Some interesting information: According to Norse mythology, elves and dwarves are created in the time before humans from the body of Ymir, the giant. Inhabiting one of the upper worlds, and often found in Natural settings suck as woodlands and forests, elves are somewhere between mortal and divine.


"Elves, black, gray, green, and white,
You moonshine revelers and shades of night,
You orphan heirs of fixed destiny,
Attend your office and your quality."

Journey: The Shapeshifter

I sit with my eyes wide open as the person before me shifts shapes. I pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Beginning as a small, elderly looking man with elfin features, she transforms into a giant, silver-furred she-wolf. She looks in my eyes, and I can see the moon reflected in hers. The wolf beckons me to mount her back. I climb on, putting my arms around her neck. We travel so quickly that everything around us movies as if in slow motion. Images go from blurry to suddenly very clear.

Riding along the she-wolf's back, I see an image of a tree nymph as it scampers up the side of an ancient oak tree with a trunk the size of a small house. The oak's mighty branches reach out like giant, gnarled arms toward the sunlight. The tree nymph stops on the trunk, and looks in my eyes, for an instant, I feel the connection between us. I am aware of the spirit of the trees, and I am the trees and the trees are me. In that instant of complete connection, I know that life is more than the black and white world that I thought was "real."

As I continue traveling on the she-wolf's back, I see the image of a small winged being who movies like a dragonfly through the woods. She is the Element of Air, and I feel myself becoming her and being blown about the wind. In this state, I realize that struggling against the wind is futile, but to move with the wind is divine. I feel myself blown to and fro in all directions. After a few minutes, I find myself, once again, on the wolf's back moving through the woods.

Soon, I see an image of a enormous salamander who looks just like a fire dragon. One of the most volatile of Elements, Fire is the creation of Life, and instantly eradicates anything in its way. The enormous salamander stops to bask in the sun, happy and content. Watching this giant being, I know that there are two sides to everything. In creation there is destruction, and in destruction there is creation. They are divinely tied together.

As I continue riding, I see the image of a Water sprite swimming in a pool. The water looks bottomless and as infinite as all of Oneness. Time and space are relative to experience, which is relative to the overall pattern of things. Pools of water become creeks that become streams that become rivers, lakes, and oceans. Each pattern in life is part of a bigger, connected pattern that makes up the whole of everything.

Whether Earth, Air, Fire, or Water, all life is make up of Elements. Each Element has a lesson to teach. As embodiments of Nature, Elves often directly correspond to the Elements. These relate back to the basic beginnings of the elves and Nature itself.

As I continue on the wolf's back, time fold into itself. She disappears and I find myself standing in front of an oak tree whose wrinkled image suggests the very fabric of time, and whose eyes look directly into mine. Its roots are like anchors that stretch deep within the earth. Its trunk, branches, and leaves move out into the air. Its entire being moves upward towards the light of the sun, signifying the Water of Life.

Starting into the eyes of the oak, I see a future filled with magickal beings. As both my ancestors and the entities that dwell within the land, I know the elves are like guardian angels and spirit guides who help me along my way.

As my eyes move, I see the shapeshifter can be anyone or anything. I understand now that things are what they are on the inside, no matter what kinds of outside images they portray. Like candles, the woods, the magickal beings, and the land of illusion melts away leaving only that which remains - the eternal flame that burns in the hearts and spirits of everything that lives within the flicker of a lifetime.


I edited this chapter. It was a little different, but I allowed you to 'envision' the oak trees better than before. The next chapter should be out very soon.

Nekio-chan