In this article I`ll give some short points on who was Rhiannon, her legends, her appearance, magical abilities and sacred symbols. (total pages -6)
I. Who was Rhiannon?
She was an old Celtic goddess, connected
with moon energy, earth, fertility, birds songs, magic, wind, herbs, trees,
seasons. She is symbol of feminine sovereign power and abilities to defend her
own freedom, to stand for her values. She has incorporated also the two aspects
– of earth goddess of day (riding white horse) and ruling over Moon. She was
connected with goddess Rigantona and Epona. Her name was probably derived from
“rhiain” [ maiden ] and Annwon [ meaning in Welsh Otherworld ] She was named
“Great Queen”, or “Queen of fairies”.
Rhiannon
and Pawyl ~
One
day prince Pawyl [ closely to the name Paul, Pooul ] was playing with his
companions in the beautiful green grass mound of Tors, in a forest near to his
castle. This mound was claimed to be magical place, full of spirits and ghosts,
so people avoided to step there. It was thought, that people who stood in such
place would become enchanted from fairies. That didn’t stop the prince to enjoy
that place in his horse.
Suddenly
Pawyl noticed from far away lovely young girl, riding on white horse and
dressed in glittering golden robe. He thought this is phantom and not real, so
he started chasing her. Avoiding the recommendations of his friends to not
follow her, the brave man rode fast behind her, but Rhiannon was swift as the
wind, so no one could catch her. Finally the mesmerized prince took the fastest
horse, but still he didn’t succeed to come very close to mysterious maiden. She
soon disappeared from look. The next day the restless prince returned to the same
mound in search of the woman on white horse. She appeared and was fast riding
her horse with speed of arrow, hardly touching the ground. But whatever efforts
he made to ride faster his horse, the distance between them remained the same. Finally
exhausted, the prince stopped his horse and called on Rhiannon to wait. She
stopped and waited him surprisingly.
She
said to him, it would have been much easier and more kind of him to just call
on her, instead of chasing her horse.
She
admitted her love for him, astonished and happy, the prince wanted to take her
quickly to his castle. It is never so easy to marry a goddess –they had to wait
one more year, before being able to be united.
One
year later ~
Rhiannon
appeared as before in the place of magical mound, on her white horse. Pawyl was
expecting her, so he rode after her in the deep woods. The trees welcomed them,
whispering with language of birds and wind. The branches of trees parted to
open the way in front of him. The goddess led him to the magnificent palace of
her father, surrounded by a lake. The castle was divine and was build of
special silvery crystal, going high into heavens. She was not allowed at first
to marry a mortal man, but she defended her willing in front of gods and her
father. So she had success and finally married the prince Pawyl with lavish
festivals.
Now,
as she made her choice to stay with the mortal people on earth, she could never
return again to her heavenly castle of gods.
Back
to the earth kingdom ~
They
went back as wedding couple to the palace of the prince, through the tick
magical forest. People admired her for her beautiful face, mystic eyes and
amazing singing. Two years then went away without Rhiannon to be able of giving
birth and secure the throne with heir. On the third year she delivered a
healthy baby, a son. Sadly he became also source of big sadness for the kings
family.
Misfortune
~
One
day all the six servants who took care of the little infant, fall asleep. When
they woke up, they found the cradle empty, so they started to be afraid of hard
punishment for the missing baby. The made a horrific plan to accuse the
beautiful Rhiannon of hard crime against her own child. They killed a puppy and
smeared some of its blood on face of sleeping goddess, scattering little bones
around her bed. She was blamed of gravious sin of eating her child.
The
Punishment ~
The
story tells of amazing harsh punishment on the innocent Rhiannon. She had to
stay seven years outside of the castle, with a heavy horse collar on her neck, and
her task was to tell her story (about eaten child) to anyone who visited the
castle in any time. Moreover she had the humiliation to carry the man on her
own back to the castle. This was her symbolical transformation as a horse. Rhiannon
endured for long years this punishment with acceptance of her fate.
Rhiannon
visualization (appearance) ~
She
can be visualized with dark brown waving hair and blue eyes. Dressed in
white long gown with golden glittering stars on it. She has bracelet of red
crystals. Her hair is decorated with red flower – rose or peony. Sometimes she
is seen with golden star on her head pendant on the fore head. She is swift and
has the ability to disappear and to fly. You can see her surrounded by animals
– specially birds, and horses. Sometimes riding white horse.
Magical
symbols (attributes) of Rhiannon ~
Element
– wind, air, clouds, middle earth
Direction
– west, north
Incense
– sandalwood, myrrh, rose, geranium, cedar wood
Flowers
– rose, rosehips, daffodils, cedar, pine (all herbs), sage
Geometry
form – circle, sphere, sphere with rose
Crown
– head wear with golden star (pentagram); roses, peony
Sacred
sign – pentagram in a circle (golden), rose in sphere
Planets
– Neptune, Saturn, Venus
Minerals
– lapis lazuli, blue topaz, turquoise, blue moonstone, bloodstone
Other
names – Divine Queen, queen of fairies, lady of birds. Lady of Wind
angelic
color – dark blue, dark green, turquoise
earth
color – garnet red, golden
Birds
– hummingbirds, dove
Working
with Rhiannon includes magical rituals for binding of wind, cloak of
invisibility, time freezing, ability to see beyond the veil, herbal potions.
Moon phase – waning, fig tree, blossoming trees, blue butterflies.
...I hope you enjoyed my article, feel free to share it and add your comment below! thank you.
References ~
[ nina Lea-nura * ]
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