The Seelie Court is described in relation to the fairies specifically as the ‘pleasant or happy court, or court of the pleasant and happy people’ and is also given as a general term for all fairies (Jamieson, 1808). In folklore the Seelie Court can act benevolently at times for no reason other than the sake of kindness, as we see in the 1783 ballad of Allison Gross, where the eponymous witch of the story punishes a man who refused her sexual advances by bespelling him into the shape of a worm. The unfortunate man is cursed to circle around a tree every day in this form, until one Halloween ‘when the Seely Court was riding by’ and the Queen stops, picks up the worm, and uses her magic to restore his original shape to him (Child, 1882). They are also known to be extremely generous to those whom they favor and to be kind to the poor, giving bread and grain as gifts (Briggs, 1976). It was believed that members of the Seelie Court would help those who propitiated them and that this help took various forms including the fairy doing work for the human around their home or farm (McNeill, 1956). They can also act in ways that go against what we would consider goodness, or at least in ways that bring harm to humans, without a clear reason. We see this in the Ballad of Lady Mary O’ Craignethan where the lord’s daughter is quite deviously kidnapped by a man of the sí to be his bride. The lord then curses the fairy folk, wishing that the Devil might take three of them instead of one as his tithe, and swearing to cut down every oak, beech, and ash in the country, to which the priest begs him ‘dinnae curse the Seelie Court’ (Sand, Brymer, Murray, & Cochran, 1819). This illustrates that it was in fact the Seelie Court that was believed to be behind the kidnapping, although as we shall see later the term Seelie Court itself may have served as a euphemism for all fairies, rather than a specific term only for the benevolent ones. Despite its reputation as generally kindly, the Seelie Court was known to readily revenge any wrongs or slights against themselves, and even a fairy who would be considered Seelie, such as a Brownie, could be dangerous when offended or harmed. The Seelie Court is not known to harm people without reason though and generally will warn people at least once before retaliating against offenses (Briggs, 1976).
The Unseelie Court is for all intents and purposes the antithesis of the Seelie Court, as implied by the name. The Unseelie Court is described as always unfavorable to humans and is closely linked to the Slua Sí, the malicious Fairy Host who torment people and cause illness and death where they visit (Briggs, 1976). The Slua itself is strongly tied to the dead and is known to kidnap hapless mortals and force them to help with the Host’s entertainment, usually harming other humans, before dropping them in a location far from where they were grabbed. The Unseelie Court comprises many solitary fairies of a malicious nature, those who feed on or enjoy hurting mortals for sport, although not all Unseelie fairies are solitary (Briggs, 1976). The Unseelie Court was seen as constantly ready to cause harm or injury to mortals and was avoided as much as possible, and many different protections existed against it (McNeill, 1956; Briggs, 1976).
However, just as the Seelie Court could cause harm if motivated to, and sometimes without having any clear reason at all, so too the Unseelie Court’s denizens might occasionally act kindly towards humans without any obvious rhyme or reason. For example Kelpies are usually considered Unseelie by most reckonings, as they trick people into riding them only to kill and eat the person once they have gotten back to their watery homes. However, in several stories a Kelpie will fall in love with a mortal girl and put aside his own bloodthirsty nature for her sake. In one such story the Kelpie even put up with being tricked by the girl, captured himself and forced to work in his horse form on her father’s farm for a year, and still loved her enough in the end to choose to marry her (McNeill, 2001). So while it may be convenient and often expedient to divide the Other Crowd up into the two courts based on how they relate to us, we should be very cautious about seeing the division as a hard line or seeing a perceived placement in one court or another as a non-negotiable indicator of behavior.
As mentioned above the term seelie may not have been as specific in the past as it is today and when we look at its usage in older ballads and stories, seelie often appears as a euphemism (DSL, 2016). That means that just like calling Themselves ‘Good Neighbors’, ‘Mother’s Blessing’, or ‘Fair Folk’ it isn’t done because they are those things, but because we want them to be those things towards us. In other words we are using the term – a nicer term for something generally considered not nice at all – to try to invoke the nicer aspects of them. To remind them that they can be nice. There is longstanding and deep belief that what we choose to call the fey directly relates to how they will respond to us and interact with us. As this 19th century rhyme illustrates:
Gin ye ca’ me imp or elf
I rede ye look weel to yourself;
Gin ye call me fairy
I’ll work ye muckle tarrie;
Gind guid neibour ye ca’ me
Then guid neibour I will be;
But gin ye ca’ me seelie wicht
I’ll be your freend baith day and nicht.
