Måran – Night Mares
The following is an excerpt from my new book ‘Following the Fairy Path’ which should be released in 2018. It will be the third book in my Fairycraft series. This excerpt is discussing one particular type of spirit being or fairy that comes at night and torments sleepers. The Nightmare, John Fuseli, 1781, public domain […]
Finnbheara – Fairy King of Connacht
Generally speaking we have more named Fairy Queens than Kings but we do have a few examples of named Kings as well. Finnbheara is one of the Kings of the fairies in Ireland who is known variously as Finvara, Finveara, Fionbheara, Fin Bheara, Fionnbharr or Findbharr. His name may mean ‘Fair Haired’ in Old Irish; […]
How I Became an Author
I was asked the other day to share the story of how I became an author, so today that’s what I’m going to talk about. I’ll be the first person to admit I never thought this is what I’d be doing at this point in my life, although I can’t say its entirely a shock […]
The Bean Sí
Following up on last week’s post about fairies of the battle field this week I want to look at the Bean Sí. The name itself simply means ‘fairy woman’ and is found in a variety of spellings including the anglicized Banshee. As we shall see though the Bean Sí may or may not actually be […]
Celtic Cosmology: Perspectives from Ireland and Scotland
Title: Celtic Cosmology: Perspectives from Ireland and Scotland Editors: Jacqueline Borsje (Editor), Ann Dooley (Editor), Séamus Mac Mathúna (Editor), Gregory Toner (Editor) Publisher: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies Published: April 1st 2014 ISBN: 0888448260 (ISBN13: 9780888448262) Pages: 324 including Bibliography. Synopsis: From the deep sea to the waters above the sky, from the world beneath our feet to the promised […]
Fairies of the Battlefield
In Irish mythology, particularly the Ulster cycle we see references to certain groupings of fairies that appear on the battlefield, although they are obscure figures. For example in this passage from the Táin Bó Cuiligne: “Crothais a scíath & cressaigis a slega & bertnaigis a chlaidem, & dobert rém curad asa bragit, co ro recratar […]
Oisín – Liminal Lord
One figure form Irish mythology that doesn’t tend to get as much attention in modern paganism is the Fenian hero Oisín, son of Fionn Mac Cumhail. Oisín falls into the grey area that many of the characters in the non-Mythic cycles may fall into, where he is not obviously a God but he is […]
Ljósálfar, Dökkálfar, and Svartálfar; A Brief Overview of Elves in Norse Myth
Discussing the Álfar is complicated because they appear in mythology as both one cohesive grouping and subdivided into more specific groupings. Often in Norse myth we simply see references to the Álfar, often paired with but distinct from the Aesir, giving us phrases like in the Voluspo “How fare the Aesir? How fare the Álfar?” and […]
Seeking Advanced Practice
I see a lot of people who are looking for more advanced material – and fair enough the market is glutted with beginner books that often enough repeat the same things over and over. People read one or two beginner books and then want to move on, to read that next step that will […]
Fairy Resource List
When it comes to studying fairy beliefs and trying to learn about fairies finding good resources can be real challenge. I’ve offered suggested reading lists before but this time I wanted to take a more multi-media approach. This is only a small list of suggestions, as a truly comprehensive one would take more space than […]
Art from Ivy on the Path
