Tales and Lore

Fairies cast a "glamour" over their prey like moonlight, an illusory attractiveness so completely bewitching that those who have had contact with them are too enchanted to ask who they really are until it is too late. Fairies are usually depicted in a positive light: they are usually of feminine gender and seen as dainty, winsome, small, or even miniscule humans with either gossamer wings similar to those of a butterfly, or feathered wings like those of a bird. However, should one chance to look down at the feet of a fae, one will see talons instead of feet, the first clue that these beings are not as innocent as they seem.

Fairies can alter their appearance at will and are often sighted at village dances or markets appearing as almost magickally beautiful young women or men. However, the fae usually prefer vanishing rather than shape-shifting, and while no one knows for sure, it is believed that their natural form is completely transparent.

Fairies live in a subterranean and possibly parallel universe of their own that is usually entered by way of holes in the earth, small mountain caves, and large hills. There have also been references made to castles within their realm that are entered by way of lakes or rivers. Their realm is not one that can be easily describe as it is not part of the Everyday world, but rather it is of Other and only visible from time to time to special adults and children, not because the viewers will it, but because they fall upon it, or into it by total chance.

Contrary to what many people would like to believe, fairies are not fond of humans. Except when they kidnap human baies or borrow human males to propogate their species, fairies usually prefer to have nothing to do with humans. Sightings of them in human communities are usually for the purposes of attracting a human for capture and some fairies even subsist on a diet of human flesh, such as the kitchen fairies of China.

Fairies cherish their privacy and when disturbed by clumsy humans who seek only to gawk at them, they will react violently. Most contact that humans have had with fairies has resulted in death, dismemberment, or, if they are really in a bad mood, enslavement for the humans that have crossed their paths. An example of this is the abatwa of South Africa will send lethal invisible arrows into the foot of anyone who walks too close to them, or worse, steps on them.

Eating food in the fae realm is the common method of entrapment and enslavement for humans. As beautiful as the fae can appear, their glamour also extends to the other five sense of humans: no music is so sweet as that of the fae, no air so fine to breathe, and their food is said to rival the ambrosia of the Olympian Gods or the most talented of chefs. It is believed that the fairies actually feed their captives a magickal herbal blend that extends the power of the glamour. This is not done from kindness. A content captive is easier to keep captive, and the blend not only seems to keep them content, but, from historical reports, it also makes the human dependant on its captors. Those that have somehow been freed or escaped from a fae holding, usually pine away until they die, or take their own lives. Some will even die attempting to return to the realm of the fae.

Should a further method of temptation be needed, the fae have that covered as well. The fabled fairy rings are one of the best documented traps of the fae. The combination of the sight of the beautiful fae folk dancing to the heartbreakingly magickal music they make, combined with the added glamours that the fae will summon for defending their festival is irresistable to humans. Joining the dancing means doom for any human.

Nothing has commanded the imaginations of mankind for as long or with as much intensity as the magickal genies and perhaps with good reason. Who could fail to be interested by a magickal being that comes when summoned to grant the wishes of those that summon them. However, the genies of Disney movies and television shows bear little resemblance to the real thing.

Genies, whose real name are djinn (pronounced JEEN) are an ancient, Islamic, invisible, illusion-casting species who live for centuries, can manifest in any form and travel anywhere instantly. Like the Greek daimon, they are spirits of an intermediate nature between humans and the gods. It is said in the Q'uran that they are an ancient species who were created before humankind from smokeless fire. They have no bodies of their own but are masters of illusion and disguise. However, because they are made of fire, when they manifest in human form they have flaming eyes, which are set vertically in their head, not horizantally as human eyes are. Aside from human form they often appear as animals, usually dogs, cats, snakes, or toads, all with one thing in common--they are the black of ash, as befits their fiery nature. They are considered the cause of violent sandstorms, whirlwinds, and shooting stars.

