Tag: goddess religion

The Faery Lover & the Manic Pixie Dream Girl Trope

~ Erin Guinevere ~ 3 Comments

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.

Taylor the Ritualist, Ceremonialist, Priestess and Swiftian Divine Feminine Values

~ Erin Guinevere ~ Leave a comment

(Note: there are times in this post where I address women only just because that’s primarily who I work with in my own Priestessing, and I am very Divine Feminine centric in my approach, but that obviously doesn’t mean only women can be witches, that every Swiftie is female, or that people who aren’t women can’t experience the Divine Feminine).

I saw a review for an Edinburgh Eras Tour show which described it (positively) as a ‘mass ecstatic ritual’. Many of the typical crowd (evangelical Christians and those adjacent) view this as a bad thing, because they hate anything slightly resembling witchcraft or paganism, but to me I see it as something extraordinarily positive and powerful.

I was at Liverpool Night 1, and it really solidified my theory that Taylor is a priestess of the Goddess leading us in ritual. Perhaps she is conscious of this, perhaps she isn’t, but it lies within her.

The purpose of ritual, as well as to worship, is to create the conditions to allow us to experience the Divine through our emotional bodies and our spiritual bodies alike. This can be a huge catalyst for healing, processing, letting go, or revelation and epiphany. The purpose of a priestess/priest is to lead us through that, by acting as a mediator between Goddess/God/the Divine/Gods/Sprit and the ritual attendees. As much as I cringe when people call Swiftieism a religion and call Taylor their god, there is truth in the idea that a concert, especially one as emotionally charged as the Eras Tour thanks to the emotional resonance of Taylor’s music, is a ritual. In Rome, once a year women would attend a festival for Bona Dea (meaning Good Goddess) that was exclusively women only. We don’t know exactly what went down there but if similar mystery cults are an indicator we can assume it was an ecstatic ritual. Without the outright religious element and the women only element I feel as though the Eras Tour functions somewhat as a modern version of what I imagine the Bona Dea festival was like.

The Divine Feminine, unlike the Patriarchal Masculine (not the true Divine Masculine who is the Goddess’s lover) is all about accepting all emotions as part of life. We do not separate things into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ emotions or experiences, we seek to integrate the dark, hysterical, messy parts of ourselves and love them as much as we love our fun, happy, loving parts because it’s only when we shed light on our darkness that we can utilise it for good. We know that female rage is a sacred thing. We know that when our heart breaks, it opens us up to let more love in. Divine Feminine-oriented women love our sensuality and sexuality, and take pleasure in our own bodies, rather than view it as something that exists solely to please our husband who is seen in patriarchy as our sexual master and us as private property, or men in general when we are seen as public property. We see other women as our sisters and allies, and not competition. We know women and femininity aren’t just one thing but a diverse range of archetypes that can coexist at once. All of that is very much in alignment with Swiftian values. A Taylor concert then becomes a ritual or ceremony that brings all of that into coalescence.

When Taylor and her dancers performed Lover, Enchanted or Love Story, I felt the presence of the Goddess of Love (duh). When she sang Don’t Blame Me, Ready For It? and I Can See You, I felt the Lover again, but this time in a more sexy and erotic way. When she sang Shake It Off, But Daddy I Love Him, Fearless and You Belong With Me, I felt the presence of the unbothered, playful Maiden. When she and her dancers performed Willow, an obvious one, I felt the earthy, mystical Goddess of the Witches. When she performed Look What You Made Me Do or Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, I felt the presence of the angry and vengeful Goddess. When she sang The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and Illicit Affairs, I felt the presence of the Goddess of Grief. When she performed marjorie, I felt the love of all of our beloved ancestors present in the stadium, pouring their love onto us.

Beyond the Eras Tour, Taylor has always used Divine Feminine imagery and symbolism in her writing and visuals, either consciously or subconsciously. From the ’13’ on the back of her hand, to her Inanna-esque declaration that ‘I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time’ and the snake imagery from that same era, to her usage of the images of Classical goddesses Diana/Artemis, Venus/Aphrodite and Themis to convey themes in her work.

Taylor is not a goddess, and it makes me cringe to hear people say so. But I think what the Swifties who say that are trying to express is that Taylor is a priestess, whether this is intentional or not (personally I think she is clued into this stuff, as certain lyrics in her last album and other things she’s said/done would lead me to believe). There’s nuance here and I don’t want to take it too far or too literally, because after all, it isn’t actually a religious ceremony and there is no Deity being literally and overtly invoked. But the Goddess/Divine Feminine has always hidden in plain sight ever since She was suppressed in Western civilisation. You can find echoes of her in art, fairytales, other literature, even in the patriarchal religions themselves (Virgin Mary etc). To quote other incredible female singer-songwriters The Indigo Girls: “Pushed under by the main press, buried under a code of dress / Relegated by the Vatican / But you can’t keep a spirit down that wants to get up again.” The Eras Tour is about Taylor on one level, but on the spiritual level there’s more going on here. She is mediating Divine Feminine energies to her fans. She is acting as a Priestess.

