How do you give thanks to the, er, "wee folk"?

[BlueIris]

I'm sorry if the title of this post looks insensitive or inaccurate to describe the kinds of magical influences I'm trying to reward. Here's what's going on: I actually just had a Tarot reading indicating, among other things, that I might be interested in leaving offerings of thanks to helpers in the natural world, the Green World or the "Other Here," in repayment for their assistance in resolving my recent troubles (not out of the woods, yet, but I wouldn't want them to feel neglected). I live on a large piece of property and interact quite a few wild things (raccoons, birds, moles). I can thank those creatures by feeding them, but what about the ones you can't see all the time. Google searches haven't yielded anything productive. Thoughts?

[arikara]

1. Just thank them sincerely

they will appreciate the acknowlegement. If you want to do something more, make some orgonite muffins and put them around your property. They will like that.

[Sanity Claws]

3. What's orgonite?

[arikara]

7. Its kind of hard to describe but...

Orgone is life force energy also known as; chi, prana, huna, odic force, etc. Every living thing is made of and consumes life energy. Orgone was named by Wilhelm Reich in 1946. He constructed special equipment to measure and study orgone and to observe its effects. Dr. Reich eventually developed simple devices called Orgone accumulators to focus and build up this energy for charging living things or objects with Orgone life force energy. Orgonite is the term used for the devices which have been developed based on his work. These are easy to construct and the most basic are a combination of catalyzed resin, metal particles and quartz crystal, some have other types of crystal and fancy coils inside as well. Somehow this material balances the ambient energy fields by transmuting unbalanced and harmful energies into healthy life force (orgone).

I've made some of the basic ones and have spread it around my property and throughout the house. You really can feel the energy coming from them. They are supposed to do amazing things for the garden, I will find that out next spring I guess.

Google Wilhelm Reich, orgonite and orgone for more info.

Some links
http://www.orgonite.info/what-is-orgonite.html
http://educate-yourself.org/dc/orgonegenindex.shtml
http://www.loohan.com/

[Crowdance]

2. They love "spirits," chocolate, jewelry and dairy.

They especially love metalwork of great value. There is a Celtic tradition of creating jewelry and swords expressly for the purpose of offering them to the Sighe. Many of the stories we know of the sighe involve their use of the swords and rings and necklaces we've left for them in their lakes and bogs and fens.

[BlueIris]

4. Great. Jewelry I can do.

In fact, I have a wonderful little ring I'm going to put out tonight. They should like that a lot.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Tell me how they like it and if they take it

[BlueIris]

16. Hee. Finally looked around tonight and it's GONE!

So, I hope that means they like it.

[robertarctor]

5. My frame of reference is similar, but Eastern ...

I receive daily guidance from the I Ching, and upon attuning my the true-self part of my consciousness to what the hexagrams were telling me, it became apparent that a friendly intelligence, which I call The Sage, speaks through the oracle and through meditation, and is assisted by many helpers in nature, each of which is appointed to perform a special task. There are billions of helpers.

[BlueIris]

6. So...do you give thanks to this intelligence?

Beyond daily I Ching activity, that is?

[robertarctor]

10. Yes.

But simple thanks to the sage and helpers are enough, without oblations or ritual, in line with two of the three cosmic virtues: equality and modesty (the third is uniqueness). Embracing this point of view means to reject any heirarchical ordering of the universe.

[Matariki]

8. a class of milk and some cake -

i believe that is the traditional irish thing for the "wee folk".

i practice Vodou and ceremonial magick and stuff from Vodou has been crossing over into my ceremonial practices. i.e. I've been making food and drink offerings for the Elemental spirits for a few years now and it is very rewarding, it feels nice to do and seems to strengthen my relationship with those spirits.

[Love Bug]

9. How do you make the offering?

Do you just place a cup of milk and a piece of cake outside under a tree? Just curious how the offering is made.

[Mabus]

11. Symbology and location

Is there a particular place where you meditate or commune with the others? I leave offerings at the places where I meditate. Offerings for me are dependent on who and where I am meditating or what's going on and what help I've asked for or what I'm expressing my gratitude over.

For example, when I'm out at a bonfire with friends sharing food. I'll place a small plate of whatever I'm eating nearby so my bounty is shared because I'm expressing my gratitude for that time, place and company I'm with that evening. Whenever I eat I always leave a little offering outside. When I'm at home it I usually put a small amount of whatever I'm eating on a plate and leave it on the front porch because I want the spirits to know they are as welcome to my home as the people who visit me.

