Autumn is one of my favourite times of year to be out in the wilderness. To witness the changing season on a windswept landscape. I’m surrounded by beautiful countryside right here in North Yorkshire and I am blessed by that. I can’t help but think of my ancient ancestors at this time. How they would have moved with the seasons, following the herds and preparing for the harsher weather and the darker months. How they’d track the prints that they found, in mud or snow, and follow the trail laid before them, through the forests and into the wilderness.
When the Brigantes tribe covered what is now Yorkshire, perhaps they had a guide- a guardian- to help them on their journey. Someone who was closely associated with the deer who inhabited the wilderness surrounding this tribe; someone who prepared them for the journey ahead, both physical and spiritual. A wild woman, living free and sovereign into herself. Someone who they could call on when they lost their way and root the tribe back into the natural world around them. Someone who was a companion, a friend, in a harsh land as the seasons turned. Someone who journeyed with you, as you travelled; whether that be a physical pathway, or a pathway of the soul. Perhaps her name was Elen.
Whilst there is no record of Elen like I have described above before 1983 when Caroline Wise coined her name, this modern Goddess is perhaps an interpretation of an ancient, Gaulish goddess by the name of Carvonia, or maybe an interpretation of the Welsh Elen Luyddog. Perhaps she is a long-forgotten Goddess that our ancient ancestors knew the name of. Nevertheless, this Goddess is now amongst our landscape and is close to my heart. For four years, I journeyed the wheel of the year to meet the Goddesses of the sacred land I call home, before dedicating as a Priestess of Brigantia, with Elen of the Ways as my guide throughout the wheel.
Elen of the Ways
Elen, associated with deer, forests and pathways, is a Goddess who guides seekers through the wilderness. I love walking off of the beaten track and making my own pathway, but it wasn’t until I learnt of Elen that I had realised this Goddess accompanied me on these journeys. She- like many of the goddesses I worked with over four years- is one who needs to be experienced. Little is found of her in books; instead she is found amongst the leaves of forests, her markings are in the mud embankments next to running rivers. She watches from the line of trees that surround a clearing in which you can sit and rest. She is in the trails of flattened grass, where animals trail over and over again, making their own pathway to follow. She is elusive and always on the move. She is what you glimpse through thick hedges, unsure of whether you just glimpsed an animal or a fellow human. She is the track that water follows, flowing from deep underground. She leads us onto the highest peaks, or into the belly of the earth.
She deeply roots us into the natural world. She follows the cycles of the seasons, of life and death. She is linked to deer (or more specifically, reindeer) and to follow the herds as they move through the seasons is to follow this Goddess. Reindeer once wandered the fields and open plains across Britain, migrating and navigating the land throughout the seasons; now they graze the mountain-tops of the Cairngorms in Scotland. Each Spring brings new life, and each Winter can bring death.
Reindeer in the Scottish Cairngorms. Reindeer once roamed Britain, before climate change and hunting depleted the population.
This reindeer herd has been free-roaming since 1952 when a Swedish couple reintroduced them. Find out more here.
She also guides us on our journey through the wilderness, and through life. Each path we find- or each path we start- we can catch glimpses of this Goddess and she guides our soul through the lessons, the heartache, the joy and accomplishments. She is the protectress of the roads, the pathways. She knows the heartbeat of us runs along these pathways, connecting neighbour to neighbour, city to city. A balance of the wild and tamed. Of expansion and community.
Personally, I’ve found her energy very earthy. She is both as wild as a storm on the horizon, and as gentle as the trickle that follows the path of the beck. She’s as warm as the sun on your back, and as cold as stone upon the hills in the dead of Winter. I find her harder to glimpse amongst the paths of cities or in my own garden; Her energy cannot be contained between brick buildings and kept gardens. She prefers to be out in the wild- in her home. She wanders and journeys- a lot. Where you once might have glimpsed Her- perhaps the edge of some woods, or across an open field- when you return She won’t be there. The colours I associate with her are brown and green- the earthy brown of the soil she walks across, as well as the fur of deer, and the green of leaf, of grass. She is said to have red hair, but I’ve found it to be a very rich brown that, in sunlight, is red.
So, if you seek this Goddess out, start by being out in nature. Go for a walk, and look for the pathways. Look for the well-trodden path, or even the path less travelled. You may find glimpses of her out of the corner of your eye. She is wise and will see you, before you see Her.