Title: The Fairy Bible
Author: Teresa Moorey
Date of Publication: July 1, 2008
I was impressed in general by the text's content; many similar books that I've read in the past just invent names of fairy species that aren't backed by any sort of history or lore. Granted, many of the texts I've read are intended for younger audiences, but even so. All entries in this book introduce the original mythology for the spirits, and some also give examples of how they have been reimagined in pop culture.
The book's categories are as follows: Water, Air, Fire, Earth, House, Flower, Tree, and Weather. Each category then has the related spirits, as well as information at the end of each section on meditations that can be done to contact these fairies. Most of them also have suggestions for the
kinds of altars that could be established to attract the type of spirit in question, as well as to make your living space a more welcoming environment for them.
Most of The Fairy Bible's entries come from the folklore of Western Europe,
particularly the British Isles, and I was left feeling like the inhabitants of other cultures were rather under-represented. That being said, the book does incorporate entries for djinn, domovoiye, a few Native American entities, and a Japanese water spirit, so it did make some level of effort.
Still, some of what the author considered suitable content was questionable to me. For example, the book contained sections on several deities, including Pan, Brighid, Hermes, and others. While I certainly don't object to learning more about these Powers in general, it seems to me that it might offend said god/desses to be included in a book regarding Fey. This is not to say that Fey are lesser Powers - many of them certainly possess astounding capabilities - but it seems odd to me that deities which are never portrayed as fairies in their myths are then included in the book.
Not only that, but famous fairy entities that one would expect to see in a book like this - for instance, the illustrious Queen Mab - were hardly mentioned at all.
The book's categories are as follows: Water, Air, Fire, Earth, House, Flower, Tree, and Weather. Each category then has the related spirits, as well as information at the end of each section on meditations that can be done to contact these fairies. Most of them also have suggestions for the
kinds of altars that could be established to attract the type of spirit in question, as well as to make your living space a more welcoming environment for them.
Most of The Fairy Bible's entries come from the folklore of Western Europe,
Still, some of what the author considered suitable content was questionable to me. For example, the book contained sections on several deities, including Pan, Brighid, Hermes, and others. While I certainly don't object to learning more about these Powers in general, it seems to me that it might offend said god/desses to be included in a book regarding Fey. This is not to say that Fey are lesser Powers - many of them certainly possess astounding capabilities - but it seems odd to me that deities which are never portrayed as fairies in their myths are then included in the book.
Not only that, but famous fairy entities that one would expect to see in a book like this - for instance, the illustrious Queen Mab - were hardly mentioned at all.
All in all, I thought it was a reasonably informative book, and most of its meditations and other exercises were well-composed, but buyers should be aware that some of the content is a little watered down, and parts of it come across as more of a "how-to-Pagan" than a strictly-informative guide to the fairy realms. Ultimately, know what you're buying. There definitely is quality information in it, but in places it takes a bit of digging.
I would call it, "fairies for beginners", and not, "the definitive guide" as the cover suggests.
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