On July 10, 2008, after much earlier deliberation with my board members of the astrological group in which (don't ask) I have been the reluctant "Prez," I called the national group's representative (who happens to over time become a good friend of mine) to tell her that our group is "dis-engaging" from the national one, due to the fact that it has been a total struggle to meet requirements, and it has now gotten so hard to do so that it is just better if we continue our group without the national affiliation. That night, we had a heck of a wind-storm, and the Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila) managed to have one of its larger branches come crashing down. I didn't discover it until the next day, after I called one of my best clients to wish him a happy solar return (birthday). Interestingly, he also had a similar experience, as he was leaving his employer to go solo himself!

I gave the tree Reiki - however, this time - the tree "told" me to make an essence with it. Amongst other things that it told me, it said that it was to be used for types of people who have much responsibility, as it would help them with it - and reading "Elm" with Dr. Bach's essences matches that pretty well. However, it also told me it was to help those carrying inappropriate responsibility to not only recognize it, but to release it back to appropriate sources. The tree had directed me to not only use the leaves from the large fallen branch, but also the leaves from the standing, living tree - and also some leaves from the new growth at the base of the tree, to give a very "rounded" essence. I "saw" my square glass bowl (like with the Dandelion essence) instead of the round one that I normally use, and my pendulum told me to start it on the Saturn Hour, which was getting close to the sunsetting time - so I knew the sunlight had nothing to do with making this essence. I allowed it to sit for a full 24 hours - and when I picked it up to process, there were ants around it (yet another Saturn element).

When looking up Elm in my magically-based books, not only did I learn it was ruled by Saturn (which explains the whole responsibility thing), but I was reminded that Elves were have considered to live in Elm Trees. I then decided to look at the Latin name, Ulmus pumila - and I learned that pumila means "Dwarf" - so this essence has a Dwarf energy as well! In thinking about how the Elves and Dwarves are portrayed in the Legendarium, I could see how this essence could be of use to those of us who are drawn to, or work with, those energies! In a way, I also consider the Siberian Elm "Branch-Fall" one to be my first "environmental" essence hehehe! Thanks for reading!

(Coming Later - a complete list of the Flower Essences made so far - there are 18 at last count!)

June 21st (Solstice): The "Gates of Summer" (Tarnin Austa) festival starts the prior night and anticipates the rising of the Anar, the Sun in the East, who is "steered" in the skies by a firey Maia (meaning "Beautiful One") named Arien.  This year, we are also very lucky to witness at virtually the same time a Full Moon, as well as Elemmire (Mercury) going direct!

In the Elven stories, the Sun was created by the last fruit from the female Golden Tree named Laurelin (whereas Isil, the Moon was created from the last flower from the male Silver Tree, Telperion, and "steered" in the skies by the Maia Tilion).  The trees themselves (before their destruction by the Dark One) were created by Yavanna Kementari, Queen of the Earth and Giver of Fruits (in what could be seen as the "Elven Pantheon" that are collectively called the Valar).  The Sun, Moon and Stars were all made by Varda Elentari, Queen of the Stars - the Elves deemed her their favorite of all of the Valar.  She is the one in Lord of the Rings referred to as Lady Elbereth Gilthoniel, and her energies are very protective!  She also created out of Telperion's sap Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar to keep the Dark One at bay - today, we know this star constellation as the Big Dipper.

The fullest description of Tarnin Austa is set in the hidden Elven city of Gondolin, as shown in this quote from JRR Tolkien's Book II of the Lost Tales (aka HoME Vol. II):

[…] and now at length is that great feast Tarnin Austa or the Gates of Summer near at hand. For know that on a night it was their custom to begin a solemn ceremony at midnight, continuing it even till the dawn of Tarnin Austa broke, and no voice was uttered in the city from midnight till the break of day, but the dawn they hailed with ancient songs.

For years uncounted had the coming of summer thus been greeted with music of choirs, standing upon their gleaming eastern wall; and now comes even the night of vigil and the city is filled with silver lamps, while in the groves upon the new-leaved trees lights of jewelled colours swing, and low musics go along the ways, but no voice sings until the dawn.

The sun has sunk beyond the hills and folk array them for the festival very gladly and eagerly -- glancing in expectation to the East.

For more information on the "Loa" or the Elven Calendar, please click on the "Calendar" link when visiting www.elvenspirituality.com. For deeper discussions, visit Aikanar's Forum at http://forum.westofwest.org.

This is modified from an earlier MySpace posting - ENJOY!

It still seems very surreal to me when I explain this to others, as it wasn't just one event, but a series of events that brought my attention to this path. I had been involved in pursuing a spiritual path since my Saturn Return in 1993, when I had some unusual experiences that led me to learning astrology amongst other metaphysical talents - and those led me to exploring my spirituality, or connection to Spirit. Paganism as a whole seemed to have a missing ingredient - not just contact with Spirit but also ancestral contact. I resonated with many pagan mythologies and pantheons, from Celtic/Druidic and Teutonic/Norse to Egyptian, Hindu/Eastern Indian and even Native American. I never mixed these experiences but instead wish to immerse myself in one at a time to really "feel" that mythology and that pantheon. However, I never knew what was to come.

