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Fëavanda Eldaliéva
Structure
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:: Mission &
Vision
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Fëavanda
Eldaliéva (Quenya:
Elven Spiritual Path)
[Note:
Without
this brief guide, the
apparently interchanging
terminology relative to this
Path's and this organization's
same name, along with its
application in another
organization's name, may be
confusing. So, (to help you
to perceive what's actually
being communicated about
what), throughout this
web site, you will see
- "the
Path", or
"this
Path",
(referring to the entire
tradition that is the
Elven spiritual path,
using a singular term),
differentiating it from [albeit
the same meaning as],
- "Elven
spiritual path",
(also referring to the
entire tradition, using
lower case letters on
the latter two words
to differentiate our using
that term per se) from
- "Elven
Spiritual Path" (ESP),
(which refers to this
organization's legal name
with the I.R.S., i.e.
ELVEN SPIRITUAL PATH [EIN:
86-64118870]), and from
- "the Elven Spiritual Path";
(when the formal name is
combined with "the", it
exclusively refers to
the Elven spiritual
tradition established by
Tie eldalieva; of which
ESP is a direct, albeit
unaffiliated
outgrowth--hence, the
choice of our name; the
most apt name as the
first descendant,
501(c)(3) organization
representing the
Legendaium-based
integrity of that
tradition).
Hopefully,
that clarifies the terminology
focuses between the Path and the
respective business entities to
your peace of mind as you read
more.]
Organizational
Structure
Fëavanda
Eldaliéva/Elven Spiritual Path (ESP)
is a 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt organization operating as
a sacred charitable trust and a
church, advancing
[the mystical aspects and arts of]
religion, education, the arts and
science, relative to the Elven
Spiritual Path. Globally, ESP serves
to advance the awareness,
understanding, and practice of Tolkien-based
religion; specifically,
Tolkien-based Elven spirituality.
From a
business management perspective,
ESP's structure is that of a
learning organization.
History
An
Independent Outgrowth of Elven
Path
Organizationally,
ESP is an
outgrowth of Tië
eldaliéva
(Quenya:
Elven Path)
(T-e). T-e
was founded in 2005, by Lisa Allen
and Dave Woosley, to develop and
establish a viable spiritual
practice based on the Elven
content of J.
R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
Mythology--(in absolute,
exclusive alignment with Tolkien's
"Legendarium", i.e. if it
isn't in the Legendarium, it isn't
in the formal content T-e provides
to the Elven Spiritual Community).
In 2008, Rev. Michaele Alyras de Cygne (a.k.a. Alyras)
joined T-e,
and later served (for 8 years)
as a member of the T-e's
governing Inner Circle.
During that period, T-e cemented
its position as the primary leader
of the Tolkien-based wing of an
emerging spiritual tradition that
would become known as “the
Elven Spiritual Path” (Elven
spiritual path). Whilst Michaele
also served as the organization's
primary spiritual teacher, (then
simply called “Alyras”, and later
“Tárainimë* [High Wise One]
Alyras”), T-e expanded its
outreach more than ten-fold;
further elevating its global
visibility another ten-fold via
its collaboration with another
Elven spiritual teacher, “Kimberel
Eventide” (Kimberley Lennon), who
was invited into and joined the
organization for a short time.
As Ms.
Lennon joined T-e, the Elven
Spiritual Community began to lobby
T-e to establish an "Elven
Church"; formally entrusting funds
to the org for that purpose. On
the business end, the onus for
making that happen was entirely on
Michaele, as she was the only T-e
member with the organizational
imagination, education and
experience to pull off something
like that. Hence, [single-handedly
conceiving and codifying the legal
structure of the new org and of
the new Church, (with the
exception of 1 article of the
organization’s new Bylaws, and the
org's Statement of Belief), and
submitting all of the
documentation required required by
the IRS], Michaele founded T-e as
a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, and
church bearing the new name the
trustees collectively chose, “Tië
eldalieva Elven Spiritual Path
Charitable Trust and Church",
with the trustees agreeing on her
name for the church, "Yana
eldalieva”. (Legally serving
as the Trust's Principal Officer),
Michaele assigned
Lisa/Calantriniel as its Executive
Director, Dave as its Secretary,
and Earendil Spindelilus as its
Treasurer, then served as the
trust's Director of Operations,
Director of Music Ministry, later
also serving as its Treasurer when
Earendil resigned from T-e.
Up to
that point, (although Music is
central to the Midde-earth
Mythology, hence to Elven
spirituality, especially
Tolkien-based such spirituality),
music was not a formal aspect of
the T-e's Observances, beyond
Michaele’s music composition for “Lindë
Elenlotë”, (the
opening part of T-e’s rituals).
