Hawthorn berries under snow, Imbolc 2016
Divination
practices are found during all of the significant Irish celebrations and Imbolc
is no exception. Particularly the period immediately after the feasting portion
of the celebration was often used for divination (Estyn Evans, 1957). In some
specific cases relating to the casting of lots for fisherman or the reading of
the marks in the ashes…
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book ‘Fairies: A Guidebook to the Good People’Fairies and the DeadThe relationship and connection between the fairies and the dead is a complex one, and likely always has been. The human dead aren’t fairies, except when they are. Fairies aren’t the human dead, except when they might be. The places of the dead belong to the dead, except when those…
 The other day I was talking to a friend and I happened to mention that when it comes to spirituality I no longer believe in the concept of easy. Simple, yes, because there are aspects of spirituality and spiritual practice that can be simple. But easy, oh no, easy is one of those things that will trap you into laziness and inattention. More often than not the simplest things are actually the…
One of the most consistent threads among the folklore, and one that I’ve touched on previously in my articles on the Leannán Sí and Changelings, is also one that seems to endlessly fascinate modern people: fairies and humans as lovers. While some today like to scoff at the concept as the fodder of lascivious imaginations and trashy novels it is actually an idea that is found and reiterated in…
The idea behind today’s blog is pretty straightforward – its a collection of pictures of from my recent trip along with some related lore, history, myth, or personal stories. I had been sharing these in snippets on social media and decided to collect them all into one place here and share them with a wider audience. Display at the Bru na Bionne Visitor Centre, "Stone Balls"
"He was eating a…
Inspired by the always awesome Seo Helrune blog and today’s ‘Eight Sarcastic But Serious Tips for Necromancy’. I give you 7 snarky but Serious Tips for Dealing with Fairies
Since fairies are pretty trendy right now and people are paying mad money to become a certified Fairyologist – or Fairy Doctor, or Fairyist, or whatever today’s popular term is – I thought I’d save everyone some money and…
I’ve been thinking a lot about wolves lately. I’m in a place spiritually right now that is a bit contradictory – several events in Ireland were very empowering and intense for me and moved me into a deeper connection with the Other Crowd, but at the same time other things have become chaotic as a result. Not all of this chaos was predictable and the wolves are a good example of that. I have a…
there seems to be a lot of confusion about the apotropaic qualities of iron.So, let’s clear some points up.Iron is said in folklore to protect against a wide range of spirits and negative magics including [most of] the Good Neighbors and Alfar, Ghosts, Demons, and witches. Iron objects deter the majority of the Other Crowd who are averse to its presence and things like knives, scissors, nails,…
I’ve recently had Bridget Cleary on my mind and that along with some synchronicity on social media that brought the subject up in a separate context made me decide to write today about changelings. For those who don’t know, Bridget Cleary was a woman in Ireland who died in 1895 when her husband and several family members and neighbors burned her alive after several days of trying to ‘cure’ her,…
Sometimes people ask me why I don’t talk much about personal practice and experience with the Othercrowd, beyond a handful of anecdotes that I repeat and some fairly generic for-public-consumption stories. I’m pretty free with talking about experiences that occured with other people, about being pixy-led, or seeing fairy hounds, or items being taken and returned. And I will talk about the…