Clover blooms in the fields Spring breaks loose, the time is near What would he do if he found us out? Crescent moon, coast is clear Spring breaks loose, but so does fear He’s gonna burn this house to the ground
How’s one to know? I’d live and die for moments that we stole On begged and borrowed time So tell me to run Or dare to sit and watch what we’ll become And drink my husband’s wine
Ivy by Taylor Swift
The Wheel of the Year turns once again to Beltane/Calan Mai, by far my favourite holiday and time of year. Last night, before laying my offerings, I sang songs to Gwenhwyfar and Rhiannon, and also acknowledged Olwen, Blodeuedd, Creiddylad as May Queens whose energy is strong this time of year.
I also acknowledged these ladies’ consorts, particularly Edern/Ydern the Sparrowhawk Knight as Gwenhwyfar’s lover in the Otherworldly faery realms, and Arthur as her earthly consort.
Edern ap Nudd
But wait, who is Edern?
Edern/Ydern/Isdernus/Yder, known as the Sparrowhawk Knight is a lesser-known Arthurian knight who appears in both antagonist and heroic roles in roughly equal measure, but in most of these stories he always ends up reconciled with Arthur. In the ‘Romance of Yder’, it is Arthur who is antagonistic, being depicted as a selfish and borderline-tyrannical king, and Ydern is depicted as a young, courageous, noble but untested young man desperate to prove himself. He is also a son of Nudd, like Gwyn. Nudd is likely identical with the proto-Brythonic god Nodens. Gwyn is an Otherworldly faerie figure, Lord of the Wild Hunt, which would likely make his brother Edern more-than-human too.
But here’s where it gets interesting. In a cathedral in Italy, Arthur and Edern (as Isdernus) are depicted rescuing Guinevere from a tower, in a motif that parallels the later abduction of Guinevere by Melwas and then Maleagant, in which she is rescued by Lancelot. In an early version of Tristan and Isolde, there is an allusion to Edern being a lover of Guinevere. In the ‘Romance of Yder’, his lover is a ‘Guenloie’, who is likely a split-off version of Guinevere created to keep two traditions alive: Guinevere as the wife of Arthur, and Guinevere as the lover of Edern, without upsetting Christian morality and monogamy norms. In the Modena relief, Edern/Isdernus is not wearing armor, unlike the other knights, which could point to his Otherworldly faery origins, and the fact that in courtly love romances, knights were often depicted as vulnerable before their ladies.
The evidence, to me, seems to suggest that Edern was ‘the original Lancelot’, serving as Gwenhwyfar’s original protector and lover. At first this conclusion was mostly academic and based on research, but I was experiencing such a strong sense of intuition that this was the truth Gwenhwyfar was pushing me to find. Last night, on the eve of Beltane, I had a dream in which she confirmed this for me. I couldn’t believe it. On Beltane! How fitting and magical. I have jokingly said that this discovery has been ‘my Da Vinci Code’ and dubbed it ‘The Modena Code’.
Constructing A Unique Mythognosis
As I have discussed prior, the ‘Gwen’ in Gwenhwyfar’s name means something like white, holy, or blessed. The ‘Hwyfar’ means something like phantom, enchantress, or fairy. In Culhwch and Olwen, Arthur lists Gwenhwyfar among his most prized possessions, many of whom seem to, based on their names, possess magical and otherworldly characteristics. Considering his raid on the Otherworld in Preiddeu Annwfn, is it possible Gwenhwyfar was one of his spoils? A faerie maiden of the Otherworld taken from her home to legitimise the Sovereignty of a mortal king?
Considering the story in the Italian cathedral is parallel to the story of Guinevere’s abduction by Melwas who is identified with Gwyn ap Nudd, an Otherworldly faery king associated with Glastonbury and Avalon, here is the brief shape of my UPG around this whole love… diamond? Square? Please keep in mind I am not presenting this as The Truth, just mine, based on a blend of research and intuition, plus Gwenhwyfar’s messages to me herself.
Gwenhwyfar is a Queen or perhaps a Princess of the Otherworld.
Faerie Lords/Kings/Princes Gwyn (who later becomes Melwas, Mardoc and Maleagant) and Edern (who later becomes Ydern, Yder, Isdernus and somewhat Lancelot), brothers, are in love with her. The former represents winter and death, the latter represents summer and life, like several other Celtic love triangles including the one from Culhwch and Olwen in which Gwyn is also involved.
But there is a third contender in the battle for Gwenhwyfar’s here, too. Arthur, King of the Britons. Perhaps he loves her, perhaps he seeks her hand in marriage to legitimise his sovereignty and claim to the throne. I have mostly positive feelings around Arthur, but I’m aware he is still mostly seen as a Christian king with his own agenda, although he may have earlier origins as a pagan bear god. He finds Gwenhwyfar in the Otherworld and consensually or not, the two end up married. Perhaps this was done to forge an alliance between the Otherworld and the mortal world, as several knights and ladies who seem to have Otherwordly origins end up becoming loyal to Arthur, not just Gwenhwyfar and Edern.
Edern joins Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table in order to stay close to Gwenhwyfar and protect her even in this new, dense, material world of men and a foreign religion.
Years go by, Gwenhwyfar beside Arthur as his queen consort, Edern watching from the sidelines. Edern comes in to relative conflict with Arthur a few times, but always ends up remaining loyal to him. Gwenhwyfar learns to appreciate Arthur and believes him to be a good king trying to do right by his people and understands her role in protecting Albion by staying by his side and embodying Sovereignty Herself.
Gwyn, rightfully annoyed a Christian king is treating a divine faerie goddess as his own possession to legitimise his sovereignty, kidnaps her and takes her back to his Glass Tower in Avalon/Glastonbury. Gwenhwyfar may or may not have complied.
Arthur, Edern and the other knights show up to get Gwenhwyfar back.
Gwenhwyfar is returned to Arthur, but her and Edern remain as lovers in secret, much like how she is written with Lancelot.
Eventually this is revealed. Arthur is destroyed and his sovereignty is lost as he no longer has the favour of the Sovereignty goddess, in the form of his wife, Gwenhwyfar.
The stories are written down by monks and scholars, and carved into cathedral walls. Gwyn becomes Melwas/Maleagant/Mardoc/Mordred, Gwenhwyfar becomes Guinevere, Winlogee and Guenloie, Edern becomes Yder, Ydern, Isdernus and… Lancelot.
Edern is canonised as a Christian saint, like many other Celtic deities and Otherworldly/faery figures.
A Note on Totemic Animals
Many Celtic deities are associated with birds, be it birds in general or specific ones. Rhiannon has her Adar Rhiannon, whom I see as songbirds; sometimes robins, sometimes blackbirds, sometimes three different coloured birds whose species I cannot quite place. Cliodhna, the Irish goddess, has similar magical birds. Brigid has a swan. The Morrigan, Morgan le Fay, Bran and Gwyn ap Nudd are all associated with crows and ravens. Bran’s sister Branwen has both the white raven and the starling. Blodeuwedd is of course the owl. Lleu is a majestic eagle. Edern is known as ‘the Sparrowhawk Knight’, and I believe that to be his totemic bird. Gwenhwyfar, though it may be UPG, I associate with a white dove, a classical and Near-Eastern symbol of the love goddess, and Guinevere is syncretically linked to Aphrodite/Venus. She is sometimes depicted with a dove in art. Having just Googled ‘Guinevere and doves’, it turns out doves are actually associated with her in a Grimm brothers tale of Guinevere and Arthur.
