Years ago I met a woman named Helen who owned a witch shop in a rural Massachusetts town. I used to wander into her shop on any given afternoon, buy a few items and spend hours talking about paranormal and supernatural subjects. Helen’s shop was not a purely commercial venture. She really enjoyed speaking with people and discussing occult and magical themes. One day I asked her how she had come to open the shop. Helen mentioned that she had been a nurse in California, but found herself in need of new scenery and change in her life. She had some friends in Massachusetts and decided to visit them. On a crisp October day while walking through the forest amidst the breathtaking New England foliage, she noticed little sparks of light that seemed to be float through the air. Within seconds these lights began to grow larger and increase in number until they completely surrounded her. She leaned in to get a closer look and saw that inside each ball of light was a miniature person who seemed to float effortlessly through the air. They looked at her and smiled and said, “We’re here. You should stay here too!” Then they disappeared. As a result of this peculiar vision, Helen decided to stay in the area and open a witch shop what had long been her dream. Helen concluded her story with, “How could I refuse such a gracious invitation from the faerie folk?”

 

I listened wide eyed to Helen’s story. At the time, I had seen many spirits manifest in physical form and of course communicated psychically and via divination tools with them almost on a daily basis, but I had never heard of people interacting in such a direct way with faerie folk and in fact had only a vague knowledge of their existence within the spiritual realm. Frist it’s important to define what faeries are. They are elemental spirits that have never lived on Earth in human form such as our deceased loved ones and spirit guides. They are composed of elemental energy and often associated with specific geographic locations. Some paranormal experts go as far as to say that faeries are made of air energy and other “wee people” such as elves, leprechauns, gnomes are made of Earth energy. Also, it is a known fact that the jinn of Islamic theology are spirits made of fire energy. Faeries, as thought of in the popular imagination, are normally associated with Ireland and the British Isles, but elemental spirits can be found in various cultures throughout the world in locations as disparate as China, Scandinavia and the Americas. They simply exist in a different realm and can on occasion cross over into our physical world and manifest in the whimsical forms with which we associate them.

 

In Ireland, especially, faeries have gained the reputation of being tricksters. There is even a phenomena known as “changelings” where faeries are known to take small children back to their realm and replace them with a faerie that has taken on the physical form of the child. I have seen no convincing evidence of the changeling phenomena and I assume it to be a product of popular imagination. I have heard stories of faeries temporarily possessing people and causing them to lose time. Helen, my witch friend, has told me that she had another encounter with the faerie folk while living in Ireland in her early twenties. In many rural Irish communities, farmers will often keep a section of their field un-ploughed. These are known as faerie mounds and are believed to be inhabited by the faerie folk and are spots where the veil between the spiritual world and the physical world is quite thin. One night Helen decided to go walking through the fields near the home of her relatives and soon she came upon the faerie mound. She stopped for a moment and noticed dozens on tiny flickering lights swirling around her. Then everything went blank. When she regained consciousness, she was in the back of a truck being driven back to her family’s home. She told them of the experience and they said matter-of-factly, “Oh, yes. You were faerie struck. It happens a lot. The wee people took you.” Shocked at their response and their belief that this was normal, Helen wanted to go back immediately. They advised her against it saying, “You were lucky. They might not let you come back next time.” This was an experience that set Helen down a path of spiritual discovery that has lasted to this day.

 

In Ireland, faeries have at different times in history gotten the reputation of being tricksters, troublemakers and of even being downright malevolent. This would be explained by the theory that faeries and other elemental spirits once belonged to the spiritual pantheons of ancient pagan religions and simply were demoted to a lesser class of spirit in later centuries. In other parts of the world, faeries do not always share the same trickster reputation and often considered quite benevolent and helpful. In the popular folklore of Transylvania, there is a class of faerie folk or rather wee people called the “Oamenii Buni” or “Good People,” who live in their own separate realm and live a holy life of fasting and praying and celebrating feast days. There is a tradition that says that the Good People celebrate Easter eight days after humans because it takes that long for news of the feast to arrive in their land. Villagers traditionally throw the red shells of dyed Easter eggs in the river to let the Good People know that Easter has come. When the Good People cross over into the physical realm, they often help people who are having difficult moments in life. This is a far contrast to the demanding, trickster spirits of Ireland and British Isles. Whatever the case, there is no denying that the faerie folk can be called upon for help in magical workings, especially to conjure luck and wealth.

 

You must exercise caution when dealing with the faerie folk. Always pray for protection before invoking them and command that any harmful spirits depart from you and state that only positive love based spirits are welcome. Also, never break a promise to a faerie as they tend to be far more vengeful than other types of spirits. The traditional offering to faeries in the British Isles is bread and milk which is left on the back stairs outside of the home or on the edge of the forest. This tradition was carried over to the Appalachian region on the United States by Scottish and Irish immigrants although corn bread is often used there as it is more common to the region. Also, according to Helen, European faeries and Native-American elemental spirits comingle in New England’s forests and their favorite offering is chocolate. To make an offering to the faerie folk simply lay your offerings of choice (you can’t go wrong with bread and milk) directly on the ground outside and make your petition. Ask for the help of the faerie folk in whatever you’d like and simply turn and walk away without looking back. In particularly difficult situations, you may also wish to make a promise to the faerie folk that must be fulfilled once the help is granted, but just make sure to deliver whatever you’ve promised. If you’d like a more permanent relationship with the faerie folk, you can plant a patch of wildflowers in your garden or somewhere on your property and make regular offerings there. I have several friends who are magical gardeners and they assure me that faeries are attracted to many varieties of sweet smelling wildflowers.

 

I hope you have enjoyed this post and if you have any experiences with the faerie folk, please share them with me. As always I will you peace, happiness and abundant blessings!