#for some this is faeries. for others it would be ghosts. or gray aliens. or santa claus.

[guardsbian]

I think a better version of the poll would be Walrus vs Real Life Magical Santa Claus.

because. while the latter is most certainly an upheaval in worldview in a way which rivals the existence of magical fairies. I do think there's a slightly more universal argument to be made for "with age you became convinced he was not real and would never approach you" than can be made for faeries, which I think a lot of fairy non-believers (myself included) lack the sentimentality towards to even consider as something to be proven wrong about the existence of. like a lot of arguments against the fairy being more surprising seem to hinge on some sort of cultural conditioning and acceptance of straight up fantasy magic that is. not as universal as some people seem to think it is

[todayinmagicalgirlhistory]

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.

[boyfriem-moved]

pl ea se info dump about your ocs

oh boy ok you,,, don’t want this but u already asked and it’s too late to go back so im just gonna start talking

ok so i have like 2 separate oc worlds and 3 seperate groups of ocs within those (these are just the main ones, there’s ones i don’t think abt anymore and ones i’ve abandoned and fan characters and stuff but if i went over all of that i’d be here all day so i’ll just stick with these)

so the first world is just our world, modern day, but with magic. there’s this one town, barnsley, georgia, that’s cut off from the rest of the world. most ppl drive by without ever noticing it, and if someone tries to go in who’s not wanted the town will disappear or try to kill them or just do something to keep them out. it’s a vaguely sentient town. in barnsley there’s a big forest and no one’s ever gone in and come out the other side. there’s ambiguous danger in the forest, mostly faeries who will make you fall in love with them and then kill you and harvest your bones and stuff.

so there’s like 4-6 characters depending on where we’re looking at in terms of what storyline i’m following (this is the one that i did nanowrimo for three (3) times and have over 100,000 words of thrown out content for and obsess over constantly so it has the most solid plot and there’s a lot of it) so anyways i’ll just go over all 6 and try to make it as simple as possible without talking about converging storylines and alternate drafts and stuff

ok! so! vi larson-park is the daughter of one of barnsley’s 3 great magicians! her mom could do all sorts of crazy magic and i can’t get into the parents’ backstory here bc they have a whole OTHER story and that’s just. too much (maybe i’ll do that later? we’ll see) so yeah her mom did magic and also made some bad deals and stole some stuff from the woods and indirectly caused some ppls deaths but it’s like fine probably. so vi grew up with her mom, natalie, her mom’s witch girlfriend, erica, and erica’s twin brother, simon (who i’ll get into later and also who doesn’t exist in half the scrapped drafts) in this big empty DEFINITELY HAUNTED house on the edge of town where erica grew up and they were good and happy. then like a year ago natalie was killed by nick, who i’ll also get into later, and that’s kinda the end of her story, vi and erica are obviously devastated and they have a funeral and vi starts having the occasional odd dream here and there, but things go back to normal after awhile. vi has absolutely no aptitude for magic, and because of that she often feels alienated by erica and simon who are VERY magical and always talking about things she doesn’t understand. she’s fiercely loyal and protective and not really scared of anything. she’s always wanted to know what’s in the woods but knows better than to go looking

tyler is vi’s best friend and also 50% whole entire Not Human. he either came from the woods or was found outside a random gas station in like arizona or something depending on which draft i’m going by, but either way he was found around two years ago and has been clinging to vi ever since. his backstory is a big unknown to the human characters and no one really knows anything about him. he’s a faerie prince, the son of the erlking, who’s sort of the ambiguous villain of the story but i’ll get into him later. he has 3 brothers, sorrel, dain, and kell. sorrel is the oldest and known as the winter prince, then there’s kell for spring, dain for summer, and tyler himself for autumn. (btw his name isn’t actually tyler technically it’s robin but i'm not gonna get into that rn.) sorrel is cool and collected and stone cold bitch, and all he wants is to be king so he roped tyler into helping him try and kill their dad, which failed, so then he lost his position in the royal court and now he’s doing tons of morally gray stuff in an attempt to get back in his dad’s favor so he can kill him for real this time. dain and kell are sort of nothing at all and you don’t need to know anything except dain is really mean and violent and kell is an ally(?). after the whole failed killing debacle tyler ran away to barnsley in hopes that he could find something in common with the humans, since he’d been a faerie all his life and couldn’t stand it. he’s quiet and doesn’t like doing or saying things unless he absolutely has to, is generally unhelpful unless something benefits him, scared of being alone, hates being indoors, runs around barefoot and only eats food from the woods. he’s kinda like an outdoor cat.