In his saint/monk form, Edern is depicted riding a stag, an obvious symbol of the Celtic Divine Masculine that can symbolise death and rebirth due to their shedding and regrowing of their antlers.
In Praise of Guinevere
Navigating the world of UPG vs attested sources can be confusing. I would never want people to end up stumbling upon this personal blog entry annoyed at me for trying to preach that my UPG is The Truth, but I’m certainly not the only one who believes Edern to be Gwenhwyfar’s true love, even if the specifics may be unique to me.
But as a Sovereignty Goddess and a figure associated with Venus, Gwenhwyfar’s love is not bound by Christian morality. She bestows it upon who she sees fit, for reasons I cannot begin to truly comprehend. Regardless of whether her lover is Edern, Lancelot, Arthur, Melwas, Mordred, multiple of these, or she has no consort at all, she remains my Lady, Venus of Albion, Sovereign and complete in herself with or without a consort. I can only implore you, if you are called to worship and work with Gwenhwyfar, to spend time with her, pray to her, and do your own research to figure out who you should honour as her consort(s). She is a most loving, warm but firm goddess who, just like she does with the knights in service to her, shows me how to become a better version of myself. She embodies the paradox of the Lady of Love who both loves you as you already are, and wants you to rise to meet her.
Beltane Blessings
This morning, I awoke early to go and collect morning dew from a local hawthorn tree. When I got there and found her bone dry, I instead just spent some time with her before heading back home to instead dab my face with dew from our own garden. Feeling refreshed, I called in the Wheel of Rhiannon and blessed and consecrated several pieces of jewellery to, Rhiannon, Gwenhwyfar and one to Venus. After that, I recorded a journey meditation for my Beltane gathering this coming Monday, for meeting your faery guide and Gwenhwyfar, which I can share if anyone wants it.
I intend to spend the rest of the day meditating on these themes, sacred union, and enjoying the beautiful golden May sun on my skin. Gwenhwyfar reunites with Edern, and the light half of the year returns. Sunday I am going to a Beltane event with my beloved who is a complete newbie to anything pagan related- breaking him in should be fun! I’ve told him to think of it as like church, but with more whooping, dancing, moving, sensuality, and acknowledgement that all of creation is sacred. On Monday I am hosting my third annual Beltane gathering with my friends- which I think will be the best one yet.
On May 12th, the next full moon- the ‘Flower Moon’, I will conduct a small ceremony in praise of Guinevere. I am currently constructing a system of lunar workings in which for each full moon in the 13 month year, I worship and work with a different Celtic goddess. The Flower Moon corresponds with Guinevere, and next will be Rhiannon.
It’s been a hot minute, but I have a notes app list of ideas to write blog posts about! So I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things.
It always seems to be this time of year I get the urge to post on my blog. I think it’s because Beltane is the summation and epitome of everything my ‘path’ celebrates: sexuality, vitality, Celtic storytelling, sacred union, love, the faery world, the Sovereignty Goddess. Beltane is the festival in which we celebrate the marriage between the archetypal Celtic Queen and King. Of course, this marriage is the metaphysical basis for all the seasons, and the sovereignty goddess is the central axis upon which the festivals spin around, but if I had to choose one Celtic holiday to sum up the ‘Celtic Hieros Gamos’ it would be Beltane. I have made a number of posts referencing these ideas now, which you can find if you scroll back through my blog.
The Faery Queen and her Human Consort
As a Priestess of Rhiannon in training, one of the main Sovereignty stories I’m thinking about this particular Beltane is the story of Rhiannon and Pwyll from the first branch of the Mabinogi. Most of you reading this will already be familiar with the story, but if not, I recommend reading or watching a summary of it first. This story will feature heavily in the latter part of the post.
Rhiannon’s story is only one story in our collective Celtic consciousness about the ‘Faery Lover’ or ‘Faery Bride’- a mystical woman, arguably a goddess, who comes out of the mists or the waters or some other liminal faery gateway to take a human man as her lover. Quite the far cry from the timid medieval princess being married off to a stranger for the benefit of her father’s worldly kingdom, the Faery Lover often has agency, and chooses her lover for herself. In many of the stories, she only chooses a man who is already in right-relationship with the land and the world of Faery, and through her divine sexuality that anoints and empowers, he becomes a king. There are different versions of the Faery Lover/Queen/Bride motif, however- sometimes, the Faery Bride does not have much say in the matter, but usually when she is married off against her will, or is mistreated by her human husband, tragedy befalls the man or his kingdom. The Faery Queen/the Sovereignty Goddess will not accept marriage or sexual union with a man she doesn’t choose without putting up a fight. Sometimes, she is the hinge in a love triangle between two men who represent the polarities of Winter/Summer, Old/Young or the Otherworld/This World, and betrays one for the other to represent the changing of the seasons or the ruling order of the realm. Sometimes, she presents her human lover with trials or challenges, which represent the man’s initiation into kingly, divine masculinity. We see this in stories of Courtly Love, where the Lady, such as Guinevere, represents the Faery Lover/Queen. We also see this with Morgan le Fay, who is usually presented as an adversary to Arthur’s knights rather than a lover to most of them, but nevertheless falls into the archetype of the Faery Queen ‘cruelly’ presenting the knight (male initiate) with trials, which ultimately make him into a better, stronger man.
The Manic Pixie Dream Girl
The ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ trope, is a phrase that describes a pattern in (mostly modern) storytelling. In MPDG stories, we begin with a normal, average Joe, ‘everyman’ type of guy, often with a mundane office job that takes up the majority of his time. He goes home to his apartment every evening, watches the news, eats dinner, and goes to sleep, and then repeats this every day hereafter apart from on the weekends where he does some equally mundane ‘normie’ leisure activity. His life is fine, he may be slightly depressed, but he’s otherwise ‘just getting on with it’. Until one day, he meets this woman. She is larger-than-life, quirky, interesting, bohemian, devil-may-care, eccentric, mischievous, philosophical, ‘different’. She enlivens his world in a way he hasn’t experienced since he was a child. Sounds romantic, right? Except often, the MPDG has no goals or desires of her own. She exists to ‘enlighten’ the male protagonist, to be projected upon in his quest to bring whimsy and magic back into his life, and that’s it. Some writers play with deconstructions of the trope, in which the MPDG may actually be mentally ill (‘manic’ in a literal sense) and thus deeply troubled (Effy from Skins, Alaska from Looking For Alaska), or they show that the male protagonist was only using her in his quest for self-discovery and abandons her when he has absorbed enough of her sparkle. He may also try to make her ‘normal’ by the end of the story once he no longer needs her to be her faery-esque self, both in critical deconstructions of the trope or uncritically in media utilising the trope itself (typically older media). We see this archetypal pattern play out in real life, too. Tropes are just media versions of archetypes, and archetypes define our lived reality.
If you ask me, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl can be seen in two ways that are interconnected: 1) A modern version of the ‘Faery Lover’ archetype, and 2) Man’s subconscious desire for sacred union with the Divine Feminine, or Goddess. The MPDG shows him there is another way to live, another way to view the world. His world is black and white before he finds Her, who fills it with vibrant colour. She is his initiator into the ways of the Divine Feminine.
