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victusinveritas · 1 month

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“Mythical Beasts of Ireland” by Neil Parkinson.

According to family lore, my great-grandmother (born and raised in Roscommon, moved to Providence at 19 to marry a man twice her age) had a dullahan living in her basement (not really doing anything or bothering anyone, which is weird because mortally bothering is what a dullahan does, it didn't follow her when her house burned down though and that was essentially that). There was also a family banshee that announced any deaths (and still does with some accuracy by all accounts--the family has a habit of dying on January 4th that, impressively, some 21 have held to over the last two hundred years--unhelpfully, I've only confirmed 13 in the last 150, but one of my aunts says I'm low by at least 7).

Sorry for all the parenthetical thoughts.

#neil parkinson #folklore #irish folklore #cryptids #dullahan #bean sí #irish studies #maps #family stories #banshees #irish american #saint patrick's day #grave goods

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ruql · 1 year

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"The Banshee (Bean Sidhé)"

The Banshee is a supernatural being that comes from the Irish folklore.

Some Irish believe that the souls of the deceased do not leave this world. Rather, they rove Earth in form of disembodied spirits. The Banshee is also believed to be a female spirit.

In Irish folklore, the Banshee plays the role of a predictor or an omen of death. It's blood-curdling howls and screech are said to convey the message that you or your loved ones don't have much time left.

According to some, hearing a Banshee's wail will instantaneously kill the listener or their loved ones. Some claim that it just conveys a message, but whoever it is for is destined to embrace death.

The Banshee has a significant cultural significance in Irish folklore, representing death and mourning. It has been passed down through generations and remains an important part of Irish mythology.

Both the fear of dying and the fear of being parted from your loved ones are very common. Thus, it is no surprise that "The Banshee" is considered as one of the most dreaded figures in Irish mythology.

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lackadaisycal-art · 1 year

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I'm so normal about Banshees of Inisherin

#the banshees of inisherin #banshees #oscars 2022 #brendan gleeson #art #fan art #portrait #procreate #martin mcdonagh

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worldgonewrongpod · 10 days

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Coming Tuesday, April 23- episode 104 of World Gone Wrong, in which we learn about Jamie's trip west~

Subscribe here, or search World Gone Wrong wherever you listen to podcasts!

#world gone wrong #world gone wrong podcast #audacious machine creative #audio fiction #dungeons and dragons #banshees

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todayinmagicalgirlhistory · 7 months

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The Magical Girl Guide to: Banshees

I was in the mood to make another guide post and figured why not recreate one of my old ones. Samhain is on the way and while I was trying to wait until that day to post this, I got a little too excited to talk about one of the types of faeries I work with the most. This time, I’ll be talking about banshee, a faerie often miscategorized in media.

As always, these sorts of posts aren’t a 100% ‘I know All’ piece on a topic, rather just a look into the folklore and my own UPG. Don’t use this post alone as the extent of your research on any topics, let alone the fae. Think of this as a small push into doing your own research about banshees, not me being an all-knowing expert whose UPG is the end all be all knowledge on banshee.

This is just me discussing the folklore as well as my own experience with banshees which can be different from the experience others have.

what is a banshee?

Also spelled as beansidhe and ben síde, banshees are faeries hailing from Irish mythology whose name translate to ‘woman of the faerie mound’ or ‘faerie woman’. They’re heralds of death, announcing the deaths of a family member by keening, wailing, shrieking or screaming. Their names are connected to the mounds (síde) which are believed in Irish folklore to be connected to the fair folk.

In certain parts of Leinster, however, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass.

banshee in folklore

In Irish folklore, banshee appearances range from old women with long hair and red eyes from all their crying to red heads in green dresses and gray cloaks. Strangely enough, the size of banshees can also vary from region to region with some saying banshee are unnaturally tall to others saying she is exceptionally short. The keens and wails of a banshee are seen as warnings to tell someone a member of their family has died or will die soon. A banshee would also keen if someone was going to enter a situation they likely wouldn’t come back alive from.

There are also similar spirits in other cultures:

In Scottish folklore, there is a being known as bean nighe (or ban nigheachain or nigheag na h-àth) a woman who would wash the bloodstained clothes or armor of those who would soon die.