nick and marcus jacobs are brothers and general hooligans. nick is the older one (he’s 19) and marcus is 15 and they grew up in barnsley for the first 14 years of marcus’ life until marcus accidentally killed their dad and they left town. which the dad killing subplot is really a lot to get into but basically their dad was the second magician, along with vi’s mom, except the effects of magic on a person can kinda drive a person insane and the others managed to keep it together but he slowly went crazy until he was paranoid and in pain all the time and ended up taking a lot of it out on his sons which ended in him threatening marcus and marcus in an act of self defense unleashing raw magic power he didn’t know he had and accidentally killing him and also taking out all the power in the entire town and causing a minor earthquake. it was a Big Deal. so yeah they buried their dad in the backyard and skipped town. after their dad died all his magic went down to nick so nick has newfound power (marcus btw has never been able to use magic since then and has no idea how he did it) but he also has voices in his head and weird dreams, and with all the voices yelling at him all the time he realizes that the only way to get rid of them is to get rid of the magicians. his dad did some magic bullshit that made him the vessel for the magic once he died but the other magicians didn’t so he doesn’t have to kill anyone besides them and it makes sense bc i say it does shut up. so for like a year they drive around aimlessly, meet with and kill vi’s mom, meet with and kill aidan’s dad (i’ll get to aidan once i’m done here), pick up a hitchhiker depending on which version of the story i’m telling, then go back home where they’re not really welcome anymore but that won’t stop them. nick is cold and mean and. y’know. a murderer, but he also loves marcus greatly and gets attached to people more easily than he would like to admit. he’s sort of closed himself off and resigned himself to killing “for the greater good”, but it’s hard for him, and there’s definitely people he wouldn’t kill. he fully planned to, once he got rid of the magicians, never kill again, and he keeps that promise. marcus is soft spoken and anxiety ridden and a bit of a crybaby and he hates death and doesn’t fully trust nick and doesn’t trust himself either. on the outside he appears bitter and angry constantly.

aidan mulligan is a HOOLIGAN! a whole entire rowdy boy! he’s also the son of the third magician and marcus’ ex(?) boyfriend? more like boyfriend on standby. it’s complicated. there’s nothing special to him, he’s rowdy bc his parents never gave him enough attention so he runs around with people he doesn’t really like and is always getting into trouble. his favorite activities are skipping church and running the local cryptid watch am radio station, which no one listens to and which he used to run with marcus. he misses marcus dearly and keeps waiting for him to come back. he’s loud and talkative and his mood changes drastically but is always on the highest setting. he’s either screaming-and-throwing-things angry or unable to shut up and bouncing all over the place. not to pick favorites but he’s my favorite i really love him. his life moto is “fuck you dad” basically. oh yeah nick killed his dad and stuff and it’s hit him hard but he’s not as torn up by it as he probably should be, which he feels terrible about. his mom lives on the other side of the country and doesn’t currently know his dad is dead, which isn’t really something you’re supposed to keep secret generally but the mulligan family said fuck the rules. he has two brothers, connor and seamus (connor older, seamus younger) and loves both of them though he would never admit it.

simon diederich is the secret special bonus magician!! also i think i gotta talk abt parent backstory for him so,,,, here goes: basically, simon and vi’s mom and marcus and aidan’s dads all stole magic from the forest in a way that doesn’t super make sense but it’s my story i can do what i want. and in the process simon died and they had to leave him behind in the woods, but then since the magic in the forest was weak it couldn’t continue being formless or else it would turn into nothing since so much of it had been damaged by the humans or w/e. so it took simon’s body as a vessel and resurrected him with all his old memories but also 100% more magic power. so he took that power and went back home and has been just straight chillin, unaging, for 30-ish years. he got like. immense wisdom when he was resurrected and is also possessed by a sentient forest so he does what the forest wants which is protect the town and fistfight anyone he doesn’t like. he’s obnoxious and immature and thinks he’s hot shit and loves these trees more than he loves other people probably

bonus character: lila is the ghost who lives in vi’s attic. she’s like 7. i love her

