Wednesday, March 16, 2011

From Faerie - Leanan Sidhe

The Leanan Sidhe are an interesting branch of study when looking over the various types of Fae. Most commonly these days, tales bend their mythology exceedingly dark, making them vampirish succubi. Mostly these confusions and different interpretations end up varying by location. Central and mainland Europe was much more given to the vampiric succubus stories, while the Irish treated her more as a life-giving spirit and source of inspiration. It was in later times that she was given the distinction of trading her love and inspiration to men at the cost of the shortening of their lives. However you prefer to think of your Leanan Sidhe (and there's almost as many spelling variations for her as there are interpretations of her nature), one thing holds over. She is the Fairy Sweetheart and seeks out mortal men to love her in exchange for her own love and gifts of inspiration and creativity.

I am working on a From Faerie product in tribute to the more favorable side of this particular Sidhe. Currently, I have the petals from 5 red roses sealed up in an airtight container with pink Himalayan salt, to desiccate the petals and infuse the salts with their natural oils. I'm not sure where I will go from there, just yet, but it is in the making.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Leanan Sidhe and Bean Sidhe are probably two of the most widely known Irish fairy women in everyday society. Though, I think her sister, the Banshee (modern Anglo of Bean Sidhe) probably wins as the best well known, if not most commonly misunderstood, because of that, as well. But, sorry dear sister, today we are dealing with the Fairy Sweetheart. And while the proper name doesn't give very many results on etsy, some creative searches based around the meaning of the name did offer some relevant finds.

PixieGirl Felt and Clothing has some adorable hand felted hats and headbands that could definitely make you feel like a lovely fairy woman yourself. One of my favorites from her shop (pictured here) is this vibrant red headband felted from silk fibre, mohair and tussah silk. The shop has many color options as well as clothing and accessories. I would note, however, to be mindful of the S&H as they are based out of Australia. Etsy is international and you should always note where your crafts are coming from so there's no surprises during check out regarding international shipping.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Izile's Oddities" has been included in this weeks A Sunday Drive. I hope this helps to attract even more new visitors here.

http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/2011/03/sunday-drive_20.html

Izile said...

Thank you so much!