Faeries & Elementals for Beginners: Learn About & Communicate With Nature Spirits (22 page)

three times on the tree, even if it is just a token knocking with one knuckle on a tiny plant, to address the gnomes of the earth energy within it.

Pour your heart out to the gnomes, tell them about

all the changes and challenges going on in your life about which you wish to become more calm. In the course of

everyday life, it helps to look on the bright side of things, and if you’re a positive person you may have resisted the

urge to complain to your friends and relatives. Take the

opportunity to spill out all of your feelings, because sometimes it is cathartic to recognize that things are hard, but that they will get better. If you are the sort of person who whines a lot (like me), make this the moment that you say

what you need to say so that you can stop burdening your

friends and relatives with your complaints. When you are

done, it is time to get the gnomes’ magic moving in the

direction you want.

Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 179

I suggest dancing meditatively around the tree in order

to raise energy, since the movement also symbolizes the

dynamic energies that are needed for growth in between

those periods of rest that you seek. Put on some gentle,

relaxing music to aid your inspiration. When you feel that you’ve shifted your mental state into a positive one, rest your hand on the tree and thank the gnomes. If you haven’t planted it already, do so as soon as you take down your circle.

The success of your tree after your ritual is a good

indicator of the efficacy of your magic and whether you

managed to get the blessings of the gnomes. Make sure

not to neglect its care. If it grows steadily and flourishes, your prayers have been answered. If it sickens or dies, the gnomes have decided not to aid you, possibly because

you need continued change in your life before it becomes

healthy and spiritually sound.

Ritual to Find and Buy a Home

Looking for a new home is never fun, as often there are

time and financial constraints involved, which make the

process feel hurried and unsure, the opposite of the stable earth qualities one wishes to invite into a new living space.

The gnomes are the ideal elementals to invoke when seek-

ing a new home, not only because they bring the sort of

prosperity that may allow you to buy one, but also because they are knowledgeable about all buildings on the earth’s

surface, and can help guide you to yours.

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This ritual has two components. First, you will offer

a prayer to the gnomes. Then you will begin searching for

a place to live using a divination practice called dowsing.

Dowsing is a method of finding the location of something

you desire through watching the motions of a magical tool.

My mother used to dowse for water in the desert using a

forked stick. However, though dowsing has been tradition-

ally used to find water, it is not relegated to being only a tool for the undines. Dowsing can be used to find any

object and can involve other magical instruments like pen-

dulums, or in the case of this ritual, copper rods. I place dowsing help confidently in the hands of the gnomes since

they are very aware of all the earth’s treasures.

To manufacture your dowsing rods, I suggest procuring

a length of thick copper wire, about as long as your arm

span. Cut the copper wire in half, and bend each piece into an L shape. To use the rods, hold one in each hand by the

short branch of the L, with the long branches extending

loosely forward over your hands. Extend your arms directly forward from your shoulders and allow your grip to relax,

so that the rods can swing back and forth freely over the

tops of your hands. When you ask the gnomes for what you

seek, they can answer your prayers by causing the rods to

swing together and cross each other when you arrive at the place where your treasure lies. Incidentally, these dowsing rods can also be used to find lost objects, so I find them to be a most handy tool to have around the house.

You’ll begin your house-hunting journey with a prayer,

after which you can use the rods to start physically hunting for your home. You can do so by using the rods over a map,
Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 181

driving around a neighborhood with homes for sale, or by

visiting two or more homes between which you need to

choose. If I’m looking at a map online, I like to pull up the map onto my laptop, and then lay the screen flat on a table so that I can hold the dowsing tool directly over it.

Below is a prayer you can use before you set out on

your journey or search for a new home. You can remove

lines if you wish to change the prayer to help you rent an apartment, or to buy a home that you have already found.

Note that there are several lines that indicate that the will of the gnomes will be left intact if they choose not to help.

Please make sure that your prayers to the gnomes always

include that courtesy of freedom to keep their favor. Oth-

erwise, you may find that you cannot trust the advice that they give.

Gnomes of earth, if you please

help me find a home with ease.

With harm to none, with your accord

give prosperity so I can afford.

For the highest good of all, as well

let the owners be inclined to sell.

With sincerest gratitude from me,

guide my hands and blessed be.

Immediately following the prayer, go searching for

your new home with your dowsing rods. Trust the first

moment that the rods cross to show you that you are over

the right location. It can be very tempting to second-guess the movements of the rods and to override them with your

182 • Chapter Six

hands after they have crossed. Don’t overthink divination.

The first answer is always the one that you receive from the source you desire, in this case the elementals, while a second or subsequent answers are just your brain playing with you. You may even want to write down the reaction of the

dowsing rods that you witnessed so that you won’t second

guess yourself later when you’re making the final decision to choose the home.

There is a tradition held by Wiccans and some other

magical practitioners that if you use magic to buy some-

thing, you should pay the asking price without going back

and forth about the value. Such an idea may seem impossi-

ble to uphold in the modern world of real estate. However, a friend of mine has purchased property at asking price for just that reason, even though her realtor thought she had

gone crazy, as she could have made an offer at a much lower cost. As soon as you have access to the home, but before

you move in, be sure to perform the home blessing ritual

given earlier in this chapter.

