Elen and the Birch

by Yuri Leitch

Title

Elen and the Birch

Artist

Yuri Leitch

Medium

Drawing - Colour Pencils

Description

Elen is the sovereignty goddess, and protectress goddess, of the British Isles. She is usually depicted with antlers. The only female deer that have antlers are the reindeer. In Welsh tradition she is 'Elen of the Hosts' and 'of the Trackways' - the old Romano-British roads of Wales are still called 'Sarn Elen'. The Birch tree is the first tree in the Druidic Ogham Grove Year Wheel, it is the 'Pioneer Tree'. After the last ice-age melted, Birch was (along with Pine and Juniper) one of the first trees to migrate north - wherever it grows there also grow the bright red Fly Agaric mushrooms. The reindeer eat the mushrooms and create tracks in the snow, the first trackways that human beings followed to new lands, new endevours, new realms. Her gown represents the snow of the new year, new beginnings, but it also represents a waterfall - Elen is most powerful as the 'White Lady' of many waterfalls; her brightness is the sunlight bouncing off the water. She supports a Wren, the smallest but cleverest of birds. The figure below her is a Romano-Gallic figurine of the antlered goddess, now kept at the British Museum.

Uploaded

April 9th, 2017

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