One of the places I like to go to meditate is full of the spirits of children (it is near an old Indian boarding school and in the area where many of them were buried - including at least one of my relatives) so I leave candy, pin wheels, coloring books or small toys.

For big things, and this is due to my upbringing, I use prayer cloths. I'll carry a piece of material, usually cotton, when I'm asking the spirits for help. I carry the cloth with me at all times and "talk" into it - expressing my concerns, wishes for others that may or may not be affected, ask for help or whatever else is going on. During this time I also collect small items that are related to whatever is going on in my own life and/or remind me of the person/problem I'm seeking help for at that time. When I'm ready to leave the offering I tear the cloth into four pieces, then I take the items I've gathered and place a few of them in the center of each cloth. I usually use jute or something natural to tie the items in the cloth such that they look like little ghosts and then tie each of the four prayer cloths onto trees or branches near where I usually go to find mental clarity and ask for help. As the cloths disinigrate everything I've put into to thm released - my hopes, my fears, my anxieties, my acceptance of things that need to be, my tears, my laughter - it is all released.

Last time I did this it was on behalf of some health and money problems that my sister was having. She was hit by a car, left for dead and is now permanently disabled and has brain damage. She's had several surgeries to repair both her body and her face. For her, I picked up some beer bottle caps I found while out walking my dogs (she was out drinking the night she got hit), some small rocks (for the gravel road she was left on), some chicken bones (drumsticks because she has "chicken legs" and she was undergoing surgery on her legs), coins from the year she born, from the year she was hit and from the current year (for money reasons and for the metal bars in her legs), some Indian tobacco (made of tobacco, sumac and tallow) and a few other items like a small pieces of food she likes, earrings she gave me and the like.

I only mention this because if you've been asking for help over a period of time you need to give back over a period of time. As you go to a special place to contemplate your problems you build up its energy. Too often we take from a place and don't give back enough and so we drain off more good energy than we replace. You should make it a point to go to your special place when things are good and share your thoughts and energy. I don't know your situation but if you've wandered around your property asking for help than you might do well leave offerings at the corners of your property so you encompass the entire area where you've asked for help.


On edit: if you have a special place you might also want to put up a "Green Man" and/or some "Tinner's Hares". They are both ancient symbols and, to me, help honor the connections between man and nature.


The Three Hares


Two "Green Man" images.

[dbonds]

12. I was always told you don't just thank them.

That to them is an insult, as if they are your servants. You need to leave gifts as mentioned above. They are not there to do your bidding, but co-walkers.

[davsand]

13. I'm trying to remember what tradition you embrace.

I honestly can't remember and I do hope I'm not offending you to be so openly pagan with this. Being something of a kitchen witch, myself, I tend to take some of whatever I've made outside.

If I've been lazy and not made anything of much interest, I've been known to take bits of cookies or cake out to the spirits. Sometimes I go out and offer just a cup of milk or juice or even wine along with a prayer of thanks.

Sometimes I put offerings of bread or other things into a bonfire. Sometimes I drop them in running water. Other times I bury them...

Dunno if that helps or not, but that would be my suggested ideas.



Laura

[FreedomAngel82]

14. If you're talking about faeries

They like potatoe soup and little pieces of lint for the winter. I think they also like honey and sweet things and shiny things as well.

[BlueIris]

17. Tonight, I will put out some lint and see what happens.

That jewelry thing went so well, some lint can't hurt.

[Bluestar]

18. MacHaelle Small Wright

Hi Blueiris:

It occurred to me that if you're interested in nature devas and spirits and faeries, you might want to read a book or two by MacHaelle. Her first book is "Behaving as if the God in All Life Matters". Her whole life and career is built around a piece of property where she lives in complete harmony with the nature spirits. She talks about the miracles in her life in her books. There is also a society in Scotland called the Findhorn (spelling?) Society that has done this work for years. I think they both have a website. Good luck!

[cliss]

19. In Sweden, people used to leave

a bowl of porridge and some bread for the gnomes. The Swedes thought there were usually a few who lived out in the barn. The gnomes would keep an eye out for the livestock and make sure they were comfortable. These were the "good" gnomes, also called Tomtar, or Vittran or Vättran.

There are lots of interesting stories about fairies, elves and other beings. The worst thing you could do was to be careless and pee out in the woods and maybe hit one. That was asking for disaster. Also, you could not throw out a bucket of slop because you might hit one. You were always supposed to call out and warn them that something was coming.

Really interesting stuff.