Showing posts with label Celtic mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celtic mythology. Show all posts

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Scotch Broom - Cait Sidhe

HALLOWEEN IS FOR WITCHES
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SCOTCH BROOM Kindle Ebook  Nook Book 
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CAIT SIDHE 

Many many, many, many writers are in love with the Celtic myths. I’ve delved into them, too. However, I’m not a big fan of the flitty little cute faeries (or fae or fairies). In Celt mythology, there’s a fairy (or fae or faerie) for just about any purpose. The “serious” fantasies love the idea of the fairy troupe. More than a few equate fairies to Arthurian legends, more specifically Merlin.

The third book in the Witches of Galdorheim series, Scotch Broom, is set in the Scottish Highlands. Of course, I had to include at least one fairy in the mix or I’d be violating some unwritten fantasy rule.

If you write Celtic fantasy, then you know that Sidhe is pronounced Shee in Ireland and Sith in Scotland. I wonder where George Lucas got Sith lords? Hmm.

Anyway, I found a particular sidhe I liked. She’s a big black cat with a white chest. Aha! I used to have the model for said cat (in a much reduced size) sitting at my door every morning demanding a handout. We called her Bitch Kitty. Yes, she had attitude in spades. So, she's my model for Cait Sidhe, a companion to my erstwhile heroine, Kat.

My Mashup: From Scotch Broom

Kat has already found two companions: Sianach a stag and Cusith (another sidhe) a giant, green hound. They’re tromping through the swamps trying to find the Trow King’s hall in the middle of the Otherworld (the alternate magic world in the Scottish Highlands).

Excerpt:

They marched on in a straight line, having no better idea of which direction to go, while Cusith zigzagged ahead of them with his nose close to the earth. Suddenly, the green hound raised his head and bayed. A moment later, he galloped across the moor, water splashing when his huge paws hit the tiny pools.

“What’s up with him?” Kat asked.

Sianach lifted his chin for a better view. “He appears to be in pursuit of an animal of some type.”

“I hope he’s not hurting some little swamp creature.”

“If he is, then the beast is making Cusith pay for the privilege.”

Kat and Sianach walked faster after Cusith, the dog’s trail marked by flying grass and water. When Cusith finally stopped, Kat and Sianach trotted to catch up. The hound was standing over something furry and black that lay on the ground beneath his huge paw.

“No, don’t! Don’t hurt it,” Kat called out. Cusith turned his head toward her, tongue lolling.

“I won’t. It’s not food.”

Kat reached Cusith’s side and knelt down to examine the raggedy clump of ebony fur. It leapt up, scrabbling for a foothold, but Cusith clamped his paw down harder to hold it still.

“It’s a cat!” Kat reached out with her mind but met the same blank wall she had with Sianach and Cusith. So, she tried the old-fashioned way. “Here kitty, kitty. Nice kitty.” An ear-splitting yowl almost knocked Kat back on her rear.

“I am not your ‘nice kitty,’ you rude thing! I am Cait Sidhe; I’ll have you know. Surely, this stag...and mutt...have heard of me.”

Sianach, who stood to one side to stay out of the fray, nodded his elegant head. “Yes, I know you. Not that it is a pleasure.”

The cat hissed and swiped a pawful of razor sharp claws across Cusith’s foot. The big dog quickly released the black cat. “Sorry. Just having some fun.”

Cait sat up and licked a couple of swipes over the white spot on her chest.

“Now you’ve covered me with mud. It’ll take hours to get clean again.”

* * *

SCOTCH BROOM: Book 3 of The Witches of Galdorheim
A magical trip to Stonehenge lands a witch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good.
Kat is on her way to an exciting trip to Stonehenge but is led astray by a jealous rival. Caught in the Otherworld within the Scottish Highlands with a has-been goddess trying to kill her, Kat has to defeat the goddess and rescue her brother from the hag's clutches.
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Banshee Screams from Natalie Wright

Natalie Wright avoids cat scratch fever and vacuums up a LOT black cat hair after hosting Cait Sidhe, the cat fairy from Scotch Broom.

* * * Here's Natalie * * *

NATALIE'S TREATS:
Visit Natalie Wright's blog and learn how to enter to win a signed copy of her book, Emily's House, some swag, and an Amazon gift card! 
Or click here to use RaffleCopter to enter.

Irish Celtic mythology and spirituality inspired me while writing my first novel, Emily’s House. Emily lives in the modern world, but she learns that she is the last of the line of the Order of Brighid, an ancient order of Irish women priestesses.

Before I began the research for Emily’s House, I knew nothing about Celtic mythology. I soon learned that Ireland is rich with mythic creatures and entities.

I came across two beings that I just had to use. The first you may be familiar with: the Banshee (in modern Ireland it’s Bean SÍ). While there are many variants of the Banshee myth, the one thing they have in common is that she keens for the dead. Sometimes her keening is a premonition of the death to come. At other times she wails for the newly dead, often said to announce the death of one from an important Irish family. At times Banshee is described as beautiful:


At other times she is described as terrifying.


You’ll have to read Emily’s House to see how my mind imagined Banshee!

The Irish leanan sidhe (also spelled Lianhan Sidhe) is a lesser known mythological creature. She is most often depicted as a beautiful muse who offers inspiration to an artist, but at a price. It is said that the men who fall in love with her live brief but inspired lives. In the mythos, Lianhan Sidhe seeks the love of mortal men. If they refuse, she must be their slave. But if they consent, they are hers and she essentially feeds on their life, wasting away. The Lianhan Sidhe reminded me of the siren who lures sailors with her irresistible song, only to crash on the rocks and perish.

As I read about these two faery women, I thought, “What if they are sisters?” And what would be unleashed if something happened to one of them? Would the other have her sister’s back? Would she seek to avenge her sister?

I used other aspects of Irish Celtic mythology and spirituality in Emily’s House, but maybe the most fun was coming up with my own spin on the very old myths of the Banshee and the Lianhan Sidhe.

I hope you are all enjoying the fabulous Summer Teen Reading Party where fun reads abound at summer sale prices with great prizes thrown in for good measure.

My Summer Teen Reading Party giveaway is going on now through May 21 so enter through the Rafflecopter below for your chance to snag swag from me.

Here's the Rafflecopter link again.

From Kirkus Reviews: With her two best friends by her side and her mother’s memory in her heart, a teenager undertakes a journey to save the world from an ancient evil.

Emily Adams has always known she’s special. Throughout her whole life she’s had visions of things that haven’t happened yet and she could always read her mother’s mind. At least, she could until her mother died. Emily thinks her abilities are just about gone, but the arrival of a strange creature in her backyard one night proves otherwise. Emily discovers she is the last of the Order of Brighid, an ancient society of women sworn to protect the portal to the Netherworld. Now, with the portal under attack, it’s up to Emily and her two loyal, wisecracking friends to stop a villainous man before his actions destroy the world.

Author Bio:

Natalie Wright spent her formative years growing up on a farm in Ohio. It was a fertile environment for an active imagination and inquisitive mind. She is, however, a city girl at heart and now finds inspiration in her travels and in the desert environment of her home in Tucson, Arizona, where she lives with her husband, daughter and her dog Molly.

You can “find” me here:


You can Purchase Emily’s House Here:

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/vlrnjp


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