THAT HURT MY FINGERS TO TYPE. I HAD TO MOVE TO GOOGLE DOCS TO DO THIS BC TUMBLR KEPT LAGGING AND MY WORD COUNT IS NEARING 2000 BUT W/E LETS KEEP GOING

next, still in the same universe, are the residents of greywell, washington. greywell is what’s on the other side of those woods no one can cross in barnsley. how does that work? magic obviously. greywell is a lot like barnsley but more sinister, it’s a lot newer so the characters aren’t as fleshed out (with one exception) and there’s really only 3 i actually care abt so this ones gonna be a lot shorter. i’ve thought abt plot but nothing solid so there’s some...stuff but mostly this one will be short

zoe hammond: amateur teen witch who’s also cursed. she has an eye on her left hand which is always watching her and she wants off desperately. u know how i said in some versions of the story nick and marcus pick up a hitchiker? that’s her, going to barnsley bc she knows its magic and hopes someone there will know how to fix her. she respects authority and stays in line for the most part, but she also takes shit from no one. she’ll talk to nearly anyone but doesn’t particularly like anyone in town, also she sells witch shit out of the trunk of her car in the school parking lot

wesley: short rowdy trans boy with absolutely no self control who’s stoned all the time and does crazy things for the adrenaline rush and doesn’t bind safely and falls in love with every boy he meets. he skateboards bc of course he does. he’s always ready to fight and punches ppl a lot but usually ends up losing fights bc he’s tiny. i love him

noa: ok this dude went into the woods one (1) time and now there’s this magic glove stuck on their hand? and a ghost in their phone?? and they’re literally so confused and they’ve never had any friends in their entire life but all of a sudden that weird lesbian witch and her crazy skateboarder friend are talking to them all the time and they died? except they woke back up like nothing had happened even though their head basically blew up? and there’s like faeries and stuff coming after them because they want the glove and they can’t get the stupid thing off their hand and they have no idea what’s going on noa is an absolute nervous wreck who’s really fun to draw and they have no idea what’s happening to them and tbh i don’t rly know what i’m doing either but i’m having a good time

ada: the phone ghost.

last set!! i have them all done already from this thing i did with @dogstoes so i’ll just paste them in but first background:

this is a completely separate world, it’s like this 1910s era fictional city with magic and shit. the magic system is kinda complicated but basically there’s elemental magicians who are heavily tied to religion, they’re believed to be sacred and god sent by p much every organized religion. they do elements, it’s pretty simple. then there’s blood magicians who can basically transmute but they have to use their own blood to do it. anyone can learn to be a blood magician but most ppl don’t want to bc. blood ow. blood magicians are an ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD and there’s a stigma against them in religious communities so they tend to populate big cities and less religious places. there’s also healers who are born like elementals and can’t be trained, they’re isolated from both schools of magic bc unlike elementals they’re not pure (well, depending on which religion you ask) and unlike blood magicians they’re not common. born magicians are born with pure black eyes (irises? the colored part. not just all black) that differentiate them from nonmagic ppl. there’s also super intense mary sue magicians who r rare and born with red eyes (i started this world when i was 13 don’t judge me bitch) and they can shapeshift kinda? but in cool ways, it’s not just shapeshifting they could also make their skin tough or nails pointy or w/e. one of them specifically likes to harden his own blood in weapons it’s kinda metal. anyways here’s the character profiles from the google doc pasted in word for word

Characters (bc i suddenly decided this is Sharin With Rivers material If You Shall Take It):

So basically there's these 2 gangs, run by this woman Lyra Frey and this dude Lucas Sweeney, and they Do Not Like Each Other At All. Neither of them are good bc yknow...gangs….but lyra’s is like...better anyways here's characters

Lyra's dudes:

Emil Finch: 21, any and all pronouns, ace, lyra’s right hand man/ veteran of a bloody civil war (TECHNICALLY a war criminal but yknow…it's whatever). Likes cats and Arya, dislikes cigarettes and being short. Their birth name is Emilee, which they  shortened to their liking when they moved to The Big City, and they used their father's name (Finn O'Malley) to join the war. They're a healer magician but ssshhh don't tell anyone. They used their powers to hurt people when they were in The War and now don't trust themselves, so they stick to traditional medicine thank you very much. (Also knives. They’re a big fan of knives.)

