FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Identity

How to Use Faeries in Your Magic this Equinox

The spring equinox, a day of equal sunlight and equal darkness, means it's a good time to work with faeries who tend to hang out in liminal spaces.

Today is the vernal equinox, which means there will be 12 hours of day and twelve hours of night. It also marks the first day of spring. The return of spring has been celebrated all over the world for centuries, from the Christian Easter to Jewish Passover to the Iranian New Year, known as Nowruz. As far as the pagan celebration goes, the spring equinox is also known as Ostara, named after a Germanic lunar goddess who mated with a fertility god and gave birth at winter solstice (also referred to as Yule), nine months later.

Advertisement

The equinox is a time of balance, a time of equilibrium, and a reminder to reset, to soften, to look towards the light and bask in the radiance of the sun—a time of fertility and of new beginnings. Ostara is also a perfect time to work with the Faery.

Faeries, also known as The Little People or The Fey, exist all over the world, and are often classified by where they live as much as by their appearances and friendliness towards humans. Faeries are thought to live in the in-between: where shore meets water, where field meets forest, where night meets day. According to Edain McCoy's A Witches Guide to Faery Folk faeries can inhabit the edge of two worlds, including human homes, trees, woodland groves, and underwater kingdoms

Although faeries have existed in virtually every culture, modern day mystics often leave out working with these beings, they are often written off into the same paranormal dustbin as angels or goblins. But there are many who believe that faeries exist and can be seen. They often appear as we choose to see them, small or giant, boy or girl, but rarely winged.

Faeries are more than elementals or energies correlating to each direction and element, faeries are considered to be sentient beings with their own unique traits. There are the Brownies, who are loveable domestic faeries who delight in helping out around the house (but also greatly dislike cats). There are also the Wilde Frauen who live in woods of Germanic and Scandinavian forests. The Little People take their form according to their environment.

Advertisement

To see the Fey it's believed that you must have, as the Irish say, "the sight;" a preternatural gift to see beyond the human plane. To enhance your chances of meeting a faerie, Morgan Daimler, the author of Fairy Witchcraft: A Neopagan's Guide to the Fairy Faith, suggests carrying a four-leaf clover or wearing lapis lazuli gemstones. You can also start searching a few days before the Sabbat, when the waxing energies and anticipation naturally magnify the energies being raised. Find a space outside where you can sit and meditate comfortably, then allow yourself to pass between the realms.

According to Daimler, there are two ways to incorporate faeries into your spiritual craft. One is to honor them and another includes actively working with faeries in your magic. If you wish to honor the Fey this Ostara, spend some time outside, taking care of the Earth (you can pick up some litter!) or leave gifts for faeries. If you give a faerie an offering you can expect one in return. According to Celtic lore, a faerie gift is an uncertain blessing, a cool blast of air on a hot day, a particularly bright moon on a night time walk, or beautiful smooth stone on a beach.

To work faeries into your magic, you need to go where the faeries dwell. Faeries are believed to hover around liminal zones, transitory spaces like a coastline, the edge of a tree forest, or the mouth of a canyon. It's suggested that you yourself should be in liminal state in order to be access faerie magic. This can be achieved through mediation, trance, dancing or divination.

Advertisement

Once you find your liminal spot, cast a protection circle—if you use a ritual knife for your circle do not use an iron or steel knife, faeries find it aggressive, try a bronze or nickel one— and then set up your altar (permanent or temporary). Next, Daimler suggests saying the following:

I stand now between the worlds

Where time is timeless

I stand now between the worlds

Where mortal earth and Faery join

I stand now between the worlds

Where wish and well unite.

I welcome all goodly inclined friendly spirits.

To all goodly inclined spirits who joined me here, may there be peace and friendship between us.

Next say:

The doorway to Faery is closed

The flow of time returns

The doorway to Faery is closed

I stand again on mortal earth

The doorway to Faery is closed

As I will it, so it is.

You can involve faeries in whatever spell you cast (remember clockwise or sunwise for good spells counter-sunwise for hexes). When you are done with your spell, Dailmer advises to walk the boundary of your circle with your ritual knife and focus on "the energy returning to the blade." Then lower your knife and your head slightly and say:

Elements of Spirit, Power of the Center,

I release for this circle

In peace and power

You can invite elementals and faeries that work as environmental aids, like gnomes and nymphs, to participate as well. Classical associations of Ostara include white hares and eggs and even snakes, which are associated with the cycle of death and rebirth.

Plant herbs in a new garden, spend time outside, and celebrate the earth to honor the balance between night and day.