Morgan's Basic Ogham Cheat Sheet

Although there's no solid historical basis for using ogham as a divination tool its certainly popular to do so today and there is more than enough material to make it a viable system. Much like tarot, actually, there is so much that it takes a while to learn to really read ogham well. I highly recommend checking out the original source material, the Auraicept na n-Eces as well as modern books on the subject including Erynn Rowan Laurie's book Ogam Weaving Word Wisdom, John-Paul Patton's The Poet's Ogam and Skip Ellison's book Ogham: the secret language of the Druids for detailed study of the ogham.
  That said, over the years I have come up with what I call my "Ogham Quick Reference Guide" to help me out when I'm using ogham for ritual omens or divination. Due to a learning disability I've found the ogham especially challenging to learn and using this little guide has been helpful, so I thought I'd share it with everyone. Maybe it will help other people trying to learn to use ogham for divination too.

English letter: B  Ogham name: Beithe - pronounced: Beh     Literally "birch tree": new beginnings, cleansing, protection

 
   English letter: L  Ogham name: Luis - pronounced Looh-sh    Possibly from the Old Irish "lus", herb. In tree ogham represents the Rowan, "coarthann": Enchantment, mysticism, protection against magic                  

English letter: F    Ogham name: Fearn - Pronounced Fee-yarn    The alder tree, Old Irish "fern", modern "fearnog": support, protection during attack. Often associated with ravens and divination.  

English letter: S   Ogham name: Saille - Pronounced Sall-yuh    The willow tree, Old Irish "sail": healing, making plans, moving forward.

 English letter: N  Ogham name: Nuin - pronounced Noo-in   Possibly "weaver's beam". In the tree ogham associated with the Ash, "fuinseag": peace, creation, stability. A clear path. Bring things together.

   English letter: H  Ogham name: Huath - pronounced Oo-uh   Literally terror or phantom.        In the tree Ogham represented by the Hawthorn, "sceach" a fairy tree: the unknown, fear of the unseen, transition

 English letter: D  Ogham name: Duir - pronounced Doo-ihr    The oak "dair": wisdom, strength, protection, growth.

English letter: T  Ogham name: Tinne - pronounced Tihn-nyeh   Literally means metal rod. In the tree ogham associated with the Holly "cuileann": fighting, contention, weapons, fire, and smithcraft

English letter: C Ogham name : Coll - pronounced Kohl  Means hazel: divination, magic, and enchantment, knowledge. Also relates to wealth.

English letter: Q  Ogham name Quert, alt. Cert - pronounced Kehrt  Means "rags". In the tree ogham this is apple "ull": healing, restoration, renewal, nourishment

   English letter: M   Ogham name: Muin  - pronounced Mwin  Literally means "neck" or "back". In the tree ogham it stands for the vine "funiuin": release, compromises, focus, determination, confrontation, vengeance (basically think the good and bad sides of wine)

 English letter: G    Ogham name: Gort - pronounced Guhrt   Literally "field". In the tree ogham it is the ivy, "eidhnean": beauty, love, friendship, fidelity

  English letter: nG   Ogham name nGetal - pronounced Neh-tahl  Literally "wounding". Associated with the broom plant or reed "giolcach" in tree ogham: separation, warning, courage, direct action

 English letter: Str  Ogham name: Straif - pronounced Strahf   Literally "sulfur". In the tree ogham it is the blackthorn "draighean": discernment, cunning, focused protection, the thorn, inner strength, boundaries

English letter: R  Ogham name: Ruis - pronounced Roosh    Literally "redness". In tree ogham it represents the elder tree, "trom": anger, blushing (ie loss of face, embrassment), endings, completion, be realistic in order to succeed

  English letter; A   Ogham name; Ailm - pronounced  Al-ihm  The word and its meaning is uncertain. In tree ogham it represents the fir or pine, "giuis": hard work, effort. The need for caution. Integrity and good judgment are key.

English letter: O  Ogham name: Onn - pronounced On    Old Irish for "ash tree" or "stone". In tree ogham this is given as gorse, "aitenn": take action, movement, success, perseverance, relief

English letter: U   Ogham name: Uir - pronounced Oor   Literally "earth". Associated in tree ogham with heather, "fraoch": embrace your talents, plant now to harvest later, effort brings reward with patience

English letter: E  Ogham name: Edad - pronounced Ehd-ahd    The word and meaning are unknown. In the tree ogham it is the aspen, "crithach": endings, death, let go of what you've outgrown. Calm consideration. Trust in your ability to endure.

English letter: I  Ogham name: Idad - pronounced Eed-ahd    the word and meaning are unknown. Associated with the yew, "iur", in the tree ogham: see the big picture. Seek experience, know when to act and when not act. Bide your time. Don't avoid problems.

Complete List of My Published Works 2022

 Its been about 18 months since I last shared my complete bibliography so its time for an update. 

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 Feasa, and the Fairy Doctor in Irish Culture”. Air n-Aithesc, vol. 1 issue 2, Aug. 2014

     “Finding the Morrigan”, Goddess Pages, issues 26 winter 2014/spring 2015

     “The Morrigan’s Call”, Pagan Dawn, no. 194 Imbolc/Spring Equinox 2015

     “A Family Bealtaine”; “The Good Neighbors”, Air n-Aithesc, vol. II, issue I, Feb. 2015

     “The Morrigan and Sovereignty” Goddess Alive e-zine Spring/Summer 2015

     “Finding Flidais, Irish Goddess of Cattle and Deer”, Oak Leaves, Summer 2015, Issue 69

     “The Role of the Morrigan in the Cath Maige Tuired: Incitement, Battle Magic, and Prophecy”, Air n-Aithesc, vol. II, issue II, August 2015

      “Three Paths, One Purpose”. Call of the Morrigan, Oct 2015

      “Samhain: Myth, Mystery, and Meaning”, Pagan Dawn, no. 197 Samhain/Yule 2015

“Crom Cruach”; “Reconstructing Iron Age Ritual Feasting Practices”, Air n-Aithesc, vol. III, issue 1, February 2016

“Experiential Spirituality” Mystic Living Today ezine, April 2016

“Fairy Witchcraft Master class”, Spirit & Destiny, July 2016

“Enchantment in the Modern World”, Mystic Living Today ezine July 2016

“The Cailleach”; “Two Views of the Leannan Si”, Air n-Aithesc, vol III, issue II, August 2016

“Medb”, Air n-Aithesc, vol IV, issue I, 2017

“Scottish Fairies and the Teind to Hell”, Pagan Dawn, Spring 2017

“Fairy Witchcraft: Old Ways in New Days” Watson’s Mind Body Spirit Magazine, Spring 2017

“Tailtiu”; “Samhain; Tradition and Transition”, Air nAithesc, vol IV issue II, 2017

“The Fire Festivals in History and Myth”; “Cermait”, Air nAithesc, vol V 2018

“Fairies, Word and Deed” Watson’s Mind Body Spirit Magazine, Autumn 2018

“Seeking in the Mists: The Gods and Goddesses of Ireland” Pagan Dawn, Beltane 2019 no 211