Arya Frey: 21, she/her, Lyra’s adopted daughter and mechanic. She has METAL LEGS and has to walk with a cane so she doesn't go outside much, mostly makes machines and strategizes for her mom. Likes drawing, Emil, making things/taking them apart, dislikes cold weather (it makes her joints hurt), magic, Drunk Emil. She has two cats named vriska and karkat. Everyone is suspicious of these names even though it's like 1910 and an alternate universe and homestuck doesn't exist.

Jaz Anaheim: 18, he/him, big gay disaster, a pickpocket who came to the Big City with his brother when he was 16 to work and send money to his mom, stole from a kingpin, joined a gang, watched his brother die in front of him, and lied to his mom for 2 years about his job and his brothers aliveness while he sent her blood money. He's a humble farm boy, no magic, tall and uncoordinated, basically all he can do is steal and flirt badly and he's very aware. Also where he came from magicians were rare because they were all drafted for the war so when he sees magic he's way too impressed. Likes loud music, people being interested in him, his family (just his mom now :’)), his hometown, dislikes the city, feeling disliked, himself, swimming

Sweeney’s band of assholes:

Elliott Sweeney: 24, he/him, Sweeney’s son and certified dad hater. He's a blood magician which are common and not that impressive but he’s good at what he does bc he did nothing but practice for like 6 years. His dad basically controls him and makes him work for him because he's useful. He resents his dad with every ounce of his being but doesn't have the spine to do anything about it. After accidentally burning down part of their house and killing his mom his dad sent him away to the summer house in the country, where he lived for the past 6 years, obediently doing his dad’s bidding and learning how to control his magic until he got fed up and burned that house down (on purpose this time), making his dad move him back to the family house in the city so that he could keep an eye on him. he’s one of those badass mega magicians who does blood swords and stuff, he’s also spent so much time reading that he knows a lot about magic theory. Quiet, reserved, extremely petty, but shows a sense of humor around his sister. Never really knew Alise growing up so he’s more of a cool uncle than a brother. Likes his sister, learning things, astronomy, dislikes his dad, Emil, doing magic, fighting, feeling trapped

Alise Sweeney: 14, she/her, her dad named her Alise with an S because he's just that much of an asshole. She's a self trained blood magician and good at what she does. She hates her dad almost as much as Elliott does but she's also not a fucking baby about it. Is DEFINITELY planning on killing him at some point. Was raised to make jokes and do crime and her brother said if she does crime she's grounded. Has never been serious about anything ever, and probably has a screw loose. Has killed people. Is basically a tiny fighting machine. Her dad was rough on her growing up. Likes picking fights, Elliott and Atticus, pissing off her dad, causing trouble. Dislikes her dad, people stronger than her, tense situations, being alone

Atticus Grey: 16, he/him, not Sweeney’s son but hates him enough that he probably could be (in case you were noticing a theme here, sweeney is kinda unlikeable). His mom left soon after he was born and his dad ran up a huge debt and ended up working for Sweeney to pay it off, then died in a gang fight before he could get through it. Sweeney, the merciless motherfucker that he is, decided that Atticus would finish paying it off, and snatched him up as soon as he was 13. His dad used to hang out with Emil’s and so they ended up taking care of parentless Atticus (along with (extremely reluctant) Arya. Atticus is really close with Lyra’s entire crew because he's spent so much time around them. He's a fire magician who knows a bit of blood magic but barely uses it, and he's an angsty bitch. Likes Emil, being alone, dislikes everything else.

oh yeah then there’s those bitches in charge:

Lyra Frey is a [REDACTED] year old woman from [REDACTED] who moved to the city while fleeing from [REDACTED]. She was in the civil war briefly, fighting for the [REDACTED] side. Her real name is not Lyra, but is actually [REDACTED]. She loves Arya more than anything else probably. Sees Jaz as an unofficial son, is skeptical of Atticus, likes Emil but doesn’t trust them.

Lucas Sweeney is one of those rich bastards who also does crime on the side. He’s a politician but everyone and their mother knows he’s an absolute crime lord on the side. Has arguably more power than Lyra but has no idea how to use it, plus Alise has already recruited like half his employees into joining her uprising. He’s a selfish man and a terrible dad. No one likes him.

uh yeah that is. all!! this is over 3000 words jesus do asks have a word limit? i sure hope not