In Welsh folklore, the cyhyraeth is a ghost that moans before someone’s death. According to legend, the moans sound like the groans and sighs of someone deathly ill and sounds three times as a threefold warning for the soon-to-be deceased.

banshee in media

Now if there is a faerie you will often see in media, it will be the banshee. However... it isn’t ever as a faerie. No the banshee is often categorized in shows like Charmed as Demons who feed on the pain of others, dangerous ghosts or aliens in games like Castlevania and Mass Effect 3 to people who just have supernatural connections to death as showcased in Teen Wolf.

As such, you can’t really take everything (or to be honest, anything) as serious fact about them in those medias as they’re so far removed from their faerie origins that they’re essentially different beings that just shriek at their intended targets.

But, out of the few examples I mentioned... ironically enough, Teen Wolf comes close in regards to the screams Lydia produced but we can get to that in the UPG section of the post.

upg

Before we really start, one thing I’d like to clarify is the misunderstanding of the words ‘herald’ and ‘harbinger’. Nowadays they’re used in the context that it means ‘bringer of’ and as such, people tend to wrongly believe that banshee purposefully bring death to those they keen for. The definitions for these two words are:

Herald:

noun

an official messenger bringing news.

a person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen.

verb

be a sign that (something) is about to happen.

Harbinger:

noun

a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another.

a forerunner of something.

Banshees are not bringers of death, they are announcers of death. Their keens and wails only announce when a death is on the horizon. It’s a message, not a cause cause of death. That is a very important distinction.

Now that we’ve gotten that clarification out of the way, allow me to tell you more about these fascinating faeries.

From my experience, those who would work best with banshees are death witches. It already goes hand in hand and you will have mutual understanding of each other’s work. Of course this isn’t a requirement to work with banshees or be the companion of one, but you must understand their part in the cycle of life and death and be respectful of that. To accept a banshee in your life is to accept all of them, not only the parts you find palatable.

They also don’t tend to be involved in Court politics. That honestly applies to most death-related faeries. Death comes for us all and as such, no one is above it. Therefore, it makes sense that there’s that things that entities related to wouldn’t get caught up in such a thing.

As for deities, I do wish to mention two in particular: The Morrigan and Clíodhna. If you know anything of the second goddess, you will know that in addition to being a goddess of love and beauty, Clíodhna is also referred to as the Queen of the Banshee and you will find plenty of banshee that follow her. But in my experience, there are also plenty of banshee that follow the Morrigan, a goddess with many aspects including the cycle of life and death. Considering banshee as a species, it makes sense why there would be a good handful that follow either goddess.

In the case of some, they were women who had tragic deaths that were then turned into banshees usually be a high fae or a goddess, usually one of the aforementioned deities. But there are banshee who are born, not just created.

I’ve personally only ever interacted directly with banshee that work with the Morrigan, however, so I cannot tell you much about Clíodhna-affiliated banshee except for hearsay and the hearsay I do know is very limited.

As for additional information on banshee, even by fae standards I feel like the fae affiliated with the Death Court can be quite elusive and mysterious. They have their secrets rites and rituals and the best way to find out about those are on your own and getting to know them yourself. So I’ll only talk about things that are more general and I feel I am allowed to share here.

I’ve met banshees that only keen for specific families and others that don’t. In the case of banshees who do keen for a specific family line, from what I understand if their family line dies off with no descendants, they can be given a new family line or they can herald the deaths of various individuals. It’s up to her preference.

Banshee also work in tandem with dullahan, the headless horsemen of Faerie. A banshee announces the upcoming death of an individual or individuals with her wails, screams and keens which is heard by a dullahan. When the time of death arrives, the dullahan is the one to summon them to the afterlife by calling their name.

Should the death be something on a grand scale, it isn’t strange to see multiple banshees come together to announce it. There are different family lines that could be involved in a scenario like that. I can’t really comment on the holy or great thing in folklore, that could be the influence of Catholicism or just something I’ve never witnessed or even both.

As I mentioned in the previous section there were a couple things that were accurate to banshees in Teen Wolf, however few (ignore my nitpicks, I do love Teen Wolf as a show). Banshee screams and wails can be used if necessary to defend a banshee from harm through stunning the offender to damaging their ear drums. Banshees in general do have different calls that can be used to communicate with each other across distances different meanings, though I can’t delve into all the specifics.

As a species, despite how they may seem from first glance, banshee are quite peaceful and kind. I personally always feel at ease with members of the Death Court and I would say they are tied with selkies for the kinds of fae I work with most. They’re an empathetic race and one I’ve talked to says she believes they cry more than even water fae.

