The subject of fairies is a complex one and with the amount of good, bad, and ridiculous material floating around online there’s a lot of confusion. Here are seven basic things about the subject that everyone should know:
The Word Fairy Is A Catchall Term – Although we use fairy as if it were specific the word is and has always been a generic term applied to a range of beings. Its history goes…
I’m about to say something very unpopular here. The current trend to refer to absolutely anything cute, odd, unusual, or beautiful as ‘fae’ is actively encouraging the disenchantment and disempowerment of the concept of fairies and the Otherworld. It also often leans into ableism, objectification, and exoticismNot a fairy but a deer at the Seneca Army Depot in New York. Photo © blmiers2 / Flickr…
I am occasionally asked about this so I thought it would be easiest to simply post a list here of all of my published and forthcoming work.
Articles
“Healing
Ritual for the Ocean Waters”, Circle Magazine issue 109 summer 2011
“A
Gaelic View of Samhain”, Celtic Guide, vol. 1 issue 10 Oct. 2012 “Celebrating Imbolc with the Family”, Air n-Aithesc, vol.1 issue 1, Feb.
2014
“The Witch, the Bean…
My yard is all over thorns,raspberry, rose, hawthorn,sweet white flowers in springbright red berries in autumnbut spring or autumn,full green or bare brown,the thorns remain constant.Don’t be fooled by thefair flowers, soft petalled, or the round, ripe berriesjuicy and tart on the lips;these are temptationsluring the unwary and the bold.One misstep, one stumbleone hand grasping too faror too…
One of my seven year old son’s favorite shows is Hilda on Netflix, so its safe to say I’ve seen all the episodes of both seasons repeatedly. Its a fun show with a great premise and lively characters. Based on a comic the animated show follows the adventures of the eponymous heroine, a young girl raised in the wilderness who moves to the city of Trolberg, and tangentially her friends. The show…
This year has been a chaotic one for many people, myself included. Last year I had debated archiving this blog but ultimately decided not to, however I definitely didn’t get much content up here, about on par with 2019 which was also a skimpy year for content. I’d like to think what did make it to the digital page was decent quality but obviously going from an average of 60 posts down to a bit…
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…
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…
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…
I often write about the more academic – let’s say objective – side of my beliefs and practices. That’s important because I strongly believe that we must ground our practice in something outside ourselves and having a firm foundation in structural, generational beliefs provides that. But equally important is the actual experiential side of spirituality, the parts that represent tangible…