As a pagan and specifically a Goddess-centric one, I truly believe many Swifties, especially atheist ones, would find even more Swift-esque joy in Goddess religion and Divine Feminine spirituality, but it’s up to them to make that jump if they want to, as we do not evangelise.

People, especially women but not exclusively, all over the world have been consciously remembering the Goddess for the past century or so. But I believe just as many are remembering Her subconsciously. She doesn’t stop touching us and healing us and loving us just because we don’t consciously acknowledge or worship Her. She is always there, leading every single person who allows themselves to surrender to their emotions and heart through their healing. And despite what anyone says, I know what I felt in that room on Thursday night. I know that I felt a strong energetic shift unlike anything I’ve ever experienced outside of actual dedicated pagan, Goddess and Divine Feminine centred spaces. And I’m not the only one who felt it, either. Several of my friends who attended messaged me to tell me the same thing. Traumas they’ve been unable to let go of are suddenly gone, as are limiting beliefs and fears and self-loathing.

So yes, Satanic panic conspiracy theorists, the Eras Tour is a ritual.

And that’s a beautiful thing.

~ Rhianwen

The Maiden of Spring: Hope and Sorrow

~ Erin Guinevere ~ Leave a comment

Well, it’s been a hot minute!

I know I’ve abandoned this blog, and I can’t say for sure that I’m ‘back’, but I am going to try to post on here at least once a month going forward.

For the last 3 weeks or so I’ve not been in a great mood, ranging from just kind of low to completely emotionally distraught to feeling just numb inside. I deactivated Facebook, stopped replying to inboxes and have spent a lot of time just enjoying my own company and resting, experiencing an inner winter even as spring is blooming.

Today is the spring equinox, with the fixed modern pagan observance of Ostara happening tomorrow on the 21st. Walking to and from work this week has been lovely. Monday in particular had beautiful weather and I decided to walk to work instead of getting the bus, but regretted wearing a jumper, leggings, long boots and my winter coat when I could’ve at the very least gotten away with my denim jacket instead of the coat. It’s that awkward time of year where you never know how to dress.

I always really notice a palpable energy shift this time of year. I don’t just mean because the weather is different and because the earth looks different, but it feels almost like in late March we’ve stepped into a slightly different version of the world. It’s not something that can be described logically with words, but something you just feel with your body & soul. In the Celtic traditions, liminal spaces are seen as extremely magically potent. The shift from winter into spring and the shift from summer into autumn are, to me, the most magically potent times of year because they are extremely liminal. The shifts from autumn to winter and spring to summer are noticeable too, but not almost as much.

Many of the trees are covered in lovely, delicate pink blossoms. The Earth Goddess wears the mantle of the Spring Maiden. Women’s mystery traditions such as Dianic Witchcraft and the Glastonbury Avalon tradition observe the seasons as the Goddess ageing, dying and being reborn, and work with the uncanny resembles that has to the cycles in human women’s own lives, be that on a macro level (birth to death), or a micro level (our menstrual cycles). Other Neopagans view the Goddess as ageless and it is instead it is Her son or lover who goes through this process. Some see it as both. In the Filianic tradition which I used to be a part of and still somewhat align with, as Neoplatonists it is believed that the cycles of the earth reflect eternal truths and metaphysical events that take place outside of matter, time and space. In Filianism, the Spring Equinox and the days leading up to it are observed as the death and rebirth of God the Daughter, the World Soul who mediates the light of the Divine Mother to us here on earth.

Goddesses who embody the archetype of the young spring maiden (who I typically see as a teenager of about sixteen years old) include Ostara/Eostre (who, regardless of whether or not she was an invention by the monk Bede or actually worshipped, certainly is a goddess who is worshipped and adored today so it doesn’t matter. I also personally do believe she was really worshipped, and an obvious descendant of the H₂éwsōs lineage of Indo-European dawn goddesses), and Kore/Persephone. You could broaden this to include Brigid, though I’m specifically talking about goddesses often associated with this time of year and Brigid is obviously more associated with Imbolc. Similarly, you could broaden this category to include the May Queen goddesses such as Flora, Olwen, Gwenhwyfar, Creiddylad and Blodeuedd, though in terms of women’s mysteries archetypes I see them as embodying the Lover archetype which I see as a woman in her twenties, and they are obviously more associated with Beltane.

