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Books on Faeries/ The Sidhe

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04:37 / 27.05.05

After a long hiatus from the (ahem) "Great Work" to sort myself out I've begun making baby steps to getting back into my groove again, flexing my occult muscles as they were. I decided it might be a good idea after all to devote at least 6 months to a certain area of magic... However, I had trouble deciding which area would be the best to explore, and, seeing as no gods were beating down my door trying to contact me, I had to look for more subtle signs as to what direction I should be going. To make a long story short, the signs pointed to the "people of the hills", "the gods and not gods", Tir Na n-Og... Faeries, in other words.

Naturally, I have very little books on this topic in my occult library, so if anyone could recommened any good books on working with faeries (in particular the Sidhe) please let me know. Nothing too New-Agey/cutesy either: I'm well aware that these entities have their amoral, dark side and I don't want anything that tries to sugercoat them (I've done a bit of internet research to get some basics but I've barely scratched the surface). I want to have a bit of information at hand so when I get enmeshed in this I'll have some guiding posts, as it were.

05:04 / 27.05.05

Hehe! Maybe we really are alike.

The Sidhe, as far as I've read so far, are the Tuatha De Danaan. Here's a thread I made about Elves last year.

According to most, I think, the old Irish Gods and Goddesses were defeated by the last people to invade Ireland, the Milesians, and they were from then on relegated to living in the underworld, or the hills. (so the story goes, anyway.) From that point on they became known as the Sidhe, so they are as much ancient Gods and Goddesses as they are fearies.

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05:08 / 27.05.05

Yeah... most of what I've read about them (again, very little) is that they're sort of an inbetween state between gods and humans, that there are various tribes, each with their own territory, and so on. I find it interesting that some legends say that it was they who introduced art and science (two of my favorite subjects) to mankind...

05:48 / 27.05.05

I don't know about tribes too much, I've not been learning much at all after having a while away from anything relating to magick etc myself, but inbetween Gods and Humans, that's kind of how I think of them too.

As for working with them though, I'm not sure of any good books at all, sorry. I tend to learn what I can about a specific God or Goddess through myths, history, writings, and then if I feel it's right, approach them in my own way. D.J. Conway's first book on Celtic Shamanism and her book Celtic Magic have been the only two books I've read in that area.

Ha, wow. I just entered D.J. Conway in amazon to put the link in and saw that the top book there is on Faery Magick, maybe that could be worth taking a look at.

08:18 / 27.05.05

I would be rather careful about reading Conway's books personally. Celtic magic was a re-hash of another of her books, it has been said that Celtic Magic is exactly the same as Norse Magic but just changing the names of the deities. I would reading more heavily into the subject than what this author does.

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11:53 / 27.05.05

I acually have "Celtic Magic", it was probably one of the first five magic books I ever got (a friend recommended it to me). I'll have to look it over again but as I recall I wasn't very impressed with it at the time.

14:56 / 27.05.05

I have it too. As I recall, it's pretty craptastic.

Skeleton Camera

15:31 / 27.05.05

Even though it's dated (ie, very much "of its era"), WY Evans-Wentz' "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries" is very informative. (Intro by Terrence McKenna in one publishing, too!) Evans-Wentz also put together the first Tibetan Book of the Dead to reach the West, burdened by an introduction longer than the text itself, but still worth reading.

There's a collection of Irish folktales edited by WB Yeats and Lady Gregory featuring a section on the Sidhe and various interactions with them.

Also, re: Celtic Gods and Goddesses being driven underground, hence the transformation of Maeve (Celtic mother goddess) to Queen Mab (queen of the faeries).

09:36 / 28.05.05

I would be rather careful about reading Conway's books personally.

Yeah, I've heard that before, that's why I mentioned that I wasn't sure of any good books. I liked Celtic magic and still do, but as for whether or not it gives good info, I don't know. I just liked it as an intro to magic and still read the beginner tips from time to time to keep them in mind.

Celtic Shamanism, I'm not sure about that one, but I think if you tweaked some of the exercises to make them suit you better, you could get some good results.