“Fairy Queens and Witches” Pagan Dawn, Lammas 2019 no 212

“Queens of Fairy” The Magical Times, Oct 2019 – March 2020, issue 27

“Conceptualizing Fairyland” Pagan Dawn, Imbolc 2020 no 214

“The Divinity of the Tuatha De Danann”, Pagan Digest volume 01, May 2020

“The Power of Transformation”, Witch Way Magazine, Midsummer special issue 2020

“Fairies and the Stars”, Pagan Dawn, Lammas-Autumn Equinox 2020, no 216

“Sexuality and Gender Among the Good Neighbours: the Intersection and Inversion of Human Norms in Fairylore”, written for Revenant Journal 2020, cut, posted on academia.edu; FIS newsletter 2021

“Lugh, God of Many Skills”, Pagan Dawn, Lammas Issue, 2021, no 220

“Seeking in the Mists: Gods and Goddesses of Ireland”, Pagan Dawn, Samhain issue, 2021, no 221

“Queens of Fairy” Watkins Mind Body Spirit Winter 2021

“Imagining Fairyland”, Pagan Dawn, Imbolc issue, 2022 no 222

“The White Elephant in the Room: Racism and Diversity in Fairy Belief”, Witches & Pagans Magazine, issue 39, 2022

“Fairy Queens and Witches”, Pagan Dawn, Beltane Issue, 2022, no 223

“Finding the Aos Sidhe”, ev0ke magazine, forthcoming

 

Academic Papers

“Evolution of the Fairy Courts: from Scottish Ballads to Urban Fantasy” Ohio State University Fairies and the Fantastic Conference, 2019

“Álfar, Aelfe, and Elben: Elves in an historic and modern Heathen context” 3rd Annual Heathen Women United Conference, 2019

“Unseely to anti-hero: The Evolution of Dangerous Fairies in Folklore, Fiction, and Popular Belief” Hertfordshire University’s ‘Ill Met By Moonlight’ conference, 2021

"Fairies as 'Other': Gender and Sexuality Across Western European Fairy Belief" Folklore Open Voices: folklore for all, folklore of all conference, 2022

 

 

Short Stories

Chess: A Between the Worlds short story - 2017

Birth: A Between the Worlds short story - 2018

The Well at Carterhaugh: A queer retelling of Tam Lin – 2019

The King of Elfland: A queer retelling of Thomas the Rhymer – 2021

In the Fairy Wood: A queer retelling of Alice Brand - 2021

 

 Poetry (magazines)

 “Shining God”, Idunna 76 Summer 2008

“Five” Circle Magazine issue 107 2010

“Consumed” Witches & Pagans issue 24, 2011

“Hammer” Circle Magazine issue 115 vol. 35 #4, 2011

 

Anthologies

“Essense” (under the pen name Seabhacgeal) The Pagan’s Muse, 2003

“Secrets”; “Alone”; “First”; “After the Drought”; “Forgiveness”, Voices of Survivors 2009

“Oíche Shamna”, Pagan Writers Presents Samhain 2011

“Snowflakes”; “Midwinter Solstice Dream”, Pagan Writers Presents Yule, 2011

 “Connecting Past and Future: Modern Reconstructionist Druidism”, Essays in Contemporary Paganism 2013

“Past & Present”, Paganism 101, 2014

“Macha: One face of the Morrigan”, By Blood, Bone, and Blade: a tribute to the Morrigan, 2014

“Ancient Goddesses in the Modern World”; “Frigga”, Naming the Goddess, 2014

“Macha, Horses, and Sovereignty”, Grey Mare on the Hill, 2015

“Ancient Roots, Modern Faith”,  Pagan Planet: Being, Believing & Belonging in the 21Century 2016

“Guidise ocus Comairc” An Leabhar Urnaí 2016

“Macha’s Race”, The Dark Ones: Tales and Poems of the Shadowed Gods 2016

“Goddesses of Ireland: Beyond the Ninth Wave” Goddess in America 2016

“Pagan Parenting in the 21^st Century”; “The Morrigans: Ancient Goddesses in Modern Times”; “Taking the Road Less Traveled By”, iPagan, 2017

 “The Goddess Hidden in Folklore”; Seven Ages of the Goddess, 2018

“Interview with Morgan Daimler” Real Witches of New England 2018

“King of the Sidhe of Ireland: The Dagda's Role in the Aislinge Oenguso”; “An Analysis of the Dagda's Role in the De Gabail in t-Sida”; “How the Dagda Got His Magic Staff: The Power and Symbolism of the Dagda’s Club”, Harp, Club and Cauldron: a curated anthology of scholarship, lore, practice and creative writings on the Dagda 2018

‘The Morrigan’; ‘Brighid’ Celtic Goddesses 2018

‘What is Modern Witchcraft?’ Pagan Portals What is Modern Witchcraft anthology 2019

“Finnbheara”; “Nuada” Naming the God 2022

“Dawn” Kindred Kingdoms 2022

“Irish-American Folk Magic” American Folk Magic forthcoming

“The Herb in the Wood” My Say In The Matter, forthcoming

“The Irish Sidhe Through A Folkloresque Lens: Co-opting and Redefining Irish Folklore for a Popculture Audience”, Fairies: a Companion, forthcoming

 

Forwards

Faery by John Kruse 2020

Samhain by Luke Eastwood 2021

Parallels Between Romanian and Irish Fairy Lore and Practice by Daniela Simina forthcoming

Bones Fall In a Spiral by Mortellus forthcoming

 

 

Books Non-fiction

Selected Charms from the Carmina Gadelica, 2011

Selected Prayers from Volume 1 of the Carmina Gadelica, 2011

By Land, Sea, and Sky, 2011

A Child’s Eye View of the Fairy Faith, 2012

Where the Hawthorn Grows 2013

Pagan Portals: Fairy Witchcraft, 2014

Pagan Portals: the Morrigan, 2014

The Treasure of the Tuatha De Danann: a dual language pocket book, 2015

Pagan Portals: Irish Paganism; reconstructing Irish Polytheism, 2015

Pagan Portals: Brigid, 2016

Fairycraft 2016

Tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann: a dual language pocket book, 2016

Pagan Portals: Gods and Goddesses of Ireland 2016

Fairies: A Guidebook to the Celtic Fair Folk; 2017

Pagan Portals: Odin, 2018

Travelling the Fairy Path 2018

Pagan Portals: the Dagda 2018

Pagan Portals Manánnan mac Lir 2019

Pagan Portals Fairy Queens 2019

Myth and Magic of Pagan Ireland: a dual language pocket book, 2019

A New Fairies Dictionary 2020

Pagan Portals Thor 2020

Pagan Portals Raven Goddess 2020

Cath Maige Tuired 2020

Pagan Portals Living Fairy 2020

Pagan Portals Lugh 2021

Settling of the Manor of Tara 2021

Through the Mist a dual language mythology book 2021

Pantheons the Norse 2022

Pagan Portals Aos Sidhe 2022

Pagan Portals 21st Century Fairy 2023

Fairy: the Otherworld by Many Names forthcoming

Pagan Portals Freya forthcoming

 

Books Fiction

Shadow, Light, and Spirit, 2012 (poetry)

Murder Between the Worlds: a Between the Worlds novel, 2014

Lost in Mist and Shadow; a Between the Worlds novel, 2014

Into the Twilight; a Between the Worlds novel 2015

Heart of Thorns; a Between the Worlds novel 2016

Fairy Gifts: a Between the Worlds anthology; 2016

Dark of Winter: a Between the Worlds novel 2017

Desire and Ashes a Between the Worlds novel 2018

Wandering: a Between the Worlds Anthology 2020

Convergence a Between the Worlds Novel 2020

Into Shadow: The Tallan chronicles 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fairy Folklore in Pan's Labyrinth

 Continuing on with my series of fairy folklore in films and television let's look at the 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth, or 'El laberinto del fauno' [the labyrinth of the Faun]. This movie, much like Henson's Labyrinth, is full of folklore references which are worth discussing, as well as many references to classical literature and mythology which are beyond the purview of this blog. As with previous discussions we'll approach this bullet point style and talk about what we find in the movie versus what we'd expect in folklore. 
Spoilers ahead!

