Rhiannon: Welsh Goddess of Sovereignty, Divine Queen, Horse
Goddess:
Walker between Worlds.
Rhiannon’s
name is well known to most of us from Stevie Nick’s song: Rhiannon rings
like a bell through the night and wouldn’t you love to love her? Takes to the
sky like a bird in flight, and who will be her lover?
Stevie
must have channeled that description of Rhiannon: she is a queen of Faerie and
images of bells, birds in flight and song, the Moon, the night and lovers are
all elements of her stories. Part Moon goddess, part Horse goddess, part Lady Sovereignty,
Rhiannon is like the Elven princess Arwen Undómiel in Lord of the Rings, leaving behind a magical
existence in the blissful land of Faerie and choosing to live in the mortal
world, where troubles and woes abound with the bliss.
At
one point in her immortal life, Rhiannon gives up her place in Faerie to be
with her beloved human husband, Pywll, becoming Lady Sovereignty, the Goddess
of the Land of Dyfed. At another point in her long life, Rhiannon marries
Manannán mac Lir, the Celtic god of the oceans, and has to deal with a Faerie
enchantment that she and Manannan and her son Pryderi and his wife must break.
Her marriage to Manannan makes sense, since the ocean is the symbol of the
Collective Unconscious and gives rise to enchantment. In her role as Lady
Sovereignty for Manannan, she must help him bring his special gift back into
consciousness—the gift of the imagination—instead of it being used for
enchantment (as our media does) to keep mortals unconscious.
Rhiannon
is not a passive goddess. She does what needs to get done. She
chooses her own mate and then willingly undergoes an unjust punishment (in the
form of a horse!) because of the malice of her rejected and humiliated lover.
She’s willing to pay the consequences of her choices. For all her beauty
and gentleness, Rhiannon is a warrior goddess who must overcome these obstacles
to her desires. Her stories are stories of her journey through troubles
and pain into triumph.
This
Welsh Goddess is an aspect of the Great Goddess of life, death and rebirth.
Her song can awaken the dead and put people to sleep. She is a Goddess of
Transitions, of Doorways, of walking between worlds. The name Rhiannon derives
from Rigantona, meaning Divine Queen. She is often described as riding her White horse in the
flower fields of her Faerie kingdom. She is accompanied by
three sweetly singing birds, who can revive the dead or put the living into a
sweet sleep--times of transitions. She sings with the birds, who are her
messengers and she sings to anyone who happens to walk by. For a Faerie
Queen, she is friendly to mortals and wants to share her joyful gifts, perhaps
because she understands the burdens and joys of our human life.
Horse Goddess
Rhiannon is
associated with horses, and so is her son Pryderi. She is often considered to
be related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona. Like Epona, Rhiannon and
her son have an affinity with mares and foals. She is especially associated with
White horses—Spirit Horses. White horses are rarer than other colors of
horses. The mythology of Horse is vast and we find it in all
cultures were horses roam.
It must have
been amazing to take that first ride on a horse! (Of course it still is!) Can
you image walking everyplace you need to go? How much more limited your
life is when you can only depend on walking. Horse brought travel and
communication, power and unity to people. It gave them the power of
movement and expansion. How swift and powerful horses are—how powerful
they make us feel! And unlike cars, horses have their own instincts
and they’ll keep us safe if we know how to stay on their backs!
Horses are often
associated with the sun chariot, the power to pull the Sun across the sky!
Horse is always associated with warrior-heroes, for often heroes must ride like
the wind. And the Mare is known for her fertility and gentle, mothering
Spirit. In Native American lore, of all the colors, a white stallion was
most prized, especially by the chief and medicine man. White Stallion
symbolizes the balanced medicine shield, “where true power is wisdom found
in remembering your total journey. Wisdom comes from remembering pathways you
have walked in another person’s moccasins. Compassion, caring, teaching,
loving and sharing your gifts, talents, and abilities are the gateways of power.” (For more, see Sams & Carson,
Medicine Cards. Horse,
p. 178.)
Horses symbolize
movement and power, both physical power and spiritual power. On the
physical plane, Horse gave us freedom; when Horse entered our experience, it
enabled us to move quickly over large areas of land and to have accelerated
power during war. Our whole world-view changed. We talk about cars
having ‘horse power’, indicating how powerful the engine is to take us swiftly
over many miles. On the spiritual plane, the magical Horse enables
shamans to fly through the air and reach heaven.
