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/OccultReview
Wolf-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/en
Cillín, 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=ga
The 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/Krampus
St 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/plp
Fairy 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/657241
Aos sí https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD
Tuatha Dé Danann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann
Gaoithe Sídhe https://beanfeasa9.wordpress.com/an-sluagh-sidhe/
Malak Taus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taw%C3%BBs%C3%AE_Melek
Our Lady of Fátima https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima
Stalking the wild pendulum https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stalking-Wild-Pendulum-Mechanics-Consciousness/dp/0892812028
Eddie Lenihan Storyteller TV show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATjJX7C6fiI