Leannonsidhe• Show poetry

okay so in case any of you are wondering who or what Leannon Sidhe is Also known as leanan Sidhe this is an explanation....

www.wildmuse.net/faerie/muses/leanan.html



Leanan Sidhe, The Dark Muse
written by Aria Nadii © 1997



Leanan Sidhe is often quoted as meaning "the fairy mistress" or the "fairy sweetheart". She is a the famous Celtic muse with such a dark and unearthly beauty that her lover was often distraught with longing and suffering for her absence. In legend, the Leanan Sidhe often takes an artist for a lover, hence the title "the fairy sweetheart". It is said that her lover gives her the vital depth of emotion that she craves and she in turn inspires his genius.

He is the artist, who lost without his inspiration, unable to create his works of art and compositions of song, suffers in a deep depression and sometimes commits suicide or gives up his creative work in despair. Yet an artist who has lost the connection to his muse has failed to honor and nurture the gift he has been given. The role of the artist in the loss of his muse is not often considered or understood. The self destructive nature of many inspired artists probably lent itself to the misconception that she was evil and dangerous. Evil is not darkness, for darkness she is, and she can also be dangerous and destructive. When her gift is honored and nurtured, she shines as a luminous light in the darkness. For those who understand her true nature, who do not idolize or fear her, she is a sliver of moonlight in the blackest night.

The most common and widespread myth attached to Leanan Sidhe is that she is a vampirish spirit who attaches herself to one man. To this man, an artist or poet, she appears irresistibly beautiful, and if he is seduced by her, he is ruined body and soul. This misunderstanding is not in keeping with her original purpose and is only as recent as Medieval Scotland when she was associated with the Christian superstition of the succubi. It was popularized in print by the poet W.B. Yeats who claimed that she was a "blood sucking vampire" This was a dramatic touch, but is more likely a symptom of the Victorian obsession with succubi along with a bit of poetic license. Unfortunately, most research on the subject of Leanan Sidhe goes back no farther than the account Yeats held of her. There is a rich and enduring history and deeper meaning to the name Leanan Sidhe that is much more interesting than the popular vampire fantasies.

The translation of her name hold the first clue to who and what she is. The words are Gaelic and refer to a faery muse. "Leanan" means the love of my soul or spirit...my inspiration. "Sidhe" is the word for a faery. In Irish poetic tradition, she was the muse who appeared to the bard as the "Aisling" or vision. In his vision he meets her on a hillside and she then inspires music or poetry that has an otherworldly sadness and regret for the glorious past of the Irish. For those who settled the Celtic Countries, this could be a later translation of contact with the women of the Sidhe. The Sidhe are an ancient race who once made their home on the Green Islands long before the coming of the Irish. A race that remains to this day, an unannounced yet vital influence upon the imagination.

Leanan Sidhe is a powerful muse who bestows a gift; the ability to create a work of art, music, or poetry with great depth of feeling. The price of her dark and delicate gift is often a sorrow or heartbreak that is born of obsession. An artist may be spent as furiously as he draws from his source, hence the mythos of the artist who when possessed of the Leanan Sidhe lives a brilliant but brief life. Her true purpose is revealed in the creative works she inspires in poets, painters, and musicians. She is an empath who is compelled to inspire love and despair, longing and desire. She teaches the beauty and power of such emotion and that all such feeling is vital to creation with many dark nights of the soul required to convey the sorrow of her history.

She is intelligence and creativity, art and magic. In this earthly realm, so embraced with fear of the erotic and the sensual, it is no wonder she who is the embodiment of these very qualities, has been considered dangerous and evil, as many woman have been considered evil who revel in their mystery, power and dark exotic beauty.




Illustration © Brian Froud

The Fairy Mistress by Thomas Boyd
Where is thy lovely perilous abode?
In what strange phantom-land
Glimmer the fairy turrets whereto rode
The ill-starred poet band?

Say, in the Isle of Youth hast though thy home,
The sweetest singer there,
Stealing on winged steed across the foam
Through the moonlit air?

And by the gloomy peaks of Erigal,
Haunted by storm and cloud,
Wing past, and to thy lover there let fall
His singing robe and shroud?

Or, where the mists of bluebell float beneath
The red stems of the pine,
And sunbeams strike thro' shadow, dost thou breathe
The word that makes him thine?

Or, is thy palace entered thro' some cliff
When radiant tides are full,
And round thy lover's wandering starlit skiff
Coil in luxurious lull?

And would he, entereing on the brimming flood,
See caverns vast in height,
And daimond columns, crowned with leaf and bud,
Glow in long lanes of light.

And there the pearl of that great glittering shell
Trembling, behold thee lone,
Now weaving in slow dance an awful spell,
Now still upon thy throne?

Thy beauty! ah, the eyes that pierce him thro'
Then melt as in a dream;
The voice that sings the mysteries of the blue
And all that Be and Seem!
Thy lovely motions answering to the rhyme
That anceint Nature sings,
That keeps the stars in cadence for all time,
And echoes thro' all things!

Whether he sees thee thus, or in his dreams,
Thy light makes all lights dim;
An aching solitude from henceforth seems
The world of men to him.

Thy luring song, above the sensuous roar,
He follows with delight,
Shutting behind him Life's last gloomy door,
And fares into the Night.




