Banshee

Banshee Also Banshi and Benshee. One of the household spirits of certain Scottish Highland or Irish families, supposedly a female creature that is said to wail at or before the death of a family member. The word is supposed to be derived from the Old Irish ben sidhe, a woman of the fairy folk, or 'woman of the fairy mound', but it is translated by different scholars in a variety of ways, including Female Fairy, Angel of Death, Lady of Death, Woman of Peace, White Lady of Sorrow, Nymph of the Air, and Spirit of the Air, amongst others.The tradition of Banshee, which goes back to the early eight century, is currently alive and well in various parts of Ireland. Many people have described the 'terrible wail' which precedes a death and certain families are traditionally believed to be 'followed' by the Banshee. The word is sometimes also used to denote a sort of demon, but in Nordic folklore the Banshee is always benevolent.The Banshee of legend is actually a disembodied soul, either of someone who in life was strongly attached to the family or who hated all its members. So, if she loves those whom she calls, the wail is a soft, tender, soothing chant, intended to either give notice of death's proximity and reassure the one destined to die, or to comfort the survivors. But if instead the Banshee during her life was a enemy of the family, the wail is more like the scream of a fiendish ghost, a demonic howling of delight over the coming fatal agony of one of her foes.

Related books:Ancient Legends of Ireland.At the Edge of the World : Magical Stories of Ireland. Banshees, Bugles and Belles : True Ghost Stories of Georgia.Favourite Irish Legends : A Dual Language Book.Irish Cures, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions. Irish Myths and Legends.Irish Wonders : The Ghosts, Giants, Pookas, Demons, Leprechawns, Banshees, Fairies, Witches, Widows, and Other Marvels of the Emerald Isle.Over Nine Waves : A Book of Irish Legends.Further info:Irish Myths and Legends.<http://www.jantacc.demon.co.uk/ire3.htm>The Irish Fairy Folk.~http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~bj333/faries.html <http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/bj333/faries.html><http://www.occultopedia.com/>
Morgaine le Fey" Wicca and Witchcraft Group