Elves and other elementals are not only real, but you might already be friends with one. Not everyone believes me. Take my boyfriend, for example. He believes that I believe, but that it is only my imagination at work. I’m not the only believer of elementals. You can ask Tanis Helliwell, a successful author on the subject. She leads workshops around the world to teach humans all about interacting with elementals. I’ll let you decide. I have my own experiences to share with you, and I’ll start with “Steve”.
Ten years ago, I was recording a song in my apartment and an elf came to watch me. He was three and one-half feet high, perched upon a large limb of a tree in the middle of my room. I did not acknowledge “Steve” at first (Steve asked me not to reveal his real name. It’s an elf thing), because I was completely focused on singing, guitar plucking and the lyrics, which were sentimental to me at the time. Steve appeared naturally and quietly, as an image slowly comes into focus during a film. If I had thought about what I saw as he was coming to view, my mind would have certainly shut it down. But that’s the beauty of it. I was only thinking of the song and my eyes were wide open, staring into space while I played. Slowly I noticed Steve, his details, warm smile and the swinging of his right foot from the limb where he was perched. He was just a-smiling away as if we were eternal best friends. My heart melted. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes, ever.
At this time, I lived five blocks away from Santa Monica pier and a five-minute drive away from Pacific Palisades, where still there lives miles of untouched woods available for humans to roam on foot, even if houses are just a step away from where we park our car to get to the trees. When I got to know Steve later, it is in this environment that I “see” him – the canyon woods of Malibu, a few miles from the ocean. I no longer live there, but I can visit him by just thinking of him.
Despite living in the midst of western Los Angeles county, Steve and his clan tend their farm by day and call the nearby woods their home. Many live in burrowed cottages. Steve lives in one with his partner, who is not his wife only because they don’t follow the same custom as humans by formally registering their relationships. Although a few elementals have copied the tradition, marriage is a human invention, the elves explained to me and they don’t need the same validation.
To me, Steve looks like a typical elf, but at the time I didn’t think of elves as wearing denim. I thought of them in fancy green suits or the typical shoe maker’s uniform. Steve’s denim overalls were faded and worn. He has light-brown hair with a strawberry undertone and a fairly long beard, just long enough to grab when he’s thinking really hard. His eyes are brown and dreamy. He also wears heavy, brown boots that reach the shins. His nose is kind of big I guess, but not enormous.
When I saw Steve for the first time, his expression was relaxed like a babe in arms. But that was the first time, as an adult, that I saw an elf as clearly as everything else in my three-dimensional world, and I at the time I didn’t believe elves were physical entities as much as ethereal. Seeing Steve in front of me while focused on other things, he appeared as physical as the walls and the wooden floor of my apartment. But the moment I thought, wait a minute, what am I looking at? An elf? A tree in the middle of my room? Steve disappeared, and it would be years before I’d see him again. Luckily, elves are forgiving and ready when you are to resume a friendship. So there went, the first of what luckily, would be a series of countless encounters with elementals.
Here is what I learned about elementals: be open-minded and try to get used to the idea at first, if this is a new concept for you. For many, the moment we analyze what we think we are seeing, if it is something we don’t consciously believe in, our mind will reject it outright and we won’t see it anymore.
It turns out that I had an elvin friend who knew me like a childhood best friend, innocent and knowing. Elves and other elementals hear and see our thoughts; they know exactly what kind of person we really are. So never try to fool an elf or any other elemental. You’ll only be made the fool. However, if you wish to be a friend with one, offer a delicious biscuit with coddled cream with hot, fresh tea and a warm fire, if you have one. Candles are better than electric lights, if that is your option. An elf or two just might come for a visit, or maybe they’ve been coming all along.