Wondering if Ele has some relationship to Elen of the Ways? Could the Ley of Cats be the leylines once traveled by Elen (or her transformed self as reindeer)?
oooh curious! now i was just reading something the other day about how Elen of the ways overlapped with someone else, hahaha if only i could remember who it was! She did have her roots in Ireland though didn’t she, and travelled to Wales?
If I remember correctly, Elen originally was of the North, the Scandinavian countries, and because a long, long time ago, they believe there was a land bridge to the Islands, the reindeer migrated south. Lead by none other than Elen! The eldest female of the herd knows the way and everyone follows her. At some point she was adopted as a goddess of the Islands. I'd love to be able to go back and see the trails her herd followed and find out if they followed the leylines!
Also, you can trace the word/name Elen back quite far and in quite a few European countries. It is often translated as reindeer or deer. The Antlered Goddess. The etymology is so curious.
that's so fascinating! I've had some reindeer looking antler bones pop up in my inner realm the last few days too, so its an interesting synchronicity that you are mentioning them.
Also I remembered who is associated with Elen of the Ways - its Olwen of the White Tracks, another Welsh story. I write a little about her in one of the waking the wellsprings chapters - maybe chapter 2 or 3 i think.
The Irish "Eile" is thought to go back to 'beautiful' or something like that. And in the Dindschenchas, Eile or Heile appears to have been burned at the stake in a rather grim story.
How magical, your experience and your writing! Thank you so much for sharing.
oh yay thank you! And i just published part 2 too:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mythicliving/p/the-mystical-ley-of-cats-in-ireland?r=2c2bbc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Wondering if Ele has some relationship to Elen of the Ways? Could the Ley of Cats be the leylines once traveled by Elen (or her transformed self as reindeer)?
oooh curious! now i was just reading something the other day about how Elen of the ways overlapped with someone else, hahaha if only i could remember who it was! She did have her roots in Ireland though didn’t she, and travelled to Wales?
If I remember correctly, Elen originally was of the North, the Scandinavian countries, and because a long, long time ago, they believe there was a land bridge to the Islands, the reindeer migrated south. Lead by none other than Elen! The eldest female of the herd knows the way and everyone follows her. At some point she was adopted as a goddess of the Islands. I'd love to be able to go back and see the trails her herd followed and find out if they followed the leylines!
Also, you can trace the word/name Elen back quite far and in quite a few European countries. It is often translated as reindeer or deer. The Antlered Goddess. The etymology is so curious.
that's so fascinating! I've had some reindeer looking antler bones pop up in my inner realm the last few days too, so its an interesting synchronicity that you are mentioning them.
Also I remembered who is associated with Elen of the Ways - its Olwen of the White Tracks, another Welsh story. I write a little about her in one of the waking the wellsprings chapters - maybe chapter 2 or 3 i think.
The Irish "Eile" is thought to go back to 'beautiful' or something like that. And in the Dindschenchas, Eile or Heile appears to have been burned at the stake in a rather grim story.