a friend of the Fae...

In my experience of my Gods, Ancestors and Allies, the boundaries between Deity, Fae, Animal Spirits, Land Spirits, and Ancestors are blurred.  One may be all of those simultaneously.  The Fae with whom I have relationships are among the Deities that I worship and work with, They are among the Ancestors that I worship and work with, They are Deities of the Land, and They also often present Themselves as Animal Spirits.  Some Deities may be Fae, and some Fae may be Deity. 

I am a friend of the Fae, and I consider Them to be among my relations.  I have had a relationship with One for this entire lifetime, and with two Others for more than this lifetime. And I work with Others that I have come to know since I have walked this path.  

Aside of my own relationships, I am not an authority on the Fae.  I have on occasion been asked by other witches how to go about working with Them, and so I would like to share some of what I have learned through those relationships in the interest of assisting others to avoid doing damage to the relations between our two species.  It is very important to me that the bonds between us be restored and healed. 

Understand that the Fae are different from us and they are, like us, individuals.  Building relationships happens between individuals.  And understanding the differences in how to build relationships is important in order not to do more damage to the relations between us.

 

Until you have built a relationship with an individual and even after, whenever dealing with someone with whom you do not have a relationship, certain guidelines should be respected.  Do not “thank” the Fae, do not accept food or drink, do not offer or give a part of yourself such as hair, or any personal belonging.  Most of all, do not ever make a promise and not do absolutely everything within your power to keep it.

If you are only interested in dabbling, please do not pursue working with the Fae.  They do not take well to being trifled with.  They also do not deal lightly with liars.  That may seem a strong word to apply to fickleness but, in dealing with Them, “changing your mind” or “losing interest” or becoming distracted with some other area of interest, is not an excuse for not keeping your word. 

Building relationships takes time, They will not necessarily respond quickly to your efforts.  But if you truly desire to build a lifelong working relationship with an individual of the Fae, there are some ways in which you might proceed. 

Find a place where there may be Fae nearby.  Find places that feel welcoming.  If the place feels wrong, if you do not feel welcome there, leave and do not return, find someplace else.  Give Them respect and do not invade places where you are not welcome. 

Find Natural places, Wild places, Between places, where water and earth touch, or where sky and earth touch, or where certain trees are known to grow in close proximity to each other.  Visit these places and spend time sitting quietly. 

Take offerings of milk, or spirits (alcohol) or honey.  Take oats and apples and any other offerings that seem right to you.  Play music and sing for them, and spend time waiting and listening.  

Declare your hope and intentions and then, keep your word.  Even if you receive no response.  Even when you think that you have not been heard. Even when you get bored and tired.  Keep showing up and keep waiting and listening.  And when someone shows up, follow the guidelines above. 

Understand that not everyone who may show up is someone with whom you want to build a relationship but, if they prove to be honorable, you must be so as well. 

The Fae with whom I share relationship are beloved to me, and I strive to restore positive relations between our Human species and Thiers.  They have given me guidance and healing and purpose.  I give thanks for Them.

If you desire to know more, I can recommend teachers who can give an even greater understanding of Their kind.  Leave me a comment below including your email address and I will be happy to send you information of where to find such teachers.  Blessed Be.

Humanity

I am Human.  More than anything, I am a human being, a member of the human race.  Before gender, or ethnicity, or sexuality, or spirituality, or politics, or any other detail of my individuality, I am Human.  I think of the entirety of humanity as my relations.  Truth be told, I think of many other species as my relations as well, animals, trees, waters, stones, stars, and the Fae.  But this is about my Human relations.

I am an optimist.  I believe that the human species is not beyond hope.  While we are capable of great violence and darkness, and while many suffer from soul-sickness, and our society as a whole has a great need for healing, I believe that we are also capable of great nobility and compassion.   It is my hope to be a healing influence on those humans with whom I interact in this lifetime, my family and my community but, also those whose names I do not know. My Tradition is engaged in the mission of “Re-enchanting the World” and I strive to fulfill that mission in every encounter I have every day. 

I hold hope, and faith, and love, and joy, and truth.  I hold compassion and I pray for the healing of our species, our society, and our world.  May Humanity survive this sickness long enough to evolve to become the more noble version of ourselves, and may our world survive long enough to see us do so.  So Mote It Be.         

Retrieving pieces of the Soul

Playing with the North Wind by Susan Sedon Boulet

Yesterday I drove to Maryland to see a beautiful young woman who works as a Shaman.  She is also a trained psychologist but, it is her relationships with the Spirits and her skills as a healer that were the impetus for my making the two and a half hour drive after working for five hours at the end of a long week.  The resulting ritual was well worth the drive and more.

