Ritual for the Heliacal Rising of the Pleiades

Continuing with our series of rituals for the cycle of the Pleiade we have arrived at the next one, the heliacal rising of the Pleiades after their conjunction with the sun. This marks the time when the stars are once again visible in the sky just before dawn and occurs now between June 18th and June 24th. I have roughed out a ritual that people can use if they'd like, in line with the others in the series. You can choose to do it early in the day, close to when when the Pleiades are in the sky now; you may also choose to celebrate the night before, perhaps including some midsummer traditions like a bonfire into your celebration. My own preference is to celebrate on the 23rd into the 24th, the liminal time just on the edge of both the end of the Pleiades rising and also the end of the solstice alignment. 

  As I mentioned in my previous post on 'A New Holy Day Cycle' this holiday acknowledges the return of the Pleiades to the sky after a 6 weeks absence. I have been calling it the The Return of the Queens, or the Returning. My own personal mythology around this event ties it strongly to the previous holiday where the Queens travelled out into our world, symbolized by the loss of the stars from the night sky. Now we see them returning from their travels, leaving our world to return to their own. When the star-fire that is the Pleiades returns to the night sky the Queens have returned to their celestial Courts, figuratively speaking.  This ritual also acknowledges another sacred star, Aldebaran, part of the constellation of Taurus which has been tied to the mythology of the Pleiades in many cultures. Aldebaran appears to follow the Pleiades through the sky - hence the meaning of the name in Arabic - but I call it the Hunter, after one of the liminal Gods in fairy witchcraft. In this case of course he isn't hunting the 7 queens but protecting them as they travel across the sky. 

 I have tried to keep this ritual fairly similar in outline and flow to the other ones, to help with the continuity. I will use a similar format in all of the rituals for this series.   

Ritual
Find a good space open beneath the sky. If this is not possible due to weather concerns try to set up an altar near a window or perhaps arrange some appropriate artwork near your ritual space. However if necessary this entire thing can be done as a visualization exercise. My own outdoor altar for ritual work usually contains space for offerings, water in an appropriate container, candles, and a token representing the Fairy Queen I honour.
Bring some food to offer, perhaps honey cakes, and clean water to pour out.
Create sacred space as you see fit if you wish to. I usually do this now by moving counterclockwise around my space sprinkling water and chanting to open the way between worlds. There is no right or wrong here as long as you aren't warding out the same spirits you are trying to invite in, so go with whatever you feel most connected to as a method.
Invite in any Powers you wish to but remember this is not a ritual for named Gods unless they are explicitly associated with the Good People of one culture or another. This is a time to invite any goodly inclined spirits, allies, Fairy Queens or Kings in. We invite, we don't invoke, evoke, or compel. They either come as we call or they don't.
I might say something like: "I call to all goodly inclined spirits, spirits of the land, spirits of the air, Fair Folk who would be my friends, Friendly ones who aid my liminal path, Fairy Queens and Kings, My wonderous Lady ---, Queen of stone and well, I invite you all to join me here As I honour the journey Of the Queens and the Return of the stars" You can tailor this initiation as suits you and whatever Queen or Spirit you are calling.

After this is done wait a moment and observe. Use all your senses to note if there is any perceptible response to your call. This may be obvious, such as the wind picking up or the temperature changing, or it may be a more subtle feeling of presence.  Don't rush but wait until things feel settled before moving on.
Say: "Today the Seven Queens return to the sky
Moving from daylight to darkness Rejoining the stars, proceeding
The great guarding light of the Hunter*
Their bright blue fire a blazing torch
a beacon in the predawn night sky
a new cycle begins in the growing darkness
As they tread again the celestial path
The gates are open, may
 They be opened wider
The Queens look upon the land
May they bless what they see"

Put out the offerings you have brought and pour out a bit of water.
"I offer sweet honey cakes [or whatever you are offering]
And pure, clean water
To the Queens
To the Good Neighbours
To those beings that
would aid me
to the spirits of air
and of earth"

At this point if there is anything else you would like to do in your ritual - sing, dance, chant, divination, meditate, journey - do it. When you feel ready to say goodbye, say:
"The 7 Queens return to the sky
The Queens have travelled our world
And return again to their own
Standing in the space between
Our worlds are intertwined
As they have been and will be
Praise to the Queens,
May they bless us
A good word to the Fair Folk
May they cause us no harm"
Pour out the water that is left. Say
"May my words praise the Queens
May may actions show respect to the Good Folk
May my allies stand with me
May there be peace between me
And the spirits of the air and earth
May there be friendship between me
And all goodly inclined spirits."
Take down your compass/circle or sacred space however you normally would. In my case here I'd walk it clockwise sprinkling a bit of earth or leaves and asking that the space be returned to its former state. Take down your altar. Leave the offerings out. Perhaps take a moment to stop and listen, look, feel the energy around you. See if there is anything worth noting or any sense of presence. 

Ritual Feast
Part of my own celebration will include a feast or ritual meal. This is inline with some older practices that would incorporate ritual feasting into the celebration of holy days. My plan is to have a special meal featuring fresh vegetables and fruits, and ideally anything that could be wild gathered or otherwise harvested this time of year (obviously that would vary greatly by region). A portion of that meal will be set aside and then left out as an additional offering. I will also take omens about 12 hours after the ritual to get a feel for how things went and the wider energy going on.  

If the theories and previous experiences with these rituals hold true then the time of the heliacal rising should be one of intense energy and potential interaction with the Otherworld. Even though we are celebrating it as a time when the Queens are returning to the Courts, symbolized by the return of the Pleiades to the night sky, this isn't an instantaneous switch - just like the summer solstice marks a pivotal point where the daylight starts to wane slowly, the heliacal rising marks the point when the Pleiades begin to shift back into the night from the day but this is a process. They will not be fully in the night, from dusk until dawn, until the culmination in November.  

*Aldebaran 'the follower' also called the eye of the bull for its position in Taurus. Aligned in fairy witchcraft to the Hunter. 

Q & A With My Fiction

I'm still working on the next book in my fiction series, progress being slowed by several other contracted projects that have deadlines. But I thought it would be fun here to do a question and answer on social media for my fiction, to tackle any and all question people might have about my 'Between the Worlds' series.

The following may contain spoilers for those who haven't read the books or have only read the first couple.

Vyviane asks: Who is your favourite non-main character to write about?

My answer: Probably Jason although I must admit that Salarius aka Sal is also one that I enjoy a lot more than I expected to. That's probably why he keeps hanging around.

Mara asks: When will we get more about Allie's mom?

My answer: I'm currently working on book 8 which is an anthology that will include a story about Allie's mother. She is also going to show up in book 9 (which I hope to write this November) where we'll see more of her interacting with Allie and (hopefully) get a better idea of how the two courts interact with each other.

Izzy asks: Where is Ciaran from? How did he end up in Ashwood?

My answer: Ciaran is originally from Scotland but he emigrated in the 17th century after being forced to make a promise to leave his original home. He was in Ashwood before the Sundering and decided to stay even though he doesn't particularly like either the elves or the world of Fairy. He has always been the sort who lived largely in mortal earth and he dislikes the structure and rules of Fairy society. As to why Ashwood - he just liked that particular pond and that area enough to decide to settle there; it suited his needs at the time.

Vyviane asks: What are some things our elves that live in human world now really enjoying and they won't admit it? Like does Bleidd eat Fruit Loops?

My answer: Bleidd really enjoys driving cars and has a bit of an obsession with sports cars, which he won't admit because they are human made. He's actually much better with every aspect of automobiles than other elves and has even adapted some magic to them beyond the basic protection enchantments the Guard uses. Being careful about the iron he can handle most car maintenance himself and even manage some more complex repairs. 

Jessilaen has developed a love of human movies, particularly horror movies which he watches with Jason who is a huge horror movie fan. Otherwise he is still fairly new to human culture, which he finds a bit baffling and often confusing. He does admit to loving the movies but he doesn't realize humans see them, usually, as low budget affairs; he views them as 'art' and is impressed by modern human methods of storytelling which we would call b movies. He also has a significant obsession with christmas trees.

Izzy asks: What were Jess and his brother like as children? Were they children together?

