When performing healing, always be sure that you have the permission of the person in need of healing. Holding your hands a few inches from the patient’s body, you may find that you can feel energetic tingles, blockages, cold and hot patches, or that images or even words come to you. Tune in to your Faery ally and trust your intuition. When you do place your hands on the patient, allow your breathing to become deep and steady, and focus on a nearby landscape feature or place of power, allowing the energy to flow through you.
Sigils
A sigil is a symbol created as a focal point for magickal intent. It can be a preexisting symbol or one specially created for the purpose. We have already seen with the great glyph of the sidhe how a sigil can act as an astral doorway into the otherworld. Sigils have a number of other uses, including as a point of focus for magickal work or for protection. You may wish to journey with your Faery allies to find suitable sigils for specific purposes, remembering to state this as your intent when journeying, or you can craft a sigil consciously for a purpose. To do this, consider the qualities that you wish to encapsulate, find or create suitable symbols for them, then merge these into the simplest possible form that you can, containing elements of all the symbols.
When using a sigil to protect the home, you may want to paint it on a stone or stones, empower it by breathing your intent and energy into it, then place it with intent near the entrance or windows of your home. To use a sigil as a temporary magickal focus, either draw it on a piece of paper or some other temporary form, such as sand on a beach. Imbue it by building up energy with focus, either through physical activity such as dance, breathing, or your preferred method, then destroying the sigil and thus releasing it into the universe. Drawing sigils on the beach is a lovely method, for you can focus on your sigil and then allow it to be washed away into the ocean by the waves on the shore.
Divination
We have already discussed the gift of prophecy and its strong connections to the realm of Faery, so naturally you may wish to train in a method of divination. There is no particular method that is most connected with Faery, so simply explore, listen to the guidance of your Faery allies, and find what works best for you.
If you connect particularly well to trees, you may wish to learn more of the ancient druidic alphabet called the ogham, which can be used for divination in a similar way to runes, which are another popular choice. If you are a strongly visual person, then I recommend acquiring a set of tarot or oracle cards that speak to you. There are a number of excellent sets available that feature Faery, and these can also act as a bridge to their realm for communication as well as for divinatory purposes.
Other possibilities include scrying into a pool of still water or into the embers of a fire. Simply still your mind and allow images, sounds, or words to form without judging them, and then interpret them later. Keep a journal of your efforts—this can be most helpful to look back on and compare results.
Dreams
Working with Faery tends to enhance dreams, and powerful messages may come that need to be acted on. Try keeping a regular dream diary to help you recognise recurring patterns and symbols. This not only trains your mind to recall dreams more easily, it can also lead to active lucid dreaming. This is a state of dreaming where we become aware that we are dreaming and thus are able to control our dream environment, which is a very useful tool for Faery work. You may also try sleeping with certain objects—say, an empowered pebble or crystal—beneath your pillow or near your bed to enhance your dream experiences.
Finding Your Gift
You may already have a good idea of where your strengths lie and what gifts you would bring to the world of Faery. Are you a healer? An oracle? A visionary? A bard, perhaps? All of us have particular areas that we are drawn to more than others, and these can be developed into a set of skills that benefit both our world and Faery. Consider what you have learnt so far, which exercises you felt worked best for you, and which qualities of the elements most resonated with you. These should give you some clues. There is no quick and easy path to self-knowledge, but the gift that takes time and effort to find is worth all the more, like a rare treasure in an archaeological dig. Keep strong connections with the land and your otherworldly allies, and this will help you uncover your potential. The following exercise was gifted to me by Faery to help you on your way…
Exercise: The Apple Seed
For this exercise you will need one apple, preferably locally sourced. Sit comfortably in a place where you will not be disturbed. Hold the apple in your hands, resting on your lap. Take three deep breaths and release all tension, then breathe steadily, relax, and close your eyes. See the apple in your mind’s eye. Consider the apple as a symbol of knowledge, experience, and wisdom. Know that the skin of the apple is your outer self—all your day-to-day thoughts and mundane needs and responsibilities. See the skin peeling from the apple, leaving the flesh beneath. Discard the skin and, along with it, any of your mundane concerns of the moment.
Now you see the apple. Know that the flesh of the apple represents your acquired knowledge and experience of this lifetime, the world that you have built around yourself. You now see that the apple is divided into a top and a bottom half, and it splits into two halves along the horizontal, one
