Connecting with the Elements
When seeking connection with the Faery realm and its elusive inhabitants, it is important to keep the perceptive qualities of the mind grounded in the reality of the world around us, in order that we open ourselves to the deeper levels of that reality and not create a substitute illusory reality through excessive, unrooted mental visualization. Imagination is a powerful tool, and when honed, it can become a sense through which the invisible is perceived. Too often, though, it is misused and its strengths turned against the individual’s spiritual awakening through too much well-meaning “guidance.” It takes more than a quick attunement or fifteen-minute visualization to build a true connection, but the resulting awareness and opening to wisdom is worth the effort and commitment.
By increasing our awareness of the world and the elements around us, we may start to gain the level of perception necessary to connect with the realm of Faery, which is not so far removed from our own. The following contemplations may be performed on a regular basis, and though they can be performed as visualizations if it really isn’t possible for you to get to a suitable location (for example, if you are hundreds of miles from the sea), try to do as many as possible in the locations described. If possible, they should be performed over a period of time—preferably a month (or even a year, concentrating on a different exercise each month), in the order as they are written.
Each of the elements has been divided into three qualities: primal, living, and still. These may be compared to the astrological terms used for the division of the elements within the signs of the zodiac—cardinal, mutable, and fixed—but are more transparent in their meaning. Using this system, we can take it to its logical conclusion and connect different natural states of each element with each zodiacal sign, and even extend it to creating a Faery zodiac, which we will look at as a key to personal identification with the elements later on in this section.
from left: air, fire, water, and earth symbols
Contemplations of Air
Primal
Find a comfortable, peaceful place to stand, sit, or lie, with your legs uncrossed and back straight, anywhere outdoors where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. This is our most primal awareness of the element of air. Breathe in deeply, savoring the sensation…breathe out once more. Consider how with each breath you are connecting to your surroundings. Air is one moment external, then internal, and then, transformed, returns to an external state. Consider the plants and trees around you, and how this air has already been a part of them as it becomes a part of you. Continue to breathe deeply and then slowly release. Consider any animals and other people who share your air, and how by sharing breath you are all not only physically but spiritually connected.
If you can, hold an image of the alchemical symbol for air, the upward-pointing yellow triangle with a bar across the point, in your mind. The more you practice this, the easier it will become to hold it for longer. Stay with this process for some time until you feel ready to return to normal breathing. Try to maintain your enhanced awareness in your normal waking state.
Anna Simon performing the contemplation of air
(photo courtesy of Studio Lotus: www.studiolotus.co.uk)
Living
Choose a high and open place for this contemplation. On a windy day, stand and face the wind, letting it rush and bluster around you. Close your eyes and focus on sensation. Feel the pressure of the wind on your face, on your skin, and as it blows through your hair. Open your arms wide as though you would embrace it, and feel it sweep away any cobwebs of tiredness or worrying thoughts. As the wind grows and wanes, you may lift and lower your arms, physically linking you to its actions and energy. The more you do this, the more in tune you will become. Is it possible the wind is also responding to your intent? Listen closely to the wind as you feel its power…do you hear any notes, any words? Can you feel any sentient awareness within its actions? Imagine yourself being carried away and swept up by the wind, riding the eddies and currents…feel the exhilaration of freedom inherent in the wild wind. This is the realm of the sylphs. Hold this sensation for as long as you wish, and then bring yourself back to earth by lowering your arms and thanking the wind for your experience.
Still
Choose a peaceful sheltered or indoor space for this contemplation, where the air is still. Sit upright in a comfortable position. Look around you. Air touches and interacts with everything you see, even though it is invisible. It fills all spaces. It is liminal, between all things; when it is still, it is barely detectable, yet all life depends upon it. Close your eyes. See if you can feel the very gentle pressure of air upon your skin. Think of the unknown places that air can reach, and all the places on earth the air that is now with you may have been. Is there an impression of those places remaining? Does air have memory? It permeates so much of the world. Let the stillness and wisdom of air still your mind. Be at peace and at one with the stillness of the air around you. It is in the stillness that inspiration may come… Hold this sensation for as long as you will, and bring the peace and clarity with you into your daily life.
Contemplations of Fire
Primal
Choose a sunny day for this contemplation, either outside in a peaceful location or in a room where you can sit in sunlight. Either sit, stand, or lie comfortably within direct sunlight (avoid looking directly at the sun). Keeping your eyes open at first, consider that before humankind harnessed the power of fire, our only source for heat was the sun. Consider the immense primal power contained in this great star that enables all life on our planet to exist, and how miraculous it is that it is just the right distance and temperature for that life—for your life.