I had earlier experiences with Tolkien in my life (particularly with The Hobbit) and liked it, but my interest at the time told me they were just stories. My interest in Tolkien was put on the back burner until the Lord of the Rings movies came out. I absolutely loved the portrayals of the Elves, but CRAP WHO DIDN'T? :-) I then re-met my now husband who is a complete Tolkien Geek (a good thing!) and told me that if I liked the Elves that much, I should really read The Silmarillion, since it is the back-story to the Hobbit and LOTR and much of it was from the Elven point of view. We got married, moved from CA to MT and just "lived" for awhile, again pushing Tolkien to the back burner.

In August 2004, a friend (Fern) who identifies himself as an otherkin druid who resonates with ent and gnome energy (amongst other things) straight out asked me if I knew I was an Elf! I laughed SO HARD - as at the time I thought he was just messing with me. Then, I started thinking about why he would say that to me - and that led to wondering if he was right.

The final straw was when my husband found his copy of The Silmarillion for me to read in Spring 2005. NOTHING was to prepare me for what I experienced - I just KNEW at the deepest recesses of my heart, even down to a DNA level that these stories were utterly REAL!! And I mean "real" in a mythic mode, the way that some people feel about the Bible, and others feel about their respective mythologies and pantheistic connections with their ancestors (or past lives, or both). My head was telling me I was crazy and that these were just stories, but my heart and collective intuition would not rest. But then I had a new dilemma - how to find ANYONE who also felt this way!

Well, I was lucky enough to find him! It took me 8 days and very diligent internet effort, believe me! In fact, I learned that Dave had been searching for like-minded people in this endeavor for well over a decade without success. Here is the deal: Most people "role-play" the Elves in the story and only believe it to be a story - and this is their way of pretending or playing. Many other explorers of elven energies did not involve the Tolkien type, or the Quendi - in fact, many of these are of galactic origin, be they from galaxies in the direction of the Big Dipper (i.e. Elenari) to the Orion and Pleidaen systems. Of the non-roleplaying Tolkien Elves found, their emphasis is different than what we were looking for. There are also wiccans who used odd pairings of Middle-Earth characters in their practice, and this didn't feel right either. So this is our beginnings!

Now, Dave and his new wife have gone on to form Ilsalunte Valion, as their group is more research-oriented, where Tie eldalieva, the Elven Path, is more education and outreach-oriented. Regardless of our group leanings, all of us have different stories of how we came to this path, and contribute in our own ways. In the near future, Tie eldalieva, the Elven Path, hopes to submit a manuscript to Llewellyn. We wish to acknowledge and thank the handful of reputable pagan and magickal authors who have shown support for our project (and appreciate the information for presenting this material in a way wherein the Tolkien Estate would not have to be legally contacted!) :-) We will keep all of you posted.

For more information, please visit our websites:

Tie eldalieva - http://www.elvenspirituality.com

Ilsalunte Valion - http://forum.westofwest.org

If any material here interests you, we have many resources, so feel free to contact us - and ENJOY!!

Calantirniel, co-founder

Back in late August/early September, 2007, Calantirniel as well as the new Ilsalunte Valion co-founder Aikanar were interviewed by the awesome Tom and Baz on the Eclectic Pagans Podcast (EPP)!

We were Episode #26, please find their respective links here. The show is about an hour and our interview starts about 12 or 13 minutes in.

eclecticpagan.libsyn.com/ (The EPP Website)
www.podcastalley.com/player/player.php (The EPP Podcasts)
groups.yahoo.com/group/EclecticPagan/ (The EPP Yahoogroup)

Enjoy!
www.elvenspirituality.com (New Tië eldaliéva Website)

What is the Elven Path? For that matter, who were the Elves?

The following is a portion that comes from our "Statement of Beliefs" - ENJOY!

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(A) word needs to be said about the term “Elves”. When we use that word here, we mean the Quendi—the beings described in the Legendarium. We do not mean fairies or other elementals, though those beings certainly exist in our experience; still less the images portrayed in popular culture, such as the “Drow”, and so forth (in particular, the Quendi did not have ‘pointy-ears’). Tolkien himself was at pains to distance the Quendi from more recent folklore:

“I now deeply regret having used ‘Elves’, though this is a word in ancestry and original meaning suitable enough. But the disastrous debasement of this word, in which Shakespeare played an unforgiveable part, has really overloaded it with regrettable tones, which are too much to overcome….My difficulty has been that, since I have tried to present a kind of legendary [sic] and history of a 'forgotten epoch', all the specific terms were in a foreign language, and no precise equivalents exist in English...” – From Letter #151

If the Quendi could speak to us today, they might say something like this:

We are the Firstborn. We are the People of the Stars. We are a constant presence upon Arda guiding and nurturing the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky. Through cycles we come, and make our presence known to the Secondborn (Mankind) to turn them from the tainted courses of the Dark One—and then the Fading begins again. We are the students of the Valar and Maiar. We are the teachers of these same wisdoms to Man.

Long ago we faded when the last lieutenant of the Enemy (cursed be its name) was thrown down from its tower, and Mankind was given the inherited chance to guide the Earth on their own. They lost the wisdom, and we have returned like the Istari to reveal hope in despair, and light in darkness. Until the World fails we are bound to return, thus we are ever-renewing and our spirits immortal.

We are the Eldalië and this—this is our Tië (Path).

Aiya! Welcome to Tië eldaliéva!

{Most text written in 2007 by Aikanar, Lomelindo and Llefyn. The “Charge of Tië eldaliéva” (above) was devised in 2006 by Lomion. We gratefully acknowledge the input of the other Founders and Friends in the production of this Statement.}

www.elvenspirituality.com