For more information, visit silverelves.angelfire.com.
Tië Eldaliéva, the Elven Spiritual Path
Tië eldaliéva, or the Elven Spiritual Path, is a path based entirely on the works of Tolkien, most specifically his lesser-known work The Silmarillion, as a valid mythology, or set of spiritual teachings accessed through story. This is a fine example of an individual path that has been created as the result of personal resonance derived from existing material that has gone on to inspire others. To quote from the website: “This is not a role-playing game (RPG) or a work of fiction, but rather an actual spiritual path for anyone who wishes to travel it, and experience it, on a very practical level.”
Tië eldaliéva works specifically with the beings known as the elves, or quendi, who are of celestial origin, and though they acknowledge the close relationship with Faery beings that might be considered more akin to nature spirits or elementals, it is not the focus of their path. There are clear parallels with the noble Faery races such as the sidhe or the Nordic alfar, whose origins may also be considered to be of the stars. I spoke to the founder of this path, Lisa Allen, also known within her tradition as Calantirniel, about her inspiration and beliefs.
Julia Jeffrey,
“Dawntreader”
When did you first realise that there was more to Tolkien’s work than simply fantasy?
It was entirely unexpected, that is for sure! It was in April of 2005 when I finally got around to reading The Silmarillion on my husband’s suggestion. The original idea of reading the elven origin stories was to educate me particularly about the elven archetype shown in Tolkien’s more popular stories. However, when I actually read the words, I could actually feel something happening to me, and at first it was sort of scary. It is hard to explain, but it would be likened to my blood, my DNA, just opening up and “singing” —and an overwhelming message was relayed to me that this was not imagination, this was real! I attempted to rationalize this feeling away and tried to tell myself (like anyone else would) that this wasn’t happening and that these were just made-up stories, but this feeling got stronger and more insistent the more I tried to refute it, and I finally arrived at the conclusion that not only were these stories real, but that this was the spiritual direction I was supposed to explore!
I was not prepared for this at first and wondered if others felt this way when they read these materials too. Luckily, after searching online for a couple weeks or so, I found people who were not embarrassed to have arrived at the same conclusion as me! That was the humble beginnings of tië eldaliéva, the Elven Spiritual Path. Frankly, we thought others must have done this before. While we had found evidence that some parts of Tolkien’s works were integrated into other existing Pagan-themed traditions during the 1970s at the earliest, we failed at finding any tradition based wholly on what Tolkien termed “the Legendarium,” or the whole of the Middle-Earth stories.
Why is the message of his books relevant today?
I was also curious about this question—not just “why me?” but “why now?” In digging deeper with the Legendarium writings, it is apparent that the age cycles that Tolkien presented could be overlayed or correlated with those that have different origins, and we are not the first to discover this. Virtually everyone now knows the significance of 2012 being a huge turning point for the planet, shown not only by world mythologies (especially the Mayan one, which narrowed the dates down the most) but also by science. Within the approximate 26,000-year cycle that our solar system revolves around Alcyon, the Central Sun, the year 2012 could be likened to a solstice point. So for 13,000 years the energies flowed one way, and this is the turning point for them to flow the other way. While the prophecies for this time are understandably rather dramatic, I remain hopeful and have made a conscious decision to live with my heart rather than my head—and that is what everyone can do to welcome this time in the best way possible. For those that the Elven Path resonates, it is one method to live through your heart!
What is it about Tolkien’s elves that resonates with you?
I have looked into what is termed “otherkin,” and while I can appreciate the philosophy, I do not feel this is an identity—only a path to travel. While I love the fact that some or even all humans could possibly have elven DNA, science cannot demonstrate this today. Instead, the way I (and a handful of others) resonate with elvenness is in wanting to learn the inherent wisdom and foresightedness, as well as embrace their balanced expression of beauty and harmony with nature, magick, and technology. While we are mortal humans, making it hard to be as wise as immortal elves, nonetheless we can still strive for that!
How aware do you think Tolkien was of what he was writing?
Actually, this was shown to me by Tolkien himself. Listening online to the Tolkien Professor, there is an introductory lecture wherein Tolkien had begun writing these stories much earlier than their publishing dates—I believe 1917 is the earliest of these writings we know of, and these were while he was in a war in a trench! He also had pictures of how he traversed to what he called “Fearie,” which is what can be likened to Faery. When prompted by his Inkling colleagues about questions in the stories,
