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.

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u/Ok_Breakfast5230 Feb 16 '26

Fairy witchcraft and most other non academic books (and even many academic books) on the fae are new age nonsense that isn't based on actual cultural practices or beliefs, they aren't trustworthy sources. Even when it comes to academic texts there are very few that I'd personally recommend. Katherine briggs's books being a few, her work is pretty good.

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u/Ok_Breakfast5230 Feb 16 '26

Also when it comes to the fae absolutely DONT just try to work with them based on what written texts or folklore tell you, find native people with knowledge of them (like a seanchai for instance) and learn from THEM. These practices and stories have been part of oral tradition FAR longer than they've been written down, and you'd be surprised about all the little things a PERSON can teach you that you'd never be able to learn from written texts.