The Role of the Alfs

There's an Anglo-Saxon word, "aelf-siden", which means "elvish influence". Under Christendom, elves tended to be feared. They certainly weren't Christian (and, so, of the Devil, right?). They attacked cattle and people with "elf-shot", which caused afflictions, and they were also responsible for nightmares (even of a sexual sort--"It was an elf, Father! Not me!!!"). And of course elves could always cast a glamour or a spell upon one for malign purposes. That sort of influence, then.

The interesting thing about "siden", though, is that the dictionaries don't say what it derived from. I tended to think it was allied to Norse "seidhr" (~A-S "sidesa"), which was about exerting magical influence on others. But now I prefer to see it as allied as well to A-S "sidu" ="custom, virtuous conduct, morality", "sidian" ="to arrange, set right, order", and Norse "sidha" ="to mend, to improve one's life and manners".

In the Shaggy Mythos, the role of the Alfs is as ecological agents of a higher level of civilization than that of the general run of humans, and as such they seek to use their influence, by all means, magical or not, to stop humans from destroying the Biosphere and to form (with alfisch assistance, of course) a new Ecological Civilization, which is the only recourse to ultimate Dilgoth, an extinction event that's likely to bring down our present global civilization, and the human animal perhaps to its doom, and to either make the Earth a sterile husk or knock the Biosphere back to a drastically truncated form. This may seem like fantasy fiction sometimes ("This can't be real!"), but it is real, and the Mythos is a "real" fiction-- it's meant to be about the real crisis of global civilization now-- the human-caused destruction of the Biosphere-- which is happening now and will continue to happen. So the Mythos isn't meant to be taken as a mere fantasy, an entertainment. It's applicable to the grim reality of our time.

And as for Alfs, there must be a self-conscious, worldwide class of people who are, in effect, the Alfar, with the consciousness, the sense of responsibility, the determined will to act against the Ecocatastrophe and to form the Ecological Civilization in a prudent and effective manner. Someone must. This class of people exists already, of course, and their movement exists, and when you read the Eormennisch material of the Shaggy Mythos, you can do your own translation into real-world terms (with a little glossary help). If you are one of these people, these Alfar, then the Mythos is meant to be of use to you, as a spiritual support, as it is to me, in the struggle to save the Earth.