My answer: Zarethyn was a very focused child who spent a lot of time working on his magical skill. He wanted to join the Elven Guard from a young age and put a lot of energy into working towards that goal. That ambition and drive is why he is now a captain. Jess has always been, well Jess. He is often easy going with things that don't matter to him but has an intensity of emotion that marks him as unusual among his peers. He is passionate in a culture that looks down on excessive emotional expressions. Jess as a child had more difficulty hiding his feelings and was prone to acting on impulse, something that he can still sometimes struggle with. He is fiercely loyal but it is his heart that drives him, whereas his brother is ruled by his head.
Zarethyn is significantly older than Jess and was an adult when Jess was born. This isn't unusual in Elven society but from a human perspective we might say that he was more of a father to Jess than a brother. Jess loves him unquestioningly and Jess is probably the most significant person in Zarethyn's life (because most of his focus is on his job).

Aleja asks: Are there any other half-elven people in town?

My answer: A few, such as the girl named Jenny mentioned in book 2 'Lost in Mist and Shadow'.  It's more common in Allie's world to see people who have one human parent and one non-elven fey parent because the elves are unlikely to spend more than one night with a person while they fey may form longer relationships or even marry humans, but there are cases like Allie's were a human and elf manage to produce a child together. Usually if the mother is human the child is raised in the human world and may not even know who their fey parent is, because of their approach to fatherhood. If the mother is elven however they would be raised in Fairy and, as Allie notes in the story, because the elves don't have any exceptions for these circumstances a half-elven person with an elven mother would be considered fully elven, while one with a human mother falls into a strange greyzone culturally and is often viewed differently.
Because the Sundering took place in 1914 there are also a small number of second generation mixed blooded people, who may have a single human or fey grandparent.

Izzy asks: What do Jess and Bleidd do when they are hanging out together?

My answer: When the two are alone together it varies between things that would be typical in Elven society or human society. Jess's comfort zone is the elven society things, which may include playing chess, reading, talking, or practicing various skills together (in their case mostly martial). Bleidd sometimes pushes him to engage more with human culture, which Bleidd enjoys at least superficially, and so they also watch movies together, walk around Ashwood, and sometimes play video games with or without Jason. Elves are suckers for games of skill of any type by the way.

Vyviane asks: Are you going to branch out from Between The Worlds and write some new fiction? If so, what are your interest?

My answer: I plan to do another book or two in the same world as Between the Worlds but with different characters. I also have some ideas for fantasy storylines. Ultimately I enjoy writing fiction and when this series wraps up, likely with book 9, I'm sure I'll have other things to write about.

Miscellaneous: I had several people ask about the characters musical tastes, i.e. Vyviane wanted to know if anyone listened to pop music, Mara asked if Jess listens to Taylor Swift, and Izzy wanted to know if Jason listened to Hatebreed. So to answer that in one place:

My answer: So, as it happens elves are not big fans of digital music or the radio because the tech in Allie's world is about on par with our world in the 1990's and the sound quality isn't good enough for them - basically their hearing is acute enough that even decent quality human recordings sound flat and false to them. You'll note the antagonist in book 7 complaining about the music in the club he went to. They prefer live music as much as possible. That said Jess likes music that is upbeat and which one can dance to, although he does generally prefer instrumental music. He's the sort that always listens to the lyrics and feels them if you know what I mean. Bleidd does like rock of any sort but prefers it live; he has been to several concerts by alternative and heavy metal bands with Jason and Syndra and he enjoyed the experience.
Jason likes heavy metal so yes we can say he listens to Hatebreed, in canon. But if anyone in these stories had a secret obsession with Taylor Swift it would also be Jason. He's multifaceted. 

Allie won't ever admit it but she feels the same way about recorded music that the elves do, for the same reason. Nonetheless at work she listens to the radio, a general pop station, which is the only station that comes in in Ashwood. Her own preferences are wildly eclectic and she can enjoy everything from classical to neofolk.

When is the next book coming out?

I'm hoping to have it done and released within the next few months. Its been taking a lot longer than I anticipated because of other obligations, and I apologize for that. It is getting done, just slowly.
I plan to write book #9, the next full length novel in the series, in November and have it out early 2020. 

Cautions For Pagans Who Want to Honour the Fae Folk

My friend Seo Helrune has recently been blogging about ancestor cultus and I recommend checking out the series of posts they have out so far. Reading the series and especially their take on the pitfalls of ancestor veneration has inspired me to write my own post here about the problems that can come up for pagans incorporating the Fair Folk into their practices or who are trying to set up the equivalent of a cult for them.

Some of these points may seem obvious or self evident but they are all things I have run across, more than once, from various people. Clearly those people would disagree with what I'm about to say. I'm saying it anyway. This can be understood though as my personal opinion based on my own study and experience, but I stand by them.

So, if you want to incorporate the Good People into your pagan or witchcraft practice, here's some things I'd be aware of:


Lack of Boundaries - I'm repeating Seo Helrune to start but I think this one is an important one. Many, many people seem to approach dealing with the Fair Folk as if they are harmless, kind, higher beings* who only mean us well and therefore should be given carte blanche in a person's life. And I'm sure there are certain types of spirits and even some kinds of fairies that do fall into the 'harmless and helpful' category. But not all of them by far. And it is really dangerous to just offer a blanket invitation to anything and everything Otherworldly because you think they won't hurt you and are all sweetness and light - or they won't hurt you because you are a witch and that somehow offers you special protection. It doesn't. Boundaries and warding are not only your friend but are absolutely essential.
However tempted you are to just freely invite in anything you perceive as a fairy because its a fairy, really don't do this. At the least treat them like you would a human being, with appropriate caution until you have a sense of who and what they are.

Animism =/= the Fairy Faith - Well, not directly anyway. I'm increasingly seeing this direct equating of the Fairy Faith and animism and its concerning. It's kind of like saying Witchcraft equals Wicca. This is of course partially true because the Fairy Faith can and does easily incorporate into animism. But animism isn't the exact same thing as the Fairy Faith and that's an important distinction that has to be made. Animism is simply a term for a belief in an enspirited world. The Fairy Faith is the system of beliefs and practices around fairies and the 'practices' part is an essential aspect to it; despite the faith part of the name it isn't just believing that Otherworldly spirits exist. You can say that animism is part of the Fairy Faith but the Fairy Faith isn't synonymous with animism. If you want to incorporate the beliefs and practices of the Fairy Faith into your paganism cool but just be careful not to blur the lines and start to assume that the practices are also a hallmark of animism. Animism is really diverse and not limited to the western European/Celtic fairy faith practices.

We Don't Worship Fairies - We may worship deities associated with Fairy, including the Tuatha De Danann who are also said to be Kings and queens of Fairy hills, but we don't worship fairies in general. I think part of this confusion may come in because we do offer things to them and give them a reverential respect. Or atavistic fear. We offer to them to keep on their good side and to avert potential harm. We offer to them not because we worship them but because they are owed a portion of the harvest, and also its a pretty effective way to appease anything that's annoyed. We respect them because they can and will impact our lives for good or ill if we don't. But we don't worship them the way other religions worship Gods. It's a nuance but its an important one.

Fairies Aren't...A Lot Of The Things People Say They Are - There's massive confusion about what the Good Folk are, which is fair because it's a confusing subject. I mention this because I see a lot of people who try to incorporate fairies into their practice by pigeonholing them into a specific narrow category, usually nature spirits, elementals, or some kind of earth angel. This is really problematic because then the person moves forward as if all fairies are only and entirely that narrow thing. Which of course they aren't. So another big tip to moving forward in creating a practice with the Good Folk is acknowledging the diversity and that while you personally may only or by preference interact with a small specific group there is actually a lot of other possibilities out there.

We Don't Rule Over Them - Listen I'm just going to be blunt here I am immediately skeptical anytime I see a person claiming to be in a position of power over the Good People. Especially if its implied that position is based on caretaking in some sense. They don't need us to care for them. The meme that goes around in december talking about christmas trees being based in a tradition of bringing a tree in to give a forest spirit a warm place in the cold is total crap. The people who talk about being in charge of fairies in a certain place or of leading a group of fairies? I'm not buying it. There are methods based in ceremonial magic to command, compel, or bind fairies that's true but that doesn't grant a human rank or inherent authority over the Fair Folk. There are also cases of humans with fairy familiars but again the human doesn't have authority over that being - in fact usually the fairy was assigned to the human by the Fairy Queen and one might argue they are there in part to keep an eye on the human.

