The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries Part 6

_The s.h.i.+ning Beings._--

Q.--Can you describe the s.h.i.+ning beings?

A.--'It is very difficult to give any intelligible description of them.

The first time I saw them with great vividness I was lying on a hill-side alone in the west of Ireland, in County Sligo: I had been listening to music in the air, and to what seemed to be the sound of bells, and was trying to understand these aerial clas.h.i.+ngs in which wind seemed to break upon wind in an ever-changing musical silvery sound.

Then the s.p.a.ce before me grew luminous, and I began to see one beautiful being after another.'

_The Opalescent Beings._--

Q.--Can you describe one of the opalescent beings?

A.--'The first of these I saw I remember very clearly, and the manner of its appearance: there was at first a dazzle of light, and then I saw that this came from the heart of a tall figure with a body apparently shaped out of half-transparent or opalescent air, and throughout the body ran a radiant, electrical fire, to which the heart seemed the centre. Around the head of this being and through its waving luminous hair, which was blown all about the body like living strands of gold, there appeared flaming wing-like auras. From the being itself light seemed to stream outwards in every direction; and the effect left on me after the vision was one of extraordinary lightness, joyousness, or ecstasy.

'At about this same period of my life I saw many of these great beings, and I then thought that I had visions of Aengus, Manannan, Lug, and other famous kings or princes among the Tuatha De Danann; but since then I have seen so many beings of a similar character that I now no longer would attribute to any one of them personal ident.i.ty with particular beings of legend; though I believe that they correspond in a general way to the Tuatha De Danann or ancient Irish G.o.ds.'

_Stature of the 'Sidhe'._--

Q.--You speak of the opalescent beings as great beings; what stature do you a.s.sign to them, and to the s.h.i.+ning beings?

A.--'The opalescent beings seem to be about fourteen feet in stature, though I do not know why I attribute to them such definite height, since I had nothing to compare them with; but I have always considered them as much taller than our race. The s.h.i.+ning beings seem to be about our own stature or just a little taller. Peasant and other Irish seers do not usually speak of the _Sidhe_ as being little, but as being tall: an old schoolmaster in the West of Ireland described them to me from his own visions as tall beautiful people, and he used some Gaelic words, which I took as meaning that they were s.h.i.+ning with every colour.'

_The worlds of the 'Sidhe.'_--

Q.--Do the two orders of _Sidhe_ beings inhabit the same world?

A.--'The s.h.i.+ning beings belong to the mid-world; while the opalescent beings belong to the heaven-world. There are three great worlds which we can see while we are still in the body: the earth-world, mid-world, and heaven-world.'

_Nature of the 'Sidhe.'_--

Q.--Do you consider the life and state of these _Sidhe_ beings superior to the life and state of men?

A.--'I could never decide. One can say that they themselves are certainly more beautiful than men are, and that their worlds seem more beautiful than our world.

'Among the s.h.i.+ning orders there does not seem to be any individualized life: thus if one of them raises his hands all raise their hands, and if one drinks from a fire-fountain all do; they seem to move and to have their real existence in a being higher than themselves, to which they are a kind of body. Theirs is, I think, a collective life, so unindividualized and so calm that I might have more varied thoughts in five hours than they would have in five years; and yet one feels an extraordinary purity and exaltation about their life. Beauty of form with them has never been broken up by the pa.s.sions which arise in the developed egotism of human beings. A hive of bees has been described as a single organism with disconnected cells; and some of these tribes of s.h.i.+ning beings seem to be little more than one being manifesting itself in many beautiful forms. I speak this with reference to the s.h.i.+ning beings only: I think that among the opalescent or _Sidhe_ beings, in the heaven-world, there is an even closer spiritual unity, but also a greater individuality.'

_Influence of the 'Sidhe' on Men._--

Q.--Do you consider any of these _Sidhe_ beings inimical to humanity?

A.--'Certain kinds of the s.h.i.+ning beings, whom I call wood beings, have never affected me with any evil influences I could recognize. But the water beings, also of the s.h.i.+ning tribes, I always dread, because I felt whenever I came into contact with them a great drowsiness of mind and, I often thought, an actual drawing away of vitality.'

_Water Beings Described._--

Q.--Can you describe one of these water beings?

A.--'In the world under the waters--under a lake in the West of Ireland in this case--I saw a blue and orange coloured king seated on a throne; and there seemed to be some fountain of mystical fire rising from under his throne, and he breathed this fire into himself as though it were his life. As I looked, I saw groups of pale beings, almost grey in colour, coming down one side of the throne by the fire-fountain. They placed their head and lips near the heart of the elemental king, and, then, as they touched him, they shot upwards, plumed and radiant, and pa.s.sed on the other side, as though they had received a new life from this chief of their world.'

_Wood Beings Described._--

Q.--Can you describe one of the wood beings?

A.--'The wood beings I have seen most often are of a s.h.i.+ning silvery colour with a tinge of blue or pale violet, and with dark purple-coloured hair.'

_Reproduction and Immortality of the 'Sidhe'._--

Q.--Do you consider the races of the _Sidhe_ able to reproduce their kind; and are they immortal?

A.--'The higher kinds seem capable of breathing forth beings out of themselves, but I do not understand how they do so. I have seen some of them who contain elemental beings within themselves, and these they could send out and receive back within themselves again.

'The immortality ascribed to them by the ancient Irish is only a relative immortality, their s.p.a.ce of life being much greater than ours.

In time, however, I believe that they grow old and then pa.s.s into new bodies just as men do, but whether by birth or by the growth of a new body I cannot say, since I have no certain knowledge about this.'

_s.e.x among the 'Sidhe'._--

Q.--Does s.e.xual differentiation seem to prevail among the Sidhe races?

A.--'I have seen forms both male and female, and forms which did not suggest s.e.x at all.'

_'Sidhe' and Human Life._--

Q.--(1) Is it possible, as the ancient Irish thought, that certain of the higher _Sidhe_ beings have entered or could enter our plane of life by submitting to human birth? (2) On the other hand, do you consider it possible for men in trance or at death to enter the _Sidhe_ world?

A.--(1) 'I cannot say.' (2) 'Yes; both in trance and after death. I think any one who thought much of the _Sidhe_ during his life and who saw them frequently and brooded on them would likely go to their world after death.'

_Social Organization of the 'Sidhe'._--

Q.--You refer to chieftain-like or prince-like beings, and to a king among water beings; is there therefore definite social organization among the various _Sidhe_ orders and races, and if so, what is its nature?

A.--'I cannot say about a definite social organization. I have seen beings who seemed to command others, and who were held in reverence.

This implies an organization, but whether it is instinctive like that of a hive of bees, or consciously organized like human society, I cannot say.'

_Lower 'Sidhe' as Nature Elementals._--

Q.--You speak of the water-being king as an elemental king; do you suggest thereby a resemblance between lower _Sidhe_ orders and what mediaeval mystics called elementals?

A.--'The lower orders of the _Sidhe_ are, I think, the nature elementals of the mediaeval mystics.'

_Nourishment of the Higher 'Sidhe'._--

Q.--The water beings as you have described them seem to be nourished and kept alive by something akin to electrical fluids; do the higher orders of the _Sidhe_ seem to be similarly nourished?

A.--'They seemed to me to draw their life out of the Soul of the World.'

_Collective Visions of 'Sidhe' Beings._--

Q.--Have you had visions of the various _Sidhe_ beings in company with other persons?

A.--'I have had such visions on several occasions.'