Category Archives: By Land Sea and Sky

A Critical Look At The Secret Lives of Elves & Fairies

I know it’s been awhile since I did a book review and this actually isn’t one that I wanted to do, but one that I have finally accepted that I needed to do. So today we are going to take a look at John Matthews 2005 book ‘The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries’. I will preface this review with two things: I have no personal issues with Matthews work in general and have often used his Druid Source…

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An Poc Sí – The Fairy Stroke

One of the most feared weapons of the fairies was the fairy stroke or poc sí, sometimes also called the fairy blast. There are several modern Irish expressions associated with this term including ‘poc aosán’ which is a term for a sudden illness, ‘poc mearaidh’ meaning a touch of madness, and ‘buaileadh poc air’ meaning to be elfstruck or bewitched (O Donaill, 1977). In Old Irish this might be…

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Fairy Doors and Fairy Houses

There are two things that are trendy right now, although I wouldn’t say either is exactly new: fairy doors and fairy houses. The principle behind each is simple and how serious or kitschy it is depends entirely on the person making it. A fairy door is a small door, usually at least several inches high, that can be plain or decorative, and which is designed to be placed against a surface to mimic…

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Will o’ the Wisp

  The Will o’ the Wisp is an interesting thing to study, possibly a ghost or a fairy from one view and a swamp phenomena by another, one that may be explained by scientific means but whose folklore persists. There is debate even today about whether the Will o’ the Wisp is supernatural or a natural occurrence and explanations for it include both optical illusions as well as spontaneous ignition of…

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Di Chetharslicht Athgabála

Di Chetharslicht Athgabála

Fo chosmailius dorigne Finn húa Baiscne. In tan búi in fian oc Badamair for brú Siúire dodechaidh Cúldub mac húi Birgge a síd ar Femun ut Scotti dicunt co mbert a fulacht núadaib. Co teóra aidchi amin degéni friu. Isin tres fecht iarum norat Finn co luid riam i síd ar Femun. Fortngaib Finn la techt isa síd co torchair allda anall. A ndosreng fris a láim fritninnle in…

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The Story Behind Pagan Portals Fairy Witchcraft

Every book that’s written has a story about the motivation behind it’s writing, and this is the story behind Pagan Portals Fairy Witchcraft.

In 2013 I was on social media one day and I stumbled across a link on a page which purported to discuss ‘Faerie Witchcraft’. Clicking on it showed a convoluted and confusing hodge-podge of paragraphs that wandered between nonsensical and silly – calling…

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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

Måran

They
are a type of being who come at night while you are…

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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; O hOgain however suggests the name is an oblique reference to the summit of Cnoc…

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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 either. When I was in high school I co-wrote an unfinished book with a friend and I was always writing poetry. But it’s also true that…

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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 a fairy, although she is often considered one in both historic and modern folklore.  

When we look at…

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