Human Women Aren’t Goddesses
Now, I don’t actually think this is inherently a bad thing at all. I actually think it’s beautiful that women can help men enter sacred union with the Goddess. Women represent the portal between this world and the Otherworld, through our wombs that can be seen as portals. This is why I think stories of a free, lively woman brightening up a man’s life can be a representation of something both real and healthy: the way feminine power can be a true blessing to men. The problem lies wherein the man forgets that his woman is not actually the Goddess, but a human woman. Yes, she has the Goddess within her, and he recognises that. She becomes a mirror to him, and in seeing Goddess within her, he finds God within himself. He realises there is more to this world than his 9-4 office job, the pub and watching the evening news. But she is not actually the Goddess, and both parties must remember that. I truly dislike the new age spirituality trend of human women being called ‘goddesses’. I find it both blasphemous hubris, but also dangerous to a woman’s spiritual journey, especially if she is having this projected on to her by a male partner who expects her to be the perfect image of the infallible, shining Venus, with no ‘human baggage’. And in the oldest stories, Venus isn’t always the radiant, exalted Queen of Heaven. She also finds herself on her hands and knees, in the Underworld, stripped of all her power. Men raised in a patriarchal society (which is most of them) often have a much easier time accepting the light feminine than the dark. The woman’s partner who is projecting his desire for the Goddess onto her may not accept this cthonic aspect of her inner Venus, especially if he has not integrated his own shadow. The idea that projecting an image of Venus/the Goddess onto human women can be contrary to women’s liberation is also present in criticisms of Courtly Love, wherein the idealised Lady was seen as functionally identical to Venus or the Virgin Mary. Whilst Courtly Love certainly did uplift the status of women in my opinion, it is valid to claim it is not identical to the aims of today’s feminism. Feminism needs to allow room for women to make mistakes, to be human. In order not to fall into this idealisation/pedestal pitfall, it may be helpful for a man to meet and integrate his own inner feminine first before becoming the lover of an archetypal ‘Faery Woman’, or to already have a relationship with the Goddess without the need for a female partner to be a perfect reflection of Her for him. Just like how it is helpful for women to learn to ‘rescue themselves’ without needing their Prince Charming to do it for them. This doesn’t mean a woman cannot love the structure and safety provided by the Divine Masculinity in her male partner, or that a man cannot love the magic and radiance provided by the Divine Femininity in his female partner, but that in order to avoid falling into projecting an unrealistic ideal onto your partner, you must find it in yourself, or in the actual Divine, first.
Another problem that might occur when a ‘Normie’ Man falls for a Faery Woman that her way of living and viewing the world may not always serve him and his lifestyle. What happens if he wants her to prioritise a corporate job and make more money, but she would rather work fewer hours in order to honour her feminine cycles and need for rest? What happens if he wants her to be more ‘normal’ before his friends and family, but she refuses to hide her true self? What happens if their parenting styles clash because she wants to homeschool their children in a wild and holistic way and he’d rather them go to a traditional school? The man may unconsciously believe that the ‘Otherworldly Faery Goddess’ nature of his partner may be nice in the bedroom, or when he needs a break from the slog of his 9-5, but not in the ‘real world’. The very qualities he once loved about her now become something he comes to dislike. The man may let modern society’s patriarchal norms colour his perceptions of his ‘Faery Goddess’, and he may come to see her ‘Faery Goddesss’ traits as ridiculous, uncivilised or unhinged, where he once saw those same traits as the missing puzzle piece in his life. He tries to ‘tame’ her.
Rhiannon and Pwyll
In the first branch of the Mabinogi, before Pwyll even meets the otherworldly faery goddess/queen Rhiannon, he goes on an initiation through the Otherworld as a favor to Arawn, the king of Annwn (sometimes seen as interchangeable with Gwyn ap Nudd). Rhiannon, presumably hearing of this brave and adventurous man in her own faery world, comes to earth to seek him out to be her husband, despite being betrothed to another man. By being already initiated in the ways of Faery, Pwyll impresses Rhiannon, and the two end up marrying. But despite his Otherworld initiation, they do not live Happily Ever After. When Rhiannon is struggling to conceive a child, Pwyll’s court and people began to turn on her. Finally, she gives birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy and is in their good graces again. But when their baby disappears from Rhiannon’s bedside in the middle of the night, Rhiannon’s cowardly handmaidens, fearing they’ll be blamed, smear their sleeping mistress with puppy blood, and accuse Rhiannon of killing her own son. Rhiannon doesn’t fight back, and takes the blame, in what I personally perceive to be an act of compassion and grace for her handmaidens not unlike Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world, as well as perhaps resignation that she wouldn’t be believed even if she defended herself and denied wrongdoing. While it doesn’t say this in the text, I imagine Pwyll’s court and people would’ve had an easy time accepting Rhiannon’s guilt because they likely already viewed her as ‘other’. She came out of the worlds of Faery. She is different, potentially dangerous, to these human tribes who have already at this point began shifting into true patriarchy, which views the feminine and the Faery realms as something to fear. Sound familiar? Like I said earlier, a man can turn on his MPDG or Faery Lover once other people’s thoughts and opinions get into his head. Rhiannon’s Otherworldly nature, that Pwyll once adored about her, is now something to be feared- Nature and powerful women something to be feared, as was quickly becoming a core axiom of the new patriarchal order that was falling out of harmony with the subtle, mystical, and arguably feminine Otherworld.
In punishment for the crime of infanticide she did not commit, Rhiannon is sentenced to play the role of her mare for years, offering to carry visitors to Pwyll’s palace on her back. The mare, once a symbol of her power and sovereignty, has now become a symbol of her shame and humiliation, just like her Faery nature has now become something to be feared and reviled.
Later on, finally, Rhiannon is vindicated. A peasant couple found her baby in their stable, and have been raising him for years. He is strong, healthy and unharmed. The kingdom rejoices, and so does Pwyll, but he never so much as offers her an apology in the story. Rhiannon names her son Pryderi, meaning ‘anxiety’, to represent the years she spent mourning for him and fearing that he is dead.
After Pwyll presumably dies, Pryderi arranges a marriage between his mother and Manawydan fab Llyr, who is often interpreted as the god of the sea. You can take this as a patriarchal act of a woman needing to have a husband to be provided for, and her son handing her over to her new ‘master’, but you can also take it, as I tend to do, as it being Rhiannon’s choice. As I mentioned earlier, many ‘Faerie Bride’ stories feature a love triangle between her and two men representing the polarities of Dark/Light, Old/Young or Mystical Otherworld/Ordered Civilisation. While Pwyll had made his Otherworld journey and at one point was in alignment with the Otherworld, he arguably fell out of alignment with it when he humiliated Rhiannon in favour of the anxieties of the ‘civilised’ world against the so-called ‘chaotic, dangerous’ Otherworldly faerie woman/goddess. Manawydan, as a sea god, very much represents the forces of the Otherworld, and thus Rhiannon taking him as her husband may represent a sort of ‘homecoming’ for her, as the sea was often thought to be associated with the Otherworld, or the portal through which one enters it. Horses, too, in some of the Celtic and other Indo-European thought seem to have been associated with the sea. Manawydan’s Irish cognate Manannán rode a magical horse named Enbarr, whose name means ‘froth’, bringing the image of the horse-like appearance of the frothy white waves. Rhiannon’s white mare has also been interpreted as one of these oceanic horses, too.
