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Aillén Mac Midhna (al-yen mac mee-o-na)
variations Aillen Mac Miona (Irish)
A fairy musician from Annwn
who came out of his cave each year to play his timpan (belled
tambourine) at the
feast of Samhain (Halloween). Every year he would burn down the palace
of Tara after enchanting
the residents with music. Eventually Fionn Mac Cumhail resisted the
music by pressing
his spear to his own forehead and then beheading Aillén.
Áine (aw-ne) (Irish)
A faery queen and goddess
of love and fertility. She is associated with the moon and has
occasionally been seen
combing her hair in the middle of a lake. Daughter of high king,
Eogabail, the foster son
of sea god Mannanán Mac Lir. Her sister is Fenne or Finnen.
Ankou (Ahn-koo)
Sometimes called
the King of the Dead. He collects souls upon their death and escorts them
to
the land of the dead.
Traveling with his own subjects he is a feared fairy that is mainly seen
on
November Eve.
Annwn (a-noon) (Welsh) - "Land of Shadows". The otherworld.
Asrai
An ancient water
fairy in female or male form that lives in the sea. They are rarely seen
and
only at night. They
are sometimes called sea ghosts because of their extremely pale,
translucent skin.
Legend states that they must not be exposed to the sun lest they dissolve
into
a pool of water
Banshee - see Bean-Sidhe or Bean-Nighe
Bean-Sidhe - ( ban-shee )
This fairy woman
is feared by humans because her wails and moaning foretell the impending
death of someone
near. She has been described as very beautiful, pale with long hair and
fearsome red eyes
which some say is from her constant weeping.
Bean-Fionn
Also called Jenny
Greentooth, she is a malevolent fairy who lives underwater in streams and
lakes. She can be
either beautiful or hideous and is known to reach up from her watery depths
and drag young children
under the water with her.
Bogie
A male hobgoblin
who is only up to evil and capricious acts of wrongdoing. He enjoys
tormenting any traveler
who is unfortunate enough to cross his path. Also called bogy,
bug-a-boo, bogle
or boggart.
Brigid (Irish)
a much beloved triple goddess
of healing, smiths, fertility and poetry. Daughter
of Dagda, her name
means "fiery arrow".
Brownie
A scruffy small brown
male fairy who wears dirty, torn clothing and likes to live with humans.
They like to help
with chores but also like to be left alone. They expect small rewards and
will
abandon a home when
there is no extra milk and cakes left for them. The Brownie is generally
helpful unless they
are crossed then they become mean and ill-tempered
Cait Sith (cait shee)
a Highland fairy cat that
is as large as a dog, with a white spot on it's breast.
Changeling
Some fairies love
beautiful human babies and will steal them and leave an old, near-death
fairy
in their place. Humans
have been known to place iron bars on or in their baby cradles to
protect them from
such thefts.
Corrigan
These female fairies
are enchanted to forever roam the earth as beautiful blonde women by
day and repulsive
old hags by night. Legend states that if a mortal man loves the old hag
and
beautiful woman equally
the enchantment is lifted.
Daoine Sidhe (deena shee)
The Tuatha De Danann
who chose to stay in Ireland after the invasion of the
Milesian, and took
refuge under the hills. Trooping, Seelie Court is one of Scotland's Sidhe.
Faery Folk of Ireland,
sopposedly fallen angels. Inhabitants living underground,
underwater, in green
raths or under the loughs or sea. Of these derive Heroic Faery
and the Medieval
Fairy. Ireland has two races, a visable race called the Celts
and the invisible
Faery People or the Sidhe.
Druids
The Druids were important
figures in Celtic Ireland and held positions as advisors,
judges and teachers.
Draoi-id means “oak knowledge". They were male and female and it took
up to 20 years to
learn all of the Druidical laws. Evans-Wentz in the book Fairy-Faith in
Celtic Countries
states that they were magicians and prophets and they could foretell the
future and interpret
the secret will of the fairies.