A very quick recap of the plot: a young girl named Ofelia and her pregnant mother go to live with her new stepfather who is a military officer trying to capture rebels fighting the government in Spain. Ofelia is led by a fairy into a labyrinth and meets a creature called the Faun who explains that she is the reincarnation of a princess who fled the world of fairy/underworld and was lost in the mortal realm. Ofelia is given three tasks to complete to return to the Underworld: retrieve a key, steal a knife, and (as is eventually revealed) spill a drop of innocent blood. She is initially given three fairies to help her accomplish this but when she tries to complete the second task she breaks a rule and eats some food after being told not to, resulting in the deaths of two of the fairies. In the midst of this her mother dies giving birth to Ofelia's brother. For the third task, which she hasn't been given in full yet, she is told to bring her infant brother to the labyrinth; when she does so - pursued by her furious stepfather - the Faun tells her to spill his blood. She refuses and her stepfather arrives, takes the baby, and shoots her. As she lays dying, her blood trickles into the labyrinth and the scene cuts to her in the Underworld where Ofelia is seen rejoining her mother and father who are sitting on thrones. The Faun acknowledges her as the princess.

   Let's look at the various points of folklore:

• Ofelia initially sees a small fairy which appears as a stick bug but transforms into a fairy later. This is certainly playing into more recent (19th/20th century) folklore that has merged fairies with insects in various ways.
• Ofelia is the only one who seems able to see the fairies. At various points in the film Ofelia is not the only one present when a fairy is near but she is the only one who can see them; even when her stepfather sees her talking to the Faun he sees only Ofelia. There is very old widespread folklore which tells us that the fairies can and do pass invisible to human sight but that some people, through natural affinity or through magic, may be able to see them. 
• The number three shows up prominently in several important places. While not as widely noted in relation to fairies as the number 7 is we do see three being an important number across folklore as it is here with Ofelia's three tasks and three fairy helpers. 
• Three tasks being required to win a prize or achieve a goal is something that in itself is sometimes found in fairylore or fairy stories. In some changeling folklore a person must do three things to retrieve a lost person, usually go to a fairy fort at night, grab the person off a fairy horse, and return all the way home without speaking (for example). 
• Fairy prohibitions are a vital point to Ofelia's second task, which she nearly fails. She must steal a knife from a being called the Pale Man  who sleeps at the head of a table full of food and is warned not to touch any of the feast. However she gives in to temptation and  eats two grapes, which immediately wakes the Pale Man who attacks her - she escapes only because of her three fairy guides, two of which are killed. This is, to me, an obvious nod to the longstanding prohibition across fairy folklore not to eat fairy food. Although in folklore the punishment for eating such food is being trapped in Fairy in this case the punishment is literal death but both are strongly resonant of the idea of being trapped forever due to transgressing this prohibition. 
• There is a strong connection in Pan's Labyrinth between the human dead and fairies. Ofelia is a human girl who is said to be the reincarnation of a fairy princess who died on earth; when the Ofelia is killed she reappears apparently as her fairy self in the world of fairy. When Ofelia is seen returning to the Underworld/Fairy her human mother, who had recently died, is there as her fairy mother. This is also reflected in the muddle between the Underworld and the Otherworld presented in the film. In folklore we see this same fluidity between concepts and the idea that human dead may become fairies and that some fairies were once human. 
• Ofelia's final task is to spill innocent blood to open the way between the worlds. She refuses to harm her infant brother but when her own blood is spilled she is transported to the Underworld. While some have argued the end of the film is a metaphor for death it can be read more literally as it plays out, with her being allowed to return to her true home. Ofelia's father, the king of the Underworld, tells her she passed the final test and won her reward by refusing to harm her brother and choosing to sacrifice herself instead. While not exactly true to older folklore this is certainly resonant with many fairy stories where a person is presented with a task which is actually a test of character and only choosing the morally 'good' action wins. 

   Pan's Labyrinth is a complex and nuanced film which leads viewers into a very dark place and presents an end which is simultaneously triumphant and tragic. Fairy folklore is woven throughout the movie, intermixed with myth, literary references, and imagination. The result is a piece that isn't itself folklore but which feels folkloric in its tone and storytelling. 

Are Fairies Physical?

 One of the most common questions I'm asked is if fairies have physicality, if they are tangible beings. This is rooted I think in the common idea perpetuated especially in new age and post-Victorian fairy belief that these beings are entirely energy or thoughtforms, creatures that can be perceived by the mind but lack physical reality in this world. So let's dig into this shall we?

Arthur Rackham

The simple answer is: yes, no, and maybe. 
Because, really, nothing with fairies is simple.

The longer answer is that yes we have many accounts across mythology, folklore, and anecdotes that establish fairies are (or can be) physical in the human world but we also have stories were they are decidedly not. And that's the part we need to dig into. 

In the oldest Irish myth featuring the Good Folk, the Echtra Condla, we see a woman of fairy appearing to Connla, son of the king of Ireland, and interacting with him in a physical way by giving him an apple and eventually taking him - physically - off in a boat. But she is also invisible and imperceivable to the other people around Connla. In the same way when we encounter a man of the sidhe in the Táin Bó Cuiligne he passes unseen and apparently intangibly through the army of Connacht but then is seen and interacts with Cu Chulain and his charioteer Laeg. Stories like that of Sadb and Fionn show the physicality of these beings as well, with Sadb - a woman of the sidhe - being rescued by Fionn and eventually giving him a son. In fact we have many stories across the entire corpus of material and across western European cultures of fairies of various kinds reproducing with humans. 
There are also an array of stories that features predatory fairies that physically kill a human, such as the kelpie or each uisce who appear in the form of a horse, tempt a human to ride them, and then run off with the human and drown them before eating them. The Scottish Baobhan Sithe are beautiful women who tempt young hunters to dance with them only to kill them, and by all accounts they are physical beings. And of course selkies - well known across areas from Scotland to Iceland - are very physical beings who may be encountered as saviors of sailors in storms or may be trapped into unwilling marriages when their sealskins are stolen.

