Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: rowanf@cache.crc.ricoh.com (Rowan Fairgrove)
Subject: Spirits (Pt 1) (was  Re: Philosphical discussion of Gaea)
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1993 23:00:48 +0000

> How about a discussion about the spirits you work with?  How do you
> determine who the spirits of a place are?

First a disclaimer:  I wrote this out of my head without any of my
books nearby.  If I spelled something wrong in your trad, please
don't flame me.  This is a first articulation of my practice -- I'm
not a very introspective person. I work with many levels of the
spirit world but I agonize over whether it is "real" (tm).  It works.

_Personal Spirits_  Each individual has access to a personal source of 
guidance, strength and luck. Some call this "the higher self" or 
guardian angel. The ancient Romans held that every man had his 
<Genius> and every woman her <Juno>.  The Norse called this spirit 
<hamingja>.  I generally just call it my Luck or Guardian.  I reinforce 
my Luck by lighting incense in the temple and opening myself to any 
messages I might need to hear.  

_Family Spirits_ Many families/clans had spirits that look out for
them.  The Romans called these the <Lares> and usually saw them as
twins.  The Celts generally held the hearth to be the family shrine
and there is evidence that non-family members were barred from the
kitchen since it might sour the luck.  Some famous clan spirits
include banshees, the Faery Wife who gave Clan McLeod its Faery Flag
(which still hangs in Dunvegan Castle), etc.  Family spirits often are
concerned with women and children and help with birthing and tending
children as well as bringing prosperity and safety to the house.  I
generally work with both a spirit of the house and with ancestral
spirits.  We renew the house spirit each year at Beltaine by putting
in a new coin, flower, salt crystals and other items to symbolize what
we want for the year. (Our house spirit lives in an Etruscan figure
plaque which has a hollow for offerings.)  I remember my ancestors
several times a year and my most direct ancestors have an altar in the
temple at which I regularly burn a red candle.

_Land Spirits_  The Romans called these <genii loci>, the Celts 
depiected them as hooded figures called by the Roman's <Cucullati>.  
Brownies, Tomtes and other such spirits in folklore are generally of 
this type.  Natural features often have a spirit associated with them.  
Standing stones, old trees, solitary hills and natural springs are good 
places to look.  Get to know the  natural features of your area. Leave 
offerings at likely spots, do divination, ask for prophetic or helpful 
dreams.  Land spirits often will bring extra prosperity and luck to 
those they favor.  Consider the type of offering for the type of spirit.  
Flowers and food are always acceptable.  Clearing away an 
obstruction on a spring can win you favor. Remember that wishing 
wells are a remainder of the practice of leaving offerings in water. 
Smoke, either incense or tobacco, can be acceptable.  Don't forget that 
some spirits like alcohol, offer a libation. 
You may also want to study the land spirits of the people who lived in 
this area before you. The spirits may appreciate offerings based on 
those of their earlier folk.  
Some of my local land spirits are those that live in the redwoods; the 
spirits of Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpais; the spirit of a cave in the 
Berkeley hills and many others.

_Animal Spirits_  Many individuals, clans and families have totemic 
animals associated with them.  The Norse word is <fylgja>.  You can 
do divination if you don't know what kind of animal is your spirit-kin.  
Most people have some idea though because they feel a special affinity 
for some animal.  You may be able to communicate with your fetch 
and get insights into future events.  
You may have a special ability to communicate with the kin of your 
fetch.  My totem animal is the owl. When I lived on the land there 
came an owl who was eating one chicken a night.  I did a ritual and 
told the owl that s/he was welcome to have my chickens if s/he was 
really hungry, but that they were not he/r lawful prey.  I asked, by the 
bond we share, that the unlawful predation stop.  It did.  


_Elemental  Spirits_  These spirits, rather than being bound to a 
certain place or family, are the essence of the essential properties of 
the world.  A sylph is not merely a spirit of air, but may be the essence 
of air, sometimes called Air of Air.  When you invoke an elemental you 
are aligning yourself with that power of nature.  Elemental guardians 
are much used in Paganism today, so I won't belabor the obvious.

_Otherworldly Beings_ As there are spirits who have an essential 
nature of  the elements, so are there beings who live on other planes 
which have certain essential properties and who often play a role in 
the life of humans.  Otherworldly figures often appear at crucial 
moments in a person's life to show the path and at death to lead the 
released soul.  Guide and helper, psychopomp and guardian. Some of 
the family and clan spirits mentioned above are otherworldly beings 
who have a tie with a particular clan.  Otherworldly being are best 
invoked in the between places, the strand between the sea and the 
shore, the shadows between the forest and the meadow, etc.  Those 
numinous places where the Otherworld touches and it is easier to 
pass.
Just as otherworldly guides can come to our world, we can journey to 
other planes. We can bring back insights into our own actions and 
glimpses of the future.  We can meet and consult otherworlders and 
sometimes help them with their concerns.  Shamanic techniques such 
as drumming, trance induction such as at a Norse <seidr>, sensory 
deprivation as in the wattles of knowledge or guided meditation, can 
bring you into the otherworld.

_Culture hero/ines and Ancestors_  These are the humans who 
provide the models for the folk.  Culture heros like Cu Chulainn or 
Erik the Red, Sequoya or Chaka Zulu, Ghandi or Martin Luther King. 
Those who found clans, forge new ideas, define the culture they live 
in.  They can also be ancestors.  Direct ancestors watch over those 
who come after them, some with more diligence than others.  Much of 
what you are, the configuration of your bones, the color of your eyes, 
you owe to an ancestor, you carry a pattern down through the ages.  It 
is good to remember that lineage.  If you don't know your own 
ancestors, or if you follow a different path, choose culture hero/ines 
whom your admire.  We are creatures of time as well as space and it is 
well to be in harmony with the cycles of time.

And then, of course, we get into deities - cosmogenic deities, tribal 
dieties, dieties who control natural forces, dieties who turn the 
seasons, dieties of hunt and herds, of tree and herb, of crops and 
wildlands.  But I think I have gone on quite enough for one post. :-)

Gypsy

Rowan Fairgrove
*************** 
Enchanted Gypsy Tarot
rowanf@well.sf.ca.us