What is this group? Ilsaluntė Valion is a group of individuals who find spiritual inspiration within the literary works of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien (including those published posthumously by his son Christopher) describing the histories, languages, and cultures of “Middle-Earth”, collectively known as the
Legendarium. We do not view these as fiction existing solely for amusement of the masses, but rather as aspects of
imaginal Truth, which pervades and is intertwined with the objective reality of the present moment.
The primary objective of Ilsaluntė Valion is unveiling the
living gnosis found within the Legendarium's Mythos. The Mythos inspires us, and offers a
framework for the reception, sorting, and consolidation of experiential data gained through
non-ordinary states of consciousness, which may be termed “shamanic”. Later introspection and reflection upon the deeper meanings of these non-ordinary experiences in light of the Mythos often leads to an understanding of one's relationship to the World in both matter and spirit—in other words, to
gnosis. A good analogy might be to a devout Christian looking to Biblical works for inspiration and insight, or to a Zen Buddhist contemplating his or her Buddha-nature in meditation; particularly as trancework is one of our integral features.
Through our trancework, we establish contact with the archetypal energies existing in the imaginal realm. As we are a Tolkien-mythology based group, these archetypal energies are personified as the
Valar, Maiar, and Ainur. Through trancework and a heightened awareness of the natural world and the flow of the seasons, we establish a rapport with these beings. Thus, lines of connection between the imaginal realm and the material (objective) realm are created, and
gnosis can then occur.
To gain a much greater understanding about what we mean by “shamanic trancework”, as the term 'shaman' is much overused and misapplied in modern times, I refer you to the following quite accessible lecture:
{Click the icon to listen or download (approx 1 hour in length)} [Lecturer's website]Do you mean you worship the Valar?! No. The relationship would be closer to that of a little brother or sister looking to his older sibling (or perhaps to an aunt or uncle) for guidance and protection rather than to 'worship' of any kind.
I can say generally that we of Ilsaluntė Valion view the Ainur, and more specifically the Valar, as spiritual beings. As such, they exist in a place that is both within and without, and which is intertwined with, and yet beyond, ordinary reality as it is commonly perceived. Though dismissed by our detractors as “elements of literary fantasy”, we have found them to be valid embodiments of genuine archetypal energies. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, J. R. R. Tolkien
imagin-ed beings who resonate with primal archetypal patterns.
So...this is like some Lord of the Rings fan group...or what??? No, indeed not! In fact, the most useful part of LOTR to us is the appendices. The very thing that makes it attractive to the general population—the novelization—makes it generally unsuitable to us as a gnostic research group, though many of us do enjoy it as a story. To us, the Legendarium is a
mytho-history. That is to say: a narrative in the historical, chronological mode but expressing events in mythological form. This worldview is often difficult for moderns, who have been brought up to believe that a thing is either true or false, to understand, but it was a common way of perceiving the world in ancient days. For a thorough explanation of this concept, I recommend the book:
Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths?: An Essay on the Constitutive Imagination.
Aside from the LOTR appendices, we make principal use of
The Silmarillion, all 12 volumes of
HoME, the
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, and some use of linguistic journals, such as
Vinyar Tengwar. These are our primary sources, which we also refer to as the
Lore (we use that term in much the same manner as it is used in
Heathenry to refer to the Norse sagas and legends).
Why are you hyperlinking so many things? It is the most direct method of pointing the reader to either our direct sources, or to a summary of them. If I had to summarize every reference....well, this post would never have been completed. So, if you really want to fully understand the posts on this board, it is important to follow the links. Think of it as along the lines of reading the many Appendices and Endnotes provided by the Tolkiens.
How can you find a valid mythology in works of fiction? We do not view Tolkien’s writings as merely works of fiction. Therefore, in our worldview, a premise of this kind is invalidated before it starts. Consequently, in order to communicate with us on a meaningful level, it is necessary to accept our wordview provisionally (i.e., you must accede that we accept the Legendarium as a valid mytho-history).
So, you may ask:
What is it about the Legendarium that causes you to view it as a valid mytho-history? This we may answer, but first we must clarify what 'myth' means, as many people have misconceptions about it:
The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story; however, in academic use the term generally does not refer to truth or falsity. In the field of folkloristics, a myth is conventionally defined as a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form (see the Introduction to Alan Dundes'
Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth). This is the definition that we use ourselves.