For the Celts,
Horse calls us to journey, to move our life forward and seek our soul’s
purpose. And that often includes learning how to shift dimensions.
Life needs to get deeper and richer. Horse calls us to go deep
within and act boldly outside. Just as Rhiannon is a goddess of
journeying between realms, Horse is the vehicle we use to make that journey.
It’s so
interesting that horse is a healer—autistic children blossom when they’re
connected with horses. Like Dolphin, Horse bridges the gap between human
and animal and brings emotional healing to whoever asks its help. Horse
is playful and loyal, intelligent and wise. But most truly, gentle and strong:
we know that Horse can be trusted (except of course the grouchy ones.)
Whether
journeying in the outer realms or the inner, Horse brings us energy, speed and
a connection to the land and to the sky. As we journey, we learn the
lessons of Horse—that together, we can travel through many dimensions and over
many miles of land. Together, we can heal each other. Horse teaches
us to become comfortable with the Earth’s life-cycle, letting go of what needs
to die so we can rebirth a new life. Journeying is Horse’s gift to us!
(for more, see Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm, The Druid Animal Oracle.
Horse, pg. 122.)
Rhiannon’s
Gifts
Rhiannon is both
Faerie Queen and Lady Sovereignty, who, in choosing her own spouse, thereby
ordained Pwyll legitimate king of the Dyfed, which she personified.
She rides her White horse between worlds, opening the gates of fertility and
powerful sexual energy. This image of Lady Sovereignty astride a White horse
developed into a ritual wherein certain Irish kings undertook a symbolic
marriage to a white mare to align their reign to the power of the Land itself. The
Celtic’s honored Mother Earth and her mysteries.
Rhiannon chose
to embrace the mysteries of life, and she offers her guidance to us through her
stories. Rhiannon’s stories exemplify the hera’s journey to
overcome obstacles to her choices, as well as showing us what happens when the
magical (spirit & matter) Feminine must deal with the limited understanding
and vision of unconscious humans and faeries. Feminine gifts are
misunderstood and often reviled by our left-brain society. Rhiannon can
help us forgive those who won’t trust our feminine knowing. She acts out
of greater consciousness with humility and grace, showing mortals her true
worth.
Rhiannon works
with an aspect of feminine consciousness which opens us to new experiences, no
matter what plane of existence it happens on. She helps us overcome the
obstacles within ourselves to listening to our intuition and emotional
intelligence. Rhiannon is a strategist—she needs to be free. She is
independent and strong, even in the midst of adversity. And she has the
gift of music, which speaks to our souls. Like Sophia and Kwan Yin, she
has experienced the suffering of humanity and understands us
and has
compassion for us.
She is the
Goddess to turn to when you have to walk through a door and you’re not sure how
it will turn out. Her goodness, her wisdom and her truth are your best
guides for walking into the Unknown. As you journey, you become the
Maiden once again, crossing the threshold into the next, new phase of your
life.
Rhiannon
and Pwyll
While hunting in
Glyn Cuch, Pwyll, prince of Dyfed becomes separated from his companions and
stumbles across a pack of hounds feeding on a slain stag. Pwyll drives
the hounds away and sets his own hounds to feast, thereby earning the anger of
Arawn, lord of Annwn, the Otherworld. In recompense, Pwyll agrees to
trade places with Arawn for a year and a day, taking on the lord's appearance
and taking his place at Arawn's court. At the end of the year, Pwyll engages in
single combat against Hafgan, Arawn's bitter rival, and mortally wounds him
with one blow to earn Arawn rulership of all Annwn.
After
Hafgan's death, Pwyll and Arawn meet once again, revert to their old appearance
and return to their respective courts. They become lasting friends when Arawn
learns that Pwyll slept chastely with Arawn's wife for the duration of the
year. As a result of Pwyll's successful ruling of Annwn, he earns the title Pwyll
Pen Annwfn; "Pwyll,
head of Annwn." And Arawn himself ruled Dyfed well, so that Pwyll
came home to a kingdom at peace.
Sometime later,
Pwyll is holding court at his chief seat of Arberth and he walks up the Mound
of Arberth. He is told that any noble who sits upon the Mound cannot
leave until he either suffers an injury or else sees a marvel. He decides
to sit there, hoping to see a marvel. Soon a most beautiful woman appears
down the road, dressed in gold silk brocade and riding a shining white horse. She
rides past the Mound at a sedate pace, and Pwyll sends his best horsemen to
greet her, but she remains ahead of him, though her horse never moves quicker
than an amble. The more the man hastens after her, the further away she
is.