Hence, to facilitate the
presentation of Elven devotional
music for the Tolkien-based
members of that Community, Michaele
was intuitively guided to found “ElvenSpirit”
in mid-2020; (ElvenSpirit
operating independently of T-e,
nonetheless serving that Community
by advancing T-e's established
tradition, [with contrasting
openness to practically applying
the Quenya-translated Tao Te
Ching in the
extra-ceremonial/ritual practices
of this Path]).
Vision From Holy Spirit in Yellowstone
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Unbridgeable Rift In T-e |
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Birth of Elven Spiritual
Path |
A couple of
months later, whilst traveling
through Yellowstone National
Park on the morning of
Isilurimë, (the Elven Full Moon
of Heat), Michaele was resting
in Silence with Spirit, when
Spirit whispered, “Elvenchrist”,
to her; immediately thereafter
illuminating to her both the principal of
Elvenchrist,
and the vision of the Music
ministry thereto
applicable. Within a few days
thereafter, she presented the
concept of Elvenchrist to the
world. Upon encountering
Michaele's Elvenchrist
presentation, T-e’s
Executive Director (ED)
responded to both the concept of
Elvenchrist
and to Michaele with vitriolic
denial and rejection of both,
ordering Michaele to vacate
every role she was fulfilling
for T-e, and to depart from the
organization; formally
citing Elvenchrist as the
justification for her order.
Fortunately, it was not an
executive order that was
supported by the org's Bylaws,
(which Michaele had written),
and there were no legitimate
reasons to justify Michaele's
voluntary, or involuntary
departure from T-e; so, she kept
on keepin' on with fulfillng her
duties (as trustee; Director
of Operations; Treasurer;
and Director of Music
Ministries). Nonetheless,
the ED's reactions to her own
projections had created an
unbridgeable rift in T-e
governance, which none of
Michaele's efforts to clarify
and course correct could
assuage. Ultimately, the ED
stripped Michaele's access to
the T-e accounts she [Michaele]
managed, and she was ostracized
and permanently barred from the
organization, and thereby from
directly interacting with its
community--[which, frankly, is
most of the Tolkien-based Elven
spiritual community]--through
nearly all of the established
channels by which Michaele had
thereby been teaching. (Frankly,
it was an effort to cut off
the Flow in order to spite the
spigot; however, the org' is
not the Spring Flowing to,
through, and outpouring from
that spigot.)
Organizational
Mitosis
Michaele
had become T-e's primary spiritual
teacher, her teachings reaching
the Elven spiritual community in
numbers between multiples and
orders of magnitude greater than
the next most effective such
teacher in T-e. (In 2018, one of
T-e's Inner Circle had
communicated to her that, from
that one's perspective, her
teachings have advanced the Elven
spiritual community far more than
those of any of Elven spiritual
teacher, up to the date of that
comment.) Michaele's ejection from
T-e was both traumatizing to her,
and a very significant net loss
for the Elven spiritual
community--so, what's a leading
Tolkien-based Elven spiritual
teacher to do when in such a
position? Michaele consulted a
completely different, objective
perspective; the I Ching. The I
Ching's (paraphrased) guidance: "Don't
crawl under a rock. You have a
wealth of valuable and
critically important information
to share. Give it to those for
whom its intended...!"
Feeling
a sense of duty to determine
another route by which she may
continue to fulfill her spiritual
pedagogical role for the Elven
community, she sought guidance
from both the
Flame Imperishable/Holy Spirit and
Manwë, (High King of the Valar) on how to implement the
I Ching's counsel.
Spirit informed her that there was
no U.S. organization formally
operating as "Elven
Spiritual Path", and guided
her to found this organization
by that name as another
501(c)(3) charitable trust,
independently operating under
the auspices of ElvenSpirit.
Since ElvenSpirit was
established before the
Yellowstone experience, Manwë's guidance was for Elvenspirit to enable ESP to continue
to advance the Elven spiritual
path in solidarity with T-e's
tradition, albeit exclusively as
a Light-bearing outFlow of Love,
(rather than the kind of
fear-Flow that manifested
Michaele's ejection from T-e);
and, most importantly,
one primarily focused on
enabling Eldalie to include Song
in both their spiritual
practices, and their spiritual
arsenals. Manwë
also directed her to close
T-e's IRS account; (which
is a permanent transaction, and
which also necessitated Michaele
transferring T-e's assets [and
all of its fiduciary duties] to
ElvenSpirit; [full
details]).
The Mission and Vision of Elven
Spiritual Path
ESP presently
serves to globally advance
Tolkien-based Elven spirituality
by facilitating and teaching the
use of Elven
devotional
Song, primarily within, and
for the enrichment of the Elven
sacred Observances originally
developed by T-e. ESP also
presents inspirational music
created, and/or performed by other
artists, in the interest of
further advancing Tolkien-based
Elven spirituality for all Eldalië
(Elves). Additionally, ESP stands
as an academic resource by which
Eldalië may deepen their
functional knowledge and skill in
their practice of Elven
spirituality.