In contrast however we do find a few stories of fairy encounters where the beings seem intangible or able to do things beyond the normal limitations of our physical world. The Slua Sidhe flying unseen in whirlwinds may be one example. Will o the Wisps could be another, where lights are seen moving in trees, leading travellers astray, but appear and disappear without any connection to physical reality. There are also many anecdotal accounts of people experiencing fairies in non-physical ways which must be considered and of fairies seeming to vanish at will. This area is a bit muddier as some of this may be understood as invisibility rather than intangibility, but I'll still offer it for consideration here. 

This may seem contradictory but its worth keeping in mind that the answer here doesn't have to be a simple yes or no. Reverend Robert Kirk writing about fairies in 1691 described their physicality as fluid and compared their nature to a condensed cloud, saying they could choose to be physical or choose to be intangible at their own will. Jacob Grimm relates a story of a German elf woman who passed through the knothole in a door as if she were smoke but once inside was fully physical, married and had children with the man who lived there, before leaving the same way she'd entered. He also described a method to capture Maran, or Mares, who were also known to enter through knotholes by blocking the knothole after they'd come in because while they could turn into something like smoke to pass through that small opening if it were blocked they would be trapped in their physical form. All of this seems to imply that physicality is a choice for the Good Folk, something that they can have or not have at will. 

Are fairies physically real? Yes, according to the bulk of folklore, and no according to a few stories, and maybe both if we listen to Kirk and Grimm. Like everything else with this subject the answer is complex and ultimately nuanced. 

Baobhan Sìth in Folklore vs my Fiction

 I recently gave a presentation 'Elves After Dark 2' in which I discussed several specific types of folkloric beings known to directly and intimately interact with humans. This included the Scottish Baobhan Sìth a being that I also include in my fiction and in the Q&A after the presentation I was asked about how the folklore differed from my interpretation in my Between the Worlds series. I answered the question then but thought this was a good topic to get into here as well, to offer an illustration of the way that fiction based in folklore differs from that folklore and why. 

main characters of Between the Worlds, art by Valerie Herron

To start I want to be clear that while there is very good fiction out there based on fairy folklore, no fiction that I have ever seen is 100% accurate to that folklore. Its just a fact that writing fiction means fitting the plot and that often means altering things. Some books alter the folklore so far that its basically only the folklore in the names beings used while others stay largely true to the source material. 
I have always endeavored in my fiction to be the second sort and stay as true as possible to the folklore I'm drawing on in my work which is heavily based on fairylore, however that said certain adjustments were made, so let's look at that here. 

Baobhan Sìth in folklore are somewhat obscure beings. The name itself means something close to 'dangerous female fairy'. We have one main thread of stories which are all almost identical, varying only slightly in the details. In these stories a small group of men goes out hunting in the woods and finds a small group of women just as the men have decided to seek shelter for the oncoming night. The group shelters together and one of the men provides some kind of music - singing or playing an instrument - while the rest dance with the strange women; one of the women lurks near the musician. At some point the musician notices his friends have gone oddly quiet or in some versions looks up and sees a bit of blood on one of his friends shirts and realizing the other men are dead or dying he flees. The women pursue him until he takes shelter among some horses whose iron clad hooves ward the fairies off. The next morning, the women having fled, the man goes to his town or village and gathers a group to seek out the now missing men; they find them all dead in the shelter. In most versions they have been drained of blood while in some their hearts have been removed. 
That is all quite consistent across the stories we do have. Now we also have some Victorian, Edwardian, and post-Edwardian era folklorists material that elaborates on these stories by adding detail. Particularly Mackenzie's 'Scottish Folk-lore and Folk Life' which more directly equates Baobhan Sìth to classic demons and eastern European vampires and also adds details more usually found with the Glastig, such as the wearing of a green dress to cover animal feet (goat hooves in the Glastig's case, deer hooves in the Baobhan sìth's) as well as claiming the Baobhan Sìth could take the form of a crow or raven. This has further been greatly elaborated in 21st century material which may or may not be pulling from Scottish folklore. 

Now in my fiction I do include a Baobhan Sìth, but I based her character on the older stories of these beings not the folklorists descriptions - so no green dress, or deer hooves*, or shapeshifting. She is, arguably, dangerous and in my fictional world Baobhan Sìth (under a phonetic spelling of that term) have a bad reputation because of the danger they present to everyone around them. I did take creative liberties, which I admit, in making my Baobhan Sìth something closer to a modern psychic vampire, feeding on emotions, rather than a traditional blood drinking vampire. I made this decision in part because it worked better with the story I was telling and also because the ambiguity of the older folklore, while implying a vampiric nature, doesn't explicitly state that the Baobhan Sìth drink blood rather than just kill their prey. I wanted a being that fit the broad strokes and worked within the framework of the folklore but also worked in the wider narrative I was telling so while I feel she is still strongly reminiscent of Scottish Baobhan Sìth folklore she isn't a template for that folklore or an exact replica of it. And while I generally make a lot of effort with my fiction to stay as true as possible to the source folklore there will always be places where things have to be nudged slightly one way or another to fit the wider story I am telling. 

When we have folklore in fiction it is always going to be along a spectrum of accuracy to that folklore. Some material will be much closer and some will be much further and many times how close or far the material is will be a matter of personal opinion. Anyone reading fairy folklore inspired fiction is best to remember though that it isn't folklore and shouldn't be treated as actual folk belief though and just enjoy it for the fiction that it is. 

*I do have a Glastig that shows up in one story which fits that folklore with the dress, hooves, and all. 

Its Time To Talk About The Anti-Irish Issues in That Popular Series

 I've said I would write this blog for a while, after discussing the subject in bits and pieces on social media so here we are. I want to preface this by saying though that this isn't an indictment of the author in question personally nor am I saying she did this consciously nor intentionally. This isn't me trying to bash the series; I'm picking it as one example out of many because its popular and because we need to have this conversation. This is me trying to get people to be more aware of a particularly insidious aspect of anti-Irish propaganda that has been around for centuries and continues because its almost a trope now, as much as the idea of Irish and Irish folklore as inherently fantastic (which Orla ní Dhúill discusses in depth in her article 'Do Fantasy Writers Think Irish Is Discount Elvish?).

So. Let's talk about the anti-Irishness of A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

First, establishing the Irish connection as it were, and no its not the folklore that may or may not have been used in the series. Or the use of Morrigan as a name for one of the secondary characters. Maas tells a tale of a world that has both mortal lands and lands of fairy and offers a map in the books which shows what the main areas of the story look like and are called. The map is basically a slightly reworked Ireland and Great Britain. Its not subtle:

my actual face contemplating the side by side comparison of these maps

Prythian is where the 7 fairy courts of Maas's story are, roughly everything north of Cornwall in Britain. Hybern is also ruled by the fae, but as we'll get to in a moment of a very different nature. Prythian seems to be a form of the Welsh Prydain, an old word for Britain; Hybern is obviously based on Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland. Like the map this isn't particularly subtle and I am not the first person to make this connection. So we have a map that is basically Ireland and Britain and a name for those places that is also, basically, Ireland and Britain. Further to the Irish aspect of this the king of Hybern (who is never named) has a nephew named Dagdan, one letter off from the Irish god the Dagda, and a niece named Brannagh, a name that is often said to be from the Irish word for raven. The warriors of the Hybern king are called Ravens, a bird that features prominently in Irish mythology.
So this gives us, effectively, fantasy pseudo-Ireland, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself.

