Author: A Solitary Pagan

A host of supernatural beings and spirits who exist between earth and heaven. Both good and evil, fairies have been associated with witches. During the witch hunts in Europe and the British Isles, accused witches often sought to save their lives by claiming they were taught their witch arts by fairies. For some, this all seemed less malevolent than if they had been taught by the Devil. For the mos...

As late as 1894 beliefs in fairies and witches in Ireland caused the murder of Bridget Cleary of Clonmel, who was accused by her own husband and family of being a changeling wife.The trials of Michael Cleary and Bridget’s relatives were Ireland’s last involving witchcraft. Many contemporary Witches believe in fairies and some see them clairvoyantly.Some Witches say their Craft was passed down from...

Use this fairy water out in the garden as well as using it as an astringent and in the bath! Sprinkle a few drops here and there along with some glitter! If that doesn’t make the wee ones want to visityour yard, nothing will! Ingredients:1 cup apple cider vinegar1/4 cup fresh red rose petals1/4 cup mint leaves1/8 cup sage leaves1/2 cup rose water Gently heat vinegar and pour over rose petals and m...

A frightening goblin of English folklore. The bogie is described as little, black, and hairy. It is considered dangerous, mischievous, sly, and is renowned for its intelligence. Parents would use the threat of the bogie to frighten young children into good behavior.    

Isobel Gowdie, Scotland’s renowned witch who voluntarily confessed in 1662, said she had frequent doings with fairies.Gowdie went often to Fairyland, entering through various caverns and mounds.The entrance of Fairyland was populated with elf-bulls, whose “roaring and skoilling” always frightened her.She often met with the King and Queen of Fairy, who were finely dressed and offered her more meat ...

The ghostly Reid appeared many times before Dunlop, beseeching her to go away with him to Fairyland or to deny the Christian faith, in exchange for which he would grant her every wish.She denied him repeatedly, she testified.One day, Reid appeared with a company of eight women and four men. Reid explained that they were “good wights” (fairies) who lived in Elfland.They asked Dunlop to accompany th...

A few years later, in 1588, Alison Pearson of Byrehill was charged with invoking the spirits of the Devil.She also was said to have a fairy familiar: her cousin, William Sympson, a physician who had been kidnapped by a Gypsy and had died.One day while Pearson was traveling, she felt ill and lay down.A green man (Sympson) appeared and said he would do her good if she would be faithful to him.The gr...

In 1566 John Walsh of Dorset was accused of witchcraft.He admitted being able to tell if a person was bewitched, a gift bestowed upon him partly by fairies, he said.The fairies, he claimed, lived in great heaps of earth in Dorsetshire and could be consulted for one hour, at either noon or midnight.Walsh also defined three kinds of fairies: green,white and black, and said the black were the worst.B...

Fairies and witches. According to British anthropologist Margaret A. Murray and others, real “little people” gradually became identified with witches. In the 16th and 17th centuries, when fairy beliefs were at their height, fairies and witches were often blended together. Both could cast and break spells, heal people, and divine lost objects and the future. Both danced and sang beneath a full moon...