A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World (Llewellyn's New Age) [Paperback]

Edain McCoy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2002 | Series: Llewellyn's New Age

Work magick with help from the little people
All over the world, people have reported encounters with a race of tiny people who are neither human nor deity. This book reclaims that lost, rich heritage of working with faery folk that our Pagan ancestors took for granted.
Edain McCoy teaches how to work with faeries in a mutually beneficial way. Practice rituals and spells in which faeries can participate, and discover tips to help facilitate faery contact. These capricious creatures can help with divination, past life recall, scrying, and spiritual quests. Also included is a dictionary of more than 230 faeries that include goblins, gnomes, elementals, seasonal faeries, and angels.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Working on the idea that faeries are not merely mythological creatures or elemental archetypes, but actual beings who can aid in pagan rituals and magic, McCoy tells the reader where to find them, how to call them (or protect against them), spells and rituals involving the little people and a rather helpful dictionary of faery folk from around the world. I'm impressed with the amount of actually helpful information which McCoy has included in this book.

From the Publisher

Have you ever seen a faery? As you will discover in A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk by Edain McCoy, people all over the world have reported encounters with a race of tiny people, neither human nor divine, who live both inside and outside the physical human world. Our Pagan ancestors actually lived, worked, and worshiped with these elusive creatures on a regular basis.

In many instances today, Pagans let the faery people fill the role of elemental archetypes. Perhaps, they are called on, but only to witness rituals, not participate in them. A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk changes this forever.

This book shares two ways to contact the faery people. First, it shows you where and how to find them in our world. Second, it teaches you to use guided meditation to visit them in their world. Third, it describes how to work with them when casting spells and doing rituals.

A unique dictionary listing the names, lore, and characteristics of 230 faeries makes learning which ones to work with easy. Whether it is the Erdluitle (for weather work), Tomtra (to help raise a Cone of Power), or any of the others, this book will open new vistas for spiritual development and growth. Read it soon!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (September 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875427332
• ISBN-13: 978-0875427331
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Celtic
  • #67 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Mythology & Folklore
  • #90 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Reference

More About the Author

Edain McCoy has written more than twenty books on metaphysical and occult topics since she was first published in 1993. Her popular titles include Celtic Women's Spirituality, Astral Projection For Beginners, How to Do Automatic Writing, Karmic & Past Life Tarot, The Sabbats, Advanced Witchcraft, If You Want to Be a Witch (Llewellyn Worldwide), and The Healing Power of Faery (Adams Media).

An alumnus of the University of Texas with a B.A. in history, she is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Butler University. She is affiliated with several professional organizations including the Authors Guild and the American Translators Association. She is listed in the reference guides Contemporary Authors, Who's Who Among American Women, and Who's Who In America, and her articles have appeared in Fate, Circle, Enlightenments, and similar periodicals.

Edain held positions related to education including handscoring standardized testing, substitute teaching, music education, and private tutoring. She spent many years as a licensed stockbroker and financial advisor for several international investment firms before making the leap of faith into her first love--writing full time. In 2006 she was granted a Certificate in Paranormal Investigation from Flamel College, an online institute devoted to training leaders and scientists who study various aspects of the occult. This training assisted her and her expatriate friends in Argentina (visit them at www.TangoWithJudy.com) to investigate haunted sites that have been, and continue to be, denied to other investigators. In December 2008 she completed her studies to become a Reiki Master of the Usui-Rand linage, an intuitive healing art that is still opening new doors to both spirit and spirituality.

She often gives workshops on metaphysical and New Age topics, and has taught the art of guided mediation to many students eager to use this technique for spiritual exploration. Pagan festivals energize her spiritually because she says she learns something wonderful from every person she meets. To view her speaking schedule, learn more about her books, or to find her e-mail address, visit her website at www.EdainMcCoy.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fuzzy, but not as bad as it could be, October 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World (Llewellyn's New Age) (Paperback)

I am an academic folklorist, and my specialties are fairy lore and classical fairy tales (which are related, but not identical areas of study). Speaking as a scholar, I have to say that her scholarship, while not outstanding, was better than a lot of New Age fairy books. She occasionally indulges in the fluffs, but she has the sense to list most of the fairies in her rather interesting "Dictionary" as dangerous, and not to be contacted. In this aspect, I found her to be better than Ted Andrews, and even the otherwise excellent Patricia Telesco; most of her fairies aren't adorable, and she advises respect at all times, even with benevolent fairies. The breakdown of the steps involved in spell and ritual construction were useful, and she included a halfway decent bibliography. On the other hand, this book definitely has problems. Her sections on the fairies of various lands are generalized and sloppy. She doesn't footnote -- her scholarship is strongest when she's referencing Katharine Briggs, but she doesn't credit her. To top it off, she commits one big, blistering error, which, if contact was attempted, might get some dumb fluff bunny killed: the bannik -- the Russian spirit of the bath house -- is most definitely a "Contact not advised!" entity. Folklore relates that, while banniks have occasionally been known to do good deeds, in general they are considered among the nastiest spirits in the Russian fairy pantheon; one of their favorite activities is skinning unwary bathers alive (see _Russian Folk Belief_, by Linda Ivanits). In general, I agree with the person who stated that if you want accurate fairy lore, go to Katharine Briggs (I would also suggest Carole Silver and Maureen Duffy); however, this is the most useful book for Neo-Pagans interested in making contact with the fairies in a ritual context. Just be sure to cross-check fairy types with Briggs' _Encyclopedia of Fairies_!

54 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ill-researched, July 15, 1999

By 

Kitsune ([e-mail]) (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World (Llewellyn's New Age) (Paperback)

I used to own a metaphysical bookstore, and was duly excited when this book came out. However, upon reading it, I sent every copy back to the distributor, with the exception of one copy I kept as an example of a badly researched book for neophyte witches.

The author did not do her homework on the subject very well. In her view, the Good Folk are little, friendly creatures who are glad to be contacted and in some cases, ordered about by neopagans and witches. The bulk of extant folklore does not bear out these white-light, fluffy-bunny cutsie-wootsie beliefs.

In the traditions of the British Isles, and among the Native American tribes, the Little People were considered to sometimes be allied with humanity, but were more likely to be at odds with humans or at the least, uncaring of humanity. Rituals were developed, and a complex set of rules were followed on how to propitiate these beings and to keep human relations with them on a safe level. The powers that these beings were said to wield were considerable, and not to be trifled with.

As a witch for over 17 years, and as someone who has studied the folklore of the Good Folk for around 20 years, I refuse to believe that someone who has obviously not bothered do her homework on a subject could be qualified as an authority on it. No, thank you, I will stick to the tried and true methods developed by people over hundreds of years when dealing with unknown entities such as the Good Folk, and ignore the advice of someone who likely hasn't seen one in her life, and who probably only wrote the book for the money it would bring her.

If anyone wants to learn more about the Little People, I would suggest that they read Katherine Brigg's work, "The Encyclopedia of Fairies," which is a far more interesting book, written by someone who has made the study of the folklore and beliefs about the Good Folk her life's work.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars much better resources available, October 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk: How to Work with the Elemental World (Llewellyn's New Age) (Paperback)

Written in fourth-grader style, not well researched, and frequently inaccurate. Author quotes books of nursery rhymes, Mother Goose, Brian Froud, the 'Enchanted World' series of Time-Life books, and her own works in the bibliography; the closest this book gets to genuine research is an abridged version of Frazer and a speculative work of Joseph Campbell's.
Use this book for magic at your own risk!
Or, save yourself the trouble of having to relearn the right information later, and instead buy a copy of Alexander Porteous' The Forest in Folklore and Mythology.