The above article appeared in the April 2001 issue of “The Open Line“.
Yurigel is an Elf. He is the Commander of the armies of Queen Rhiannon and King Arawn, the High Queen and King of Tir na n’Og. Because Yurigel is currently on duty, he has pulled his dark, flaming, red hair up into a warrior’s topknot. His eyes, with their characteristic Faer Folk upward tilt, are the color of forest leaves. His ears, like the ears of other Elves, raise up into a pleasant point and lie close to his skull. Elven ears, though pointy, are not necessarily larger then human ears. Yurigel’s skin, which is the color of porcelain, is unflawed. His pleasant smile reveals straight, white teeth which are offset by a closely-groomed goatee of the same red tone as his hair. Yurigel’s height is about 6 feet, 7 inches, and his body structure is muscular, with wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and long, strong legs. Yurigel comments that he needs long, strong legs, or he would fall off his mount while in battle. This could prove rather embarrassing and dangerous for someone in his position.
Yurigel wears a metal breastplate the color of dark brass. The breastplate is molded to resemble a powerfully-built male torso. It also contains a highly complex and ornate carving of white gold, which is dizzying to gaze upon. At the top of the breastplate, where the breastplate rises roundly upward to provide protection for the throat, there appears an image of a man’s striking face. The male image’s hair and beard are long and flowing and appear to be intertwined with leaves. The carved man’s hair merges with his forked beard and flows around the breast and muscular abdomen of the breastplate, thereby leaving this area free of carving. Yurigel points out that a female warrior’s breastplate is molded into a female torso, but on the throat area, a beautiful woman’s face will be depicted, with the hair long and flowing, with leaves intertwined.
Yurigel wears his breastplate over a light brown tunic, and both are covered by a rust-colored cloak, clasped with a dragon pin upon the shoulder. His trousers are the same color as his tunic, and his feet are sheathed in dark brown boots which rise up to his knees. His cloak and tunic, trousers and boots, are heavily embroidered with complicated Celtic designs. Yurigel asks if we might now discuss something other than his clothing. He says he fears our readers may think he is quite the peacock, and while he admits this may be true, he does wish to make clear that he has other duties besides attempting to look fashionable.
He comments, “I can understand now why you wished to interview only me and not also Niamh [Yurigel’s very beautiful wife]. Since she is so much more attractive than I, you would have spent the next day and night rhapsodizing over her beauty, becoming hopelessly lost describing the complex swirls and other patterns on her gown.”
At this point, it was natural to ask Yurigel to describe his Niamh.
“My beloved wife and sacred mate is crowned with hair black as a raven’s wing. Her skin is smooth, soft, and pale as snow in moonlight. My love’s brown eyes are peaceful as a doe’s. Her lips are red as holly berries in winter. Her soft, warm body is more beautifully tempting then any water nymph. It does not matter if she be clothed in the finest samite, or merely in starlight, none can compare with her beauty, her gentleness, or even her wisdom, which would cause the most wise sage to appear a fool beside her. This is my beloved Niamh to me. She is the only star in my heavens. No woman shines brighter.”
From these descriptions of Yurigel and Niamh, you now have some idea of the beauty of the Elves. After consultation with the Sprites, we decided to focus next on one of the areas where the Elves differ markedly from the Gnomes and others of the Faer Folk. Now we will let Yurigel speak.
“The awareness has been put forth that though there are many Faer Folk in Tir na n’Og, and while we are all of one family, we do have subtle differences in the way we interact within creation. The Gnomes are a very spiritual and ceremonious lot, and they support creation and help the Great Mother Earth through their ceremonies and prayers. We of the Elven also participate in ceremonies and prayers to help the Mother, though not to the degree of our Gnome cousins. In contrast to the Gnomes, I believe our main task is to preserve order in the midst of chaos in the realms beyond Tir na n’Og, which realms include the physical Earth. I must admit we do have more success in the other spiritual realms than we do in the physical realm of the human world. The reason for this is that humans are considered the rulers of the physical realm, and, due to humanity’s free will, our magic can only influence the physical world around you to a certain extent.
“I would guess that our love for order would be expressed in the manner in which the Elven people are ruled by our kings and queens. In these times in your human realm, there are very few kings and queens who rule over their people. It is true that in the past, when there were more kings and queens in your world, there was much abuse from these rulers. It was indeed rare for a noble queen or king to put their people’s needs first before their own needs. During the very few times when a king and queen ruled their people with compassion and justice, the rulers became legends. A good example of this would be King Arthur and Queen Gwynefar, and people even now hearken back to those times as a golden age.
“Throughout most of our Elven history, we have at one time or another been ruled by a king and a queen. During these times, there have been very few instances of abuse by our rulers. Even when the Elven folk dwelt in the physical realm with the humans, in the times when the human kings and occasional queens were causing grief among their own people or those of other kingdoms, our rulers still put their people first above their own selfish needs. They always remembered the trifold rule of compassion, justice and dignity.
“Our own current rulers, Queen Rhiannon and King Arawn, are the High Queen and King of all the Elves. It is these two noble rulers to whom I report directly, for (as I believe was stated earlier) I am the Commander of their armies. Of course, there are many other Elven kingdoms which lie beneath the wings of King Arawn and Queen Rhiannon’s rule. The kings and queens of these smaller kingdoms enjoy the freedom of self-rule, for Arawn and Rhiannon do not dictate the policy of how a queen or king should rule in their own kingdom, so long as they remember the trifold law of harmony: to rule through compassion, justice and dignity.
