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 I could fit in a blog.
Non-Fiction Books:
There are a lot of non-fiction…
People sometimes ask about the concept of purification and cleansing in a Celtic worldview, and like most Indo-European based cultures there did seem to be one. The idea that the world contains both energy that is beneficial to people and should be encouraged and energy that is harmful to people and should be protected against or cleansed from people seems to be fairly ubiquitous across cultures….
The idea for today’s blog was partially inspired by a discussion with a friend on social media that sprung from a quote I posted, from my book ‘Fairies’:
When you imagine what a fairy looks like, what do you picture?
For most people the mental image is strongly shaped by pop-culture and artwork, and these in turn are largely products of an idealized cultural aesthetic. Although Tolkien-style…
Cath Maige Tuired
1. Batar Tuathai De Danonn i n-indsib tuascertachaib an domuin, aig foglaim fesa ocus fithnasachta ocus druidechti ocus amaidecchtai ocus amainsechtai, combtar fortilde for suthib cerd ngenntlichtae.
2. Ceitri catrachai i rrabatar og fochlaim fhesai ocus eolais ocus diabuldanachtai .i. Falias ocus Gorias, Murias ocus Findias.
3. A Falias tucad an Lia Fail bui a Temraig. Nogesed…
One of the most significant Scottish ballads, from a fairylore perspective, is undoubtedly Tam Lin, which can be found under variant names and versions dating back to 1549. As eminent folklorist Katherine Briggs puts it “It is perhaps the most important of all supernatural ballads because of the many fairy beliefs incorporated in it.” (Briggs, 1976, p 449). An indication of the importance of the…
I often see people asking for recommendations for online accessible resources for the Morrigan, so I thought today I’d offer my personal suggestions. None of these are necessarily blanket endorsements but these are resources that can be found online, are free, and are worth reading. As with anything else in life remember to use critical thinking and to keep in mind that on this subject there can…
Consider this a bit of a crash course – or the cliff notes version – in fairy etiquette. Like anything else on this subject for every rule or guideline there’s an exception (see my last blog on eating fairy food if you don’t understand what I mean by that) but this offers the broad strokes. Before reading this its important to keep in mind that the Fair Folk in general are not humans and are not…
“And what you’ve not to do is this: bite no bit, and drink no drop, however hungry or thirsty you be; drink a drop, or bite a bit while in Elfland you be and never will you see Middle Earth again.”
– the Ballad of Childe Rowland
I’ve previously discussed the food of Fairy in the context of what fairies themselves eat but today I thought it would be interesting to look at humans in relation to…
My journey into Paganism is something I’ve talked about before, but I don’t think I’ve ever written explicitly about it here. Since there’s a blog theme going around taking on that idea I thought it might be interesting to look at it here.
Many people when you ask them ‘How did you end up pagan?’ have a straightforward answer – they found a book or they met a particular person. My own…
One of the most interesting Scottish fairies, to my mind, is the Baobhan Sìth (pronounced roughly Bah-van Shee). There are only a few stories preserved in folklore about this spirit, and they are fairly homogeneous in painting a picture of female fairies, usually appearing in groups, who seduce young men and kill them by drinking their blood. They seem to be members of the Fuath – generally…