I was thinking about elves today, the tall, long-lived kind Tolkein incorporated in the Lord of the Rings. He drew on existing lore and deep cultural memory.Â
This came to mind as I viewed my 11-month old daughter’s pointy ears and remembered my mother calling me “Pixie-ears” my entire childhood. It occurred to me that such traits as pointy pixie ears, tallness and longevity do run in certain families. Also some people simply feel a resonance with elves and intuitively sense they have elven blood.Â
DNA memory could be calling, tugging at your awareness. The elves interbred with “regular” humans so no one alive today has more than a smidgeon of elven blood. But elven blood is out there flowing in some veins, methinks. You might be an elf if….
1. You have pointy ears or did have pointy ears as a child. We are not talking Dr. Spock or Christmas elves here because as said above, the bloodline is watered down. Ears come in all varieties but the pointy kind could indicate elf ancestors just as pointy eyes usually indicate far eastern ancestors.
2. One side of your family is very long lived, especially as noted in family trees before the onset of modern medicine. We’re talkin’ grandmas and grandpas that live to 90. This is not normal as even in modern countries the lifespan is only up to 72 at best. In most countries and just a hundred years ago, the lifespan couldn’t make it out of the 40s. So if you have great grandparents or great great grandparents that made it to their late 80s or beyond, you are talkin’ unusual longevity. The elves lived into the hundreds of years, so having one or more for an ancestor would increase longevity well beyond the norm.
3. You are tall, or the great majority of one side of your family is tall. Males above 5′-8″ and females above 5′-2″.
4. You or much of your family are fair of face. Elves were known for surrealistic beauty, a la Gweneth Paltrow. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however, and all the most beautiful people on the planet are not necessarily elvish. But if coupled with longevity and tallness, perhaps they are…
5. You have an inner knowing.  If elves and elf magic, lore, etc. resonate strongly with you and seem to call you “home” every now and then, you are probably descended from them, at least partially.
6. You and your ancestors love to travel, especially by ship, especially to new lands on the edges of civilization. Elves were known to stay on the fringe and keep a low profile, taking ship when need be to faraway shores. Ancestors of Americans and others who up and left the homeland possessed of the roaming spirit of adventure may have the elfish wanderlust and founding spirit.
7. You love magic and all things magical. Many people despise such intuitive alternative spiritual things as “magic”, wanting only logic and proofs to rule their lives. (Those poor sots ain’t elves, get it?)
Again, nobody is purebred elf on earth today. Bloodlines theories like this and the Jesus bloodline are fascinating. The bottom line is it can be in any person if said person strongly senses it. Those who speak don’t know and those who know don’t speak, so if someone is trying to gain fame and fortune from their bloodline association you should be suspicious. But otherwise, I say don’t be so dubious. Mankind goes back to the dawn of time. You have ancestors from said dawn of time simply because you are alive today! Stranger things have happened than a tall long lived race of magic-loving people to live here, a few of them intermarry, and then die off. Cro-magnon man died off as did the “hobbits” scientists discovered in 2005.
Just some musings from a tall pointy-eared esoteric Christian with lots of 90 year old relatives.
Katia
P.S. We need to expand our Mystery School’s Folklore and pre-Christian European magical studies programs. In our Teutonic Studies we cover Lord of the Rings, the symbolism, the drawing upon earth’s ancient lore, etc. But it is intriguing that Tolkein considered himself a “mystical” Christian. His work is a merger of esoteric, occult Christian themes (as is his crony C.S. Lewis’ great work, Chronicles of Narnia).
Interesting post. I have done alot of research on the Tolkein himself. And have long believed that Tolkien’s books were a little less fantastical and actually quite alot of fiction. maybe its me, but I can never pull myself away from the intriguing facts of his childhood and how something fantastic and mysterious that happened to him, which his family refuses to speak of- when Tolkien himself began to understand and speak in amysterious language. The language which he eventually wrote for all to read and understand through his books. Want to learn? http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/sindarin.htm
Thanks so much Katia for posting this! We, too, are exploring Elven Spirituality through Tolkien’s Middle-Earth stories (collectively the Legendarium), including the Appendices of LOTR ROTK, the Silmarillion, Lost Tales I and II, Unfinished Tales, and also Vol. X of the HoME series, Morgoth’s Ring (and we also love reading Letters of JRRT). Some of those we come in contact with mention that the Legendarium is morally “in line” with Christian thought, and as such, they can practice a path of Christian faith and worship while at the same time they can directly “connect” to their ancestry, and the Elves (or Quendi) have special appeal. There must be a reason! 🙂 We will add your link to our website when it is redone, which will be shortly I can assure you! Again, thanks for posting this!
Calantirniel, co-founder
Tie eldalieva, the Elven Path
P.S. Donna above mentions an excellent site for learning Quenya, the “Latin” of Elvish if you will (Sindarin is the usual language of LOTR). You may also enjoy this amazing online resource that answers nearly everything about Tolkien and the Legendarium: Encyclopedia of Arda.
Katia, you write a gripping article.
Is there any chance you might post a picture of your face? I am just curious, after you mentioned your family traits.
I have been told by a number of people, including Afro-Americans, that I look like an Elf – and in my earlier attempts to establish the true history of King Arthur, I discovered that Elves were mentioned left, right, and center, as though a special ethnic group.
i checked this out and i do that apeares to discribe me.i am in middle school and i am 5’2″ and i haven`t even hit my groth spurt yet.people in my family live to like 87.my ears come to a slight point and when i was in 3rd grade they where very pointy.all my cousins are very beautiful and people keep telling me how fair i am(i humbly deniy it but the compliments keep coming).every day i think about how wonderful the idea of magic is and every day i long for it,i want it so bad.thanks for the info.i thought that i was just weird!