However, then we get into the backstory and story of Hybern and its people. To recap the series: At one time humans were enslaved to the fae, but there was a war to free them. Hybern was adamantly against freeing the humans and when the king of Hybern was forced to sign a treaty agreeing to do so he and all his people killed every human in Hybern instead. They were subsequently cut off from the rest of the world, plunging their people into centuries of  poverty and misery during which they became convinced that the whole human slavery thing was a golden age that had to be brought back to restore their kingdom. To this end the king of Hybern first sent out an emissary who enslaved the Prythian Lords (Prythian being ruled by a group of lords rather than a monarch) and when she eventually failed he sent out his niece and nephew to reconnoiter the area where a wall separated the fairy lands from mortals - because he had a plan to enslave humans again. His emissary was cruel and vicious; his niece and nephew (twins who were in an incestuous relationship by the way) were equally so. All three end badly because of their bloodlust. The king uses a primordial cauldron to both remake people and to break through that wall but (of course) is ultimately foiled and prevented from enslaving humans again. 
Generally speaking the Hybernians are depicted as violent, vicious, amoral, and evil. They use poison as a weapon against other fae, use torture, delight in killing humans, and want to subjugate not only humans but the other fae who sided with humans in the war.

So at this point we have fantasy pseudo-Ireland that is full of people who are backwards thinking, stuck in the past, cruel, and stuck in poverty because they lost their slaves. Which, for scholars of history, is awfully similar to anti-Irish propaganda since the 18th century, except the poverty was blamed on laziness - although I'd argue that's a fine line here since ultimately its the implied laziness of the Hybernians that keeps them from doing the work the human slaves did previously. Anti-Irish material often featured the Irish as animalistic, lacking self control, drunk, lazy, and dangerous. This is so persistent and so ingrained in popular consciousness that anti-Irish stereotypes often don't even get a notice from people today and still appear in various forms in tv shows and movies (I'm looking at you Wild Mountain Thyme). The king of Hybern is even physically described as less beautiful and less regal than the Prythian fairy lords, which is inline with older anti-Irish stereotypes. While Tamsin and Rhysand, main fairy lord characters, are described as heartbreakingly beautiful and well dressed, the king of Hybern is described in A Court of Mist and Fury as 'ruddy', dressed more practically, average height, and 'blandly handsome'.

What we end up with then is a very popular series like A Court of Thorns and Roses where the fantasy pseudo-Irish are all the bad things in the world and everything that has to be fought against, the ultimate antagonists. 

I'm not saying any of this anti-Irish coding was intentional but the thing is its undeniably there and it reflects a long history of seeing Ireland and the Irish as backwards, primitive, violent, and dangerous. Its the same thing we see with Harry Potter's Irish character having a penchant for blowing things up or American Gods Mad Sweeney perpetually suffering and fighting. Its a reflection of the way that many people have internalized a perception of the Irish based on stereotypes that are inherently anti-Irish. 
At best its very sloppy, lazy world building with cringey results. At worst its leaning into hibernophobia to intentionally bring those things to mind with readers. We can and must do better.

Folklore in Hilda

 As part of my ongoing series on folklore found in mass media I'm going to take on the popular Netflix show Hilda. This is an animated series based on an existing comic/graphic novel that pulls heavily from Icelandic and related folklore. It is aimed at children and features a main character who is a child and so we go into this understanding that the folklore within the show has been softened for modern views on what is appropriate for children. 

Hilda is an entertaining series, so far having two seasons and movie which follow the adventures of the eponymous Hilda who is something of an expert in the magical and unusual. Where most people in Hilda's world fear the supernatural its Hilda's main focus and many of her adventures occur because she engages with something other people avoid. 
So that all said, let's dive into some of the folklore we find in the series:

• Elves -  Elves are one of the more important groups of folkloric beings found in Hilda, with the elf Alfar (literally named elves, which to be honest is a bit confusing) as an important secondary character. The elves of Hilda are extremely small, only a few inches tall, and effectively powerless (lacking magic); this is at odds with elves in wider folklore, even the places where they are described as small they are seen as powerful magically and able to protect themselves. However inline with folklore the elves are invisible to mortals unless they choose to be seen - and in Hilda's world the human signs paperwork. 
• Giants - Giants are a common being found within folklore and another which appears in Hilda as a blend of actual folklore elements and creative license. In folklore giants are usually dangerous and often described as somewhere around 12 to 13 feet tall. Hilda's versions are truly gigantic - one sleeping giant being mistaken for a mountain - but are only dangerous in that their size means they often unwittingly cause destruction. 
• Trolls - Trolls exist across a range of folk belief  sometimes as outright dangerous beings and sometimes as a sort of rough mannered fairy being. In most folklore its agreed that they turn to stone in the sunlight, with this transformation understood to be permanent. They sometimes steal human children and their characters can range across stories from vicious to very human-like. Hilda's versions of trolls follow some of this folklore, in that they are rough and dangerous creatures who turn to stone during the day, but they are different in that the stone transformation is temporary. Hilda's trolls initially appear almost animalistic but they are later shown to be intelligent beings with a society and relationships.
• Mara -  Folkloric Maran or Mare are night hags that cause sleep paralysis, night terrors, and sometimes death. Since this would obviously be a bit intense for a children's show the Mara in Hilda are mean teenage girls imbued with supernatural powers who cause nightmares and torment sleepers with their worst fears. 
• Nisse -  Nisse is the Danish and Norwegian term for a type of spirit that helps around a home or farm. Described as male and usually appearing with a beard and wearing a hat they live in the house and protect the home. Hilda's versions, as usual, follow the broad strokes of the folklore but with differences: there are female Nisse for one thing, and while folkloric Nisse will leave if offended in Hilda Nisse can be thrown out of a home by an angry homeowner. Also in Hilda all the Nisse are named Tontu, which is just the Finnish word for Nisse.
• Barghest -  In northern English folklore a type of giant monstrous dog which sometimes is said to kill people and other times is an omen of death. Hilda plays with this idea, featuring a gigantic black dog which is terrorizing the area but is eventually found to be friendly when reunited with its original owner. 
• Lindworm -  Lindworms are beings found across centuries of folk belief, specifically Norse, and are usually depicted as what we might understand as a sort of wingless dragon. They could be dangerous or malefic but were also connected to knowledge of medicine and the natural world. Hilda stays true to this idea although her Lindworm is friendlier than the usual run. 
• Changelings - showing up in the recent Hilda movie is the concept of changelings, something found widely across folk belief. In traditional folklore a changeling is a fairy or object exchanged for a stolen human; this is also what it is in Hilda. The main difference in Hilda's depiction of changelings is the method used to get the human back (usually very brutal in folklore) and the motivation behind the change. In stories a fairy is swapped for a human because the fairies want the human for various reasons, while in Hilda the swap occurs because of a supernatural being that decides her own child will be safer among humans.