The element and cardinal direction associated with the season of Spring will differ depending on your tradition. In the Glastonbury Avalon tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction East and the element of Fire. In Filianism, it is also associated with the cardinal direction East but instead of Fire, the element of Water. I can see arguments for both of these. On the one hand, the sun rises in the East and Spring is associated with the rising of the sun, which is a huge ball of fire. Fertilising heat quickens and awakens the land from slumber. On the other hand, it also makes sense for Summer to be associated with Fire instead, leaving Water for Spring. In many parts of Europe, especially here in the UK, Spring (especially March and early April) still tends to be very wet (although this is changing due to global warming).

But related to the idea that spring is the season of water, I wanted to explore a quote I read about the Spring Maiden recently, and relate it back to my life and personal journey at the moment.

“Ostara is usually experienced as a young maiden – as Ember Cooke writes, ”…old enough to bear children, but not a mother.“ She is wreathed in flowers or new greenery, and often dances.
She is often joyous, but can just as easily turn suddenly solemn, like the spring weather that can quickly turn to rain.
Like Spring itself, she is capricious, innocent and knowing by turns.
Hail to the Maiden of Spring, the dawning of the year! Bring freshness into all our lives.”


I have been feeling so upset with myself for not feeling all positive and perky now that spring is here. But just as I was able to partially heal my fear of getting older by observing that many of the most fecund, passionate, lusty beautiful gifts of the Goddess of Love and Beauty don’t occur until mid summer (roses) to late summer and early autumn (apples), once again Nature teaches me that to embody the Spring Maiden isn’t always to be a smiling, dancing, positive sweetheart. Patriarchal modes of being and thinking love femininity when it’s all pretty pink blossoms and giggles and a soft touch, yet they shame our emotional expression, complexities and depth. This is why it’s incredibly important to recognise when men say they want feminine women if they want feminine women in their fullness, or feminine women who are only feminine when it benefits them. The Spring Maiden archetype is one of two feminine archetypes that patriarchy has accepted the most, as well as the abundant Summer Mother, but even these archetypes have aspects that patriarchal men who don’t actually like femininity (even if they insist they do) are threatened by.

Water is the element of emotion, and so if we believe spring to be the season of Water, that means accepting the Spring Maiden for all these She is, not just the easy-to-appreciate pleasant parts, and for all that we are, too. And so, it’s okay that I’m struggling right now. My rain-clouds are just as beautiful as my blossoms.

The Spring Maiden is identical to the Dawn Maiden. Dawn and Spring symbolise hope, renewal, and indomitable innocence and optimism that refuse to be crushed by the cruelty of the world. Sadness only becomes all-consuming once you abandon the spirit within you that believes KNOWS things can get better. I might be lonely and hurting over my dating prospects right now in a world that seems to be abandoning virtue, monogamy, marriage and family, but I refuse to believe that all men are like that and that chivalry and romance are completely dead, no matter how many voices tell me they are. On a much more important note I look at what’s going on in Palestine at the moment and while it’s incredibly tempting to just lose yourself to despair, I see beautiful smiling, laughing children in refugee camps, and I remember that if they can keep their innocence and hope alive, I have to, too. For them, for myself, and for the world. Evil only wins once we lose hope that it can be defeated. “We’ll cry tonight, but in the morning we are new // Stand in the sun, we’ll dry your eyes.” – Arise, Flyleaf.

You can listen to my Ostara playlist here.

~ Rhianwen

Olwen: May Queen and Solar Goddess of Love

~ Erin Guinevere ~ 1 Comment

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!

~ Rhianwen

Beltane: The Coronation of the Queen & King of the Land

~ Erin Guinevere ~ 4 Comments

Beltane, or, as I’ve been calling it more often since I’ve adapted a more firmly Welsh/Brythonic influenced path (I have just applied to join the Sisterhood of Avalon), Calan Mai, is my favourite festival in the Wheel of the Year. Everything about this festival sings to my soul. I’ve always loved May. The transition from the beginning of April to the end of April is so stark. The days are much longer, the trees are approaching their leafy fullness, and every patch of grass is alive with daisies, dandelions, bluebells, forget-me-nots and more (in my neck of the woods, your local wildflowers may be different). In the UK, we have two bank holiday Mondays this month, too, with an extra one this year due to the king’s coronation (which, regardless of your thoughts on the monarchy, the day off is very nice, and metaphysically May is the best month they could’ve picked for a coronation).

Beltane is celebrated slightly differently across different pagan paths, but there are some shared themes: fertility, the sun, summertime, light, fire. Historically, cattle would be driven between two bonfires to purify them. People would wash their faces with the morning dew to bring them beauty and a youthful appearance throughout the year. Hawthorne branches would be gathered and homes decorated with wildflowers. When the Romans conquered Britain, the festival was syncretised with Floralia, the feast day of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, and young women would weave flower crowns in her honour.

