Fun with Faeries: Making Friends with the Fey People + Adorable Crafts
Updated: Sep 3, 2019
We have been researching how to work with faeries, and there is much to learn! My daughter has always had a strong connection with nature. Some say faeries are a bridge between humans and the magic of our living, natural world. I believe some people are here to bridge the human world to the faeries and mythical realm. I don't think it's an accident that so many children these days are obsessed with mythical creatures! #unicornsforlife
Not long after we began making faerie crafts (see our favorites below!) and celebrating the seasons, my daughter had a vivid dream of meeting the faeries who live in our yard. They introduced her to their little town in a brambly section of our garden and invited her to join them at a dance party. She woke up bubbling with excitement telling me all about the experience. It was pure magic to her, and so began our journey into the world of the fey.
We have been reading Faeriecraft by Alicen and Neil Geddes-Ward, which is an excellent starting point. It's a manual for setting up altars to celebrate and communicate with faeries. I learned that Elodie's dream is called a "visitation" and is considered a fairy initiation. I also learned that when opening communication with the fey people, like with all people, discernment is key. There are guidelines for communication with the highest vibrational nature beings, as there is a spectrum of energies from dark to light in the faerie realm. I will be updating this post as we go along this journey, as it is becoming clear this will be a learning process -- perhaps lifelong -- so possibly there will be many posts to come!
Although we didn't know it at the time, the first connections we made with the faerie realm were through our nature traditions. For the past few years we have been observing old European traditions sometimes known as the "wheel of the year." We make a point to celebrate the winter and summer solstices, as well as the fall and spring equinoxes. We also love planting perennial bulbs like crocuses, daffodils, alliums and irises, blessing them and placing them in the ground with intentions we'd like to manifest when they bloom in the spring. We now have many plants who feel like old friends coming for a visit every spring.
So, the faeriecraft traditions fit naturally with what we were already doing. We began by creating a faerie village at the base of our favorite tree, a very old Norwegian Maple.
Elodie is a diligent caretaker of the village, and we discovered in our research that keeping the faerie altar tidy is good faerie etiquette. We enjoy adding new crafts through the seasons, as well. Our lanterns are hanging next to a painted stick with shimmery and mirrored beads strung with embroidery floss. The mirrored beads reflect sunlight and also the light of the lanterns, creating orbs of light all around the faerie village when the wind blows. This was little light feature was accidental... accidentally awesome! We also collect champagne corks and turn them into faerie stools by painting and bedazzling them with glitter.
On special evenings, such as the full moon or just because we wish to say hello, we light the lanterns with LED tea lights and leave offerings of milk and honey in little half-shells. I have read that faerie offerings should always be something from nature and also the freshest and highest quality one can afford. The dishes should also be promptly cleaned the next day.
In the book Faeriecraft, Geddes-Ward advises on how to ask the faeries for help or make a wish through these little ceremonies. So far we are content to make a connection with the fey and just have fun.
Our Favorite Faerie Crafts!
Below are a few of our favorite faerie crafts! They come from the book, Forest Fairy Crafts, which has many beautiful projects that are simplified enough for younger children to master or complete easily with an adult. I highly recommend! We cannot stop making these projects.
How adorable are these little faerie children we made?! They are so fun for playing, as well. This book has projects for every holiday and season, so they are great for gift-giving and decorating your faerie altar all year round.