(Chambers, 1842)
(If you call me imp or Elf
I counsel you, look well to yourself;
If you call me fairy
I’ll work you great misery;
If good neighbor you call me
Then good neighbor I will be;
But if you call me seelie wight
I’ll be your friend both day and night)
It should also be noted that the term unseelie referring to fairies is newer than the term seelie and does not appear in the Scots dictionary at all with this connotation, while seelie clearly does. The oldest reference I could find to seelie for fairies is from a 16th century story referenced in a book from 1801; in The Legend of the Bishop of St Androis it says:
Ane Carling of the Quene of Phareis
that ewill win gair to elphyne careis;
Through all Braid Albane scho hes bene
On horsbak on Hallow ewin;
and ay in seiking certayne nyghtis
As scho sayis, with sur selie wychtis
(One woman of the Queen of Fairies
that will take goods to Fairyland
through all broad Scotland she has been
on horseback on Halloween
and always in seeking certain nights
as she says, with our Seelie wights)
This reference uses the term Seelie as a generic for fairies with no obvious distinction as to benevolence or malevolence, as do the other ballad references, supporting the idea that at some point there was likely only the concept of the single Seelie Court, used as a euphemism for all fairies. Much like the Welsh calling their fairies Tylwyth Teg (Fair Family) or the Irish use of the term Daoine Maithe (Good People) the Scottish Seelie Court may initially have been a way to speak of the fairies so that should their attention be drawn they would be more likely to be well disposed towards the speaker. This concept, at some later point was divided into seelie and unseelie to better define those beings who either meant humans well, generally, or meant humans harm, generally. While it may seem strange to us now, it is entirely logical that in the past people would have used the euphemistic Seelie Court when referring to the fairies, but not had an inverse negative concept as it would have been seen as impossibly dangerous to even speak of such a group and risk drawing their attention and facing their wrath for it. This could also explain why the idea of the courts as such is unique to Lowland Scots lore and more generally Scottish folklore. It is not found in Welsh or Irish fairylore3 where euphemisms like ‘Fair Family’ and ‘People of Peace’ are still used by preference.
Whether the courts have always existed or not they have certainly been a part of fairylore belief for centuries now and are ingrained in the modern lore. It should also be kept in mind that while the two courts are a convenient division it is more complicated than that, with a multitude of other possible divisions going on as well including lesser kings and queens and lords and ladies. But when mo
st people think of Fairy they think of the courts, specifically the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court. In modern parlance these may now be called the Light Court and the Dark Court or even the Summer Court and the Winter Court, but though the common names may change the idea remains the same. The Light Court means us well and the Dark Court generally does not.
It could be said that the light are the most inclined towards kindness to humans and who are most likely by nature to have interests or goals aligned with humans, generally. The magic of the light tends towards healing, blessing, and increase, which doesn’t mean they can’t hurt you if motivated to.
The Dark Court are the most inclined towards seeing people as a resource – usually food or entertainment – or a nuisance and are the most inclined to harm humans with little or no provocation simply because they were in the wrong place. The magic of the dark tends towards decay, ill-luck, and transformation, although that doesn’t mean they can’t help a person if they choose to.
It’s not cut and dried at all and there are lots of shades of grey in between. We should also be cautious to avoid dichotomous thinking on this subject; it is not simply a matter of good and bad or good and evil – they are merely what they are and they follow their own natures the same way anything else does. Perhaps a key thing to understand in seeking to understand the courts, and indeed any attempted division of Fairy, is the morality of the Fey Folk themselves, which is often very foreign to human morality. While some of the things that fairies find praiseworthy are values humans share, others baffle us. I mentioned earlier that even those counted among the Seelie Court can be angered and may choose to bring harm to a person, and usually this occurs with the transgression of fairy etiquette.
A Note on the Unseelie Court
Although it’s trendy now to see the darker fey as just as kind and helpful as the Seelie Court, merely grumpy and misunderstood, in folklore there was usually a good reason people feared them and that reason was their tendency towards homicidal reactions and eating people. Contrary to what most of the young adult novels and paranormal romance currently on the market like to say, the Unseelie Court aren’t the emo bad boys of the fey world who just need a big hug and some understanding. There was a good reason that they were traditionally feared and while it is true that it is not a cut and dried situation, and any member of Fairy can potentially help us or ally with us, we need to be careful not to romanticize the more dangerous fey based on our own desire for them to secretly be kind and gentle.
The Water Horse (an Each Uisce) tricks a person into riding them only to race back to their watery homes, drown, and eat the person. Red Caps dye their hats in human blood. Bogles can bring blight to crops or attack people. So it goes, with those who are usually described as Unseelie being found in that court because they are malicious towards people without provocation. Because, you see, it’s not that you have to worry about transgressing and angering them, or being rude and angering them, or anything like that; all you have to do is be at the wrong place at the wrong time and get their attention and they will be inclined to do you harm. Like a tornado or a hungry apex predator, it won’t be personal, but it could be deadly.
It is possible for an individual to earn the favor of a member of the Unseelie Court, just as it is possible for someone to anger the normally benevolent Seelie Court, but generally speaking it is dangerous to fall into a mindset of seeing them as safer than traditional folklore paints them, or otherwise romanticizing them. You can choose to interact with more dangerous spirits, but part of the key to doing so safely is the constant awareness that they are dangerous. If you get too comfortable with those beings who we have the most traditional protections against – and with good reason – then eventually something bad will happen. Because all those myths and stories exist because of people who have learned the hard way, just like the reason we’re told not to feed wild bears at parks.