“To clarify, our kings and queens are very dissimilar in some ways from the kings and queens that humanity has experienced. The crown, or the ability to rule as a queen or a king, does not always pass from parent to child. Royalty rules by the will of the people and for the people. In all circumstances, a queen and king are selected by the people themselves. They decide who will rule over them. Even if the crown is passed from parent to child, the new rulers must gain permission from their subjects before they can ascend the throne, so you might say that our monarchy is in many ways a democracy. Even as nobility, the king and queen, especially Arawn and Rhiannon, do not hold themselves higher than their subjects. They remember well the spiritual law taught to us by our Gnome cousins, to take counsel and give counsel. Therefore, the subjects of a king and queen do not take time bowing and scraping before their rulers, but hold each other in mutual respect. It is also true that a queen and king will rule only so long as their people allow them to, so should they begin to abuse their people, the right to rule would be taken from them. If Arawn and Rhiannon began to abuse their rule and would not turn from their ways, even I would no longer support them.
“Now let me focus on my king and queen, Arawn and Rhiannon, and how they affect the lives of my kingdom, or the kingdom which I and my beloved wife Niamh belong to, but also the other kingdoms under them. Again, there is a trifold law. The king and the queen and the land are one (and when I speak of the land, I refer to all of nature). If the queen and king suffer, the land suffers. If the land suffers, the king and queen suffer. The second part of this rule is that the people and the land are one. If the people suffer, the land suffers, and if the land suffers, the people suffer. The third strand of this law is that the king, the queen and the people are one. If one suffers, the other suffers, just the same as it is with the first two strands.
“We of the Faer Folk have noticed that the rulers of your physical world do not hold this rule to be true. Usually, if the people suffer, your rulers do not suffer, and if the land suffers, your rulers do not suffer. Yet it is true that what affects the people affects the land, and what affects the land affects the people. Though your rulers seem to be strangely untouched by what happens to the people and the land, in this, your rulers are breaking a spiritual law. Eventually, they must pay in whatever coin the Mother and Father Creator decide, and we feel that the time for such payment is nigh. Sadly, innocent humans will have to pay the price of this abuse, right along with their rulers, and the land also will suffer. Perhaps, then, this will teach all humanity that the rulers, the people, and the land are one and connected and dependent upon one another.
“Now let me try to explain how our monarchy, though it may seem archaic to humanity, keeps order in the midst of chaos. Luckily, Tir na n’Og, where we dwell, is a land of complete harmony or order. This order, which originates from the realm of the Mother and Father Creator, Christ and Mary, permeates Tir na n’Og and flows outward from that realm into the spirit realms beyond, and finally into the more physical realms such as your own. Queen Rhiannon and King Arawn rule by permission of the Holy Family, and in accepting this rule, they must be clean vessels, clean Grails, that the compassion, justice, and dignity from the Mother and Father Creator can flow into their hearts and flow through them to their people, to the land or nature of Tir na n’Og, and then continue outward to all spirit realms beyond and even into the physical realms. If Queen Rhiannon and King Arawn were not pure Grails or vessels, then they would not be able to allow the love of the Holy Family to flow through them, and, through their rule, chaos would begin to blight Tir na n’Og, and this blight would spread from Tir na n’Og to the spirit realms to the Earth as you know it. Therefore, through their rule of compassion and justice and dignity, the spirit realms beyond are in better spiritual balance.
“Sadly, though, this harmony or balance, upon striking the realms of the physical world, becomes distorted and somewhat stifled. Because humanity believes very little in magic, and because they take their spirituality and try to confine it within a narrow frame of understanding which they can control themselves, your physical world has become more of a world of chaos. Humanity unknowingly, and we hope unwillingly, has aligned itself with the darker realms beyond the Earth, which are home to those you know as ogres, hobgoblins, demons, and other entities of the dark realms. Instead of trying to turn back to the Mother and Father Creator and their beloved son, Jesus, humanity has assisted the Evil One in kidnapping the Mother Earth and all her children, which include humans, thereby making your spiritual realm a place of repressed spirituality, where the world of material lust rules. This is the reason your world has become, in these last years, a darker place, a place where those with wealth rule over those who have not, where the lust for power and material goods is satiated at the expense of spiritual healing.
“Therefore, upon the command of the Mother and Father Creator and brother Jesus and others of the holy family, we of the Elven folk have joined with others of the Faer Folk, who in turn have joined with others, who in turn have joined with the Angels of the Holy Family, and others who serve them, to combat the Evil One (who you know as Lucifer) and his minions. It is our prayerful mission that we, through the help of the Holy Family, will wrest the captive Mother Earth and her children from out of the hands of the Evil One, and thereby liberate all Creation from the darkness that holds them. We of the Elven folk, combined with others of the Faer Folk, are only a small part of this, for there are others of the light who fight on the side of the Holy Parents and their beloved son, Jesus.
“In these strange days, we find ourselves, with other Faer Folk and other allies of the Holy Family, fighting more and more spiritual wars in the realms which surround physical Earth, upon physical Earth herself, and in the dark realms beyond. These battles, in the terrible times to come, will only increase. We have been told by the Holy Family that there will come a time when humans will themselves awake to the battle cry and will once again join with their Faer Folk family and Angels and other allies of the Mother and Father Creator. Together, we will find our freedom from the Evil One at his final defeat in that last great battle for creation.”