Compare the above to the other Faerie Bride love triangles, in many of which the Faery Bride ends up choosing to be with the ‘Otherworldly’ man, and you could argue that these stories serve as a warning to the real life human men who choose to be with a ‘Faery’-esque, ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’-esque woman. If you don’t respect her Faery ways, if you try to shame her, tame her, and can’t accept her for who shame is, she may leave you for a man who can.
Hello beauties. I hope if you’re in the Northern hemisphere like me, you’re enjoying the last of our summer days.
Here in the UK it has rained most days for the past six weeks. We had summer solstice, and then immediately after the jet stream and low pressure has doused us with nonstop rain, a sharp contrast to the droughts and heatwaves of last summer. In a way, it’s a good thing. The land probably needed it. I remember this time last year spending a week down south, and everywhere we went the grass was brown and dead. This year everything is beautifully green. Green and soggy. I really miss the sun. I’ve spent so much time inside. Last summer I spent hours every day sitting in my back garden soaking up the rays and feeling the warmth of the Divine Lady Sun Goddess kiss every inch of my body.
Which is my segue in to the topic of this blog post. The solar feminine, and specifically, the ‘solar goddess of love’.
Art by Wendy Andrew
Last night at my moot, we listened to an illuminating talk about the origins of sun worship and the role it plays in our lives today as modern pagans. Most modern pagans focus more on the moon, which makes sense. In a world where solar energies have been the focus of patriarchal religion for thousands of years, and on a planet which is being devastated by global warming, it would make sense that many of us would want to seek refuge in cooler, gentler lunar energies- which are typically viewed as divine feminine energies. The sun, in many cultures, has been seen as masculine. This does make sense. If the earth is feminine, the womb of creation, the sun is the fertilising aspect of creation that joins in union with Mother Earth so that she can birth life. The rays can be seen as phallic, and the firey, sometimes angry nature of the sun can be compared to warrior-like energies. The moon and the earth, meanwhile, are typically seen as feminine, with the moon representing the mystical, intuitive aspects of the feminine (like the High Priestess card in the Tarot) and the earth representing the fertile, fecund aspects of the feminine (like the Empress card). This makes sense, and it works for plenty of people. For me, however, I’ve always felt more connected to not only solar energies, but specifically, divine feminine solar energies. I’ve tried, for years, to convince myself I should just do what everyone else does and go along with the solar masculine/lunar feminine dichotomy. I spend a lot of time in what many would class as ‘new age’ spaces, and that’s the party line at those. And I have no problem with them doing that, but it’s not me. It is so reductive and dogmatic to state with absolute conviction that the sun is masculine, when world history has gave us probably just as many sun goddesses as sun gods.
There are many reasons the sun has became much more associated with the masculine than the feminine in modern paganism and occult/magical thought. The incredible book Drawing Down the Sun gives some reasons for this, one of the major ones being the popularity of Max Müller’s theories at the time. Müller hypothesised that every single myth told the story of a heroic male solar god overcoming the darkness. His theories were later debunked, but certainly stuck around long enough to play an active role in what would later become the pagan revival movement. I’ll share a quote of hers below, but I really recommend buying the book and reading the whole thing. The chapter at the beginning, the Hidden Sun, goes in to a lot of detail about why the erasure of the solar feminine has occurred.
Ultimately, an active female sun would not have agreed with the morals and social taboos of the Victorians. Their interest in a universal language and making ancient myths fit the mold of Christianity made it impossible for the solar feminine to be recognized. A woman playing such a vital role in religion didn’t fit into their worldview. The passive, gentle moon reflected the ideal woman of the time far better than the vibrant, sometimes warlike sun. The popularity of classical myths further ingrained as the norm the idea of male/sun, female/moon.
Drawing Down the Sun by Stephanie Woodfield
The solar feminine, to me, is also the Empress card in the Tarot just as much as the Earth is. She is Hemera. Helen of Troy. Eos. Aurora. Theia. Demeter. Dea Dia. The Sun Goddess of Arinna. Aditi. Hathor. Sekhmet. Bast. Isis. Aine. Etain. Epona. Alectrona. Rhiannon. Olwen. Gwenhwyfar. Elaine of Corbenic. Elen Luydogg. Iseult. Brigid. Grainne. Amaterasu. Sunna. Sulis. Eostre. Ausrine. Ostara. Hewsos. Saule. St. Lucia. Sai Rayya. Sophia. So many more.
While I do not want to bring gender stereotypes in to this so much (seeing as even the very fact that I view the sun as feminine contradicts typical modern Western gender associations), there’s a point I want to bring up here. Many people view the sun as masculine because its heat can be fierce, angry, full of rage, like a masculine warrior. In hot countries, the sun was often viewed that way (sometimes with sacrifices made to appease him). But in colder climates, especially in the North, the sun is more like a gentle lover, leaving kisses all over the land and radiating us with her presence. Some scholars have identified that Northern countries often opted towards sun goddesses, because its loving and gentle warmth would’ve been seen as feminine, whereas in hot countries closer to the equator the sun would be seen more as masculine because of its angry and often violent nature. Egypt is an interesting case because they had both male and female solar deities, and two solar goddesses who were two sides of the same coin, Hathor and Sekhmet, that embody both aspects of the sun.
Since I live in the rainy UK and suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder in the winter, the sun to me is like a gentle lover who awakens me from my slumber. She blesses the land, and me, with Her solar kisses. In the spring time, she signals the animals, the land, and us to awaken. Animals begin reproducing at Her call. When I lie on the grass in the summer (fully covered in sunscreen- gotta be safe) and lay back, the feeling of Her rays on my skin feels like being wrapped in pure, divine, ecstatic love. I have a high heat tolerance, and when most people are suffering through heat waves, I am living my best life sitting in the shade and reading a book in a cute sun dress. Her playful games of hide and seek as she retreats behind clouds and slowly re-emerges make for breathtaking works of art in the sky, which fill me with awe and remind me of the love the Creator has for all of us. When She rises in the morning, She paints the sky all sorts of different hues: yellow, orange, pink, blue, purple, as the birds sing for Her. When it rains, She paints the sky even more colours with beautiful rainbows. Just before She sets at night, She makes everything golden, and this is my ideal time to take selfies because I have warm undertones and cool lighting does nothing for me! Even in the winter, She is a paler and cooler shade of yellow, but in some senses even brighter, and clear winter days can be just as exceptionally beautiful as summer ones. One of my favourite words is ‘Apricity’, which refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. I think of the Sami people, who have worshiped the sun for thousands of years in their icy climate, and the love they have for Her as she brings love and light to their frozen landscapes.
