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Rhiannon

(Divine Queen)
Who is Rhiannon?          Fairy Bride, Fairy Queen, or Goddess?          Sovereignty & Motherhood
Grief, Hope, Death, Rebirth, & the Winter Sun          Perseverance through Injustice          Eloquence & Wit
Recommended Sources & Further Learning

Hail Rhiannon

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Hail to you Rhiannon,

our Great Divine Queen.
You who of old emerged, shining, from Annwfn at the portal of Gorsedd Arberth.

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Lady of Shining Hope, Mothers and Warriors, the Land and Horses.

Star of the Apple and Rose of Purest Beauty.

Key to the Gates of Death and Womb of Birth.

Shining Beacon unto Women and Lamp of Graces,

Body of the Land and Crown of the Lord of the Tumultuous Sea.

Shield of Protection,

Saddle of Power,

And Supple Shoes to those who travel Your Path.

Lands flourish ripe and abundant,

and peoples prosper under the wisdom of Your word and reign.

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Seat of Sovereignty and Fount of Freedom,

You can neither be pursued nor overtaken.

Your great power cannot be usurped, O Maker of Kings and Lords.

None may approach You but by Your consent.

Respect alone finds Your favor,

And only polite request finds Your audience,

For in Your elegant hands rest the reins of power and authority.

Yet You travel alongside men and Gods,

Stepping apace with others, You neither follow behind

Nor go ahead with your back to those who follow You.

Loyally and graciously, You walk with us.

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White Rider of the Deep,

Clothed in the golden light of the sun,

You light the vast sea of darkness,

And Your radiance illumines the path before us.

You rule the known and the unknown,

The depths of mysteries and the heights of wisdom,

As You ride the paths of Life and Death, of joys and sorrows,

Of light and darkness, of creation, destruction, and protection,

You travel with ease between the Worlds.

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Instructor of Kings, of Heroes, and of Gods,

We are wise to lend our ears to Your silver seer’s tongue

As it dances its Spirals of Mystery and Knowledge upon the air.

We are wise to heed the teachings of Your ways and Your words.

Clever and Wise Goddess and Pillar of Autonomy,

Sharp and cunning, You outwit Your foes,

Subduing those who would disrespect You or circumvent Your will.

None may escape the sly wrath of Your vengeance who dare defy Your sovereignty,

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Great Revealer of Wisdom and of Ways, Light of Hope in the Darkness,

You shine through the clouds of suffering and the cold of grief to guide the afflicted, the ailing,

The mourning, the oppressed, the abused, and all who seek to overcome and endure.

Your back bows under the weight of Your people in need.

You aid us in bearing our burdens, Gracious Queen,

With dignity and aplomb. You carry us without complaint,

Never too proud to lower Yourself to serve Your people.

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Rebuker of Gods and Mare Mother,

The wise know those who would subdue You fool only themselves,

For You are the source of power, and

Your eye cannot turn blind towards injustice or abuse.

With sharpness do You rebuke those who mistreat animals.

With prejudice do you curse those who objectify women.

Defense of children and innocents alone may ensnare You into bridled subjugation.

The depths of Your Mother’s love spurs you to ride the winds to their aid,

And great peril holds no sway before You in Your pursuit. 

Undaunted by fear or the unknown, You rush to their defense

O Protectress of Children.
 

Well of Dignity and Lady of Even Hand,

You answer not to crude demands and blunt speech.

You see it fit to preserve the life of others,

Even when tradition and law would dictate your domination.

You stand in eminent equanimity and espouse compassion,

Even in the face of abuse, accusations, and lies.

You rein in all temptation to tyranny despite your great power,

Dressing Yourself instead in patience, endurance, and hope,

For You know justice will prevail and truth will be revealed.

Your crown cannot be tarnished, and 

Your power cannot be diminished,

O Rose of Truth and Long-Suffering.
 

Powerful Mistress of Battle and Support of Soldiers,

Bravely do You ride out alongside those who would fight and die

For the sake of You – our land, our people.

Great Warrior Goddess, Your strength is that of the unyielding earth,

Your power rises as the crashing waves of the sea,

And Your speed is that of the flying winds over the plains --

Fill us with Your fire that burns as the sun, 

As You stand our fierce and loyal companion to the end,

Leading us to victory or honorable death, 

O White Mare of the icy Winter Mists.

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Keeper of the Keys of the Gate of the West, and Womb and Tomb of the Land,

Within Your arms we find both our rest and our restoration.

Your sweet birds’ song breathes new life into the dead

And brings the lull of soothing sleep to the living.

Ever-present, You are always near, even when seeming far away.

Yours is the sweet Apple of Life, housing the seeds of creation

From which all things spring forth.
And Yours is the Winter Sun and the promise of the return of the light
when the cold dark grip of death and sorrow is strongest.
 

Great Queen!

None may hold true power if it is not sought in honor and respect from You,

Nor find a welcoming home among all the lands of the verdant Earth,

Nor find peace within their hearts, if Your graces are not found therein.

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For Yours is the Seat of Power and the Authority to Rule,

Yours is the Heart of the Mother and the Vitality of the Warrior,

And Yours is the Key to the Gates of the Afterlife and the Rose of Purest Love.

