Morgan Daimler's Blog, page 28

Imbolc – Divination practices

Hawthorn berries under snow, Imbolc 2016



Divination practices are found during all of the significant Irish celebrations and Imbolc is no exception. The timing for taking the omens varied but could occur anytime from the night before Imbolc to the morning of the festival. Particularly the period immediately after the feasting portion of the celebration was often used for divination (Estyn

Fairies and the Dead - An Excerpt from my W.I.P

The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book 'Fairies: A Guidebook to the Good People'Fairies and the DeadThe relationship and connection between the fairies and the dead is a complex one, and likely always has been. The human dead aren't fairies, except when they are. Fairies aren't the human dead, except when they might be. The places of the dead belong to the dead, except when those

Spirituality - Why I Don't Believe in Easy

  The other day I was talking to a friend and I happened to mention that when it comes to spirituality I no longer believe in the concept of easy. Simple, yes, because there are aspects of spirituality and spiritual practice that can be simple. But easy, oh no, easy is one of those things that will trap you into laziness and inattention. More often than not the simplest things are actually the

The Wild Hunt

This is an excerpt from my book 'Fairycraft'



The
Wild Hunt is a collection of spirits - some say ghosts, or fairies - that
travel through the air in storms led by a Huntsman. Who the Huntsman is varies
as widely as the geographic areas the hunt is found in and the names it is
known by. There have been entire books written about the Wild Hunt - and I
highly recommend Claud Lecouteaux's "

Everyone's Favorite Topic - Fairies, Humans, and Sex

  One of the most consistent threads among the folklore, and one that I've touched on previously in my articles on the Leannán Sí and Changelings, is also one that seems to endlessly fascinate modern people: fairies and humans as lovers. While some today like to scoff at the concept as the fodder of lascivious imaginations and trashy novels it is actually an idea that is found and reiterated in

Ireland: Seeing the Stories

The idea behind today's blog is pretty straightforward - its a collection of pictures of different sites in Ireland from my recent trip along with some related lore, history, myth, or personal stories. I had been sharing these in snippets on social media and decided to collect them all into one place here and share them with a wider audience. Display at the Bru na Bionne Visitor Centre, "Stone

7 Snarky But Serious Tips for Dealing with Fairies

Inspired by the always awesome Seo Helrune blog and today's 'Eight Sarcastic But Serious Tips for Necromancy'. I give you 7 snarky but Serious Tips for Dealing with Fairies





Since fairies are pretty trendy right now and people are paying mad money to become a certified Fairyologist - or Fairy Doctor, or Fairyist, or whatever today's popular term is - I thought I'd save everyone some money and

My Shifting Spirituality and Fairytale Wolves

I've been thinking a lot about wolves lately. I'm in a place spiritually right now that is a bit contradictory - several events in Ireland were very empowering and intense for me and moved me into a deeper connection with the Other Crowd, but at the same time other things have become chaotic as a result. Not all of this chaos was predictable and the wolves are a good example of that. I have a

Quick Thoughts on Apotropaic Iron

there seems to be a lot of confusion about the apotropaic qualities of iron.
So, let's clear some points up.
Iron is said in folklore to protect against a wide range of spirits and negative magics including [most of] the Good Neighbors and Alfar, Ghosts, Demons, and witches. Iron objects deter the majority of the Other Crowd who are averse to its presence and things like knives, scissors, nails,

Changelings

  I've recently had Bridget Cleary on my mind and that along with some synchronicity on social media that brought the subject up in a separate context made me decide to write today about changelings. For those who don't know, Bridget Cleary was a woman in Ireland who died in 1895 when her husband and several family members and neighbors burned her alive after several days of trying to 'cure' her,