For these reasons, the sun, to me, is a symbol of love in all its forms: the love of a mother for her children, the altruistic love we ought to have for all of mankind, the love of a romantic couple in the throes of passion on their wedding night. I feel deeply connected to what I call the ‘Solar Goddess of Love’, which, interestingly enough and annoyingly enough because I wasn’t there, was the theme for the Goddess conference in 2019. The problem is, I don’t know what name I should call Her by. An obvious choice for a solar love goddess would be Hathor, but I know so little about Kemetism and have no connection to the land of Egypt, and want to stick in my relatively nearby and/or ancestral spheres. There is also Eos/Aurora, who takes many lovers, who is very near and near to my heart and I am incredibly fond of the Indo-European dawn goddess in all her forms, but again, I want to stick to the Celtic spheres. I have some hunches, and I have nailed it down to a few choices. I’m focusing on Celtic goddesses who I can link both to love and the sun, not one or the other.
Olwen
Olwen was the focus of an article I wrote in May here. I’ll touch on something here that I didn’t very much there, though. One aspect of the sun goddess, and the sun in general, is that of the descent in to the underworld and ascent back out of it. This is typically associated with Venus because of Her journeys through the sky, but the sun literally makes this same journey every night. In my research into Olwen as a sun goddess, I found several articles arguing that Olwen’s story can be interpreted similarly to that of Creiddylad’s, Guinevere’s and Blodeuwedd’s love triangles, aka the goddess being with the king of summer/solar hero half of the year and the king of winter/otherwordly champion the other half of the year (consensually or non-consensually, depending on the story and the lens through which the story is interpreted- but that’s a topic for another day). The difference is, the ‘winter king’ in Olwen’s story isn’t a lover, but her own father who will die if she marries. Her father, Ysbaddaden Bencawr, is an ancient giant, representing the old order (winter) trying to cling to his throne. The young Culhwch, then, is the untested solar hero seeking the hand of the Goddess. This story in the Mabinogion also features the love triangle between Creiddylad, Gwythyr, and Gwyn ap Nudd. Gwyn is the King of the Otherworld/Underworld (the two are often conflated and seen as one in the same). The ‘otherworldly champion’, ‘winter king’ figure represents cthonic values of darkness, chaos, magic, death and descent in to the underworld. When the solar goddess, or the nature goddess, is with him (be it as her father or her lover), she is in the underworld. When she is with the solar champion, who represents order, law, life, and logic, she is on the land or in the sky. The night and winter are obviously thematically connected, as are the day and summer. In this regard, Olwen and other sun goddesses can be seen as psychopomps, bringing their light to the dead and the souls in the Underworld when they descend down there at the dark half of the year, and bring them life anew as reincarnated souls at the start of the bright half of the year, like the Divine Daughter in Filianism. As I said in my original Olwen post, in my UPG Olwen is a ‘Lover archetype’ goddess and I associate her with sacred sexuality, viewing her similarly to how Rhiannon is often viewed in the Avalonian traditions of Glastonbury.
Rhiannon
Art by Wendy Andrew
Rhiannon, in modern pagan circles, is for some reason often viewed as a lunar goddess. To be honest, I’m yet to find the reason for this. A big part of me wonders if its to do with the fact that the witchy figure in the song Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac has become conflated with Rhiannon of the Mabinogion to the point people can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. More likely, though, it has something to do with the Wiccanised ‘every goddess is a moon goddess’ idea that is still firmly embedded in the Neopagan collective consciousness. Rhiannon, to me, is solar. She wears a gold dress, an undoubtedly solar colour, and is obviously a horse goddess. Horses, in most Indo-European traditions, represent the sun and the solar chariot. She, too, can be interpreted as a psychopomp figure in some senses, with her birds, the Adar Rhiannon, that can ‘wake the dead and lull the living to sleep’. At this year’s Goddess conference Katinka Soetens did an amazing talk on birds as psychopomp figures. Her journey across the land in her gold clothing (solar symbol) on her white horse (solar symbol) mirrors the journey the sun takes across the sky each day. While not much in Rhiannon’s story points to her being an obvious ‘love goddess’ upon first reading, her union with a human man to bless him with the sovereignty of the land can be read similarly to ‘Hieros Gamos’, the love-making between a priestess of the Goddess Inanna and a King in the Middle East to bring prosperity and abundance to the land. In this sense, many Celtic sovereignty goddesses can be read as love goddesses, but Rhiannon’s story speaks of not only love for a mortal man that she chose, but love for humankind, when she chooses to accept her punishment even though she knew she didn’t kill her baby rather than call her traitorous handmaidens out for lying. Today, many of her devotees have had direct experiences with her in which she manifests to them as a goddess of love, beauty and sacred sexuality, and that makes infinitely more sense to me than viewing her as a goddess of witchcraft and the moon, which some modern sources claim her to be. Many modern artistic depictions of her, such as the one above, depict her in red rather than gold. Possibly for two reasons: showing her as a goddess of love and sexuality, and also because the colour red is associated with the Otherworld from which she hails. Many of these depictions remind me of Olwen or Aine. I love the picture above, because of the large sun behind her. I assume the aquatic imagery is because of her later marriage to Manawydan, often interpreted as a sea god cognate with the Irish sea god Manannán mac Lir. I’ve seen other more modern ‘love goddess’ depictions of her with the sea, too, so I’m wondering if it’s also some syncretism with Aphrodite/Venus going on.
Áine
(Content warning for rape). Alright, hands up, I know fairly little about Irish paganism (other than Brigid) and I have not sat down and properly read Áine’s story. After writing this article, I’m going to make a concerted effort to do as much research on her as I can. From what I understand, she is a ‘fairy queen’ (which we all know is basically code for goddess) who is raped by various men seeking to be king, as she is a sovereignty goddess, like Rhiannon, and one must join in sexual union with her to be able to rule. However, it must be a union she consents to, as it is HER choice who the king is, and HER choice who she will sleep with. She righteously punishes these vile men and remains a powerful, sovereign goddess of love and beauty, and takes several lovers. Some believe her to be the lover of Manannán mac Lir, though some have him down as her father. Her name means ‘brightness, radiance, glow’ which obviously points her to being a sun goddess, though some interpret her as a moon goddess also. She is celebrated at Midsummer, obviously pointing to her solar associations. I placed her oracle card on my Midsummer/Litha altar this year. Considering her links to Manannán, her sovereignty goddess status, and the fact that she is also associated with horses, it’s reasonable to wonder if she derives from the same proto-goddess as Rhiannon, though I can’t prove that and would have to read more in to it. Some believe Áine’s sister to be another Irish goddess Grian/Gráinne, who weds the god of the underworld. Gráinne may also be another aspect of Áine herself. The two potentially represent the sun goddess in the light half of the year, and the sun goddess in the dark half of the year. Certainly Gráinne aligning herself with the god of the underworld points to the love triangle of seasonal sovereignty we see played out in Celtic myth again and again. I really like this idea of two sister sun goddesses for both halves of the year because, since I’ve been a kid, I’ve always felt like the winter sun and summer sun had very different energies, almost like they were two different luminaries. There’s a great article on this here.
There are a few honourable mentions, whom I also considered, but didn’t have enough to say on to justify their own paragraphs.
Iseult: Not a goddess so much as a literary figure (but then the same can be said of a lot of the goddesses I worship, and it’s possible she, like many of them, is a humanised form of an earlier goddess). No direct links to the sun but her role as a skilled healer (the sun can be associated with healing) and a quote I read a while ago (see below) make me consider her a solar heroine. She is also, obviously, a figure associated with love and beauty and has been compared to Helen of Troy, another solar love figure.
