So how do I begin a discussion about the Sidhe (pronounced “Shee”)? I guess I must admit to you firstly that I have Irish blood in me veins. For those who “know”, no further explanation is probably necessary. But for the unfortunate non-Irish majority, I realize I must try to catch you up on a few things. They are not new things, they are old things, but they are also living things, and living things evolve and develop over time. Our fantasy that our world is the only world which evolves must be left behind. It is simply wrong.

Those who know a bit about Irish and Scottish folk history, will have run across the Sidhe in all likelihood. A Sidhe we may still remember is the dreaded Banshee, who's cry was believed to bring death, even though it is possible that the Banshee cried because of the death, and did not cause it, but the superstitious Irish folk did end end blaming the Banshee in more modern times, as I understand it.

They are also known as the People of Peace, or the Hidden People. They are often confused with elves or faeries, and may or may not have some relationship with them. You'd have to ask them if you are interested. That's above my pay grade to speak about. They do not, by all accounts, live in the exact same physical universe we find ourselves today, but it is told now that we humans are in fact related through a distant ancestor to the Sidhe. We are, apparently long lost cousins. The Sidhe are of course physical to each other, and experience their own world as physical. One might say we are living different spectrums of physicality. As we know most light is invisible to us, the rainbow range we see is hardly the end of the spectrum of light, there is light slower than infra-red and light faster than ultra-violet, let's say for now we suspend our disbelief long enough for me to move on with my story by saying the spectrum of consciousness is similar to that of light, sub-Infra-red light spectrum, the visible light spectrum, and the super-ultra-violet spectrum all coexist around us all the time, and they can co-exist without much awareness of each other. If you can't accept that, then let's say this is a faery tale, and leave it at that. We're all fine with that also.

So, anyway, what seems to have happened is that somewhere along the way the Sidhe parted ways with us for their own reasons, and they began to fade from human awareness. This seems to be changing. We are being told now, that there are small groups of Sidhe who are open to contacting us again, and have initiated contact. They have their reasons for this, and I am not the correct person to speak for them in that matter. They do come in peace and love and there is nothing to fear about them, and much to delight about. There are groups scattered about who work to engage with the Sidhe. I happen to know and participate in one such group. It is wonderful work, and not at all easy, the Sidhe have a different kind of intelligence than ours, and a different kind of awareness. There is some common ground, enough to begin at least, but in my experience you cannot engage them without moving a bit in their direction. So whip out your Tolkien and Yeats and let them exercise some less used parts of your mind and imagination.

But more then to this work here. I was involved in a workshop which, if I understand it correctly, was attended by both a small group of us, and a small group of Sidhe. This work here came as a closing gift to me, which I consider to be a collaboration between myself and the Sidhe who were there. One can also say is is a work on my imagination. I would not argue that point, but both would be true in the “Irish” sense of truth, which I am beginning to think may be something like a halfway point between our peoples.