#tie eldalieva

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what do you think are good resources for someone who wants to get into Elf Religion?

there's quite a lot floating around out there, luckily! most of the effort comes in hunting it down and winnowing out what works best for you! there's also lots and lots of mixed or multi-source elf stuff out there, i just work primarily with tolkien sourced stuff. i can't comment much on other sources, so what i list here will be tolkien based or tolkien adjacent at the least! reading the fullness of the legendarium, not just the silm but also HoME and other texts, will also help you find what feels right.

so before we get to the long stuff, i really recommend you go through t-e/wal's website first and look at the statement of faith, valar page, and loa page. that's a pretty good summary of the most basic parts as far as belief goes. practice is something you can make unique to you! t-e/wal has a very modern-festival-paganism vibe to their rituals. i-v is doing modern western 'shamanism' (quotes bc that is a stolen name and i don't condone its use, but the alternative 'imaginal gnosis' is unwieldy and not commonly used).

if you already have your own favorite magical practices, you could find ways to adapt them to the loa and the valar! have fun with it! some of us do lots of magic, some of us mostly do worship. it can be as complicated or as simple as you want. this list comes from a collection i have been working on since 2022 and lists both orgs and individuals posting their own experiences.

T-e or wal : a shortening for Tie Eldalieva which changed its name to Way of Arda's Lore in 2024, which is a religious organization based in the usa for tolkien religionists. They (meaning a few of their loremasters with high overlap wth I-v) have worked on the loa and astronomy of the legendarium extensively. their resources are great and pretty universally used and tweaked by tolkien spiritualists of all kinds.

main website link https://elvenspirituality.com/

facebook , old name and older content https://www.facebook.com/elvenspirituality

facebook, new name and newer content https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559024296013

youtube link https://www.youtube.com/@elvenspiritualpath

they currently have years of public virtual rituals and discussions on essays or white papers written by their lore masters. their membership overlap with i-v means i-v lore masters will sometimes appear in their videos.

I-v : a shortening for Ilsalunte Valion, a gnostic group closely related to T-e but with different motivations which has done a lot of the imaginal work and loremastery to make tolkien religion a rich possibility for many people. Their approach is less public, but deeper and more personal, than T-e. they focus a lot on gnosis and meditative exploration and use different ritual techniques than t-e/wal.

ilsalunte-valion main website http://westofwest.org/

the main feature is the forum, which you will need to register as a member to see most of.

Dave, a founding member and loremaster of both t-e/wal and i-v has a collection of more recent writing that is relevant to both organizations and people curious about them. found here https://hackmd.io/@EriolElwin/rJrwhaDaR

hewal : a shortening for High Elven Wisdom and Love, which is the youtube channel of Kmberiel Eventide. Kimber-el/Kimberel/Kimberiel is a starseed and mystic, and overlaps with tolkien religion enough that she joined and assisted T-e in getting legal religious recognition before parting and going her own way again.

while hewal has been inactive for several years, some of her videos are tolkien-specific and she made and posted the vala-specific informational videos for t-e/wal when she joined them. in those videos (still on t-e/wal's youtube and i think on hers as well) she goes through each mention of the vala in the legendarium texts book by book. this can be very helpful for someone that isn't absorbing the same summaries from the tolkien gateway website.

hewal youtube tolkien specific playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbW2r96baVJy1_ItxeeuFKrfde3HdgAH8

she has tolkien relevant videos not in that playlist so make sure to snoop around.

ES : a shortening for Elven Scholar, which is the youtube channel for Earendil Spindelilus, who was once of T-e but does his own work for loremastery and runs an online school. looks like he stopped posting youtube videos about a year ago, but his facebook group and school still have some activity.

youtube channel here https://www.youtube.com/@ElvenScholarMusings

his online school http://www.elvenscholar.org/

warning: there are no state or federal agencies that license herbalism in the united states. his claims that his courses will award you the title 'certified herbalist' are vanity titles only. all those interested in herbalism should thoroughly investigate the legal licensure status of herbalism, naturopathy, and nutrition and dietetics for their nation and state. (afair naturopathy and nutrition/dietetics are licensed in the usa and cannot be practiced without legal license.) if your nation and state has no licensure process for herbalism, look for the self-regulatory bodies developed by professionals of that field and learn the base standards of education assumed for that field by that body. in the united states, this would be the american herbalists' guild and the american botanical council.

this last one is a little controversial in that alyras was formerly a founder and treasurer of t-e, and due to usa incorporation laws, was considered the only remaining board member of t-e when they ousted her, which is the reason t-e had to change their name to wal legally. i don't understand the situation but the tea is spilled lmao. i do still use and enjoy her reference book with lots of modification and ignoring what i dont care for. she also uses ai generated images for her website, which really rubs me the wrong way. i think her urls being so visually similar to t-e/wal's is on purpose.

her work is very new age and also centered in music. i do enjoy the tambour drones a lot for meditation!

her org website https://yanaeldalieva.org/about.html

there should be a link for her handbook somewhere in there, which is a gift in exchange for donation. dm me if you need help finding it, as the website has been re-arranged since i last saw it.

alyras/yana eldalieva facebook https://www.facebook.com/elvenspiritualpath

alyras youtube https://www.youtube.com/@elvenspiritualpathmusic/videos

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Hi!! Could you talk a little about what following Tolkien elven religion is like for you? (Only if you want, of course.)