[Serving
the demands of many in the Elven
community, ESP's founder
personally conceived and codified
the vision and documents
establishing T-e as a fully
viable, centralized Elven
church. Subsequently,
she had a change of heart about
having done so, after fully
perceiving, and embracing
Tolkien's persistent account of
the complete absence of religion
in the lives of the Elves of
Middle-earth. Perceiving Tolkien's
inSight and wisdom with 20/20
hindsight, she
saw the reality that, in
microcosmic proportion, the same
thing happened amongst 21st
century humans aligned with
Middle-earth Elves that happened
in the human community of
Middle-earth--egoic pride
undermined and polluted the
paradigm, ultimately resulting
in the human worship of Sauron.
Michael J. Love (Zardoa),
of the Silver
Elves also warned of what
tends to be overwhelmingly
high probability of such a
paradigm downturn in neo-Elven
organizational endeavors when
the org structure accommodates
any form of politics. His
warning played out as T-e's
organizational experience.]
Note:
T-e
became a charitable trust
when they received a
donation, along with what's
called a "Donor's
Directive", to establish an
Elven "Church". Structuring
the new version of the
organization, Michaele named
the church, "Yána
Eldaliéva",
(Sanctuary of the Elves)",
all the trustees agreed on the
name, and it was presented to
the Elven Spiritual Community
as such. It was exclusively
Tolkien-based, ordaining
clerics in the context of that
exclusivity. With the
closure of that version of
T-e (as a trust),
fulfilling that
Directive became the
fiduciary duty of
ElvenSpirit.
To more effectively thereby
serve, the
[ElvenSpirit-facilitated]
Sanctuary foregoes that
exclusivity.
About
Elven Spiritual Path's Seal/Logo
ESP's logo is a powerful,
aggregate, mystical symbol capable
of being a talisman.
The
central focus is on the 7-pointed
Elven Star, in the form of a
septaquetra [so-named by Lisa
Allen], which is presented in 3
shades of green, each
progressively darker as the eye
moves toward its core.
Within its core are
representations of the Two Trees.
Between the Trees is the Flame
Imperishable (Holy Spirit), the
Animating Principle of all Life,
spiritual, astral, and physical.
The 3 silmarils within the core,
one rooted in each Tree, and the
third between the Trees and above
the Flame, signify the
practitioner’s deep grounding in
the Essence of both Trees, and
ascension into the distillation of
both to become an Elven Light
Bearer, (broadcasting the Light of
the Flame to all of Arda).
Surrounding the septaquetra, at,
and between each point, is a clear
quartz crystal Star
Tetrahedron/Merkabah;
fourteen in total, one for each of
the Valar. “The
Star Tetrahedron models the
energetic body of the human
being, the blending of Heaven
and Earth, Male and Female,
and was known in the esoteric
knowledge of Ancient Egypt as
the ‘Mer-Ka-Ba’. The two
tetrahedrons contained within
each other represent the two
poles of creation in complete
equilibrium; spirit and
matter. All of creation is
based on this divine
equilibrium, whether the form
concerned is considered to be
inanimate matter or a living
creature. It is the inner law
operating through all forms.
Whether a given form is that
of a plant, an animal or a
human, the body of each of
these is subject to the laws
of the three-dimensional
world. Hidden and invisible
within this body, however, is
the higher, Divine Self – Life
– Eternal Being!” (http://www.ascensionnow.co.uk/star-tetrahedron-merkaba.html).
On each side of the seal is a
Starflower; since there are two
genera of the plant, each is
therein represented. The
organization’s thereabove name is
therebelow written in Tengwar
(Eldamar).
["Isn't... that...
T-e's Logo?"
There have been murmurings in the
Elven Spiritual Community that
ESP, (or, more to the point, that
Michaele) plagiarized T-e's logo
and Seal in the making of those of
its own. Michaele also designed
and created T-e's original logo
and Seal; hence, the similarity
between the two images.
Technically, their design elements
are radically different, however,
they both express the same
spiritual principles; same
principles, same artist, same
basic design format, and same,
single copyright holder to both
images. Rather than plagiarizing
T-e's logo, (which as its creator
and owner, she couldn't have
done--just sayin'--),
Michaele rebuilt it, making it a
much more spiritually evocative
image;
which
is also indicative of ESP's
branch of the Elven spiritual
path being a remarkably more
spiritually dynamic expression
of this sacred tradition, as
evidenced in a
comparison of
ritual openings:
See T-e's "Ritual
of Enderi" embodying the
original ritual format, and
the "Ritual
of Faskalan" embodying
ESP's revised ritual format,
(as seen in the
"Elven Light Bearer
Initiation" chapter of "Initiation
Into and Practice of the
Elven Spiritual Path for
the Solitary Practitioner";
the ElvenSpirit versi | | |