Friday 11 March 2011

A Faery Seguro

Making and using your own Seguro


Seguro is a Spanish word meaning safe or sure. Faery seers use the word to refer to a tool, sent to a specific shaman from the faery world, that takes the faery shaman into the world of visions. Seguro may be a Spanish word, but its concept as a healing tool is also part of Western European folklore.

Over a century ago in Ireland lived a woman named Biddy Early. This elderly rural woman was gifted with a blue glass bottle from the faeries – a seguro. When neighbours came for her healing help, she would peer into the bottle, get the right diagnosis and be told what herb, plant, tea or ritual was needed to heal those people. Her fame spread, and soon people from all over Ireland migrated to Biddy Early’s door to ask for her services. As she continued to heal more and more people of diseases no doctor at that time could manage, her own health deteriorated. She was plagued with rheumatoid arthritis for the last half of her life. Today the blue bottle is said to lie at the bottom of the lake near her home. From time to time divers have searched vainly for it but it is buried in the silt at the lake bottom, or has been reclaimed by the faeries.

Most regular adventurers in the world of faery are eventually given some gift, which may either help in healing, diagnosing or by offering safe passage throughout the otherworlds. Until such a gift is presented a simple bottle oracle known as the seguro – made with thought and care by your own hands can fulfill this role.

The seguro also has roots in Afro Latin American syncretic religious practices where the bottle is not just a diagnostic tool, but also a spirit ally. In Latin America, and in some Caribbean spiritual practices, these healing bottles are created by the faerie shamans themselves. The bottles contain specific plant or herbal totems who help the shamans focus attention on a cure for an ailment. This is a tool for diagnosing and treating illness almost identical to the given to Biddy Early.

A shaman might use on seguro for an entire lifetime, or might have several he or she consults depending on the situation. Some shamans will add to a seguro over time, or they will sometimes reconstruct the seguro from the same bottle so as not to disturb the vibrations the bottle has absorbed that have worked well for so long. With use, and with each item added to the seguro, it begins to shape its own personality, eventually creating its own spirit.

Some say the shaman who uses the seguro will learn a song that only he or she can sing to summon greater healing power and connect more deeply with faery. The seguro will launch you into discovering other magickal melodies, too. Song magick, is an essential part of shamanic work with faeries.

How to make your own seguro:

As you develop a deeper partnership with faery, you can experiment with making your own seguro. You will first need a nice apothecary jar. It should be made of glass, in a shape and style you like, have a corked, wire sealed or glass stopper lid and be big enough to peer into or listen to when held up to your ear. You can reuse a dark glass jar that previously held food or beverage, but wash off the labeling and give it a good cleansing before creating a seguro. Or a glass jar that held a candle would be good too (like the Yankee candle ones).  Metal and rubber lids should be discarded. Once you have found a bottle you feel matches you in temperament and energy, clear the bottle of any existent energies it may carry. The older the jar the more cleansing it will need.

Rinse it with lots and lots of water. As you rinse the bottle, visualize the old energies the bottle has collected being washed away. When you feel the bottle has been cleared of all previous energies, keep rinsing it in the water as you run your hands over the glass, imbuing it with your personal energies and healing wishes.

You may feel the urge to hum. This may be your seguro’s soul song. The seguro is going to be a very real and unique personality. Get to know it as well as possible. You will want to learn the bottle’s melody. Faery will inspire what goes into your personal seguro.

When you feel you and the seguro have merged your energies, dry it off and allow it to sit out so the inside can dry too. Each day spend some time holding the seguro. Hum its song again if you think you hear it. As you do this, keep your mind focused on the goal of this magickal entity you are creating: a seguro to help you in healing.

Meditate with the seguro resting on one of your chakra areas. Visualise the relationship you and the bottle will have. Your seguro is

Your healing partner
A way for the fey to communicate with you
A source of healing and/or faery song
A friend who keeps your secrets
An ally who checks your fear
A source of knowledge when all other means fail

As the days pass, start thinking about what you want to put in your seguro. Begin to collect natural objects that resonate with you and that you feel would enhance your healing powers. What and how much you put in is up to you. It is best to be able to see light coming through the glass at some point, so don’t fill it up completely. You really only need a small amount of each item, enough so that the total mixture covers the bottom of the bottle. You can always add new items later, or empty it and start over.

The basics of the seguro are ashes or salt, oil and plants or herbs. Ashes and salt are used for grounding and they will keep the healing images and words that come to you inside the bottle, always available to you. They also keep your soul and that of the seguro rooted in the earth mother. Ashes and salt are also items with protective energy.

The herbs and/or plants you add will be communicated to you by faery.

If your forte is emotional healing you might include water related or water grown plants and herbs. An essential oil or some rainwater or spring water might be suggested. You should only use minute amounts of each, it doesn’t take much to capture the energy. Or faery may recognize a place where your skills are weak and suggest a plant that will help you fill the gap. Faery may give you all you need to know, or they may instruct you to go out into the natural world and seek the recommended items. Follow their instructions.

After you have gathered all the items to go into your seguro, spread them on a flat surface around the bottle. With your eyes moving deosil around the circle, say out loud what each item’s function will be. On your second pass around the circle, ask each item if it is willing to fulfill its role. If you feel a negative answer, set that item aside. On your third pass around the circle, place each item into the seguro. State aloud what its function is, emphasizing the healing partnership between you, the seguro and faery.

When you have your seguro is complete, cap it. You will only peer into it or hold it to your ear when you need guidance for healing.

When you feel your seguro is ready to serve your current needs, dedicate it to the deities of healing and to your partnership with the healing spirits of nature. Hold the seguro up to the sky and consecrate it by saying:

Behold! Ancestors, deities, spirit guides and fey
I hold aloft my seguro today
Bless it with insight, bless it with power
My partner in healing as of today, this hour

Next, hold your seguro against Mother Earth and consecrate it by saying:

Earth mother, bless this partner of mine
A seguro strong with ingredients fine
Help me to hear, help me to see
All that you expect of me

Hold the seguro out toward the faeries and consecrate again by saying:

By faeries of day and faeries of night
Grant to me your healing sight
To heal show me what I need to know
Help me as a faery shaman to grow

Lastly, hold the seguro close to yourself, preferably against the bare skin of you solar plexus and say:

I consecrate this seguro to healing tasks
I promise to listen and do what it asks
I promise to heed what I see inside
And as my partner it shall abide
From me, from faery, and back again
The powers of my seguro never can end
By powers of faery this spell is sealed
All who ask me shall be healed
By earth, water, air and fire
Which bring me what I desire
And by the power of three times three
By my will, so mote it be!

You may sense faery beings closing in around you to add their blessings to the bottle. Do not be scared away by this press of their energy. Allow faery to enjoy and admire your new healing tool as much as you do.

To use your seguro, take it with you in meditation to fairyland. Or simply pick it up and ask it what you want to know about a healing issue. The seguro may speak, give you a visual imprint or sing a healing song. If you are uncertain about what it is telling you to do, keep asking questions until the meaning is clear. The seguro has eternal patience and the longer you work together the better partners you will be.

When you are not using your seguro, keep it in a safe place, preferably covered with a dark, soft cloth and out of direct light. Even when not using the seguro you should commit to making thrice weekly visits to converse with it and sing together. This will strengthen the bond between you and this powerful healing object. A seguro is a very personal talisman, not to be handled by other earth plane creatures!

Tansy
x


Taken from The Healing Power of Faery by Edain McCoy

1 comment:

  1. I really, really liked this post. I just may have to make one of these.

    ReplyDelete