Edain McCoy - The Healing Power of Faery: Working With Elementals and Nature Spirits to Soothe the Body and Soul

THE
HEALING POWER
of Faery

Working with Elementals and Nature Spirits to
Soothe the Body and Soul

EDAIN MCCOY

Copyright 2008, by Edain McCoy.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be
reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher;
exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by
Provenance Press, an imprint of Adams Media,
an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-809-1
ISBN 10: 1-59869-809-5
eISBN: 978-1-44051-590-3

Printed in Canada.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
available from publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

The Healing Power of Faery is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. In light of the complex, individual, and specific nature of health problems, this book is not intended to replace professional medical advice. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions in this book are intended to supplement, not replace, the advice of a trained medical professional. Consult your physician before adopting the suggestions in this book, as well as about any condition that may require diagnosis or medical attention. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

ALSO BY EDAIN MCCOY

Advanced Witchcraft
Astral Projection for Beginners
Bewitchments
Celtic Myth and Magick
Celtic Womens Spirituality
Enchantments
Entering the Summerland
How to Do Automatic Writing
If You Want to Be a Witch
Karmic & Past Life Tarot
Magick and Rituals of the Moon
Making Magick
Mountain Magick
The Ninth Hallows
Ostara
A Witchs Guide to Faery Folk
The Sabbats
Spellworking for Covens
Three Witches Dead & the Last One Said...
The Witches Coven
Witta

content

with grateful thanks...

To all friends and partners of faery, and to those who took time to share with me their stories of faery, helping to make this book possible; including: Ron Cordes, Mystral of FPG, Mike, Christopher Penczak, Margie McArthur, Rhiannon Skye, Morganna Feyraven, Breanna WinDancer, Ann Marie of FPG, Beth, Chris, and Jackie in Alabama; Erik McBride, D.D.; and my amazing agent, Denise Dumars.

A unique nod of thanks goes to one special fey friendThomas OShaughnessya man who now knows better.

Introduction Tearing Through the Rip in Manannan MacLirs cloak

I first saw faeries when I was six years old. At the time my family lived in a parsonage in an older neighborhood in South Bend, Indiana. We lived next door to a genteel old English lady who maintained a spectacular English garden beside her large house. One beautiful spring night, I was leaning on my bedroom windowsill looking out over the expanse of garden between our parsonage and the neighbors house when I noticed movement around a circular bed of flowers.

The beings I saw there were translucent. I thought I was seeing ghosts, but then realized the creatures I was watching were not human enough to be ghosts. There were five or six of them and all appeared to be female. Their long gowns seemed to be part of their bodies from the waist up, but trailed like a hazy mist as they fell toward the grass. I noticed a hint of gossamer wingsa clich, I know, but thats what they looked like to mewith no clear demarcation between their bodies and the air around them.

Although their bodies were those of well-formed adults, I estimated them to be no more than three feet tall. Their eyes were large and entrancing, and their ears seemed overlarge beneath thick long hair that swayed as they danced clockwise around the flower bed.

Two weeks after I witnessed what I know now to be faeries playing in my next-door neighbors English garden, my grandmother came to visit. She gave me a book called The Happy Easter Storybook in which I saw a drawing of the same beings Id spotted in the garden only weeks before. After all these years and twenty-five moves to different homes, I still have that tattered book, and I pull it out occasionally to remind myself why I believe in faeries.

This book is not your standard how-to text. Faery is a subject that cannot be contained in a how-to, step-by-step format. Because I want this book to reach as wide an audience as possible, some of you who already have a working relationship with faery and are seeking only to deepen it, may find your eyes crossing at the beginning chapters of this book. You know how faeries appear, you understand their diversity, and you accept them as they present themselves to you.

The Legend of Manannan MacLirs Cloak

One of the most famous tales in Celtic mythology is that of Manannan MacLirs Cloak. In it, a faery beauty known as Fand, who lives beneath a bejeweled Irish lake, falls deeply in love with a human man, the Red Branch warrior hero, Cuchulain. The sea God, King Manan nan MacLir, watched the couple try to mesh their two worlds into one in which they could flourish both as individuals and as a couple. But he saw only disaster as both human and faery continued to war. The values of each race were different, and each saw the other as an enemy who threatened his or her very existence.

Saddened by what he witnessed, but believing he was acting in the best interest of all, the King allowed Fand and Cuchulain to say their farewells at the edge of Fands lake, on a place that could not be said to be either earth or water. Manannan raised his magickal cloak between the couple. Fand returned to her lake and Cuchulain to his warriors. The memory of one another and one anothers worlds were erased from their minds.

Why Should Humans Reunite with Faery?

Why does such a wide chasm still exist between the human world and the world of faery? Why are we separate from faery, unable to reach physically into the overlap of our worlds without exerting tremendous effort? Why is it even difficult to meet on neutral ground in the astral plane that lies between our two distinct worlds? Why were faery lost to us and we lost to them for so many centuries? Why have we stopped believing? And why should humans and faeries now seek to interact with one another again?

We need only look at the present state of the world to see that two different human cultures are not always able to live in harmony with one another. Its no surprise, then, that beings from two different realms might find peaceful interaction difficult. Although many New Agers, nature lovers, children, and Pagans today are seeking to reconnect with the multifaceted realm of faery, it would be wrong to suggest that we and the fey are trusted pals. There will always be people who dont believe in faery, just as there will always be faeries who do not like or wish to interact with humans. Fortunately, history shows us that sometimes old foes can become new allies. We know from experience that two groups united in one cause are much stronger than two separate groups trying to achieve the same ends on their own.