The next day,
Pwyll goes back to the Mound and everything happens as it did the day before.
The woman rides by, Pwyll sends his fastest horse after her and she still
cannot be caught. On the third day, Pwyll himself rides after her, but he
has no better luck. He finally calls out to her: “Maiden, for the sake of
the man you love, wait for me!” The maiden calls back: “I will wait
gladly, and it had been better for the horse if you had asked it long ago.”
They talk and
Pwyll asks her business there and the maiden tells him she has come to see him.
She introduces herself as Rhiannon and tells him she has come seeking him
because she is being forced to marry a man against her will. She would
rather marry him than her fiance, Gwawl ap Clud, if he will have her. Of
course Pwyll agrees.
Rhiannon tells
him to come to her father’s hall in a year’s time to marry her. When he
arrives, he is greeted with great joy and a big celebration. During the
feast, a man comes to ask a boon of Pwyll, and without thinking, Pwyll offers
to give him anything in his power. Then the petitioner says he is
Rhiannon’s intended bridegroom and he wants Rhiannon back. Rhiannon is
horrified by Pwyll’s stupidity but she says they have to give him his request
but she will put off sleeping with him for a year.
When that year
is over, Pwyll and his men come back and hide in the orchard. Rhiannon
has a plan. She gives Pwyll a magical bag. During the celebration,
Pwyll disguises himself as a beggar, and petitions Gwall for enough food to
fill the bag. The bag can never be filled, and after putting quite a bit
of the feast in the bag, Gwall says, “Will that bag never be full!” Pwyll tells
him that he must come and stamp on the food in the bag for it to stop.
When Gwall comes and does it, Pwyll quickly ties him up and calls his men, who
proceed to beat up the bag and humiliate Gwall until he agrees to give up
Rhiannon.
After being
married for a few years, Pwyll and Rhiannon attempt to supply an heir to the
kingdom and eventually a boy is born. However, on the night of his birth, he
disappears while in the care of six of Rhiannon's ladies-in-waiting.
To avoid the
king's wrath, the ladies smear dog's blood onto a sleeping Rhiannon, claiming
that she had committed infanticide and cannibalism through eating and
"destroying" her child. She tries to get them to tell the
truth, saying she will protect them, but they will not recant their lies.
So Rhiannon is
forced to do penance for her crime. Her punishment is this: for seven
years to sit beside the mounting block outside the gate each day and to tell
her story to all who come to Arberth. And to offer to those guests and
distant travelers who would allow it to carry them on her back to court.
Only rarely would someone allow her to do so. And so it went for seven
years.
Meanwhile, Lord
Teyrnon, a horse-lord, has a wonderful mare. Every May Eve she would
foal, but the colt would always disappear. Finally, Teyrnon decides to
put a stop to the theft of her foals. That night when she gives birth to
a beautiful colt, a clawed arm comes through the window and grabs the colt.
Teyrnon hews its arm off, freeing the colt. When he goes out to give
chase to the monster, he finds a baby boy wrapped up in silk brocade.
Teyrnon and his
wife always wanted a child, and even though they know the boy is noble, they
decide to keep him. They call him Gwri Golden-Haired. The boy grows
at an amazing rate. At one, he is walking firmly and is stronger than a
three year old. At two, he is bigger and stronger than a six year old.
Soon he is helping the stable boys. Finally, Teyrnon and his wife give
Gwri the colt that was born on the night they found him.
Through the
years, Teyrnon hears stories about Rhiannon and her punishment, and feels bad
that she is in such misery. Finally looking at the boy, he realizes that
Gwri looks just like Pwyll. And so he and his wife agree to take Gwri to
Arberth to his parents. When Teyrnon explains what happened, Rhiannon
exclaims, “If this is true, I have been delivered of my anxiety (pryder). And so her son is given the name
Prydari.
Prydari grows
into a man of honor and many talents, and when his father Pwyll dies, he
becomes the ruler of not only Dyfed but also Seisyllwch.
As you can see,
Rhiannon is a complex goddess--Faerie Queen who takes on our humanity. A
compassionate, magical goddess. One who moves with us on our journey.
She is Soul, the part of us that lives in-between our body and our Spirit.
May the love and
blessing of the Goddess be ever in your heart. Merry meet, merry part and
merry meet again.