Although they inhabit ruins, wells, kitchen fireplaces, and public baths, their favorite abode is the desert. Some believe that the Djinn live just under the desert in organized towns and only rise to the surface to harass humans, something they are exceptionally well suited to do. Some people have even claimed to hear music from Djinn villages which appear suddenly. They appear to be campsites like the abodes of certain nomadic desert tribes. As fast as they appear, they can disappear. When journeying through the deserts that they call home, it is necessary to ask the Djinn for permission to pass by. Each place has its own resident Djinn, its ancestral genius loci, and one addresses it respectfully. If the answer is a sudden whirling pillar of sand, it would be wise to turn back at once.

To the Arabic peoples who first encountered them, the Djinn are spirits of pure evil. For every human born there is also born a djinni (singular form of djinn and pronounced JEENEE) who acts as a supernatural evil twin for the human, tempting him to do the wrong thing. Thus, any wish, any request may be granted by one's Djinni but with some price. Aside from the danger to the humans soul, the Djinni is also a master of trickery and deceit, often using its devious mind to come up with rather unpleasant methods of fulfilling one's wishes, thus necessitating the human to make more wishes which will also be twisted until the human either dies or has enslaved the human. Should the human attempt to harm his Djinni physically, the damage is inflicted upon the human and insanity can result. However, should the human manage to collect and eat the excrement of his Djinni, he will gain a huge boost to his intelligence. The Q'uran is filled with a wealth of knowledge about the reversed duality of the Djinn.

Since all Djinn are invisible and as plentiful as grains of sand in the desert, they are considered to be ever present and ever listening, knowing every language man ever has, so great care must be taken when discussing them. Fire obviously is not threat to them and they often rest in ashes. A stone thrown in the desert may hit several djinn and provoke them to retaliate. Any black animal may be a djinn in disguise, thus these animals were always treated with respect and even fear. They hate salt, which explains why many traditional Arabian dishes are very salty--to keep the djinn from hiding in one's food and being ingested (which would allow the djinni to control the person that ate it). Arabian families would also sprinkle salt on the floor, in shoes, carry it in their pockets, tuck it under pillows and bedding, and even scatter it in the air throughout the home. Since the djinn are attracted to blood, salt is a necessary tool present at births, circumcisions, the slaughter of animals, and even the treating of wounds.

Djinn also hate loud sounds, pins, needles, silver, iron, and steel. Their hatred of metals stems from the compulsion that all djinn have to work metal and kings and sorcerers have often summoned djinn to work metal for them into weapons and tools. They are repelled by strong odors, in particular, the smell of tar.

If Djinn should get into a human, a cure must be found to remove them or they will drive their human host insane. Most cures involve using those items that the Djinn hate most. The two best remedies for the removal of a djinni are:

During the eighth century the Catholic Church designated the first day of November as 'All Saints Day ('All Hallows') - a day of commemoration for those Saints that did not have a specific day of remembrance. The night before was known as 'All Hallows Eve' which, over time, became known as Halloween.

Colcannon for Dinner: Boiled Potato, Curly Kale (a cabbage) and raw Onions are provided as the traditional Irish Halloween dinner. Clean coins are wrapped in baking paper and placed in the potato for children to find and keep.

The Barnbrack Cake: The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barnbrack which is a fruit bread. Each member of the family gets a slice. Great interest is taken in the outcome as there is a piece of rag, a coin and a ring in each cake. If you get the rag then

The Ivy Leaf: Each member of the family places a perfect ivy leaf into a cup of water and it is then left undisturbed overnight. If, in the morning, a leaf is still perfect and has not developed any spots then the person who placed the leaf in the cup can be sure of 12 months health until the following Halloween. If not.....

The Pumpkin: Carving Pumpkins dates back to the eighteenth century and to an Irish blacksmith named Jack who colluded with the Devil and was denied entry to Heaven. He was condemned to wander the earth but asked the Devil for some light. He was given a burning coal ember which he placed inside a turnip that he had gouged out.

The tradition of Jack O'Lanterns was born - the bearer being the wandering blacksmith - a damned soul. Villagers in Ireland hoped that the lantern in their window would keep the wanderer away. When the Irish emigrated in millions to America there was not a great supply of turnips so pumpkins were used instead.