Duergarrs (Doo-ay-gahrs)
A male dwarf fairy
approximately 2 feet tall. They are unfriendly to humans and guard fairy
paths and hills.
Ellyllon
The name given to the Welsh
elves. They are tiny, diaphanous fairies whose food is toadstools
and fairy butter, a fungoid
substance found in the roots of old trees and in limstone crevices. Their
queen is Mab.
Elves
Elves are small and
thin with pointed ears and sinewy bodies. Despite their small stature they
are very intelligent
and industrious and play a major part in the land of fairy.
Etain - (aideen) a Irish fairy queen from the Tuatha Dé Danaan wed to King Midhir.
Ethné (Irish)
exiled from the Tuatha
Dé Danaan. She wanders the hills in vain listening to the
disembodied voices
of the fairies so she can return.
Fairy Trees
All trees are sacred to
fairies but the ones most mentioned in fairy lore include:
Oak, Ash, Apple,
Hazel, Rowan, Holly, Willow, Elder, Alder, Hawthorn and Blackthorn.
Willows have been
known to uproot themselves on dark nights and follow solitary travelers
through the woods.
Hazel nuts were thought to instill wisdom and fertility and apples: power
and youth.
Fairies / Faeries
The word "fairies" now
encompasses all of the inhabitants of Fairyland including the Daoine Sidhe
of the Highlands. The Tuatha
Dé Danaan of Ireland. The Tylwth Teg of Wales. The Seelie and
Unseelie-Court and the
Trooping and Solitary fairies. Other names given to the fairy race include:
Daoine
Maithe ‘the good people’,
the Sidhe race, the Gentry, the "People of Peace", "the still-folk",
the "silent moving folk",
the Sith , the Fair-Family, Fair-Folk, and the Fées.
Fir Darrigs (Fear Durgs)
Also called Rat Boys.
They are very unpleasant fairies with fat ugly features, hairy skin and
long snouts which
make them look like large rats. They like to trick humans and other fairies
out of their possessions
and they love to eat rotten fish and food.
Flower Fairy
18th Century fairy
is now gentle spirit of earth, child-spirits.
They punish the bad
and remain in peace with those who do good by them.
They now have all
sorts of rememdies and superstitions to ward off these
evil fairies. Or
to protect their homes and childred from such.
Gancanagh (Gon-cawn-ah)
A legendary beautiful
male fairy who enjoys seducing mortal women to fall in love with him
and then disappearing
only to leave them to search for him until their deaths.
Gentry - The most noble tribe of all the fairies
in Ireland. A big race who came
from the planets and usually appear in white. The Irish used to bless the
Gentry for
fear of harm otherwise.
Ghillie Dhu (Gillee Doo)
These are Scottish
solitary tree fairies who disguise themselves as leaves and love to play
pranks on human
travelers who unknowingly
have ventured into their forest. Their clothing is made of leaves and moss.
The Glastig (clee-stickh)or Glaistig
An infamous water
fairy who is believed to no longer exist. A beautiful woman fairy of human
size
who is part goat
and attempts to lure mortal human males to be her companion and is friendly
until they notice
her goat hooves.
Then she either drowns them or drains them of their blood. Her nature is
typically
faerie-perverse for
she can also be benign and gently tend children or old people. She will
also sometimes
herd cattle for farmers.
Gnomes or Dwarves
Earth fairies who
age very quickly. They seem to have been born old and they live for
hundreds of years.
They are very intelligent and they make their homes in hollowed out trees
or partly underground.
They vary in personalities and temperament.
Gwragedd Annwn (Gwer-geth Ai-noon)
A beautiful blond
water fairy of human size who is helpful and kind to humans. She lives
near lakes.
Gwyllion (gwithleeon)
The evil mountain fairies
of Wales. They are hideous female spirits who waylay and mislead travelers
by night on the mountain
roads. They were friends and patrons of the goats, and might indeed take
goat form.
Goblins and Hobgoblins
A name given by humans
to the mean, mischievous elves who sometimes haunt their homes.
