Discerning Good Source Material

One thing that's important for anyone who relies, to any degree, on sources outside themselves for spirituality - or anything else - is being able to judge a good source from a bad one. So today I want to just run down a quick list of ways to vett sources of any type to decide how much weight you should give to something. Even if a source isn't perfect it may have value - or it may be immediately tossed out. It depends on how it measures up.

1. What sources does this source use? - One of the first things I do with any new source, be it written, video, in person, or what-have-you, is to try to look at what sources that source is using. Are they talking purely from personal gnosis? Are they using academic texts? Are they using other authors based in personal gnosis? Are they using well known and respected sources? Are they referencing conspiracy theorists or known white supremacists? Do they have no sources at all that they admit to? All of these things need to be taken into account. Something that's entirely personal gnoses isn't necessarily bad but needs to be understood in that context, while something from a deeply flawed or problematic source will be eliminated. 
2. Never once the Wikipedia - Okay this is  bit ranty right here, but as soon as I see wikipedia listed as a source for anything I'm done with that source. There's a very good reason that wikipedia can't be used in college, university, or even high school classes: its notoriously unreliable and oddly biased. Anyone can and does edit wikipedia and while its true that wikipedia cites sources and includes references pretty much any print or online source can be used and there is no quality control. Let me repeat; there is no quality control. The entry on Baobhan Sithe was sourced mainly from modern vampire guides, themselves largely repeating modern urban legends, and from RPG guidebooks. No really. The entry on Finnbheara contained an assertion straight from a fiction novel (I removed it, because remember anyone can edit wikipedia). Please don't trust anything on wikipedia or any article using wiki as a source. Just don't. 
3. What is the author's bias? - Every author or teacher has biases, that's just human nature. Figuring out what to think of a source means understanding what that source's biases are and how that's affecting the material. A bias doesn't mean you can't use a source but that you have to be aware of the way the author's opinions influence their work. To use myself as an example - I am unashamedly nativist in my views of Irish mythology and folklore. Nativism is a bias that means I will always tend to see material as having some native Irish influence or value in it; anti-Nativist in contrast means that the author tends to always see foreign influences in any historic Irish material or mythology. Neither is necessarily provably correct or incorrect but both strongly influence a person's views. Authors can have all kinds of different biases and its helpful to just be aware of them or at least that bias is a possibility. Even a book that is aimed at sharing facts will still be influenced by the author's personal opinions and views. Be aware that bias is a thing and that it matters. 
4. Date - Another thing to consider is how old the source is, particularly for books and articles. Scholarship is always changing and evolving and when I was in school we were strongly encouraged to use material that had been written within the last 10 years and preferably within 5. That was in the field of psychology of course and in more casual study you don't need to be as strict with this but the core idea is the same, that older books tend to have ideas and theories that are more outdated. This doesn't mean the whole work is useless, just that it needs to be kept in context. For example I love the Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries and find it valuable for the anecdotal material - yet the material written by the author themself which waxes eloquent about fairies as Bronze age pygmy survivals in iron age Britain is clearly not only out dated but thoroughly disproven by actual archaeology and anthropology.  
5. Perspective - what perspective is this source speaking from? Is it being written by a member of the community? A believer? A non-believer? An outsider? A scholar? A laymen? Like bias the source's perspective on the material also needs to be understood in the context of its value, because someone who is part of a community writing about that community has a very different perspective than an outsider, and a scholar has a very different perspective than a laymen. Each voice can have value in a discussion, but we shouldn't forget where each one is speaking from. 
6. Non-fiction or fiction? - this may seem like an odd one, but I see a lot of blurred lines between these two in some cases, possibly because older folklore is often treated as fiction and so modern fiction is given the same weight as folklore. It's worth keeping in mind though that folklore represents stories that people believed to be true (as opposed to fairy tales, which are something else) while modern fiction is the work of imagination. How fine or thick a line there is between those two will be a matter of opinion, but it should at least be considered when weighing the value of a source, whether it was written as fiction or not. 

Excerpt from 'Travelling the Fairy Path'

I have a new book coming out in September of this year, called 'Travelling the Fairy Path' so today I'd like to offer an excerpt from it. Its going to focus on the more experiential side of my own spirituality but it also includes some discussion of things I've learned from the folklore, with a chapter on the ballad material. This excerpt is from that chapter. 

The Queen of Elfan’s Nourice [the Queen of Elfland’s Nurse]

The Queen of Elfan’s Nourice is the story of a human woman taken by the Queen of Fairy to be a nursemaid. It gives us a unique look at one of the common reasons that the Fey folk were known to take new mothers, from the mother’s point of view. [I'm including the complete ballad below with the language updated to modern English].

I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,

And a cow low down in yonder glen;

Long, long will my young son weep

For his mother to bid him come in.

I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,

And a cow low down in yonder fold;

Long, long will my young son weep

For his mother to take him from the cold.

       * * * * *

'Waken, Queen of Elfland,

And hear your nurse moan.’

‘O moan you for your meat,

Or moan you for your money,

Or moan you for the other bounties

That ladies are want to give?’

‘I moan not for my meat,

Nor moan I for my money,

Nor moan I for the other bounties

That ladies are want to give.

         ****

But I moan for my young son

I left at four nights old.

‘I moan not for my meat,

Nor yet for my money,

But I mourn for Christian land,

It’s there I gladly would be.’

