Faeries & Elementals for Beginners: Learn About & Communicate With Nature Spirits (13 page)

Step 3: Establishing a boundary

With your dominant hand, trace the outline of a circle

clockwise in your ritual space, beginning and ending in the north. Allow yourself enough space to sit or stand with any ritual supplies, casting the circle all the way to the boundaries of a room if you like. Keep the circle small enough

so that any other people in your home or outdoor refuge

won’t accidentally trespass in it during your rite. Walk the perimeter of your circle three times while casting it, visualizing the line drawn in whatever way it comes to you. Some people imagine a white light, others a purple flame, while still others might see a bubble or tent with the mind’s eye.

Step 4: Blessing representatives for the elementals

Each element should be represented by at least one object

within your circle. For this beginner’s circle casting, I recommend a bowl of salt for earth in the north, incense for

air in the east, a red candle for fire in the south, and a bowl of water in the west. When these classic objects are blessed, the salt is added to the water to combine the two elements, and the incense when lit is a combination of air and fire, so that these two combinations are then walked around to

bless the circle. If you decide to use other things to represent the elements, consider how you might combine them.

Again, start at the bowl of salt. With your finger, touch

the salt and say: “I bless this salt to the gnomes, as creatures
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of earth, for use in this circle.” Light the incense and wave your hand over it saying, “I bless this incense to the sylphs, as creatures of air, for use in this circle.” Walk around the circle clockwise with the incense. Light the candle saying, “I bless this candle to the salamanders, as creatures of fire, for use in this circle.” Add three pinches of salt to the water saying, “I bless this water to the undines, as creatures of water, for use in this circle.” Walk the circle clockwise while sprinkling the water with your hand.

Step 5: Invocation

The circle having been cast, it is now safe to invoke the elements. During the invocations described below, remember

to visualize each element. This visualization is the beginning of familiarizing yourself with elementals, and perhaps being inspired in the moment with new associations and

revelations in your life that are connected with an elemental’s domain.

Again, start in the north, and greet the elementals, say-

ing, “Hail and welcome gnomes of the north, elementals of

the earth, I invoke and summon you to join and witness

this rite!” Raise the bowl of salt in the air with both hands.

Move to the east and repeat the salute with the incense:

“Hail and welcome sylphs of the east, elementals of air, I invoke and summon you to join and witness this rite.”

In the south, salute with the candle and say: “Hail and

welcome salamanders of the south, elementals of fire, I

invoke and summon you to join and witness this rite.”

Finally, in the west, salute with the bowl of water and

say: “Hail and welcome undines of the west, elementals of

Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 101

water, I invoke and summon you to join and witness this

rite.”

Step 6: Do your ritual, exercise, or meditation

After your circle is cast, it is a good time for other ritual work. You can also choose simply to meditate. On any occasion, you may wish to practice clearing your thoughts with quiet and receptive meditation, which can be useful before any ritual action. Try focusing on your breathing while

seated in a comfortable position. Try to synchronize it to your heart beat so that for four beats you are breathing in, for four beats you are holding, and for four beats you are breathing out. Notice your breathing and heart-rate slow

and try to allow your mind to be clear of trivial thoughts, releasing them to the universe as they come. You may not

be able to mediate this way long at first, but keep practicing. This technique will help you jump into the more spe-

cific elemental meditations.

Step 7: Dismissal or Banishing

“Dismissing” or “banishing” the elements is the process of politely opening the metaphorical door of the circle for

them and allowing them to depart at will. The connotations associated with the words “dismissal” and “banishing” may

seem like you are ordering them to get out or waving them

away as if they are unimportant, but this is not so. These terms have ceremonial origins, but of course you will be

acting more as a polite person in a hallway opening a door for an honored guest.

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No matter what circle casting you choose to do, you

should dismiss the elementals the same way. So, if your

invocation involved jumping up on a table and inviting

them to party, your dismissal should include climbing back up on that table to politely announce that the party is over.

The circle should also be unwound in the counterclockwise

direction since it was cast clockwise. For the circle casting above, start in the north again and salute:

“Thank you, gnomes of the north! Please return to

your earthly realms and may there always be harmony

between us.”

In the west salute again: “Thank you, undines of the

west! Please return to your watery realms and may there

always be harmony between us.”

In the south: “Thank you, salamanders of the south!

Please return to your fiery realms and may there always be harmony between us.” Don’t forget to salute.

In the east: “Thank you, sylphs of the east! Please

return to your airy realms and may there always be har-

mony between us.” Give a final salute.

Finish opening up your circle by either retracing your

steps counterclockwise and drawing the border back up into your hand in your mind’s eye or by cutting the boundary of the circle and letting it fall away or vanish. Ground yourself again after you are done, as you did in the beginning.

General Elemental Grounding

and Centering for Beginners

Ideally, grounding should leave you feeling rested and energized, as its goal is to establish a neutral energy exchange
Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 103

with the earth. Begin by relaxing and visualizing the energy in your body, perhaps as smoke, water, or light. Allow any negative, stuck, or excess energy to flow through your feet down into the earth. If you feel you need more energy, draw it up from the earth and see it fill you up in your mind’s eye. It will take practice and experience to find the balance that feels just right.

