Tree of Leaf and Flame: Tales from the Mabinogi Free
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The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed Cenydd Morus (Kenneth Morris) Illustrations by Reginald Machell
Theosophical University Press Online Edition The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed Cenydd Morus (Kenneth Morris) Illustrations by Reginald Machell Copyright © 1914 by Katherine Tingley; originally published at Point Loma, California. Electronic edition 2000 by Theosophical University Press ISBN 1- 55700-157-x. This edition may be downloaded for off-line viewing without charge. For ease of searching, no diacritical marks appear in the electronic version of the text. To Katherine Tingley: Leader and Official Head of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, whose whole life has been devoted to the cause of Peace and Universal Brotherhood, this book is respectfully dedicated Contents Preface The Three Branches of the Bringing-in of it, namely: The Sovereignty of Annwn I. The Council of the Immortals II. The Hunt in Glyn Cuch III. The Slaying of Hafgan The Story of Pwyll and Rhianon, or The Book of the Three Trials The First Branch of it, called: The Coming of Rhianon Ren Ferch Hefeydd I. The Making-known of Gorsedd Arberth, and the Wonderful Riding of Rhianon II. The First of the Wedding-Feasts at the Court of Hefeydd, and the Coming of Gwawl ab Clud The Second Branch of it, namely: The Basket of Gwaeddfyd Newynog, and Gwaeddfyd Newynog Himself I. The Anger of Pendaran Dyfed, and the Putting of Firing in the Basket II. The Over-Eagerness of Ceredig Cwmteifi after Knowledge, and the Putting of Bulrush-Heads in the Basket III. The Circumspection of Pwyll Pen Annwn, and the Filling of the Basket at Last The First Branch of it again: III. -
The Thirteenth Mt Haemus Lecture
THE ORDER OF BARDS OVATES & DRUIDS MOUNT HAEMUS LECTURE FOR THE YEAR 2012 The Thirteenth Mt Haemus Lecture Magical Transformation in the Book of Taliesin and the Spoils of Annwn by Kristoffer Hughes Abstract The central theme within the OBOD Bardic grade expresses the transformation mystery present in the tale of Gwion Bach, who by degrees of elemental initiations and assimilation becomes he with the radiant brow – Taliesin. A further body of work exists in the form of Peniarth Manuscript Number 2, designated as ‘The Book of Taliesin’, inter-textual references within this material connects it to a vast body of work including the ‘Hanes Taliesin’ (the story of the birth of Taliesin) and the Four Branches of the Mabinogi which gives credence to the premise that magical transformation permeates the British/Welsh mythological sagas. This paper will focus on elements of magical transformation in the Book of Taliesin’s most famed mystical poem, ‘The Preideu Annwfyn (The Spoils of Annwn), and its pertinence to modern Druidic practise, to bridge the gulf between academia and the visionary, and to demonstrate the storehouse of wisdom accessible within the Taliesin material. Introduction It is the intention of this paper to examine the magical transformation properties present in the Book of Taliesin and the Preideu Annwfn. By the term ‘Magical Transformation’ I refer to the preternatural accounts of change initiated by magical means that are present within the Taliesin material and pertinent to modern practise and the assumption of various states of being. The transformative qualities of the Hanes Taliesin material is familiar to students of the OBOD, but I suggest that further material can be utilised to enhance the spiritual connection of the student to the source material of the OBOD and other Druidic systems. -
A Welsh Classical Dictionary