Banshee are very loyal to their own and those they care for, their friendship is something you shouldn’t take for granted.

suitable offerings

The disclaimer here is that these are general offerings that most banshees should like. Should you ever find yourself working frequently with a banshee or find yourself the companion of one, there could be other things that they specifically like or dislike. But you usually can’t go wrong with:

bones (ethically sourced of course)

dirt from a cemetery

gems that are affiliated with death witchcraft like amethyst, onyx, lapis lazuli, etc [here is a post on it]

how to gain the attention of a banshee

1) old fashioned offerings

2) astral travel

3) spirit attraction spell

I’m not a promoter of conjuring or otherwise, forcefully bringing a spirit to your vicinity. Think about it like this: you’re at a wedding. You’re best friend in the entire world is getting hitched to the love of their life, and you’re among the audience. You’re welling up with emotion and pride for your friend to have made such an important milestone in their life when… Suddenly, you’re not at their wedding anymore.

No, instead you’re looking at some random stranger who summoned you to their home who say it’s because they’re interested in working with those of your kind. You wouldn’t be too happy about this, would you?

Not only is conjuring or summoning bad for the entity, it can be bad for you if this entity isn’t easily forgiving of being torn away from their personal life to your home and you can end up paying the consequences for it. Instead, I recommend a spell that attracts entities to your home or if you’re sufficiently prepared, astral travel it up.

#magical girl guide #witchcraft #faerie witchcraft #death witchcraft #fae work #spirit work #banshees #spirit companionship #faeries #faerie witch #death witch #fair folk #black witches of tumblr

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stairnaheireann · 3 months

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Irish Superstitions

It can definitely be argued that superstitions are intrinsically tied in with traditional folklore, and with a culture as steeped in customs and fables as Ireland’s, it’s no surprise that there are more than a handful of superstitions unique to the country and its people. The phrase ‘the luck of the Irish’ isn’t all it may seem. In fact, it isn’t in the least bit what it sounds like at all.…

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#banshees #Birds #cuckoos #faeries #Ireland #Irish Superstitions #leprechauns #magpies #Tuatha Dé Danann

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cronicasvampiricas-rpg · 8 days

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Conocidas por algunas culturas como las mujeres de los lamentos o las mujeres que se lamentan, las banshees son mujeres con una fuerte conexión con la muerte. Están conectadas a una "red sobrenatural" compuesta por los susurros de todas las banshees del mundo, y vinculándolas a su vez a la muerte y a aquellos que van a morir. La red permitirá a las banshees conectar con quienes ya han muerto —pudiendo ver a través del velo que separa el mundo de los vivos del Otro Lado.

IMPORTANTE: a continuación encontrarás una descripción de las características, habilidades y debilidades de la raza. Sin embargo, hallarás una información más extensa dentro del foro.

RASGOS FÍSICOS

I. No puede decirse nada especialmente relevante sobre el aspecto físico de las banshees, más allá de que todas son MUJERES. Más altas, más bajas, rubias, morenas, pelirrojas; de cualesquiera edades, las banshees físicamente no se distinguen de forma especial respecto de una humana corriente.

II. No obstante, el aspecto de algunas de ellas puede percibirse especialmente DEMACRADO. Esto se debe a que, si una banshee no aprende a dominar sus propias habilidades, estas pueden terminar consumiéndolas hasta la locura, dejando de ser conscientes de su propia existencia física, o inclusive de su aspecto.

HABILIDADES

I. Dada su extrema CONEXIÓN CON LA MUERTE, las banshees son capaces de PREDECIR la muerte de otras personas, aunque siempre de forma inexacta e imprecisa. Sintiéndose atraídas por la muerte, son capaces de ENCONTRAR de forma inconsciente los cadáveres de personas recientemente asesinadas o fallecidas; también son capaces de sentir aquellos lugares en los que han muerto otras personas —especialmente si han muerto muchas, o de forma muy violenta—, llegando a veces a escuchar inclusive las últimas palabras que pronunciaron antes de morir.

II. Su habilidad más implacable está en la VOZ. El grito de una banshee la permite conectarse a la red y concentrarse en las voces de otras banshees o de los muertos, vinculadas a la red sobrenatural, recibiendo así mensajes de otras de sus compañeras. También las permite ser escuchadas, pudiendo ser oídas por otras criaturas sobrenaturales a kilómetros de distancia.