I'm a very newly awakened elf and I've just started reading the silmarillion. I haven't even gotten that far yet, but already it's the most connected I've felt to any religious system/religious lore before. I'm considering practicing Elvish religion, but idk. I feel a little strange saying I want to practice a religion from a work of fiction, y'know? (Please don't take this as me saying your beliefs are strange— I think they're incredibly cool. This is very much just a me thing.)

Anyway, I guess my question is something along the lines of How did you realize this was the religion for you/What do you believe wrt Tolkiens work being or not being fiction?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and doubly so if you choose to answer! Have a nice timezone :))

Alatulya, welcome kin! this one is a little long so there is a break. i also accidentally hit publish early, so we will see how editing it works lol.

table of contents: 1. my personal history and variety of practitioners 2. dealing with fictional mythology + my fave paper on this 3. specifics of tolk elven religion

Eldarin religion has been my primary religion (buddhism and my eclectic animistic witchcraft also there and co piloting) for seven years. I have been working with other eldar on our own group experience of this religion for two or a bit more years. I have taken a bit of priestly service role of collecting and organizing materials and keeping track of the calendar, which we call Loa and which assigns different holidays and themes in order throughout the year. i suspect this role is agreeable and natural for me as minya, but that anyone could do it. the degree of demand differs depending on the person, and i would say that much of my time is set to thinking of or practicing our religion. others have less involvement, and some of us feel our cosmology and philosophy is more cultural than religious the way humans might think being a member of a religious group should be. as for my own journey of getting here, i have been otherkin for most of my life and many years of that was 'generally a nature spirit type thing.' which became 'an elf but i am not sure what kind.' which then became 'oh god… am i one of those hoity toity tolkien elves?' bc there is a cultural expectation among elfkin that tolk elves are more dour and care what color clothes you wear or something… turns out that is not true! or, at least, i have not met these grim arbiters of what is becoming of the firstborn! reading the silm and other texts in the legendarium to fill in what i had absorbed from the hobbit and lotr (books and movies) was the lightbulb in the dim cellar. i use a mixed spiritual and psychological theory of origin and function for my several theriotypes and elven kintype, and this experience filled in some gaps i had just been sitting with. i personally feel that i am living one continuous eldarin life--awoken at cuivienen among the minyar, lived and died, spent my time in mandos, and was reembodied here. my sense of memory is dim, and i generally assume that is just a sign that memory is not necessarily important for this part of my life the way it was in arda. it is a great honor to live this life and to find other eldar and folks of all kindreds to share my love of life with. it was natural to transition from my magic and religious work with nature spirits to a cosmology centered on the legendarium-some of the spirits i still work and live with admit they are maiar, others are not maiar and are of the many kinds of spirit and sprite that entered into ea after its foundation to explore. our working relationships and the techniques i use for magic have stayed much the same. so how i do it is just one example in a variety.

2. i will answer first on dealing with the fictional aspect and wrestling with the nature of constructed or pop culture or modern mythology spirituality-the individual beliefs differ there, too!

for my part, i do not think the legendarium is a factual history of this actual world we currently live in. i do think jrrt was channeling something, and may or may not have been kin himself of arda reembodied here.

i think ea, like most faerie realms, is both here and not here and you have to open yourself up and step into it. once most people have experienced the enchantment of an otherworld, they are never fully able to drop the sense of it. i do feel that the legendarium makes a suitable mythopoetic 'history' for powers and themes that apply to both this world and ea and where they overlap, and that the legendarium becomes more historically factual the closer you move into ea and the further you go from current earth.

there is a lovely paper that i surely have annoyed everyone with titled the tolkien spiritual milieu by Markus Altena Davidsen of the university of leiden that really gets into the anatomy of constructed religion and what is present in certain medias that lends itself to that anatomy, which he calls 'religious affordances' in the text. it details a number of groups of many varied beliefs in the tolkien spiritual sphere, some active and some long gone, and i feel that it is a great way to expand one's vocabulary and mental concept of constructed religion and the wide variety that is possible in such constructions. the pdf is available from the university website here

if you check out mr davidsen's other published papers on that website, there are several others also relevant to fiction sourced mythology and spirituality including some by other authors.

