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This is mythic prose. Take it as such...
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Elves (Ah Kin) live in Shamballa, the City of Eternal Bliss, also
called 'Foresthome', which lies deep within the forest and exists
simultaneously on many planes. Within Shamballa all needs are met,
all dreams are realized, and no wish is ungranted. Things seem
dreamlike and intimately real at once, Adventurous elves visit the
world outside Shamballa, inhabited by all types of plants and animals
(called, sadly, 'The Dying Realms'). When they do so they are often
on spiritual journeys or exploratory missions. Otherwise it is only
the 'half-elf' that braves such a challenge.
All elves are a family. All time for elves is long (and, arguably,
short). They all greet one another with great big hugs. If the two
have met before, then they sing songs of their travels since last
meeting. Humans who hear an elf sing are enchanted by their voices
and while within hearing distance cannot move, such is the ecstasy in
which they are wrapt. Plants harmonize with all being and their song
is the song of the universe.
Elves don't sleep. They meditate in trance for a few moments and then
enter the world of dreams fully awake. Those elves who spend time
with humans may be able to join in the human dreams and control them,
to a certain extent, somewhat like the computer in 'Star Trek: The
Next Generation' controls the 'holodeck'.
Humans who spend time with elves and encounter such dream-work will
gradually transform into elves over time. Given shared dreams, they
begin showing elven characteristics and attitudes. From this observa-
tion, it has been suggested by elven sages that humans are elven
'eggs', which can be fertilized through dreams by an elf who wishes to
see this 'hatchling' through to 'becoming', or full realization.
As some elves see it, then, humans are like children, some playing
Mother Nature's game, and some not. Regardless, since elves live so
long, it seems likely that all humans may eventually become elves.
Elves rarely eat outside Shamballa, living quite healthily on water
and sunshine. Human food makes them queasy and human liquor is of
unfortunately poor quality. Elven mead and wine are very strong and
tasty.
Elves love trees because they are directly related to them. Elves are
evolved plants, coming from the same 'branch' of the geneological
family. They understand that trees are intelligent, nonmobile sages
of great wisdom, spending the entirety of their lives in meditation.
Elven sages are said to become trees upon their final rebirth.
Elves don't die like humans do. They mature and then, after many
journeys about the Great Star, (this process is not completely under-
stood), they wither and are reborn in Shamballa with continued memory
and a similar, though renewed body. This is the evolved state of the
vegetative cycle of renewal (rebirth). It is said that rebirth req-
uires a conscious choice, however, so that elves who venture into the
Dying Realms and begin to doubt their ability to be reborn may be
reborn as trees instead. Often rites of death and rebirth are per-
formed in winter and spring, respectively, at Shamballa.
1160
The entirety of the elven life, the Way, is one of fun, love and
laughter. They delight in games and their childlike nature combines
with their often advanced intellect to create some of the most sophis-
ticated and challenging games of skill and chance, involving magical
powers, spells, quests and mysteries. Some of those less fortunate
young elves get lost in the Dying Realms and begin to take the games
for reality, becoming dour and moody. A brief time in the company of
other elves usually cures them of this, however.
Their 'religion', if you will, is based on such games. Elves aren't
required to believe anything, but are told a marvelous story which
encompasses and enriches their lives.
This is the story which most elves are told upon their lingual maturi-
ty. It is understood, at the time, that it can help the individual
understand hir place in the cosmos and give hir a basis for inter-
action with the World, but that there are other, equally valuable
stories that will do the same.
'Ah and Kin were the first great trees. They stood atop the world and
fruited Sun, Moon, Seas, Stars and the various plants and animals. In
this way all things grew and ripened, falling off the branch of
statelessness onto the ground of being. Once there, they crawled or
moved to different parts of the world, where they were born from the
seed, pod, egg or womb of their parents. Enjoying the movement of
their offspring, Ah and Kin died and became the first elves - what
humans might call 'gods' and the elves call 'The Elders', 'The Ancient
Onces', 'The Celestial Masters', 'The Old Ones', or countless thous-
ands of other names of endearment. Gradually Ah and Kin, now unified
in the elven race, are waking to their true essence and will grow to
their old strength in a never-ending cycle.'
To the elves the Old Ones are less wholly other beings and more divine
patterns of behavior. In 'worshipping' them elves engage in activit-
ies with which the Old One is associated. This does NOT make the
worshipper of greater value than the non-worshipper. Worship is not
considered a show for others but an ecstatic experience. While the
practice is considered serious business (if anything is for elves!),
once one becomes acquainted with the stories, legends about the
Elders, one begins to realized the value not only of acting but of
watching, of listening to the new stories which they tell through
their new worshippers. No harm is ever done in elven worship, and
those who do so accidentally are advised to return to Shamballa
immediately to renew their sacred vows. Little if anything is
known about these vows, but often they are said to be ideal goals
rather than adopted commandments.