Respect Matters - Probably tied into most of the other points above, but another big mistake I see many people making is a simple lack of respect. The majority of these beings aren't twee 20th century flower fairies or the goofy fairies found in modern kids tv shows. These are beings who have been shown a level of respect for thousands of years because they can seriously mess a human up. They won't all do that and some kinds are more benign than others as was mentioned but, many can and will bring illness, madness, maiming, or death sometimes for no other reason that it amuses them to. Take the Slua Sidhe for one example of that. If you want to interact with these beings safely on any level then respect is vital. Even if you feel like you have a group you deal with that is of the small harmless sort don't forget they aren't all like that and don't let your guard down or drop the company manners.

Effort Matters Too - Far too many people jump into fairywork with no deeper knowledge about fairies than the plot of their favourite young adult novel or game and they never go any further. They treat it all like a game as well, making things up as they go along based on what they personally like or feel like doing. The truth is if you as a pagan or witch want to seriously get into this it is going to take some effort. There are good books and blogs out there to be found (avoid any that hit on the points already mentioned) and there are good youtube videos and podcasts. If you are going to get into this any deeper than knowing what to do and not to do to keep from getting maimed then you are going to have to put effort in. Lots of effort. There's no other way.


Well, that's some of my cautions and suggestions anyway. Do with them as you will.


*I'm not going to compare them to angels here because I read the Bible and angels are really scary.

The Conjunction of the Pleiades: The Darkening

We are moving forward in the year and I am continuing to frame out a series of rituals for the cycle of the Pleiades. We have arrived at the next one, the conjunction with the sun which occurs around old Bealtaine (mid-May) - this year on May 14th. I have roughed out a ritual that people can use if they'd like. I'd recommend doing it during the day, when the sun is up as this is also when the Pleiades are in the sky now. 

  As I mentioned in my previous post on 'A New Holy Day Cycle' this holiday is the time when the Pleiades disappear from the sky for the next 6 weeks. I have been calling it the Darkening. My own personal mythology around this event is about the Queens travelling out. When the star-fire that is the Pleiades disappears from the night sky the Queens have parted ways and left their Courts. Maybe they are travelling on earth. Maybe they are searching for something. Maybe they are sowing change or strife or beginnings or endings. They each have their own agendas.  I call the 7 Queens by titles:  Queen of the Greenwood, Queen of the Wind, Queen of the Wave, Queen of Winter, Queen of Flame, Queen of Horns, and the Crane Queen. 

 I have tried to keep this ritual fairly similar in outline and flow to the other one, to help with the continuity. I will use a similar format in all of the rituals for this series.   

Ritual
Find a good space open beneath the sky where you can see the sun above you. If this is not possible due to weather concerns try to set up an altar near a window or perhaps arrange some appropriate artwork near your ritual space. If necessary this entire thing can be done as a visualization exercise. My own outdoor altar for ritual work usually contains space for offerings, water in an appropriate container, candles, and a token representing the Fairy Queen I honour.
Bring some food to offer, perhaps honey cakes, and clean water to pour out.
Create sacred space as you see fit if you wish to. I usually do this now by moving counterclockwise around my space sprinkling water and chanting to open the way between worlds.
Invite in any Powers you wish to. This is not a ritual for named Gods unless they are explicitly associated with the Good People of one culture or another. This is a time to invite any goodly inclined spirits, allies, Fairy Queens or Kings in. We invite, we don't invoke, evoke, or compel. They either come as we call or they don't.
I might say something like:
"I call to all goodly inclined spirits,
spirits of the land, spirits of the air,
Fair Folk who would be my friends,
Friendly ones who aid my liminal path,
Fairy Queens and Kings,
My wonderous Lady ---,
Queen of stone and well,
I invite you all to join me here
As I honour the journey
Of the Queens and
the Darkening of the stars"
You can tailor this initiation as suits you and whatever Queen or Spirit you are calling.

After this is done wait a moment and observe. Use all your senses to note if there is any perceptible response to your call. This may be obvious, such as the wind picking up or the temperature changing, or it may be a more subtle feeling of presence.  Don't rush but wait until things feel settled before moving on.
Say:
"Today the Seven Queens leave the sky
Leaving darkness for day
Separating to their own paths
Their powers burn as brightly
Whether they stand together or apart
But our world is fuller for their presence
They ride out for good and ill
Between worlds, between time
The gates are open, may
They be opened wider
The Queens look upon the land
May they bless what they see"

Put out the offerings you have brought and pour out a bit of water.
"I offer sweet honey cakes [or whatever you are offering]
And pure, clean water
To the Queens
To the Good Neighbours
To those beings that
would aid me
to the spirits of air
and of earth"

At this point if there is anything else you would like to do in your ritual - sing, dance, chant, divination, meditate, journey - do it. When you feel ready to say goodbye, say:
"The 7 stars have left the sky
The Queens ride across the land
Our worlds are intertwined
As they have been and will be
Praise to the Queens,
May they bless us
A good word to the Fair Folk
May they cause us no harm"
Pour out the water that is left. Say
"May my words praise the Queens
May may actions show respect to the Good Folk
May my allies stand with me
May there be peace between me
And the spirits of the air and earth
May there be friendship between me
And all goodly inclined spirits."
Take down your compass/circle or sacred space however you normally would. In my case here I'd walk it clockwise sprinkling a bit of earth or leaves and asking that the space be returned to its former state. Take down your altar. Leave the offerings out. Perhaps take a moment to stop and listen, look, feel the energy around you. See if there is anything worth noting or any sense of presence. 

Ritual Feast
Part of my own celebration will include a feast or ritual meal. This is inline with some older practices that would incorporate ritual feasting into the celebration of holy days. My plan is to have a special meal featuring fresh vegetables and fruits, fish, and ideally anything that could be wild gathered this early (obviously that would vary greatly by region). A portion of that meal will be set aside and then left out as an additional offering. I will also take omens about 12 hours after the ritual to get a feel for how things went, the wider energy, and the next 6 weeks.  

If the theories behind these rituals hold true then the time between the conjunction and the heliacal rising should be intense energetically and represent a time of changes, good or bad, of endings and beginnings, and of increased Otherworldly activity. 

Why Do We View Fairies As Nature Spirits?

It's a widespread idea at this point particularly in modern paganism and popular Western culture that fairies are nature spirits, that is that they are intrinsically bound to our natural world in some way. This idea is often simply stated as fact, implied to have always been true, or even argued as the older or more legitimate belief. In paganism its one aspect of a current trend I'm seeing to homogenize and simplify fairies by defining them as easily as possible, erasing all the nuances and complexity that we find in the actual folklore and beliefs. It's so pervasive that I felt it necessary awhile ago to make a Youtube video addressing the confusion between fairies and nature spirits but I thought it might also be good to write a bit about it.

Waterhouse, 'The Mystic Wood', public domain

I'm not telling anyone what to believe but what does bother me is seeing people claiming that the idea of fairies as spirits of nature is ancient, from a Celtic culture, or in line with folklore. Of course there are examples of beings that we might now classify as fairies from various cultures - I'm looking at you Greece and Rome - that are heavily tied into nature and might fit the description of a nature spirit. Dryads and Naiads are often mentioned, whether they should properly be considered nature spirits or not I don't know (I don't know enough about how they were understood in classical thought) and Genii Locorum [spirits of places] get tossed in there as well. The Norse landvaettir may also be considered nature spirits by some reckoning, although again whether they fit the more modern concepts of a nature spirit the way that popular culture envisions flower fairies or modern pagans muddle elementals into it is an open question.

So what then is a nature spirit? I don't think there is any one agreed on definition of this term which is used rather nebulously by different groups. The most basic view of course is that a nature spirit is a spirit of nature, that is a spirit which inhabits or ensouls any natural object or phenomena. The world around us then is full of spirits, large and small, which most humans are simply oblivious to. Nature spirits are sometimes confused with the Indian concept of a Deva (literally divine being) or with the early Renaissance idea of Elementals (beings existing within specific alchemical elements), but again both of these terms are not directly synonymous to nature spirits anymore than fairies would be.