A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY DACHUN, saint of Bodmin. See s.n. Credan. He has been wrongly identified with an Irish saint Dagan in LBS II.281, 285. G.H.Doble seems to have been misled in the same way (The Saints of Cornwall, IV. 156). DAGAN or DANOG, abbot of Llancarfan. He appears as Danoc in one of the ‘Llancarfan Charters’ appended to the Life of St.Cadog (§62 in VSB p.130). Here he is a clerical witness with Sulien (presumably abbot) and king Morgan [ab Athrwys]. He appears as abbot of Llancarfan in five charters in the Book of Llandaf, where he is called Danoc abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 179c), and Dagan(us) abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 158, 175, 186b, 195). In these five charters he is contemporary with bishop Berthwyn and Ithel ap Morgan, king of Glywysing. He succeeded Sulien as abbot and was succeeded by Paul. See Trans.Cym., 1948 pp.291-2, (but ignore the dates), and compare Wendy Davies, LlCh p.55 where Danog and Dagan are distinguished. Wendy Davies dates the BLD charters c.A.D.722 to 740 (ibid., pp.102 - 114). DALLDAF ail CUNIN COF. (Legendary). He is included in the tale of ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ as one of the warriors of Arthur's Court: Dalldaf eil Kimin Cof (WM 460, RM 106). In a triad (TYP no.73) he is called Dalldaf eil Cunyn Cof, one of the ‘Three Peers’ of Arthur's Court. In another triad (TYP no.41) we are told that Fferlas (Grey Fetlock), the horse of Dalldaf eil Cunin Cof, was one of the ‘Three Lovers' Horses’ (or perhaps ‘Beloved Horses’). -
Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race by Thomas William Rolleston
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race by Thomas William Rolleston This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race Author: Thomas William Rolleston Release Date: October 16, 2010 [Ebook 34081] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE*** MYTHS & LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE Queen Maev T. W. ROLLESTON MYTHS & LEGENDS OF THE CELTIC RACE CONSTABLE - LONDON [8] British edition published by Constable and Company Limited, London First published 1911 by George G. Harrap & Co., London [9] PREFACE The Past may be forgotten, but it never dies. The elements which in the most remote times have entered into a nation's composition endure through all its history, and help to mould that history, and to stamp the character and genius of the people. The examination, therefore, of these elements, and the recognition, as far as possible, of the part they have actually contributed to the warp and weft of a nation's life, must be a matter of no small interest and importance to those who realise that the present is the child of the past, and the future of the present; who will not regard themselves, their kinsfolk, and their fellow-citizens as mere transitory phantoms, hurrying from darkness into darkness, but who know that, in them, a vast historic stream of national life is passing from its distant and mysterious origin towards a future which is largely conditioned by all the past wanderings of that human stream, but which is also, in no small degree, what they, by their courage, their patriotism, their knowledge, and their understanding, choose to make it. -
Gwern in the Fire 2006
Caer Australis Occasional Papers : Gwern in the Fire 2006 Gwern in the Fire By John Bonsing The Second Branch of the Mabinogi holds the story of the burning of Branwen's son, Gwern, in a great fire prepared at a feast arranged to settle a raid upon Ireland by the troops of Britain. The story comes down to us from the compilations of the the White Book of Rhydderch (1325) and the Red Book of Hergest (1400) whose contents comprise redactions of earlier mythological material. What is remarkable is that the story of Gwern in the fire bears a striking similarity to the traditions of the Beltaine fire customs recorded in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Thomas Pennant, John Ramsey and Walter Gregor in the Highlands and Islands. Intimately involved is a cauldron of rebirth, and this magical cauldron appears throughout Celtic myth and poetry of both Ireland and Wales, as well as featuring in the famous Gundestup cauldron that dates from the first century. Presented below are these three occurrences of the motif, giving us glimpses of this ancient Beltaine story. The burning of Gwern in the Fire And the men of the Island of Ireland came into the house on the one side, and the men of the Island of the Mighty on the other. And as soon as they were seated there was concord between them, and the kingship conferred upon the boy, Gwern son of Matholwch king of the Island of Ireland by Branwen daughter of Llŷr, sister of Bendigeidfran son of Llŷr, king of the Island of the Mighty. -
