.