What is a fairy? At its most basic a fairy is an Otherworldly being, although the term is often applied more to such beings from the Celtic cultural milieu than elsewhere. The word is also often used as an adjective, hence 'fairy woman' (bean sidhe), fairy godmother, or fairy hound to describe a more specific type of being that is from Fairy/the Otherworld. While the term in modern contexts has started to take on a very specific application in some areas thanks to mass media of a small winged female sprite its wider use is still inline with the older definition which can be seen across the last 700 hundred years or so. Many, many different kinds of Otherworldly beings that are known in folklore and anecdotes under specific names from Brownies to Urisgs, from Bean Sidhe to Each Uisce, would fall under the wider term of fairy.

While many modern pagans and some non-pagan academics may view fairies, in toto, now as nature spirits that is definitely not how they have been understood across history, although as noted some nature spirits do fall into the wider definition of 'fairy'. Rather from its inception in the 12th and 13th centuries the word fairy was applied to beings from the Otherworld (i.e. the world of Fairy) that is beings who were inherently not from the human world. Fairies could pass between the human world and their own world as they chose to, could be seen or be invisible, could - in fact were known to - change their habitations regularly. They were even known to emigrate across oceans with populations or individuals something nature spirits cannot do being bioregion specific. While they may defend natural locations or things like a tree or boulder this is never done because its a tree or boulder but because it belongs to the fairies, or put another way it isn't based on a desire to protect the environment generally but out of territoriality (the same as humans fighting over territory will defend what they perceive to be theirs). As often as we see stories of fairies defending a fairy tree we see stories of them striking a person down for building on a fairy road or fouling a fairy well; its the violation of their possession of a space not the natural world they are angry over.

So, how did this current Westernized view comes about? It was a confluence of different factors rooted in upper and later middle class media and occultism, which explains why the viewpoint is predominantly found today in popculture and modern paganism, but is less common in cultures that still hold older views and understandings of fairies. A concise timeline of the shift in how mainstream Western culture viewed fairies in relation to nature:

• Victorian Era - The Victorian era ran from roughly 1837 to 1901, encompassing the reign of British monarch Queen Victoria. It marked a period that included the end of the Industrial Revolution and many social changes including the growth of the middle class in both the United States and Britain. This period is notable for its romanticism of nature and the natural world, poetic appreciation of paganism and pagan themes, and its radical re-envisioning of fairies in art and literature. Victorian culture, divorced from actual belief in fairies, instead made them the fodder of entertainment infantilizing them, diminishing them, and gentling them in character and appearance, among many other things*.
• Theosophy - beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century Theosophy was the precursor for the 20th century New Age movement and drew on concepts from Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and Rosicrucianism. It forwarded an understanding of fairies drawn from a blend if contemporary cultural romanticism of nature (see previous point) and the 15th century alchemical classification of fairies as elemental beings. Combining these two concepts resulted in a view of fairies as tied to natural elements and strongly connected to the natural world. 
• Edwardians - following the Victorian era we move into the Edwardian, and we see a continuation of the shift in fairies in mainstream culture. JM Barrie's Peter Pan play and book are released during this time and the infamous Cottingley fairy pictures begin at the end of this era; both typify the way that modern popular culture has come to view fairies as small, fairly harmless**, and connected to the natural world in dress, home, and appearance. Immediately following this period we see Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairy books emerging which crystalize all of the previous influences into a single form: the fairy as small nature spirit.
• 20th Century Pagans - moving into the later 20th century we find these previous influences taken into different corners of paganism and appearing in diverse books. Fairies are defined as spirits of nature, often directly conflated to elementals using the classical alchemical system, and sometimes further seen as guardians of nature and guides to human evolution and right relationship with the earthly world. 

This modern view of fairies as nature spirits then is one that has been woven across the last 150 years or so initially coming from groups who did not necessarily believe in fairies but were indulging in a need for entertainment using fairies as the players on the stage, taken from there back into belief, then out again, then back in. This process has largely divorced the fairy-as-nature-spirit from the folkloric fairy, and even perhaps the actual nature spirits from the popular culture ideas of nature-fairies. 

Ultimately we can perhaps argue that some fairies are nature spirits, given how loose the definitions of both terms are, but it's an egregious oversimplification to say that all fairies are spirits of nature. We can also say that people who are seeking nature spirits and calling them fairies are getting nature spirits and this undoubtedly adds to the current muddy waters on the subject. But we must be very careful not to generalize out and assume that all fairies are nature spirits because some may be, or even because the ones that a certain author writes about or a certain person connects to are. The bulk of fairylore and modern anecdotal accounts from living cultures with active fairy beliefs show that these Otherworldly beings are not directly tied to the natural world but are travellers who come and go here.

The best way to understand fairies is to look to the living cultures the beliefs come from. Much of what we have as mainstream or popculture beliefs, while not necessarily useless, must be understood in context to really be understood. If you want to understand nature spirits, look to the world around you and work to connect to it; if you want to understand fairies look to generations of gathered knowledge, experience, and be very careful. One of these things is not like the other.


*Entire books have been written on this subject alone so I can only touch on it here but I suggest Purkiss's 'At The Bottom Of The Garden' or Silver's 'Strange and Secret Peoples' if the subject interests you. Suffice to say that some Victorian fairies did still have teeth and dangerous sexuality but the period saw a major shift in how the middle and upper class of America and Britain saw and understood fairies that has and still is effecting mainstream culture today.
** Tinkerbell was undeniably homicidal in the older source material but also unable to harm Wendy herself - she needed to trick others into doing it for her. Folkloric fairies would not have been so impotent in the same situation. There's also the famous scene where she needs the human audience to believe in fairies to bring her back to life.

Miscellaneous Q & A

It's been a while since I've done an open question and answer blog so I thought I'd start off 2019 with one. I opened my social media to questions and have gathered both the questions and my responses below.

Dana asks: How much does your fairy faith inform your fantasy fiction?
My answer: A lot, although fiction does carve its own course in places by necessity.

Aleja asks: Where does the name NicNevin come from? Is there another name for that Fairy Queen? Any relation to Nemhain (which I think is pronounced similar to Nevin, correct me if I'm wrong)?
My answer: There's no agreement on it, but the current leading theory is that it's from Scots 'nic naohim' meaning daughter of the little saint. Alternate theories do include nic neamhain daughter of Neamhain and nic cnàmhain daughter of the bones if I remember correctly. She is sometimes simply called the Queen of Elfame but doesn't have another proper name that I know of.

Bryan asks: [Tell me about] leannan sidhe?
My answer: Basically there are two sorts of Leannan Sidhe - there are the predatory kind which Yeats wrote about (and who have Manx equivalents) that inspire creative people but feed on their life force, and there are also the ones who are just 'fairy lovers' (which is what leannan sidhe means more or less). Even the non predatory ones aren't exactly safe as they generally at some point will want to take their human lover with them into their own world. When a human has a leannan sidhe of either variety it is very, very difficult to break that connection if you want to, although ironically it can be easily broken involuntarily as there are many accounts of people who loved their fairy sweetheart but broke a fairy prohibition around them, usually relating to speaking to others about their existence, and lost them forever. The human usually goes mad.

Robert asks: More a about the results of unions with Fairy Lovers.
Some of the families and clans that have that in their family history. There is a famous family of physicians that resulted from this sort of event.
And some good lines of fishermen from Selkies.
My answer: the physicians of Myddfai, yes. Descended from a Gwraig Annwn who then taught them knowledge of healing.
Generally unions of humans and fairy lovers can result in all sorts of things from death to babies. There's a lot of material in folklore that gets into this because its actually not at all uncommon - we see it Norse and Icelandic stories, we see it in German stories, we see it across the Celtic language speaking countries. the MacLeod's by some versions of the story have a fairy ancestress, as do many Irish families - off the top of my head including the O'Keefe's, McCarthy's, FitzGerald's, descendants of the Eóganachta, and O'Leary. Kelpies are known sometimes to have children with human women, as do selkies, and maran, and elves, and of course Daoine Sidhe.

Kris asks: Although I believe in, and have experienced the reality of deities often, I have never had an experience where I thought "hmmm that's the good folk/elves/brownies/etc". I DO have an open mind about it, but maybe not subconsciously, I don't know. So what about people like me? Am I missing out? Am I in more danger because I can't sense them? Should I not worry about it unless they make themselves known to me?
My answer: generally if there's no reason for you to reach out to them then its always better to leave well enough alone. I'd say its a good idea to have some general familiarity with them in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you need it, because you never know, but you don't need to worry about missing out if they aren't readily apparent to you. Some pagan traditions have actively incorporated the Good People, under various guises, into their worship and some people don't have a lot of choice about whether they interact or not, and for those people it is really important to know what they are and how to do what needs doing safely. But the best analogy I can make is that its like keeping bees, there are reasons people should do it, there are reasons people will do it, and there are perfectly good reasons never to do it at all, but its good to have some basic knowledge for safety around a hive no matter what because it has its dangers along with its positives. If that makes sense?

