Monday, February 18, 2013

The Alfaeren, Farers of the Deep

The origin of the word 'elf' is unknown.  It might be related to Latin 'albus'(white) or 'alp'(high mountain) which might itself be derived from 'albus' or a Celtic equivalent, referring then to the white peaks of high mountains.  Mythos etymology is loosey-goosey, and so 'elf' might be related to Sanscrit 'alvar'(a South Indian Hindu sect), meaning 'one who dives deep'.  Perhaps, then, 'alp' and 'alvar' both refer to great vertical length-- high/deep.  Anyway, I prefer Old Norse 'alfar'(elves) to 'elves'(cutesy connotation and used-up by now) or 'alf''.  'Alfar', besides just being a plural form, could be read as 'Alfaer'(alf + faery, or 'all-farer' suggesting shamanism(far-traveler)).  And I see the Alfaeren as some kind of shaman-- one who dives deep into the sacred mythopoetic realm of the Wolken, the Mind of the Biosphere.  Maybe a warrior-shaman, maybe a woo-woo shaman.

I like the word 'deep', as in 'deep mind', 'deep thinker', 'Deep Ecology', and 'deep elves'(Tolkien-- in The Hobbit?).  As opposed to 'shallow', as in 'the shallows that are present-day planetary culture, in which one may easily drown'.  I see the Alfaeren as ambiguous beings-- are they(we) human, or are they spirit-emanations of the Wolken?  Well, either or both, but Deep.  Perhaps 'deep' is related to Sanscrit 'deva'(god), ultimately.

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