S2 #31 / David Halpin on Banshees, Cenobites and the Púca

Hailing from Carlow, Ireland, David Halpin is a writer with a deep knowledge of Ireland’s fairy lore and  pagan heritage. On his facebook blog, Circle Stories, he explores these themes in great depth.  David is also the creative force behind Occult Book Review on Twitter and YouTube. What I really love about David’s work is he is an active participant in preserving the lore and mythology of Ireland. He goes out and sees the stones and raths and teases their stories from them. Which provides us with a vital link to our past.In the show David talks how fairy spirits of alleged different forms can manifest in the same ways. He gives his thoughts on the parallels with UFOs and we get into the differences and similarities between cities and rural places with fairies and go down a bit of a rabbit hole after the Pooka. 

In the plus show we get into the dangers of summoning the Good People and David regals us with a story of brushing up against the strange while on a trip to a remote stone circle. We also discuss fairy ointments and from there discuss the use of psychedelics in Irish mythology and folk practice and go off on interesting tangents on the Djinn, Our Lady of Fátima and consciousness. Enjoy

Show notes:Circle Stories https://www.facebook.com/CircleStoriesDavidHalpin/

Occult Book Reviewhttps://twitter.com/OccultReviewWolf-Men and Water Hounds: The Myths, Monsters and Magic of Ireland https://www.waterstones.com/book/wolf-men-and-water-hounds/manch-n-magan/steve-doogan/9780717196111 

The Duchas archives, home of the Irish folklore collections https://www.duchas.ie/enCillín, a burial ground for unbaptised children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cill%C3%ADn

Corpse toothache cure https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4569057/4567629/4574604?HighlightText=corpse+hand&Route=stories&SearchLanguage=gaThe Spancel of Death https://youtu.be/6CstZ-0Lwxo?si=NdnJ6N_MofOAFNx4

Athgreany stone circle https://visitwicklow.ie/listing/pipers-stones/

The Amadán https://www.facebook.com/505240543157960/posts/904390903242920/Biddy Early https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddy_Early

Puck Fair https://puckfair.ie/Púca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%BAca

Krampus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KrampusSt Knut’s day and Nuuttipukki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Knut%27s_Day

Poulaphouca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulaphouca

Living with Djinns https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780863566950/Living-Djinns-Understanding-Dealing-Invisible-0863566952/plpFairy mist or ‘Ceo draíochta’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9th_f%C3%ADada

David on WMiT https://whatmagicisthis.com/2023/02/27/fairies-ireland-with-david-halpin/

Cenobites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenobite_(Hellraiser)

Fairy ointment story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Ointment

The witches of Selwood https://www.hobnobpress.co.uk/books/p/the-witches-of-selwood-witchcraft-belief-and-accusation-in-seventeenth-century-somerset-by-andrew-pickering

Entopic phenomena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entoptic_phenomena_(archaeology)Irish slang of mushrooms is Pookies https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/fungi-folklore-and-fairyland/Ploughing the Clouds, the search for Irish Soma https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/657241Aos sí https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD

Tuatha Dé Danann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_DanannGaoithe Sídhe https://beanfeasa9.wordpress.com/an-sluagh-sidhe/Malak Taus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taw%C3%BBs%C3%AE_MelekOur Lady of Fátima https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1timaStalking the wild pendulum https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stalking-Wild-Pendulum-Mechanics-Consciousness/dp/0892812028Eddie Lenihan Storyteller TV show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATjJX7C6fiI