Working With Elemental Spirits Within A Circle - European Magick

Different cultures and belief systems may have varying interpretations and names for Elemental spirits. In all cultures, Elementals are wild spirit beings! Most of the following interpretations (about what Elemental Spirits are) originated in England, and the directional/elemental correspondences reflect that same European perspective.

• From the Middle East, e.g., in Christianity, the Elemental spirits are Angels.

• In Santeria, originating from Cuba, Elementals are intermediaries between humans and the Divine Spirits/Orishas who play a key role in human lives.

• In Greek mythology, Elementals are Daemons that are personifications of concepts, e.g., love, darkness, or justice but they have flawed personalities similar to human beings.

• In Europe, Elementals are spirits that share the same disposition as the four Elements they represent (Earth, Air, Fire, or Water). 

CAUTION: NEVER summon an Elemental for spell work until AFTER you have cast your protective magical circle to form sacred space. Cast your circle above, below, and all around (surround yourself within that magickal orb of protection) because my years of experience performing ritual, and clearing other people's homes of hauntings, have convinced me that entities of all kinds can invade a circle/line that's merely cast horizontally. You don't want to be focusing on your candle magick, while a trickster faerie has leapt over the horizontal boundary. You don't want any type of entity there merely to pinch you or trick you by playing with your candle flames! 

Experience has also shown me that you do NOT want Elemental entities running about your home willy-nilly either! Decades of doing house blessings have shown me that Elementals go rogue. They can create havoc that you do NOT want around your family members or pets. Their unruly presence can make the skin crawl. So ALWAYS banish the Elementals before you end your spell and only then should you open the circle!

Example for conjuring an Elemental to help with your spell/ritual:
Within the safety of your circle, begin your invitation by first visualizing what you want the spell to accomplish. When calling the quarters, visualize each one before you speak. (Example: Visualize how Air is affiliated with wind, thought/intellect, freedom, liberation, oxygen that we breathe, etc). Then, while facing the East (direction of Air) state something like: "Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the Eastern Quadrant, Element of Air." Then complete your invocation with "I do conjure, stir, and call upon thee to attend to my spell. Hail and welcome!"

When you are done with your ritual or rite, and after you have said all your invocations and read your petitions, and before opening the circle again, address each Element by name. Admonish each one individually to depart. Say something like: "Spirit of Air from the Eastern Quadrant, I now bid thee to go with love. Hail and farewell.” You might also prefer to say something like "Return to your realms." or "Until we meet again."

CAUTION: Absolutely, NEVER ever do what I was first taught to say when closing a circle. NEVER ever tell an Elemental: "Stay if you will, go if you must!" That one statement has created so much grief in the spell-casting communities. I've written it earlier and I'll write it again: You must NEVER invite an Elemental to stay! As wild spirit beings, they are like powerful wild animals. There may be a day when you want to work with wild Wolf energy, for instance. (Let's face it, wolves are smart, tribal, and they can be evasive when needing to escape the law, but you would not want that wild Wolf energy roaming about your home unfettered either!)

When casting a circle, understand that you are keeping your home safe by tethering the Elemental to the confines of the magic circle; until its supportive energy is no longer needed by you. 

If you say "Stay if you will" you are inviting these Wild energies to invade your home. That's just like inviting a Vampire in! I've been called to perform house clearings for practitioners who invited Elementals to stay and an Earth-Elemental moved in. Not only were there bumps and bangs through the night, but the family felt very afraid for their baby. That Earth-Elemental gave all residents and visitors the sensation of creepy crawly skin when they visited and it created otherworldly mayhem by making hearts race with fear! When I saw it, it manifested like a Gnome (about 2-1/2 feet tall) and it ran at me FAST with chest puffed out like a Silverback gorilla charging! Having an elemental wandering about your home without your constant guidance and direction will create disharmony where neither you nor the neglected Elemental will feel happy after that! 

Paracelsus, the great Swiss alchemist, and a forefather of modern medicine, classified Elementals as follows: 

• Gnomes (Earth Elementals): in European folklore, Gnomes are dwarfish, subterranean

goblins or Earth spirits who guard mines of precious treasures hidden in the Earth. 

To register, call Crescent Moon Gifts
(253) 572-8339

• Undines (Water Elementals): European lore about where Undines come from can vary. In some instances, an undine may have been a human child whom a River God switched with a Mermaid. In other instances, they are Mermaids that fall in love with a human man.

• Salamanders (Fire Elementals), In ancient Greece and Rome the salamander was believed to be a spirit that lived in the Fire. Europeans also attributed supernatural powers to salamanders, since they were often seen fleeing burning logs in the hearth, seemingly unscathed.

• Sylphs (Air Elementals). In Europe these Elementals are often very wise, loving, invisible vaporous. Here's a Golden Dawn Prayer to the Sylphs of Air. 

In all the witchy work that you do - do it wisely - do it safely and well. So mote it be. Blessed be.