Patricia asks: Do you think when you work out in nature a lot (many hours per week) , and pay more attention to what goes on in the woods and gardens that it gets noticed by the Other Crowd?
My answer: I think that when you attune yourself to things that matter to the Other Crowd, they may take notice although that will vary (in other words there's no guarantee). It's also complicated because of the sheer diversity of the Fair Folk. But in general, yes, I think that its possible especially if you are making places for them in some sense.

Lucya asks: What are the similarities and differences between fairy belief in Cornwall and Ireland?
My answer: Overall very similar as I understand it, although Cornish belief is more focused on pixies and sees fairies as very small beings who are perpetually shrinking (also a Manx belief) where Irish lore sees at least some of them as the size of an average adult human. Both have stories of changelings, people led astray, fairy ointment, berries spoiled after Samhain, and fairies bringing either luck or bane.

Lesley asks: I would love to know more about living with the Good Neighbours, likes/dislikes, how often to leave food offerings, how to approach leaving offerings, how to keep them happy.
My answer: I generally make an offering once a week, although I may leave something out spontaneously more often. the biggest thing with that is to keep in mind that if you start a regular schedule they will expect you to keep it so I usually encourage people to ease into that, maybe start with holidays and special occasions. I generally leave them cream or baked goods, sometimes milk, butter, or fruit. I've found that they will express their likes and dislikes in less than subtle ways. there's no big ritual to it for me I just put it in a specific place each time for them and take a minute to focus on what I'm doing.

Mat asks: This one is based on the interview you did on weird Web Radio. Can you elaborate more on the idea that the fae don't like being referred to as the fae? I've never heard that but find it fascinating.
Also, I would love your take on the idea that the fae find the words "thank you" highly offensive.
Also, what's the primary difference between faery, goblin, ogre, troll, etc?
My answer: 1. There's a belief that the Good People don't like being called fairies which goes back at least several hundred years. Its tied into the idea of using euphemisms, although there's no real clarity on why calling them fairies specifically annoys them, just that it does, as illustrated in this poem from 1842 (its in Scots so I'll give it in english after):
""Gin ye ca' me imp or elf
I rede ye look weel to yourself;
Gin ye call me fairy
I'll work ye muckle tarrie;
Gind guid neibour ye ca' me
Then guid neibour I will be;
But gin ye ca' me seelie wicht
I'll be your freend baith day and nicht."
- Chambers, 1842
[If you call me imp or elf
I counsel you, look well to yourself;
If you call me fairy
I'll work you great misery;
If good neighbor you call me
Then good neighbor I will be;
But if you call me seelie wight
I'll be your friend both day and night].
the idea is pretty strongly ingrained even today. If you are going to get their attention by discussing them its better to do so using a name they prefer.
2. I think some of them find it offensive for the same reason some of them abhor the gift of clothing, because it implies they did a service for a human, even if they did. I'd also note though the bigger reason I generally recommend avoiding saying thank you is that semantically in english 'thank you' is an implicit acknowledgement of a debt owed, saying 'I'll remember this', and that's dangerous ground with fairies who may collect on that debt when you don't expect it.
3. Complicated. Many terms that we tend to assume are specifics are actually generics, including fairy, elf, and goblin. Fairy as I mention in another answer basically means 'Otherworldly being'; elf *probably* comes from a root word meaning white and also is used for a class of beings rather than one specific type; goblin's meaning is ultimately unknown but again is applied to various troublesome dangerous fairies. And to complicate matters further as you can see from the poem above the same being might be called imp, elf, or fairy in a single source (and we do see this even in anecdotal accounts). Trolls are a bit like this in that they have regional variants, but their folklore is a bit more cohesive; large, generally grumpy, turns to stone in sunlight. Ogres are man-eating giants.

Uailo asks: Do you think Yunnwi Tsundi(for others reading they are the "little people" of the Cherokee lore) classify as Fairies or more Nature Spirits? Or just "Other"? They seem to have some similar antics and qualities.
My answer: I tend to see the Yundwi Tsundi and the Nunnehi, as along the lines of a kind of fairy type being, much like the Jinn might be. I think cross-culturally there are a lot of similarities.

Donald asks: Could some cryptid encounters actually be fae?
My answer: I think some of what are called cryptids now would have been called fairies historically.

Shannon asks: How do you protect and support kids who are sensitive to this stuff?
My answer: I think listening and believing them when they talk about their experiences is very important. Also not blowing off their concerns or fears when they are expressed. You can start teaching children young how to ground and center, shield, focus, cleanse, all the basic good psychic hygiene things.

Melissa asks: What would America look like if we took the idea of faeries seriously?What is a faery, anyway? And should I be worried?
Help! My teenager lives in the Otherworld! How do I get her back to (my) reality?
what are shadow people and how can I defend myself and my family against them?
My answers: 1. Probably a lot better to be honest
2. A fairy, or faery (spelling has always varied widely), is a general term for a being of the Otherworld. The word has been in use since about the 13th century in English, originally as a term for the place and an adjective for things with the nature of that place.
3. Should you be worried about fairies? Possibly
4. Have you tried turning her socks inside out or burning mugwort around her?
5. Opinions on this will vary.For my own part I think that shadow people are more a category than a single thing. I think we can find human ghosts that interact in this form, negative entities that appear this way, and also some fairies that can present as shadow people. Because they inspire fear one way I have found to effectively deal with them is to stand up to them. Many spirits that feed on fear, again ime, will leave if you don't give them what they want. I've also used some traditional Icelandic runestaves against ghosts that have proved effective against shadow people as well, and iron seems to work well against negative entities in general in many cases. Unfortunately because they are so diverse sometimes it takes some experimentation to find what will work in a specific situation with them

2018 in Review

Its hard to believe we're already wrapping up 2018. Inspired by Benebell Wen's 'My 2018 Year in Review' post linked on social media I thought I'd do my own version here.
So, my 2018.

I travelled a lot this year!
In April I went to Ireland, visiting Ardagh, Sligo, and the Beara Peninsula. Part of that was for a Land Sea Sky Travel tour and it was a great experience.

June I was back for another year at the Morrigan's Call Retreat and in July I went down to Atlanta for the Mystic South Conference

Mystic South was a great conference. I had fun with my presentations and I was able to hang out with old friends and new.
Then in September I went to Iceland, travelling from Reykjavik up to Akureyri with the fabulous Land Sea Sky Travel on the Hiddenfolk, Witches, and Elves tour. I think this may have been the most accurately named tour ever.

Shoutout to my travel buddy Mel who lets me drag her to all sorts of random places. Level 7 friendship unlocked.

I wrote a lot this year as well. I had my usual blogging for Patheos Agora, but I also started blogging on Witches & Pagans, kept up with my personal blogging here (albeit scaled back a  bit later in the year) and wrote for my Patreon. I had two articles in an issue of Air n-Aithesc this year and one in Watkins Mind Body Spirit.

I contributed pieces to several anthologies including a chapter for a book (forthcoming in 2019) on Modern witchcraft, articles about the Morrigan and Brighid for an ebook on Celtic Goddesses, and had several pieces published in a really awesome Dagda anthology 'Harp, Club andCauldron: a curated anthology of scholarship, lore, practice and creativewritings on the Dagda' 

I wrote several books: Desire and Ashes (the 7th book in my fiction series), Pagan Portals Manannan, Pagan Portals Fairy Queens, and I'm just wrapping up a New Fairies Dictionary.

I had several books I wrote published this year, including the aforementioned novel Desire and Ashes, as well as Pagan Portals Odin, Travelling the Fairy Path, and Pagan Portals the Dagda.

And inspired by my friend Lora O'Brien I started making youtube videos and ended up with my own youtube channel.

I am of course leaving out all the boring parts and just focusing on the highlights here, but suffice to say there was also a lot of driving kids to school and doctor's appointments, celebrating things, assorted shenanigans, and general life going on. And of course that whole Pleiades thing.

Looking forward to seeing what 2019 has in store.

