Of Magic Born *12* magical elven love letters
It was over twenty years ago...
Beloved Kindred,
... as time is calculated in the mundane realm, that we encountered the
young Huichol Mara’akame (shaman) who was visiting our realm from
Mexico. He dressed in the white pants and shirt with a colorful sash
that is the traditional garb of his people. And while he spoke no
English and we speak neither Spanish nor Huichol, we recognized and
understood each other perfectly, as is always the case when members of
the Illuminated Frasority encounter each other. For those who aren’t
familiar with the Huichol, they are a Native American tribe in Mexico
for whom Peyote is a sacred sacrament. Although their annual hunt in
the desert for the cactus is always a highly magical and sacred event,
their actual use of the Peyote is almost always recreational (see: B.
G. Myerhoff, 1974, The sacred journey of the Huichol Indians. Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press.).
One of the many things that is interesting about the Huichol to
these elves is an element of their culture that they share with ours.
Among the Huichol there is no such thing as a bad Huichol. To be bad,
in their view, is be other than Huichol. So it is among we elven that
there are no bad elves. To be unkind, discourteous, cruel and
thoughtless in most instances (there are always exceptions in which
such behavior is justified, although that is extremely rare), in our
view, is not to be a bad elf, but to be other than elfin. This may seem
a paradox to some (what about the elves isn’t paradoxical?) but to the
elfin it makes perfect sense. It is simply a matter of being an elf but
not being elfin. Thus it is also possible for those who are not elfin
to act in ways which are elfin, so that one may not be an elf but still
be elfin, at the very least for the time in which they behave as elves.
For being an elf is an act of magic (we elves are magic born) and to
act as an elf acts, that is to behave as an elf would, makes one elfin,
if not an elf, for the duration of those acts and their effects.
The consequence of this fact is that those who are elves but
consistently act unElfin are in danger of transforming into some other
form of manifestation, while those who are not elves yet regularly act
in ways Elfin will slowly but surely be transformed into elves, so that
one day or night, more likely, they will look about them and suddenly
find they were elves all along and simply hadn’t realized it until that
time. This might seem a great mystery (what about elves doesn’t?) yet
we elfin understand that in the movement and evolution of the Universe,
each tends in time to gravitate to their proper place and once having
found it, the magic unfolds unhindered.
If you are lead to believe by all this that we elves think quite
highly of ours’elves, you are quite right, although, it would be more
accurate to say we think quite highly of each other. Some might leap to
the conclusion from this that we look down on other people and
cultures, but they would surely stumble and fall if they did so. We do
not, for the most part, look down on others, even those elves who are
unfortunately, from our point of view, unElfin; instead we tend to look
sideways at other cultures, out of the corner of our eyes, which is to
say askance, in the same fashion legend has it that they must look at
us to catch a glimpse of our true being. Our attitude toward others is
primarily one of compassion, although, mystified gasps of amazement at
some folk’s utter folly and pigheadedness, have been known to
occasionally escape our lips.
To be an elf is to be elfin. It is not so much a matter of blood
and genetics, as some like to claim, but a matter of magic, which is to
say action and behavior. If you would be an elf, be an elf and by magic
born you will be.
kyela,
the silver elves