Four (More) Faeries

I’m going to attempt to write more connected posts, hopefully, and one part of that will be posting a small list of spirits near the end of each month. I know a lot of Pagans and polytheists who acknowledge, revere, or work with various house and land spirits, but the focus of many of our conversations seems to be on the gods. That isn’t necessarily bad, but most of my time I’m interacting more directly with spirits than I am with deities. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how unconnected they feel to the gods and how their practices flourished when they focused on ‘smaller’ spirits as well. For now, I’ll post a small list of spirits that have been especially prevalent in my life lately.

[As always, this is all personal experience based.]

4. Women of the Sea

From this story specifically – the island in the story is a space exclusive to women and allows them a place to build and learn and relax as they will. They are in their own way patrons to female scientists and politicians and engineers and soldiers, and the island itself is meant to represent the many, many ways of being a woman. Rather than painting it as a ‘feminine’ creation, I hoped to paint it as the island the spirits who dwell on it are – varied and individual. These spirits remind me always to not assume traits are inherently ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’.

3. Grackle

They get loud in the mornings. The grackles are loudest around the zoo, though, and they are part of what makes Tucson home. Their loud squawks and cries wake me up and make me pause before putting in my earphones. They are stunning iridescent birds (the males), and they carry – to me – arrogance and bravery. They’re also just cute little things and are absolutely everywhere right now. Their dark yet colorful feathers are symbols, for me, of the beautiful, beautiful dark.

2. Dahlia

A Greater Spirit in the Westernlands, Dahlia is connected to the open ocean as well as boats, dolphins, jellyfish, and summertime. She appears to me as a strong, wild woman with dark hair and smoldering eyes and a preference for leather, and she is always ready for adventure. She represents the chase (for thrill and love) and also the traveling soul with connections to home; rather than being a wanderer with no family, she has family where ever she goes and wanders between her many homes and also explores on her own. She is quick with smiles and guns and can be heard in raucous laughter.

1. Corliss

One of the lovers of Dahlia and residents of the island of women – Corliss was a poet and soft-spoken woman who fell in love with Dahlia. She was so in love that Dahlia’s absence caused her to wither away. She gave her body to the ocean so that she would always be close to Dahlia (who spent most of her life on the sea) and became the cause of wet, rainy days at the beach. She is also associated with silent love and sorrow due to silence, and she teaches us to voice our needs and desires so they do not suffocate or bleed us away.