I’ve had some ‘interesting’ sometimes unkind but naïve comments from people about me using the words Middle Earth as part of my body of work.
I view this as what Herbert Spencer quoted as ‘contempt prior to any investigation’ or even asking me why!
In fact very few people actually ask me why!
I get that folks feel precious towards Tolkiens work and that is fair enough, I do rather myself, I’ve loved it for ever, but how about looking a bit deeper?
To be honest the name came in a dream and it was very clear that ‘Middle Earth Medicine Ways’ was to be its title and no, I wasn’t reading Lord of The Rings at the time.
I wasn’t sure I even liked the name, particularly as Alchemy In Movement had been my dancing work name for many years. But it had to change and I had to accept that, it was and is about so much more than dance.
So I researched and dived head long into why this name was being given and to trust that. I’m happy to share more.
So here goes, I’ll try and give a simple outline to it, as for sure each element of it goes very deep.
There are basically three levels in the meaning of the name.
First is bringing attention to the heart, to the centre of our body, where true transformation happens, to the Middle of our existence that is rooted in the Earth.
So the Middle of our own Earth (body) and to ask ourselves ‘what is the medicine needed here?’ Where is there loss and emptiness of spirit and soul?
We then use the Mandorla from which we discover ourselves at the core of polarity, whether that be east and west, or heaven and earth, masculine and feminine, whatever the polarity is that we are experiencing, we stand at the centre finding balance between the worlds.
And by being with some of the old ways, the ways of wyrd, (wyrd means all that is sacred and unexplainable – the force which underlies all of life) the traditional ways of lore, storytelling magic and craft, we learn to restore ourselves to balance, to do the healing not just for ourselves but also for our ancestors.
Secondly, the focus is on our environment and our community. Wherever we are in the world, we are in the Middle, if we look at ourselves on a globe we see there is East and there is West, and we stand at the centre. In my own case, being in Britain, I am literally between what we consider Eastern and Western lands.
The Middle-earth is the original name for these lands that is referred to in Tolkiens work, but way, way before that. Tolkien admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own.
The truth of Middle-earth was that it was the name of the dark ages, the homelands, especially Europe and Britain, and in the stories of that time were many myths and legends, magic and mystery were told (The dark ages were named by scholars to mark the lack of written records) yet the people of the real Middle-earth told stories that were filled with remarkable imagination and spirituality.
The stories of wizards and elves, the fae folk, kings and queens and the wisdom of the trees, the waters and all things spiritual. An animistic understanding was the ‘religion’ of our lineages.
The elements, the animal kingdom, the spirits were our teachers and the heavens held our gods and goddesses. Think of the stories of Merlin, King Arthur and so many other legends, they are also represented in the Middle-earth worlds of magic and myth.
The Shires of course was in the area of West Midlands, my own stomping grounds growing up. I was familiar with those Shires growing up in Worcestershire. I was born in the Midlands right at its core, again the Middle-earth of my country.
What is the particular medicine needed here, or what is our indigenous heritage, our lineage of healers and their craft, medicine or healing ways?
These are Ways I speak of and teach, the original medicines and crafts of these ages.
Our tendency is to look to other cultures for the indigenous roots and traditions, because of the loss of our own heathen and spirit beliefs.
Our stories died in our history books, even our own language was removed. And so we look into the indigenous of our own lands. To remember where we come from, what is rightfully ours. Where we truly belong.
For it is here we are more likely to realise our birth-right and the Medicine that is the healing needed for our culture and landscapes where the enchanted world was put to sleep because our faith was lost and buried.
And then thirdly, on a spiritual level, it is the human inhabited lands that we live upon and needs healing from the traumas of soul-loss. This Middle world.
There are three worlds, the upper, the middle and the lower. We visit the upper and lower for guidance to bring back the wisdom to the Middle world, this Middle-earth where we reside.
We learn about the origins of our lineages through traditions handed down to us, knowing it is near impossible to know by any other means, being as our knowledge and its resources were not documented or were removed.
Our heritage was repressed by Christianity as it became the faith insisted upon.
We burnt if we upheld our heritage and healing ways.
So three levels to the name and three levels to the work. It deepens and enriches as more people are willing to do the work, the real work necessary for our culture and our innate innocence as individuals but also the innocence of our lands and culture.
We connect to the inner, the outer and the beyond.
Make of it as you will, for me it is a way to help me understand my place in the world, and that we all might remember ourselves, our heritage, our folklore.
That once again we can find the ‘belonging’ of our innocence, our heritage, or soul.
We can’t go back but we can make whole what is broken.
Through all of this we belong once more, we reclaim what is ours and we get to know our purpose in the world.
We must remember that however wonderful dear Tolkiens work is, Middle-earth really existed, an Anglo Saxon term for the magical world inhabited by our ancestors.
Tolkien and others help to remind us to reclaim our sacred heritage – a wisdom that is deep within us all and needs to be brought to the surface.
I love what ‘Middle Earth Medicine Ways’ stands for and I’m proud it dreamt it’s way through me.
Caroline Carey
Middle Earth Medicine Ways
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