Halloween Costumes: On Halloween night children would dress up in scary costumes and go house to house. 'Help the Halloween Party' and 'Trick or Treat' were the cries to be heard at each door. This tradition of wearing costumes also dates back to Celtic times. On the special night when the living and the dead were at their closest the Celtic Druids would dress up in elaborate costumes to disguise themselves as spirits and devils in case they encountered other devils and spirits during the night. By disguising they hoped that they would be able to avoid being carried away at the end of the night. This explains why witches, goblins and ghosts remain the most popular choices for the costumes.

Snap Apple: After the visits to the neighbors the Halloween games begin, the most popular of which is Snap Apple. An apple is suspended from a string and children are blindfolded. The first child to get a decent bite of the apple gets to keep their prize. The same game can be played by placing apples in a basin of water and trying to get a grip on the apple without too much mess!

The Bonfire: The Halloween bonfire is a tradition to encourage dreams of who your future husband or wife is going to be. The idea was to drop a cutting of your hair into the burning embers and then dream of you future loved one. Halloween was one of the Celt 'fire' celebrations.

Blind Date: Blindfolded local girls would go out into the fields and pull up the first cabbage they could find. If their cabbage had a substantial amount of earth attached to the roots then there future loved one would have money. Eating the cabbage would reveal the nature of their future husband - bitter or sweet!

Anti-Fairy Measures: Fairies and goblins try to collect as many souls as they can at Halloween but if they met a person who threw the dust from under their feet at the Fairy then they would be obliged to release any souls that they held captive.

Halloween, the last night of summer, October 31, is traditionally the time when the spirits of the dead are allowed one last fling before winter sets in. It is an important night on the calendar of many Pagan paths and each has their own rituals and festivals to commemorate it, as well as their own superstitions about it; for example: in Ireland, it is said that if you hear footsteps behind you on that night, you must never look behind you,, for it may be one of the dead following you and if you look back and see them, you will soon walk with them. Today, Halloween has also become a time for parties, costumes, and games, particularly in America. Thought it is thought of as a time of the dead, in America there are two love traditions that are done on Halloween. The first instructs a young woman to go to a spring of water carrying a lamp, and if they peer into the depths of the spring they should see the face of their future mate reflected back at them. If they are nervous about going out in the dark, however, they can go out to the same spring in the daytime carrying a broken egg in a glass and pour some of the fresh spring water into it. Shortly after they should not only get an image in the mixture of their future mate, but of their future children as well.

The birch tree stood for Beth, the first letter of the druIdic alphabet. It was the sacred beth of Cerridwen, representing beginnings and birth.
The whiteness of the tree's bark apparently suggested its connection with the White Goddess, who was both birthgiver and death-bringer in her Crone form as the carrion-eating white sow. Birch or beorc was also the runic letter B.

The Birch Tree represents inception. The rebirth of the Sun from winter's solstice. The first tree that takes away the decay of the mysterious elder. Both the Birch and the Elder stand on either sides of the one Nameless day. They both represent a link between life and death, with the Birch being the beginning of all things. It is associated with the training of Druids. The birth of new life. Energetic and spontaneous.

Symbols: The Green Dragon, Duck, Insight and Blessing, the Planet Uranus, (flame) The Fire Festival of Brigantia

Also called quickbeam or mountain ash, the rowan tree represented the second letter of the druidic tree alphabet, Luis (L). The tree stood for magic and was sacred to the Goddess Brigit.
In Irish legends, 'the rowan tree in the north' bore the berries of immortality. The tree was guarded by a Fomorian giant with one fiery eye in the middle of his forehead.
The tree which above all others offered the best protection against fairy enchantments and witchcraft. It will be noticed that all rowan are reddish, and the red berries of the rowan-tree make it specially effective. A staff of rowan, a cross made of rowan, a bunch of rowan berries, all these were effective, and it was customary in the Highlands to plant a rowan-tree outside every house. Where rowans were scarce, ash-trees took their place. An ashen gad was supposed to be protective of cattle.
Along with other trees, Rowan played a central role in Druid ceremonies. Even in more recent times, these beliefs have been upheld in practices from different parts of Britain. In the North, for example, sprays of Rowan were fixed to cattle sheds to protect the animals from harm, and in Strathspey farmers drove their goats through hoops framed from branches of Rowan. Sprigs were placed over the main door of the house and also worn on the person to ward off false enchantment - the 'evil eye'. In Wales, or Cymru, Rowans used to be planted in churchyards to watch over the spirits of the dead, as Yew is elsewhere.

