Elen of the Ways is about the ancient shamanism of Britain. Elen Sentier grew up in a long family lineage of following the Deer Trods; in this book she tells of the old, forgotten ways of our ancestors. Through her own experience, stories, practical exercises and journeys with the deer, Elen takes you into the realm of the Boreal Forest, of which Britain is a part, to show how the Deer Goddess is the spirit of this land. To walk the deer trods is to realise how close and connected you are to nature and everything in this beautiful world which we share with our non-human brethren. You learn, too, that our everyday world and otherworld are intertwined. Elen of the Ways is both here and there at the same time. You will find her everywhere. , Elen Sentier is a spirit keeper and taleweaver from a long family lineage. Her mother’s mother was a witch from the Isle of Man while her father was a cunning man whose family were very closely involved with Annie Besant and Rudolf Steiner. She was born on Dartmoor, grew up on the edge of Exmoor and now lives (with husband, cats and wildlife) in the back of beyond, by the river Wye in the Welsh Marches where she writes and teaches British native shamanism. , Shaman Pathways Elen of the Ways Following the Deer Trods, the Ancient Shamanism of Britain By Elen Sentier John Hunt Publishing Ltd. Copyright © 2013 Elen Sentier All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78099-559-5 Contents About Elen Sentier.........................................................viiiMeetings...................................................................11. Ice and Fire............................................................32. Goddess of the North Wind...............................................163. Sovereignty.............................................................224. The Deer Goddess of the Ancient Caledonians.............................315. 2012 Scotland...........................................................356. Following the Deer Trods................................................607. Deer Stalking – Working with Elen.......................................67 CHAPTER 1 Ice and Fire Long ago and far away in space-time ice covered the Earth. Itwould feel strange to us now, we who live in a warm time whensnow only comes for a few weeks in winter, if at all. In northerly climes like Scandinavia, parts of Russia, Canadaand America, snow may come for several months over the winterbut we have to go up into Arctic to find snow all the year round,and those lands are shrinking every year now because of globalwarming and climate change. We watch wonderful programmeslike Frozen Planet but we cannot imagine living there. If wereally stretch the imagination, our mind tells us that such anexistence would be terrible, frightening, cold and miserable. Weadmire the explorers and scientists who go there for manymonths at a time but we do not believe the frozen wastes to beplaces to live, to make great art and philosophy; we considerthem to be too bitterly cold to even think. Our ancestors didn'tshare these feelings as this beautiful carving shows. This sculpture, known as the Swimming Reindeer, was created atleast 13,000 years ago, that's three thousand years before the endof the last Ice Age. It's carved from the tip of a mammoth tuskand shows a male and female reindeer with their heads raisedand legs extended. The depiction is remarkable in its naturalism;it conveys movement and displays the hunter's knowledge ofanatomy. It was discovered in 1866 as two separate pieces andacquired by the British Museum in 1887. The fragility of the connection between the two halves showsthat it was not a practical object but rather a masterpiece offigurative art. Its significance to the people who created itremains a mystery to archaeologists. For me, it is one of manythings which tell me the Reindeer Goddess was important tohumankind from back into very ancient times. If we wanted to have this made for us now it would need craft-skillsof superb delicacy as well as an exquisite visionary talent ...but it was made when the Earth was deep in an Ice Age. Ourancestors were not savages as was the perceived academicwisdom until quite recently; they were people of amazing culturewhich must, from the intricacy of such art, have had greatspiritual depth. There are not many artists nowadays who couldachieve such an evocative and skilled piece of work. What would it be like to live the life of these people? How didthey see the world and know the gods, the powers, and theirelder brethren – the animals and plants and rocks? Our Deer-Trod Following Ancestors Reindeer have been around for a long time. Wild reindeer have been a major resource for humansthroughout the northernmost parts of the northern hemispherefor tens of thousands of years, from the Middle Pleistocene.Norway and Greenland have unbroken traditions of huntingwild reindeer from the ice age up to the present day. In the nonfore