Faeries & Elementals for Beginners: Learn About & Communicate With Nature Spirits (15 page)

definitely got the job, only to wait for days or weeks afterward for them to call with their final decision. There are many communications involved that the sylphs can help

ease and move more quickly. Sylphs can help with timing

so your references are ready and available to talk about your wonderful qualities when your future employer calls, and

sylphs can even help the words on your resume jump out

at your employers to cause them to think about picking

up the phone. Of course, follow-up communication from

you will also be necessary, but this ritual can also help you decide when an extra call will make you seem obnoxious

and when it might actually make you seem like a motivated

go-getter instead.

For this ritual, you will need either a dandelion puff-

ball or a few bird feathers, ideally collected yourself from the outdoors. The dandelion puffball of seeds is prefera-ble for starting a new job, since it symbolically plants the seeds for growth, but bird feathers are fine if you are not in the region or season for dandelions. You can use both if you desire. You will be setting up these objects as offerings to the sylphs, so choose a location for your ritual that has good air flow. Ideally, you’ll be leaving the offerings near or within a line of sight to your phone or other communication device. If you just have a cell phone, you can leave it next to the charger by an open window, for example.

Cast your magic circle around the area in which you

will be leaving your offerings to the sylphs. Face to the

east to address the sylphs directly, and close your eyes for a moment to visualize yourself successfully working in the
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job you choose. Try to visualize the outcome, a happy and

financially rewarding workplace rather than the process of getting there that involves your employer picking up your

resume and calling you. Focusing on the outcome instead

of the process allows the sylphs the freedom to work their magic however they best see fit. Now, in order to raise

energy and send the sylphs on their way, chant your hopes

aloud. Here is a sample chant for this purpose.

Sylphs, take this offering with my aspirations

To find and keep stable employ

As these (seeds/feathers) are accepted, your inspirations
Will cause conversations of joy.

I send only good thoughts, with harm to none,

Free will freely wrought, will be all that’s done.

So mote it be.

Keep those light, floating offerings on an offering plate

in a place with good air flow as close to your telephone as possible, at least within line of sight. By the time all of the offerings blow away, your employer should have called, if it was his or her will to do so. If you still haven’t gotten a call by the time they are gone, it is a clear sign that you should call and make contact yourself. If the offerings don’t move at all from their spot, despite having access to occasional breezes, it may be a negative sign for you. Something is

blocking the sylph’s ability to assist communication, such as a reference of yours who isn’t planning to say positive words at all, or a job that isn’t the right fit for you. A refusal of your offering is a clear sign to start over from the begin-Sylphs—Elementals of Air • 119

ning with a new job application, revised resume and fresh

perspective.

Ritual to conceive a child

Of course family planning should always be undertaken

with the guidance of a medical professional, and no ritual will replace quality medical care, especially if you are experiencing fertility issues. However, asking the sylphs for the best start in your family that a baby can have is one bit of complementary care that can be added to more ordinary

measures.

In many cultures, it is believed that the soul of your

future child already exists and is merely floating around, waiting to choose his or her parents. The intent of this ritual is to use the sylphs to carry a message to your future child’s soul, inviting him or her to join you here on earth.

This ritual can also be used by adoptive parents to send

out wishes for the child you hope will come into your lives through the adoption or fostering process.

You will need a small amount of bubble solution with

a wand, the kind you can purchase in any toy store. A rit-

ual for fertility and conception is best performed on a full moon, preferably if it falls on a Monday. But don’t perform this ritual after the full moon has reached her peak. Instead, wait until the next full moon if necessary, to gain all of the fertility benefits the full moon has to offer.

If applicable, your partner should participate in the rit-

ual. Since this conception ritual has to do with the potential of the child you wish to raise to adulthood, only those who plan to lend a hand in the raising of the child should par-120 • Chapter Three

ticipate. If you’re a single mother planning to use artificial insemination, it is not necessary to have the donor attend the ritual. Likewise, gay or lesbian couples should both

arrange to be present, and if your relationship includes

more than one partner who will be parenting, all parties

should be present.

Cast your magic circle either outdoors, or at least in

a room with a window that opens to the east. Brainstorm

together about what sort of adult you would like to raise

from infancy in your life. Think about all the qualities and characteristics you might want him or her to have. Should

your future son or daughter be a confident adult? Hum-

ble? Compassionate? Articulate? You might want to get out

a sheet of paper and write down words together, circling

each word and connecting it with related concepts to make

a bubble sheet outline of the person you hope to inspire

your child to be.

Once your list is as complete as you can manage, the

parents should approach the east and use the bubble solu-

tion to blow those wishes out to the sky for the sylphs to carry. Take turns whispering each word into the bubble

wand, and then blowing a bubble or more to encapsulate

that hope for your child and let it drift out into the air.

When you are done, thank the sylphs for bringing your

baby to you. Take down your magic circle. If you are plan-

ning to make a baby the old fashioned way, attempt to con-

ceive as soon as possible after the ritual is performed.

Sylphs—Elementals of Air • 121

A Word About Weather Magic

Since sylphs are the essence of air, which has changing

winds, temperatures and pressures that govern weather,

they have been traditionally associated with weather magic.

However, weather magic can be very tricky both ethically as well as to produce the results that you want while working with elementals. All elementals, especially airy ones desire freedom, and they always return to their essential nature.