Branwen Ferch Llyr Thema Rhyfel a Heddwch
Cymraeg Iaith Gyntaf - Uned 5 Branwen Ferch Llyr Thema Rhyfel a Heddwch THEMÂU’R CHWEDL? RHYFEL / ANGHYDFOD • Cynnen 1. Efnysien yn ymsod ar feirch Matholwch gan ei sarhau ac achosi anghydfod • Llid Efnysien rhwng y Gwyddelod a gwŷr Ynys y Kedyrn. • Sarhad 2. Anghydfod yn ailddechrau yn Iwerddon. Matholwch yn dial ar Branwen drwy • Talu iawn ei halltudio i’r gegin a gorfodi iddi gael ei churo. Gwna hyn yn dilyn pwysau o • Dial gyfeiriad ei gynghorwyr sy’n awgrymu nad yw wedi derbyn digon o iawn am y • Rhyfel / Anghydfod sarhad a gafodd. • Heddwch 3. Yr anghydfod yn dwysáu wrth i Bendigeidfran ddod draw i Iwerddon gyda holl • Arwriaeth rym byddin Ynys y Kedyrn i ddial ar y sarhad ar Branwen. • Llwfrdra 4. Ar ôl cytuno ar delerau heddwch – y Gwyddelod yn twyllo Bendigeidfran • Arweinyddiaeth drwy guddio milwyr yn y sachau blawd yn y neuadd a godwyd i anrhydeddu • Perthynas Bendigeidfran. • Hen hudoliaeth 5. Efnysien yn lladd y milwyr yn y sachau blawd. • Y ferch ddioddefus / y diniwed yn dioddef 6. Efnysien yn taflu Gwern i’r tân yn ystod y wledd. Gweithred hollol wallgof ac annisgwyl. Teimla ei fod yn cael ei ddiystyru eto – fel ar ddechrau’r chwedl. 7. Pan ddaw’r saith milwr yn ôl i Ynys y Kedyrn gyda phen Bendigeidfran – twyll ac ystryw yno hefyd. Caswallon fab Beli wedi lladd y 6 gŵr a adawyd gan Bendigeidfran i amddiffyn yr ynys yn ei absenoldeb a goresgyn Prydain. Gwna hyn drwy dwyll – drwy wisgo mantell hud. Mae Caradog fab Bendigeidfran yn torri’i galon pan ddigwydd hyn ac yn marw. -
John Cowper Powys's Porius: a Reader's Companion
John Cowper Powys: Porius A Reader’s Companion Updated and Expanded Edition W. J. Keith April 2009 “Reader’s Companions” by Prof. W.J. Keith to other Powys works are available at: https://www.powys-society.org/Articles.html Preface The aim of this “Companion” is to provide background information that will enrich a reading of Powys’s novel/romance. It glosses Welsh, classical, biblical, and other allusions, identifies quotations, explains geographical and historical references, and offers any commentary that may throw light on the more complex aspects of the text. (When a quotation is involved, the passage is listed under the first word even if it is “a” or “the.”) It was first made available on the Internet and in booklet form in 2004, and has subsequently been updated and revised from time to time. The present version has been thoroughly reset and expanded. Numerous errors discovered in the intervening years have been corrected. All page-references are to Judith Bond and Morine Krissdóttir’s edition published by Overlook Duckworth in 2007, with those to Wilbur T. Albrecht’s 1994 edition from Colgate University Press following in square brackets. Since the latter contained many errors and inconsistencies, the words listed often appear there in somewhat different form. Moreover, because the editions are based on different copy-texts, some references appear only in one of the editions; when those occurring in only one version require separate annotation, they have been identified and glossed. References to other JCP books published during his lifetime will be either to the first editions or to reprints that reproduce the original pagination, with the following exceptions: Wolf Solent (London: Macdonald, 1961), Weymouth Sands (London: Macdonald, 1963), Maiden Castle (ed. -
1 Identity and Recognition in Medieval Narratives the Isle of Man Is Ideal
