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February 6 through February 12, 2023

This week seems to be all about the mind, new ideas, and alternate ways of looking at things, all leading us to bigger and better things. We won’t need to re-invent the wheel, but we should consider new uses for old objects, restructuring our schedules and goals, as well as the idea of implementing better energy flows into our lives through a mini-remodel or feng shui project. The Moon travels through Virgo Monday through Wednesday, expanding our mental capacity and boosting our organizational skills. We’ll need to take care about becoming too idealistic or critical, but expressing our opinions while being open to the ideas of others could pay off handsomely! Thursday and Friday are all about balance and our equilibrium under the Libra Moon. So the keyword here is vision: A great idea may land in your lap, but think it through for a few days before you jump in to implement it. The only planetary change this week is Mercury’s move into Aquarius on Saturday, but what could be more electric?! Combined with this weekend’s Scorpio Moon, new insights, intuitions, and impossible dreams are sure to catch our fancy. And who knows? Remember, with the Sun in Aquarius, even the sky is not the limit!

7 Steps to Connect with Faery, by Emily Carding

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

In the Twenty-First Century, the Faery realm is as popular as ever; yet, in our culture of instant gratification and unmoderated media platforms, there are many false paths and illusory pitfalls to distract and misdirect us. How, then, can the true seeker of Faery be sure they are not following some metaphorical (or sometimes literal) Will-o’-the-Wisp into hazardous swampland? Here are the seven steps you need to take to be sure that you are living authentically and in sync with our Faery cousins.

1. Knowledge
Read widely and wisely! Of course books are not the only source of knowledge, but they are a good place to start (and continue—we should never stop learning!), in balance with the more experiential steps to follow. Find recommendations from people you respect and familiarise yourself with traditional folklore and mythology, particularly Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. Any good book on Faery should also have a good bibliography, which you can explore for further reading and deeper exploration. The more varied your reading, the stronger your discernment will be and the less likely you are to be led off the true path into illusion. It's also important to realise that many faery beings are hostile and/or unpredictable. The more you know, the more prepared you will be.

2. Expand Your Awareness
It can be all too easy to get stuck in our heads and mistake wishful thinking and the untrained imagination for real experience. Therefore, one of the most important steps to true connection with Faery is to expand your energetic awareness outside of your own body and into the world around you. Here is an exercise that is featured in both Faery Craft and my new book, Seeking Faery.

Exercise: Becoming the Faery Tree
This exercise is designed to connect you to the energies of the land and to open up your heart centre to increase sensitivity to the presence and communications of Faery beings. Depending on your physical capabilities, this may be performed standing or sitting, but in either instance you should ideally have your feet bare and on the land outside, in as natural a space as possible, ideally where you won't be disturbed. Keeping upright and relaxed, with your feet a small distance apart and your hands by your sides, take seven slow deep breaths (in through the nose, hold for three seconds, and slowly out through the mouth), as you allow tension and concerns of the day to melt away.

On your next breath, with your palms at your side facing downwards, imagine your feet slowly turning into tree roots and digging down into the earth beneath you. Feel the strength of the earth and the stability and nourishment that the roots provide you with. Maintain this for seven deep breaths in and out.

Now, for your next seven breaths, maintaining your roots, slowly bring your arms up into a "v" shape and raise your palms to the sky. Imagine that your arms are becoming great branches, reaching for the light of Sun, Moon, and Stars. Maintain both roots and branches for a further seven deep breaths.

Keeping your arms upright in the "v" position, now imagine that your roots are drawing emerald green light up from the earth towards your heart. Breathe it in and draw it up with seven deep breaths. Now imagine that your branches are drawing down the silver light of the heavens into your heart. Draw it down with seven deep breaths. The green and silver light meets in your heart and becomes golden and swirling, opening your heart to the energies of Earth and connecting you to above and below.

For beginners, maintain this as long as you are comfortable and then release the energies back up through your branches and down through your roots, slowly lower your arms and slowly draw your roots back into your feet and become your normal self again. Seven deep breaths to recover. As you become more used to this exercise, you may find you can do shorter or longer versions as you wish.

3. Offerings
As well as expanding your awareness energetically, it is possible to reach out and connect in a more tangible way with appropriate offerings. This not only helps to form an energetic bridge between the worlds but also shows your willingness to collaborate and not simply expect gifts or guidance with no effort on your part. The choice of offering is significant, as is being sure to clean up afterwards. It is a good idea, if possible, to find an outdoor location for your offerings where you instinctively feel your connection with Faery is strong and where you will not be disturbed. Whilst this might be an established sacred site, it can be more powerful to find a personal connection on a less-trod path. Consider the value of the offerings you bring, and the impact on the environment. If leaving food of any kind, be sure to check that it is cleared and not simply left to rot. Very often these offerings will be consumed by animals, which is absolutely fine (faery beings sometimes borrow these physical forms to accept offerings) so long as you make sure they contain nothing toxic to animal life (for example chocolate).

4. Ethics and Honour
You may think that it's faeries who are usually invisible, but the truth is, they can see right through you, too! If there is any deception or falsehood in your heart, they will sense it and treat you accordingly. Like any magical path, it is of utmost importance to know yourself and establish a strong code of honour and ethics that you abide by in every aspect of your life, not just your work with Faery.