In my practice and Wheel observance, which is inspired by the various Avalonian traditions and Brythonic/Welsh mythology, Beltane/Calan Mai is where we honour the Sovereignty Goddess in Her Maiden guise of the Flower Bride, known by many names such as Gwenhwyfar/Guinevere, Olwen, Blodeuwedd, Creiddylad, Bláthnat, Iseult & more.

I’ve began to explain the Flower Bride deific to those unfamiliar with these stories by dubbing her a ‘Welsh Persephone figure’. Stories of the Flower Bride usually involve a love triangle, and she is always associated with spring time/summer time, and flowers; the Goddess that every May Queen embodies as well as the goddess Flora.

Like all Sovereignty goddesses, a man cannot step in to Kingship or more broadly speaking any sort of true power or leadership unless he is married to Her. If we are to take Her consort as being a god as well as a mortal king in these stories, which is fair to do because we know many deities were demoted to mortals in the Christianisation of the Welsh tradition, it is fair to say that while She is always a Goddess, He ascends to the rank of a God through Her, anointed and awakened through sacred sexuality. The phrase ‘men must become, women just are’ may have sexist connotations, but when applied metaphysically to divine masculinity and femininity, there is basis for it in some of our mythology. To me, this is because, if you imagine a wheel, the divine feminine is at the center at the divine masculine is the protective, moving rim, but there are many different perspectives on this.

In some Flower Bride stories, she is kidnapped and passed from one man to another and seems to have little agency, leading some to perceive these stories as sexist. I completely understand that, but something to consider is that we don’t have to perceive it that way if we don’t want to! There is no metaphysical, spiritual or nature-based reason why we have to imagine the Flower Bride being forcefully passed between two men, OR as an unfaithful woman of loose morals committing adultery, when we can instead cut away all the baggage and get to the metaphysical HEART and thesis of the story, which is “Seasons and Kings come and pass, but the Goddess is forever.” Her two lovers usually fill these two archetypes: Otherworldly Champion, associated with Winter, (sometimes known as the Holly King), and Solar Hero, associated with summer (sometimes known as the Oak King). Who she begins the story with and who she ends up with depends on the story. In Blodeuwedd’s story, she begins married to the Solar Hero, and falls in love with the Otherwordly Champion. In Olwen’s story, while not her lover, her father can be seen as analogous to the old Otherworldly King, and the young, untested Solar Hero has to win her hand. Gwenhwyfar/Guinevere, throughout Arthuriana, is constantly being kidnapped by various Otherworldly/dark figures who obviously represent the Winter King, or betraying Arthur for the young Lancelot who is, interestingly enough, both more of a young/youthful Summer figure, and also an Otherworldly Champion seeing as he is raised by the Lady of the Lake. In Creiddylad’s story, where she begins betrothed to the Solar Hero and is kidnapped by Gwyn Ap Nudd who is absolutely an Otherwordly Underworld king, the story is open ended because she returns to her father’s house and the two men must fight over her every May Day. Whichever man steals away (either by consensually wooing her or by kidnap) the Flower Bride can give us a clue about whether or not the story is about the dark half of the year giving way to the light half, or the light half giving way to the dark half. However, since myths are supposed to be read not as literal events taking place within the realm of time and space (unlike the Abrahamic stories which we’re supposed to take as factual events happening in linear time), but eternal, out-of-this-world events that play out on the World Stage (the Plemora in Platonism), all of the stories can be read as a metaphor for Seasonal Sovereignty and when the story ‘ends’, it begins again and she returns to her original lover, and the story repeats itself. Another thing to consider is that some scholars believe that when the Flower Bride is seemingly ‘kidnapped’ by these mystical/otherworldly figures such as Gwyn ap Nudd kidnapping Creiddylad or Melwas (who is potentially Gwyn in disguise) kidnapping Gwenhwyfar, what is actually happening is that he was her original lover first- the Flower Bride was kidnapped initially by the Solar Hero and the Otherwordly Champion is merely taking her home where she belongs. Considering Flower Brides are very clearly otherworldly in origin, this holds up. The most interesting example of this, to me is a lesser-known story in which Edern ap Nudd, another son of the clearly otherworldly Nudd/Nodens and brother of Gwyn ap Nudd, who in one story is adversarial towards Gwenhwyfar, is her lover who seduces her away from Arthur. Perhaps the Otherworldly figure was truly the good guy in these stories and him being demonised as a ‘kidnapper’ is simply a case of ‘history is written by the victors’ since the Solar Hero is much more in alignment with Christian ideals as opposed to pagan, faery ones.