Recommended 'Celtic' Resources

 So I am occasionally asked for good places to start studying Celtic culture or otherwise learn about the Celts. This would seem like a pretty straightforward request but actually its a really complicated topic; what I usually suggest is that people start with a specific culture rather than going to the wider, older idea of 'Celtic'. What many people mean when they say Celtic is a single homogenous or unified culture which they think is a monolith and therefore easy to study. However Celtic is actually a loose term for a constellation of cultures related by language, art, and mythic motifs which were at one point influenced by or grew out of a single source culture - that source culture is understood via archaeology and commentary from outside sources like the Greeks and Romans. Even that older source culture however wasn't actually a cohesive group but an array of groups that shared a root language. Historically there were a multitude of cultures labelled Celtic; currently there are 6 that are referred to as Celtic nations: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany. So studying this becomes a bit difficult. 

Its important to note several things here as well:
1. This is a field which is constantly changing and in which theories come and go. Scholarship is fluid not fixed, for the most part, and there are several perpetual fierce debates about things. A theory that may have been widespread 50 years ago may still be seen as valid or may have been entirely refuted - or may be argued over today. Bias is a factor that must be kept in mind in this field and new information must be incorporated regularly. 
2. Despite the way it is often discussed there is no 'Celtic pantheon' per se. The group of deities labelled as Celtic represent an array of beings from across the various Celtic cultures: only a few are pan-Celtic (ie found across all or most of the groups) and most of the cross cultural ones weren't historically worshipped together in the way that the idea of a Celtic pantheon. Its also vital to note that the handful of pan-Celtic deities were not cohesive between cultures - the Irish Lugh isn't identical to the Welsh Llew even if they likely share a common root and are seen as cognates. 
3. Celtic doesn't equal Irish. I often see people treating Celtic and Irish interchangeably and that is inaccurate. Ireland is one culture that falls under that Celtic language speaking cultural umbrella but not the only one.
4. There is a huge amount of romanticism around this subject, some of it harmless and some of it manipulated for nationalist, fascist, and supremacist ends. When studying this subject and especially when vetting sources extra discernment and caution is needed in my opinion because of this, particularly when considering sources outside academia. 

That all said I will offer a few recommendations here, with the caveat that these are based on my opinion of good places to start with the subject and my own interest in this is tangential. 

1. Rees and Rees - Celtic Heritage. A bit dated at this point, but a solid resource. 
2. Simon James - Exploring the World of the Celts. this isn't what I'd call an academic text but is a great intro to the subject and includes a large number of illustrations and photos. 
3. Koch and Carey - The Celtic Heroic Age. Focusing on literary sources across Europe, Ireland, and Wales this is a good book to get an idea of many of the sources people pull from.
4. Barry Cunliffe - The Ancient Celts. A wide overview of the subject. I would also suggest Cunliffe's work on 'Celtic from the West' with the understanding that is a debated theory. 
5. Sjoestedt - Celtic Gods and Heroes - definitely dated (originally published in 1949) but an easy accessible introduction to the subject and it covers all the highlights. Definitely don't rely on this one alone. 
6. MacKillop - A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Caveat on this one, MacKillop doesn't clearly cite his sources in the text and some of his material can't be verified outside his own book. So take this one with a grain of salt but it can be a good starting point and a good quick reference. 
7. Miranda Green - assorted titles. Green has written extensively about various aspects of Celtic culture. As with MacKillop she requires a caveat in that she is primarily an archaeologist and her material focused on that is strong but when she theorizes outside of that always double check her assertions which can be creative. 

Goblins

 One of the more well-known types of fairy, by name at least, are goblins but many people are vague on what exactly goblins are. So today lets take a look at goblins, what they are, and some folklore surrounding them. The following is an excerpt from my book 'A New Dictionary of Fairies'

The word goblin itself dates back to about the 14th century and is believed to possibly come from the Latin Gobelinus, and to be related to the German Kobold; the meaning is given as an ugly fairy or devil (Goblin, 2016). Originally the word goblin was not applied to a specific type of fairy being but rather was used as a generic term, in line with the older uses of fairy and elf, to indicate a more general type of being. In Scots, for example, we can see more than a half dozen kinds of fairies which are described as goblins, from Gunnies to Whaups (SLD, 2016). The name goblin was used in earlier periods as a synonym for other negative types of fairies, such as thurs and shuck, both of which had connotations of maliciousness and evil (Williams, 1991). The prefix 'hob' was added in front of the word goblin, giving us hobgoblin, to indicate a goblin type spirit which was less negative and more benevolent; hobgoblins were inclined to mischief but also known to be helpful to people where goblins were not (Briggs, 1976). MacKillop posits that the word as well as the being were borrowed into Celtic belief from outsiders, likely from Germanic folk belief probably of the Kobold (MacKillop, 1998). The Irish Púca is sometimes described as a goblin, and goblins are often seen as equivalent to bogies. An array of subgruops of fairies are considered goblins or hobgoblins including the aforementioned Púca (and more general Puck), Bogies, the Fuath - themselves a general term inclusive of specific types - Boggarts* and Bogles, who are usually considered the more evil sort of goblins, the Welsh Coblynau, and Irish Clauricaun and Dullahan (Briggs, 1976; MacKillop, 1998). Even the usually benevolent Brownie is sometimes considered a goblin, or perhaps more properly a hobgoblin (SLD, 2016; Briggs, 1976).

When they appear in folklore goblins are generally described as wizened or smaller than the average human and unattractive in their features, ranging from grotesque to animalistic. In Rossetti's poem 'The Goblin Market' the depiction of the goblins directly relates them to animals describing them with whiskers, tails, and with fur (Rossetti, 1862). Dickens described them as small, with long arms and legs, and rounded bodies (Silver, 1999). These descriptions are typical of those found in older folklore as well where goblins are usually referred to as grotesque and ugly. Generally goblins are male and their physical descriptions reflect ideas closer to imps or devils than the usual fairies who appear fair on the outside no matter how dangerous they may be on the inside. This may reflect a belief that goblins, although a type or kind of fairy, were closer to or on the border of being demonic; this is muddy water at best as there was often a fine line between fairies and demons in the medieval period especially among the literati. Briggs suggests that it was particularly the influence of Protestant belief which edged the goblins into the category of the demonic as they directly equated them to 'imps from Hell' (Briggs, 1967). In fact imp is often given as a synonym for goblin, further confusing the issue. Specific types of goblins, such as the bogies, were known as shapeshifters as well and could alter their appearance at will in order to more easily deceive people. Because of their fearsome reputation many people were afraid of goblins, and even the generally more benevolent hobgoblins (Evans-Wentz, 1911).

Goblins were known to favor specific locations and might set up residence in a home; in one story a bogey takes over a farmer's field and had to be tricked into leaving (Evans-Wentz, 1911; Briggs, 1976). In Rossetti's poem they have their own market and a well worn path which is taken to and from it each dawn and dusk. Like many Fey goblins are usually considered nocturnal and are most likely to be encountered at night (Evans-Wentz, 1911). Goblins of various sorts might also be associated with wilder locations and with the ruins of former human habitations and were known to lead people astray, either as part of a frustrating but ultimately harmless joke or to the person's eventual death (Briggs, 1967). By modern reckoning goblins fall under the dominion of the Unseelie court and may be either solitary or trooping fairies, depending on what kind of goblin is being discussed (Briggs, 1976). Hobgoblins, however, are harder to be certain of as they are usually seen as more benign and can be associated with helpful spirits like Brownies.