3. that being said, there are religious affordances for the eldar in the texts, but not necessarily enough for a fully fleshed out practice as is prepared and given to new members of various world religions. it will take a bit of crafting, but we elves do love to craft! most of us blend legendarium cosmology and philosophy with practices or philosophies we are previously familiar with, like neopaganism or judaism or etc etc.

we have developed some structure in the forms of: a multiply layered observational calendar for the six seasons, eight holidays, twelve months, and seven days of the week; the fourteen valar and several named maiar associated with certain valar; the panentheistic experience of the creator Eru; and the use of witchcraft, meditation, devotional or worship activity, enchantments, glamor, and arts like music poetry painting crochet etc.

most of us practice our own personal flavor by ourselves, and group rituals or ensorcelments are rare at the moment. we are all exploring, and i would be thrilled to hear about your own explorations and what calls to you!

sooo… basically i have a worship and work relationship with our gods and supportive spirits, and give observation on the schedule of the loa. i have daily practices, like offering of beverage an thanks or an oil anointment of my body, and then weekly practices like an eruhini veneration and well wishes for the dead. and monthly practices on the full and dark moon, which is focused on the vala of that month, where i usually do spellwork for the constellation. there are holidays at the start of each season and at the solstices, where i will sometimes do magic for the group but is usually about the personal journey. the one time another elf was physically with me i did do some small rituals including that elda. my herbalism work is inherently religious to me and i also count both learning and practicing herbalism as a devotional activity, same with going on walks or drumming.

i invite you very earnestly to reach out any time and through any means you are comfortable with, and i wish you a very blessed full moon of winds. hantanyel ar namarie!

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I havent been able to find the linde elimonte thing you mentioned that you sing as part of practice do you have a link?

Linde elenlote, or song of the starflower,(link to info on trientalis borealis, the starflower itself) maps the points of the seven pointed star. like most ritual stars, you can map several different things to it. we primarily map first the weekdays, then the directions. the valar in pairs are linked to and thereby called by intoning the directions. there are some slight differences in the practice of linde elenlote depending on who is doing it/which org they learned it from. i will link both esp/michel de cygne and t-e/wal's videos on this.

esp weekdays video

esp directions video

t-e/wal open enderi ritual video starting at 17 minutes. very long but gives you an idea on how people have been doing this since the 90s. (they have also published lots of videos over the years and i recommend you go dig around in them and have fun! i would love to hear what resonates with you and what doesn't along your journey.) i have some personal practice differences, in that i intone differently for the directions. i do them in a slightly different order, as well, as if i were following a 7 pointed star starting at the top. i also don't call eru's name before beginning, i breathe with the all instead. i will usually only call ea at the end if i am specifically doing a spell or working power, not for just worship.

so this can essentially be used for both maps. i gave each of these a sorta arbitrary color. yellow- east/rómen, varda and manwe, wednesday/heavensday/menelya indigo- above/vilya, este and irmo, monday/moonday/isilya green- within/center/enda, vána and orome, saturday/starsday/elenya teal- below/undo, nienna and ulmo, thursday/seasday/earenya red- south/hyarmen, yavanna and aule, tuesday/treesday/aldúya orange- west/númen, vaire and námo, sunday/anarya purple- north/formen, nessa and tulkas, friday/powersday/valanya so weekday intoning would go green, orange, indigo, red, yellow, teal, purple, return to green but intone arda. directions intoning goes yellow, teal, purple, green, orange, indigo, red, return to yellow but intone illúve. you'll generally also turn yourself or at least your hand the corresponding physical direction for each point.

you can do like t-e/wal does in their rituals and stop to say something to each vala pair at each direction, but i will usually save this for the end when i give an offering and only to the valar of the holiday, month, and day. not everybody every time.

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do you have a copy of the loa that can be easily seen? im curious about the calender and the like as an elfkin myself.

sure! this links to t-e/wal's page on the loa, and then i also have a pdf of my own where i put the meryali (solar/seasonal holidays) löastar (seasons) and ránastar (months) in order together in a list

their page is ordered meryali/holidays up top, ránastar/months, and then enquie/weekdays and löastar/seasons at the bottom. then here's a copypaste from my own pdf, starting with elven new year in súlime and rolling onward from there. linky for my pdf. it is a mess, forgive me. feel free to ask/dm whatever if the link has problems or if you have other questions.

March/Súlime- Moon of winds, Arata Manwe

Mettare/Yestare- Elven end-of-year and first-of-year, beginning of Spring/Tuile. (Sulime 27-28), Vaire

Vaire April/Víresse- Moon of youth, Tulkas

May/Lótesse- Moon of flowering, Nessa

Nost-na-Lothion/Birth of Flowers- celebration of life, beginning of Summer/Laire. Vána (Lotesse 22)

June/Nárie- Moon of fire, Arata Varda

Tarnin-Austa/Summer Solstice - reflection on sunlight and deliverance from darkness. The Warm Light. (Narie 21 ish)

July/Cermie- Moon of first harvest, both materially and metaphorically. Irmo

August/Úrime- Moon of heat, All Ainur

Yávie- Celebration of fruits and Earth, beginning of Autumn/Yavie. (Urime 2)

September/Yavannie-Moon of great harvest, Arata Yavanna

Enderi- Midyear holiday for travel, beginning of Fading/Quelle. Arata Orome. (Yavannie 25-27)

October/Narquelie- Moon of Fading Fire, Arata Námo Mandos

November/Hísime- Moon of Mists, Este

Cuivere Quendiva- celebration of awakening date of first elves, beginning of Winter/Hríve. All elves (Hisime 21)

December/Ringare- Moon of bitter cold, mourning for the marring and sorrow of the world. Arata Nienna, indirectly.