‘O nurse my child, nurse,’ she says,

‘Till he stands at your knee,

And you’ll win home to Christian land,

Where glad it’s you would be.

‘O keep my child, nurse,

Till he goes by the hand,

And you’ll win home to your young son

You left at four nights old.’

       * * * *

‘O nurse lay your head

Upon my knee:

See you not that narrow road

Up by yon tree?

       . . . . .

That’s the road the righteous goes,

And that’s the road to heaven.

‘And see not you that broad road,

Down by yonder sunny hill?

That’s the road the wicked go,

And that’s the road to hell.’

(modified from Child, 1898)

The ballad opens seemingly from the human woman’s point of view, as she talks about how long her son will cry over her loss. The next verse picks up with the Queen of Elfland being awoken by someone telling her that her nurse is weeping; the Queen then asks if the nurse is hungry, wanting to be paid or wanting some other small gift. The nurse replies that she wants none of those things but is crying for her baby son who she left as a newborn and for mortal earth. The Queen replies that if she nurses the Fairy Queen’s son until he ‘stands at [her] knee’ and ‘goes by the hand’ – one may assume is walking on his own – then she will be returned to her own son. Then, as we saw previously in the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, we see the Queen comforting the nurse by telling her to lay her head on the Queen’s knee and showing her a vision of two roads, one to heaven and one to hell. Obviously since they are already in Fairy she doesn’t show her a third road, perhaps not wanting to show her the way to escape back to mortal earth.

It is interesting that we see here again the idea of the different roads or paths and that again they are being shown to a mortal by the Fairy Queen herself. In Thomas the Rhymer this vision was called a ‘wonder’ and it was also used to soothe a person who was upset. To me this indicates that the idea of the roads has some significance worth considering. In both poems the road to heaven is described as the less attractive and more difficult and the road to Hell is more pleasant looking and ‘broad’.

The Queen of Elfan’s Nourice is a more obscure poem but it is valuable because it shows us another side of dealing with the Fairy Queen and fairies more generally. The new mother has been taken by the Fey folk but her unhappiness does seem to matter to them and the Queen makes some attempt to comfort her, although at no point is her freedom immediately offered. She is however promised that when certain conditions are met, in this case nursing the Queen’s child for a specific period of time, she will be returned to mortal earth and her own child. There is also the implication in the Queen’s words, asking the nurse whether she is moaning about money, food, or gifts, that imply she was willing to pay for the services in other ways as well. Only when the nurse explains that she doesn’t want those things but is upset about her baby son and her home is she offered her eventual freedom. This however suggests that negotiation is an option even with the Fairy Queen. 

                          *******************************************************

Travelling the Fairy Path will represent the third, and I anticipate final, book in my Fairy Witchcraft series. 

Movie Review: Bright

This is a first for me, a movie review, but I really want to do this one for two reasons: I hardly ever find decent urban fantasy as a movie and the mainstream critics have eviscerated this one which I think deserves a response. As an author of urban fantasy this genre is one that is obviously very close to my heart and I have been excited since I first saw ads for Bright because it looked like something beyond the usual, tepid, tv fair that I've seen so far. I'm not going to name names but let's just say that I haven't ever found any small screen material in the genre that held my attention. Suffice to say Bright did, and I think it deserves a review from someone who loves the genre but isn't a professional movie reviewer.
This may contain mild spoilers, so you've been warned. That said, here's my review of the Netflix movie Bright.

Bright starts out slow, with the initial half hour or so letting the audience get to know the two main characters and acclimate to their world. The particular setting is Los Angeles in an alternate reality where magic is real and Otherworldly beings not only live side by side with humanity but form a fully integrated part of society. There is no 'telling' in this movie, no voice over exposition to explain to the audience why the world is the way it is. We are simply thrown into it. The film uses the opening sequence brilliantly, I think, to explain some basics of the world using background shots and street graffiti. I applaud this choice, as I think it would have been a mistake to over explain the world or have too much set up. We are given just enough to grasp the concepts and follow along as the movie continues and the world further establishes itself. The film also does something that I am personally a huge fan of and do in my own writing which is to shift human racial issues to interspecies differences, although I will add that its clear from subtext in the movie that human racial issues haven't disappeared either. The orcs are lower-class species, humans are somewhere in the middle, elves are at the top, fairies are flying rats, and there are hints of other species including centaurs, dragons, and others* that make the world complex. Its clear although not explained in depth that within both the orcish and elvish culture there is actual culture and also conflict. The world of Bright then is multilayered and contextual.

The two protagonists are well done and well played by Will Smith, as veteran cop Darryl Ward, and Joel Edgerton, as rookie orc cop Nick Jakoby. Jakoby is a first in this world, an orc who became a police officer and there is an integral tension to his position surrounded by people prejudiced against his species. Jakoby himself with his boundless optimism and enthusiasm is the perfect foil to Ward's character, who is counting down to being able to retire and start collecting his pension. There are layers to the relationship between the two that involve perceived betrayal, actual betrayal, and hurt on several levels and I thought that was well built for this kind of movie. I've seen it described in multiple places as a 'buddy cop film' but for me it wasn't that at all, but an exploration of what happens when two 'good' people are thrown together and forced to trust each other despite themselves. I liked that Jakoby's character never stopped reaching out to Ward, and that Ward never relented to the end, and I think from my own perspective there were aspects of Jakoby's behavior that should have been viewed as coming from orc culture, including his loyalty to his partner despite it all and his desire to be a hero.