In other Sovereignty stories, where She takes forms other than Flower Bride, She is the golden-robed Apple Queen of the Otherworld who reveals Herself to worthy men who would be Her King. I see this as a more mature form of the Flower Bride. While the Flower Bride can be viewed as Spring/Early Summer Maiden, the Apple Queen is the Late Summer/Early Autumn Mother, fully authoritative and at the height of Her power. Sometimes she is a Winter Crone, who is turned in to a beautiful maiden again by the kiss (or more) of a worthy knight, representing either winter becoming summer again or simply the fact that the land must be brought back in to balance by choosing a rightful king. Sometimes she takes an adversarial form, such as Morgan le Fay, where she appears on the surface to be actively trying to hinder the heroes but from a pagan perspective we can understand Her as testing them to ensure they are up to the job of ruling the land that is Hers, especially given the fact that She represents the old pagan order and in the Christianised Arthurian stories, they represent the new Christian order. Given that they are essentially bringing great change upon the land, why would She not do what she can to ensure those of the new order can respect the natural laws of Sovereignty and do right by Her people?

While Beltane is usually a celebration of the Flower Bride aspect of Sovereignty, I consider Rhiannon to represent more of the Golden Queen/Apple Queen aspect, placing her period of rule more firmly in the later days of summer. However, she is celebrated at this time of year, too, in the Avalonian tradition practiced by Glastonbury Goddess Temple and its priestesses and priests. I do think, as a sovereignty goddess, it makes a lot of sense to celebrate her at Beltane too. Rhiannon of the Glastonbury Avalonian traditions seems to embody aspects of various goddesses of love and sexuality, placing Her in a red gown (like that worn by Olwen), and is seen in a similar way to other sovereignty goddesses such as Aine and Medb. She also seems to have more obviously Venusian elements, acknowledging the Celtic connection between mares and the sea, and the fact that in the third branch of the Mabinogion she marries Manawydan, often thought to be a Welsh version of Manannán mac Lir, an Irish sea god. This modern view of Rhiannon is very much that of a love and femininity goddess in the vein of Aphrodite, Ishtar and Mary Magdalene, and while the Celtic tradition doesn’t really have deities with such clearly defined domains, I can very much understand why Rhiannon has taken on that mantle, and believe other Sovereignty Goddesses such as Gwenhwyfar to also be love goddesses (To quote Caitlin & John Matthews in their book Ladies of the Lake: “In a tradition that does not go in for Classical goddesses of love, Guinevere is virtually the British Venus.” I recommend this video for further exploration of this, in fact, her whole channel is excellent, and so is her blog which you can find over at White Rose of Avalon. Demelza Fox of Rockstar Priestess also references Rhiannon as a love goddess here at 7:09 onwards.

A priestess I know and admire said the other day that being single during the Beltane period is almost like being single during Valentine’s Day and she’s so right, it really is. Celebrating sacred sexuality, union, the sacred marriage/hieros gamos and all of those things when you’re single feels a bit weird. Especially because it was this time last year that I entered my first proper relationship and now I’m back to square one. But I truly love this topic, and am celebrating fertility and the union of masculine and feminine within myself and in the earth around me. Considering I’ve had such a complicated relationship with the topics of love and sexuality, though I am not the kind of woman who most obviously embodies this type of energy at first glance, I feel very much in alignment with the Lover archetype of the Goddess, and when I’m financially better off and can afford the costs of travel & accommodation I very much intend to do the Priestess of Rhiannon sacred sexuality training one day. While I do not currently worship the masculine God, I do acknowledge him in his archetype of King of the Land, in both his Otherwordly Champion and Solar Hero guises. For deeper exploration of this, check out Caitlin Matthews’ ‘King Arthur and the Goddess of the Land’. I may not be devoted to the pagan God but He is a part of my life, and I credit Him with healing many of my issues with the masculine and allowing me to feel safe enough to enter in to my first relationship with a man last year. He does not force Himself in to my life or my practice as He knows this isn’t what I need right now. Instead, he is a presence that holds me, protects me and asks for nothing in return, and perhaps one day I will devote myself to Him as fully as I do with the Goddess. Below is the King & Goddess Wheel of the Year from King Arthur & the Goddess of the Land, which I am incorporating in to my usual Wheel observance as a way to acknowledge the journey of the Sovereign King.

