Meeting the apparitions on their own ground

Wed, 20 May 2026 13:23:42 -0400

Patrick Harpur, Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld

… I will be outlining a way of perceiving the world which, while it does not explain the appearance of strange images, renders them intelligible. It is a way which requires, first of all, not that we believe, but that we suspend disbelief, as in the enjoyment of a theatrical production; a way which asks us to foster what Keats called “negative capability–that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” In this frame of mind, we can meet the apparitions on their own ground, in their own twilight, rather than dragging them into the misleading light of day. We can follow where they lead, providing we are as elusive and allusive, as tricky and contradictory, as they are–as long as we are willing to be led out of our depth where, with luck, we’ll be found to be not drowning but waving.

The truth behind apparitions is, I fear, less like a problem to be solved than an initiation into a mystery; less like an investigation than a quest on which we must not be above taking tips from helpful old crones or talking animals in order to wrest the world-transforming treasure from the dragon’s cave. We may even have to abandon our idea of truth altogether if we are to find it.

I’m in! I’ve had this book on my to-read list for years but stumbled across it again in a library search for The Secret Commonwealth.

The disappearance of Mr. Robert Kirk

Mon, 18 May 2026 08:25:19 -0400

Andrew Lang’s introduction to The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies:

[The author, Robert Kirk] died (if he did die, which is disputed) in 1692, aged about fifty-one; his tomb was inscribed–

ROBERTUS KIRK, A.M.
Linguæ Hinberniæ Lumen.

The tomb, in Scott’s time, was to be seen in the east end of the churchyard of Aberfoyle; but the ashes of Mr. Kirk are not there. His successor, the Rev. Dr. Grahame, in his Sketches of Picturesque Scenery, informs us that, as Mr. Kirk was walking on a dun-shi, or fairy-hill, in his neighbourhood, he sunk down in a swoon, which was taken for death. “After the ceremony of a seeming funeral,” writes Scott, “the form of the Rev. Robert Kirk appeared to a relation, and commanded him to go to Grahame of Duchray. ‘Say to Duchray, who is my cousin as well as your own, that I am not dead, but a captive in Fairyland; and only one chance remains for my liberation. When the posthumous child, of which my wife has been delivered since my disappearance, shall be brought to baptism, I will appear in the room, when, if Duchray shall throw over my head the knife or dirk which he holds in his hand, I may be restored to society; but if this is neglected, I am lost for ever.'” True to his tryst, Mr. Kirk did appear at the christening, and “was visibly seen;” but Duchray was so astonished that he did not throw his dirk over the head of the appearance, and to society Mr. Kirk has not yet been restored. This is extremely to be regretted, as he could now add matter of much importance to his treatise. Neither history nor tradition has more to tell about Mr. Robert Kirk, who seems to have been a man of good family, a student, and, as his book shows, an innocent and learned person.

Legend has it that he was taken so that he could serve as chaplain to the Fairy Queen.

The Strange on jabel

Meeting the apparitions on their own ground

The disappearance of Mr. Robert Kirk