Turuhalme/Winter Solstice- holiday of stories and community, bonfires, survival in the darkness. The Cool Light. (Ringare 21 ish)

January/Narvinye- Moon of New Fire, Arata Aule

February/Nénime- Moon of Waters, Arata Ulmo

Sovalwaris- holiday for spiritual cleansing and beginning of Stirring/Coire, Arata Nienna again (Nenime 2)

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[ID: a painting of the valie Este from the tolkien legendarium. Here she is depicted as a light skinned elf with long dark hair in a braid pulled over her shoulder. She wears a pale grey robe with blue-patterned lining that has a red-embroidered boat neckline. She wears a silver circlet with a trailing diaphanous veil. She is seated in the midground on a very large blue-green hoop decorated with celtic knots, which is closed at the top with wood and intersects perfectly with several other circles: a golden halo, a ring of pink flowers with empty air inside, and the rest of the inside of the celtic-knot hoop is full of ivy which spills out into the midground. The far background is a sunset sky with trailing golden clouds. The foreground is a field of butterflies in gold, red, black, and white, and este holds one of the butterflies in her hands. End ID.]

Este by https://askwen.lofter.com/

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Hi sweetie! I went through your tags to search for more elfkind content and serotonine, and I am curious. Why the tag "my mother's name is death?

let's see... i started using that tag in tuile of 2019. i was mourning the loss of a chosen father, the birth father of my then-husband who had reappeared in husband's 20s after being separated when he was a baby, and executing his estate. He had passed mid-narquelie the previous year.

That was the third year of my elven awakening, and of my 'new life' hard won through therapy and buddhism and just slowing down in the woods. That's the spatial context, the tapestry that led to this tag. The shortest possible answer is that i revere the cycles of decay and formation, and that decay and death are a link in the chain of infinite transformations that is life (animistically including nonanimated creation). i reflect on death as an act of love, of compassion, of continuation and creative improv on the Theme of life. Death is Life, Life is Death... we are all made for one another and made of one another. I have a fond feeling about this, as it has made my hroa and this world that i so adore, death has mothered this world and my place in it. longer answer and fiddly words below The forest, and the whole world, is fed on death. my bones once belonged to another, to trees and microbes and cats and fish and mountains. the air i breathe now has been through every manner of respiratory body imaginable, has been high with the clouds, has hung over the ocean, has oxidized metal, has been pushed through lush soil. my skin cells dry and fall off and feed creatures i cannot see, build soil, are transformed into something new. someday, my bones will belong to others again. my flesh will be gifts for beings i cannot even imagine, just as it was originally a gift to me from countless others. Death has made my body for me, and Death will make new things once i have left it. i miss living in the deep woods, but even now i look fondly on death and decay in the garden bed, in the kitchen compost, and in the clover of the yard. in the cold wet air from the river. in the faces and hands of people i love. i associate this with Namo and Vaire, of course, but also with all the Aratar. Yavanna and Aule and Manwe and Ulmo have very obvious places in this sphere--they created the flows of matter that are fed by change and death and that feed other cycles. I feel Varda, Nienna, and Orome have their own hands in death. Varda in hope and what lies beyond just one life, Nienna in metabolizing sorrow and longing and misery, and Orome in the necessity of Death for Life--someone must die for me to live, and i *want* to live just as they want to live. I want to make all the deaths that are linked to my life and death cherished and meaningful. I want my death and daily dying to give life and food and warmth to trillions of beings.

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2, 4, 5, 19

i answered this super late so it is no longer the month of Irmo, that was two months ago. oops!

2. Have you ever had a "paranormal" experience? If so, please describe it.

not necessarily in the supernatural/ghosts/cryptids sense, but magic shit does happen very regularly to me. my least favorite is 'impending danger' warnings from the gods, although i am grateful! my most favorite is when land spirits/spirits of place contact me first in a friendly tone, usually through beckoning trees and a shift in my perception.

4. Share your favorite animal and some of your personal correspondences associated with it.

im love all of them omg.... but for this month, we are observing the vala Irmo and many eldar associate butterflies with him! Butterflies are commonly associated with transformation due to their lifecycle, and so they are symbols for transgender folks and other kinds of personal transformation. We associate Irmo with transformation and recreating yourself to your ideal forms, shapeshifting, crossdressing, trans-sexualism and transgenderism. Butterflies are also precious to me for their role as decomposers and opportunists. Their lives are relatively short, and i will forever cherish the sight of great droves of them sipping minerals from the gravel in the creekbeds. They flit over the bone pit, they decompose flesh and feces and then rest on gorgeous flowers.