Sexuality is something I don’t think our culture has ever been able to ‘get right’. The pendulum never settles nicely in the middle. Instead, the ideal woman is either a chaste Madonna or a wild Whore with no sexual boundaries. Sex before marriage makes you tainted and impure (especially if you’re a woman) or it’s a requirement to be as sexually open as possible if you want to find a partner and those who don’t are shamed as prudes. Either the only acceptable way to have sex is a married, heterosexual couple doing missionary once a month with the lights off until the man finishes and the woman lies there unsatisfied OR all kinks and fetishes, even the most dangerous and degrading ones, are seen as utterly exempt from criticism and teenage girls end up hospitalized trying to do things their boyfriends have seen in hardcore porn. Either we’re never allowed to talk about or acknowledge sex or we can scarcely turn on our televisions without seeing pornography. I believe Sacred Sexuality is the cure for this, the one view of sexuality we’ve never truly tried in our culture, either demonising sex or forcing it down everyone’s throats to the point where it looses all its meaning. But our bodies are holy and pleasure is our birthright. Sacred sexuality occurs when we truly treat sex with the reverence it deserves, as a spiritual sacrament, and you see the God or the Goddess in your partner. In heterosexual relationships, this comes in the form of union of opposites, Chalice/Grail and Blade/Wand, Goddess and God, Queen and King. At a time when gender relations are so rife with tension and an almost sibling rivalry type of energy, when women, deeply hurt by misogyny, declare men are useless trash who don’t need to exist and men declare that women should submit and be led by men, I believe union between the masculine & the feminine are needed now more than ever, not as competitors battling for dominance, neither one submitting to or domineering over the other, but two equally valuable and potent forces that stand side by side. But homosexual relationships are no less sacred; metaphysically they can be explained as Source returning to Source, and there are various pagan traditions that celebrate gay love, though on the surface I can see why it may seem like all this talk of union between masculine & feminine at Beltane means gay love is less worthy. I want to assure you that as a bisexual woman and someone who thought I was a lesbian for many years, that’s not the case. For lesbians, I suggest looking in to the Dianic tradition and to Artemisian and Sapphic sexual mysteries, and to gay men I point you towards the Feri tradition, which I believe deeply celebrates love between men.

Last month in my moot, I gave my talk about the Flower Bride and the King of the Land, which was my first time giving a full talk on a pagan topic. Before that, we performed a small ritual in which I was the May Queen/Flower Bride & the embodiment of the Goddess, whereas the amazing Kev was our Green Man/Jack-in-the-Green/Oak King/God. I was so so nervous about that talk but everyone loved it and gave me such positive feedback. Interesting that based on our ages and genders we have Holly King, Oak King, Maiden, Mother & Crone here, as Jan remarked!

On May Day itself, which obviously is a bank holiday (another reason why Beltane is my favourite of the Wheel festivals!) I hosted a pagan gathering for the first time. We performed a simple ritual, I told the story of Rhiannon & Pwyll, exchanged gifts, made flower crowns, ate picnic food, sang songs, did some spellwork & just enjoyed each other’s company in a little grove we found right next to a hawthorne tree/May bush, which we didn’t even realise until we sat down. It was genuinely one of the best days I’ve had so far this year and I’m so grateful to everyone who came. I almost cancelled so many times because I didn’t think anyone would come. I’m manifesting, praying & hoping for more of this in my life.

Before I finish off with a bibliography of reading I’ve done last month and prior to that relating to these topics, I want to leave you with two poems I’ve written about Beltane. One was written last year and partially inspired by my former muse, my ex boyfriend, who is no longer in my life, but I am still thankful for what he did for me and the way he showed me what requited, healthy love feels like, and I see no reason why I would have to discard the whole poem when its themes are universal. The other was written specifically with the theme of the Goddess choosing Her God/the May Queen choosing the May King in mind, and I read it aloud at both Beltane events mentioned above. In this latter one I really wanted to acknowledge the Lover archetype between Maiden and Mother, the archetype honored by the Glastonbury Avalonian tradition at Beltane.

Sound the trumpets, blow the horns!
She shall be a maiden no more.
Light the fires, call the dance! She meets her paramour.

Dressed in crimson, dressed in white,
Their innocence, their love.
From their union comes the light,
The Firebird and the Dove.

He is hers and she is his,
They leap over the flames.
Kiss me now, touch me there,
Begin the fun and games.

She makes him king, he crowns her queen,
Sovereignty through desire.
The Lady and the Horned One’s love
Forged in Beltane’s fire.

She whose body is the land
And rules with a flower sceptre
Initiatrix-Queen of Kingship
Calls only he who is worthy
To join her in divine sovereignty
And as her hero kneels before her
She lays an antlered crown upon his head
And leads him to his throne

Then he, newly crowned Solar King
Her chosen Champion
Unmatched in power, passion and potency
Awakens her potential through his touch
And soon her belly will swell
And her blossoms will be transformed
Into the most succulent of fruits

But for now, tonight, it’s just them
Young and wild king and queen
And the roaring fires of Beltane
In which they stand in the liminality
Between Maiden and Mother
Between Youth and Father
We say Hail to the Summer
And to the Sovereign Lovers

As promised, here’s some reading if you want to learn more about the Flower Bride/Sovereignty Goddess and Her King.

  • Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty by Jhenah Telyndru
  • Rhannon: Divine Queen of the Celtic Britons by Jhenah Telyndru
  • Flower Face: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Blodeuwedd by Ninth Wave Press
  • King Arthur & the Goddess of the Land by Caitlin Matthews
  • Ladies of the Lake by Caitlin & John Matthews
  • Once & Future Queen by Nicole Evelina
  • Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess by Kathy Jones

Sorry, one last thing, then I promise that’s it! Here is my Beltane playlist, featuring mostly pagan songs with a sprinkling of Taylor Swift, because it wouldn’t be a Rhianwen playlist without at least one Taylor Swift song (convert to paganism, Taylor, please, the Christian conspiracy theorists already all think you’re an actual witch!)

The actual/seasonal astrological date for Beltane is tomorrow, so regardless of when you celebrate I hope you all have/have had a wonderful Beltane/Calan Mai/May Day/Floralia etc. May your summer be full of love, sunshine, optimism & magic.

Rhianwen

Kali: Holy Slayer of Demons or Chaotic Devouring Mother?

~ Erin Guinevere ~ Leave a comment
Kali by V. V. Tapar

O human mind, throughout your thinking process invoke the subtle sound of Kali, Kali, Kali. Why not ground your entire being in Her Holy Name, which dissolves all dangers arising from without and from within?

How can you forget, even for an instant, Her supremely precious Name? The mind that remembers the Mother experiences no fear when facing the terrible expanse of universal suffering.

Overcome with fervent love, this poet pleads: “O mind, how can you possibly forget the Mother? At the very center of your being sing ceaselessly the Name of Kali, for your life in the current of time is coming to an end.”

Ramprasad poem No. 21, translated by Lex Hixon, featured on the Shakti Bhajans album by Jai Ma Music.

I am writing this on my phone, stood under a bus shelter, because I wanted to get this out but will be busy tonight and will need to go straight to bed as soon as I get home.

Jordan Peterson is having some sort of mental breakdown in which he thinks worshipers of Gaia, Pan, and now the Hindu goddess Kali are on some rampage to destroy the West. Most recently he made some downright genuinely offensive comments about the goddess Kali, for which he not only refused to apologise and admit his mistake, but doubled down upon when challenged on it by Hindus, the overwhelming majority of whom were very polite about it.

(Note: I’ve chosen to censor that bottom one because it uses what I perceive to be a homophobic slur, and it’s getting in to sociopolitical issues that I’m not at liberty to comment on right now).

I genuinely think this man is suffering from a form of spiritual psychosis and he’s seemed more… Troubled than usual since his coma and benzo addiction.

I’ve said a lot about my dislike for this man’s views and politics (especially around the feminine and the environment) but I also think there’s something to be said for how his earlier work has genuinely benefited a lot of young men’s lives. I don’t like to demonise people I disagree with and with some notable exceptions I can see the good in many different psychologists, theologians and philosophers whose work I personally don’t like. To be honest, while I’ve not read his books other than a flick through my ex’s copy, some of his earlier interviews and lectures have genuinely helped me adopt a stronger mindset and ‘get my act together’ so to speak. I think he spoke to a dadless generation and as someone with little to no masculine influence in my life, I get it. He is certainly a better role model for young men than some so-called ‘masculinity gurus’ that have risen (and fell) in recent years.

But this is ridiculous. Pagan gods and Hindu gods are not malevolent archetypes of chaos that want to attack Western values. On the contrary, Indo-European polytheism is the basis of Western civilization. Who are the last mainstream, far-practiced IE religion left on earth? Hindus. Whom I have so much respect for.

Even his most ardent defenders, if they have a shred of intellectual honesty, should admit that this is a bad look. No one is forcing college students to worship a Hindu goddess (and environmentalists aren’t forcing Christians to worship a Pan or Gaia).