Witchcraft, Acceptability Politics, and Defiance

I've often said that I think witchcraft, specifically American neopagan witchcraft, is a victim of its own public relations. This is something we can see more and more clearly as different divides appear within the wider community, often over core issues of inclusion or exclusion. Why do these things happen in witchcraft which is at its core something that should be amorphous enough to hold a place for everyone?
Because, I think, we have forgotten where witchcraft came from, where its power is rooted.

There's been a push for decades, since the 1950's at least in my opinion, towards mainstreaming witchcraft and painting a picture of it as gentle and kind. Reimagining witchcraft as the domain of the white middle class, literally recasting the witch as a young and white and female - and of course beautiful. Harmless. And intending no harm either.
This idea has been pushed so hard and for so long that many of us have started to believe it ourselves, and there's a whole generation of witches now who see witchcraft as an aesthetic of young, beautiful, spooky (but harmless!) people. Looking like Wednesday Addams but with candles and a cat.

Maybe there's nothing wrong with that, and I have no issue with people whose witchcraft is gentle or based on lighting candles and thinking good thoughts. Witchcraft is expansive, it can fit these new people in.
But.
But we have lost and intentionally subsumed the other (and the Other for that matter) along the way. We have accepted a certain degree of trendy outsider but only so far, only what is still acceptable to the wider mainstream. We hate being embarrassed by those people*, the ones who make us all look bad by going too far, by being too queer, too ethnic, too macabre, too spirit-ridden, too dramatic, too big, too different, too outside the norm. Too much. Satan? Definitely off limits. Making pacts with spirits? So early modern witchcraft-ish. Necromancy? Too Hollywood. Oh mainstream witches may talk about all of these things repackaged into more palatable forms but the real gritty bloody practices no. And then there's the people who we politely segregate, the ones we suggest make their own spaces and get out of ours, the people of color, the transpeople, the gender non-conforming, people from specific cultures. Actual inclusion is too messy. Too intersectional and difficult and requires making space and letting people speak for themselves instead of speaking for them.

We talk a lot about spirits and Gods but we don't seem to actual live that talk. There's no teeth to the belief.

We have forgotten the power of feasting with the Devil and dancing with the Queen of Elphame.
We have forgotten the need to heal with magic when there is no money to heal with doctors.
We have forgotten the rage of the unheard victim who knows they will find no justice in any court and turns instead to a moonless night and thorns and clay.
Well...some of us have forgotten.
Because it's easy when we live in relative comfort and safety, when danger is an idea rather than a reality, to forget the visceral needs that drove and still drive people to feast and dance and heal and hex. It's easy to forget when we are part of the comfortable majority, in any sense, what it's like for those of us who are not, who live on the fringes. Who don't choose witchcraft for for gentle reasons but for survival and defiance. The disabled, the queer, the marginalized, the unwanted. And the people for whom witchcraft isn't a choice but an inheritance, a culture, a way of life. People for whom witchcraft is about power.
We need to remember all of these things.

Its time and past time to stop worrying so much about what the mainstream thinks. They will never stop trying to make us like them and they will never accept us based on our attempts to be just like them unless we sell our souls to their God. It's time to start living in our own power, to get our hands dirty and bloody again, to go out under that dark moon and feast and dance - or at the very least to accept that some of our witchcraft kin do so and that they are witches as much as anyone else is. To embrace defiance.
Acceptability politics won't save us. Witchcraft that is inclusive and wild just might.


*my usual disclaimer that no I do not mean actual predators or dangerous people here. They deserve to be shunned and should be

The Selkie Resistance Agenda

Today's post is meant just for fun (mostly) and is based off something a few of my friends came up with a while ago, the Selkie Resistance, which is in part about loving the ocean and hating modern society's aesthetic standards.
I'm trying to keep this humorous, hence the format, and what follows is entirely my own opinion. I do not speak for the entire Selkie Resistance ;) And yes I realize this isn't really an agenda per se.

Always dive deeply
Be true to yourself
Curiosity is a gift
Devour their hearts
Enjoy what you can
Find your flow
Go where the waves call you
Home is where you find rest
Its alright to let the water carry you
Joy doesn't need an excuse
Keep swimming
Learn your own tides
Making waves is okay
Nothing is really permanent
Oceans exist inside and out
Play whenever you can
Quests don't always end well
Rage heals; so does rest
Selkies of the world unite
Tears have power too
Value the worth not the weight
Water is always the answer
You are beautiful

Evolution of My Spirituality

I was asked on social media to talk a bit about my personal practice, so I thought a short blog about it would be a good approach. I've been pagan now for nearly 30 years and in that time my approach to everything has changed drastically more than once so its interesting to answer this question now, knowing what I say will be different than what I would have said 10 or 20 years ago and what I might say 10 or 20 years from now.

When I first started out in this spirituality I was very young and mostly modeling my practice from what I could glean out of available books. The result was a very stylized, formal, and rigid structure. At first I would follow a book exactly to make sure I was doing it correctly, dog-earing pages so I could flip between sections as I performed each part of a ritual or spell. Later as I shifted into a more reconstructionist approach I became more comfortable innovating but I carried forward a sense that a good ritual or even spell needed formality and rigidity. This was exacerbated as I joined Druidic groups which also focused on very formal, complex ritual structures. When I later began exploring Heathenry I was introduced to the idea that ritual could be simple and effective and this led me into a deep dive on older ritual structures including Celtic cultural feasting practices which were very eye opening for me*. In turn this influenced my personal approach to witchcraft and the Fairy Faith.

Ironically as I began to see the value and power in simplified ritual and to understand why we did each part of the structure - and so what in my own practice of it was actually essential and what wasn't - I ended up returning to a closer approximation of what I had done when I was much younger before I had stumbled across the idea of formalized spirituality at all. Nonetheless when I wrote down the outline of my own witchcraft practices in my book in 2013 I kept a slightly more formalized approach in there knowing that such structure had been comforting and necessary to me at one point and that especially when I'd been starting out on my path connecting my witchcraft to Fairy that more formal structure had its value. I mention that here because while I don't personally follow the same approach anymore I do still think that's a good place for people to begin, especially if they are coming from neopaganism more generally, and that aspects of that structure offer a level of safety my current approach does not.

At this point in my life my own magical work and spiritual practice is more spontaneous and fluid. I do love having set holidays to celebrate and I think holidays and holiday traditions are very important both in passing on beliefs and in creating connection between us and the Other (or Gods, spirits, ancestors, seasons, or what have you). Previously my holiday schedule was fairly reconstructionist in nature but as those who follow my blog and Patreon know that has recently been changing as I feel my way to a new cycle. Exciting times.

My approach to the rituals themselves is fairly simple and organic for the most part and usually just involves casting a compass with fresh water opening the rite and creating a space between worlds, calling in the spirits, making offerings, speaking to the spirits as needed, doing divination as needed, finishing with more offerings (think of it like welcome gifts and parting gifts), asking for peace between myself and whatever showed up as I say goodbye, then returning the space to its former state. I use this structure for holidays and for dark moon rituals although for dark moons I may also include meditation or journeywork. For spells or magic I would only go to those lengths if I was doing something major. Usually magic is a matter of simple actions and words, often involving yarn or fire.

I do have set things I say or repeat in these rituals and spells because words have power and repeated words gain power over time in my opinion. I'm a collector of old folk spells and charms and I also write my own and use them over time, and as well I've had things come to me in dreams or visions that I use. I also will use spontaneous speech when needed so not everything is old, traditional, or something I've been using for years. Sometimes the most powerful magic can come from words uttered in the moment when magic is being cast.

Daily practices are also generally simple and include small offerings and focused awareness. Focused awareness is a state of mind I try to have where I pay attention to potential omens, messages, just basically try to listen more than I talk if that makes sense. Talking to the spirits is easy but listening isn't always something people think to do, not really, so I have found it helpful to make an effort to throughout the day no matter how chaotic or hectic it is. And yes I often end up doing this in places like the bathroom, or while I'm cooking, or out walking, or while everyone else is watching tv. I make note of my dreams and if I remember them I write them down, as I believe that some dreams are actually the spirit wandering out and should be treated as real. I try to engage on some level with the beings who I feel are my allies or friends (if you will) as often as possible. I pay attention to the Otherworldly things I might See or experience and try to note patterns or trends as well as work, daily, to keep things in my general area and home smooth with Them.