My region is home to a number of native butterflies with relatively small ranges, who need certain native host plants to rear their young on. They are one thread interlinked with thousands of others, unique to my home valley that i love. When i see the spicebush swallowtail, i see the spicebush, i see the unique place it has in the forest and the edgelands, i see the cup of spicebush tea. all of our desires and transformations are similarly linked to thousands of other threads, unique to the places and people that formed us.

5. Share your favorite gemstone/crystal/rock and some of your personal correspondences associated with it.

Labradorite, hands down. I wear so much labradorite and i adore it so much. The flash of feldspars is so gorgeous to me, and i have modeled my dressing colorschemes off of the variety of colors in labradorites. i associate labradorite with mystery and wisdom, and the values of perspective. the values of light and dark, how they are made for one another. I especially associate it with my patrons, the feanturi. each of them are so easy to see in the layers of light and darkness in the stone, the way there are layers of light and darkness in ourselves and the world. so i guess a shorthand/correspondences would be the spheres of the feanturi- fate, time, suffering/wisdom, dreams/transformation. sight within and sight without and the wisdom to understand them.

19. Is there a part of your practice that you perform daily or very often? If so, please describe.

potion offering i make tea, i sing (internally or externally) linde elenlote. this process is making the shape of the seven pointed star (elenlote, starflower) and intoning at each point the corresponding thing. round 1 is the days of the week, which in english is essentially: starsday, sunday, moonday, treesday, heavensday, watersday, powersday. this is a reflection on the world as created, the beautiful things in it that provide us life. the closure is 'arda' which means world, and falls on the starsday point to close the star. round 2 is the directions, which goes east, below, north, within, west, above, south. each direction has a pair of gods associated with it, and when i sing this sound of linde elenlote, i am reflecting on the big picture beyond the material aspects of creation-the gods are the thoughts of the Creator Outside Time. The gods loved the creation so much that they came to live within it with us and to prepare it for us. They are here with us, their designs are in everything and are ever changing.

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Earenya meditation and offering

Below is a long transcript of a weekday observation for tolkien elven religion <3 Thursday is Earenya, the day of waters and the three Valar associated with water.. It is a day of the external waters of the world (Lord Ulmo), and the internal waters of our hearts (Lord Nienna) and our bodies (Este.) These three Valar are communed with, worshiped, or worked with on this day. My practice every single day is to give a potion offering to the Valar of the day and meditate on their place in my life. Sometimes the moon phase or month changes how specifically i focus on this practice.

Starting out with seven minutes of silent sitting with this drone in the background, just breathing and feeling the flame of my fëa, the light of the flame imperishable in the world around me. Slowly, the boundaries between my ideas of things and the reality of them goes fuzzy and soft.

Then, prepping my offering for today. Just clean drinking water with a little potion of powdered lion's mane, rhodiola, and orange, then tincture of mullein. Stirred while admiring the swirl of the water counterclockwise, opening the nets of my body and heart to release what it has caught over time.

I stand and sing lindë elenlotë using my finger to mark the points of the star flower: like a clock, 4-- Elenya, 8-- anarya, 2-- isilya, 7-- alduya, 12-- menelya, 5-- earenya (today! the warmth of Ulmo's joy washes over me), 10-- valanya, and back to 4-- arda.

I then face the directions and intone them one at a time: East, Rómen. (also 12 on the star: menelya, the day and direction of Varda and Manwe) Downward, Undo. (5 on the star: Earenya, day and direction of Ulmo and Nienna) North, Formen. (10 on the star: Valanya, day and direction of Tulkas and Vána (though valanya is day of all valar, not just those two.)) Within, Enda. (4 on the star: Elenya--day of Varda and all elves, but direction of Orome and Nessa) West, Númen. (8 on the star: Anarya, day of the sun and fiery valar, but direction of Namo and Vaire.) Above, Vilya. (2 on the star: Isilya, day of the moon and cool/silvery valar, but direction of Este and Irmo.) South, Hyarmen. (7 on the star: Alduya, day of the two trees and day and direction of Yavanna and Aule.) facing same direction, intoning Illúve for the illumination of Eru we all share.

Because today is Earenya, day of waters, day of Ulmo, Nienna, and Este, I crouch and set my offering down and put both palms on the floor to either side of it.

"Hail Ulmo, lord of all waters in the world, whose waves carry the sound of the original song of creation and stretch over all the width and depths of the world. You touch my life at every possible layer and support me in ways i cannot fully know. Thank you, for your joy in the creation, for staying with my people in all forms of exile, for your warnings and protections. Enjoy the fruits of my cup, which are your fruits--this clean water is your gift to me. My joys are your joys, and my sorrows are your sorrows.

