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The cult of Illuvatar was practiced at one place in Middle earth, Meneltarma, the top of the mountain in the middle of Númenor. There was a worshipping of him as God, creator and lifegiver, offering of the first fruits and other rituals that belong in peasant religions. This is not mentioned passing by, it is said much of it in the unfinished tales and it has an importnat palce in the Silmarillion as the only palce Sauron dared not to desecrate. I refer once more to that Tolkien always defended his work as fully christian and monotheist, he explicitly said tha tthey were not Gods. What you say is worshipping of Varda is comparable to calling for a saint, knowing thet his/her power is limited but wishing help in need. In ME, it seems to have had more of an effect that hte very name made orcs shiver, even the nazgul didn't like Frodo shouting Elbereth. Something that supports this si the strict dividing of valar into special areas, for example Oromë hunting and Aulë smithing. Just as with saints, they have different responsibilities, St. George wasthe patron of the Knights, Anna of the miners and so no. This seems to indicate that Vlar ahd the twin role of powerful saints and guardian angels at the same time. I do not think it is a mistake to draw a paralel between Tolkien's religion and his works, in a letter to a reporter he says that it is what has affected his works most deeply. He ahs numerous times defended his works as fully acceptable within the frames of Christian theology, with one God and creator, and since he saw ME as a paralell to our world, why should he see them as Gods there?

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