Leilah is what every movie antagonist should be: merciless, relentless, and utterly dedicated to her own cause. The film doesn't waste much time fleshing out her character, but I felt like that worked in this case; it added a level of dread to have the antagonist be, in many ways, a blank slate. The protagonists don't know anything about her except that she wants what they have and is willing to kill anyone who gets her in her way to get it. There is never any sense that she can be negotiated with or avoided - she is like a force of nature. It was refreshing to see an antagonist treated this way. She is a beautiful monster and the movie lets her be exactly that, without trying to soften her or justify her deadliness.

The Magic Task Force was a nice concept within the world, and I liked the implications that there were things behind the scenes than even the audience wasn't aware of. In a situation where you have a few good people and a lot of obviously bad people, it was interesting to have the Magical Task Force as an ambivalent unknown factor. I also appreciated the implication that there were elves in law enforcement in some way as that added depth to the world.

There was just enough foreshadowing early, particularly with the sword wielding Shield of Light member to make it clear there was more going on than just an orc cop getting bullied or Ward being stuck with a partner he didn't want. I liked that there were human and orc gangs, and there were good and corrupt cops, and I also thought the orc church was awesome. Much of the world building here, as I mentioned, was subtle and simply presented as part of the reality of the movie which allowed the viewer to be immersed in the world without being overwhelmed with explanations. There was just enough backstory and exposition in dialogue, without making the story drag.

I enjoyed the humor of the movie, which had some great one-liners as well as some good dialogue overall. There are points, especially in the beginning, that the pacing is a bit off and the tone wobbles - for example Ward's daughter seems to really like Jakoby when he shows up at their house, yet in the next scene she's angry at her father and saying that her mother says Jakoby is going to get Ward killed and she wishes her father wasn't a cop. That seemed off balance and strange. I'll also admit I didn't like Ward's wife's character at all, but that may be because she wasn't established enough and came off as flat.

There were a few plot holes that I do wish the writers had taken care of. Why did the wand make Tikka sick but not the other untrained Bright who used it? Why didn't Tikka speak English to them in life-or-death situations when yelling at them in Elvish was obviously a wasted effort? But overall I think that it was a fairly cohesive story and that it was effective at tying up its own loose ends. There was nothing in the story itself that I found badly done and the details I mention are fairly small.

I think there's a lot to like in this movie, and I enjoyed that it was solidly an urban fantasy but wasn't afraid to toss out at least a few of the popular tropes. The elves are powerful, but they are also elitists and clearly dangerous. The orcs are physically strong and clearly socially limited to menial tasks for the most part, but they aren't stupid or evil. There's no clear line between good and bad here, just people trying to survive. The special effects were good but not excessive. As urban fantasy movies go this may be the best one I've seen.
I'd give it 4.5 stars out of 5.


*there's a point in one scene where a human looking character blinks a nictitating membrane sideways across her eyes, indicating she isn't actually human, but I have no idea what she is supposed to be. Which I liked.

Fair Folk Q & A

Recently for Patheos I did a post based on having people ask me questions on social media about the Morrigan which I answered in a Q&A format in a blog. Afterwards I had several people ask me to do one based around the Fair Folk and this is the result. As always I'll point out that this is based on my personal knowledge and experience with Themselves and also that I use the term fairies as a generic catch-all term for a variety of beings who are Otherworldly in nature. 

Eric asks about credible modern sources for sightings?
My answer - there's a site called Fairyist that has a collection of sightings, both from folklore and more modern examples. There's also a book by Marjorie Johnson called 'Seeing Fairies' that is a collection of modern sightings.

Eric also asks if I have a personal favorite encounter story?
My answer - Hard to say I have a favorite. Probably the white fairy hound was one of the ones that has stuck with me the most. That was back around '99. I was working for an ambulance company and besides emergencies we also did routine medical transfers. It was around 430 am on a february morning and we were parked next to a large grassy lot that was fenced off for construction. My partner stayed in the ambulance reading while we waited to go do our pick up at a local nursing home but I got out to stretch my legs. Standing near the fence looking into the darkness I noticed a white shape coming towards me across the field. It was large and obviously dog shaped, maybe the size of a German Shepherd, but all white. I thought maybe it was someone letting their dog run in the field, but I couldn't see any people anywhere. And it just kept running straight at me, like with a purpose. And that started to make me nervous, and then I noticed something seemed off with its gait. Like it was running with this oddly hitching movement. So it gets about 2/3rds or so across the field to where I can see it more clearly in the dark and I realize it looks like a large greyhound, but a bit heavier, and it only has one front leg kind of centered in its chest.
I have never moved so fast in my life as I did getting back in that ambulance. I scared my partner, who wanted to know what my problem was, and I said there was a dog - except when we looked out there was no dog. Nothing. Just darkness. And mind you it was impossible for it to have run anywhere in the amount of time between when I jumped in the rig and when we looked out, and the whole area was surrounded by a chainlink fence. It was just gone.

Ruth asks whether it's better to leave offerings indoors or outdoors?
My answer - there's two ways to look at this, one is that inside offerings invite them in so it can be safer to leave things outside. The other is that in a lot of folklore offerings were left in specific places inside, so it is okay to do.
I tend to favor the idea that its really the consistency that matters so, either leave things in both places or stick to one.