Given the academic definition, the Legendarium fulfills the “explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form” requirement very well. (For those not familiar with the source materials, one can read a brief summary of the legends
here.) Some will object that the Legendarium is not a 'sacred' narrative, but the determination of sacredness is very much open to personal interpretation: to the atheist, all sanctity is delusion; to a Christian, the Holy Scriptures are sacred (but not the Qur’an); for us, the narratives comprising the Legendarium embody sacredness—as they did for Tolkien himself:
You speak of 'a sanity and sanctity' in the Lord of the Rings. 'which is a power in itself'. I was deeply moved. Nothing of the kind had been said to me before. But by a strange chance, just as I was beginning this letter, I had one from a man, who classified himself as 'an unbeliever, or at best a man of belatedly and dimly dawning religious feeling ... but you', he said, 'create a world in which some sort of faith seems to be everywhere without a visible source, like light from an invisible lamp'. I can only answer: 'Of his own sanity no man can securely judge. If sanctity inhabits his work or as a pervading light illumines it then it does not come from him but through him. And neither of you would perceive it in these terms unless it was with you also. Otherwise you would see and feel nothing, or (if some other spirit was present) you would be filled with contempt, nausea, hatred. "Leaves out of the elf-country, gah!" "Lembas – dust and ashes, we don't eat that."'
--- From
Letters, #328
OK, so I get the “mytho” and “sacred” parts of your worldview. But what do you mean by the “historic” part of "mytho-historic"? What is there in the Legendarium that relates to primary world history? The tales include mythological descriptions of major Earth events, such as the emergence of lichens, fungi, mosses, and invertebrates; the appearance and spreading of conifers. The eternal reshaping of continental landmasses is expressed as the battle between the waters of Ulmo and the vulcanism of Melkor (all events described can be found in
Lost Tales I, “The Chaining of Melko”, pgs 98-100). And even the very coastline of the First Age Middle-Earth continent Beleriand closely matches new information being discovered about the ancient shape of an inundated part of Europe called “
Doggerland”. As one can see, there are indeed primary world historical parallels to the mythological events depicted, and I have listed just a few of many. Our worldview is no more “far-out” than other spiritualities and world religions, and deserves the same respect.
What do you think JRR Tolkien would think of what you're doing?! As a devout Catholic, wouldn't he be appalled? He's known to have referred to the widespread enthusiasm for his books as ‘my deplorable cultus’. If you read Humphrey Carpenter's
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography from which that quote comes, you will see that the context refers to what is now called “Tolkien fandom”. We are not a part of typical Tolkien fandom and never were. For the most part, we find them just as “deplorable” as Professor Tolkien did. You won't see any of us draping a bedsheet over our shoulders and claiming to be Celeborn or Galadriel or whomever. Moreover, although some members of Ilsaluntė Valion like the Peter Jackson movies, Navigator Meneldur Olvarion (the guy who is writing most of this) finds them to be a travesty. But that is another story, as they say.
But, to turn to the central issue in this question: wouldn't Tolkien (were he still alive) be appalled by what you are doing?
The answer is that he
may; but that even if true, this doesn't matter in the slightest.
Why not? The most important reason that we are not concerned with whatever Tolkien or his Estate may think of us, is that once an author publishes his work and exposes it to the world, he loses direct control of it. Others may then use his work to produce derivative works in the same genre, or more
indirectly as a source of inspiration. This path of inspiration is the course that Ilsaluntė Valion takes, though our specific
expression of it, as a form of Spirituality (
not religion) instead of artistic expression, is as far as we know, unique (aside from that of Tiė eldaliéva, our sister group). Meneldur Olvarion explores this topic in much greater depth in his essay, “
Concerning the Validity of Our Worldview”.
But...how can you say that it doesn't matter what JRR Tolkien says about what you are doing, and yet use his quotes to support this or that point? The ones we reject are ones which our various detractors
claim directly represent Tolkien's opinions on our work here. As many know, he died in 1973, and it is very hard to determine a deceased person's opinions on current events.
In any case, his claims about the
Legendarium are valid. Claims about us (even if any were from him or from his Estate) are not, as such claims fall under the types of fallacious argument known as Argument From- or Appeal to- Authority. [
link]
So, is this some kind of Tolkien-religion? Again, no. Those who have this misconception of us are those who believe that 'spirituality' is synonymous with 'religion'—a surprisingly large contingent of the population, whether their particular affiliation is with Christianity or neo-Paganism or secular humanism. Those of this worldview seem to have the idea that we are attempting to create a “Church of Tolkien” with JRRT as our “Jesus”.
