Air Element | The heART of Ritual

The heART of Ritual

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A selection of articles, poetry, prose, videos, and tutorials that journey the natural cycles, seasons, elements, and archetypes in Irish tradition, and the Celtic Wheel of the Year.

Sage Advice on how to see the Fae Folk

"The condition favourable to the belief that Fairies are being seen would seem to be that the right type of person should be in an...

Is time your friend or master?

'We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.' - H.G. Wells....

Fairies and the Changing Seasons

I had a question put to me recently which I found interesting. Do fairies come and go with the seasons, and might one type of fairy be...

The Elf Stone

"The 'Elf-stone' (aka Elf-shot) is described as sharp, and with many corners and points, so that whichever way it falls it inflicts a...

Bluebell Folklore

The bluebell thrives at the start of the warmer weather but will die off from mid-June, when the trees have their full compliment of...

Spring Equinox & The Fairy Hunt

"And beyond them, almost hidden by the moon shadows, were the Lords of the Ever-Living Ones: the antlered helmets of the Wild Hunt, the...

The Fairy Wind

Some believe that the Good People travel within a 'Fairy Wind' to move from one place to another, this is why must never interfere with a...

Blúiríní Béaloidis 08 - Wind & Storms In Folk Tradition

Owing to their impact on human affairs, weather occurrences of all sorts were a source of preoccupation for our forebears, who would look...

Fairy Paths and Ghost Roads

A few posts back I wrote about the secret fairy-paths of the air, and how a person might inadvertently get whisked away being caught up...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Darkling Thrush', by Thomas Hardy

I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled...

The Sheela na Gig - An Ancient Fertility Goddess?

Sheela na Gig’s are stone carvings of women exposing their genitals which are found mostly on church buildings associated with the...

The Folklore of Daffodils and the Return of Spring

I noticed that the first daffodils are beginning to emerge on our local fairy fort, Rathvilly moat, so I wonder if this is a sign of...

Tír na nÓg & The Irish Otherworld

Where, or even what, is Tir na nÓg? Being a Fortean writer who happens to be Irish, as opposed to being an invested scholar or advocate...

The Secret Fairy-Paths of the Air

In previous posts I wrote about the argument that a person today is so embedded in contemporary life that they have little chance of a...

How can an Owl catch a Mouse underneath a foot of snow in total darkness?

Owls do have excellent vision, but one would need either infrared or x-ray vision to see a small mammal under snow. Instead, owls do much...

An insightful description of the Leprechaun

The Leprechauns are merry, industrious, tricksy little sprites, who do all the shoemaker’s work and the tailor’s and the cobblers for the...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'The Man who Trod on Sleeping Grass', by Dora Sigerson Shorter

In a field by Cahirconlish ⁠I stood on sleeping grass, No cry I made to Heaven ⁠From my dumb lips would pass. Three days, three nights I...

A Faerie Horse?

"Long ago there lived in the townland of Doon a man named Harty. He had a farm of land near the Shannon. Every morning Harty used to find...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Dream-Song', by Walter De La Mare

Sunlight, moonlight, Twilight, starlight— Gloaming at the close of day, And an owl calling, Cool dews falling In a wood of oak and may. ...

Seasonal Poetry & Prose: 'Fairy Tea', by D. K. Stevens

‘Twas very, very long ago, in days no longer sung, when giant stood about so high, and pixies all were young. The Queen of Fairies said...

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