A centering meditation you can do is one based on the

elementals within. After grounding, turn your attention to the palms of each hand and the souls of your feet. Those

are the locations of energy vortices corresponding to each of the four elements. Your left foot is the energy vortex used by earth elementals, your right foot by air, right hand fire, and left hand water. Try standing up barefoot and bare-handed, spreading your feet to shoulder width apart and

your hands out to your sides, as if you were a five-pointed star with your head being the topmost point.

Begin by focusing on your left foot, the vortex that is

used by earth elementals. What do you notice about your

left foot when you close your eyes and turn your attention to that area of your body? Is it hot or cold? Do you feel a sensation that could be attributed to spiritual energy, such as a prickly or fuzzy pressure? Do you see a color in your mind’s eye around your foot? Explore your left foot with all of your senses and intuition. Next, turn your attention to your right foot, that of air, for comparison. Do you notice a different color or feeling in your mind? Take your time so that you can establish your own perception of the air vortex as well as develop a comparison between the two vortices.

Next, turn your attention to your right hand, that of fire,
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and then your left hand, that of water. By now, you should be able to perceive and compare the four elemental energy

vortices.

The fifth energy vortex is located at your head, repre-

senting spirit. There are actually several energy vortexes around your head, and different people feel that different locations represent spirit. Feel around for yourself and

decide which location seems right for you. Some people use the one in the middle of the forehead, and some people use one that sits outside the head on top, like a crown, or hov-ers a little above the head. Energy from the divine or your higher self comes from within or from the sky to refresh the spirit vortex, so you may notice it looking or feeling more vibrant than the other vortices.

Now that you’ve found your most energized of the five

vortices, compare all four of your elemental vortices to your spirit vortex. Is one or more elemental vortex less colorful, smaller, or feel weaker in some way? Allow energy to flow

down from your spirit vortex to any or all of the elemental vortices that may seem lacking. You may see the energy flow in your mind’s eye as a color, liquid, smoke, light, or some other fluid movement. Take your time until all five of the vortices are as intense in your perception as the spirit vortex. You will notice that the spirit vortex does not diminish in any way, since it is constantly replenished.

Through this centering meditation, you will balance

the aspects and energies of the four elementals within yourself so that no single elemental holds greater influence over you than another. Centering yourself is vital before working with elementals so you won’t have a conflict of interest
Communicating with Elementals to Understand and Help Your Life • 105

when working with a specific elemental to better your life.

For example, if your water vortex was out of control and

working in overdrive, you might find it difficult to get a fire exercise to work for you, since your water energies would

put the fire out.

You will note that I didn’t prescribe any specific colors

for you to visualize at each of the vortices. People are very individual when it comes to their energy, so I encourage

you not to simply force yourself to see the color correspondences for each elemental in your mind’s eye. It matters less what color a vortex might be than each vortex balancing

the others. Allowing your mind to see your true perceptions will give you more valuable information than if you force

yourself to conform to somebody else’s vision of how their energy pattern looks or should look. After all, if you notice a color change happen in your vortices, you might be able

to ask yourself why those changes are happening in your

life and find an answer in your life choices, rather than simply forcing yourself not to see that information.

Take your time when first performing this centering

meditation. You might want to record yourself speaking

the steps of the meditation giving pauses for visualization.

After you’ve established a familiarity with your elemental vortices, the centering meditation will be more quickly

achieved, and it will be nearly instantaneous when you are practiced and efficient.

three

Sylphs—Elementals of Air

Think about how mysterious that the concept of air must

have been to ancient people. Nobody could see the air

unless it was colored with smoke or ash, but people knew

that wind moved the leaves of trees and pushed gently on

their skin. What sort of mysterious force was brushing its hands through peoples’ hair and shaking bushes day and

night? Invisible beings, sylphs, were given dominion over

the element of air.

Mythology

Sylphs are the essence of the element of air. Though like air, sylphs traditionally can’t be seen with the naked eye, they have nevertheless taken form in artistic renditions and in the descriptions of myths and legends. Sylphs have been

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visually interpreted as very small and winged. Perhaps you will find a vision as well, of a sylph in your mind’s eye, or find it in your imagination while on a flight of fancy. After all, imagination is the realm of the sylph.

Sylphs carry messages through the air, traveling so fast

as to be instantaneous. They can also carry your intention to the concepts associated with air, such as intelligence, inspiration, and intuition. In fact, even the word “inspire”

has the Latin meaning “to breathe air inward.” When feeling a bit of writer’s block or lack of inspiration, one may only need to focus on breathing deeply in and out in order to

gain the aid of the sylphs. Sylphs can not only sharpen your psychic senses, but they can heighten your physical senses as well. The realm of music is also the domain of the sylph, since they are the beings that carry all sound through the air. Before making music or after enjoying a particularly