The Rowan tree was believed to be magical tree which grew red berries that were the food of the gods. These berries were so sacred that it was believed that the Gods guarded them jealously and kept them from man. The Druids believed that the Creator, Celi who was an invisible god, manifested in nature including the restless elements such as lightning, which was also associated with Dragons. Dragons are associated with new life and thus this period of time is also associated with the coming of new life out of the dark winter.

Symbols: The Trident or Sea Horse, Snake, Connections, the Planet Neptune (Lir)

A substitute for Rowan as a protection against fairies. Odd and even ash keys (seed-pods) were often used in divination.

Related to their Irish Gaelic word for Heaven, Nionon, the Ash has special sacred meaning. Three of the five trees planted to establish the five provinces we Ash trees. In Celtic mythology the ash is known as the tree of enchantment and it is said the Welsh magician Gwydion fashioned his wands from ash wood. The Celts believed that they came from the Great Deep or the Undersea land of Tethys. It is this reason that the Ash is associated with the sea.

Symbols: The Pentacle or The Hawk, Red Fox, Ram, Stallion, A strong foundation, the Planet Mars (Maurth), The Vernal Equinox

Symbols: The Sea Serpent, Cat or Hare, Intuition, The Moon, (Llun) The Fire Festival of Beltane,

The willow was sacred to the Goddess Arianrhod in Celtic tradition and was called the letter S, SAILLE, in the tree alphabet.

The Willow tree since ancient times has always been associated with death. In Northern Europe, the word witch and wicked is derived from the name of the Willow. It is considered to be a tree of enchantment. In Celtic mythology it is associated with the creation myth of two scarlet sea serpent eggs which contained the Sun and the Earth. These eggs were hidden in the boughs of the Willow tree until they hatched, thus bringing forth earthly life. The Willow is also associated with death as it is the obvious conclusion to birth and life.

In Celtic tradition the tree was sacred to Olwen. It also represented fertility in the druidic alphabet, where it formed the letter H, Uath. - The Goddess as death-bringing Crone was connected with the hawthorn in the legend of CuChulain. After pronouncing her death curse on the hero, in her carrion crow shape, she settled in a hawthorn thicket on the plain of Muirthemne. Therefore, the place is known as 'the hawthorn of the Crow.'

The Hawthorn tree associated with the sacred and the unlucky. To destroy a Hawthorn was to incur great peril to the person responsible. The Hawthorn tree is embodied in the character of the chief giant Yspaddaden in a Welsh romance of Kulhwch and Olwen. A guardian figure who tries to protect the virginity of Olwen. He is felled and the blooms of summer soon open, thus symbolizing the advance of summer defeating winter at last. It is associated with Govanna (Vulcan) a smith god that is the custodian of the celestial fire and higher powers of the mind. Thus it is symbolize as the Chalice as it too represents divine secrets and everlasting life.

Symbols: The White Horse, The Golden Wheel, the Planet Jupiter, (Jovyn) Summer Solstice

Few trees have been so widely revered as the oak. The classic composition of the Dianic grove or Nemeton, the residence of the heaven-god who controlled thunder and lightning, the deity of druids and dryads, the oak was duir (D) in the druidic alphabet and represented power. Irish churches used to be called Dairthech, 'oakhouse,' an old druidic name for the sacred grove.

The principal sacred tree of the Druids, the Oak Trees symbolized the turning of the year. During this time of year the Druids would carve a circle in to the tree for protection against lightning. The Oak represents the trial we all go through in life while changing and becoming that whom we are meant to be we must also consider the greater good and moral responsibilities. It represents the soul, which in Celtic terms is the "eye of god." Change, sacrifice, and understanding. It is a time when the sun starts his movement into darkness and is sacrificed to darkness as the earth begins to move back into winter.

