Garden Witchery (15 page)

When I had given up on finding any affordable topsoil, a neighbor suggested a friend who owned a backhoe. I called him and he quoted me a price that was very inexpensive. The three tons of topsoil was scheduled to arrive the next day, so the concrete workers could move some of it for us with a Bobcat.

Right on time, Mr. Phillips dropped off the first and second dump truck loads. Then he climbed out of the cab, resplendent in his overalls and with a toothpick clenched in his teeth, to inform me that he would be back with the final load later in the afternoon. Before he could return, he had to go to the dentist and then go dig three graves.

The concrete guys stopped working and did a double take; all my neighbors, who had been watching, fell silent; and I just stood there trying not to grin. Mr. Phillips looked uncomfortable and started for the dump truck.

“Hey, Mr. Phillips!” I called after him before he could drive away.

“Yes?” He turned to look at me as I climbed up on the side of the truck so I could see him better.

“By any chance, this dirt wouldn't be graveyard dirt . . . would it?” I asked him.

He turned off the radio and adjusted his cap. He took a deep breath before answering. “Would it bother you if it was?”

“Are you kidding?” I laughed. “As long as there are no body parts in it, bring it on in!” He smiled, relieved, and I climbed down from the truck and waved as he drove away.

My neighbors thought I was taking it awfully well. I thought it was hysterically funny. The concrete guys thought it was great quality dirt at an affordable price, and wanted his name for other jobs. I was happy to pass it along.

My husband said to me when he came home that day, “Well, honey, that kind of goes with the theme, doesn't it?” In a way, I guess it did. I planted the beginnings of my gardens about a week later.

I bet you're wondering if anyone else ever saw the brownies? Actually, yes. Close friends of ours came over to visit and I was telling them about the flat tire incident. As we were sitting around the table visiting, Skippy, our cat, decided to grace us with her presence by jumping on the middle of the kitchen table. She knew she wasn't allowed to do this but, like most cats, she really didn't care about house rules.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and, as my husband turned his head to look, our guests both yanked their feet up off the floor in alarm. My friend, Paula, looked at us and said, “Did you guys get another cat?”

“Well, no,” I told her. “I think you've just met the brownies.”

Her husband, Craig, looked at me and smiled. “You're not talking about the Girl Scouts, are you?”

Faeries in the garden are a wonderful thing. They help care for your plants and protect the garden. If you had invited them into the house and want them to go into the garden instead, they will be more than happy to go. Just politely invite them to move to the garden. Make it a special place for them. Leave gifts, such as crystals, in the garden. Or leave a circle of bread or cookie crumbs under a full moon in thanks for their assistance in the yard.

How will you know if the faeries have moved in the garden? The plants will start to grow more luxuriantly and you will probably find a faery ring in your yard. The circle of mushrooms can be anywhere from three feet wide to much bigger. We had one once that was twenty feet across.

Faery folks are in old oaks.

Old Rhyme

Faery Plants and Garden Plans for Sun and Shade

To attract the flower faeries, try adding these plants to your garden. For the shady garden try ferns, columbine, foxglove, meadowsweet with its wonderful vanilla scent, and lily of the valley. As mentioned before, foxglove and lily of the valley are poisonous plants. You may want to wait until your kids are older before planting these. That's what I did. Forget-me-nots are a faery plant that are rumored to help you in your search for hidden treasures. Violets and lady's mantle are also great shade perennials for a faery garden. Violets are a main faery flower. A chaplet of violets are a charm for love and a shelter from treachery.

For your sunny faery gardens, plant these: lavender, betony (that's lambs ears), yarrow, and rosemary. Train an annual morning glory vine up a trellis and stand back. They grow up to fifteen feet tall in one season. Morning glories are used for all kinds of garden witch spells. Remember, this is another plant you want to make sure your kids don't eat. All parts of the vine, blooms, and the seeds are mildly toxic. You can always try a honeysuckle if you prefer; it's equally favored by the faeries. The lilac shrub is another popular flower with the Fae. There is nothing like the scent of lilacs in the garden.