Benni asks whether it's true that bells drive away fairies, or if it's okay to use them in fairy related rituals?
My answer - the bells go both ways - folklore says bells, particularly church bells, drive away fairies. However bells are also strongly associated with them, including with the fairy Rade.
I was told that the sound of bells drives away negative entities, but draw in goodly inclined ones

Anita asks of the Fair Folk have human descendants?
My answer - I get asked this question a lot, and folklore is pretty clear that the answer is yes. Many Irish families trace their ancestry back to members of the Tuatha De Danann or to Fairy Kings or Queens.

Kelly asks about the effect of tuning into the Fey through cultural lenses, local folklore, and ancestral folklore?
My answer - I think all of these play a role. When we have a very strong cultural filter in place, like in any other area, it will color our perceptions. We see what we expect to see or at least give familiar names to things - I often tell a story about an each usige (water horse) in a local lake, which may or may not actually be a Celtic water horse but that name is the best I know to describe the being that is there.
That said though local spirits will always also be present and have their own tone and energy. I always recommend people look into the local folklore and fairylore of their area as much as possible.
Ancestral ties/cultural heritage can also have an effect if fey beings from that background seek us out or are drawn to us.
So like with so many things its really a matter of 'all of the above'

Ellen asks if the term Fair Folk is strictly Celtic or applies to other culture?
My answer - 'Fair Folk' as such would be a specifically Irish term for the beings who live in the fairy mounds; it can be used in a more general way or as a more specific descriptor for beings that are human-like in appearance and magically powerful (think roughly like Tolkien's elves). Other Celtic cultures have similar terms which are roughly analogous to the Irish Fair Folk, like the Welsh Tylwyth Teg [Fair Family] or Scottish Daoine Sith [People of Peace].
However the concept of fairies, as a more general term for Otherworldly beings, can be applied to beings outside Celtic cultures. If we are using the word fairy in its older sense as simply meaning 'from Fairyland'. Caution is needed here though to realize that each culture will have its own understanding of and unique beings within this wider concept.

Sara asks about the difference in experiences with Themselves, in my experience, between Europe and America
My answer - In my personal experience they are much more directly engaged and present in Europe. And yes I am including experiences in america with native fey beings. I have found that the spirits native to America that I would label as 'fairies' are more reclusive and less willing to seek engagement than ones in Europe, although I will add that I couldn't say that was something that would be true for everyone, as opposed to just my own experiences.

Brian asks who is nicer the Daoine Sidhe or the Alfar?
My answer - hands down the Alfar are nicer by any definition of the term.

Aleja asks if I think the Court system or concept of Fairy Kings and Queens occurs in America the way it does in Europe?
My answer - I have found the native fey to have a different system that is less monarchy based. But I would say that the ones who migrated over with the human populations did bring with them their social structures, including Kings and Queens and courts. How strong those are in each area will depend on different things, I think, including what sorts of Fey have strongly ingrained themselves there.

Aleja also asks about urban fey, and whether some Fey actually like iron, steel, and concrete?
My answer - there are definitely urban Fey, and have been for as long as there have been urban areas. There are also some fairies who do like iron and artificial materials. Mine fairies, for example, aren't bothered by metals and definitely don't mind being around human enterprise and construction. Gremlins are another type of fey being that are particularly connected to modern construction and metal.

Branwen asks what my experience has been in differentiating between European fairies and American ones.
My answer - well, in all honesty being able to see them probably helps me here. Sometimes just looking at a being can help differentiate what it is and what it's origins are - the local Fey here for example are small people whose skin looks like rock, and who have black hair and eyes, which is pretty distinctive from anything else ime. Otherwise though I think its like trying to figure out what specific kind of fairy it is in any context, which is about looking at where it is, what it's doing, what it seems to want, what annoys it or pleases it, and so on. It can certainly get tricky around here trying to be sure whether a fox-looking fey is something native, a húli jīng, or something Celtic that shapeshifts.

River asks what I think about human interactions with the fey relating to categories like worship, friendship, propitiation, and avoidance?
My answer - I think there's many layers to how anyone can choose to interact with them. Avoidance/propitiation is generally the safest and the most traditional. I usually recommend most people stick with that to be safe, unless they want to take on the responsibility that comes with stepping it up to another level. I think there's a place for establishing friendships/alliances especially for practicing witches, but there's risk to it, and that has to be considered. I'm not sure a true peer to peer concept is functional, but they certainly will barter and make deals. Worshiping them gets really tricky because then we have to start looking at the individuals instead of the generalities. Some fairies were Gods, or are strongly connected to Gods, and they deserve worship as much as any other pagan deity (take that as you will).

Mara asks how to handle connecting to or honouring the fairies when you have children.
My answer - All of my children have been warded very carefully until they were older. This has included iron in their rooms, as well as broom (the herb), rowan, and saint Brighid's crosses. I also teach them from a very young age how to behave and how to stay safe. In traditional cultures children would be taught from birth what to do and what not to do relating to fairies and that's an approach we honestly need to keep up today in paganism.

Vyviane asks in cases where Christian prayers are effective protections against them why do they work? Would pagan prayers work the same way?
My answer - I suspect that Christian prayers work in many cases because they are designed to be magical charms as much as prayers. I also suspect they may drive off some fairies who are offended by them, rather than that they have any actual power over the fairies. In my experience pagan prayers substituted for Christian ones generally don't work, although called on a specific deity associated with the fey that they may be cautious of can be effective. In the Irish this can be any of the Tuatha De Danann because they all have connections to the sí. In the Norse this might include Freyr or Odin, and in the Germanic more generally you might call on Berchta, Perchta, or Frau Holle.