Elen Luydogg: While this story in the Mabinogion basically just serves as justification for the Roman colonisation of Britain, Elen’s depiction as a regal, golden-garbed (see a pattern here?) queen calling to the man she loves through his dreams to come and take his place by her side is very beautiful if you strip back the whole colonisation thing. The figure of Elen is a complicated web to untangle. There are a few different Elens all associated with Wales and sovereignty and to be perfectly honest with you I still don’t know where one ends and another begins. Don’t even get me started on the Elen of the Ways debate. Caitlin Matthews in the incredible book King Arthur & the Goddess of the Land speculates that she is related to Elaine of Corbenic, and though this is highly speculative conjecture, it’s worth mentioning. Wonderful priestess Ann of the Sheffield Goddess Temple wrote an article on similar lines about this elusive Elaine/Elen figure here as she was a goddess chosen for the circle of nine at the 2022 Goddess Conference which was themed on the Celtic sovereignty goddess.
Brigid: Whilst Brigid is an obvious choice for Celtic sun goddess, she is not super related to romantic love, which was why I’m not sure if she’s the sun-lover goddess I’m looking for. That being said, she’s still a sister of her. Brigid has so much abundant, overflowing love for all of humankind, and does have different consorts depending on the story. Despite this, though, the sun-lover goddess I feel in my heart and soul has an obvious link to romantic love as well as altruistic love, and I’m just not getting that from Brigid. She is still a goddess very near and dear to my heart, though.
Gwenhwyfar/Guinevere: Much of what has been said about virtually every goddess I’ve discussed in this article can also be said about Gwenhwyfar. She is an obvious figure of romantic love. She is the Queen of the Light Half of the Year (which Morgana being the Queen of the Dark Half of the Year) in Arthurian-influenced modern paganism. She is the sovereignty goddess who is often in a love triangle with Arthur, the solar hero, and various other men who represent the otherworldly champion archetype. Much of how I work with her, not just as an Arthurian queen but also a Brythonic goddess, is UPG based. Yes, she is the floral spring maiden like Blodeuwedd, and the summer queen like Aine, but she also has autumnal and winter aspects where she appears to me as a white goddess of death similar to the Cailleach or Ceridwen. Part of me believes this to be her sister aspect, Gwenhwyfach. I see her as both solar and lunar, depending on which side of the year she is representing. Interestingly enough, I know for a FACT I read something a while back that said someone had theorised Guinevere as a dawn goddess. It was either Max Müller or someone who believed in his theories and was working within his solar myth framework. However, I now can’t find it for the life of me and feel like I’m being gaslit by the internet. She has, however, always had solar energy to me (as well as lunar, like I said) and I’ve heard at least one other person share this UPG on a podcast, citing a vision she had of her as the ‘goddess of the golden wheel’ to Arianrhod’s silver wheel (which I’ve also seen said about Olwen). At one point soon I think I’ll write a full article on my views of Guinevere/Gwenhwyfar as both solar May Queen but also ‘white shadow’ goddess of death and winter (potentially her Gwenhwyfach aspect) which is very UPG based.
Here is a quote I read a while ago about the solar feminine, specifically pointing to the solar feminine’s function as Goddess of Love. This is the quote I was talking about above when I discussed Iseult/Isolde.
And again in the Irish heroine, Grainne, whose name comes from the Gaelic grian, “sun,” and who is the prototype for Isolde the Blonde. Moreover, isn’t it worth noting that, in modern Germanic and Celtic languages, the sun retains the feminine gender while the moon is masculine? It is even said that Tristan, the moon-man, cannot live for more than a month without having physical contact with Isolde, the sun-woman.
The Great Goddess by Jean Markale
We are about to enter in to the dark half of the year (or we already have, depending how you split the year). For most of my friends, this is a celebratory occasion, as many can’t stand summer and can’t wait for cosy cardigans, pumpkin spice lattes, and Samhain celebrations. But for me, I know my already precarious mental health is about to dip once again. But I have to remember that even when the goddess is in the underworld, she won’t be there forever, and neither will I. I have recently completed orientation in to the Sisterhood of Avalon, and am about to start the Avalonian Cycle of Healing shadow work practices as outlined in our founder Jhenah Telyndru’s book, Avalon Within, beginning with the Station of Descent. I am a solar, love-and-light energy type of girl, and always will be. But that doesn’t negate the parts of me that are darker, lunar, and wintery, that I must shine my solar light on to, and learn to love.
I am leaning towards Olwen as the ‘sun goddess of love’ that I am called to honour, but I know that whatever her name is, she is always with me, loving me, inspiring me, healing me, bolstering me, and filling me with energy. May I be Her Moon, Her priestess that reflects Her light to the world.
I hope you always feel the love of the solar goddess of love. I respect that, with the temperatures of our planet rising because of human error, the sun isn’t exactly a gentle, sweet lover in everyone’s eyes anymore, even here, far away from the equator. But let us reminder the Goddess is a Destroyer as well as a Creator, like Sekhmet, solar warrioress aspect of Hathor. May we begin to treat our planet with the respect she deserves, so the sun can remain a kind and sensual lover as much as possible.
I leave you with the lyrics to the beautiful song Hunter Moon by Kate Rusby, in which the moon is in love with the sun, who is female. Go listen to it, though, instead of just reading the lyrics. I promise, it’s worth it. Go listen to Daylight by Taylor Swift, as well, while you’re at it.
Softly the morning light, Softly the dew, Softly my soul will bend, As she comes in view, At dawn she is delicate, And burning by noon, The end of the day will come soon.
And the stars in my lonely sky, Are infinite bright, And the stars know my soul will fly, They’re holding it tight.
There she is rising now, My heart it might break, The birds in her warmth will fly, My soul it will ache, And the world comes alive for her, In awe at her gaze, And suddenly the sky is ablaze,
And the stars in my lonely sky, Are infinite bright, And the stars know my soul will fly, They’re holding it tight.
Say not her name to me, For I live in the shade, Briefly I see her, As she starts to fade, In silence we pass, Our path is well worn, In silence I wait for the dawn.
And the stars in my lonely sky, Are infinite bright, And the stars know my soul will fly, They’re holding it tight.
Calmly I drift along, Oh I will endure, I only belong to her, Of that I am sure, Will I ever hold her, I cannot presume, For she’s the sun, I’m only the moon.
And the stars in my lonely sky, Are infinite bright, And the stars know my soul will fly, They’re holding it tight.
And the stars in my lonely sky, Are infinite bright, And the stars know my soul will fly, They’re holding it tight.
I know I said I was done with the Beltane/Calan Mai/May Day posts but we’re still in Beltane season until the solstice so I lied. And I have a couple more ideas for Beltane related posts. So there.
One of the Beltane/May Queen goddesses I’ve not really talked about is Olwen of the White Track. She is much more obscure and not as widely acknowledged in Brythonic polytheism/the Avalonian based traditions as her similar sister-goddesses Gwenhwyfar, Blodeuedd, Rhiannon etc. (Creiddylad, Yseult etc too but they’re also quite obscure).
artist unknown
In the main text in which she appears, Culhwch and Olwen, she does not appear much in the story because obviously it’s a tale of Manly Knights doing Manly Knight Things, but she is the reason they headed off on their adventure to begin with, as in order to marry her, Culhwch has to go on an epic quest which will prove his worthiness to her father, Ysbaddaden (whose name refers to the hawthorne tree, an obvious link to Beltane), who will die if she marries. Many believe him to represent the old Winter King who does not want to give up his throne, with Olwen as the Flower Bride waiting to be set free from this overprotective paternal figure- one of the oldest examples of stories about fathers who believe no man to be good enough for their daughter, perhaps. This leaves Culhwch as the young, untested Summer Lord who needs the hand of the Flower Bride to begin his reign as Summer King.
