Meadow of Elfhame

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

There is a vague reference to a "desart wide" in the ballad of Thomas The Rhymer, which some speculate to be a bright meadow, or Meadow Of Elphame. Here the Fairy Queen, or Queen of Elphame, showed True Thomas three roads, one leading to Hell, one to Heaven & one to Elphame. Some posit this 'meadow' to be in Elphame, but as the path leads from here to Elphame that is a spurious supposition; in actuality this meadow is described in the ballad as a place where "living land was left behind". Thus it is more likely that the "desart" referred to in the ballad is indeed a desert - a wasteland where nothing grows, & where those who have left the realm of the living, i.e. the dead, come to choose of the three roads.

Some modern witches have speculated the Meadow of Elphame to be a place within Elfhame where the ancestors and the departed spirits go to rest and join many other spirits of familiariance. They further posit that it is to this place that witches go at the times of the sabbats or full moon rites.