We had discussed my reasons for seeing her when we made the appointment, but when I arrived we talked about the things that I have done and learned since our last conversation.  When we went to her ritual room, I was immediately comfortable.  She explained her process and invited me to lie on the floor on a deer skin she had laid out for that purpose (deer are facilitators of transformation and it is an old practice).

 Then she began to call the Quarters and the Elements and the Earth Mother and the Ancestors and the Fae and the Spirits of place, and the Deities with whom she works.  Her voice singing clear and bright, they answered and came to the place to assist her in my healing.

She merged with Bear and began working at the place of my ancestors.  Her rattle moving in a rhythm that spoke to me on a level that I have rarely attained in the company of another person.  She asked me about the Large Black Cat at my feet and I told her that Pwca has been known to travel to me when there is something he wishes to participate in.

She described a Grandfather whom I have not met but, who was familiar and comfortable to me.  She used her drum to follow him deeper into Annwfn and He led her through tunnels (my ancestors were coal-miners) to find a piece of me that had been separated (compassion) and she returned it to me by blowing it into my heart and my head.  She then placed a large piece of black tourmaline at my feet. I find it interesting that the grief I feel over the loss of my children during their childhood is shared with my ancestors.

She then began to work on my root charkha discovering and removing the barbed wire that was wrapped around it and placing two pieces of red jasper on either side of my hips. 

She re-connected the three separate lights that are my sacral charkha and placed a large piece of polished carnelian over my womb. 

The message I received from her after working on my solar plexus is that it is strong when used to support me or to push me forward to do my work but, that I have kept it trapped rather than expressing it into the world.  There she placed a piece of bright yellow, sparkling sulfur.

When she began to work on my heart, my Patron came to sit beside me facing her with my heart between them.  She carefully examined the boxes she found there.  Some so old and untouched that they are locked and dusty and covered in spiders webs.  Gwynn would have had her break into each one (He can be a bit demanding at times) but, she knew that it needs to be done gently and not all at once.  This is work I need to do.  So she placed a smooth, oval, red and green stone over it after letting in as much sunlight as she could.

After the work on my heart I began to feel cold and my body began to convulse occasionally.  She made no comment to indicate that was concerning to her and so I did not feel a need to close down.  I wept occasionally as we discussed the damage and the work I need to do, and again, she seemed unconcerned and so I allowed it to happen as it would.  My ears began to hear a rushing sound and my body felt buzzing and I felt dizzy.  All of these are signs to me that energy is moving and healing is occurring in a profound way.

When she worked on my throat, she found “bobby-pins” at the back of my neck.  She thought she had used the wrong word but, I know she did not as those are things I associate with my mother and her desire that I be a “good girl” never “TOO LOUD or TOO BIG”.  She removed them and placed a piece of celestite beside my throat. 

After she worked on my third eye, we discussed some ways I might find useful in opening it when it is being stubborn, then she brushed me with her owl’s wing and removed the energy binding my entire spine. 

When we began to work on my crown she called to her Deities, some of whom I work with as well and invited me to use all of my names and call to my Gods and Allies.

Athena came to her and offered Her approval and Her assistance in finding wisdom when I am angry, to know how to use it and how not to misuse it, as that was one of the reasons I sought this healing.  She blew into my heart and my head again and filled me with “millions of golden skeleton keys”.  

One of the final lessons from this work is my need to establish strong boundaries and a stronger sense of self so that, when I shape-shift to meet the needs of those I serve, or to "get the work done" I can remember to return to who I am and not lose that to "what I can do, or what I can be".  I need not lose myself to my own talents.  

When the ritual was done, she offered her thanks and closed the gates that she had opened.

We visited for a while as I ate a little and drank before making the drive home.  It was a quiet and easy drive in the dark and when I arrived home Pwca cuddled beside me and I slept better than I have in months.

I give thanks for Pwca, for Gwynn ap Nudd, for Athena, for Bear and most especially for Monika Lonely Coyote.  

Midsummer

The Sun in strength shines warm and bright,  

The Earth in green bursts full with life;

The veil now thins, the night descends,

The faeries dance in starlight bands;

and now begins the growth of night.

Giving...

It is easy to go about our daily lives working, studying and spending time with our family and friends.  It is easy to find ways to spend our money, our time, and our energy pursuing those things, subjects and experiences that bring us joy and deepen our purpose.  It is easy to become absorbed in our work, our spells, our offerings, our rituals and practice.