Eodain the Poetess transcribed by Lady Wilde


The Leanan Sidhe sometimes took the form of a woman, who gave men valour and strength in battle by her songs. Such was Eodain the poetess, by whom Eugene, king of Munster, gained complete victory over his foes. Afterwards he gave himself up to luxury and pleasure, and went away to Spain, where he remained nine years, and took to wife the daughter of the king of Spain. At the end of that time he returned to Ireland with a band of Spanish followers. He found his kingdom plundered and ruined, and the revelers and drunkards were feasting in his banquet hall, and wasting his revenues for their pleasures while the people starved. The whole nation despised the king, and would not hear his words when he sat down in his golden chair to give just judgment for iniquity.

Eugene the king, in his deep sorrow and humiliation, sent for Eodain the poetess to come and give him counsel. So Eodain came to him, and upheld him with her strong spirit, for she had the power within her of the poet and the prophet, and she said $quot;Arise now, O king, and govern like a true hero, and bring confusion on the evil workers. Be strong and fear not, for by strength and justice kings should rule."

Eugene the king was guided by her counsel and was successful. And he overthrew his enemies and brought back peace and order to the land. For the strength of the Leanan-Sidhe was in the words of Eodain, the power of the spirit of life which is given to the poet and the prophet, by which they inspire and guide the hearts of men.

References

Lhiannan Shee (lannan shee); The Lhiannan Shee of Man is generally treated as a vampirish spirit who attaches herself to one man, to whom she appears irrestibly beautiful, but invisible to everyone else. If he yeilds to her seduction, he is ruined body and soul. The Irish Leanan Sidhe is more favourably regarded, as a life giving spirit, the inspiration of poets and minstrels. Both names mean the "fairy sweetheart". The Lhiannan Shee of Ballfletcher was, however, the tutrelary spirit of the Fletchers, and gave them the fairy cup, which was drained every Christmas in her honour. Like Melusine, the Lhiannan Shee is said to haunt wells and springs. - The Encyclopedia of Faeries by Katherine Briggs

Leanan-Sidhe (lan-awn shee); the "Fairy Mistress". Virtually the same as the Lhiannan Shee of Man, though a different and more favorable interpretation is put on her by Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol 1, p. 257). She says, "The Leanan Sidhe, or spirit of life, was supposed to be the inspirer of the poet and singer, as the Bean Sidhe was a spirit and herald of death." Yeats, however, explains the Leanan Sidhe as the spirit who inspires poets and singers, burning them up so that their earthly life is brief. - The Encyclopedia of Faeries by Katherine Briggs

The Leanhuan Shee (Leanhuan Sidhe, i.e. fairy mistress); This spirit seeks the love of men. If they refuse, she is their slave. If they consent, they are hers, and they can only escape by finding another man to take their place. Her lover wastes away, for she lives on their lives. Most of the Gaelic poets, down to recent times have had a Leanhuan Shee, for she gives inspiration to her slaves and is indeed the Gaelic muse, this malignant fairy. Her lovers, the Gaelic poets died young. She grew restless and carried them away to other worlds, for death does not destroy her power. -Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland by W.B. Yeats

Upon hearing a similar tale of a "fairy woman" who is mistaken for a succubi by the storyteller, Evans-Wentz recorded the following comment: These curious tales suggest the belief that certain of the fairy women who entice mortals to their love are the same as the succubi of Middle Age mystics. But it is not intended by this observation to confuse the higher orders of the Sidhe and all fairy folk such as the fae who come from Avalon with succubi; though succubi and fairy women were often confused and improperly identified the one with the other. -The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evens-Wentz

Leanan Sidhe; Intelligence, Creativity, Arts, Magic, Love, Sexuality, and Unhappiness
The "Fairy Sweetheart" who inspires singers. Irish sister to the Bean Sidhe. Because of her unearthly beauty, her mate would be distraught when she was not with him and would die from depression, which led to fear of her and the belief that she was destructive. Alternate form: Lhianna-shee. -Goddesses In World Mythology by Martha Ann and Dorothy Myers Imel

Leanan Sidhe; The Fairy Mistress who encounters poets and musicians, inspiring them with her muse like power. She appears frequently in Irish poetic tradition as the central figure of the vision or "Aisling". in which the poet meets her on a hillside. The music or poetry she inspires is usually indicative of an otherworldly sadness and regret for the past glories of Ireland. -British and Irish Mythology by John and Caitlin Matthews

Aine; Sweetheart of the Sidhe is a title given to Aine. The identity of Aine is not clear. Some sources report that she was the daughter of Manannan, others that she was the Morrigu, who owned the Cathair Aine, a stone which caused madness. She often gave her love to men, and was called Leanan Sidhe, the Sweetheart of the Sidhe. Wisps of straw are burned in her honor on St. John's Eve. - Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory



Illustration © Jade Hammond, used with artist's permission.




"I shall kiss from end to end the long black wings spreading from your neck,
oh, captive dove whose heart throbs wild beneath my hand!
I shall take your mouth in my mouth
as the child takes its mother's breast.
Tremble! for the kiss sinks deep
and should suffice for love."




SO YEAH THAT IS ME! I AM LEANAN SIDHE!

oh dear...my karma ran over my dogma