The Banshee – A’Bhan-sìthe
The word ‘fairy’ does not translate sìth well at all well. You know that old expression ‘lost in translation? Well, ‘fairy’ is the ultimate understatement. The sìthichean have awesome powers and should be treated with great respect. People can repel the fairies with iron…
Viking Myth: The Poetic Edda
Viking Poetry– Important! In the Viking Age, anything important was composed in poetry. Poetry! And you thought poetry was for wimps. Most of what is known about Norse mythology is found in the Poetic Edda, about 35 poems written in Icelandic…
A Queen of the Fairies
Anu, Goddess of Munster Anu or Ana was a goddess, the personification of the rivers, the seas and the oceans, who embodied fertility, abundance, and regeneration. She was the principal goddess of pre-Christian Ireland, the mother goddess of Munster (Mumhan) in the south of Ireland. The bishop, who wrote Sanas Cormaic (Cormac’s Glossary) in the 9th century, called her mater deorum hibernensium (the mother of Irish gods). The place name Dá…
Fairies: The Old Gods
In England, before the Norman Conquest of 1066, fairies were called elves. Fairy is a word borrowed from French. Walt Disney would have you believe that fairies are sweet little creatures with wings and wands, helpful entities like Tinkerbell and…
Grace O’Malley – Pirate Queen?
The O’Malleys Grace O’Malley is famous (infamous?) as a ‘pirate queen’ in English records of the 16th century. But was she a pirate or a queen? The O’Malleys, the Uí Máille, held the Umhall (the Owels), a region of great beauty in…
