About Me
All my life I’ve walked the Deer Trods of Elen of the Ways –
the Ancestor, the Lady of the Boreal Forest. I grew up in the old
shamanism of Britain, in a family of cunning folk who’ve practiced the old
British ways for many generations. I’m a quirky, unconventional person with an
intensely strong connection to nature.
I live in the wilds of Shropshire, the Stretton Hills, pure
Wild Edric country. I look out at Gwyn ap Nudd's local "mountain",
The Caradoc, from my front garden, and the nearest road (a single track job!)
is 1/4 mile away, so I'm surrounded by nature and wildlife. I share this
paradise with my Familiar Spirit, Kellan Cat, and my husband Paul. When
possible, I also share it with students on the Apprenticeship, Rainbow
Warriors, and other workshops.Dad was a wise man from Lancashire. He met and fell in love
with Mum before WWII but I didn’t come along until three years after the end of
the war. My mother’s mother was a witch from the Isle of Man but,
unfortunately, I never knew her. Mum passed over into the Summer Lands when I
was four years old but I remember her well and sometimes she still comes to me
if there is a need. After Mum’s death, Dad and I lived on Dartmoor with me
learning the old ways from him and my relations as well as the village elders.
When I was eight we moved to settle in an ancient little
village on the edge of Exmoor where the church is dedicated to the goddess
Urith – the old spelling is Iwerydd. Dad fell in love again with the woman who
had come as our housekeeper … her father had owned the house we now lived in …
and soon they were married. My stepmother and her sister, now my Aunt Ida, and
our next-door neighbour were among the elder folk of the village.
Aunt Ida owned the village well, sacred to the goddess
Urith, an ancient name for the All-Mother; amongst other things she heals
cataract and gives clairvoyance, properties the well is always said to have
had. So, I was still deeply involved in all the old ways and following the deer
trods along with the other young ones of elder folk.
I grew up in an environment full of everyday magic. As well as Dad, my stepmother Vera, and Aunt Ida, Ida's husband was a gardener who talked to his plants and taught me lots of
biodynamic-like things. Another uncle was a woodsman who could talk with animals and
would take me out with him, teach me the trees and the wood-ways. I’ve seen him
call a wild hawk to his wrist, or sit with a wild adder-snake coiled around his
wrist. Many times I’d go with him to sit all night under a tree watching foxes,
dormice, weasels, rabbits, badgers, hunting owls, and all the other night-denizens
of the wild woods. and the nextdoor neighbour was the village healer, herbalist and midwife; she midwifed the dead as well as babies and taught me many things.
Always living with otherworld, I’ve explored all sorts of magical paths and been fortunate to meet and work with some amazing people … Lila Bek, Caitlin & John Matthews, Emma Restall Orr, C Maxwell Cade, Colin Bloy, Hamish Miller, Tom Graves, Paul Devereux, John Michell, Dr Don Robins, and many others during the 1970s and 80s.
Warm wishes from between the two lights,
Elen
elen.sentier@yahoo.co.uk