About

Starflower

AIYA and Greetings Eldalië (Elfkind) and Elendili (Elf Friends)!

Thank you so much for visiting the Elven Spirituality WordPress Page! This is Tië eldaliéva, meaning the Elven Path, or the Path of the Star-people.

The co-founders came together online for the purpose of creating a spiritual path that is based on the Elven viewpoint put forth in Professor JRR Tolkien’s Middle-Earth stories, collectively known as the “Legendarium” and include The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. However, most of the materials used for the creation and practice of the Elven Path are the posthumous publications, which would be considered the origins or the historical back-stories. These especially include The Silmarillion, the Lost Tales I and II, Unfinished Tales, and Morgoth’s Ring (Vol. X of the History of Middle-Earth, or HoME, series).

The reasons for doing so are varying due to the individual, but overall, there is a prevalent understanding that Tolkien’s stories, which he began writing in 1917, are a valid mytho-history and after applying this deep and touching material to our current spiritual understandings, it has been discovered the materials do indeed relay all one needs – and if there are outside ideas present already that help fill it in, so much the better.

This is not a Role-Playing Game (RPG), but a genuine spiritual practice that although best practiced as a standalone, it can enhance certain understandings of any and all spiritual backgrounds that is based on love, balance and the flow of nature.

While we welcome those who are on an identity discovery path (i.e. types that are exploring “elvenness” through the otherkin paradigm), the actual intentions of the Elven Path are toward the PATH itself, rather than the identity of the traverser.

Different spiritual backgrounds also welcome, be they Christian, Pagan or otherwise – more here.

Woodland Star

From Calantirniel – How I found the Elven Path and received my Elvish Name!

AarTiana is actually a combination of my two children’s names.  When I named my crochet business with it in 1997, people started calling me that – so I then decided to use it magically. Upon having an Indian henna artist ask me the meaning, I really wasn’t sure – she then told me Aarti means Holder of Light (or a lamp) in Sanskrit. That got me investigating the other part, Ana. My research revealed it could be derived from Hannah, meaning Grace or Gift, or from Dana/Danu, the Mother of the Tuatha de Danaan. Both of these I liked!

During 2005, after delving more deeply into elven spirituality through Tolkien’s Legendarium, I wanted a name that connected with this energy. When investigating the Quenya and Sindarin versions for Lisa, they didn’t feel right. I then decided to use AarTiana and had an internet friend of mine, an Elvish language geek, figure out Calantirniel for me – meaning “Guardian of the Gift of Light/Starlight” and I like using both of those meanings as they mean a whole lot to me personally!
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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, Dave/Aikanar had been searching for like-minded people in this endeavor for well over a decade without success. Here is the deal: Back then (and even sometimes now), 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!

**There is an interview of Dave/Aikanar and I (Lisa/Calantirniel) at the Eclectic Pagans Podcast in August 2007, posted in September 2007. Click on Episode #26 “The Elven Path,” and if you wish to “skip” the tunes and other stuff, we start interviewing around 12 minutes into the podcast:

http://eclecticpagan.libsyn.com/index.php?post_year=2007&post_m…
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Much has happened since then of course! In fact, to date, our group, Tië eldaliéva the Elven Path, had a “breakaway” in late November 2007 with one of the original co-founders (Dave/Aikanar) founding a different expression of spiritual interest, along with other co-founders that wanted to explore the same areas he did. It is called Ilsaluntë Valion, the Silver Ship of the Valar, and resonates with the silver lunar energies as well. Their emphasis is based on the Numenorean viewpoint, rather than the Elven viewpoint, and is practicing decidedly deeper (and different) research, as well as being more experiential “shamanically.” The Elven Path has decided that along with research, our emphasis would be more educational and outreach-oriented, and thereby concentrating on the basics of which other groups can choose to use as a foundation and later modify if needed for their purposes. Our respective groups have a good working relationship and we see now that the split was beneficial to both!

Another huge event – Calantirniel’s husband, who sometimes used the Elven name of Namovaryar, had passed out of his earth body in the Autumn of 2012.  While Calantirniel is picking up the pieces of her earthly life and is now engaged to another who also resonates in his own way with the path, the influence of Namovaryar’s Legendarium understanding  is still deeply felt by all who were touched by him.  It seems he is very busy on the other side (the Blessed Realm perhaps?) and as far as all of us are concerned, he is still a crucial part of the finding and traversing of this utterly beautiful, awe-inspiring and very worthy spiritual path.  He is very loved and missed.

Thanks for reading (and listening)! 🙂

Calantirniel, of the Elven Path
(My Elven Name – Elvish-Sindarin for Lady Guardian of the Gift of Light)

Envinyanis Lotelenolë
(My Particular “Path” – Elvish-Quenya for Female Healer who accesses the Deep Wisdom of the Stars and Flowers)

You may CONTACT ElvenSpirituality.com by using the form HERE!

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