When attempting to perform weather magic, you are

likely to have the sylphs simply ignore your working and

have it fall flat. There is also the more worrisome chance that, feeling insulted, or inspired to emphasize their freedom to do what they wish, elementals may create some

extremely dangerous weather conditions that are wild and

uncontrollable. However, weather magic is a seductive form of magic, and it is unlikely that any practitioner will go his or her entire life without at least wishing that something could be done about the weather. So, here I will offer some advice as to how to work safely with elementals if you feel that you simply must work weather magic.

Step 1: Consider the impact.

Weather magic can be far reaching, even if it doesn’t backfire and create a natural disaster. For example, I was once in a coven in which one of the members wanted to work

magic with the rest of us to make the spring more sunny

and pleasant. While the weather had been a bit more dreary than was seasonally normal, we all politely declined to work weather magic on such a widespread scale for the area, as

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there may be animals, plants, and agricultural families who needed the ongoing rain.

If you want a specific weather outcome such as sun-

shine for a family picnic on the weekend, think of how you can get what you want without having to change the world

for so many living things around you. If you want to have

fun at the picnic and enjoy good food and conversation,

consider asking for those outcomes rather than hoping that controlling the weather will give you the good time that you want. Similarly, if you want more rain to come, so as to not let your prize-winning pumpkins become destroyed in a

drought, try asking instead for your pumpkin harvest to be abundant without placing too much control on how they

become that way. As with any meditation, it is best to visualize your ideal outcome without becoming too attached to

the means of attaining it so that elementals that choose to help you are allowed the freedom to come up with imaginative ways of granting your wishes.

Step 2: When working weather magic, use the least

restrictive means of requesting elemental help.

Many of our western magical traditions contain the trap-

pings of controlling magical methods. Ceremonial magi-

cians have practiced this way of doing things down through the ages. Although these methods are not inherently wrong, they may not be advisable for the beginner when working with elementals on the weather. For example, casting a magic circle is used to concentrate energy, but it can also be used to attempt to forcefully contain entities like elementals. The use of a ritual knife to draw lines in the air adds a
Sylphs—Elementals of Air • 123

traditional flourish, but that same knife can also be used to threaten elementals.

Even if you don’t intend to contain or coerce elemen-

tals, it is best to tailor your weather magic work in ways that show your good will. Think of it like shaking hands.

The original purpose of the handshake was to allow the

other person to observe that you did not hold a weapon.

Of course, when you meet a new friend at work and shake

hands, you’re not actually checking to see if the person is holding a knife or a gun, and you are not showing that you are empty-handed. However, it is still considered a polite formality to shake hands, because it says “I am not hostile to you,” and it would be rude to refuse the handshake, even if you don’t normally wield a sword.

So, if you are considering affecting the weather, try to

strip your request down to its core desire when speaking

to the elementals. Don’t cast a circle, and use as few tools as possible, and especially avoid any that can be perceived as controlling, such as a knife or a rope. You want to show yourself without any weapons in your hands as you come

forward to the elementals as a friend.

Step 3: Make sure that you explicitly

ask that no harm be done.

Many chants end with the words, “with harm to none”

or “for the highest good of all” for a very good reason. If you’re calling upon your higher self or a loving and protective deity, that consciousness is unlikely to trick you unless you have a lesson to learn. Elementals, though, are unpredictable, capricious, and sometimes downright malicious if
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they see a means to exercise their freedoms and their essential nature in ways you may not have envisioned. Think of

them as young children testing your limits and boundaries, always looking for a loophole in your plans.

When I was a young child, I made up a chant that I

used whenever I went outside and saw the sky threaten-

ing to sprinkle me with rain. “Hold and gather wind and

weather” I would chant as I breathed in and out, stomping

or running to catch my bus or jump into my parents’ car

in a parking lot. I liked it because it sounded neat when I chanted it and because I wanted the sylphs to hang onto

their plans just a little bit longer while I got to where I was going. Well, imagine a toddler being told to wait, and you may have an idea about how I was making the sylphs feel.

I asked them to gather wind and weather, and they did just that. They would usually hold it until a most inopportune

moment, perhaps when I was crossing a street to unleash

a torrential downpour. If I’d known better, I would have

modified my chant a little, to acknowledge the will of the sylphs and to encourage them not to harm anyone with

their weather changes. For example: “Hold and gather, if

you please, wind and weather, harmlessly.”

Step 4: Invite and thank.

Most people are more likely to grant a favor if there is some reward involved, and elementals are no different. When

asking for a big favor from the sylphs, don’t forget to give them an offering of thanks at least. Giving a gift of food, drink, or things that blow in the wind are a wonderful

Sylphs—Elementals of Air • 125

reward for sylphs. Remember to invite them to join in with your work without forcing them.

For example, a traditional means of calling up the wind

is to use a flute or pan pipe made from a horsetail plant.

Sylphs are delighted by the air passing through the flute. It invites them to come forth and raise the winds. Think of

it like setting up a playground for the sylphs and inviting them to play. You don’t have to force a child to use slides and swings when they swarm all over them on their own.

Likewise, your offering of music by blowing a horsetail flute can give similar freedoms to allow the sylphs to collabo-rate with you on their own terms. Lovingly crafting a flute yourself out of horsetail can make it more effective, as can leaving the flute behind, when you are done using it, as an offering to the sylphs.