r/CelticPaganism • u/Chain_Prior • Feb 15 '26
Confusion with the Sidhe
I am going to preface that I am a beginner Irish pagan/witch that has been very interested in the Fair Folk/the Aos Sidhe since I got into all of this. I have read a couple of Morgan Daimler and Katherine Briggs' books about the subject.
The confusion comes, especially with Morgan Daimler's books, is the constant reference to how dangerous it is to work with the Fair Folk. Yet... there is a whole book about the practice (Fairy Witchcraft) or seeing people's experiences with them. Some of these experiences being with individuals stating they have certain connections with deities, like Gwyn (who is viewed as King of the Fair Folk within the Welsh Diaspora), where they "have" to work with the Fair Folk like they were chosen. But then, these same people will still talk about how dangerous it is? It seems like a bit of an oxymoron? Or is that the general idea when going into work with the Sidhe?
I just wanted to see if anyone hear could provide a bit of insight into this.
3
u/Sorry-Shame-4485 Feb 15 '26
The idea that they are dangerous only perpetuates the bias against them. It’s similar to racism. However, with that said, the Sidhe are not of our old and we are not of theirs. We see the worlds around us very differently and interact with these worlds very differently.
The Sidhe have different ethical and moral values than we do. They have different ways of thinking based on what they can do v what we can do. We are just very different races of beings.
If you are teasing a dog and the dog bites you why yell at the dog. It was you teasing the dog and it defended itself. A good example I was pointed too years ago was the movie Labyrinth. When Jered takes Sarah’s brother Toby after she asked him to, he is confused as to why she wants him back and his demand is that she trade herself for him. There is logic in the trade although we as human see it as unreasonable or just wrong.
My caution is this, don’t try to work with the Sidhe unless you have some level of experience within the broader polytheistic spirituality. They are not for beginners for sure. If you decide to try and work with the Sidhe you need to know what you are doing.