5. Expression
For many, myself included, communication with Faery comes through creative expression. This is a direct communication heart-to-heart or spirit-to-spirit, and these channels must be free and open to receive. Any negative thoughts about your own creativity need to be overcome by simply creating in any way you feel moved to, be it art, dance, poetry. Nobody will judge you, unless you choose to share it with the world, but your soul and your faery allies will thank you.

6. Imagination
When working with Otherworldly beings and forces, the imagination becomes an extra sense through which we can perceive those things which are hidden from our earthly senses. The traps here are clear, and thus it is important to train the imagination through visualisation, meditation, and journey techniques so that it becomes a reliable translator of energies rather than a fanciful self-deception.

7. Grounding
Always come back to this. After any encounter or working with Faery, be sure to ground yourself in your body and the physical world around you. Release the otherworldly energies to their source, feel your feet on the earth, taste good food and drink water. Regularly take time to simply be in Nature, see the wonder that is the world we inhabit, and you will have no need for illusion—you will simply learn to see the magic in deeper truths as you walk the path of Faery in peace, truth and joy.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I recently decided to meet my estranged father. I've had no relationship with him throughout my childhood and adolescence. I need desperately to find him so I can release and heal the anger, rejection and abandonment issues that have been blocking me from creating healthy relationships. Now that I have opened that door, fear and uncertainty are preventing me from having a relationship with this man. We are both Aquarians. Will this decision to not have a relationship with him have a negative effect on my romantic relationships with men and my ability to create happiness in life? Please help me - I would love to hear your insights.

Dreamchaser:

I want to thank you SO much for this question. In doing my own soul work and healing, I came across a concept that just blew me away. Here it is: When we are growing up, we are taught how to have a relationship with the opposite sex by the parent of that gender. For example, my father always held open doors, pulled out chairs, etc. I grew up believing that all men should treat all women in that manner. To this day, I will not open a door as long as a man is around.

On the flip side, my father was a workaholic and would often break promises because of work. From this I unconsciously began to believe that if I couldn't trust my father, I couldn't trust any man. As soon as I became conscious of that belief, I started to look back over my love life. I saw that I expected a man to let me down or hurt me because my father did. I did not have any example of "good" behavior from a man, and as a result, I did not expect it. If you can see the same thing and realize that your father should not be your model for all male behavior, then you can get past the baggage and issues that go along with that. (By the way, this works for ALL relationships, not just father/ daughter dynamics)

As for connecting with your father, I do not want you to romanticize some meeting where everything becomes instantly wonderful. I think you two can forge a new relationship, and you will have to start from scratch if there is to be any chance of you having any type of relationship with him.

Any negative feelings you are carrying are not going to be instantly erased. Forgiveness starts in our own souls. You do not have to meet this man to be able to forgive him. You just need to start looking back over experiences from your childhood. Take each experience and relive it, so to speak. Stop seeing it from small child eyes and start seeing it from a grown-up perspective. You will see that NONE of it was your fault, and you truly were powerless. Once you start to see your father and his behavior as human, then you can slowly start to forgive.

For example, my dad did not mean to hurt my feelings so badly by missing my events. He simply felt he was doing the right thing by working and providing for us. I can forgive his non-attendance NOW, because I see he felt he was doing what was right. When I was small, however, I felt that I was not important enough for Dad to make time. See? You do the same, and you will be able to forgive.

I wish you and your father a love-filled relationship from here on out.

*****

Astrea:

You are not your father. Your life was shaped without his influence. If you can meet him and take him for the person he has BECOME since you were conceived, you'll learn a few things. If nothing else, you'll learn about your own capacity for TOLERANCE. It'll be worth it to at least mmet him without fear.

As an Aquarius and a Dual Sign, I'm sure you've weighed all the pros and cons of meeting your estranged father. I don't think that avoiding him is going to affect your relationships with men throughout your life anymore than it already has. Meeting him and dealing with all the hurt and resentment you've felt all your life should actually FREE YOU from that. It's important to remember that everyone has issues and baggage. The men you might be involved with will have their share of that stuff too. Everyone is an INDIVIDUAL. Keep that in mind throughout this reconnection with Dad.

You seem like an open person who is able to take people for who they are. That open, accepting Aquarian attitude is something lots of us would love to master. Meeting Dad doesn't necessarily mean that you'll develop a deep, meaningful relationship with him, but you have to know some things, kiddo. You say you "desperately need to find him" to resolve some of the issues you have been carrying around with you since you were a little kid. Do that! Find him, meet him, THEN decide. Reconnecting with him carefully might not HELP, but it surely won't HURT you spiritually!

Remember that he too has a lot of guilt and fear coming into this. He doesn't have a clue who you are, either! It's going to take some courage on his part to hear some of the things you feel you need to say. You have to give him some credit for his willingness to even try, but since he's also an Aquarius, it shouldn't surprise you. Just remember, fear is useless. You can't eat it, wear it, or spend it. By talking to your Dad, however, you may develop a new relationship, and it could be GREAT!

Go ahead, open the door. Find out what he's like. NOT knowing is worse.

The idea of developing a relationship with someone like him is strange indeed, but it's the right thing to get to know him, hear his side of the story (there are always two!) and then make an EDUCATED decision about the place he can or can't have in your life. Your Spirit is STRONG, and you have Guides and Angels who will counsel you when that time comes. Remember, it takes about two years to really get to know a person, even a relative if you've had little or no involvement growing up.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.