The winter solstice is nearly upon us again, and this year many people in the Celtic pagan groups I belong to are asking how to celebrate this holiday in an Irish pagan way. This certainly presents some challenges as the modern holiday has(…)
Land Spirits
Having blogged about the daoine sidhe and alfar we’re on to the third part, the spirits of the land. This is an important one for me to discuss because I find a most people conflate land spirits with Otherworldly beings; most popular authors I know(…)
Essays in Contemporary Paganism
Editor: Trevor Greenfield
Publisher: Moon Books
Published: 2013
Synopsis: In this absorbing anthology twelve Pagan writers from across the globe offer a unique(…)
Mine Fairies
Mine Faeries This type of faery can be found all over Europe as well as in countries settled by European peoples, such as the United States. Called Coblynau in Wales, Kobolds(…)
The Alfar and the Fair Folk
I’ve mentioned before that the main focus of my practice are the spirits of the Otherworld and I honor both an Irish and Norse/Germanic(…)
Europe Before Rome
Full Title – Europe Before Rome: A Site-By-Site Tour of the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages
Author – T. Douglas Price
Publication – Oxford University Press
Published(…)
Of Recommended Reading List – The Short Version
I realized that while I did a post on resources for the Irish language and another on online resources for (…)
Daoine Sidhe – the People of the Hollow Hills
In my last blog I looked at the Norse concepts of the alfar and the related English elves and Icelandic huldufolk; in today’s blog we are going to look at the Irish daoine sidhe, the people of the fairy hills. This is a very complex subject and(…)
the Alfar, Huldufolk, and Elves
One of the challenges in understanding the Norse and Germanic material is that many different Otherworldly beings are translated into English as “elves”, just as many different Irish beings are called fairies. The Norse word Alfar appears in German(…)