I'm not trying to say any of this is easy, its not, and I want to emphasize here that this is distilled practice after almost three decades so please don't anyone use me as a measuring stick - there's many ways I could do better and things I've gotten pretty well dialed in now. I also, I've mentioned in other blogs about my particular fairy priestessing, don't necessarily recommend my personal path to anyone. Certainly the wider tradition of blending witchcraft with fairywork I do recommend which is why write about it, but the specific dedication and service to Themselves I advise caution with as it is consuming. I think some of that is reflected in my daily practices and I'm not even getting into the details of dietary things or personal taboos.

So this is where I am currently at with my personal practice. I feel like every change has helped me grow closer and deeper into my work and I am glad for that. In many ways I wish that I didn't have to stumble along creating this as I go but I have tried many other traditions along the way - and learned a lot from each experience - and I have never found anything yet that is suite right for what I'm looking for except what I do myself. My witchcraft isn't something that fits well in the ceremonial magic structure or the neopagan one that comes from it, its far closer to early modern witchcraft. My spirituality isn't easily fit into CR, Irish-focused neopaganism, or Heathenry although it looks to all three. My focus on the Good People is something I've only found, minus the religious overtones, in the traditional beliefs of Ireland and those people who were once known to be away with the fairies. Which leaves me with no choice but to forge ahead as best I can.

And so I do. And I change and grow and try to learn and do the best I can to honour the Other and to serve Them, and to preserve and continue the traditional beliefs respectfully.

I am not the same person I was 10 years ago, or even perhaps 5 years ago, and that is alright. As the saying goes that which isn't growing is dying. I'm sure I contradict things I've said and opinions I've had before, do things now I probably once told other people never to do, and that's also alright. To quote Walt Whitman: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.". Opinions change, people change, and we should never be afraid to acknowledge that.
I'm not the same person I was even 2 years ago - I went into the sidhe at Cruachan and I came out a different person, I stood on Tlachtga surrounded by fires and walked away a different person.
And I've learned to love the person I am now.

*I highly recommend Lady With A Mead Cup by enright for more on this

Celebrating a New Holiday

When I was in Iceland I had an intense personal experience, shared with several friends, which later had me reassessing the way that I approach celebrating holidays and the entire cycle of holy days in the year. This has led me to trying an experimental year where I am celebrating times that are especially in sync with the Pleiades because I believe these times are more important to the Othercrowd than I had previously realized. The first of these dates was on yesterday, 21 November, a time when the star cluster culminates or is at its highest point in the sky at exactly midnight. I had designed a ritual to honor this specific time which I had share don my Patreon recently. Last night I went out and celebrated it.

Full moon over Eyjafordur in Iceland 9/2018

Going out under the November sky last night in America was strongly reminiscent of being out at night in Iceland for me. It was unusually cold and windy, the air having that sharpness that it gets when the temperature is a good amount below freezing.

I had intended to make offerings of honey cakes which I have used before on major holidays but there was an odd amount of apple synchronicity going on during the day so after some divination work I ended up making an apple spice cake instead. There seemed to be a very strong apple theme all around which is something I will certainly keep in mind next year. As it was I moved out into the darkness of the late night carrying fresh water and apple cake to offer, searching the sky for the blue glow of the Pleiades. Since the full moon was also high in the sky I had some trouble finding the stars but I did eventually locate them and I set up in what I felt was a good spot.

I cast my compass using some of the water, not for protection but asking that the way between worlds be opened. I spoke the beginning portion of the ritual, inviting in the Otherworldly powers, and froze as the sound of bells and uncanny music floated on the wind. It was unnerving; the last time I'd heard anything like that when the Slua Sidhe was nearby and I can't quite put into words the way it makes you feel terrified and thrilled all at once. I stood my ground and went on to the next part trying to ignore the sound of shuffling footsteps in the leaves around me. After that section I did pause again to make sure there weren't any animals nearby as I wasn't eager to be surprised by - or surprise - any local wildlife. Suffice to say that it wasn't wildlife making the noises so I continued on with the rest of it.

At the very end as I was closing up there was a particularly large gust of wind then everything went very still. It felt good in that moment, the whole ritual felt good if a bit wild and certainly eldritch in the old sense.

My husband would tell me later that while I was outside our entire house shook in a way that made him think a branch had fallen on the roof although there was no accompanying noise with it and no damage or sign of anything amiss today. I had strange dreams last night and today has been an interesting day overall but again nothing bad just a bit more intensely Otherworldly than usual.

We are finishing out our new holiday celebration with a feast incorporating apples in as many ways as I can manage. Some of this will also be left out as an offering of course.

Overall I feel that this was successful and intend to celebrate it again next year. Now I will start thinking about what the next logical holy day would be and how to approach that one.

The Chilling Adventure of Sabrina - One Witch's Thoughts

Netflix recently released a new series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, based on the comic book series of the same name. I don't generally get into television much but I decided to give this show a try for three reasons: it's a sort of spin off of Riverdale which is one of my oldest child's favorite shows, pre-release buzz said there'd be a non-binary character in the show, and the previews seemed to depict an intriguingly dark story (I love horror). It came out on 26 October and had 10 episodes.

So, first a bit of content warning. The show is firmly in the horror genre in my opinion and it has graphic violence that might be upsetting to some people. This includes hanging/lynching, throat slitting, suicide, and cannibalism including of a child. There is also a fairly graphic autopsy scene, and some bullying of a gender non-conforming student which includes physical assault.

The premise of the show is that the main character, Sabrina, is a half witch and half mortal who is supposed to fully commit to the witch side of her nature but doesn't want to give up her mortal life and friends. In the show witches are clearly defined as supernatural beings who live much longer than humans and have supernatural powers, taking them out of the realm of reality and into fantasy. In this aspect it reminded me of some urban fantasy I have read. The witches in Sabrina's world are not in any way pagan or neopagan witches but are based solidly in Christian mythology, fashioned from historic diabolism and theistic Satanism with some early modern witchcraft elements, which I liked. The course of the season follows Sabrina's life as she struggles to deal with this conflict, while being pressured to conform to her family, manipulated by outside forces to follow a certain path, and while she is trying to hide her secret from her friends while also trying to help them in various situations.

The show is set in a timeless period that evokes earlier America of the 50's through 70's without quite being specific. It is styled well and has a great soundtrack which is one of the best I've heard for being perfectly fit to the mood and feel of the show. It also isn't afraid of humour, both subtle and more obvious, and there's a lot of popculture and comic references worked in. The show more generally has a macabre and snarky humour to it that I really appreciated and doesn't seem afraid of mocking itself or the topics its featuring. I particularly love the little idioms the witches use that reflect their own culture yet are mirrors of the dominant Christian one they are clearly created to reflect, darkly as it were.

Before we get further into why I like the show let's look at a few cons. There are a few scenes that include partial nudity of the actresses which I did not like in a show where we are supposed to believe these characters are 15 and 16 year old children. I'm well aware the actors are all over 18, but the idea that they are playing younger teenagers still bothered me in context. It was unnecessary. I also felt like naming the school's women's group W.I.C.C.A. was unnecessary and while I'm sure it was supposed to be some sort of joke I found it annoying especially in context. Generally the special effects were good but there are points where they are so bad it's obvious, such as the apple trees (in full flower and with barely any apples, during apple picking supposedly in late October?). There are also a couple plot holes that really nagged at me, I don't want to post spoilers, so I'll only offer this small example: how is there a list of well known familiars and named familiars in books if they die when their witch dies? Finally there are some glaring mispronunciations including Samhain and Macha, which I would have expected to be correct in a production like this.

So that's some of my criticism. You'll notice I'm not criticizing the Satanic/Diabolic elements and that's because those things don't bother me. Firstly because its framed as clearly fantastical - I mean seriously people come back from the dead - and I give fantasy a freer reign in creating its world. Secondly though and just as importantly because those elements, at least the ones that aren't pure fiction or commentary on fundamentalist religion, are based on history and folklore. The idea of witches marks that don't bleed? The idea of blood pacts with Satan? Cannibalism? Those really are from historic witch hunting texts and accounts of diabolism. There are witches who worship Satan as the fallen angel who challenged the Christian God and who follow a real world religion based on what is shown in the show, minus the murder and mayhem. There are other aspects that reflect early modern witchcraft and practices that people who identify as witches today may still engage in. 'Goblins' (aka fairies) as familiar spirits who take animals shapes to aid the witch? Blood pacts with spirits? Cursing ones enemies? All things we find in history and folklore.

