Magical guardians get hungry. I know because when mine gets hungry, he starts looking for attention. And an alux that dosent get fed might easily go from hungry to hangry!
I have an alux in my home that guards my property and all who enter my space (as long as they are invited in). If you need more info on what an alux is, it is an elemental being that is created by a shaman here in the Mayalands. If you want to know more, GO HERE or read through the stories at the end of this post. About a week ago my alux started letting me know he wanted something to eat.
At first it was small things that may or may not have been supernatural. My computer started acting funny. I started misplacing things and then having them pop back up again right where I thought I’d originally left them. Then one day I was in the living room by myself. We had been super busy and it was a day to catch up. I was doing a little housekeeping and making everything look pretty and smell wonderful.
As I was going to light some incense on my altar space, I walked past a chair with a celery-green cotton pillow on it (I love those pillows and the soft blanket that matches them). I noticed that the pillow needed some fluffing. I made a mental note to attend to it. Then I lit a tea light on my altar and used its flame to light a stick of palo santo incense. My back was to the chair with the pillow while I did this and no one else was in the room. When I finished, I turned around to fluff the pillow only to find it on the floor partly UNDER the chair!
OK, OK! I hear you Mr. Alux (Maybe I should give him a name). So, I vowed to feed him that evening.
Of course, life gets busy, and I broke my vow.
I went to bed leaving a still hungry magical being waiting to be fed.
Early the next morning as I was drifting awake, I had what I like to call a “waking- dream.” Whenever I have “supernatural experiences” I like to be specific about what happened so you, dear reader, can get a good picture of it. I was conscious, but my eyes were closed. I was relaxed and kind of listening to the birds. Then I experienced what was like a dream. It was full color and very vivid, like watching a movie. My eyes were closed, so it was like I was fully in a dream, but I was awake.
In this waking-dream I saw what looked like small fireworks and sparkling streams of light in purple and blue and pink and white and yellow. To the right I knew was the alux, but he was just out of my range of sight (typical alux behavior). Colorful party streamers were added to the vision and sparkles floating in the air. Star-like white lights like tiny fireworks appeared with mini explosions. It felt a bit like the alux had been let loose in a party store!
Now I want to move you to another time. Several years previously, I had a similar waking-dream that involved aluxes, but this one was before I knew what an alux was. (it’s pronounced aloosh, by the way). The feeling in both experiences was the same. The first experience was a bit more profound and demonstrates better the supernatural nature of these experiences. I am adding it here to put everything in context.
In that waking dream I saw a beautiful field of green grass with colorful flowers and very small people that looked a bit like gnomes all over the field (aluxes look like small people). There were male and female tiny people and they were all colorfully dressed. As I was watching the scene an audible voice, like a narrator, said, “The children of the rainbow are not happy.”
This happened not far from where I live now in Mexico. At first, I thought, leprechauns? That seemed like a very odd thing to see in a waking-dream in Mexico. So, when I got up, I did a little digging. I got out my computer and cross referenced the words Mexico and Rainbow. And something very interesting popped up. Ixchel, the Maya goddess called “Lady of the Rainbow!”
I felt that the tiny people were the children, and the rainbow represented the goddess, Ixchel. The tiny people were somehow her children. I didn’t know who they were or why they were not happy.
A few weeks later I had my first experience with an alux. And it was in my own home! It didn’t take much to put 2 and 2 together and begin to understand that the little people were aluxes and that they were not happy. Conversations with local Maya people confirmed this. I discovered that aluxes had been living in the sacred spaces of the Yucatan for thousands of years and the influx of so many people with the rise of tourism was causing them grief.
If you want to know more about the crazy story about that first alux, GO HERE. (oops! I never wrote that story! I guess I need to write it!)
So back to my alux and his hunger issue.
When I came out of the waking-dream with the partying alux, I knew immediately that I needed to feed the alux without delay. So I prepared everything and fed him that very night. I really didn't want to end up with a "hangry" alux!
Anyway . . . how does one feed an alux?
My instructions came from our shaman, Don Francisco. I followed everything to the letter. I made atole from scratch. It is a simple cornmeal-thickened drink, heated on a stove top until it is like a drinkable homemade pudding. I added unprocessed sugar and spices. I could feel the excitement from the alux as I added the sugar and spices.
Then I poured the atole into two dried gourds that are traditionally used for this purpose and other sacred rituals here on the Yucatan. I placed them on my altar which is very close to the front door of my home and placed a beeswax candle in a small holder between them. The candle is to draw the attention of the alux and let him (or her) know where the food is. The candle must be allowed to burn all the way down so the alux has plenty of time to find the food (although I think mine was watching everything over my shoulder).
Of course, the alux does not physically eat the food. It feasts on its energy. I think my alux was very happy and since then all the odd happenings in the house have ceased. He can go back to his job now of guarding my home (the job of all aluxes). I will feed him again in six months. Some say to feed them every month, but I have heard from several expert sources that it is better not to feed them so often because they will become spoiled.
So, what else can you feed an alux besides atole? They enjoy sweets, fruit, the first offering from your garden harvest, tobacco, and of course liquor. Rum, brandy, and tequila seem to be the favorites.
Do keep in mind that aluxes, once brought to life, will live forever unless they are “killed” by a shaman. So if you do have an alux, you will have to feed it and so will your descendants. If people stop feeding an alux, it will tend to get cranky and cause trouble!
Wow…. I bet you have lots of questions now. If you do, read a few of my other posts about aluxes and feel free to send me a message and ask me more about them. I will share what I have learned!
Making sure my alux is happy,
laura