III. La voz de las banshees es también un ARMA. Puede ser proyectada como una onda de choque capaz de empujar o aturdir a sus enemigos en distancias cortas, así como de reventar cristales y, en el peor de los casos, a otros sobrenaturales.

IV. Su conexión con la muerte les permite ver más allá del velo que separa el mundo de los vivos y el de los muertos, razón por la que las banshees PUEDEN VER, OÍR Y COMUNICARSE con los fantasmas anclados al Otro Lado.

V. Pudiendo ser visto como una habilidad o una debilidad, son inmunes a ciertos eventos que pueden vivir ante el mundo sobrenatural. La ceniza de serbal no sirve para encerrarlas; tampoco pueden ser convertidas en vampiro ni en bastet. Tampoco les afecta la compulsión de los vampiros.

DEBILIDADES

I. Para muchos, NO SON REALMENTE CRIATURAS SOBRENATURALES, sino mujeres conectadas con lo sobrenatural. Viven, envejecen y mueren como cualquier otra mujer humana, sin habilidades físicas especiales. Esta característica, no obstante, puede también ser percibida como una ventaja, pues algunos compuestos mágicos, como la ceniza de serbal, no les afectan, pudiendo cruzarla a voluntad.

II. Pudiendo también ser visto como una debilidad, en coherencia con lo mencionado anteriormente, la sangre de vampiros NO SIRVE para ayudar a las banshees a sanar sus heridas.

III. Es muy difícil que una banshee consiga DOMINAR AL COMPLETO sus habilidades. Especialmente su capacidad de escuchar y ver a los muertos puede llegar a volverlas completamente locas si no son conscientes de lo que está pasando.

CONVERSIÓN Y MUERTE

No es posible convertirse en banshee, sino que se trata de una condición que se HEREDA de generación en generación. Sucede, no obstante, que desde el nacimiento la banshee no suele manifestar sus habilidades, sino que precisa haber estado en contacto con una situación cercana a la muerte, o bien con un evento sobrenatural: que hayan intentado utilizar la compulsión con ella, transformarla en bastet, curarla con sangre de vampiro, hacerla víctima de un hechizo, etcétera. A partir de entonces, la banshee se conecta a la red sobrenatural, y comienza a manifestar las habilidades propias de su raza.

#razas #banshees

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soweirdondisney · 1 month

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Since you've been posting about Banshee, I wanted to ask, what do you think of the ending? I was always confused as to why they let the Grandfather live, until I found out that, in the original script, Fi apparently trades years of her life for him. Personally I am glad they didn't show that. I get that Fi loves her Grandfather, but a 13 year old trading years of her life for an old man is not what I call a happy ending.

The final scene with Molly telling her parents bye and Grandpa reassuring her she’s welcome back and loves her is great. The ending with the Banshee (Fi’s feet touching ground and Jack finding her cold on the ground to her telling Grandpa everything will be okay), is underwhelming on face value imo.

Without the original ending, one accepted theory about Colin living that’s floated through the So Weird community is – and apologies if you’re familiar with it already, but I’ll lay out the details for anyone who hasn’t heard it - Molly singing in her ancestors'/father’s native language, where the witch bloodline comes from, triggers something powerful/magical.

When Molly sings

“Illin sha

Ma herrin fain

Lie-la-lie-la-lie”

her ring lights up, so does Fi’s, Fi’s feet touch ground again, and before the song is over we learn Colin is going to live.

The idea is that Fi fighting for her grandfather, not coincidentally after Grandpa told Molly SHE wasn’t a fighter, and Molly being open to something she often struggles with (her Irish/witch lineage/love for her father) created what we’ll see again in Vampire with Jack and Gabe’s necklace.

In that episode Fi explains it as, “Maybe it wasn’t about the angel itself. Maybe it was about what’s between Jack and Gabe… only love is stronger than evil.”

And Jon Cooksey also said there was a mystical connection between the rings (page 22 of the FAQ).

Mystical ring connections + Two (really three!) generations of witches in close proximity and caring for Colin simultaneously = His safety from Death who is getting closer every day.

But, like you said, without the original script it’s unclear what exactly happened. Even the fan theory is only an attempt to fill a plot hole.

Between the show and notes, Fi’s age is anywhere from 13 to 15 depending on the episode. I think even at 16 that’s still too young to make a decision like the original script has, especially since the trade is vague.

Like, how many is “some of my years”?? And in the original script and final cut of the episode the banshee's "Your grandfather will not die... for now" is ominous too.