Everything in the Otherworld is not safe and not all of the beings who dwell there mean us well. Quite frankly its arrogance on our part to think we know more or better than our ancestors or than the cunning folk and wise people who spent lifetimes practicing their skill. If all these beings were really so safe and easy to deal with, with just the right attitude, then anyone and everyone would have always done so. And we would have no stories of harm, and maiming and death at the hands of these spirits, nor would witches have been seen as dealing with dangerous things. No, the truth is that we cannot simply decide through positive thinking and a belief in the goodness of all spirits that the Other Crowd are harmless; our opinions do not make them a bunch of watered down angels with angst.
I have a lot of respect for grizzly bears and their place in the ecosystem, but that doesn’t mean I ever for a moment confuse them with teddy bears and think I can walk up and give a wild one a hug. Or one in captivity for that matter. Because a wild bear, no matter how noble and beautiful to our eyes, is still a wild bear and it’s going to do what its nature tells it to do, which may mean ignoring us or may mean ripping chunks out of us. Just so the Unseelie fey may ignore us or they may hurt us, and this is why there are so many folk protections against them.
Trooping Fairies and Solitary Fairies
The second most common way of categorizing fairies, beyond their disposition towards us, is by their sociability towards each other. Within this division we see two options: trooping or solitary fairies. The names are fairly self-explanatory, but it is worth expanding a bit on each group.
Trooping fairies are social by nature and tend to appear in groups although the size of those groups can vary widely. They are often seen wearing green, and have been noted in all sizes from tiny enough to use flowers as drinking vessels to the size of children, to human sized (Briggs, 1976). Trooping fairies can belong to either of the previously discussed courts, and may be either kind to humans or cruel. It is the trooping fairies who are noted to ride across the land in grand processions and hunts, to assemble in courts, and to live in fairy cities and other large communities. They have been noted to enjoy a variety of pastimes including fighting with other groups of fairies, playing games of sport such as hurling, and in the cases of the more maliciously inclined, of gathering together to torment lone humans they run across.
Solitary fairies, as the name implies, are those who prefer to exist in solitude rather than live in groups. These fairies seem to be fond of wearing red, and are more prone to being malicious towards people, or at best neutral. However, there are some solitary fairies who are positively inclined towards humans (Briggs, 1976). Most of the truly frightening or dangerous fairies are solitary, particularly those associated with water of any kind. As with the previous division of seelie and unseelie, some fairies are usually solitary, but may occasionally choose to be social. We see this, for example, in some stories of Brownies, who are generally helpful solitary house fairies, but who may occasionally live or be found in groups.
Location-Based Fairies
The final way that we see fairies categorized in traditional folklore and cultures is based on where they prefer to live. This method is a bit more complicated than those that involve a simple division into two options, but it also allows for more nuances and less generality. There’s no real set list of location-based fairies, but the most common would probably be domestic fairies4, mine fairies, water fairies, wilderness fairies, and mountain fairies. As with the other methods though, this one isn’t perfect and not all types of fairies can be easily categorized in this way; the Aos Sí for example may be generally associated with the fairy mounds, but may also be associated with fairy trees or other landmarks.
Domestic fairies include a wide array of beings, mostly benevolent in nature, that choose to live closely with humans. The most familiar may be the Brownie, a helpful fairy who is known to take up residence in a home and do some of the chores after the occupants are sleeping. Fairies who choose to live so closely with humans are, perhaps unsurprisingly, immune from most protections against the Fey Folk, but are also somew
hat more dependent on people.
Mine fairies are also closely tied to humans, but in a different manner. Whereas domestic fairies prefer to live where people live, mine fairies happen to coincidentally favor the same places that humans sometimes work in. Mine fairies can be either helpful or harmful, depending on what type of fairy they are. The helpful ones will assist miners by warning of danger and by signaling where to dig to find deposits of ore or minerals; harmful mine fairies in contrast can cause cave-ins and terrify miners with noises and dangerous pranks.
Water fairies include everything from sea-water Mermaids and Nucklevees to fresh-water Kelpies and Lake Maidens. They can be extremely dangerous, such as the Hags who are known to drown children, or helpful like the Merrows who aid sailors in storms. Water fairies as a whole seem to be more mercurial and tend to be more dangerous, perhaps reflecting their connection to the water, which is also changeable and may feel unpredictable. As with everything Fairy though, it’s best not to get too locked into one point of view with water fairies as they cannot easily be defined as either wholly good or dangerous. It is also best to remember that just because they are called water fairies for convenience doesn’t mean they are restricted to that element; in fact most water fairies are not only capable of leaving the water, but frequently do so. Water fairies are defined as such though because they make their homes in bodies of water or are primarily found in water.
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