Jonathan asks what do I think most contributed to the shift from fairies as fearsome beings deserving respect to the modern concept of Disney-fied Tinkerbells?
My answer - I blame the Victorians. Mostly.

Cathi asks how do pets usually act around fairies?
My answer - it will vary by pet. In my experience dogs don't seem to be bothered by them. Cats are either co-conspirators in mischief or else tormented by them. I have personally found that when dogs stare at empty space its usually ghosts, while when cats do it its usually fairies.

Cathi also asks can you escape a fairy by crossing running water?
My answer - depends on the fairy. It's said that if you cross running water you'd be safe from a kelpie pursuing you, for example, but there is also a story of a man who fled to America to get away from a Leannán Sí and she followed him anyway proving that the ocean was no barrier. And the Slua Sí are regularly said to cross water. For those that the answer is yes I suspect that its less that the water itself stops them and more that they are territorial by nature and won't chase you beyond their territory.

Diana asks if we should give traditional offerings like bread, milk, or whiskey or should instead offer things we like to eat now.
My answer - The traditional offerings have a lot of symbolic meaning beyond their actual value, for example both bread and milk are symbols of life and vitality and the name for whiskey in irish is literally 'water of life' [uisce beatha]. they also have the power that comes with multiple hundreds of years of tradition. I've found that cream and bread (or cake) is well received as are other traditional offerings like water or whiskey. I have also found that sharing anything that we are currently eating - literally sharing a meal - is also well received.
The only things I would personally caution against offering are heavily processed or preserved foods or meats. I avoid offering meat, generally, because it will draw the sort of fairy that prefers meat and that may not be a good idea. And it's generally understood in folklore that fairies don't consume the physical item but its essence - variously referred to as the toradh, quintessence, or foyson - which is most abundant in fresh foods and least present in heavily preserved foods.

Morrigan asks if the Fey are loyal and if so how do they show loyalty?
My answer - Yeats once wrote that the fairies have 'unmixed emotions' and I have found this to be true. If they consider you one of theirs in some way they are very loyal - the flip side of that though is they take any perceived betrayal very very badly. they reward those who are loyal to them with prosperity and good luck. they punish those who betray them with ill-luck and madness. We see this in stories where a person who proves true is rewarded over a lifetime, but someone who betrays their trust in some way (often by talking too much or bragging) not only loses whatever blessings they've gotten but is often punished harshly. For example one girl who had a fairy lover told her secret to her sister, who in turn told others; her fairy lover left her in retaliation and the girl went mad.
I guess the answer then is that loyalty goes both ways and has consequences.

Lauren asks how do They appear to me?
My answer - There's a lot of diversity here depending on how the question is intended. If we mean how do They appear as in, in what way, then I would say they appear in dreams, Journeys, and the waking world. If we mean how do they look (appear) to me then that depends entirely on what kind of being we are talking about, but I've seen everything from hounds and horses to people the size of moths to human-sized people, from things with wings to things that could pass as human if they tried. 

Amanda asks if the Unseelie can ever behave in helpful or useful ways?
My answer -  yes, they can. In my experience and in folklore there are examples of beings within the Unseelie Court who can interact positively with humans. The difference between them and the Seelie Court though is that whereas the Seelie would be more inclined to help any human who acts well the Unseelie would only do this for a particular individual, usually for a reason. What that reason is will depend on a lot of things, from a favor owed to just plain liking that person for their own reasons.
Caution is always required with the Unseelie simply because they are most likely to do humans harm without reason and to take offense over things.

Anna asks if elementals and fairies are the same?
My answer - I do realize that many people today lump elementals in with fairies - thank you alchemy! - but I don't. I see them as distinctly different types of beings and while I appreciate that some people find it easier to divide fairies up by elemental association its never been a system that works for me. I tend to stick to the older ideas of trooping or solitary, Seelie or Unseelie, or to group them by location, ie mountain fairies, lake fairies, mound fairies, etc.,.

So that covers all the questions I had received on social media. I hope people find those answers helpful, or at least interesting.  I'll repeat that this is my own experience and opinion and other people may agree or disagree. Also I tend to use the term fairy as a catch-all for any Otherworldly being, but I acknowledge that there are a wide array of specific beings and many differences within the wider category. 

Respecting Fairy Places ~ An Excerpt from 'Fairies'

Since my new book 'Fairies: A Guide to the Celtic Fair Folk' was just released last Friday, I thought today I'd like to share an short excerpt from that work. what follows is from the introduction and is looking at how we can, and why we should, respect places that belong to Themselves:

Respecting Their Places

Many people lump nature spirits in with fairies and that is both true and untrue. Fairies are a broad category of beings and they can and do include both beings of this world and beings from the Otherworld that choose to come here. In the next chapter we will take an in-depth look at the Otherworld but I want to discuss here the importance of showing proper respect to the locations in our own world that are associated with or claimed by the fairies, whether that means true nature spirits or not.

