You have come through a heavy wooden door in Cyranna's Lair and you now find yourself in the lush verdance of a dense forest. You hear the birds singing, and the wind softly blowing. The air is crisp and comfortable. Towering Oaks, Pines, Birches and many other trees stand as time markers, as each can not be younger than one-hundred-fifty years old. Welcome to the Enchanted Forest.Welcome! This forest is home to many little beings... elementals, faeries... they live here. Well, this little part of Cyranna's Lair is dedicated to these tiny entities...
However, an element can not think -- it has no thinking process. As Silver Ravenwolf once discribed: "If I pick up a handful of dirt and ask it how the wife and kids are, I'm not going to get an answer." Simply put, elements belong to our mundane, human plane. But they do have energies that we in the Craft do utilize, and we live right alongside them. Their energies may also be invoked before or after a circle is cast.
When you see an elemental, you must be very quick. Often elementals are just barely caught in a glance. Remember, in the Craft things differ from person to person. What I see you may see differently. What is right for me may be completly wrong for you.
There is an arguement about the thinking process of the elemental. Most working Witches feel that they have more of an animal mentality -- meaning that they are not mean nor good, nor could they plot a fantastic, page-turning novel. At least, not on their own. However, this does no imply that they are powerless -- far from it. Elementals are attributed to an element and therefore a direction. Illustrated:
When working with the elementals,you may wish to cast a circle. This is not to say that they will harm you, but they are more easily controlled within a circle. It is also perfectly acceptable to call an elemental even if a circle is not cast, say in a meditation with the elementals. I suggest meditatating on the elementals before working with them, so you will know what they are like. The final predominance of opinion is to cast a circle when working with the elementals, to be safe.
"...and every time a boy or girl says 'I don't believe in fairies,' a fairie just up and vanishes..."- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
As children, we curled up beside mother to hear the fantastical stories
of the fairies, their stories coming to be known as "Fairy Tales." Childhood
is the most imaginative time in our lives; often times we lived in a fantasy
world, where reality and fantasy were not all that different.
But, as do all children, we grew up and got caught in our homes, jobs, our
own children, and a myriad of other things we now live with. The fantasy world
of dragons and faeries, princesses and knights, kings and queens, has no place
in our minds anymore. Unless of course you let it run rampid again. Obviously,
we can't return to it completly ("dress-up at 35?!?")but we do have enough
time (and special place in our mind) for the Little Folk and their likenesses.
The earlier name was the Fays, of Faes. Under the term, "Faeries," we cover
the Anglo-Saxon elves, the Daoine Sidhe of the Highlands, the Tuatha De
Danann of Ireland, the Tylwyth Teg of Wales, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts,
the Wee Folk, and many more. While some are friendly and playful, others are
wild and mischievous, alien to humans.
While many faeries perfer to live in bands, large and small, there are also
the Fae who live alone, called solitary faeries. While the band faeries
dress grandly, the solitary faeries are a bit plainer, wearing fox skins,
leaves, mosses, flowers, moleskins, and cobwebs.
Faeries vary in size greatly, from tinier than an inch, to the three or four feet, Others are human size, or even much larger.
In Ireland, the men of the Trooping Faeries, the Daoine Sidhe and the
Shefro wear green coats and red caps. The women wear green gowns and red shoes.
Faeries love the ornate; some wear different kinds of jewelery, such as
pearls and gold pieces. They like to put feathers in their hats, and decorate
their clothes with gold flecks anf various flowers. Some of the men wear yellow
or brown breeches. Elves traditionally wear green, while the Manx faeries
wear blue. White is another color that occaisionally appears in faerie descriptions.
Faeries have been accounted to have almost any hair color. The women wear
their hair long and flowing.
For food, the faeries eat a myriad of things, depending on where they live.
In Scotland, the Fae have banquets of silverweed, stalks of heather,
milk of red dear and goats, barley meal, bread, mushrooms, honey, and dew.
Faeries everywhere always enjoy offerings of milk, honey, bread, wine,
cheeze, and cream. They also like particular herbs, especially ginger.
The Ellyllon of Wales ate toadstools and faerie butter, a fungus found
on the roots of old trees.
Faeries often guard their real names, nor do they give false ones to humans.
If a faerie will not tell you its name, you should probably stop talking to it.
Some types of faeries can shapeshift into birds to avoid capture. Faeries often use
glamour (spells) when encountering humans. In Ireland, these spells are
called pishogue.
Faeries also enjoy music and dancing. Their musical insrtuments include
the bagpipes, panpipes, cymbols, tamborines, harps, whistles, and drums.
The music of Londonderry Air is said to be learned from the Faeries.
Faeries tend to value neatness, the ability to keep a secret, riddles,
and generosity among humans. They appriciate it when humans leave fresh water our
for them to wash their clothes and babies.
There are a number of ways to protect you from unfriendly faeries. One way to
protect you from any faerie is to have cold iron. Herbs that unfriendly
faeries do not like are St. Johnswort, red verbana, daisies, rowan, or
mountain ash. The stronges plant against them is the four-leaved clover,
which protects you from faerie glamour. You can also scare them away by snapping
your fingers, or ringing bells. Coming soon -- Types of faeries