It is easy and it is human.  But it is also an easy thing to look up from our altars, from our books, from our work.  To look up from our supper and our household chores.  To look up from our beloved pets and the faces of our children, and to see.

We don’t have to look far; we don’t have to seek for long.  Because the family next door needs help feeding their children and the old lady across the street needs help shoveling the sidewalk so she can walk to the drugstore, and the animal shelter down the street has cats to feed, and cat food costs money (and so does the heat and the lights).  And the stray only needs a bit of food and some water every day and a box with a blanket to get out of the wind.

It’s easy to think I don’t have enough. To look at the bank balance and know that I need to save more but, I can shovel the sidewalk for my landlady, simply because I am healthy and at 88 years old, she shouldn’t have to. 

I can put aside a few cans of food from my pantry or from the grocery shopping, and drop it at the local food bank.  I can donate a bag of cat food, or even a Saturday afternoon to work cleaning the place, and help out the shelter a little bit (a small gift considering how great a gift my Pwca is to my life). 

I can give blood to the Red Cross, I can pitch-in at the river cleanup day, I can donate the clothes that I no longer wear to the thrift-shop that supports my local woman’s shelter (because yes, there are women in my community who need a safe place for themselves and their children).   I can give the books I have already read to my local library.  I can dedicate my massage table to one of the Goddesses who has blessed my life, by giving the money I earn with it to my Tradition’s New Alexandrian Library Project.

I have been blessed with a beautiful life and a wonder-filled path and I can give a lot, if I simply look up and notice.  It will not mean less for me or those I love, not really.  I can share what I have without harming my life.  And if I can give nothing else, I can go to the park and sing for the Fae because it will make my world a better place.

Giving is a practice in gratitude for the life I have and an act of magick.  It shows the universe that abundance is well invested in my life…I share.

Cauldrons

In Welsh tradition, that is, in the stories, there are three cauldrons. 

The first is of dubious nature (and ownership for that matter).  It is found in the story of Branwen the Daughter of Llyr in the second book of the Mabinogion.  In the story about an arranged marriage that goes bad and the war that results, the Cauldron in question changes hands and its magick brings back to life those dead warriors whose bodies are cast into it (although they no longer retain the capacity for language).  It does not surprise me that no hero seems to want to retain ownership of such a relic.

The other two, both of which I find much more appealing, are found in “the Book of Taliesin” and “the Spoils of Annwfn”.

The Cauldron of Cerridwen (also known as the Cauldron of Inspiration or Awen) imparts all knowledge and wisdom and is found in the story of Taliesin.  It is a story of initiation and the birth of the Greatest Bard of the Land.

The Cauldron of Annwfn is found in the poem “The Spoils of Annwfn” which recounts an expedition by Arthur (yes, that Arthur) and his men into the Underworld to find what treasures may be discovered there.  The Cauldron is in the possession and stewardship of Gwynn ap Nudd, the Lord of the Underworld (and King of the Fae) The description of the Cauldron is beautiful.  It is edged with pearls and heated with the breath of nine maidens. But it is the magickal power of the Cauldron that I find most inspirational. 

The Cauldron of Annwfn can provide as much of whatever good thing is required however, it will not boil the food of a coward.  So, if one is willing to brave the terror of the threshold and the shadows of the Underworld, one can claim as much as one needs of whatever good thing one requires.  Courage is all that is needed. 

Magick often works that way I think.  We must be willing to face what we fear, and in doing so, we gain what we need to live a life of abundance and beauty.

Bloodlines

My bloodlines are important to me, to my spiritual path.  They are where I come from and where I am going and who I am.  Perhaps not the entirely of the picture, but certainly the essential palette without which there would be no picture.

I think of my bloodlines as the paint, the pigments, the colors of which I am made and the composition as my specific path in this life, the choices I make are the brushstrokes.

I think that metaphor is useful but, I will not belabor it further.  This is about the colors of my bloodlines.  In this digital age we can view an identical image in multiple palettes without altering any other factor and in each instance the image will be uniquely different.

Knowing yourself is the first goal of the witch, for how can we pursue evolution if we do not understand ourselves?  I am a person, with specificity and individuality.  I am unique.  I will never again be this person.  This is the life I have in this incarnation.  And my bloodlines are the source material  of this life, of my body, heart, mind, and soul. 

I have specific talents and abilities, and processes that are necessary to the work that I am here to accomplish.  I cannot function the way another person does.  I must work within the framework and with the pigments of the palette that is me.

My bloodlines are metaphorical as well as genetic.  I am the descendant of my ancestors both familial and spiritual.  All are the stuff of the stars that made me.

