FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Rei]

Æji... not the elves stuff! ;)

Rates of belief in elves here are about as common, and about as seriously taken, as belief in ghosts is in America. So yeah, there's a small number of people certain they exist, a much larger percent willing to consider their existence, then a majority that shakes their head in disappointment when they hear that a friend or family member is certain that they're real ;)

As for the traditional beliefs, they're rather similar to the Japanese belief in Kami - that there's places in nature, often those that look out of place or inspire a sense of awe, that can can be inhabited by otherworldly entities - in Japan, Kami; in Iceland, álfar. Often they're large boulders, and if one that's traditionally held to be an elf home is in the way of construction or something, sometimes they'll give the elf believers a chance to convince the elves to move so that the people will stop complaining ;)

But yeah, I've never heard of the elves messing with people over little rocks ;)

[Juan F. Buelga]

In this link you will find information about how the government of Western Australia regulate mineral collecting.

https://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/documents/132297_Prospecting_in_WA.pdf
(link normalized by FMF)