Behold the sidhe before your eyes
manifestly a king's mansion.
Which was built by the Daoine Sidhe
It was a wonder, a royal court, and an admirable hill

~Arthur Walenuk




Here is where you may find the Children of Twilight...the ones who share our world while never quite being in it. You know they are around you, and may catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye. But ware to those who try to look directly at them to try and find their hiding place. If you are lucky, they may take you with them for a dance or two, then set you adrift, merely lost. But if you should chance on the not-so-friendly folk, then you are surely doomed to be taken into their fairy-mound and be swallowed up forever.



Leanan Sidhe
by Mesmer

stay with me, you can't resist
Such dark seduction as is this
You give me life, you turn to dust
but while you live I satisfy your lust
My eyes like ice, My hair like fire
You shall not cease to be inspired
I'll be your slave, give me your life
Your existence will be brilliant but concise
I am the dark muse, drink of my wine
and everything you write will be known as divine


The Leanan Sidhe was one of the more deadly kind of sidhe . She was seen as a type of vampire, engaging men's lusts, but for a price they paid in blood.

**Her Nature**

The Lhiannan-Shee (lannan-shee), or Leanan Sidhe (lan-awn shee), "The Faerie Lover", has received a great amount of attention by the poet W. B. Yeats. Perhaps this is because of her main function as a Dark Muse.

While she is radiantly beautiful to the man she enchants, she is invisable to all other mortals. As with all things Faerie, once the poet has known the Leanan Sidhe's carress, all mortal women, however comely, seem lifeless and dull to him.

So the poet, living it an all encompassing yearning for his immortal lover, is inspired to great writings. This happens because the Leanan Sidhe has the power to make the creativity of an entire lifetime burn though the poet in a short time. Having taken her fill of his quickened lifeforce, he then must go to an early death.


As a vampire, she uses this lifeforce to keep herself beautiful and to weave her spells upon yet another mortal. Though seduction is deadly, it is nothing but Otherworld ecstacy for the human soul she feeds from.

The Leanan Sidhe is said to reside under the Irish Sea off the eastern coast of Ireland, and roams the Isle of Man at night, seeking a lonely young man to bring her Dark Inspiration.




**The Beansidhe**


"There we stayed three nights. The first of which I was surprised by being laid in a chamber, when, about one o'clock I heard a voice that wakened me. I drew the curtain, and in the casement of the window, I saw, by the light of the moon, a woman leaning into the window, though the casement, in white, with red hair and pale and ghastly complexion: she screamed thrice, and then, with a sigh more like the wind than breath she vanished, and to me her body looked more like a thick cloud than substance."
--Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe



Thus is a description of the Beansidhe, or commonly spelled "Banshee." The Beansidhe's high-pitched wailing is said to be heard by a family at night prior to a death within of one of the members. Usually these faeries are attached to a particular family or locale. Their screams are thought to turn blood cold and make hair stand upon end.

In Scotland, the Unseelie Court was made up of evil, malicious, and violent fairies; in all ways they were opposed to the Seelie Court, which was generally favourable towards mankind.

Some of the members of the Unseelie Court included:

  • The sluagh (the Hosts of the Unforgiven dead, akin to the Wild Hunt)
  • Shellycoat (a trickster of the coasts)
  • Redcap (a vicious fairy who drenched his cap with human blood

(Literally, "Blessed")

In Scotland, the fairies were often divided into the Seelie Court, which was comprised of the kind and noble fairies, and the Unseelie Court, which was made up of evil and malicious fairies.

Though the members of the Seelie Court could be fierce and violent when offended, they rarely trouble mankind without good reason.

The Unseelie Court was almost always out to harm, or at least bedevil and trick, humankind.

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