He has also taken a very Christian-centric approach in which masculinity = order and femininity = chaos. Inasmuch as we can appreciate Chaos as a force of change, intuition, flow, power that cannot be dominated by any human, beauty, love, I have no problem with that, but you can’t apply it to religions where it does not fit. Kali Maa is not a force of chaos. Her name means ‘time’. She is a fierce defender of the divine order, slaying those demons who threaten her children. She is much more akin to Jesus or Our Lady Mary in Christianity than Lilith or Tiamat. And it is pretty clear to me that Peterson has a deep fear of what he perceives as ‘feminine chaos’, instead of an understanding that it is an equally necessary, equally-capable-of-good force as order is. You need a balance of order and chaos. Peterson is very influenced by the likes of Jung- and somewhat by Joseph Campbell, who spoke fondly of the Goddess, the Earth Mother, and so forth. Campbell never disparaged Her as a dangerous, chaotic, idolatrous force. There are those who have told me Peterson is not a Christian supremacist and is okay with pagan religions but at least now, that no longer seems to be the case. From what he has been saying lately, perhaps since his full conversion to Christianity (rather than dancing around the subject when asked about his religion like he did for years) it seems he is genuinely anti-pagan and anti-any religion that isn’t Abrahamic, or worships a single, transcendent, masculine-coded God. Many such people look at Kali’s frightening appearance and perceive her as a demon, or at least something she very much isn’t.

This is also why, as somewhat of a Jungian and comparative mythologist myself, we must be careful that we are not applying our own culturally Christian biases to deities whom they do not apply. Many goddesses from not just Hinduism but also IE paganism generally who appear to represent ‘chaos’ on the surface are actually acting in favour of the divine order. Let’s think about this metaphysically for a minute. Many goddess worshipers, Jungians etc agree that the feminine represents nature, matter, the changing seasons, the changing earth. Okay. Do the seasons just come whenever they want? Do you wake up one morning in January and find suddenly it is late summer and the apples are beginning to fall? Of course not. Nature is deeply ordered. I do not disparage those who, in an attempt to understand our complicated universe and the relationship between the divine feminine and the divine masculine, have came to the conclusion that chaos is feminine. I have friends who take this view. But even in Yin and Yang, which influences this Jungian chaos/order dichotomy, a seed of Yang lives in Yin and vice versa. Therefore, can we not concede that even if the Goddess represents chaos, she employs order to weave the patterns of the seasons?

Kali does not come from the underworld. I assume he is conflating her with figures such as Hekate and Ereshkigal. All broadly fit under the banner of ‘dark goddess’ but there’s a lot of nuance that gets missed in these modern conversations about polytheism. Archetypes can be useful to understand how the gods influence our lives but they are not the be-all-and-end-all. The ‘Devouring Mother’ Peterson speaks of is a Jungian archetype that influences mothers who are overprotective of their children. It seeks to prevent children from reaching their fullest potential at its most benign by stifling their development (picture the mother who won’t let her son skateboard with the other boys in case he hurts himself) and at its most damaging it is abusive and narcissistic. I’ve certainly seen this archetype influence mothers I know (including one significant one who does not like her adult sons having serious girlfriends or making decisions without her approval). It can be understood in terms of figures like Mother Gothel from Rapunzel.

But Kali Maa is not an example of this archetype. As for ‘the Goddess’ in the sense that many modern Westerners use it, She is all, and can be said to contain this archetype within Her, but Christian, and culturally Christian patriarchal men like Peterson hyperfixate on archetypes such as this as if that’s all the Goddess is, implying She is a threat to Western values (when actually Her civilization arguably influenced much of ours). I’m also not sure how he came to the conclusion that the Devouring Mother is influencing academia but I’d genuinely be interested to know why he thinks this. Perhaps he’s saying she prevents professors from allowing students to reach their own conclusions on topics and instead wants them close to her ideas? I’ve heard that about academia before, but to be honest, while the series of tweets seems like mostly incoherent psychobabble to me (as do most of his tweets of late), it seems to be more that he’s associating her with leftist ideologies such as feminism. Which brings me to my final point.

While Paganism and especially goddess worship have became very politicized due to their association with environmentalism, equality and feminism, you don’t have to identify as a feminist or any political ideology to come to Her. Her worship transcends human bi-partisan issues. While I’m basically a leftist (and some spicy flavour of feminist, depending on who you ask) myself, I think it would be great if the Goddess could be separated from these issues and depoliticised. I know that’s not going to be a popular take and I understand the argument that the Goddess calls us to embrace ideas of equity, balance, empowerment of the oppressed, protection of the planet and so on. I very much agree, but people have different ideas on how to do that, so rather than saying, for example, ‘you have to identify as a feminist to worship the Goddess’ I’d prefer if we could say ‘the Goddess teaches us that women are of equal value to men and deserving of protection, dignity and respect’. Associating the Goddess (and paganism generally) too heavily with leftist politics also lends credence to the idea our religious views are not sincere and instead we’re just using them as political tools.

I would ask you all to go listen to what Hindus have to say on the topic of Kali rather than doing what many tend to do in the Western, Jungian-influenced Goddess movement and paying more attention to non-Hindu, culturally Christian sources on Her. I saw many well-worded, intelligent, beautiful responses in response to Peterson’s tweets from Hindus across the political spectrum.

Jai Maa.

~ Rhianwen