Midsummer is upon us which means the dodgy fairy memes have emerged from the aether once again.Instead of debunking them individually I thought this might be more useful: a basic guide to spotting misleading fairy claims. By ‘misleading’ I mean claims that are either entirely invented by the author, make false claims about existing beliefs, or are worded in ways that intentionally give the…
What We Know About The Dagda From Irish Mythology
As part of my running series looking at what we know about specific Irish deities from the older mythology, today I’d like to take a look at the Dagda. A great deal can be said about him, so here I am only going to offer some of the ‘greatest hits’ so to speak. Nonetheless this will hopefully clarify some points. I will also note up front because of the rampant misinformation: Danu is…
What We Know About The Morrigan From Irish Myth
Continuing my series on what we know about various Irish gods just from the older mythology, today we’re tackling a complicated, but popular, one: The Morrigan. This will be a list of some things we know about her based on various manuscripts, not modern belief or folklore, which will offer a base to understand the older views on Herself.  …
Fairy Facts: Each Uisge/Water Horse
For this fairy facts we will be taking a look at the water horse, an Otherworldly horse with a taste for human flesh, among other prey. This being is found across a range of folklore but here we will focus on Irish and Scottish specifically. If you are interested in other versions you’ll need to research those cultures as well, but I’m trying to keep this relatively short and concise. …
Book Review: The Thorn Key
For as long as I can remember I have loved poetry. From Mother Goose and schoolyard rhymes to Emily Dickenson and Dylan Thomas, there is just something about the flow and rhythm of poetry that speaks to me. It allows more expression that prose. It speaks in imagery and emotion. And given my similar love of folklore and fairy tales when I saw that Jeana Jorgensen had written a book of poetry…
What We Know About Manannán mac Lir in Irish Myth
What we know about Manannán mac Lir from Irish myth (a partial list):- He initially appears as a king of Emhain Abhlac (an Otherworldly island) across various stories in the Mythic cycle- He is incorporated as one of the Tuatha De Danann by the 11th century (the Fenian cycle of myths)- The Cóir Anmann calls him a god of the sea- He helps the Tuatha De Danann to go into the sidhe and teaches…
What We Know About Flidais From Irish Mythology
Things we know about Flidais from Irish mythology:- her epithet is Foltchaoin "soft haired"- she has 4 daughters according to the Lebor Gabala Erenn: Arden, Dinand, Bé Chuille, and Bé Teite- Fand is also her daughter according to the Metrical Dindshenchas – her son is Nia Segamain according to the Banshenchus which also says her husband’s name was Adammair- same source says that she gave…
2024 year in review
As we are wrapping up 2024 I wanted to share what I’ve been doing this year, work-wise. For people who are interested in making a career of being an author this may give some insight into how that works for me. For everyone else it will just show you what I’m doing as someone for whom this is a primary career. ArticlesI had three articles published: “The Good Neighbors: Fairies in an Irish…
Recommended Fairy Resources
I’m asked fairly often to recommend resources for studying or working with fairies, so I’ve tried to put together a list of my own favourites. This is by no means an exhaustive list but I feel like its thorough and it covers all my preferred go-to options, from books to online material. My own focus is Irish and secondarily Scottish, so the majority of my sources here lean into that, but I…
Is It A Fairy?
Categorizing spirits is always a messy business, and also one that is rarely entirely agreed on. Nonetheless I think its helpful to have some general idea of what qualifies something as a fairy versus something else, especially given how nuanced this subject is. The simplest answer is that when it comes to folklore, generally if the storyteller or person who experienced it calls it…