Dinosaurs

[Starcrystal]

Read it again. They support the thesis that it is genuine mythology. Mythology is not history.

I happen to personally know the people who designed that website. I can tell you without a doubt that all involved in that site beleive Tolkien wrote historically accurate accounts, that they themselves are Elves, and that the Legendarium is a genuine mythology as you say. Howevr, I think the misunderstanding here is that what we beleive is that mythology has its roots in reality, in history and can be traced back to something that is very real and took place in our world a long time ago. The Bible is mythology in that sense as well.

Did you read #7. in their FAQs? Please note italics...

" Did Tolkien's so-called "Arda" or Middle-Earth ever exist?

Good question! Some believe that in fact Tolkien had attempted to "record" much history of Earth and the origins of the European people, but in a mythic mode. This was due to the eradication of these important origin stories, as much has been lost during various invasions and conquests (mostly through the so-called Christianization of these lands). And these believers have begun to "string" together proof of this belief with the hope that more truth will be discovered, and thereby permit new revelations of this truth.

Others feel that these are outright fantasy stories. This can be true, but in any case, it seems that not only did Tolkien state that the Middle-Earth stories had written themselves - a most difficult task when one examines how complicated the Legendarium is - there are also still many threads of mythological truth in Tolkien's known sources as exemplified via the Sacred Texts' site. And this does not reveal his unknown sources! As a well-reputed Linguist and Professor at the prestigious Oxford University, he likely had access to examine, and translate, many ancient documents that would not be known to the general public. There are some texts that are speculative and yet quite convincing - a great example being the Tresco Manuscripts, from Middle-earth Reunion's site. Please also consider the scholarly works of Sir Laurence Gardner, and in particular his online lecture Realm of the Ring Lords. His book of the same title, as well as his others that are related, are well worth reading!

Still, others feel that Tolkien's Arda or Middle-Earth works were of some type of a parallel existence or alternate "universe" if you will. There exist many connections that could be viewed in this fashion, for instance the attention-grabbing coincidence of Atlantis stories with those of Númenor in the Legendarium.

The way that some Tië eldaliéva founders, as well as others, seem to view this is that Arda is likely a parallel plane now, but at one time these planes had co-mingled, much like an intersection of two paths would appear; please see this image as a visual reference.

Whether they are of Tolkien or of other origin, these old stories mention that the Elves and the Fae began to "fade away" and it is now the time for Men. The truth is that Humans became more industrial, technology-heavy and scientific, separating everything for categorization rather than concentrating on unification or the whole, dissecting down to the last atom as to how things "work" - and in the process have inadvertently destroyed much of nature (deforestation is one of the largest ways this is expressed) and have lost regard for unification and our connection to Spirit or All That Is through this process - and because of our now-skewed viewpoint all these thousands of years later - we in fact "changed" the plane in which we exist to one that is more dense and material, and have thereby lost the ability to recognize nature and magick. It naturally follows that we are not able to see the Elves and Fae anymore.

The Elves, on the other hand, had balanced technology/science along with nature and magick; and worked with this blend very well and therefore did not transform their existence into a more "dense" one the way that Humans have. This is not a bad thing, as experience is experience, we are all learning from this process (well, at least we HOPE we are)!"

Eek... we should probably start another thread for this discussion before someone yells "off topic!!" I suppose it could still go under "Origins"