Attracting a Brownie

[2-G]

Hey! I'm new to this forum, so firstly, hello :-)

I think my house would be alot better if there were a Brownie helping us maintain balance and happiness, and protecting our house from negative energies. Well, in one book I read(Sirona Knight's "Faery Magick") it had a spell to help attract Brownies. I made a few adjustments. Instead of just milk, I mixed in Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds(It came out like a nice mixture) I asked the Goddess and the God to bless it as an offering to the Brownies, and so that it would hopefully attract a kind and good-hearted Brownie who would take joy in helping my family and I, and would see us as deserving.

I was just wondering,(I've never read this in any of the books I've read) are Brownies hard to attract? I know that if you're not a good person, then chances are they won't help you, but I'd like to know more about attracting them.

If I did attract a Brownie, I would leave out weekly gifts for it and same goes for Sabbats and Esbats.

Please reply. Thankyou for your help:).

[Verthandi]

I'm trying to remember my faery-lore, but I believe brownies are easily offended and the one thing you don't want around your house is an offended brownie. They can be malicious little buggers. They're also fond of foresty areas, just fyi. I would think that any type of fae would be difficult to attract. I suppse I would show the brownies that I meant no harm toward them and I really would keep up my end of the bargain (leaving the gifts). They're not butterflies or bees, if they feel like helping you, they will.

[enchancea]

Most of the books I have read say that any faerie is very picky about the cleanliness of houses they would choose to live in. And brownies do get offended very easily and then they arent so nice. Try searching google and Im sure you'll find tons of info

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Do NOT leave gifts for the brownies nor thank them. They find this to be very offensive and will leave, never to return no matter how you lure them.

From Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales by Sir George Douglas (published in 1901 and now in the public domain):

THE Scottish Brownie formed a class of beings distinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves. He was meagre, shaggy, and wild in his appearance.

In the daytime he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which he delighted to haunt; and in the night sedulously employed himself in discharging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable to the family to whose service he had devoted himself. But the Brownie does not drudge from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so delicate is his attachment that the offer of reward, but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever. It is told of a Brownie, who haunted a Border family now extinct, that the lady having fallen unexpectedly in labour, and the servant, who was ordered to ride to Jedburgh for the sage-femme, showing no great alertness in setting out, the familiar spirit slipt on the great-coat of the lingering domestic,


p. 178

rode to the town on the laird's best horse, and returned with the midwife en croupe. During the short space of his absence, the Tweed, which they must necessarily ford, rose to a dangerous height. Brownie, who transported his charge with all rapidity, was not to be stopped by this obstacle. He plunged in with the terrified old lady, and landed her in safety where her services were wanted. Having put the horse into the stable (where it was afterwards found in a woful plight), he proceeded to the room of the servant whose duty he had discharged, and, finding him just in the act of drawing on his boots, administered to him a most merciless drubbing with his own horsewhip. Such an important service excited the gratitude of the laird, who, understanding that Brownie had been heard to express a wish to have a green coat, ordered a vestment of that colour to be made and left in his haunts. Brownie took away the green coat, but was never seen more. We may suppose that, tired of his domestic drudgery, he went in his new livery to join the fairies.

The are also very concerned with the morals and conduct of the household to which they are attatched. From the same book:

ONE of the principal characteristics of the brownie was his anxiety about the moral conduct of the household to which he was attached. He was a spirit very


p. 180

much inclined to prick up his ears at the first appearance of any impropriety in the manners of his fellow-servants. The least delinquency committed either in barn, or cow-house, or larder, he was sure to report to his master, whose interests he seemed to consider paramount to every other thing in this world, and from whom no bribe could induce him to conceal the offences which fell under his notice. The men, therefore, and not less the maids, of the establishment usually regarded him with a mixture of fear, hatred, and respect; and though he might not often find occasion to do his duty as a spy, yet the firm belief that he would be relentless in doing so, provided that he did find occasion, had a salutary effect.

A story about this follows, but I will not quote it here. However I have a link to the whole book and you can read the various stories included regarding the Brownie and other fae folk of Scottish lore.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sfft/index.htm

The book can also be purchase at amazon.com,, which is where I got my edition.

If you're really interested in attracting a brownie you're better off reading the folklore of the Gentry rather than what is put out there by modern neo-pagan authors. They have a tendency to get everything all garbled and mixed up, as evidenced by Sirona Knights suggestion of leaving gifts for them. :nuhuh:

[Verthandi]

Do NOT leave gifts for the brownies nor thank them. They find this to be very offensive and will leave, never to return no matter how you lure them.
I hadn't heard that before. Thanks for the info!

[wolf]

Be careful what you wish for ...