Heroic Faery
1113 CE Knights and
ladies of the medieval romances, and Celt Legends
Aurthur became Heroic
Faery; King of Faerie. King Aurther, voyaging in his
magickal ship Prydwen,
visited many islands inhabitated by Faeries,
Arthur had been sent
to the Island Avalon mortally wounded to be tended to by
four Faerie Queens.
Of which he is said to still waits deep within the hill waiting.
Huldrafolk
Dark elves that cause deformaties
with a lick of their dark brown tongues. Can cause
a human to turn against
the world of mortals.
Kelpie
Scottish water faerie.
Although sometimes appearing in the guise of a hairy man, this is more
often
seen in the form of a young
horse. The Kelpie haunt rivers and streams and, after letting unsuspecting
humans
mount him, will dash
into the water and give them a dunking. Each-Uisge (ech-ooshkya) or
Aughisky (agh-iski)
as he is known in Ireland, inhabits seas and lochs and is far more dangerous.
Killmoulis
A particularly ugly Brownie
who haunts mills. He is characterized by an enormous nose and no mouth.
To eat he presumably stuffs
the food up his nose. Although a Killmoulis works hard for the miller,
he delights in practical
jokes and can therefore be a hindrance rather than a help.
Knockers
Dwarf fairies who
live underground and are expert miners
Leanan-Sidhe (lan-awn-shee)
the Fairy Mistress
similar to the Lhiannan-Shee,
except she is given a more benevolent description by Lady
Wilde in Ancient
Legends of Ireland: ‘The Leanan-Sidhe, or the spirit of life, was supposed
to
be the inspirer of
the poet and singer, as the Ban-Sidhe was the spirit of death, the foreteller
of
doom.’ Her inspiration
comes at a price, in that poets and artists fueled by her die an early
death.
Leprechauns
A solitary male fairy
with the cunning ability to steal or find treasure. He loves riddles and
dares others to find
the treasure that he has hidden, sometimes so well that he himself cannot
find it.
Lhiannan-Shee (lannan-shee)
A beautiful vampiric
fairy who has been said to either drain her victims of blood or collect
it in
a cauldron where
she performs spells and rituals to keep herself youthful and beautiful.
The Lorelei
A lovely young woman faery
who sings, luring men to their deaths. They are found by cliffs near the
sea.
Lunantisidhe
Pointed ears and long teeth,
they are said to hate humans with a fervent passion.
Fierce protecters of blackthorn
trees.
Medieval Fairy
Moving away from
Ireland and into England, tales of such magick and sorcery
Wizards and Witches,
Morgan LeFay & Avalon. The Fairy size was now varying,
from small fairies
to hideous monsters. Monastic Chroniclers took down in
writing accounts
of battles, crusades and politics. Gathered by the monks of
the new religion.
Majority of these chroniclers where churchmen, so the record
of Faery has become
the fairy we know in modern tales. Arriving from Aurthurian
Legends of this race.
The recordings of the Daoine Sidhe indicate them enjoying
the pleasures and
occupations of medieval chivalry.
Mermaids
Also called the merpeople,
merrows. A generally gentle female fairy who lives in the sea with a
human torso and fish
tail. They sometimes travel upstream and have been known to take
human lovers to their
underwater kingdoms.
Merman
A male counterpart
of the mermaid. They also have human torsos and fish tails but
are not as interested
in humankind as the mermaids. They are wilder with pigs eyes, red noses
and green hair and
tend to enjoy the stormier aspects of the sea.
Merrows - The Irish Merpeople are called Merrows
and they can be distinguished from other sea-dwelling
faeries in that they
wear red feather caps to propel themselves down to their homes in the depths.
Should
their caps be stolen,
they can no longer return to their watery homes. The female Merrow are
very beautiful
and, like other mermaids,
appear before storms as an omen, but they are gentle by nature and often
fall in
love with mortal
fishermen. This can partly be explained by the extreme ugliness of the
male
Merrows. Despite
their alaming aspect, the males too have their redeeming features as they
are generally
jovial in character.