This idea is
false. What is actually happening is that we are
living our spirituality as an expression of the inspiring-
gnosis we receive from the Legendarium. Though this may not be entirely comprehensible to one who has not experienced it, it is nevertheless true.
I've heard of 'Gnostics' with all of that “Gospel of Thomas” stuff & etc., but what do you mean by 'gnosis'? We use the word
gnosis according to its original Greek meaning, denoting information gained through meditation, intense flashes of intuition, visions, and other spiritual experiences. Most often (though not always) this information is gained through deliberate induction of the trance-state. Thus
gnosis is a
technique and a mode of being,
not a 'belief'. Although we are not capital-G Gnostics, we do share some tenets with them, such as the natural and inherent close parallel of the Ainulindalė with Valentinian Gnostic theology. [
link] And we owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr.
Stephan Hoeller for his lecture
JRR Tolkien's Gnosis for Our Day, which for many of us was the gateway enabling our first steps upon this path, and which you can listen to in our
Audio lectures section.
Spiritually speaking, most of us are
panentheists, and Ilsaluntė Valion is neither a secular nor an explicitly Christian nor a Neopagan organization. Rather, our group-spirituality
emerges from the Legendarium-mythos itself and our interaction with it.
Are you some kind of cult? It depends on what definition you use. If one means in the modern sense of a fanatical sect with a charismatic leader who uses psychological mind control techniques to gain an unhealthy advantage over his followers, then the answer is a definite “
no”. (I have enough trouble just getting people to complete their profiles, and in some cases, to post at all—let alone sending me boatloads of money.)
But let's examine the history of the word 'cult' available on
etymonline.com. For 'cult' we have:
cult (n)
1617, "worship," also "a particular form of worship," from Fr. culte, from L. cultus "care, cultivation, worship," originally "tended, cultivated," pp. of colere "to till" (see colony). Rare after 17c.; revived mid-19c. with reference to ancient or primitive rituals. Meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829.
and for its associated 'worship':
worship (n)
O.E. woršscip, wuršscip (Anglian), weoršscipe (W.Saxon) "condition of being worthy, honor, renown," from weorš "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship). Sense of "reverence paid to a supernatural or divine being" is first recorded c.1300. The original sense is preserved in the title worshipful (c.1300). The verb is recorded from c.1200.
So, if one sticks to the
original meaning, then we are a cult of a sort, as we do
cultivate the nature of our relations with the Valar. We do have respect for them, and think them worthy of honor, but as we've already said it's not really what most would call worship.
I suppose that in the end, the answer to this question lies more in the preconceptions of the asker than it does with us. We
know what we are and are not.
Do you think that you're elves? The word 'elf' has become debased, and now means anything from a fluttery garden fairy to a World of Warcraft style computer model with vulpine ears. I don't suppose that any visual examples are really necessary, but this is the sort of depiction that seems to be in vogue in pop-culture: [
link]. Needless to say,
none of these things have anything to do with the elves that Tolkien described, which are known as the Quendi.
Do we think we are Quendi?
The short answer is: it depends on who you ask.
And the longer one: it turns out not all within IV feel and think alike about this subject. We do, however, agree on some basic things (it sort of comes with the package, it seems): if you've been around for some time in the community that surrounds anything that a google search for “elves” can produce, you will find that most people who make such claims are either role-playing or are of the
Otherkin community.
We are neither, because: a) this is not a game to us; and b) while differentiating someone who identifies as Otherkin from someone who doesn't may not
seem obvious, you can rest assured that five minutes in chat will never fail to separate the sheep
("bčh") from the goats
("mźh").
Then, there are those who do not identify as Otherkin but who have an affinity with the elven archetype (which they sometimes refer to as “elven energy”). We are generally on friendly terms with these folk, unless they are too far along the Ilsaluntė Valion-Otherkin continuum towards Otherkin (in such cases, they usually come up with unattested material that is
UPG-only, such as “underwater elves”, “Eru was really star-dust that acquired consciousness” & etc.).