There are countless stories where Death keeps its word but still gets what it originally intended.

What's the conversion rate for a young girl's life to an elderly man? Is Grandpa Colin safe for another year? Three? Will Grandma Kathleen be taken instead?

Also, if not for the Phillips trio visiting the grandparents, they wouldn’t have known about the banshee and Fi couldn't have tried to save him. 🤔

So whether it was years off her life or a spell, Fi's presence seems to be what really saved Grandpa Colin - unless Grandma Kathleen had some tricks up her sleeve.

Thanks for the question! You always ask great ones.

TLDR: I like the Banshee ending we got because we can use the show’s lore and other episodes to guess what happened to save Grandpa Colin. It’s not exactly canon, but neither is the original script.

And even though making sacrifices is in character, I agree that no matter Fi's age in the show, her choice isn't sound for different reasons other than her age (like how many years would Death take from Fi, why would Death make a trade over Rick's loss that wasn't related, Death could still get what it wants at the sacrifice of someone else, seems more powerful story-wise if the O'Shannon women "beat" Death with witchcraft than make a deal, etc.)

#just my opinion #ymmv #what's your opinion on this fellow weirdos?#I'm really curious #share share share #thanks to Emily for the gifs #banshee #so weird #answered #so weird disney #disney so weird #zoog disney #witches #banshees #tw death #witchcraft

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fallenrazziel · 5 months

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Banshees #1 [ai]

#banshees #women #wombo art #ai

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space-blue · 1 year

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Recoms ikran time!

There's a pink ikran... And I think it might belong to Lopez, since we see his is definitely pink-ish in his death scene :

Then we get to see a fair bit of Mansk's one too, which has red highlights in the tail and chin!

Z-dog's is confirmed to have a yellow chin from the scene where they first land on the Seadragon :

Mystery drak wings ikran :

Someone's ikran has a purple chin :

And is this Prager? Looks like a butterfly!

Would it kill them to give us material on this?? Still crying and waiting for that infamous 3h extra content... Nobody seems to have found it!

#avatar #avatar 2 #atwow #avatar the way of water #screenshots #recoms #avatar recoms #ikran #banshees #recom lopez #recom mansk #recom z dog #recom quaritch

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cryptids-of-the-world · 2 years

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The Banshee of the Badlands is an alleged spirt that haunts the Bad Lands in an area known as the Watch Dog in South Dakota. The Banshee of the Badlands is described as a woman with dark, tangled hair and wearing a long, white dress. It’s unsure who the Banshee of the Badlands is the two most prominent stories are that she was a woman killed by the Native Americans or a Native American Woman killed by the settlers. When she appears, she will flail her arms around crying to get a person’s attention and when she does get their attention; she will stand there calm and quiet until asked what she wants; she then will scream and disappear. The Banshee of the Badlands is sometimes often accompanied by a skeleton that is always in search of music and if he hears it he will grab his violin and in some stories a fiddle and play a beautiful tune all through the night and when the sun starts to rise the music will grow fainter and fainter until it disappears and anyone who follows the music and tries to look for it will be lost in the Badlands.

#Banshee of the Badlands #Banshee #Banshees #South Dakota #Badlands #Skeleton #Skeletons #Ghost #Ghosts #Spirit #Spirits #Cryptid #Cryptids #Unknown #Paranormal

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phoenix · 4 months

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Back in high school, I spent a lot of time in the library (Shocker! I know.) and they had a series of books about folklore and magic and such, and they were kinda in that 'Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown" books.

In one of them, I remember coming across a bit of banshee folklore that according to some people, a banshee's scream could put some people to sleep for a very long time.

I have ALWAYS wanted to use this in a story as a means of sending a character to the future, a la Rip Van Winkle, except for one problem.

I've never been able to find the book again, or even any mention of any such folklore on the internet, because I both don't trust my memory to have gotten that 100% correctly, and I also want the coroboration, because that is such a little known bit of folklore, if I'm even remembering accurately!, that I want to be able to point at a source and say see! I'm not just pulling shit out of my ass!

And I know, it's my world, I can make shit up if I want, but I do also love using actual bits of folklore, the more obscure the better.

#Foenix rambles #SOMEDAY I will find it #It's been 30 fucking years #but I am so tempted to go back to my HS #and see if they still have the bloody book itself #banshee #banshees #bean sidhe #seriously if anyone knows this #and can point me to a source

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stairnaheireann · 1 year

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Irish Superstitions