A land spirit or the spirit of a natural feature like a tree or plant is strongly connected to the place it calls home. This is only logical really, as that physical place or object is for them like our body is for our soul – it acts like an anchor for the spirit in this world. If you think of it this way then it’s easier to understand why we should be careful and respectful of places that belong to these spirits. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all natural spaces should be inviolate, life after all is a cycle of growth and death and it can involve destruction, but just like we should show respect to the animals and plants we use for food, we owe respect to the natural places and the spirits that inhabit them. It’s also always good to keep in mind that nature spirits have the ability to influence the mood and atmosphere of a place, so happy nature spirits are always better than angry ones. Generally angry land spirits will express their feelings by making the area they influence unpleasant, causing the atmosphere of the area to be uneasy or unhappy, or cause bad dreams in people living nearby.

Respecting nature spirits is a straightforward proposition: don’t be needlessly destructive, don’t take down trees, move larger rocks, or make any big changes to an area without giving the land spirits a bit of notice (I recommend a couple days), and don’t muck up natural places in your yard or local woods with human junk or refuse. If there is a particular nature spirit, like that of a tree, that you want to connect to you can make offerings to it and talk to it. Offerings are also a good idea if you do have to do major landscaping or tree removal; honey works well, as does planting new growth or working to clean up any human messes.

Besides land spirits which exist as an intrinsic part of the world around us there are also places that belong to the fairies which are spirits of the Otherworld. These are not land spirits and are not tied to the land in these places but they have laid claim to them and feel a strong sense of ownership about them. Folklore and modern anecdotes show that interfering with or damaging places that belong to the fairies is a profoundly bad idea, and that they tend to respond in a fairly direct fashion. In Iceland both road construction and drilling that upsets the Hidden Folk tends to result in machinery breaking, ill luck, and strange happenings until the construction stops or the damage – usually to a boulder which is associated with them – is repaired. In Ireland folklore says that to interfere with a fairy tree or fairy hill can result in bad luck, illness, or even death. They are also not averse to destroying the offending human construction that is on their territory; one recent event in 2007 that made the news in Ireland was a series of telephone poles too close to a fairy hill which kept mysteriously falling down.

Traditionally places that belong to the fairies are best left alone; it is unwise to interfere with them or build on them. There are many stories, not only in Ireland but also in Iceland, of people who damaged or dug into fairy places only to suffer great ill luck, illness, or even death. In some cases even going into a place that belonged to the fairies posed a risk; in one story from Ireland a young man interfered with a well that was known to belong to the Fair Folk and in response they cursed it; when the man next went to drink from it he fell in and drowned (Ballard, 1991). If you choose to visit them it is best to do so during the day and to be careful not to leave behind a mess. It’s also advised not to relieve yourself on the ground in the area, as that is known to offend them as well. Add to that a general suggestion not to say anything in those areas especially that belittle or question their power or influence because they do respond to verbal insults. As long as you are careful not to break things, not to leave behind trash, and not to verbally provoke them you should be alright. 

That Time I Unseelied a Tree, and Why You Should Too

So first a story.

I have a fairy tree in my yard and I had the idea at one point to start tying ribbons on it, in the spirit of the rag tree tradition. Now usually a rag tree is by a healing well and the ribbons or bits of cloth tied on it represent prayers for healing of either the person or someone they are praying for. I knew this but still felt drawn to put ribbons on my own tree, and I don't deny I did it badly, because I simply used store bought ribbon. I can say here that my intentions were good, but I've never been a big believer that intentions mitigate harm caused. After a time the tree had quite a lot of ribbons on it, and after a time I started feeling strongly that I needed to take them off - I was even dreaming about it. But I really, really didn't want to remove them. It seemed counterintuitive and sacrilegious to do so, to remove what had been place with prayer and its own little ritual. Yet in the end it became a compulsion, and one day as I walked past the tree on my way to my car I found myself stopping, unable to go on until I removed the ribbons. I went back into the house, found a pair of scissors, and spent enough time that I was late to work taking all the ribbons off. Afterwards I felt a blend of relief and horror at having, effectively, 'unseelied' (unblessed) my tree.

Here's the thing though, as upsetting as it was for me to take those prayer ribbons off that tree, and as much as I felt like I was doing something wrong - was in effect unblessing the tree - what I did was important and necessary. The ribbons I'd put on were synthetic fibers; they were not rotting away with time but instead were strangling the branches they were tied on. In several places when I managed to get the ribbon off there was a clear indent in the branch where the ribbon had started to grow into the tree, and it was obvious to me the harm my actions had caused. I had made a critical mistake in not using natural material and in not tying it loosely so that it would either fall apart naturally or be pulled off by the wind. My well meaning actions would have killed my tree eventually, and removing the ribbons, as much as it pained me to do it, saved it.

That said, there are two main points I want to make here, first about participating in rag tree practices and secondly about removing things already tied to trees at sacred sites. 

Many people today either want to emulate the rag tree practices or look at participating in it while visiting Ireland (or other countries that have the practice) and I am urging everyone to please seriously consider what you are tying to these trees. Recently there have been some good discussion of the importance of proper rag tree practices online both by the Tara Skryne Preservation Group and other travel pages. If you want to tie a rag on a sacred tree you need to be aware firstly that rag trees are very specific trees, usually by a holy well as I've mentioned, and that you can't and shouldn't tie just anything onto the tree. Every tree you run across is not appropriate to tie things to, and just because it's at a sacred site doesn't make it a tree to tie prayers to. Also if you are going to tie things to a tree please use natural, degradable materials. And please don't push coins in o the bark, that will poison the tree. 