"Hail Nienna, Fui, whose heart stretches across all darkness and all time, to every wound and uncertainty. Thank you for the cleansing process of grief, the waxing and waning of suffering that lets wisdom grow. Thank you for your constancy in my life and the depths of compassion you enable in my heart. Take the fruits of my cup, the waters of my tears and my labors. My joys are your joys, my sorrows are your sorrows."

I then stood with the cup and lifted it upward, Vilya, the direction of Este and Irmo.

"Hail Este, who teaches me my trade and has designed so many wondrous plants in communion with other Valar. Thank you for your kind attention to our bodies and their capacity to heal, and for the wide interwoven web of plants and other life that can heal and feed one another. The fruits of my cup are absolutely yours, the fruit of my learning herbalism, which could not be without your constant inspiration and remonstrations. My joys are your joys, and my sorrows are your sorrows."

I then faced south and held my cup outward.

"Hail Lord Yavanna, giver of all fruits and maker of life: this is your month, Yavannie, the month of final harvest. This time is rich with food and light, though soon it will wane and fade. Thank you for the cycle of life and death that feeds and makes food of all. My cup is your cup, my joys are your joys, and my sorrows are your sorrows.

I sat a while with the cup to my chest, breathing in joy in the light of our flaming souls, and then drank the offering after the Valar had their time to enjoy it.

This was crossposted a couple of places including cohost.

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Valima querannarie!

happy new moon in the month of sunny fire, where we are led by Varda and our decisions in the new year are set into motion with the stars. <3 Vardahantale.

Mother of Stars

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Hello aaah I've been following you for a while and I think you're really cool and I have so many questions!! -- What does your daily practice look like? Did you come up with those texts you recite (like what you quoted in that Earenya post you had a couple weeks ago) yourself (they're very pretty!)? How do you feel about which language you use (since I'm sure using English vs, say, Quenya will feel differently)? How does Buddhism intersect with your practice? -- Feel free to answer all or some -

- or none of these questions, whichever you prefer :) I'm so very very curious because I'm also an elf (not of the Tolkien variety, though I love his works very dearly too) with both a personal and scholarly interest in Buddhism (I love Shingon the most!) so I'd love to hear more about your practice :) I hope me asking so many questions isn't too weird!! Thank you very much and have a beautiful day ♥" part one and two of this ask put together for readability: Hi and thank you for sending these asks!! i love talkin elf stuff and am very glad to do so with all kinds of elves, not just tolkien folks. i parked this in my drafts for a while so i could ponder the answering! the majority of it will be below this cut here. I am also going to re-order the questions and answers. tumblr keeps destroying this in my drafts so i am just going to post it as is and follow upwith additional posts.

Question 1: Did I write the recitations for calling the valar in this post ? Yes! What I say wiggles around a little bit day to day, but the basic parts of these evocations are standard for me. A hello, this is your day or month, you are the power of (sphere of influence) and i will tell you how i am engaging with your sphere today/this month. Enjoy this gift. Question 2: How do i feel about language used (quenya vs english) ? I am a native english speaker, and have been fiddling with quenya for a few years using two resources: the elfdict dictionary and the atanquesta grammar. I do most things in english just for ease's sake, but do enjoy practicing translation and writing. My usual writing form is quenya-mode sarati <3 i leave the tengwar to the younger elves lol. i will especially use quenya for written spells or charms, as it is less immediate than spoken spells and gives me more time to fiddle and make it pretty and double check grammar. there are one or two 'mantras' or small spoken spells i regularly utilize in quenya, but when i say small i do mean that 'aiya earendil elenion ancalima' is one of the longest ones. Question 3: How does buddhism intersect with my practice? Buddhism is a philosophical backbone for my life, and i am influenced by a few traditions moreso than others: There are Tibetan monks who travel through my region, and they are some of the most dear presenters I have ever met. They are magnificent to sit with. I am also influenced by Soto zen via authors of that tradition, and Thien zen primarily through Thich Nhat Hanh. One of the most formative books i read early on in my introduction to buddhism was Thich Nhat Hanh's "Old Path White Clouds", which is a telling of the life of buddha. I also visit a zendo regularly, and my teacher there is a mix of contemplative christian practices and Soto zen. he's very open to my own unique path, and engages me in serious and respectful conversations about my relationship the legendarium and how the deep still places in my heart connect me to the One. It's been since about 2017 that i took on a modified version of the oldest buddhist precepts for laypeople. To reduce harm, to not steal, to not lie, to avoid unhelpful behaviors (my version of avoiding intoxication), and to avoid unhealthy relationships/to change course if they become so. These 'rules' still make up the meat of my axiology and inform my behavior. They work pretty well with elven philosophy ime and there's a lot of overlap. So, the practical aspects are that 'just sitting' zen style, and doing mantras and compassionate meditation tibetan style are parts of my weekly activity. I do a meditation group via zoom with my zendo teacher and companions every anarya (sunday), and when i am well i generally hold well to daily meditation. when i am unwell, it is harder for me to keep to a schedule and i don't treat myself rough about it. i kind of view re-reading Old Path White Clouds as an occasional pilgrimage. Suffering is inherent to life--this is true for all kindreds including eldar. I can act wisely to reduce un-necessary suffering, and i can extend compassion and patience and wisdom to all my fellow sufferers. quiet observation reveals the nature of this extra suffering and how it has occurred, and how it might abate. Question 4: What does my daily practice look like? I might write a longer post about this sometime, but the basics are that i incorporate small repeated rituals daily or weekly, and do bigger spellworks for my constellation of eldar at the full and dark moon. my minimum daily rituals are: -cleaning my body. this is just the basic brushing teeth and washing face. my adherence kind of fluctuates depending on how busy i am. -anointing seven points in the shape of the septaquetra, usually while intoning the weekdays (so starting right wrist=elenya, and following the progression i use