So, after this pruning action, what remains? Well: there are those who feel that they're human; there are some who feel drawn towards the Quendi in such a way that they'll (eventually) answer with some kind of a "yes" when asked The Question. Others may be unsure, or feel they are a mixture. But whatever it is, there are no claims of immortality involved, or fancy dressing parties, or other such irrelevant dallying. Some may like to speak and / or write elvish but that's a wholly different matter: after all, it was
words with which Tolkien's journey to Faeriė began.
In this context, it may be interesting to read that JRR Tolkien himself stated that the Quendi represent aspects of humanity and human potential:
In this mythological world the Elves and Men are in their incarnate forms kindred, but in the relation of their 'spirits' to the world in time represent different 'experiments', each of which has its own natural trend, and weakness. The Elves represent, as it were, the artistic, aesthetic, and purely scientific aspects of the Humane nature raised to a higher level than is actually seen in Men. That is: they have a devoted love of the physical world, and a desire to observe and understand it for its own sake and as 'other' – sc. as a reality derived from God in the same degree as themselves – not as a material for use or as a power-platform. They also possess a 'subcreational' or artistic faculty of great excellence.
--- From
Letters, #181
So, in this sense we could be said to have certain Quendian-aspects, as we do seek to further our natural talents and humane natures. Moreover, Tolkien said several times that the Quendi and humans were the same biological race, but endowed with different talents and capacities. He was quite specific about it:
There are certain things in this world {the Legendarium} that have to be accepted as 'facts'. The existence of Elves: that is of a race of beings closely akin to Men, so closely indeed that they must be regarded as physically (or biologically) simply branches of the same race. The Elves appeared on Earth earlier, but not (mythologically or geologically) much earlier; they were 'immortal', and did not 'die' except by accident. Men, when they appeared on the scene (that is, when they met the Elves), were, however, much as they now are: they 'died', even if they escaped all accidents, at about the age of 70 to 80.
--- From JRRT's commentary on “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth”,
Morgoth's Ring and
I suppose that actually the chief difficulties I have involved myself in are scientific and biological — which worry me just as much as the theological and metaphysical (though you do not seem to mind them so much). Elves and Men are evidently in biological terms one race, or they could not breed and produce fertile offspring – even as a rare event : there are 2 cases only in my legends of such unions, and they are merged in the descendants of Eärendil. But since some have held that the rate of longevity is a biological characteristic, within limits of variation, you could not have Elves in a sense 'immortal' – not eternal, but not dying by 'old age' — and Men mortal, more or less as they now seem to be in the Primary World – and yet sufficiently akin. I might answer that this 'biology' is only a theory, that modern 'gerontology', or whatever they call it, finds 'ageing' rather more mysterious, and less clearly inevitable in bodies of human structure*.
--- From
Letters, #153
One can see, then, that it is not so strange that some of us may regard the Quendi as
ancestral beings. This was a common belief among Germanic peoples for many centuries, for whom the Quendi-like beings were usually referred to as
alfar†, or a cognate of that word (see Alaric's
The Meanings of Elf, and Elves, in Medieval England). In our specific case, this idea is only a
portion of our ancestral worldview, which is fully expressed in our “Threefold Race” concept. You can read more about that in the Charter
here.
________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes: * See, for example, Aubrey de Grey's
theories on aging, which were postulated many years after Tolkien's death in 1973.
† The following two links explain these historic Germanic beliefs well enough: an
overview and a
more detailed link with a Quendian focus. It is important to understand, however, that beliefs about the
alfar differed in various parts of Scandinavia, and often very markedlly. For more details, see
Elves, Wights, and Trolls: Studies Towards the Practice of Germanic Heathenry: Vol. I by Kveldulf Gundarsson.
Do you guys dress up like in the movies? No. As I said earlier, neither the Lord of the Rings novel, nor the films are what inspired the creation of this group. We are not a reenactment organization, like the
SCA, nor are we a
live-action role playing group. The idea of some members crafting ritual robes & etc. is not forbidden to any member who wishes to do so, but such activities would be based upon personal choice. There is no requirement to ‘dress up,’ and we do not have a dress code.
Speaking only for myself, I tend to go more for the Riddick look than anything that Peter Jackson can come up with.
///Dave {Meneldur Olvarion}
(Composed mostly by Meneldur Olvarion with additions by IV Officer Staff; last revised 2-5-2010.) To proceed to our Charter, which has more detailed information about us and how to become a member, click here.
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