Faeries & Elementals for Beginners: Learn About & Communicate With Nature Spirits (10 page)

water mannikin on board, the faerie will leave the figure-

head in order to help guide the sailors’ souls to the afterlife, so that they won’t have to haunt the wreckage. Since few

modern ships have figureheads, water mannikins are rarely

spoken of these days.

Will-o’-the’Wisp/Bob-a-Longs/Candelas/Eclaireux/Faery

Lights/Fire Faeries/Hobbedy’s Lantern/Huckpoten/

Hunky Punky/Irrbloss/Jenny Burnt-Tail/LImniads/Night

Whisperers/Ruskaly/St. Elmo’s Fire/Teine Sith—Fire

Formless, flickering, glowing lights moving low to the

ground, will-o’-the-wisps are always seen in groups. If

72 • Chapter One

you were to approach them, they might flicker in and out

of existence, leading you on a wild goose chase. They have been seen all over the world, and have never been examined closely enough to know if they are faeries in their own right or evidence of another sort of faerie already known. There are those who think that they are the wandering souls of

dead humans who are being punished by not going entirely

into the afterlife.

Will-o’-the-wisps are seen only at dusk, night, and

dawn. Other than legends of unbaptized children being

stolen away, they are harmless to adults and Christian children. Sighting their glowing lights may even be a sign of

protection, though there is no way to get close enough to

them to gain more specific help.

Wind Knots/Folletti/Grandinilli/Sumascazzi—Air

These Italian faeries are difficult to see with the naked

eye because they are small, translucent, and move quickly.

However, if one pauses enough to get a good look, one

would be able to see that his or her feet are turned back-

wards! Wind Knots can be seen riding atop grasshoppers

while playing faerie games.

Wind knots are generally harmless because they don’t

particularly dislike humans. However, they do control the

weather for their own amusement, and their power is so

great that it is rumored their storms have even triggered

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Making friends with

a wind knot is a good idea so that he or she doesn’t for-

get about you the next time a storm blowing a house down

sounds like fun.

Getting started with Faeries • 73

Yakshinis and Yaksha—Earth

Female yakshinis and male yaksha exist in Buddhism, Jain-

ism, and Hinduism. They tend to have exaggerated sex

appeal, with the females carrying fantastically large breasts and having curvaceous hips. Males have exceedingly broad

shoulders that taper to relatively narrow waists. In mythology, they are mostly benevolent and giving creatures, but in some lore, yakshinis may tempt men away in order to kill

them.

As a result, caution should be used with yakshinis,

although they can help women who are having fertility

issues or who are having difficulty raising surviving children. Yakshinis can be given trees in order to make them

happy. In fact, they have a special affinity for ashoka trees.

two

Communicating with

Elementals to Understand

and Help Your Life

Sarah hated taking tests. As an accomplished law student,
she had always been an excellent learner. Yet somehow, as
soon as she was placed in a silent room filled only with the
sounds of scratching pencils and the relentless ticking of the
clock, she felt vulnerable and stupid while anticipating final
judgment by invisible and arbitrary authorities.

However, Sarah was prepared for her test anxiety—she

had performed a ritual beforehand, focusing on sylphs as representations of the endurable power of her intellect. It was
to these sylphs she turned her attention after running into a
road block. A simple question comparing two cases made her
heart pound loudly in her throat when she drew a blank on
75

76 • Chapter Two

one of the case names. Calmly setting down her pencil with
one shaking hand, she turned her face to the east, the direction of the sylphs’ domain. A bright window there drew her
attention.

The tips of trees outside the window danced in the wind.

Closing her eyes, Sarah silently half recited and half created
an invocation to the sylphs from her knowledge about them
and the experience and memory of her previous ritual. “Mysterious sylphs of wind and sky,” she thought, “bring clear
answers to my head, quick, fly! Aid me as I honor you in kind,
help me with a brilliant mind. So mote it be.” Her eyes were
softly focused on the window now. She could almost see the
invisible sylphs in the spaces between the swaying leaves, their
hair and wings outlined by green. The clouds seemed to roll
and boil with their presence. And, just like that, the memory
of the case that was on the tip of her tongue popped into her
head. Sarah quickly sighed a “thank you” as relief washed
over her, and she continued with the test.

Understanding Elementals to

Incorporate Them Into Your Life

In many examples of spiritual rituals, elementals are

lumped in together with their elements in the words of the working, so it might be hard for the beginner to tell which one is which. Think of the elements as building blocks for a house, and of elementals as the creatures who both live

inside the house and construct the building. If you try to boss the elementals around or ignore their existence completely, every house that you would try to build using their
Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 77

blocks might seem to mysteriously disintegrate as soon as

you finished, since the elementals were using those blocks in the first place. However, if you work in collaboration

with the elementals, you may find yourself able to build

stronger and longer lasting constructs as well as even being able to mix and match element building blocks that would

otherwise return to their own nature and separate.

