Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. This week’s Femme Fatale Friday is an exploration of how the Leanan Sidhe is one type of Faery Woman that I think represents the energy of Spring! The Leanan Sidhe is an Irish Faery Woman known as the Faery Lover, and the energy of the Lover is generally very associated with Spring. She is known to use sexual contact to gift inspiration to artists, musicians, and poets.
Of course, the Leanan Sidhe is not just simply a Faery Lover, as she is also often associated with having a vampiric nature. This is the darker side of her sexual relationship with her lover, the fact that when the Leanan Sidhe leaves her lover, he begins to wither away from longing for her. This sexual obsession, which the Leanan Sidhe incites in her lover before she leaves him is sometimes seen as being a vampiric aspect, that the Faery Woman has drained the energy of the lover which is why she leaves as she can no longer feed upon him. I think that this more dangerous side of the Leanan Sidhe is an important thing to remember, as with any inspiration and passion, we need to make sure it does not turn to obsession, for that is what I think really happens with the Leanan Sidhe’s lovers, the obsession is what leads to attachment and withering away when they are left.
Now that I have acknowledged the more dangerous aspect of the stories of the Leanan Sidhe, I want to focus on the more positive aspects, which relate to Spring so well. The sexual congress with the Leanan Sidhe led her lover to the greatest heights of artistic and poetic inspiration, a gift not only to the lover but to the world as a whole, for his art would be shared by anyone lucky enough to come into contact with it. The energy of inspiration and creativity is incredibly aligned with the growth that happens as the Spring blooms. All of the ideas and plans we are slowly forming but not acting upon in the Winter give way to action in the fertile energy of Spring! As I mentioned above the energy of lovers in general is very in line with Spring energy, as we often associate Spring with a time of new love taking shape. As the Earth begins to awaken from slumber, people also begin to awaken from their more introspective energy of Winter and into a more active Spring energy, feeling creative and inspired to move forward with their plans and goals. In some ways, we can think of the energy of Spring being the Leanan Sidhe blessing all of us with her fertile and abundant inspirational energy!
In conclusion, while the Leanan Sidhe can be very dangerous, for her inspiration and love are often said to not be gifted forever, and her leaving her lover will cause him to wither away, she is also an abundant source of much poetic inspiration. This balance between a dangerous nature and a very inspirational and creative nature is in itself aligned with the Spring Equinox energy of the ending of the dark half of the year and the dawning of the light half of the year. It is a time of balance and I personally find the Leanan Sidhe to be a Faery Woman that well embodies this energy!
I hope you have enjoyed this short look at the Leanan Sidhe as a Springtime Faery Woman. What Faery Woman do you most associate with the Spring Equinox? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely Faery Woman artwork. I found the artwork on https://lilyinthecoldlands.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/song-of-the-leanan-sidhe/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- The Fairy Bible by Teresa Moorey
- A New Dictionary of Fairies by Morgan Daimler