Of Harpers and Spellsingers

Mae Govannen;

The readjustment continues! No surprise. With it, names, ideas, thoughts, even 'titles' of a sort, are all being played with. I am not posting this to FB as every time I do this sort of thing, suddenly the names I have been tinkering with show up in use by other people where they weren't before. This last time an individual had the kind courtesy to ask first...and I have no problem with it. I do get annoyed when I am trying to use something and find suddenly that someone more well known in some corners has appropriated it suddenly and is now being recognized that way. That is the danger of social media in the form of FB. This page has far fewer viewers and I know them, or well, most...the security is pretty tightly wound up here and while I have posted the URL in comment replies now and then, I can tell from the analytics that it hasn't much affected things. So on with it then.

Eledhwen 'Blackstaff'....Eledhwen Morwandil. Easy yeah? I am keeping the name Eledhwen. A nickname or surname of 'Blackstaff', in the Common Tongue, seems reasonable. Especially since the new staff is black. It will have a little color and there are painted designs to come, yet the main color is black. I will also be wearing a lot of black.

I have been referring to myself as a Loremaster. That is, after a fashion, accurate enough. However, I tend to work magic more often with my harp...so the word 'Spellsinger' is, in a number of ways, even more accurate. The word for that is 'istalindir'..making me an Istalindir. Sort of. I like the flow of the word over Lorekeeper, which is ki'irar, or the made-up word of noletule, which is literally lore master. I am definitely a nandaro...a harper. I do spells, although I use my harp to chant or sing them, so Ista...spell....lindir...singer...seems appropriate.

Loremaster, or Lorekeeper sounds more prestigious I suppose. I am not a big one on prestige. Flow or words matters...the proper flow of sound *is* magic, or rather, a carrier of magic...and it also helps form it.

I know, I know, people think magic is a joke. Fine by me. I do not. I have practiced it for decades in this lifetime, and for many more lifetimes before that. Keep in mind, ritual, and prayer, are forms of magic...spellweaving via motion and sound. Think about it. I just use magic not bound to some specific religious dogma...a 'wilder' sort of magic.

It was once well known, and later widely related, that Bards...real Spellsingers...could actually create using music. No surprise when one understands that every single thing has is vibration, frequency, sound if you will. Knowing which ones to use to accomplish something is at the heart of this. The Great Song of Creation. I believe our own attempts to make music are attempts to reach out for and grasp that song.

Remember also that Arda, that includes Middle Earth, was created in song...along with everything else...by the Ainur singing for Eru. Think about that bit.

So yeah, call me crazy. I use magic. I admit it. I constant work to understand it better and refine it. I am not even close to the ancient Spellsingers of legend..yet I do what I can.

So Spellsinger is probably a closer description than Lorekeeper. Regardless, I shall go with Istalindir...

Eledhwen Morwandil, Istalindir

Under the Sweet-scented Firs