When you visit sacred sites and holy wells you will see many strange things tied to rag trees. Some people believe it best to leave what is already tied there alone; others advocate for removing what is and will harm the tree. This is a complicated subject because there are issues with people removing all rags from rag trees, and even cutting the trees down, in protest against the practice itself and I am by no means advocating that. However as an animist and pagan I do think we have an obligation to put the health of the tree before the symbolism of the plastic and synthetic material that is tied to it and slowly killing it. Natural material is fine and should be encouraged, but what amounts to rubbish if left there will only kill the tree that people claim to find sacred.

The reason I began this with my story was to make a point. I was deeply reluctant to take those ribbons down, even though they were my ribbons and I was being told repeatedly to remove them. There was a discussion on a sacred sites travel group I belong to recently about whether it's ethical to remove other people's ribbons from sacred trees, and in my opinion you should, even though I understand the reluctance to remove other people's prayers. Understand it on a deeply personal level. There is an almost atavistic aversion - in my experience - among spiritual people against interfering with other people's spiritual devotions. Yet ultimately we need to look beyond the intention of what have been tied on the trees and to the spirit of the trees and land itself. If we are seeking to respect those spirits, seeking to truly be blessed by these holy places, then we must act in ways that are aligned with that concept. Doing things that kill the sacred trees, ultimately are unblessed - unseely - actions. Removing plastic, non-biodegradable, metal items, no matter what sacred intent was behind their placement is ultimately a blessed, or seely, act because it saves the life of the tree. I titled this post 'the time I unseelied a tree' because that was how it felt, and it was a terrible conflicted feeling. But sometimes we must do what feels wrong in order to ultimately do that which is right.

Removing those ribbons felt like unseelie'ing the tree but in the end it resulted in an increased blessing, and much happier spirits. And I don't regret doing it at all.

A Critical Look At The Secret Lives of Elves & Fairies

I know it's been awhile since I did a book review and this actually isn't one that I wanted to do, but one that I have finally accepted that I needed to do. So today we are going to take a look at John Matthews 2005 book 'The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries'. I will preface this review with two things: I have no personal issues with Matthews work in general and have often used his Druid Source Book and Seers Source Book as references; and I am going to focus this review on the issues I have with this work being marketed as nonfiction and why I believe it is actually fiction. I do not dispute that people may, and indeed probably do, find inspiration and value in this book but I think it is vitally important to understand it in the context of fiction rather than as historic truth, such as that may be.

Once again we see a book marketed primarily to a pagan audience that takes the track of being newly revealed material found in a heretofore undiscovered historic text, in this case the alleged personal journal of Rev. Robert Kirk author of the 17th century work 'The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies'. There should be some immediate red flags with this, even for people unfamiliar with other authors like Douglas Monroe and Steven Akins who have tried this same line to sell their books. First of all such a personal journal if it existed would rightly belong to a museum, university or library - indeed the existing manuscripts for 'The Secret Commonwealth' can be found today in the University of Edinburgh Library and National Library of Scotland. Secondly, as was touched on in point one by my mention of two locations for his real books, despite modern views of the idea of journaling Kirk's actual book was written in a series of tiny journals not one single large book (Manwaring, 2017). That aside however it should be noted that had a new and previously unknown journal belonging to reverend Kirk been found it would have made headlines and been the subject of significant academic study. In contrast this book was apparently only seen by Matthews, never seen again afterwards, and never mentioned or written about by anyone else in the last 12 years.

During the period when Matthews claims this private journal was written and Kirk was off adventuring with fairies and exploring the subterranean world Kirk was actually confined to a sick bed for the most part and was dictating 'The Secret Commonwealth' to his cousin Robert Campbell (Manwaring, 2017). This means that Kirk, while able to get out and take short walks near his home would have been physically incapable of the lengthy explorations depicted in Matthews book, which are clearly established as physical and not spiritual journeys and occured right up to the point of Kirk's death or alleged disappearance*. This also calls into question the premise of Matthews book, that The Secret Commonwealth was excerpted from Kirk's personal journal material aka The Secret Lives, since we know that The Secret Commonwealth as we have it is at least partially from dictated material and was otherwise pieced together from material found in several different journals, rather than from a single manuscript.

An equally significant point that must be made is that Matthews book 'The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries' printed in 2005 contains paragraphs worth of material previously printed in his 2004 book 'The Sidhe'. It must be kept in mind that The Sidhe is a book of material Matthews says was channeled to him in Ireland in 2003/2004 from the aos sidhe after he visited a sacred site, and Secret Lives is, by Matthews assertion in the book itself, Reverend Kirk's own writing from 1691/1692. This is not an insignificant amount of material or a few sentences here and there but nearly full pages of text, paragraph after paragraph, repeated word for word from one book to the other. I'm including photographs of the two books side by side with some of the relevant doubled text underlined, because it is too much to write out in full here, however to give a small sample:
The Sidhe, page 22: "We are an ancient people. We were here long before your kind walked on this earth. We remember everything and have seen everything that took place here for many thousands of your years. We do not measure time as you do, so that for us time passes slowly. We do not speak of our origins to anyone not of our race; but it is certain that we emerged from the earth as you yourselves did, though much sooner in the history of the world."
The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries: "We are an ancient people." Kee told me. "We were here long before your kind walked on this earth. We remember everything and have seen everything that took place here for many thousands of your years. We do not measure time as you do, so that for us time passes slowly. We do not speak of our origins to anyone not of our race; but it is certain that we emerged from the earth as you yourselves did, though much sooner in the history of the world."