Kathryn E. Pokalo NEH-IOM: Crossroads of Medieval Culture Summer 2006 Identity and Recognition in Medieval Narratives The Isle of Man is ideal as a setting for discussing five medieval narratives, the subject of an NEH 2006 summer seminar. Located in the midst of the Irish Sea between Liverpool and Dublin and in sight of Galloway, IOM with its rich agricultural land and abundant fishing was invaded and settled by Celts, Scandinavians, and English. There has been such a weave of culture and language among these groups that it is difficult to disentangle the threads. This is best exemplified in the stone memorial cross, a Christian symbol, inscribed in runes, a Scandinavian writing system, commemorating a person with an Irish name. Among the people of Man one meets as a casual visitor, there is pride (though not xenophobia) in being Manx (never English nor even part of the UK), a place and people apart from Irish or English, Scots or Welsh, or Scandinavian. The Manx identity is more than the sum of those parts; it is that mixed heritage that makes IOM the happily situated setting to look for common threads among medieval narratives. One such thread is identity—the ability or inability of characters to know whom they face. Failure to recognize identity is a force that drives conflict in the Mabinogi, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Njal’s Saga, and The Tain. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, Pwyll fails to recognize what is before him. He fails to recognize the supernatural quality of the hunt he tries to steal. -
Robert Graves the White Goddess
ROBERT GRAVES THE WHITE GODDESS IN DEDICATION All saints revile her, and all sober men Ruled by the God Apollo's golden mean— In scorn of which I sailed to find her In distant regions likeliest to hold her Whom I desired above all things to know, Sister of the mirage and echo. It was a virtue not to stay, To go my headstrong and heroic way Seeking her out at the volcano's head, Among pack ice, or where the track had faded Beyond the cavern of the seven sleepers: Whose broad high brow was white as any leper's, Whose eyes were blue, with rowan-berry lips, With hair curled honey-coloured to white hips. Green sap of Spring in the young wood a-stir Will celebrate the Mountain Mother, And every song-bird shout awhile for her; But I am gifted, even in November Rawest of seasons, with so huge a sense Of her nakedly worn magnificence I forget cruelty and past betrayal, Careless of where the next bright bolt may fall. FOREWORD am grateful to Philip and Sally Graves, Christopher Hawkes, John Knittel, Valentin Iremonger, Max Mallowan, E. M. Parr, Joshua IPodro, Lynette Roberts, Martin Seymour-Smith, John Heath-Stubbs and numerous correspondents, who have supplied me with source- material for this book: and to Kenneth Gay who has helped me to arrange it. Yet since the first edition appeared in 1946, no expert in ancient Irish or Welsh has offered me the least help in refining my argument, or pointed out any of the errors which are bound to have crept into the text, or even acknowledged my letters. -
The (Pregnant) Mouse Freed from the Gallows: a Ballad Parallel for the Conclusion of Manawydan Fab Llŷr
RESEARCH ARTICLE The (Pregnant) Mouse Freed from the Gallows: A Ballad Parallel for the Conclusion of Manawydan fab Llŷr Thomas D. Hill & Kristen Mills Abstract In the concluding episode of the Third Branch of the Mabinogi, the Welsh nobleman Manawydan takes the (pregnant) mouse that he has captured to the magically significant site Gorsedd Arberth and prepares to hang her for theft, according to the law. As he prepares the gallows, various figures attempt to intervene until finally a ‘bishop’ redeems his transformed wife by disenchanting the land, freeing Manawydan’s companions, and swearing not to take vengeance. We argue that this scene is strikingly similar to the famous ballad widely attested all over Europe, ‘The Maid Freed from the Gallows’, a parallel which not only illuminates this episode in the Mabinogi, but also suggests how the Welsh storyteller used traditional material in shaping these narratives. Introduction Some years ago in a review of Tom Peete Cross’s Motif Index of Early Irish Literature, Kenneth H. Jackson wrote that folklorists sometimes seem unaware of medieval Celtic instances of