hammer: in Celtic lore, the smith is potent symbology. And a hammer was used to dispatch the sacrifices sent to the next world in the triple slaying of a sacrifice— by hammer, by strangling, and by the knife, a sacrifice observed in bog burials.. It may also be associated with thunder, and male power.
the hammer and the hanging noose: used in the human sacrifice of bog-burials. The victim, a volunteer, was triply killed, throat cut, skull broken, and strangled.
hospitality: if you give or take food or drink under a roof or at a hearth, you create a magical bond that will not let either of you honorably sever it. If you once bid someone enter, they gain rights of access, especially if they are Sidhe and are otherwise barred by charms or other protections.
iron: faery and the old gods do not like iron, are repelled by it, or harmed by it. They are safe with gold, tin, silver, copper, and bronze. Flint and stone are the elements of the Old Gods: Taranis and others, who are thus older than Faery.
keep: castle
kennt: past tense of ken, meaning know.
loch: lake
Lugh: the hero-god, successor to the Old Gods.
Macha: (MA- *ha) sister of Badbh, second war goddess, gatherer of heads, which the ballads call Macha’s acorns.
mair: (MaYR) more
maun: (MON) must
mere: pond, small lake, especially still water
mhor— (vor) great
Moragacht: (MOR-a-gakt or, for the purist: VOR-a-gakt (Mhoragacht) lit., great queen
Names, the power of: everything has a true Name, and if you can correctly name a thing, you can magically command it.
pooka: (POO-ka) dark Sidhe that takes the form of a black horse. A man who climbs onto a pooka’s back sticks fast and cannot dismount. A pooka is a water-creature, and will quickly return to the stream it haunts— fatally so for its rider. A pooka is mute— since he carries a small stone in his mouth. When he lets it go he reverts to his other form, that of a handsome youth— who can speak, since he has other means to carry the obligatory stone.
puir: poor
Raghallach: (rah-halli) Reilly
rowan: mountain ash: it has the power to ward against evil or turn away ill intent.
sair: sore, in the meaning of very badly, a lot, always in a bad sense, as in ‘He was sair distressed.’
Samhain: (sow-EEN) a festival at year’s end, after harvest. In modern times it is assigned a definite date, but in ancient times it was celebrated at the waning of the moon at the end of harvest, around November, and thus wandered in date. It was variously a harvest celebration and a festival of dead souls, the turning point of the year from life, to death, toward rebirth, when the spirits of the dead, for the night, could return. It has contributed to the modern observance of Halloween. Like its counterpart in the spring, Beltain (around May), it is marked by a bonfire.
selkie: (SEL-key) a shape-changer capable of being man or seal or other creature of the deep. They are known to have children with mortal women, always with sad result.
shellycoat: a shape-changing creature composed of every foul thing within a foul body of water. It rattles with shells and dead bones as it rises from the water, and it seeks to absorb its victims.
sidh: a faery-mound: a magical gateway: pronounced ‘shee’
Sidhe: faery, elves: also pronounced ‘shee’; can be a single one, or plural.
straw-men: effigies made to represent human sacrifice, as times grew more settled.
three, the power of: a thing said three times has power, being heard in the etherial realm, the realm of men, and the realm of the dead. This is known all across Europe and also played a part in Roman belief. Saying a thing three times is binding. Calling a name three times has the power of a Summoning of mystical sort. Symbols invoking the power of three may have three faces, three loops, or three of anything. It symbolizes creation and completion.
twa: two
verra: very
weird: fate, prophecy, doom; weirding: prophesying.
whin: small tough shrub, has small yellow flowers seasonally
Faery Moon Page 40