Written for both the complete newbie and student of fairy lore, Fairies is both informative and engaging. Morgan Daimler explores the traditional lore in mainly Celtic cultures. She discusses traditional stories and anecdotes—both modern and much older, as well as her own experiences.
Daimler is without a doubt one of the authorities on the Fair Folk today. She blogs on the Agora channel of Patheos Pagan under the title Irish American Witchcraft. Any serious student of fairy lore should read her blog regularly.
The writing style is both informative and engaging. Read the footnotes, they are worth the time. There is also a touch of practicality I feel is missing from some pagan books today. Daimler honestly addresses the benefits and costs of working with Fair Folk. While there are benefits, there is always a cost, and understand what you are getting into. She spends a lot of time slicing through modern beliefs from fiction that don’t come from lore. As a fan of modern fantasy familiar with the iron Fey series I do like seeing an author on lore up on contemporary fairy novels (yeah, I was wondering why Maeve was suddenly showing up as a fairy queen when she clearly wasn’t in the Tain as well).
A problem you get with fairy lore is the extremes of academics who give no credence the stories are actually trying to teach people how to interact with otherworldly beings, or too many neo-pagan who tend to throw out the lore (and that most ancestors really didn’t seek out the fair folk…). Accepting that fairies aren’t evil demons or figures of whimsy doesn’t mean denying them as complex beings capable of great kindness and cruelty who must be approached on their own terms.
Through careful research, Daimler tackles misconceptions of fairies in modern paganism. (no, you don’t want to be taken to their realm….) She also includes a section of using pop culture to talk to kids about the fair folk. The pop culture section would be better titled: How to talk to your kids about the Fair Folk .
While Fairies is an excellent source for learning about the Fair Folk, it doesn’t go through everything. This is not a book of witchcraft or spells. It does include traditional wards against fairies and who exactly they are useful against, but this is more a set of basic guidelines when interacting with Fair Folk than a “do this ritual to do blah” book. I would say it is a good place to start research, but definitely not an end point. Although the bibliography also has many sources used to see the original tales in their entirety.