Sylphs, also known as Windsingers, are elemental air spirits claiming both Greek and Egyptian ancestry. As a whole, this miniature race is very beautiful. They are long-lived, reaching hundreds of years in age, yet they never seem to become old. Like other elementals, they possess the ability to shapeshift and may assume human form. Typically residing on mountaintops, they possess a hierarchy system, with their leader, Paralda, occupying the highest mountain of Earth.
Kind of nature, they are most helpful with wishes involving air, though they will assist with any positive desire. In addition, they are associated with mental development and one of their functions is to inspire human creativity.
Air is all around us, giving us life second by second, even though we are largely unaware of it. Further than this, air carries the power of the word--in other parlance, of the vibration of power that initiates creation. Sound travels through air, communication is airborne. The delight of music comes the same way. Inspiration derives from the Latin spiritu, meaning "to breathe."
Realm of Air
Air is thought, education, understanding, and freedom. All that we think issues forth into the air, changing the atmosphere around us, and while for the most part the effects are trivial and temporary, very black and potent thoughts over a period of time can seriously contaminate the air.
Sylphs may be tiny, or huge and mighty, coming on a gentle breath or a tempest. They work to cleanse and protect the atmosphere, creating and moving clouds, keeping all in motion, all in balance. They are also involved wherever there is mental effort, bringing us understanding and healing.
Sylphs are connected with no specific physical life, and are so among the freest of all the fairies. They can be found anywhere, and some of the most developed of their kind may be equated with angels, for they are messengers of the spirit. As guardians and healers, sylphs work to ease suffering, and are attracted to children because their hearts are light, yet vulnerable.
Awareness of the beauty and delicacy of the air is a first step towards summoning these beings. Ensure the air in your home is fresh and mobile. Choose joss-sticks with great care, for offering the sylphs anything bad smelling will have the opposite effect!! Support projects that seek to cleanse the atmosphere. Like undines, sylphs are drawn to music, but their favorites are pipes and flutes. Whistling can also call them up.
Above all, let your own thoughts be pure. This does not mean you should repress any negative feelings, but try to see them as a burden you do not need and let the sylphs waft them away. When you feel these fairies close by, your troubles will dissipate anyway and you will smile. Use your mind, too. Communicate with others, be prepared to learn new things, be open and truthful. Respect the power of telepathy and be prepared to develop it. In time your own special sylph will attend you, to help you grow.
Finding Air Fairies (Sylphs)
Sylphs are spirits of the air, and usually live high in the mountain peaks. Sometimes their voices are heard on the wind or their airy forms are felt in passing, though they are rarely seen. They are described as almost transparent, very small, and winged or alternatively as tall with long feathered wings, large, hawk-like eyes, and angular faces. The term sylph is derived from the Greek word silphe, which means a ‘butterfly’ or ‘moth’- indeed, fairies are popularly depicted with butterfly wings.
The ancient Celts regarded butterflies as symbols of fairies or ancestral spirits (often considered as one and the same), and they appear in Celtic stories as guides to the Otherworld or Fairyland, where the dead also dwelt.
Ariel is the king of air elementals, and controls all the powers of air. His winds circle the earth. Shakespeare mentioned him in The Tempest, saying that with his song, he could bind or loose the winds, enchant men or drive them mad.
In popular lore Zephyrs are the guardians of the winds. Zephyr was the west wind in Greek myth, son of Aurora, goddess of dawn. He was the lover of Flora, goddess of flowers and together they cause the flowers to grow in spring.
Some fairies seem to represent spirits of weather, particularly whirlwinds, wind, storm, rain, lightning, sunshine and so on. The Wind Knots or Folletti of Italy ride storms. The Guriuz bring good weather to farmers. Munya is the lightning while her brothers are the two thunders. The Salvanelli raise storms to ride on the wind and the Swedish Skosrå is a violent whirlwind. The Innuits believed in an important air spirit, one of the three primary spirits along with the Moon and Sea. Known as Sila (“Weather” or “Intelligence”), the spirit lives far above the Earth and controlls the weather, but punishes human misdeeds with sickness and bad weather.
The Powers of Air
Air spirits are concerned with the spiritual life, freedom, and purity. "Spirit" is derived from the Greek spiro, "I breathe". "Wind" and "breath" and "spirit" were believed by many peoples to be identical.
In Egyptian mythology, the god Khnûmû, or Knef (the Kneph of the Greeks) was a wind god. Knef means "wind", "breath", and "spirit" or"the air of life." In Memphis, the chief god was Her-shef, who breathed from his nostrils the north wind, which gave life to every living being.
Breath is a divine gift, returned to the giver at death. The secret of breath is part of the magic of air. We take air into us which contains vital energy that some call prana and others chi. When we breathe in deeply we inhale this life force and rhythmic breathing exercises helps to attune us to the powers of air.
Inhaled air is the sustaining breath of life, while exhaled air carries the words, poetry, and song that communicate human ideas and knowledge. In many myths creation is brought to life when a god breathes into it. It was often thought that spirit could be blown into or out of people; demons were blown out of people.
The powers of air are also concerned with the intellect, the powers of the mind, knowledge (as opposed to wisdom), logic, inspiration, information, teaching, memory, thought and communication. Like the other elements, the powers of air can be constructive or destructive. The gentle breeze cools and brings the life giving rain, but it can become the destructive hurricane. It is for this reason that the magical symbol of air is a two-edged sword.
The voice of the air spirits is heard in the wind. There were many sacred groves where the voices of spirits were heard in the wind whispering in the trees. The head of the alder tree was used as a whistle so that the spirits might speak through it. The druids were attuned to interpreting these voices, and druid means “oak knowledge.”
People who have air dominant in their psychological make-up are flexible, versatile, dextrous, tasteful, idealistic, original, individual and tolerant. However, they can also be distant, self opinionated, easily bored, impatient, self-deceiving, superficial, indecisive, quarrelsome, manipulative, thoughtless, cruel, fickle, inconsistent, unreliable and two-faced.
(Extract from Working With Fairies)____________________________________
No comments :
Post a Comment