motifs and ‘international popular tales’ that antedate many better known folkloric texts—Including both ballads and folktales—by centuries.1 In his book The International Popular Tale and Early Welsh Tradition Jackson illustrates this claim by pointing out a number of folkloric analogues to such medieval Welsh texts as Culhwch and Olwen and the tales that make up ‘The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’ (Jackson 1961).2 This line of research was later codified by Andrew Welsh who catalogued the traditional motifs in the Four Branches (Welsh 1988), and it is fair to say that in recent decades folkloristic and Celtic scholarship have become more fully integrated. -
Die Bedeutung Des Kessels in Der Walisischen Mythologie Eine Studie Zur Objektbezogenen Keltischen Mythosentstehung Und Mythostradierung
Nutzungshinweis: Es ist erlaubt, dieses Dokument zu drucken und aus diesem Dokument zu zitieren. Wenn Sie aus diesem Dokument zitieren, machen Sie bitte vollständige Angaben zur Quelle (Name des Autors, Titel des Beitrags und Internet-Adresse). Jede weitere Verwendung dieses Dokuments bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Genehmigung des Autors. Quelle: http://www.mythos-magazin.de Heinrich–Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Philosophische Fakultät/Neuere Deutsche Philologie Hauptseminar: Forschungsprojekt aus dem Schwerpunkt Mythos, Ideologie und Methoden Prof. Dr. Peter Tepe Hausarbeit über Die Bedeutung des Kessels in der walisischen Mythologie Eine Studie zur objektbezogenen keltischen Mythosentstehung und Mythostradierung Khatuna Letodiani HF: Ger. Sprachwissenschaft 1. Nebenfach: Neuere Deutsche Philologie 2. Nebenfach: Geschichte Sommersemester 2012 Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Einleitung ……………………………………………………………………………..4 2. Historische Voraussetzungen und terminologische Erläuterungen ……………6 2.1. Die Kelten - zur Bedeutung und Abgrenzung eines Kulturbegriffs …………….6 2.2. Der Mythos - eine literarische Erzählform und seine Charakteristika …………7 3. Die keltische Mythologie vor dem Hintergrund von Darstellungsform und geographischer Dimension …………………………………………………………8 3.1. Zu den unterschiedlichen Lokalspezifikationen …………………………………..8 3.2. Keltische Kultur und Literatur unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der inselkeltischen Literaturüberlieferung ……………………………………………..9 3.3. Die Möglichkeiten der mythologischen Überlieferung vor dem Hintergrund konkreter -
Chapter on History of the Otherworld
PERCEPTIONS OF ANNWN: THE OTHERWORLD IN THE FOUR BRANCHES OF THE MABINOGI Rhian Rees MA Celtic Studies Dissertation Department of Welsh and Bilingual Studies Supervisor: Dr Jane Cartwright University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter 2012 2 ABSTRACT There is little description or positive information about the realm of Annwn in the Four Branches, and relatively few publications have explored the Otherworld in the Mabinogi in any depth. The redactor presumably did not deem such detail necessary since in his time the Otherworld was a place familiar to his audience from many other stories and folk-tales which have not survived to inform our own times. The objective of this thesis, therefore, is to establish the perceived location of the Celtic Otherworld, its nature and topography, and to obtain descriptions of its people, buildings and animals and any distinctive objects or characteristics pertaining to it. The ways in which Annwn influences each of the Four Branches are also considered. Some sketchy evidence is available in Welsh poetry, mostly various descriptive names reflecting different aspects of Annwn, but for more detailed information it is necessary to trawl the waters of early Irish literature. The Irish poems and stories give much fuller particulars of all characteristics of the Celtic Otherworld, though they do suggest that there was more than one such other world. Some parallels from Norse literature and the Lais of Marie de France also reinforce certain themes of this thesis, such as magical tumuli and magical bags and