Add roses in all varieties and colors, the more heavily scented the better. For your children, try growing the miniature variety of roses, sometimes called “fairy roses.” They come in all different colors, even green! Add some cherry-scented heliotrope, daisies, and allysum, and what a lovely faery flower garden you'll have!

A Full Sun or Faery Garden Layout

1 Annuals for color (Petunias or Allysum)

2 Lamb's Ears

3 Dwarf Lilac

4 Heliotrope

5 Yarrow

6 Coneflower

7 Rosemary

8 Lavender

9 Rose

Enter those enchanted woods,
You who dare.

George Meredith

Faery Times and Places

A charm to call the flower faeries into your garden should be worked on a full moon. The full moon in May is traditionally a opportune time to introduce yourself to the faeries. Other favorable faery days include all the sabbats, with your best times being Ostara, Beltane, and Midsummer.

There is a tradition of working in the between times and places. For example, the beach is neither the ocean nor the land. Likewise a riverbank, or at a crossroads, where two rivers meet . . . are you following me here? We should also mention that places such as natural springs, waterfalls, meadows of wildflowers, pristine woods and wildernesses are the most likely to have faery activity. Faery times of day are just before sunrise, noon, twilight, and midnight.

Suitable oils to be employed in faery spells are lilac and violet. However, the scent of violets makes some people a little queasy. Use it sparingly until you find out how you handle the scent.

There are many deities associated with both the garden and the faeries. You could call on Flora, Roman goddess of flowers; Demeter, the goddess of the harvest; or the trinity of moon goddesses, Artemis, Selene, and Hecate. Feeling romantic? Try the faery queen Titania, or the God in his aspect as the Green Man, or Pan. Behave yourself, now, if you invoke Pan. This lusty god is associated with the nymphs and the satyrs, after all. If you're not comfortable with any of those suggestions, then call on the Great Mother or the Earth Angel to assist you.

I imagine that someone is probably grumbling about my not having included the Goddess Rhiannon or Morgan le Fay. Rhiannon, a faery bride, endured years of torment and hard labor from her own husband and his court from being falsely accused of the murder of their infant son. Eventually Rhiannon was exonerated and restored to her rightful place when the boy was discovered alive and well.

Morgan le Fay was the older sister of King Arthur and the mother of Arthur's only son, the ambitious Mordred. Morgan or Morgaine was either hailed as a priestess and a tragic hero of Avalon, or as an evil temptress with designs for the throne, depending on whose version of the story you believe. So you may want to think carefully about it before you work with these goddesses, as neither of these archetypes led carefree, happy lives.

If you choose to try faery magick, you could build a small altar in the garden. A faery statue nestled into your flowers with a large flat stone in a garden clearing or a small bench is ideal for such a purpose. Make absolutely sure it is a safe place for an open flame. For outside rituals, I like to use tealights with a drop of essential oil on them. I arrange these on a plate when I'm working outside. The flames are small, the candles don't attract unwanted attention from neighbors, and they are portable (I bring the plate inside when I am finished). Never leave a burning candle unattended, especially outdoors.

To begin your get-acquainted ritual, invoke your chosen deity. Leave an offering to the flower faeries, such as a garland of violets, a rose, or small cakes, on your garden altar. Light your candles and speak the following:

Gentle flower faeries from near and far, come watch over my backyard.

Bless these herbs and fragrant flowers, fill them with your loving power.

Late at night when fireflies glow, use your magick to make them grow.

By the power of the stars, moon, and sun, do as I will and it harm none.

When finished, you may choose to meditate for a while or just lie back, sip some wine, and observe the moon and the night sky. Don't forget to bring your candles in when you are finished. Let nature claim the flowers or the food that you left on your altar as an offering.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

Sir James Barrie, Peter Pan