There is at least one well known piece of more modern literature which refers to goblins, Rossetti's poem 'The Goblin Market' which I have written about previously. In the poem the goblins appear in a fairly typical form being deceptive, malicious, and grotesque in appearance. They play the usual role of a group of fairies trying to trick mortals, in this case by getting them to eat dangerous fruit. In the poem when the person the goblins are seeking to trick resists they become violent, which is also inline with the general temperament normally seen with them. Goblins play a prominent role in the film 'Labyrinth' where they are depicted more as hobgoblins, being somewhat dangerous and set against the story's heroine but overall more mischievous than actually malicious. 

Ultimately goblins are a difficult group of fairies to define, both a specific type of being and also a class of being. The word itself is just as ambiguous, the etymology uncertain beyond the 12th century, and the ultimate root unknown. The term goblin can be used to indicate a specific being which is small, grotesque and malicious or a broader category of beings that were generally described as 'imps' and ran a gamut from devilish to mischievous. When the prefix hob is added it indicates a more benign nature to the creature being discussed; Shakespeare's Puck is referred to as a hobgoblin in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. However Protestant influence did add a darker reputation even to the hobgoblin who were considered out-right demonic in some places. The only way to be certain of the usage of goblin or hobgoblin is to look at the context of the reference, however one can safely say that goblins were generally viewed as dangerous and to be feared, whatever sort of goblin was being discussed.

*boggarts may also be angered brownies and there is a somewhat fine semantic line at times between a hobgoblin and a brownie.

References:
Goblin (2016) Online Etymology Dictionary
SLD (2016) Dictionary of the Scots Langauge: Goblins
Williams, N., (1991). The Semantics of the Word Fairy: Making meaning out of thin air
Briggs, K., (1976). A Dictionary of Fairies
Silver, C., (1999) The Strange and Secret Peoples: fairies and the Victorian consciousness
Rossetti, C., (1862) The Goblin Market
Evans-Wentz, W., (1911) The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries
MacKillop, J., (1998). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology
Briggs, K., (1967) The Fairies in Tradition and Literature

The Fairy Folklore in 'A Boy Called Christmas'

 This is a 2021 Netflix original movie but I chose it for the second piece in my series on fairy folklore in movies/television because of the wider theme. It is a children's movie and a Santa origin movie (surprisingly non-Christian) but for all that it does have a good amount of older folklore and hints of fairy beliefs that are reasonably accurate. 

This blog will contain minor spoilers, so be warned if you haven't watched the movie yet. 

The gist of the plot of the of 'A Boy Called Christmas' is that Nikolas lives with his father in a kingdom that has lost all hope. Nicholas's mother died and his father is sent on a quest (along with other men) by the king to restore hope to the kingdom by proving magic is real and finding the fabled Elfheim, home (as the name implies) of the elves. Nikolas is left with his horrible aunt who badly mistreats him and eventually decides to leave to find his father after finding a hidden map to Elfheim left by his mother, who used to tell stories of a girl who spent the winter with the elves there (spoiler: she was that girl). Over the course of his adventures Nikolas proves to be a truly kind and giving boy and eventually finds the elves, the magic, and the spirit of Christmas, which in this movie is a sort of nebulous winter festival of joy the elves celebrate*.

So, on to the fairy folklore:

1. The elves are a hidden people, which is inline with older folklore, and at one point Nicholas is in the middle of their town and doesn't know it because he can't see any of it. At least not until he is shown how to. This is all actually really accurate to many beliefs about the Good Folk.
2. The elves are around 4 to 5 feet tall, live in a society much like a human one, and are both helpful and dangerous to humans. Again this is all fairly accurate to older folklore and honestly very refreshing to see especially in a children's movie.
3. Besides elves we also see a Troll and a pixie. The troll is large and dangerous, but not especially smart, and the pixie is human-sized, with wings, and a rather malicious sense of humour. The troll - given the wide array of troll folklore - is more or less what one might expect a troll to be like. The pixie, while I would quibble with the wings and ears, is at least in size and personality close to what one would expect. I did find the inclusion of a Welsh/Cornish pixie in what is otherwise framed as a northern European-esque story a bit odd but given how the whole of it was handled I'm willing to give it a pass. 
4. The pixie can only tell the truth. Now this is a debated point in fairylore and likely doesn't apply to pixies, as there isn't a tradition in the areas pixies come from of the Good Folk only speaking the truth, but it is a concept found elsewhere. So this one is a bit of a mixed bag as folklore references go and its taken to an extreme where the pixie must speak the truth even when its rude rather than the wider belief that the Good Folk don't lie but can be very deceptive. I'm still including it here though as its an aspect of fairy folklore not often mentioned in media. 
5. One of the elves holds a serious grudge against all humans because of the actions of a few and because of a hurt done by a human (unintentionally) long ago. This definitely seems to reflect the stubborn nature of the Good Folk. The reaction of the elf and actions she takes because of it are also quite extreme which is also very reflective of older folklore. Elves always tend to have extreme reactions when they react to things.
6. The humans kidnap an elf child. So this isn't fairy folklore obviously but I did find it to be a fascinating reversal of changeling folklore, where instead of the elves taking a human child the humans take an elven one, for nefarious purposes (as a prisoner to prove magic exists)
7. Elves have magic which is both benevolent and malevolent. This is another thing that often gets treated badly in movies and tv, where we see elves as either effectively magicless or as mostly able to do helpful things (think Tauriel's healing spell in The Hobbit for example). In this movie we see elves both healing as well as using magic in more negative ways to control or attack others. I enjoyed the nuance of it. 

So, overall I found the elves to be especially well done in this movie and was quite surprised that they were handled as well as they were considering its a children's movie which are usually the worst culprits for mauling the older beliefs around fairies (TinkerBell and Fern Gully I am looking at you). The overall personalities of the elves and pixie were also pretty much in line with what folklore would have us expect and I appreciated that. For what it is - a blatant Santa origin movie - its actually very good and surprisingly true to wider folklore around these beings. 

*okay that part was kind of weird to be honest but I'm not opposed to a depiction of an entirely secular Christmas

9 Fiction Writing Tips

 I'm just wrapping up my tenth novel and so I have writing and fiction on my mind which led me to deciding to write this today. The internet is glutted with writing tips, most of which are confusing and contradictory when compared to each other, so I hope that this attempt might offer aspiring writers some more practical suggestions than the usual run.

This is not meant to be business writing advice, most of which in my experience sucks the joy right out of the process of writing. This is advice for how to write good stories and still like doing it ten years later.

