“Green! ‘Tis the fairy garb of spring with million dew drops glistening.” Pedro Caulderon de la Barca, “Green and Blue”It was just over five years ago that my husband Taddeusz and I came here to this land on Whidbey Island in Washington. We moved here from the rentals we had lived in for 7 years after selling our house in Seattle. Because we had moved so much, lived in so many places around Puget Sound, getting here to this place didn’t seem that significant at first. Another place to live, to discover, another adventure. What was to unfold as winter turned into spring could not have been known, but perhaps in the holy darkness of my psyche, I knew about the enchantment that was calling me forward.
I offered an herbal class at our farm the spring after moving here. As we walked on the land to discover the wild plant populations, one participant walked ahead of the rest of us. I saw her looking down at the ground and pointing. She said, “Look at this.” I came to the place where she stood and saw an old dead tree stump, quite small actually, with shelf mushrooms growing out of it. I knew immediately that this was the place where fairies dwelled. A gateway into their underworld sanctuary.
This place on our land became known as “The Fairy Dell” As spring came into her fullness, we discovered that “The Fairy Dell” was in the middle of a great thicket of wild roses. We told everyone who came to the land that this fairy sanctuary was off limits to humans, showing everyone where they could walk no further.
I didn’t know much about fairy lore. I had attended some talks given by R.J. Stewart and Dorothy Maclean at the Fairy and Human Relations Congress and listened intently. I read stories. And then I began to offer herbal mentorships for girls here at the farm. I did my journey work to discover what I could offer the girls. The fairies appeared in my journeys, giving me shamanic exercises in which the girls could connect with the unseen realm of these enchanted beings. The girls, ages 6-13 years old, understood the fairy language. They were delighted and seriously indulged in these experiences.
We listened, offered trinkets, libations and blessings. When the old tree fell over in a storm we created a staff with ribbons, herbs and beads to mark its place. It was this relationship that the girls had with the fairies that created a place in me to believe and to listen.
The fairy realm is intricatedly connected with the green world. A deva is a plant in its true and entire essence. Offered here are a few shamanic exercises in which you can discover the teachings of the fairies first hand right where you live.
This First Meditation/Journey can be done in a comfortable chair in your home:
- Close your eyes and find yourself at home outside in your garden or yard.
- Within this space, go to a plant with which you feel a connection.
- Notice your breath.
- Breathe in and out 3 time naturally.
- Now breathe and imagine you are breathing in the breath of this plant. Breathe out and offer your breath to the plant.
- Ask your plant, this plant, “What have you for me?” and listen.
- Now look down at the base of the plant where it comes out of the ground. Look for movement, as if you can see the wind.
- Acknowledge this as the fairy beings that dwell around this plant.
- Watch this energy move, and see if you can sense this energy communicating with you. What might it be telling you? Listen.
- When you sense this is complete, step back from the plant and acknowledge it by saying thank you.
- Open your eyes.
Activating the Fairy~Plant Connection: You are going to be activating the fairy~plant connection. The Devic realm will be honored and blessed. The magical realm of the plants will be activated. Fairies and Devas work together in the magical realm of the plants. This ceremony will open these realms. It can be done in each season.
- Fill a bowl with water, and place plants in it.
- Choose plants with which you feel a strong connection. Ask permission before gathering these plants and offer gratitude.
- Hold the bowl of water and plants in your hands.
- Breathe in and out, allowing the entireness of the plant to be breathed into you. As you breathe out, offer your entire self to the plant. Do this for 21 breaths.
- When this is complete, offer this water at the base of an old tree and offer gratitude to the fairies~devas~plants~water.
Song of the Birds: The fairies say that when you breath the song of the birds into your body, when you are in the garden or surrounded by plants, that you go to the place where plants walk around like humans and speak in the language you can understand.
- Find a place where you can sit and listen to the song of the birds.
- Close your eyes.
- Listen to the songs, breathe the songs into your body, feel it enter you body.
- Allow the song of the birds to take you to the unseen realm of the plants. And see what you discover.
- When you are home, cooking in your kitchen, open the window and allow the bird song into your kitchen. Breathe it in. This will bring the fairy energy into your home.
The connections with the fairy realm are not always light and fanciful. The fairies are powerful beings with strong intentions and will ask you to do things for them. Be strong in your own intentions as you begin this connection and trust your own intuition always.
May it be in Beauty.
First Printed in The Beltane Papers, Journal of Women's Mysteries, Spring 2009
www.thebeltanepapers.net