[elluendifad]

Valima sovalwaris!!!

happy tolkien elven holy day of cleansing!!!!! may your suffering be eased and what grief is necessary to your life become rich wisdom and compassion!!!!!! may all be blessed with the mercy of Nienna!!!!!!

[elluendifad]

is it frowned upon to worship melkor among those who practice elven religion? do you know of any groups who do it? i kind of... feel drawn to it, but i have no idea where to even start.

i'll say for myself that i personally wouldnt have a problem with that, though i know a few who would recoil at considering a combined pantheon-i have my own observations of the marring and the marrer, but i do not call for his help or presence, and only offer my pity and hope of mercy for the darkened ones. ignoring ppl who were just being edgelords, i have known of some different people who either worshiped (in the religious sense like i do with the valar and eru) or did work with (in the more general pop culture magic sense) melko and mairon and other umaiar, but it has only ever been one or two of them at a time and each by their own invention. they sometimes had a history in demonolatry or other left hand path magic, but just as often had been doing general wicca or no magic/religion at all beforehand. unfortunately, these individuals do not often stay long in spheres of valar or eru-worshippers, and often they talk a while and then part ways peacefully or unpeacefully, so i cannot really point you to anyone that i know and could acquaint you with. unfortunately, not really any groups i could point you at where they are focused on umaiar and melkor. i would think the cosmology would be a great place to start--melko's place in the thoughts of Eru as a uniquely powerful ainu, and the place of destructive individualism in the world, the mind of our maker, and in our own hearts. melkor is thematically important to arda, and the marring touches all things and all peoples. how does that make you feel?

when you sit and think about an ainu escaping the timeless halls to hunt in the void for the secret fire, what do you feel and think and dream? what is that hunger, that loneliness? this was long before the themes were sung together and ea proclaimed. when you sit and reflect on melkor, now morgoth wounded, sat in his reeking throne room, unable to change form and unwilling to leave for fear of the outer world and weariness, what do you feel and think and dream? what is this withering, this apathy, this dread?

i am using words that have 'bad' connotations, and those are generally the only words we have for this. where do your own words go? what do you find? i personally have not had any contact with umaiar or melko, although i know one atan who had a horrific vision of the marrer and made it out mostly unscathed. i think that melkor's place in the void or his unimaginable scale may make him difficult to contact as a discrete spiritual entity, so i would love to hear if you have any success and what kind it is!

[elluendifad]

Thinking about isilsulime 2022

Sulime is the lunar cycle associated with Manwe that occurs at the junction of coire (stirring season) and tuile (spring season), and also coincides with mettare (last day of year March 27) and yestare (first day of year March 28). I am writing this as isil (full moon) sulime is waning, now at half phase, and four days from mettare, on march 23 2022. Morranvirisse (dark moon of youth) is on april 1st, so there is some time yet here in the company of Manwe. I really didn't expect this changing wind to be so literal and so brutal I learned in Isilnarvinye (full moon of new sun, around january 17 this year) that my living situation was changing entirely and suddenly. This involved a few contradictions and more changes through the course of nenime (moon of waters). Morransulime (march 2) and cueransulime (march 10) were fraught with conflict, and i found myself wrathful and despairing more often than optimistic--It really hurts that my old expectations will not be met, and I am frightened to make any new ones! While I know that I am not truly alone, my worries make me feel alone and I have been brooding in that sensation. A new place of understanding and conversation came up over isilsulime, and now i am feeling the 'wind beneath my wings' to follow the new path unearthed by these gales. I was really not looking forward to virisse (moon of youth, spent in the company of Tulkas) because I did not think I'd be able to join in Tulkas' light-hearted enthusiasm and optimism after such a dark and dour month. I am seeing now, cleared by the wind, that it might actually be fun after all!