But what makes Olwen so different from the other Flower Brides (other than it being her father and her potential lover who she is the hinge in the love triangle between and not two lovers) is, to me, she seems to have more agency. We do not hear things from her point of view, but she seems to actually be attracted to Culhwch. Culhwch asks for her hand, and she simply says her father won’t allow her to marry, not that she doesn’t want to. Red, to the Welsh Celts, was not, as far as we know, associated with sexuality as it is today, but represented the Otherworld (along with white). When we think of most of the Flower Brides, who many associate with the Maiden aspect of the Goddess, we think of them as wearing white. But Olwen, she wears red. From a contemporary comparative mythology and symbolism perspective, this to me indicates she is ready to become sexually active and enter in to the Lover stage of her life, the transitory period between Maiden and Mother. In the Avalonian tradition of Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Maiden, Mother, Crone is stretched to Maiden, Lover, Mother, Crone, with the Lover archetype representing Beltane (the Maiden instead represents Imbolc, the Mother at Lammas, and the Crone at Samhain). Olwen isn’t a passive figure who has little control over her fate like Creiddylad, or forced in to a marriage she didn’t consent to like Blodeuedd, or married for political reasons like Guinevere/Gwenhwyfar. She seems to actually want to marry, and it’s simply her father holding her back. Not to say that we cannot interpret the aforementioned goddesses as having agency too (the latter two definitely express agency in choosing who to love later on in their stories), but I feel like with Olwen there’s less reclamation that needs to be done. As well as her signature red gown, she is described as wearing many rings upon her fingers, and a necklace of red gold and jewels. She is fully aware of her beauty and sexuality, as opposed to a white-robed, demure, innocent maiden. It’s UPG and modern comparative mythology, sure, but I feel like Olwen is, probably along with Gwenhwyfar, the Flower Bride who is the most aware of her role as passionate Lover. Her red gown such as those worn in depictions of sensual Irish goddesses Áine and Medb, and jewellery worn by the likes of the Nordic love goddess Freya and Mesopotamian love goddess Inanna, tell her father “I’m not a little girl any more, dad.” I think about the way the Glastonbury Avalon tradition depicts Rhiannon, and that’s very close to how I view Olwen. I wonder if parts of Olwen’s energies are being channeled in these more modern depictions of Rhiannon as Lover Goddess.
Rhiannon altar at Glastonbury Goddess Temple or House
Her name is said to mean ‘white track’. Where she steps, tiny flowers bloom below her feet. Like Brigid, and Ostara/Eostre, she arises from the underworld out of slumber to awaken the land. Today, while I was walking through a local green space to feed the birds, there were thousands of daisies. One of the best things about this time of year is the little wildflowers that cover the grass. There were so many daisies that I could smell them in the air as I walked. I imagined myself as Olwen, awakening the land with my footsteps.
There is some etymological research to suggest her name means ‘Golden Wheel’, in contrast to the Silver Wheel of Arianrhod, which may make her a sun goddess, due to the fact that the word ‘olwyn’ is believed to have meant Wheel, though I’m unsure where the ‘golden’ part come from. As a spring/summer goddess, she certainly is aligned with solar energies. Arianrhod doesn’t have as clear of a connection to the moon as people may think (though she certainly does with the stars), but as I’ve said in the past, modern interpretations of the domains of these deities aren’t invalid just because we can’t find indisputable proof for them. The silver wheel in Arianrhod’s name, if indeed ‘Rhod’ does mean wheel, I suppose could be due to her association with the Corona Borealis. That being said, I see no reason why modern pagans shouldn’t be able to associate Arianrhod with the moon. Moving back to Olwen, I get annoyed by the New Age and Wiccan idea that all goddesses are lunar and all gods are solar, when the Celtic pantheons and other European pantheons have no shortage of solar goddesses and in the Nordic tradition, the sun is female and the moon is male. One theory as to why there are more sun goddesses and moon gods the more north you get is that in warmer climates, the daytime sun is viewed as a harsh and aggressive force, associated with masculine energy, whereas the night is cool and gentle, associated with feminine energy. Whereas in more Northern climates, the nights are bitter and hard, whereas the warmth of the sun is benevolent and loving. I’ve always been drawn to solar goddesses, and Olwen is no exception.
In another story, Einion and Olwen, a young shepherd travels to the Otherworld, wins her heart, and the two marry and have a son named Taliesin (likely different to *that* Taliesin.) Olwen exercises plenty of agency in this tale, falling in love with Einion and wanting to marry him rather than him just pursuing her which is often the case in these stories. She has two sisters, pointing to a triple goddess, like Gwenhwyfar in the Welsh Triads, the three Brigids etc.
By Judith Shaw from her Celtic Goddess Oracle Card deck
I have read her described as being the keeper of the Apple Orchard of the Otherworld, a role that is often given to the god Afallach, his daughter Modron, Morgan le Fay, and various sovereignty goddesses associated with the Otherworld. Given Olwen fits nicely in to this archetypal ‘family’ of Otherworld deities, and her associations with the colour red and love, I can accept this correspondence on the grounds of syncretism and comparative mythology, although I would like to find the source for it and the direct justification. Honestly, a lot of these sovereignty, love, spring and Otherworld goddesses are so similar that it can be hard to discern where one ends and one begins.
We can interpret Olwen as triple-aspected: when she is with her father during winter, she is the Lady of the Underworld. She then leaves with her lover to the upper world to bring about Spring, making her almost like a reverse Persephone. She is also a solar goddess, giving her heavenly connections. As such, she can be seen as Lady of the Underworld, Lady of the Earth, and Lady of the Heavens, just like Ostara/Eostre.
Olwen by Alan Lee
The theme for the 2019 Glastonbury Goddess Conference was ‘Sun Lover’, a combination of the solar goddess & lover goddess archetypes. I cannot think of a better candidate for this than Olwen other than maybe Áine, who is an Irish goddess and therefore not as much of an ideal fit for an Avalonian tradition, but still relevant. I believe Áine was honoured as I read the little Sun Lover book published after the conference, but did not recall any mention of Olwen, which is a shame. I would love to see this powerful, beautiful, sensual, loving Goddess honoured more among those of us who gravitate towards Welsh traditions and the more neopagan, sacred feminine focused Avalonian traditions, especially at Beltane/Calan Mai, which is her time of year.
