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| Illustration to Goethe's "Erlkönig," by Moritz von Schwind |
Hey there you guys! How are you today? I’ve had quite interesting days, to be honest, and one of the reasons why is because I’ve been reading and learning more about the Erlkönig, the Alder King. I'm cheating a little this time, but deal with me for today. ^^' I was curious about what I could connect with Him for, what would be in His areas of action and got some interesting answers when meditating.
I was told
He’s not that much a death-related being, but more about transformation and
glamour. This makes me think that maybe He’s not about permanent or big
changes, but subtle ones, alterations that may not mean to last more than
intended. Also, I got the idea that He’s also a healer, a trickster, and doesn’t
have much patience. Looking at Goethe’s poem, He certainly conceals Himself from the father, tries to trick the boy and
really hates to wait or to be denied what he wants, so the Alder King is not someone
to mess up with; not that you can do that with the Gentry, mind you.
What doesn’t
make much sense for now is the healer part, since there are no reference about
it in the original material. Maybe it would be a new role or a matter of
semantics. When I read Morgan
Daimler’s Traveling the Fairy Path, though, I saw that Alder has been
associated with defensive and offensive magic, divination, victory, protection,
and fire. Perhaps He “heals”
conflict by ending it and preventing stillness, inaction and uncertainty. Alder does have medicinal
uses, many of which are related to the throat, so I would be reading
more about it in the future, but in terms of mythology I haven’t seen a
connection (yet.)
Being honest, I’m a bit intimidated by this last aspect of the Alder
King, and wouldn’t like to deal with side effects right now. My life is hectic enough
as it is, thank you very much, so I’d rather focus on divination and poetry,
and get to know Him more before asking for defense, protection and offensive. I’m still figuring some things out, especially one in particular. You
can never be cautious enough when Otherworldly beings are involved, but I strongly
feel that that one in particular may summarize what I’m supposed to learn from the
Alder King at this stage of my life. Let’s see what happens.
So, as a
final update, right now I’m searching for an English translation of the
original, oldest Danish Ballad that inspired Goethe’s poem. Elveskud, which means
Elf-Shot. Again, offensive references. According to Wikipedia,
“the earliest surviving manuscript is Karen Brahes Folio,
a Danish manuscript from the 1570s.” I’ve tried (with no luck) to find an English
translation of that manuscript or at least the ballad in question, since the
most popular version is from 1695. Although Goethe’s poem is inspired by Johann
Gottfried Herder's translation, I always like to have a look at the
original material if possible and see what else I can discover.
So, what do you think about this? Maybe it’s a lot of making-up? This is still a work in progress, so any kind of critic or feedback is welcome. ^^ It’s the earliest of stages with a relationship, but I like the direction it’s taking. Kinky regards, K!
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