Symbols: The Unicorn, War Horse, The Flaming Spear,
Balance, Earth (Abred), The Fire Festival of Lammas

A symbol of luck and good fortune. In Celtic mythology the Holly is the evergreen twin of the Oak. It is called a kerm-oak. The Oak rules the light part of the year while the Holly rules the dark part. The Unicorn represents a horse with a horn that resembles the flaming spear. The Celtic symbol of the Flaming Spear is associated with the Celtic month of Tanist because the Celtic T is shaped like a barbed spear. Both the Oak and Holly are symbolized with the Summer Solstice and the White Horse of the Oak becomes the The Unicorn of the Holly in transformation. The Fire Festivals that took place during this time were usually in honor of the Earth. Therefore, the Holly also represents those eternal, ever-green aspects of mother earth.

An important food tree, producing the once-prized hazelnuts (filberts), the hazel was sacred to witches and to the Celtic sea god, Manannan. It was considered symbolic of female wisdom. Bards used to claim that their knowledge of rhymes, epic tales, secrets of magic, and poetic inspiration came from eating 'sacred hazelnuts' that dropped from the tree of wisdom - symbolically, the Goddess as instructress. The tree's alphabetical letter was C (coll). Its wood came to be known as 'witch hazel' because it was the wood of choice for witches' divining rods.

The Hazel nut is the emblem of concentrated wisdom. One could gain knowledge simply eating nuts. In this aspect it is associated with the Salmon, a sacred symbol of wisdom. In Irish Lore it is the Hazel was the Bile Ratha where in which the poetic Fairy lives. It was a capital crime to felling a Hazel tree. Ogma, who is credited with creating writing, is associated with great "knowing." It is he who is credited with mandating that the Oral tradition of the Celts be closely guarded and preserved, yet through his creativity he created the alphabet based on tones and sounds.

Symbols: The White Swan, Lizard, Unlocking, the Planet Venus (Gwena), The Autumn Equinox

The Vine is the symbol of sensuality and emotions. A hardy, long lived plant. It's symbol, the White Swan represents the radiant divinity of the Gods who are said to go to their underground forts during the Autumn Equinox. The White Swan is also associated with the White Ghost or the White Phantom - Gwenhwyvar. To the Celts, the Autumn Equinox is a time when the light will eventually give up its hold to the darkness, but for a brief moment all is in balance. The light and the dark hold equal positions. To the Celtic mind it represents the balance of the mundane and the supernatural; the mortal and the immortal.

Symbols: The Butterfly, The Mute Swan, The Boar, Progress and tenacity, the Veiled Moon, the Planet Persephone which is said to exist just beyond Pluto

In contrast to the the Vine, Ivy is evergreen, and it represents the perennial aspects of the human psyche. The Celts associate Ivy with their lunar goddess Arianrhod and their ritual to her marked the opening of the portal to the Otherworld. Thus the dark side of the moon. This door symbolizes an entrance to the world of the Faery People. The Butterfly is the the symbol of the Faery Faith. Thus Ivy represents mysterious and the mystical.

Symbols: The White Hound, The Stone, the Planet Pluto (Pwyll), The Fire Feast of Samhain

Identified with the submerged or hidden dryad, The Reed represents the mysteries of death. In fact the Fire Feast of Samhain celebrates the dead and on Samhain, the boundary between the Otherworld and this world dissolve. It is a night of great divination. Or in another fashion, it represents the hidden roots to all life. The Reed is associated with with being both a savior and custodian. Pwyll, the Celtic ruler of the Otherworld was given "The Stone" , one of four treasures given to him for safekeeping. The Stone represents the right of the kings and queen to have divine power. Thus the Reed is also the symbol of Royalty. The White Hounds represent the dogs that guard the lunar mysteries.

Symbols: The Black Horse, The Raven, Badger, Healing, the Planet Saturn, The Winter Solstice (Alban Arthuan)

The Symbol of both death and rebirth. Like the Winter Solstice, it highlights a time of evolution. The Celts believed that it was during this time that their sun or solar spirit was held prisoner. Just as Pryderi was forced into exile. It is also a time of trouble and struggle for supremacy. In deed what is now will one day be no more, and that which is to come, will also, one day be no more.