#but it can be of some limited use if it's a way Elen chose to try to contact humans in that guise | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

greyriversands · 24 days ago

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Yeah absolutely. I love Elen but her modern cult is.... so full of all of the issues too often associated with eclectic paganism.

It's fine if she is a modern god, not every god or festival needs to be anciently attested for it to be authentic, but you do need to be honest about it, and not try very flimsily to connect it with things that are vaguely similar if you squint. Especially if those things are from marginalised traditions under threat. She's not Celtic or Sámi or anything like that. If she is an older god (and I have a hunch she might be, purely UPG-wise) there's no concrete evidence of that. And we can have a healthy cult around her without pretending otherwise!

Sorry if this is a hot button topic, but also… I don’t really care. I’m tired of seeing her appear in my tags that have nothing to do with her. Believe what you want, I won’t stop you. Just don’t call her something that she isn’t.

#I also think that sometimes #a deity can be connected to myths without being them #like with the relationship between elen of the ways as a goddess and the dream of macsen wledig #i don't think it makes sense to consider them the same #there's no reason to assume The Dream is in anyway a euhemerised pagan narrative #but it can be of some limited use if it's a way Elen chose to try to contact humans in that guise #same with analogies to Elaine the grail bearer #although i will also say that the articles conclusion being "worship an actual native american figure instead #is uh a bit tonedeaf?

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