June 21 - September 22

(This reading addresses planetary and individual concerns.)

 

Image Naisha Ahsian 1994

Gift: Hematite/Manifest Light

This ally involves becoming a channel for divine energy on earth.  It helps people to be able to know and live their purpose.  It dispels fear.  Collectively, we will be able work together to realize our visions.  It will be easier to see which choices are the most enlightened.  These enlightened choices will feel grounded and something that we're ready to take action on together.  There's a strong potential to come together and face challenging situations without fear.  Individually, you feel like you are "in the zone" with this ally.  Your ability to manifest your higher purpose is strengthened because you are more willing to take action on your intuitive guidance.

 

This ally is a storm element energy.  This means it works on the personality and soul level simultaneously.  Change and transformation are indicated with storm element stones.  Turquoise works by integrating all aspects of the self into a united whole.  It also brings together the power of heaven and earth to heal.  Collectively, there'll be fear and it may feel challenging to express our opinions in groups without anger.  It is important to realize that everyone is a part of the process, like the different cells in an organism.  It is not necessary to agree in order to accept others' points of you.  If we can do this, it will be much easier for people to speak their divine truth and to work together.  This is something that we need to do during this time.  Many old ideas and structures are changing and we may feel like we do not have a good relationship with time.  When this happens, it easy to feel like things are moving too quickly or that we don't have enough time to make the necessary changes.

Individually, this ally will help you to see every part of your self as lovable.  You will not need to feel perfect.  It will be easier for you to speak your truth without feeling ashamed.  This is a good time for healing and for healers to practice their art.  If you're feeling disconnected from other people, being in nature will help you to feel more of a sense of belonging.

Holey Stones from Turtle Beach, Sarasota, Florida

There is a wonderful northern European and British tradition of working with stones with natural holes.  Holed or holey stones, as they're called, are used for divination, healing, and protection.  They are considered to be portals to the Otherworld and are blessed with fairy magic.

If you're interested in British prehistoric stone circles and megaliths, you may already know about their powers.  The Cornish Men-an-tol is a gigantic ring large enough for a person to crawl through.  It is said to heal certain diseases because of pixie magic.  Until 1814, there was a large stone with a hole in it in Stenness, Orkney.  It was called the Odin Stone and was used by local couples to get engaged.

But tiny holey stones are also powerful.  The hole is usually created by an animal or water.  They are sacred in many cultures.  The Peruvians believe that they are powerful guiding stones and can be used for dreaming.  They can draw your heart's desires to you.  In the British isles, they were used as amulets and hung near beds to encourage good dreams.

They are also excellent stones for divination and encouraging psychic sight.  Since they are connected to fairy magic, they can help people to see these beings.  They are particularly helpful to see flower fairies.  I've benefited from working with these types of stones and they're very easy to use.  I am not naturally clairvoyant, but I have seen flower fairies with my holey stones.

Some people see flower fairies as little humans with wings.  It is more common to see them as tiny lights.  They may hover or fly near a flower.  I have found that it is easiest to see them near wildflowers that are in full bloom.  I also think that it is easier to see them around a power spot that enhances my psychic abilities.  I have seen them near a labyrinth and a Native American burial mound.  However, it is traditional to see these beings most easily during the full moon.

A holey stone from Om Gaia Books, Bradenton, Florida

If you find a holey stone on a beach or buy one online, prepare the stone as you would a quartz crystal.  Then take it out to a garden or a wildflower meadow.  Center, ground, and open sacred space in whatever way is comfortable for you.  If it feels right, hold the stone between your hands for a few moments and attune to its energy.  Every stone does slightly different things.

Then find a particularly healthy-looking flower.  If you have a favorite charm or prayer to see fairies, use it before looking through the stone.  Then hold the stone up and look through it as if it were a telescope.  Let your eyes go out of focus a little bit.  You may see an after-image of the ring.  Try to ignore it.  You will probably begin to go into a trance state.  If you are naturally clairvoyant, it is really common to see colors.  Move your hand with the stone in it around.  D. J. Conway, in the book "the Ancient Art of Faery Magic", suggests that they sometimes like to stay just out of eyesight.  You may see a bright light moving or hovering just above the flower.  It may look like a tiny orb.

If you are not naturally clairvoyant, you'll probably feel or hear the fairies before you see them.  This is how I experience them.  Sometimes I feel part of my consciousness beginning to slip through the hole.  This is when I tend to see the lights.

Holey stones can also be used to divine the future or past.  D. J. Conway suggests looking through the stone with your left eye to divine the past.  Your right eye is used to see the future. 

If your holey stone tends to "help" you know where to look for the fairies or if you have strong dreams about the stone, it may also be good for manifesting or healing. 

Image Brian Froud 2010

June 24 is Fairy Day.  It was created by Jessica Galbreth, illustrator of the Enchanted Oracle, to celebrate fairies and fairy art.  This is a modern expression of a very old tradition.  People have been celebrating and hoping to see fairies on or around the summer solstice for many centuries.  It was an old British folk belief that you could contact the fairies on Midsummer Eve.

Fairies, in British and Irish folklore, were ancient ancestors or elemental powers that had become supernatural beings.  Some were said to live in "fairy hills", like the Pictish burial mound in Aberlour, Scotland called Fairy Knowe.  Some fairies were small but many were not tiny or delicate.  They were always tricky, but could bestow blessings or wreak havoc.  Fairies were called different names in different parts of the United Kingdom.  However, they were usually divided into good or destructive beings.  The Scots called the good fairies the seelie court.  The unseelie court were the bad fairies.

Ordinary people were a little bit afraid of the fairies and tried to stay on good terms with them.  There were many charms to protect your baby from being switched with a changeling, a type of fairy child kidnapping.  Many illnesses were attributed to the fairies.  Untouched food and drink was left out for the brownies to thank them for help with household chores.  They were always spoken about in a flattering way, like calling them "the good folk ".  Some old-timers even thought of them as fallen angels.

Even in the old days, however, there were people who wanted contact with the fairies.  Many poets and psychics spent time near places that were associated with them.  And there are songs and legends about love affairs between fairies and people.  Fairies gave magic objects to humans that benefited the local community.  The Cornish pixies gave the holey stone Men-an-tol its healing powers.  The famous Fairy Flag of Macleod is said to have healed people, cattle, and helped the harvest and fishing.

There were also fairies that were associated with plants.  The fairy Ghillie Dhu is considered a guardian spirit of trees, especially the birch.  There are fairies associated with moss and heather.  These types of fairies would later be combined with the idea of devas, spirits who helped plants grow.  Plant fairies became the flower fairies of the Victorian Era.  They were beautiful, tiny, and clothed in petals.  People wanted to see fairies - they were considered to be beneficial.

Flower fairy art became very popular at this time.  An illustrator named Cicely Mary Barker created popular books filled with drawings of these beings.  A modern version of her work can be found in the book, "How to Find Flower Fairies".  But this sanitized vision of fairies did not last for long.  The modern pagan movement brought some of the old beliefs back into fashion.  The full spectrum of fairy behavior is reflected in the work of Brian Froud.  His "Good Fairies, Bad Fairies" and "Faerie Oracle" deck are a little more traditional.  Anna Franklin's "Fairy Ring Oracle" is very traditional.  Some of the fairies in it are kind of scary!

Fairy Day may be a recent creation, but the celebration of fairies is ancient and rooted in tradition