How to Attract Faeries and Elementals

As we expand our spiritual lives, we find it essential to deepen our contact with the natural world. When we do this, we find that we can touch other realms and meet other beings such as faeries and elemental nature spirits. To encourage contact with the “Fair Folk” and others, create a faery garden in your yard, on a porch or inside your home.

If you have a yard, choose a spot for your faery garden that is out of the way and not the center of a lot of activity. If possible, find an area that is slightly secluded where you can let plants go a little wild. Try not to use lawn mowers too close to it.

Hawthorn, elder, weeping willow and apple trees are favorites of the faeries. If possible, locate your faery garden under or near these. Favored shrubs include lilac, pussy willow and poinsettia. Nearby water makes it more ideal, but if it is not naturally available you can use a large shallow bowl to create a water feature. A decorative bowl from a birdbath works well. Be sure to keep the water clean and fresh to show the faeries that you care about them. Position rocks and plants around the bowl to make the setting as natural as possible.

Faeries love all types of plants but certain ones are especially attractive to them. These include primrose, foxglove, jasmine, lavender, snowdrops, and ivy. Chamomile, mugwort, thyme, and sage are favored herbs, and spices include cinnamon and ginger.

If you are positioning your faery garden near a tree, you may want to suspend a couple of hanging baskets from a few branches (don’t pound a nail into the tree) or use a few small flower pots and wedge them into the crotch where limbs join. If dryads inhabit the tree, they will be pleased with the gesture. If none reside there currently, this may attract them.

In front of the screen or climbing plants, position a flower box or two for taller plants such as foxglove, which can grow as high as four feet, and mugwort, which can get quite bushy. Find a bowl to create a water feature that is an appropriate size for the arrangement you are creating. Place smaller potted plants around the water to create a natural setting. Old china bowls and saucers from a thrift shop make nice drainage pans for smaller flowerpots and add a decorative touch.

Indoors
With the vast array of water fountains on the market, you will have a seemingly endless selection from which to choose as the focal point of an indoor faery garden. As with an outdoor garden, the first step is to decide where to locate it. Because it will include live plants you will need to position it where there is enough sunlight, but that does not necessarily mean that it needs direct light. Decide on which plants you want to use and then check the amount of sunlight they will require. The indoor faery garden can be placed on a table, windowsill (if it’s wide enough), shelf, or the floor. If you are using a fountain instead of a bowl of water, you will also need to consider the proximity of an electrical outlet.

Another feature to include in this special garden, whether it’s located inside or outdoors, is a smooth flat surface. For outdoors you may want to look for a flat rock, which can be positioned on the ground or use an overturned flowerpot to raise it off the ground. Your local garden center may offer other things that can be used for this. Some indoor fountains have a small shelf that surrounds the water. If you are locating your garden on a shelf or windowsill you can use that flat surface.
The size you will need for this flat surface will depend on the size of the objects you will place there. These objects may include gemstones and crystals, votive candles, an incense burner or tray, and an offering bowl or plate. You may also want to include a small faery figurine. Even though faeries come on all shapes and sizes, it is mainly the Victorian “ideal” that are most commonly found on the market. Use these as symbols with the intention to invite all types to your garden.

Gemstones and crystals to consider include staurolite, suglite, peridot, jade, fluorite, and quartz (all types). Scents to use include jasmine, sandalwood, vanilla, or lavender. Leaf-shaped incense trays or other natural shapes are widely available and go well with the intent of creating a garden setting. If you are using incense outdoors, you may want to use an incense bottle (buy or create one) where a stick of incense is suspended upside down in the bottle. This way the ash will be captured safely in the bottle and not become a fire hazard. Look for votive candleholders or other small candlesticks that complement the style of the items you are using in your garden. As always, use candles carefully indoors and out.

Like the other items, an offering bowl or plate should be of proportionate size to the other objects in your faery garden. Offerings can include honeyed tea (such as chamomile, ginger or valerian), faery mead (milk, honey and a drop of vanilla extract), small pieces of bread soaked in honey, or dried herbs and spices (mentioned in this article). You may find that these appear untouched, but remember that faeries inhabit an ethereal realm. While they cannot consume these as we can, they are attracted to them and can utilize the essence of these foods. Spend time in your faery garden. Use it to meditate and/or do ritual, or just sit and observe. Your energy and intention will also attract the faeries and other elementals. In turn, you will probably become more attracted to this special place you have created.