[elluendifad]

i want elf religion content but i don't want to make elf religion content harrumph

[elluendifad]

reblob for newest anon to potentially see, and also to finish adding on to last part of post

i try to do at least one of the following every day: oil anointing, blessing/offering over potion, incense and candle spell. on special days, i will instead/in addition bless my pills refill that i do once a week or bless what i am cooking. if i go to sunday zoom meditation, i do that as a devotional. i am also experimeting with having my nails designed in theme with the month and first time worked out great, but will experiment more. each of these involves the septaquetra and linde elenlote, at least to set the mood and signal my intentions to commune with the valar. if i have incense, i draw the star with the smoking end. if i dont, i use my finger or a pen or whatever. for the directional calls, i face the direction in question with either my whole body or just my palms if i am laying down, lifting hands up or pointing palms down for vilya and undo.

Hello aaah I've been following you for a while and I think you're really cool and I have so many questions!! -- What does your daily practice look like? Did you come up with those texts you recite (like what you quoted in that Earenya post you had a couple weeks ago) yourself (they're very pretty!)? How do you feel about which language you use (since I'm sure using English vs, say, Quenya will feel differently)? How does Buddhism intersect with your practice? -- Feel free to answer all or some -

- or none of these questions, whichever you prefer :) I'm so very very curious because I'm also an elf (not of the Tolkien variety, though I love his works very dearly too) with both a personal and scholarly interest in Buddhism (I love Shingon the most!) so I'd love to hear more about your practice :) I hope me asking so many questions isn't too weird!! Thank you very much and have a beautiful day ♥" part one and two of this ask put together for readability: Hi and thank you for sending these asks!! i love talkin elf stuff and am very glad to do so with all kinds of elves, not just tolkien folks. i parked this in my drafts for a while so i could ponder the answering! the majority of it will be below this cut here. I am also going to re-order the questions and answers. tumblr keeps destroying this in my drafts so i am just going to post it as is and follow upwith additional posts.

Question 1: Did I write the recitations for calling the valar in this post ? Yes! What I say wiggles around a little bit day to day, but the basic parts of these evocations are standard for me. A hello, this is your day or month, you are the power of (sphere of influence) and i will tell you how i am engaging with your sphere today/this month. Enjoy this gift. Question 2: How do i feel about language used (quenya vs english) ? I am a native english speaker, and have been fiddling with quenya for a few years using two resources: the elfdict dictionary and the atanquesta grammar. I do most things in english just for ease's sake, but do enjoy practicing translation and writing. My usual writing form is quenya-mode sarati <3 i leave the tengwar to the younger elves lol. i will especially use quenya for written spells or charms, as it is less immediate than spoken spells and gives me more time to fiddle and make it pretty and double check grammar. there are one or two 'mantras' or small spoken spells i regularly utilize in quenya, but when i say small i do mean that 'aiya earendil elenion ancalima' is one of the longest ones. Question 3: How does buddhism intersect with my practice? Buddhism is a philosophical backbone for my life, and i am influenced by a few traditions moreso than others: There are Tibetan monks who travel through my region, and they are some of the most dear presenters I have ever met. They are magnificent to sit with. I am also influenced by Soto zen via authors of that tradition, and Thien zen primarily through Thich Nhat Hanh. One of the most formative books i read early on in my introduction to buddhism was Thich Nhat Hanh's "Old Path White Clouds", which is a telling of the life of buddha. I also visit a zendo regularly, and my teacher there is a mix of contemplative christian practices and Soto zen. he's very open to my own unique path, and engages me in serious and respectful conversations about my relationship the legendarium and how the deep still places in my heart connect me to the One. It's been since about 2017 that i took on a modified version of the oldest buddhist precepts for laypeople. To reduce harm, to not steal, to not lie, to avoid unhelpful behaviors (my version of avoiding intoxication), and to avoid unhealthy relationships/to change course if they become so. These 'rules' still make up the meat of my axiology and inform my behavior. They work pretty well with elven philosophy ime and there's a lot of overlap. So, the practical aspects are that 'just sitting' zen style, and doing mantras and compassionate meditation tibetan style are parts of my weekly activity. I do a meditation group via zoom with my zendo teacher and companions every anarya (sunday), and when i am well i generally hold well to daily meditation. when i am unwell, it is harder for me to keep to a schedule and i don't treat myself rough about it. i kind of view re-reading Old Path White Clouds as an occasional pilgrimage. Suffering is inherent to life--this is true for all kindreds including eldar. I can act wisely to reduce un-necessary suffering, and i can extend compassion and patience and wisdom to all my fellow sufferers. quiet observation reveals the nature of this extra suffering and how it has occurred, and how it might abate. Question 4: What does my daily practice look like? I might write a longer post about this sometime, but the basics are that i incorporate small repeated rituals daily or weekly, and do bigger spellworks for my constellation of eldar at the full and dark moon. my minimum daily rituals are: -cleaning my body. this is just the basic brushing teeth and washing face. my adherence kind of fluctuates depending on how busy i am. -anointing seven points in the shape of the septaquetra, usually while intoning the weekdays (so starting right wrist=elenya, and following the progression i use

[hazel-the-elf]

I was searching the tags for elf religion content and this is what I found! Well, *someone's* got to create the content but apparently it's not going to be us!

i want elf religion content but i don't want to make elf religion content harrumph