Look around you…all you can see, you can see because it is touched by the power of the sun. Look at your hands…see how every line and shadow is defined by the light. Now close your eyes…feel the warmth of the sun on your face. Before there was ever flame on earth, there was this great fire in the sky, the light worshipped by our ancestors as the truly life-giving and all-important source that it is. Consider that if you have spirit, and you acknowledge that living things in the world around you have spirit, how mighty the spirit of such a force must be…and yet it is with you every day, not always acknowledged and noticed but intrinsic to life on earth. Hold this thought, and, keeping your breathing steady, try to picture the upward-pointing red triangle that is the elemental symbol for fire in your mind. Your ability to hold this image will improve with practice. Hold this image and sensation for as long as you wish, and then release and return to your normal state with a heightened awareness of the primal force of the element of fire at work in your life.
Living
This contemplation is best performed outside at night with a fire, or, if that is not possible, you may perform it indoors, preferably with an open fire or a candle. Sit or stand close enough to the flames so that you can feel the intensity of the heat without hurting yourself. Watch the flames leap and flicker as though they are dancing. If you have built this fire, is it possible an elemental has come into being through your will and action? See the fire as being like a life…beautiful and glorious for an allotted time, and then gone from this world.
Feel the heat as it reaches your body, and consider the balance between creation and destruction. The warmth of fire can keep you alive, but it can also destroy, as it is with all the elements. They command our respect. Do you sense life and consciousness in the flames? This is the realm of the salamander, living fire. Listen to all the sounds and watch the shapes of the flames. Does fire have a message for you? Watch until the flames start to die down and the last flickering blue flames remain…watch and listen, scrying into the embers until you are ready to leave the fire. Hold the memory of your experience with you as you return to normal awareness.
Still
This contemplation may be performed indoors or any
peaceful outdoor location where you are sheltered and will not be interrupted. Seat yourself comfortably and close your eyes, turning your attention inwards. Place your hands over your solar plexus, your energetic centre. The third expression of the element is your own inner fire. Feel the warmth that is generated by your body. Consider the electrical signals and impulses that are passing through you constantly. These physical aspects are part of your inner fire. It goes much deeper than this. Within each of us is a spark of the Divine. Just as there is a star burning at the centre of our world, so each of us has a spiritual core, a star burning in our centre. Just as the stars above and all existence are connected in a web of energy, so our inner star is connected to all life—to all divine sparks within all living beings.
Feel the power emanating from your core. This is your eternal self that will outlive the body and is connected to all eternity. You do not need to seek for connection…it is already inherent within you. Keep your breathing steady, and feel the power of your will—your ability to act on decision. These things are undeniable, and they are part of the ineffable flame within. Stay with these thoughts and sensations for as long as you are comfortable, then slowly return to normal awareness, bringing the memory and sense of connection back with you into your everyday life.
Contemplations of Water
Primal
For this contemplation it is preferable to be in close physical proximity to the sea. However, this is not possible for many, so it may be performed as a visualization, in which case I recommend finding a good audio recording of ocean waves to listen to.
See the primal vastness of the ocean before you. Watch the waves; feel the rhythm like a heartbeat as they surge forward and then retreat. Listen to the crashing of the waves and feel the power, power that can be harnessed but never tamed. Remember that just as most of your body is water, so it is with the surface of our world. Also remember that the water in your body is affected by the cycles of the moon, just as it is with the tides of the ocean. Set your mind and heart to contemplating that all life first arose from the ocean…she is the first womb, Great Mother of us all, of all creatures…we share this mother, so all forms of life are our brothers and sisters in creation. As you contemplate this, hold in your mind the symbol for water, a simple downward-turned triangle in blue. You realize that this shape reflects the shape of a womb, and that the inner world reflects the outer, and vice versa. Keeping your breath steady as the rhythm of the waves, you may stay with this state as long as you wish, bringing the awareness of connection back with you into your everyday life.
Living
For this contemplation, find a natural spring, stream, or river where you can sit undisturbed for a time. Seat yourself comfortably as near to the running water as you can. Watch the water as it flows through the landscape. Though it seems gentle, its power has worn a path through the land over centuries, smoothing the rocks and soil of mighty earth. Listen to the sounds of the rushing water as it bubbles and splashes…can you hear song within it? Laughter? This is the living realm of the beauteous undines, the elementals of water.
Has this water come from the realm of above as rain? Has it emerged from a spring from the depths of the underworld? It has been both, and it now carries the memory of above and below. Water flows through us, just as it flows through the world. Again, within and without are mirrors of each other—our connections hidden in plain view. You see and understand how much a part of the world you truly are. Stay with this sensation for as long as you wish, and bring the awareness back with you into everyday life.