In fact the show includes quite a lot of genuine folk magic and folklore which was a nice change from most witchy tv that's pure made up nonsense. I loved seeing all the yarn magic. Without the horror aspects the magic and witchcraft here is closer to my own than anything in Charmed or Bewitched and I honestly enjoyed seeing it, seeing a tv witch using eggs to divine if a curse was placed, and using protecting charms, and looking to little folk omens to foretell the future. I get that the witchcraft in this show isn't everyone's cup of tea, but quite frankly - just like tea - witchcraft is too diverse for any one flavor to please everyone. I don't get into the Satan worship or diabolism for myself (I take my tea without sugar) but I loved seeing the early modern witchcraft aspects and the folk magic. I also quite enjoyed the Latin and the occult references that are worked in.

Now as to what I liked. The cast is very diverse, and the show really emphasizes women and women's power. There's a refreshingly good number of people of color and particularly women of color in the show and two of these are significant and powerful characters (Roz and Prudence). The show embraces various expressions of sexuality from the expected heterosexuality to pansexuality and queerness which I loved; it even touches on monogamy and polyamory. There is one character who struggles with their gender identity and we get to follow that struggle through the episodes, as they slowly seem to embrace who they are. It challenges ideas about free will and choice in our lives and questions what it means to be a good person in an ambiguous world. In making the witches and their Church of Night just as rigid and religious as any Christian fundamentalist the show makes some very good commentary on the dangers of blindly following any tradition for its own sake and of trusting a higher power or authority figure that has its own agenda. The story arc is strong and builds well over the episodes and I think that the characters themselves are well developed within what is a fairly short amount of time. But most of all I loved the message - verbalized in the final episode - to "own your power" because that is something we all need to hear right now.

I'll finish this out by saying, for those of you who have watched the show - my two favorite characters are Ambrose and Hilda ;)

Rabbit Bone Divination - Developing a System

I little while I go I started feeling a nudge to create my own divination system with bones. I was driving home and the idea came to me, and I tried to push it aside because it seemed too complicated for me to take on right now, but the idea just kept lingering. I kept getting the idea of using rabbit bones* for this purpose and it just wouldn't go from my mind. I finally asked for some kind of omen and as I crested a hill a wild rabbit hopped into the road in front of me; I slowed and the rabbit looked right at me before slowly hopping back the way he'd come. My feeling with this was that he was trying to get my attention, but I wasn't totally clear on the purpose so I risked asking for clarification - and turned a corner only to have a second wild rabbit run next to my car in someone's yard for about 30 feet before breaking off.
To me this was a definitive sign that I should pursue this new divination method, even though I was very uncertain about how it would actually work.

I took a leap of faith and started moving forward with the project. I got a selection of small rabbit bones (from the feet) and I put them on my altar. I sat with them and meditated on how this should functionally work. My feeling was that it would be a system involving throwing bones down on a cloth, but nothing else was really coming to me for it. I decided that a good approach would be to ask for a bit of assistance.

Last night before I went to bed I repeated three times:
"Coinín, coinín, coinín
Speak to me truly
Coinín, coinín, coinín
Tell me what I need to know"

I woke up with the image of bones being shaken and thrown down in my mind, and these words:
"One for fate
Two for chance
Three for loss
Four for romance
Five for life
Six for death
Seven for the Fair Folk
Who steal your breath
Eight for dark
Nine for light
Ten for aid
Eleven for spite
Twelve for health and
Blessings felt
Thirteen for fate
Yet undealt."

Each line, to me, represents a specific possible answer to a person's future although I also think this charm could have other uses**. What I gained from this was the idea to use thirteen bones and throw them down onto a small cloth marked with a circle and then look at how they fall and how many fall within the circle. I will chant the charm before I throw the bones.

Meditating on this later today I also got the impression to burn one side of each bone, so that one side would be dark and the other plain. This could be used for yes/no questions or other points where clarification is needed as well as to indicate the overall tone of a result.


*I am using roadkill bones for this purpose. My general preference with bones is to use those that are found rather than, shall we say, otherwise acquired.
**another obvious use is as a simple omen where anything that appears in numbers would be counted and the count compared to that line of the charm

Miscellaneous Q & A

I thought it would be fun to do another question and answer blog today so I asked for questions on social media and here they are along with my answers:


Rei asks: On the subject of fairies, do you think there are wildly different beings in different parts of the world with different 'rules of engagement' as it were? I've had some experiences here in Appalachia that do not seem to hold to the same rules like for example apologizing/thanking seems OK even polite depending who you're dealing with.
My answer: wildly different no, but different yes. I think we can find beings throughout the world that might fit the wider definition of what we would call in English 'fairies', that is Otherworldly beings that come into our world and follow specific patterns of behavior including interacting with humans in specific ways. When it comes to the etiquette I like to compare it to human culture. If you travel around the world what is good manners in one place may actually be rude somewhere else, so it's always good to try to learn the local customs as it were.


Rebecca asks: Do you have any fairy resources that are not Irish? I have some Scottish based books that I got from your bibliographies but can't find much on Welsh or general British.
My answer: there's an older book called 'British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends, and Traditions' by Wirt Sykes. I would also recommend checking out this site http://www.fairyist.com/fairy-places/welsh-fairies/
For British I'd recommend British Fairies by John Kruse as well as the blog of the same name here https://britishfairies.wordpress.com/


David asks: In old Irish tradition the good people like the finer things which were available at the time; cream, butter, meat and so on.
If we accept for arguments sake that they exist in a different time realm, so to speak, then would you say that today's offerings should now also be the finer things available to us, such as champagne, fine wine, delicacies and so on?
My answer: I tend to think the times change but their preference for quality hasn't. But then I also think that the whole point was always twofold - to make sure humans remembered that the Good Neighbours were owed a portion, and that they expected the top of the harvest not the bottom. Or put another way I'd never risk giving skimmed milk


Maggie asks: Are there any references to Brighid and fairies?
My answer: Not that I know of but I will dig a bit deeper and see what I can find


Pamela asks: I know there's lots of theories as to why they dislike iron, l was wondering what your personal opinion is about why they dislike it so much?
My answer: my personal theory is that iron is very grounding and disrupts their magic. They avoid it because it reduces their ability to effect the world and control things and may also be directly harmful to them. Rev. Kirk theorized their bodies were partially made of energy and if he is right then a grounding material like iron might physically harm them. Although I'm starting to wonder if it may not be a more straightforward and literal allergy to the metal, but I also tend to believe they are or can be physical beings as much as tehy are or can be non-physical beings. 

Eliza Marie asks: What are your thoughts on comparisons between older accounts of encounters with the Gentry and modern day "alien abduction" experiences?
My answer: I personally think that alien encounters are modern interpretations of fairy encounters. I think that as humans stopped believing in fairies as real powers who were dangerous and could take people, and started to believe in dangers from other planets we start to see fairy abductions and encounters shifting into alien ones. Since fairies have always been known for using glamour to effect what humans see and perceive it would make sense that humans expecting outer space monsters would get them.

Kathryn asks:Do you have an suggestions for further research on Yeats and the Fellowship of the Four Jewels?
My answer: Not something I'm familiar with relating to Yeats, but looking into Ella Young's writings may prove more fruitful. If you haven't already I'd read Graf's book 'W. B. Yeats Twentieth Century Magus: An In-Depth Study of Yeats's Esoteric Practices & Beliefs, Including Excerpts from His Magical Diaries.'

Pamela asks: In the remscéla where the Morrigan meets Cuchulainn and has the one legged horse with chariot pole sticking through it's head, do you have any idea what that description is supposed to translate to the reader other than super otherworld weird?
My answer: The Tain Bo Regamna is one of my favorite stories. Often in mythology we see one eyed, one limbed beings as symbolic of cthonic forces - for example the Fomorians are described this way in some instances. We also see the corrguinecht or crane-wounding-magic being done in a position of standing on one foot with one hand behind the back and one eye closed. To me this indicates that not only is the horse clearly Otherworldly but it is also rather ill-aspected, either cthonic in nature or sinister. I suspect a person hearing the story told would have immediately identified this description with a being that is unsainly or otherwise of a dangerous Otherworldly nature, foreshadowing what happens later in the story.