On the left is text from Secret Lives, on the right text from the Sidhe

For anyone interested the doubled text that I have personally noted can be found in these places: The Sidhe (TS) page 22-23, 3 paragraphs duplicated in Secret Lives (SL) on pages 32 - 33. TS page 23 1 paragraph duplicated in SL page 34. TS page 52, 3 paragraphs doubled in SL on page 61. I realize that some people may immediately respond to this by arguing that perhaps Matthews and Kirk were told the same things. I would personally have some arguments against that idea, but taking it as is for the moment even if we assumed it was true it would not result in this amount of duplicated text. Reverend Kirk writing in the 1690's was not writing in modern English as Matthews is, and as anyone familiar with Kirk's Secret Commonwealth may realize the language Kirk wrote in is not always easily read by modern English speakers. It is early modern English mixed with a language called Scots, and looks like this: "Ther Women are said to Spine very fine, to Dy, to Tossue, and Embroyder: but whither it is as manuall Operation of substantiall refined Stuffs, with apt and solid Instruments, or only curious Cob-webs, impalpable Rainbows, and a fantastic Imitation of the Actions of more terrestricall Mortalls, since it transcended all" (Kirk & Lang, 1893). Even if we assume that the message the two men received was the same the way they each recorded it, more than three hundred years apart, would have been radically different.

Relating to that last point, the language issue. Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries is labeled clearly as Reverend Kirk's personal journal, and opens with a story by Matthews about how he found this journal and came to publish it. And yet the book in several places misuses words and terms from Gaidhlig and Scots that Kirk would have been fluently familiar with**. Even if we account for Matthews supposedly translating the text and updating the language it would not excuse these errors. In modern Gaidhlig the fairy folk are called sithe and in Secret Commonwealth Kirk refers to them as sith. In Secret Lives Matthews has Kirk calling them by the Irish term 'sidhe'. At one point in Secret Lives Matthews has Kirk telling a story in which Kirk's fairy friend Kee incorrectly uses the Scots word foyson as a verb when it is a noun. In another place the Unseelie use the Gaidhlig term 'sluagh' as a nickname of sorts for Kirk, even though sluagh is a collective noun that means 'assembly, folk, people'; while Matthews offers the in-text explanation, allegedly from Kirk, that says sluagh is a term for a dead human who won't pass on, this is a fabrication. The Unseelie calling Kirk sluagh is like them nicknaming him 'crowd'. All of these are also red flags that the person writing the text wasn't familiar with or fluent in these languages, and make it impossible for it to be the writing of a man who spoke both languages.

In The Secret Commonwealth Robert Kirk never mentions there being two courts. This is because we don't see any references to the Unseelie Court prior to the 19th century. Before that the fairies were referred to only by the term Seelie Court, which was used as a euphemism more than a descriptor of an actual court. In contrast Matthews book is very much based on the idea of there being two courts, and of one court being benevolent and the other malicious. Even this ignores the folklore that warns of the dangers presented by the Seelie Court, but that aside it is at best a glaring anachronism to see the Unseelie Court mentioned in a book allegedly written hundreds of years before that concept was known to exist.

The final thing I may note is simply a matter of history. Kirk's Secret Commonwealth was a book written from the perspective of a folklorist recording native beliefs and carefully framed in a strongly Christian worldview. Matthews Secret Lives in contrast paints a picture of a man who was deeply personally involved with the fairy folk and was avidly writing down his personal experiences with the idea of sharing what he was writing with family and perhaps even a wider audience. During Kirk's lifetime in the area of Scotland he lived in people - men and women - were being persecuted and executed for practicing witchcraft on the basis of associating with fairies. Had Kirk actually written such a text and had it been discovered, minister or not, he would have faced trial and execution as did others like Andro Man and Betsy Dunlop, a fact that Kirk would have known. Such a journal would have been a death sentence, and while it suits our romantic modern notions to imagine such a thing the living Kirk would never have been foolish enough to write about his desire to share his experiences and writings with his family. People died for such things.

Ultimately people may find The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries to be fulfilling and even inspiring. They may enjoy the vision Matthews paints of Fairy, his weaving together of some of Kirk's material from The Secret Commonwealth and well known folklore like the story of the Stolen Bride or Borrowed Midwife with his own ideas and material. But any reader must understand this book in its context as fiction, which it does not admit to being. To fall into the trap of seeing this as what it isn't, as the actual writing of Reverend Kirk, is highly problematic and does a disservice I think to Kirk's actual writing and to the older folklore.

For myself when I'm in the mood for fiction centered on rev. Kirk I'll stick to Kevan Manwaring's book 'The Knowing' which is both honest about its nature and an excellent novel full of genuine fairylore. For a great scholarly look at Kirk's book I highly recommend Brian Walsh's book 'The Secret Commonwealth and the Fairy Belief Complex'.


*I'm actually in the camp that does believe that Kirk was taken by the Sithe as his body was found dead near the fairy howe (hollow). This is, of course, disputed in different sources and there is a great deal of folklore around Robert Kirk's death or possible disappearance.
**Kirk had translated the Bible and psalms into Gaidhlig.

Reference
Manwaring, K., (2017) The Remarkable Notebooks of Robert Kirk https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/the-remarkable-notebooks-of-robert-kirk/
Kirk, R., and Lang, A., (1893) The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies