Do Elves Do Ceremonial and Ritual Magic?

Do elves do ceremonial magick?

     Well, we have. We’ve done and experimented with every form of sane magic that we’ve come across. Our The Book of Elven Magick 1 &2 suggest possibilities for doing ceremonial and ritual magic. But as is so often the case with these elves, we are only making suggestions in order to inspire our kindred to create their own rituals and ceremonies if that is their desire.

     For our own part, we don’t really have any ceremonies that we perform. If called to do so we, of course, could whip one up at a moment’s notice, and we are certainly not against ceremony, we just don’t really have that many formal occasions to celebrate or mark with ceremony.

     We have done magick in a magic circle, if you wish to call that ceremonial magick and we have evoked spirits into a magical triangle and we have observed the traditional rules concerning this art as we did so. Still most of what we did was still improvised on the spot. We are a very impromptu folk.

     But we have also attended ceremonies that various pagan friends have conducted, as well as having attended Christian and other ceremonies. These include graduation ceremonies that we took part in, weddings, baptisms, etc. (In fact, years ago on a journey, a sort of Faerie Rade, though Arizona a young man that we encountered there asked Zardoa if he would baptize him and so Zardoa put together an impromptu baptism for him. We are rather all purpose elves.)

     Yet, at the same time, while the magic we do tends to be ad hoc and on the fly most of the time, we can see the value in having ceremonies that have been rehearsed. While we have experience in improvisational theatre, we wouldn’t much care for it if every movie we watched was un-rehearsed and improvised. We can see the importance and power in a certain amount of preparation and if we were dealing with a large crowd/audience we’d probably rehearse our performance in order to give it the most impact and dramatic flair. But since these elves are generally doing magic unseen in the world, the only thing that really matters is that we do it as sincerely and effective as we are able.

 The following is one of our Silver Elves sayings that we chant in our magic for happiness, prosperity and good luck in general.  

Do elves do ritual magic?

         

      First, let us say that many people use the terms ceremonial magick and ritual magick as interchangeable and we don’t object to them doing so, we have probably done so our own s’elves. But if we wish to be a bit technical about it, ceremonial magick probably has more to do with a ceremony, which is to say marking a special event or occasion, as say the ceremony when a king or queen is crowned or a president sworn in, or even a graduation ceremony.

     Ritual, on the other hand, bears the idea of something that is repeated and probably on a regular basis, almost a habit. In that way the Catholic mass may sometimes be called a ceremony, because it is celebrating the miraculous life and death and rebirth of Christ, but really is in most cases a ritual that is repeated on a weekly basis at the very least. This is not to say that the Catholic Church doesn’t have ceremonies, as for instance when a new pope is installed, or a priest raised up to be a bishop or cardinal, or a nun or a priest takes their vows. But the every Sunday mass really is more in the form of a ritual than a ceremony. But it is easy to see how these two terms have become somewhat interchangeable.

      We elves probably do more ritual magick than ceremonial magick but in saying that it might be important to point out that when we say we do ritual magic we don’t necessarily mean we are evoking spirits in a magic circle. Our ritual magick is not usually combined with ceremony in a uniform fashion, for as we previously explained our ceremonies are more impromptu and follow little traditions like the ones you may have already experienced in many Pagan ceremonies. For instance, we surely may call the spirits in a magic circle, but not as a ritual in the same way calling the same spirits from the same directions year after year for a particular ceremony. We would be more likely to consult the elven oracles (perhaps using The Elfin Book of Spirits or The Elements of Elven Magic) to find the spirits that need to join us for that particular day and magical occasion.

      Rather than rituals in ceremonies, we have certain daily rituals we tend to do, like having tea and toast or home baked gingerbread for breakfast each day, or doing the dishes, and in doing these rituals we often turn them into a bit of magic. And, frankly when we say we have breakfast each day, it is good to understand that we generally get up somewhere between 10:30 a.m. and Noon, and have ‘breakfast’ at around 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. We’re not sure that still counts as breakfast in some people’s minds, but it is when we usually break our fast. And we have other little magics we do most days, (this routine being altered at times when we are off adventuring), sending blessings out into the world to our kindred and doing what we can to help, heal and awaken our kin. These are also little bits of ritual magic, but very informally done, simply somewhat repetitive in nature, although open to change and modification at any time we think of some way to do what we are doing better and more effectively. We also often enjoy painting our magical sigils on rocks and leaving them during our travels in various places around the world, during which we give our elven blessings. Both the artistic creative process of making the rocks and the elven blessings we give while placing them are an elven ritual for us and something we love to do over and over, yet each time it is quite different for each location requires a different healing energy.

     So, yes, these elves do ritual magic, but with the same formality that we do the dishes (which is to say, often but quite informally and as efficiently as possible) and the same attention to detail and love that we give to preparing our meals.

 If you are further interested in our magic philosophy and rituals, we suggest that you visit our website and read sample pages and the table of contents of our two volumes (also both available on Amazon) of The Book of Elven Magick: The Philosophy and Enchantments of the Seelie Elves. In these two books we explore the Elven viewpoint concerning magick and the tools of magic with magical ceremonies that may be adapted for use by modern faerie folk. The two volumes give the complete progression of color magicks and also explore Elven Vortexes and Covens, as well as our theories on calling the directions and dimensions and more. 

Kyela,
The Silver Elves
http://silverelves.angelfire.com

The Book of Elven Magick: The Philosophy and Enchantments of the Seelie Elves

The Book of Elven Magick: The Philosophy and Enchantments of the Seelie Elves, Volume 2

"We hearing you calling in your heart

And we are calling, too

And leaving magic signs that will 

The way to Elfin 'Shew'

So finding them you’ll see the truth

That we are with you still

For magics we have left for you

Your visions to fulfill"

"This book, dear kin, and the others we have written are the magic signs we’ve left for those searching for Elfin/Faerie in and beyond the world. We bless you and grant your true wishes."

—From the Book of Elven Magick, volume 2 

--------------------------------------------------------------

What Sort of Elf, Faerie or Other Are You? Would You Like to Learn More about Your Tribe?

For years various kindred have asked us, the Silver Elves, to help them figure this out. Now we've created a questionnaire to help us do so and to help you learn about your people, your magical tribe. This is our gift to you (free). Simply follow this link and the directions and we will help you with your own personal narrative about your magical tribe.
http://silverelves.angelfire.com/HAelfkin.html

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

And we hope you will come to our website and enjoy reading samples of all our 40+ books on magic and enchantment and the elven way at:
http://silverelves.angelfire.com/HAelfbooks.htm



We also welcome you to come join us on Facebook under the name Michael J. Love (Zardoa of The SilverElves) and Martha Char Love (SilverFlame of The Silver Elves).

And we invite you to come join us on Facebook in some of our Elven groups where you will find our elven-faerie-fae community interacting and sharing the Elven Way:
 

The Magical Books of the Silver Elves

https://www.facebook.com/groups/539205916250397
where we have discussions about our books as well as about Elven
and Otherkin philosophy and lifestyle.

Elf Witches of the Mystic Moon

https://www.facebook.com/groups/806583242768352

Elven Life and Magic

https://www.facebook.com/groups/629491797123886

Elvish Magical Chat

https://www.facebook.com/groups/307775362744491

The Faerie Circle

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1025483294180077

The Elven Way and Friends

https://www.facebook.com/groups/165938637423212 

United Otherkin Alliance:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/328253710566869