Mórrigán (Irish)
a major triple goddess
of war, death and slaughter. Her name means great
queen. She is interchangeable
with Macha, Badb and Nemain. Her favorite shape is that of the
crow or raven.
Nucklelelavees
Foul smelling faeries that
enjoy chasing humans as well as other faeries. They
arise out of the sea and
bleed black blood when cut.
Orculli
Bad smeling faery that
enjoys eating human flesh. Said to be large and clumsy.
Phookas
A destructive fairy
that travels in a pack, they have the body of a goat or horse and the head
of
a human male. Fairies
and humans fear them and avoid them at all cost.
Pixies
A small, winged fairy
with a large head, pointy ears, nose and eyebrows. They are
mischievous and love
fancy clothing made to resemble their favorite flowers. They love
dancing, singing
and merry making.
Robin Goodfellow or Puck
This male fairy looks
like a satyr with a boys head and the body of a goat. He is playful and
loves to play his
pipes throughout the forests which entices all the animals and fairies
alike to
follow his melodious
music.
The Seelie-Court
Seelie means “blessed”,
and this court consists of all the noble and kind fairies whose inner
code of fair and
good ethics contrast that of the Unseelie Court.
Selkies
Selkies appear as
seals but are able to shed their sealskins and walk on land in female or
male
form. If a human
can capture this skin, the Selkie can be forced to become a fine, if wistful,
wife.
However, should she ever
find her skin she immediately returns to the sea, leaving the husband
to pine and die. The males
raise storms and upturn boats to avenge the indiscriminate slaughter of
seals.
Spriggans
A fairy monster who
is able to inflate himself and float along the countryside. They sometimes
appears as rocks
or stones and create havoc on those who cross their paths.
Tara
The ancient hill
fort that became the capital of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. It was a meeting
place
for fairy kings and
visiting dignitaries.
Tir Nan Og or Tir Na N-og (teer na nogue)
"Land of the Young" an
earthly paradise where
time stopped and
the grass was always green and the flowers blossoming. A land of beauty
where there was much
music, feasting, loving and hunting.
Trooping Fairies
Fairies are sometimes
divided into two classes which includes the trooping or solitary fairies.
The trooping fay
can be large or small, friendly or sinister. They tend to wear green jackets,
while the
Solitary Faery wear
red jackets. They can range from the Heroic Faery to the dangerrous and
malevolent
Sluagh, or tose Diminutive
Fairies who include the tiny nature spirits that make the fairy rings with
their
dancing and speed
the growth of flowers.
Tuatha Dé Danann (Too-ah-day Thay-nan)
Also called the Gentry.
They are the earliest fairies. Their goddess was Dana. They are the
origin of the fairy
race.
Tylwyth Teg (terlooeth teig)
A Welsh name for
the “fair race”. Given to represent all fairies whom they believed lived
in
matriarchal clans.
The most unusual name for Welsh fairies, though they are sometimes called
Bendith Y Mammau, in an
attempt to avert their kidnapping activities by invoking a euphemistic
name.
They are fair-haired, and
love golden hair. They dance and make fairy rings. They are like the Daoine
Sidhe,
and dwell underground or
underwater. The fairy maidens are easily won as wives and will live with
human
husbands for a time. Because
of the strange passage of time in Faeryland it is dangerous to visit them.
They give riches to their
favorites, but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of.
The Unseelie Court
These are the damned
or unblessed of the fairy race and they consist of all that is evil and
ignoble in fairyland.
Will-o’-the-Wisp
Also called Fairy
Lights, Elf-fire, Hobbedy’s Lantern or Night Whispers. Small winged fairies
whose glowing lights
can be seen at dusk in the meadows and grassy hills.
An Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine
Briggs
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by Peter
Berresford Ellis
The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries
by W.Y. Evans-Wentz
Faeries by Brian Froud and Allan Lee
Over Nine Waves: A Book of Irish Legends
by Marie Heaney
A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk by Edain
McCoy
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