I’ve been asked several times about what I’ve written on fairies by people looking into my writing on the subject. I finally decided it would just be easier to write a quick bit here about it. I’m including articles, presentations both on fairy witchcraft specifically and on fairies in general. I am not including the range of my blog material here or on Patheos Agora: Irish-American Witchcraft…
Euphemisms for Fairies
It’s been a common practice for centuries to refer to fairies by euphemisms, terms that are intentionally more positive than the beings being referred to. I’m going to start a list here which I’ll occasionally update of these terms and, where possible, the oldest known dates of their uses. This is a work in progress, if you have references to uses of any of these terms in specific dated works…
Book Review Kings and Warriors
Full Title: Kings and Warriors in Early North-West Europe
Editors: Jan Erik Rekdal and Charles Doherty
Publisher: Four Courts Press
Published: 2016
ISBN: 978-1-84682-501-9
Pages: 480 including bibliography and index, the bibliography starts on page 433
Synopsis: This book explores the representation of the warrior in relation to the king in early north-west Europe. These essays, by scholars from the areas of Norse, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies, examine how medieval writers highlighted the role of the warrior in relation to kings, or to authority, and to society as a whole. The warrior who fought for his people was also a danger to them. How was such a destructive force to be controlled? The Christian church sought to challenge the ethos of the pagan tribal warrior and to reduce the barbarism of warfare (at least its worst excesses). We can follow this struggle in the medieval literature produced in the areas under study.
Review: Continue reading…
Representation and Racism in Fairy Media
I am planning to write a full length article on this subject, however I wanted to offer a brief overview here because I feel like this is an important subject that deserves discussion. This represents my off the cuff thoughts on the subject, with the longer, citation-full article to come.I’ve spoken out against racism in various areas, from Irish paganism to Asatru to folklore, but one area that…
The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel
Full Title: Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel: Kingship and Narrative Artistry in a Mediaeval Irish Saga
Author: Ralph O’Connor
Synopsis: Irish saga literature represents the largest collection of vernacular narrative in existence from the early Middle Ages, using the tools of Christian literacy to retell myths and legends about the pagan past. Continue reading…
Plumbing
Blessings Darlings!
Yup, we have plumbing issues. Spent lots of time figuring it out, two trips to the hardware store, etc. When it became clear that fixing it would involve removing … Continue reading…
Sun moves into Virgo, Fern spends day sleeping.
Blessings Darlings!
I’m under the weather today. Slept most of the day. Had weird environmental and political dreams. In totally mundane stuff, … Continue reading…
Crab Rangoon Day.
Blessings Darlings!
It was a grand night for stargazing last night. Alas, I saw no meteors, but the temperature … Continue reading…
Busy busy busy
Blessings, Darlings!
Busy day today. Defrosted the big freezer. Organized shopping for the week. Made salmon piccata. Plan to make crab Rangoon tomorrow. Got propane delivery. Lawn care done. Loudly done. Still going thru’ … Continue reading…
Dark moon. Dark days. Dribble Dinner.
Blessings Darlings!
I had planned to defrost the freezer today, but life intervened. Had to go out to stores, had to cut the Continue reading…