As they are sentient beings, even though we can cate-

gorize them and make some assumptions, they must be

addressed as if they have their own agendas, since, in fact, that is always the case. For that reason, many magical practitioners consider elementals dangerous, just as any other entity—be it human or wild raccoon—would be dangerous

if you put one in a corner and tried to force it to do your bidding. Why are elementals such notorious tricksters and

potentially dangerous? Well, elementals have egos and do

not exist only to love and help people.

So even though you might feel silly treating a bowl

of water or a candle as if it were a person, push past that embarrassment to both protect yourself and to establish

yourself as a more powerful magical practitioner. You have nothing to lose but your pride, and you have everything to gain. You can begin a lifelong working relationship with

elementals, and perhaps even count them among your

friends. As with every other friend, your relationship is not guaranteed and will need maintenance. Get used to making eye contact with eyes that you may not yet see, and get comfortable talking to the air, as well as the sea, flames, and dirt.

78 • Chapter Two

How can elementals be dangerous?

It is only fair that you are aware of and warned against any potential dangers of working with elementals. The characteristic of elementals that calls for the most caution is their ability to hold grudges and have bad attitudes when provoked. So, unlike some other problem with mother nature,

such as an ant infestation or a case of the flu (both of which might run their course or fade with the seasons), elementals may choose to stick with a person or place for a lifetime.

There are several ways that this might negatively affect your life. Elementals in each of the four categories can cause

health issues in the various systems of a person’s body.

If you offend an air elemental, for example, it is not

just destructive windstorms and shortness of breath that

you must avoid. You may see your creative writing or pub-

lic speaking ability decline, or things may simply seem to break when you use them. If it is water elementals you have angered, you had better be very careful around large bodies of water, and you also may have terrible luck in love. Those who have dishonored earth elementals may seem adrift in

life, finding no peace or stability, and unable to hold down a job or permanent residence. Fire elementals are the most obvious danger. I once worked in a building that had three fires in the workplace’s opening week! Each was seemingly random in origin, resulting from electrical problems, motors overheating, and other chance events. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a fire elemental at work there.

Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 79

Elementals in Astrology to Understand Yourself

The influence of elementals isn’t limited to our planet. The use of elements to describe the makeup of human beings

exists in both Western and Indian or Vedic astrology. In

Western astrology, elements can be used to paint a broad

picture of personality characteristics for each sun sign,

which is what you see when you look up your horoscope in

the newspaper. Indian astrology ascribes elements to each

planet. The sun signs and planets are both examined when

looking closely at an individual’s personality through something called a natal chart, a snapshot of what the sky looked like at the time of the person’s birth. Think of the sun signs as a stage, and the planets as players on the stage, acting out a person’s life. If you happen to have your natal chart, you can see how the planets either balance out or exacerbate the effects of the signs they occupied on your birthday.

•
Earth signs
(Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo) are a deep lot, but are concerned with tangible matters. They are

drawn to seek comfort, beauty, and deep connections

during their lifetimes.

•
Air signs
(Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra) are concerned with communication and ideas. They can become

thoroughly enthralled with matters of the mind,

sometimes neglecting the practical aspects of life.

•
Fire signs
(Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) are hot-headed and quick to leap into action. They also like to draw

attention to themselves.

80 • Chapter Two

•
Water signs
(Cancer, Pisces, and Scorpio) are highly social and emotional. They can be healers, comfort-ers, matchmakers, and the type to begin a revolution

of art and feeling.

•
Sun
—Fire in Indian astrology and Ceremonial Magic

•
Mercury
—Air and Earth in Indian astrology, Earth in Western astrology

•
Venus
—Air and Earth in Indian astrology, Air in Western astrology

•
Moon
—Water in Indian and Western astrology as

well as Ceremonial Magic

•
Mars
—Fire and Water in Indian astrology, Fire in Western astrology

•
Jupiter
—Fire and Water in Indian astrology, Fire in Western astrology

•
Saturn
—Air and Earth in Indian astrology, Earth in Western astrology

•
Neptune
—Water in Western astrology

•
Pluto
—Water in Western astrology

Perhaps the greatest use for elemental associations in

astrology is to assess the compatibility between two peo-

ple, whether they be friends, family, or potential lovers.

The simplest interpretation is that if two peoples’ sun signs share an element, they will be compatible, and if their sun signs have opposing elements (in astrology, fire opposes air
Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 81

and earth opposes water), they will be incompatible. The

idea is that sharing the same energy level, emotional out-

look and motivations will help them find common goals.

Of course, things are more complicated than shared ele-

ments meaning love. For one thing, each person’s natal

chart may have planets that add balance or imbalance to

the sun sign’s element, making the sun sign’s element not

as pure as it seems. For another thing, many people find

lasting and loving relationships with people who are not

normally compatible per se, because their differences com-

plement each other, or help round out their rough edges by teaching them a different way of life. Here are the pairings you can consider.

•
Earth/Earth
: When earth signs get together, they like to respect boundaries and keep things traditional.