1. Write What You Want to Read - This is pretty straightforward advice but honestly its so important. When I wrote my first novel my friend Catherine Kane, who had encouraged me to give it a try, was the one who told me to write what I would want to read, and its advice that hasn't ever steered me wrong. If you don't want to read what you are writing why should anyone else? A lot of people will tell you to write to market, to avoid tropes, to write what's popular or going to be popular but ultimately you have to remember that you are part of the market too. If you love those tropes that other people say are tired then trust me so do plenty of other people. Everyone telling you that elves are overdone now? If you still want to read it then so do other people. Write what you want to read and you will find an audience for it. 
2. Research Matters - This is pretty obvious with non-fiction but even with fiction this is important. Some of the cringiest moments I've had as a reader have come from badly researched material in novels, whether its a book character supposedly from Connecticut talking about how 'new' everything there is compared to New Orleans (New Orleans was first reached by the French in 1690; Connecticut by the Dutch in 1614, for context), a book consistently referring to a town in Maine as a small town despite it having a population of 25,000 people (again for context 6 of the 10 biggest cities in Maine have less than 25,000 people), or books set in Ireland written by people in the US that have clearly never been to Ireland. Even in high fantasy take the time to find out how far a person can walk in a day or a horse can travel, or what you write is going to be unbelievable and not in a good way. And please if you are including foreign language material for a language you don't speak hire a native speaker to check it for you.
3. Beta Readers Are Essential - A beta reader is someone who reads the early version of your story or book and offers feedback on it. This can be anything from pointing out plot holes or weak characterization, noting areas where a story drags or moves too quickly, or suggesting points where the story is weak. Some beta readers will also read for errors in the text, or anything else you specifically request. Beta reader feedback allows you to polish a story and fix details that you may not be aware of because you are so immersed in the story. 
4. Don't Worry About Having a Perfect Draft - Some of the best early advice I got (from Dave D'Alessio if you were curious) when I started writing was to look at the first draft as a rough product that was meant to be fixed later and not an instant finished project. When we expect our first draft to be perfect we are setting ourselves up for problems and stress. Get it written and then go back and smooth things out, add or delete as needed, address plot holes or any other issues you have. A book (or story) isn't done when you finish writing that first draft, its only beginning so don't treat the first draft as if it should be flawless. 
5. If You Get Stuck, Try Something Different - This is something I discovered really helps me when I get jammed up in a scene - which does and will happen. Sometimes things just stop flowing or you lose that creative momentum, and its easy to get frustrated and give up or put a project on permanent hold. What I do instead is switch to another section of the story, or go back and read from the start, or even just stream of consciousness write for a bit. This may or may not work for you too (see point 7) but I do think its worth suggesting here because its easy to let that frustration completely derail us, just like its easy to start to see word count goals as all important. But ultimately its okay to delete what doesn't work and its okay to switch things around if you need to, or anything else that frees up that creative block. And in the end if walking away is what you need to do then do that - go watch a movie or take a walk. 
6. Define Success for Yourself - I consider myself a successful author. Do other people agree with that? I don't know and honestly it doesn't matter to me. There will always be measures of success applied by others that we don't meet. Always. That's life. What matters is if we think we've succeeded. What is your goal with your writing? Have you met it on any level? Then you are successful. 
   On a related note I highly recommend setting up a variety of goals for yourself and celebrating every success you have, big or small. Its great to be called a best selling author, sure, but its just as great to see someone loves your story, or see your name on a byline, or simply see a something you wrote out in the world. All of those things are success and all deserve recognition. 
7. Find What Works For You - As I mentioned in the intro there is a lot of writing advice to be found online and its often predicated on what worked for the person writing it. And the thing is I could tell you what works for me and you could try it - and be absolutely miserable because my writing process is not what works for you. And I've seen that so many times, where someone reads writing advice from a famous author they admire and tries to follow it and finds that it absolutely kills their desire to write. Because the process that works for one person can be absolutely counterintuitive to another. Do you need to plan out plot points in a detailed outline before starting? Do that. Do you write best off the cuff with only a general idea where its all going? Do that. 3,000 words a day? Awesome. 100 words a day? Just as good. It really is wahtever works best for you to get your story down.
   Ultimately we can't compare ourselves to other writers, we have to find our own way - and that means trial and error and work and failing and succeeding. 
8. Consider Sensitivity Readers - So, let's talk diversity. Yes its important (in my opinion) to include diversity in your writing but its so, so easy to mess that up because writing outside your own life experience is difficult to do well. Its worth considering sensitivity readers within any group you don't belong to but are writing about, although you must understand that a sensitivity reader isn't going to give you some sort of stamp of approval but rather will help you see areas that may need improvement. In other words a sensitivity reader is there to help you write more realistically about things you personally don't understand by pointing out places you may be reflecting stereotypes instead of reality, creating a caricature instead of a character, or leaning into race tropes. 
9. Content Warnings - if you plan to share your writing publicly and your work includes things that are common triggers for other people's trauma, such as sexual assault, suicide, disordered eating, you should use content warnings. These are just an easy way to signal to potential readers if a book might be something they shouldn't read. You don't need to and realistically can't content warning every possible thing that might cause an issue with someone but definitely make note of the common ones especially if they are unusual in the genre you are writing (ie you don't need to put a content warning for sex on a paranormal romance book where it would be typical content for the genre, but consider putting a content warning on animal death which isn't necessarily expected)

My final comment here isn't exactly writing advice but it is important. Once you put your writing out there for the public you will get people who like it and you will get people who don't. There is no perfect, universally loved novel or story because everyone enjoys something different. And that's okay. Do what you can to make your work the best it can be, listen to fair critique to help you improve, but don't let the unfair criticism pull you down. Like Dita Von Teese said: “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” and that's true of writing as well.

2021 Recap

 Hello everyone! 2021 is just about wrapping up and I wanted to offer a quick recap of what I've been up to work-wise this year, which has been a very tumultuous one for me (and I'm sure many others).

I had three articles published in 2021:
“Sexuality and Gender Among the Good Neighbours: the Intersection and Inversion of Human Norms in Fairylore”, written for Revenant Journal 2020, cut, posted on academia.edu; FIS newsletter 2021
“Lugh, God of Many Skills”, Pagan Dawn, Lammas Issue, 2021, no 220
“Seeking in the Mists: Gods and Goddesses of Ireland”, Pagan Dawn, Samhain issue, 2021, no 221

I presented  “Unseely to anti-hero: The Evolution of Dangerous Fairies in Folklore, Fiction, and Popular Belief” at Hertfordshire University’s ‘Ill Met By Moonlight’ conference

I wrote and published two stories in my 'Queering Fairy' series:
The King of Elfland: A queer retelling of Thomas the Rhymer 
In the Fairy Wood: A queer retelling of Alice Brand 

I wrote two articles for forthcoming anthologies which I hope will be out in the next year or so, one focused on Irish America folk magic and the other on the Irish sidhe in modern fiction. 

I wrote three books that will be out in the next year, including a high fantasy novel that's out with beta readers right now and the forthcoming Pantheons the Norse and Pagan Portals Aos Sidhe.
I had three books published in 2021, one through Moon Books and two self published:
Pagan Portals Lugh 
Settling of the Manor of Tara 
Through the Mist a dual language mythology book 

Additionally I have three books under contract with Moon Books that I will be working on across the next year. I taught several classes through the Irish Pagan School and I ventured into offering my own class with 'Elves After Dark' which looked at elves and sex across folklore. I also presented at several conferences and was a guest on a variety of podcasts and shows, which is always fun. And of course I've been blogging a few times a month and making fairy focused educational videos on Youtube, including a series focused on the fairy ballads. 

With 2021 almost over I'm looking forward to 2022 and the new projects in the works. I hope you all have a good new year and a better 2022.