If you wanted to build an altar for Olwen, at Beltane or any time of year, here are some things you could include:
Small white wildflowers, especially trefoils
Gold rings and necklaces
Solar imagery and crystals associated with the sun
Red altar cloth, red candles
Rubies
Broom flowers
Red roses
Hawthorne flowers
A printed off painting of her, or a drawing you’ve done yourself
Makeup
I believe Olwen encourages women to embrace their beauty and sexuality, inflames the passion between lovers, and encourages women to be active participants in our own love lives. However, the fact that Culhwch had to perform thirteen impossible tasks to be able to marry her shows that we should have high standards for who we choose as our lovers, and we can invoke our inner masculine, our inner father, to hold that boundary for us if we feel we cannot do it through our feminine. She also tells us that ‘vanity’ is not a sin and its okay to want to dress up, wear makeup and jewellery to feel sexy and confident. When I put on my red dresses with matching signature red lipstick and gold jewellery, I instantly feel a boost of confidence and sexual, feminine power: Olwen’s influence. She also does not need to wait for a lover to awaken her sexuality, she seems capable of doing it herself, though she awaits her king to have someone to share it with. Therefore, she reminds me that I am capable of embodying the Lover Goddess and embracing my sensuality and sexuality whilst single, awaiting my king or queen to share it with.
Hail to the triple-aspected Lady of the Underworld, Lady of the Earth, and Lady of Heaven. Hail to the May Queen and Her King. Hail to the Summer!
This is the fourth blog I have ever began on Goddess religion. The first three, though, were from a time when my approach to it was much different than it is now. As such, I thought it was time for a clean slate. I have learned so much since I made my last blog entry, exactly a year ago today, on my old WordPress site.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Erin, but my ‘spiritual’, Goddess-inspired/channeled/given name is Rhianwen Dôn. The name apparently means ‘pure maiden’, but to me is also a combination of two goddesses I adore deeply: Rhiannon and Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere). Rhiannon’s name means ‘Divine Queen’ or ‘Great Queen’, while Gwenhwyfar’s likely means ‘White Enchantress’, ‘White Spirit’, etc. All three of my patron ‘Celtic’ goddesses (I also worship Venus) have associations with the color white. It typically represents maiden-like, gentle, pure, holy energy (though it has a shadow side which I’ll explore in the book I want to write on Gwenhwyfar). Purity doesn’t have to have the connotations many in the Christianized west hold it to have, for purity and innocence are available to any of us at any time, no matter how impure we may feel. The ‘Rhian’ part, the Queen part, is an acknowledgement of my understanding of Divine Sovereignty, particularly in relation to the divine feminine when women have been denied sovereignty in their own right for thousands of years. I’m going to explore that deeply in the book I’m currently writing, but I’m sure it’ll come up in my posts. Finally, my ‘last name’ is Dôn, the Welsh name for the ‘Celtic’ (I am aware this term is a great oversimplification and not historical but just for the purposes of this post please don’t kick up a fuss, I don’t have time to get in to migratory anthropology) Mother of the Gods also known as Dana, Danu, Anu, Ana. I chose the Cymric (Welsh) name because of my Cymric heritage, and an acknowledgement of the role that beautiful land, its stories and goddesses, have played in my spiritual journey since I was a little girl. As someone in the controversial ‘soft polytheistic’ camp, I view Dôn by all Her names as the Celtic manifestation of the Great Mother, who I view as not only an ‘Mother Earth’ figure but also an eternal, celestial force that existed before the physical planet Earth came in to being.
I have always been deeply religious and spiritual. I was raised Anglican, attended evangelical churches for a while, became a Mormon, then went back to evangelicalism for a short time while secretly keeping an altar to Sophia, the hidden divine feminine figure in Christianity. However, it wasn’t enough, I wanted more. I have been walking the path of the Sacred Feminine for about 8 years now. My spiritual path is ever-evolving. I have jumped the fence between a niche goddess tradition known as Filianism, hardline reconstructionism, new ageism, and back again multiple times. I now think it’s fair to say I sit between the revivalist/neopagan and reconstructionist camps; I try to stick to the original, ancient stories as much as possible, while believing it is okay to have our own interpretations and gnosis about them that others may not share. An example is my view of the Brythonic ‘Sovereignty Goddess’ as being a matriarchal concept and not a patriarchal one (again, will get more in to this in my upcoming book), and how I worship beings not typically regarded as goddesses by the hardcore reconstructionists who insist on having indisputable historical proof for everything (Gwenhwyfar, Rhiannon, Morgan le Fay, Olwen, etc).
It also must be said that at this point in my life, despite trying to include worship of the divine masculine/male gods in my practices, I find it hard to do so for I feel very little spiritual resonance there when I try. When I do, it is of Kings of the Land and consorts to my goddesses. I believe this comes from my spiritual upbringing and I do believe that while we still live in a world where 95% of spirituality is patriarchal, it’s not going to tip the scales in to an unbalanced gynarchy any time soon if a few pagan women want to focus on the feminine exclusively. Even in many of the pagan polytheistic faiths, many powerful goddesses in their own right began being reduced to mere helpmeets of male gods around 6,000 years ago as civilization began to lean more patriarchal for reasons that I am still pondering and exploring. I suppose one could compare my beliefs to the Shaktism branch of Hinduism, where the Devi is considered the supreme power of creation and therefore it is goddess-centric as opposed to Shaivism and Vaishnavism in which the goddesses are usually seen as consorts of the more frequently honored male gods. As I mentioned earlier, I believe in the Great Mother Goddess, the Lady of 10,000 Names, the primordial, elemental, eternal yet changing, cosmic yet earthly, feminine energy that permeates all of existence, and I believe one of the ways we can best connect with Her is through a relationship with the many ‘polytheistic’ goddesses, who are both Her and also individuals in Their own right. When I talk about ‘the Goddess’, I am talking about the One and the Many. I believe humans also possess some of Her creative spark through our inner feminine energy, which most people possess to some degree regardless of gender.
I do not typically practice ‘witchcraft’, but do believe in the power of manifestation, which I practice in a very goddess-focused way: aligning myself with my goddesses, carrying myself how I believe they would if they were to walk this planet, being their hands upon the earth. It is for this reason I currently call myself a Handmaiden of the Goddess. While I was initiated as a priestess in my old tradition (Filianism), I was always a spiritual leader online only, but now that I have diverged from Filianism (though I still believe in many of its metaphysics) I want to step in to priestesshood in my ‘real life’ community, and want to make a concerted effort to do so. Handmaiden was also a term used in Madrianism (old Filianism) to refer to something similar to a Deacon in Catholicism, and an aspirant priestess undergoing study before initiation. My other spiritual passions, interests and practices (budding or fully realised) include ritual practices, tarot, ecstatic dance, bardic arts (sacred storytelling, poetry and song), mantras & rosary beads, goddess embodiment & oracle practices, Jungian psychoanalysis, & more.
My non-spiritual interests include typical ‘girly girl’ stuff: pop music, video games, fiction books. To be honest, though, my spirituality is my life and my main area of interest. The Goddess has completely changed my life in so many names and teaches me new things every single year. She has been with me since I was a little girl seeing Her in the rolling hills of North Wales. She has healed my broken heart many times over, and been my best friend and closest confidante when I felt completely alone. I know now that I will be Her student my entire life.
Tomorrow I’m going to make my first proper post about how I celebrated Imbolc this year. In the mean time, you can find me at @rhianwendon on Instagram. Eventually I’ll be picking a better theme, creating an About page (which will probably just be this copied and pasted, to be honest) and getting set up properly. If you’d like to follow me I hope you enjoy learning about my walk with the Goddess and I hope it can inspire your own.
Idylls of the Queen 