The Old Ones are innumerable in their variation. They have as many
faces and names as there are days in life (and for an elf, this is a
LOT!). The Old Ones this adventurer knows of thusfar are these:
Varda, Star Mother (aka 'Queen of the Stars')
Creatrix, Genetrix, Womb of life. She is associated with planting
and/or defending trees.
1161
Leollyn, Dancing Father
Magick energy of being, the dancing Song of All. He is associated
with magick, singing and dancing.
Yow, the Teacher (aka 'Uncle Yow')
The Trickster, the Fool. He is associated with deception and the
revealing of wisdom, trickery and education.
Cleowyn, Wizardress
Wise One, compassionate Lover. She is associated with magick and
romance.
Tufyl, Leader of the Festive Spirits
Partier, mirthmaker, intoxicator. Associated with merrymaking,
drinking, smoking. The Festive Spirits include all those substances
which trigger altered states of consciousness and levity.
Snassis, Snake Beauty
Regenerator, renewer, rebirther. Associated with awe, 'death' and
knowledge (books), it is said that Snassis will be the final guide
beyond the veil(?). Her sisters, Almuldhea and Cleowyin (q.v.) are
alternatively said to accompany her in this function.
Vitraya, Healer
Healer, vitalizer and restorer of life. She is associated with
healing, aiding and service generally.
Farrelon, The Game Hunter
Dedicated challenger and adventurer. He is associated with hunting
and game playing.
Kellon, the Silent (aka 'Eternal Questor')
The keen eye, the sensitive ear. SHe is associated with searching,
tracking and quests. SHe, paired with Almuldhea (below) are said to
be neither male nor female, but both and neither. Both are rather
seldom spoken of, actually, for it is thought that to do so is to
bring them shame.
Amuldhea
Mysterious Mystery, Darkness in its extreme, SHe is Death in the sense
of eternal extinction. This is not a concept which elves understand
well, and many find Hir difficult if not impossible to speak about.
SHe is associated with sex, secrecy and hiding.
These are brief descriptions only. Each has countless tales told
about them around deadwood fires and in mead-slick taverns late at
night.
1162
The Pact, by Pete Carrol
Most occult traditions have complex and highly ordered otherworld
cosmologies and metaphysical theories. Yet their accompanying
techniques are frequently a shambles. In contradiction to all this,
one of the fundamental insights of Chaos Magic is that if magical
technique is sharply delineated it will work because the universe
itself is more of a shambles than it appears. Or perhaps I should
more respectfully say that it has the magical property of confirming
most of the interpretations placed upon it. Thus a wide variety of
metaphysical paradigms can be made to fit, even if mutually
exclusive.
So when selecting from the Supermarket of Belief, the critical
question for the Chaoist is: how effective are the accompanying
magical techniques? Hence Chaoist magic is characterised by its
cavalier attitude to metaphysics and its puritanical devotion to
empirical techniques.
For some time Chaoist orthodoxy has had it that cavalier metaphysics
and mythology are incompatible with the formal structure of a
magical teaching order. However, this need not be so if it is only
technique that is being taught and practised. Experience has shown
that people can come together and engage in highly productive
exchanges of practical expertise, and that a formal structure and a
division of labour encourage this.
The Magical Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros, or the Pact for
short, is an organisational structure for those wishing to perform
Chaos type magic in company with others of like mind. The Pact
exploits the device of a graded hierarchy, with certain checks and
balances, and is delighted to admit candidates with the drive and
initiative to rise rapidly through its structure.
Every occult revival begets a magical child or two and Chaoist Magic
is the major synthesis to emerge from the occult renaissance of the
last twenty years. The Pact is amongst the prime vehicles designed
to develop and carry forward that synthesis well into the next
millenium. It is likely that the Pact will be to the end of this
century and to the beginning of the next, rather more than what the
G.D. was in its time, a century ago.
In practice a number of the formal devices of the Pact are treated
somewhat more lightly than the written conventions might leed one to
suppose, with members styling themselves with such oddities as
Frater Vacuity or Soror Impropriety and so on, in deliberate parody
of tradition. The prime functions of the grade structure are to
provide a mechasnism for the exclusion of certain psychotic
misanthropes and neurotic creeps who are sometimes attracted to such
enterprises and to ensure that that which needs organisation is duly
attended to.
Persons who, having read and carefully considered the accompanying
information and conventions of the Pact, are interested in
contributing to its activities may submit an extensive letter of
application to:
OBLIVION, P.O.Box 18514, Encino, CA 91416-8514, USA
1163
Next: Craft Laws (by Lady Sheba)