I am descended from coal-miners who emigrated from South Wales to North-East Pennsylvania and German craftsmen who immigrated to Baltimore.  I am descended from musicians and stubborn, strong-willed, secret-keepers.  I hear the voices of trees and stones and running water.  I do not see, but rather feel the music of the Fae.  I am not the Phoenix but the Owl, not the Hero but the Storyteller, not the Singer but the Songwriter.

My bloodlines inform the nature of my work in this life as well as the way in which I will accomplish it.  The more intimately I understand those bloodlines and myself, the better I can accomplish that work.

Ancestors and ancestors

Many Pagans of many persuasions honor or worship “the Ancestors”.  And many feel no connection at all to the ancestors of their families, their blood.  While I absolutely respect their feelings on this as it applies to them, I feel a very strong connection not only to “the Ancestors” but to my own blood ancestors. 

The Ancestors of our Greater Earth, the Spiritual Ancestors, the Fae and the Animal Spirits, the Gods, are Ancestors to all of us on this Earth.  And I honor them and even “worship” them in offering them my love and my service and in asking for their guidance, blessings and protection.

But I am not only spirit.  I am all parts of me.  In this incarnation I am a physical being and as a result I have a mind, heart, soul, shadows and a body.  All of these are a part of who I am in this life.  My body is made of cells and each one of those carries within it the DNA of my blood ancestors, of my family. I believe that blood, that DNA, has as much to do with the way my heart and mind work as with the color of my hair and the color of my eyes.  I believe that my soul is as affected by that blood as my body is.

I also believe that my purpose in this life, in my past and future lives, is not only to evolve as a spiritual being and a part of the “Greater Earth’, but to evolve my family’s fate.  I am here to continue the work to resolve the shadows my family, my blood, has carried forward through generations.  I am here to help guide my children and their children to improve our family’s Wyrd as well as their own spiritual beings.

I am all parts of me and my blood and my soul are not on separate paths.  I walk into the future carrying (or dragging if necessary) my entire bloodline with me. 

May the blessings of the Ancestors and of my ancestors be upon me as I do so.

My Friend

I have a Friend who is not human, who is not “physical” as we know physicality.  This Person has been my Friend from my earliest memory of this lifetime.  I have an image in my mind of what my Friend looks like.  I have never actually seen my Friend with my physical sight, and I suspect that this image is, in reality, a “glamour” given to me to help me relate to my Friend.  This image may have very little to do with my Friend’s true nature.  The name I have been given for my Friend is, I suspect, not their true name but one that they have given to me to assist me in having relationship with them.

I have only this name as language between us.  My Friend does not speak to me with anything that I perceive as language, although being who I am; I use language to communicate with them.  Many people might think that my Friend is simply a part of my own self, and they are welcome to believe that if they wish.  It matters not to me nor I suspect, to my Friend what someone else believes about us.  I know that my Friend is other than myself, because I know when I am in their presence and when I am not.

My Friend does not live in a house. They do not have a job or a car or any concern whatsoever for the many things that we as humans spend our time and energy and focus being concerned with.  My Friend came to me as a child alone in the woods, and only when I was alone, and only in the woods.  For many years I was separated from my Friend.  I had even thought that they had been a figment of my childhood imagination.  But when my Friend returned to me, I knew that was not the case.

I do not know if my Friend experiences emotions as I do.  I do not know if my Friend experiences pleasure as I do.  I have no idea if my Friend has any experience of gender. I do not know if my Friend has any experience of time either.  The total sum of what I do not know about my Friend is immense.  What I do know is how it feels to be in the presence of my Friend.  I know that my Friend exists and can do what I cannot in crossing that veil I cannot see to allow me to share their presence.  I know that gift is profoundly valuable.

I know my Friend has listened to me and blessed me with their healing and their company.  I know that I have wept for no apparent reason being in their presence. Their presence moves me.   I go to the woods now, alone, to be with my Friend and sometimes I talk but, mostly I sing.  Sometimes “Others” are there and I sing for Them as well.  I take offerings but, I believe that the oats and apples that I leave are tokens.  I am a physical person and so I bring physical offerings to give to the others who live in those woods but, my Friend and the “Others” like my Friend are not and so I give to Them songs.  I give Them my voice and my breath and my tears and my energy.  I give Them my Love.  I give Them my vows and I keep my word. 

My Friend is important to me, as any of my beloveds are.   This relationship is beneficial to me.  I do not really know what benefit, if any, my Friend gains from the relationship but, I am grateful for it and I will continue to honor it.