Still
For the contemplation of still water, find a small lake or pool in a peaceful location by which you can comfortably sit undisturbed. See the surface of the water. What is reflected on the surface? At the same time, can you see the bottom of the pool through the clear water? Imagine the reflection of the world above as a world in its own right, and that you could dive through the water into the otherworld. Close your eyes and picture this world beneath…a world of truth and memory of all ages. How does this world differ from our own? What beings dwell within? Hold in your mind the thought of all the times and happenings that may have been reflected in these waters, their energy held there still.
With deep and even breath, empty your mind of interrupting thoughts. When your mind is clear, it is like the surface of the water. It may reflect the above and reveal the below. Every unfocused thought is as a stone thrown into the lake, casting ripples about it and distorting the reflection, obscuring what lies beneath. Spend time contemplating the water, its reflections, and what lies below, both in this world and the otherworld. Your mind is like the surface of the water. Stay with this connection for as long as you wish, and bring the understanding back with you into everyday life.
Contemplations of Earth
Primal
For this contemplation, simply find a peaceful outdoor space where you can lie undisturbed on the ground. The primal manifestation of the element of earth is the earth itself, the ground beneath our feet. Lying on the ground, allow yourself to completely relax…trust. Close your eyes and feel how the earth supports you. You could not be more stable than you are now, putting your trust in the earth. Send your awareness down through your body. Imagine you are melding into the earth, all tensions easing away. Let your awareness pass down into the earth beneath you. As it supports you, so it supports all life. Within it lies the fuel for all growth. Be aware of your physical body, your flesh and bones…it too is part of the earth and will become earth when your spirit no longer needs its vessel, just as all your ancestors have passed into earth. You rest upon their wisdom. When you walk, you walk upon their shoulders.
Can you sense the deep, slow heartbeat of earth beneath you? Listen for the heartbeat like a deep, deep drum coming from below. As you do so, see the image of the green inverted triangle (with the bar across the point) that is the symbol for this element. Hold this for as long as you wish, and when you are ready, bring the sense of connection back with you into your daily awareness.
Living
For this contemplation, find some woodland or simply a tree that calls to you in a private location. When you have found a particular tree that you wish to connect with, first stand at a polite distance from the tree. Look at the tree as though you were beholding it for the first time. See how its branches reach up to the light, how strong its trunk is, and picture how deep into the ground the roots grow, mirroring the branches above. Standing before the tree, perform the Faery Tree exercise and see that trees are our closest cousins in the plant world. Know that we must have strong roots in the hidden places in order to have great branches that reach up to the light. Both light and dark in balance are the path to strength in wisdom.
Once this is complete, enter into the energy field of the tree and hold up your hand in greeting. Introduce yourself according to your personal etiquette. Do you feel the tree respond? Can you sense the energy of the tree with your hand? If it feels appropriate to do so, you may sit with your back against the tree and close your eyes, or hold the tree in an embrace. Know that this tree is a living, growing being…the growth is slow and strong, ever reaching higher above and deeper below. Allow your awareness to travel down the trunk of the tree and into the roots. The roots reach down into the unseen lands beneath, untouched by the hands of man. Can you feel the strength of growth reaching down into the hard earth? Will the tree whisper any secrets to you of that land beneath? This is the realm of the gnomes, the elementals of earth. You may also commune with the dryad, the spirit of the tree. Silence can be as much of a gift as words.When you are ready, bring your awareness back up the tree and bring the connection back with you into your daily life.
Still
For this contemplation, you need either a stone that you can hold in your hand or a peaceful place where there are rocks or boulders. Be sure that you will be undisturbed. Make yourself comfortable, with your
hands upon the stone. What do you feel? Is the stone warm or cold? Does it seem to respond to your touch? Close your eyes and put your awareness into the stone. Its age is almost unfathomable. Try to imagine what its journey must have been to get to this moment in time. Volcanoes…the Ice Age…what has this stone seen?
Some say that the only living things are those that grow, yet can you not feel that this still stone also has life? Holding the stone and emptying your mind of everyday thought, see what images or sounds arise; will the stone sing to you? It grows warm with your touch as your energies combine. You understand the qualities that led the ancestors to build circles of stone to mark and channel the sacred energies.
When you are ready, withdraw from the stone, but bring your new understanding and sense of connection with you into your everyday life.
The Faery Zodiac
Dividing the four elements into three different qualities, we find ourselves with a direct elemental parallel to the western zodiac system. I have assigned appropriate Faery beings and myths to these twelve elemental divisions to give us a Faery zodiac. Not only is this an interesting way to look at the different beings and stories that are associated with the varied environmental manifestations of the elements, but it is also an excellent way of personally identifying with the qualities of the elements and their spiritual personalities. This is, of course, only a brief look at the sun signs and does not take into account the full complexity of astrology with the positioning of the other planets, but there is certainly scope to take these ideas and develop them further as a system.
Faery Craft: Weaving Connections with the Enchanted Realm Page 7