Ritual to sell a home

Since elementals are sentient beings, any ritual can be

enhanced or even simplified by focusing on the aspect of

giving an offering to them. After all, gnomes and other

elementals have their own drives and are looking out for

their own needs first and foremost. Interestingly, rituals for selling a home throughout history have involved burying

treasures on the property, often coins or statues. Once the property has sold, the treasure is then dug up and put on an
Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 183

altar or place of honor to prevent the property from con-

tinuing to change hands through the industrious energy

put into the rituals. One modern American version of a

home selling ritual following the format of underground

offerings is a Catholic version in which the seller buries a statue of Saint Joseph. The following home selling ritual

is one that explicitly honors gnomes by making use of the

cheerful garden decorations that bear their names.

For this ritual, you will need a garden gnome statue.

Your statue can be small, in fact a tiny size may be preferable so that it will be easier to bury. It is okay if the statue is plastic or otherwise not decomposable, since you will be digging it up later. It is important that you buy the statue new, or make it yourself specifically for this ritual, since its energies should not be tainted with those of previous uses.

That means no picking up a garden gnome from the thrift

store, or repurposing one that has already been used for

decoration!

Cast a magic circle with your garden gnome statue

placed in the northern quadrant. With bare feet touching

the earth if possible, lay your hands on the statue to charge it with the elemental earth energy of the gnomes. Below is an example of a prayer that can be chanted three times to

raise the energy needed for the statue to help you with your work.

I invite the gnomes of the earth, if you please,

for this is your fetter, with freedom to leave.

And if your will be my will, so it be done.

bring me buyers with money, an ample sum.

184 • Chapter Six

After your chant, don’t forget to add your gratitude

and the caveat that none be harmed by things like loss of

livelihood or free will by your ritual. For example, you can add the final line, “with harm to none, so mote it be, thank you, gnomes and blessed be.” Now, you can close your

magic circle. The statue should be buried on a Wednesday,

on or near a full moon, hopefully very shortly after you’ve charged the statue.

Bury your statue upside down in the earth so that it

will work even harder to get the home sold to earn a place on your altar. You don’t have to bury it very deep, but do put it somewhere that you can easily find later, like right next to the “For Sale” sign. If you are unable to find it later, you don’t want to accidentally curse the property with the gnomes constantly finding more and more buyers so that

ownership changes hands frequently. The home should

very quickly sell to motivated buyers. Immediately after

you’ve concluded the sale, dig up the statue, clean it off and place it on an elemental altar or in some other place

of honor so that you can remember to thank the gnomes

every time you see it.

Please don’t relegate your gnome to the life of a garden

decoration, because if the item is stolen, it may have unintended effects for some innocent future owner of the statue.

You should be very protective of any objects that you ever use in ritual work with elementals, due to their trickster nature. Always keep them from being unintentionally used

by somebody who does not know that they are enchanted

by elementals. If you should have need to discard any prop used in a ritual with elementals, destroy it first by casting
Gnomes—Elementals of Earth • 185

it into a fire. Then you can bury the remains somewhere

secret or scatter the ashes to wind or water.

Exercise to Increase Prosperity

The powers of the element of earth are probably most often used for material gain. In this exercise, you’ll be able to ask for abundance in an ambiguous way, rather than asking

specifically for a new house or car or even a sum of money.

Remember, since elementals cherish their freedom, they

work best for you when they are given less specific instructions. You still have to be specific about what you don’t

want them to do, such as harming or feeling controlled.

However, if you can give them a wide range of ways to ful-

fill your wishes, they are more likely to grant them quickly and with a high degree of success.

This exercise for prosperity is a common one of Italian

origin, and makes use of a small lemon as a symbol of prosperity and abundance coming from the elemental realm of

earth. In many myths, legends and scriptures, the symbol-

ism of harvesting fruit after having worked the soil is a way to show that prosperity comes through hard work, and that

it comes to those for whom it is due. Citrus fruits especially are symbolic of prosperity and wealth; I have done this

exercise with an orange. Ideally, you would pick the fruit yourself, but I’ve always used store-bought citrus since I live in a climate that is not conducive to growing them. You will also need sewing pins, the more numerous and varied in

color the better. Do not use black pins for the exercise, as
186 • Chapter Six

they can add greater challenge and adversity to your quest for riches.

This exercise for prosperity is best performed on

a Sunday on or just before a full moon. Cast your magic

circle, and face north to address the gnomes. Begin with

a prayer to invite the gnomes to help you with monetary

gain. Remember to keep things general. Here is an example

prayer that you can say before you begin sticking the pins in the fruit.

Earth elementals I pray to you,

to invite your aid for me and mine

As I place each pin in this charm,

allow wealth to flow to me in kind.

With harm to none, prosperity is there,

I claim what I need and what I dare.

Enough for necessities, if you please,

and bring a little more to share.

As you begin to push the pins into the fruit, be careful

not to prick yourself. You can say a chant as you put each one in like, “a fortune surrounds me, good fortune within

me” to raise energy for your cause. When you are done,

you may thank the gnomes and close your magic circle.

Place the lemon on an altar to draw prosperity. The lemon