The Lore of Life, Leaf & Stone

by Martin Baker

Introduction

The Taratiri ("Visions") of Rómendil are a series of thirty-six archtypes, each represented by one of the Tengwar letterforms. The origins of the Taratiri and the development of the wisdom traditions based upon them are described in the Tresco manuscript.

Collectively, these traditions are known as the Lore of Life, Leaf & Stone and can broadly be divided into divinatory and calendrical disciplines.

The calendrical discipline is founded upon the allocation of individual Vision archetypes to each day ("day-vision") and year ("Year-vision") of a person's life, as well as to their lifetime as a whole ("LIFE-vision").

The Visions of Rómendil

The thirty-six Vision archetypes are as follows:

0, SPIRIT
1, KINDLER
2, MISTRESS of MAGIC
3, RIVER-DAUGHTER
4, ELDEST
5, LORE-GIVER
6, GIFT
7, COMMAND
8, TREE
9, PILGRIM
10, MIRROR
11, COUNSEL
12, BRIDGE
13, GATE
14, EVENSTAR
15, CHAINS of GOLD
16, TOWER
17, MOON
18, STAR
19, SUN
20, WORLD
21, WEST
22, SHADOW
23, POWER
24, EAST
25, SOUTH
26, NORTH
27, METAL
28, IRON
29, HOOK
30, BREEZE
31, BOOK
32, SINDARIN BREEZE
33, MOUTH
34, JAWS
35, TREASURE

Day-vision calculation

The day-visions shown on the Arda Online home page are calculated from the current date according to the following formula:

Day of the Year + Year of the Age + Age of the World

Where "Day of the Age" is the numeric position of the day in the year (ie 1-365 or 1-366 in leap years).

"Year of the Age" is the year itself for dates up to and including 31st December 2000 and (year-200) for dates from and including 1st January 2001.

"Age of the World" is six for years to and including year 2000 and seven thereafter.

The numeric value of DoY + YoA + AoW is reduced to a value in the range 0-35 by summation.

Example for March 20th 2000

DoY = 80
YoA = 2000
AoW = 6

DoY + YoA + AoW = 80 + 2000 + 6 = 2086>
 
2 + 0 + 8 + 6 = 16
 
day-vision = Taratir 16, TOWER

Further information

Much of the matter of the Lore of Life, Leaf & Stone has been published in Reunion, the Journal of Middle-earth Studies. This material will be published on the Arda Online website in the near future.

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