 

You are the Autonomy of Women and Protector of Children, Travelers, and Warriors,

You are the Rose of Beauty and the Lady of Shining Hope,

And You are the golden guiding light of the Winter Sun's promise of the return of the light in the depths of darkness.

 

Majesty of Horses and the Sacred Land beneath our feet,

Hope of Soldiers and of Farmers, of highest Kings and of lowest Poor,

Wisdom of Endless Ages and Sharp Wit of Youth,

Freedom of the Unbound Winds galloping the plains
And the soothing, crashing waves of the Sea.
 

It becomes me to praise You

And hold sacred Your festivals, symbols, and virtues in honor of You and all You stand for.

Great is Your name upon the lips of the living, O Goddess,

And gentle is Your hand upon the eyes of the passing.

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I live in humbled thankfulness of Your blessings

As I walk alongside You in gladness.

Guide me always in Your sacred ways I pray, 

Sacred Sovereign,

Mare Mother,

Divine Queen

Rhiannon

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Who is Rhiannon?

My background is in linguistics, so let's look into Her name to start with.

 

Rhiannon's name is a divine name by its very structure -- the suffix -on is a theonymic suffix (meaning, it denotes a deity or divine being). You may recognize this suffix in the names of other figures in Welsh medieval literature (by polytheists, often referred to as "Welsh mythology") such as Gofannon, Amaethon, Modron, Mabon, etc (do be careful with its presence outside of proper names, as the suffix in modern Welsh can also denote the plural).

 

The rhian part of Her name comes from the Proto-Celtic *riÌ„ganiÌ„, meaning queen, and indeed, in modern Welsh, the word rhiain (which is the modern evolution from the ancient word *riÌ„ganiÌ„) still means maiden or queen (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, https://welsh-dictionary.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html). Rhiannon, were it attested in ancient Brythonic or Gaulish, would have likely been rendered Rigantona -- however, it is important to note that, to date, no pre-Christian archaeological remains have been found that bear the name Rigantona. (There are, however, pre-Christian devotions found in archaeological remains for deities whose names are cognate with other figures from Welsh medieval literature, such as Nudd, Mabon, Modron, Gofannon, Gwydion, Lleu, Math, and perhaps even Gwyn [ap Nudd]. Those will be discussed on their own pages.)

 

You may notice the G getting dropped from words when occurring between vowels in the evolution from ancient Gaulish or Brythonic to modern Welsh (such as the G in Rigantona) as well as the presence of NN in modern Welsh pointing to a former combination of NT or ND in ancient Brythonic or Gaulish (which leads from RiGanTona to Ri-anNona). So, the course of word change over time roughly is expressed as Rigantona > Ri-annona > Rhiannon. We also see these patterns with words such as Annwfn (from an- prefix + dwfn = anDwfn, which reduces to anNwfn) and the word Braint from Brigantia (Brigantia > Bri-antia > Briant > Braint). Given that Her name is made up of the components rhiain (or ancient *riÌ„gan-) + the theonymic suffix -on, Her name literally means "Divine/Deific Queen".

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Rhiannon is one of the main figures in the First and Third Branches of The Mabinogi, and She is mentioned in Culhwch and Olwen. A powerful, magical, assertive, and intelligent monarch, She is a goddess whose stories are of much value.

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Fairy Bride, Fairy Queen, or Goddess?

The short answer to this question is: Yes. They aren't mutually exclusive.

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The long answer is: One of the big differences in foundational concepts between monotheism and polytheism is in how one sees divinity. In monotheism, divinity is absolute -- it is either present (in the singular deity) or absent (in everything else). Polytheisms, in many regions across the world as far afoot from the West as East Asia (China, Japan, etc), tend to see divinity as a spectrum. Beings (animate or inanimate, bodied or disembodied) are on a sliding scale of divinity and/or spiritual power, as well as a sliding scale of closeness to and interest in human activities and welfare. This is precisely what makes both apotheosis and the shuffling of divine power dynamics (as is often portrayed in the mythologies) possible in polytheisms -- a spirit or being's divinity or spiritual power is not fixed; it can and does change, and that divinity itself is not an on-off switch but a dimmer switch.

 

Taking on this foundational understanding can be of indispensable aid, especially to former monotheists, in making sense of polytheistic lore and myths. The question changes from "Is X a God?" with a binary "Yes/No" answer, to "How divine is X?" (which will intrinsically require you to define what makes a being divine to you) or "How spiritually powerful is X compared to Y?" or "Are X and Y equally spiritually powerful, just in different ways?" 

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Seeing beings on a spectrum of divinity and/or spiritual power makes sense of many features of polytheism all at once. 

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It explains...

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  • the rise and fall in perceived power and popularity of Gods over time, especially if one subscribes to the idea that receiving offerings and being worshipped feeds energy to spiritual beings (which would literally increase their power and facilitate their rise on the deific spectrum -- or their fall, if worship wanes; note I said facilitate -- I am not implying that human worship alone defines one's divine power),

  • why many (all?) polytheistic cultures will build shrines for, worship, and/or propitiate beings who aren't necessarily considered "gods" per se (in addition to the idea of hospitality and just being good neighbors),

  • how humans or other beings become more divine and eventually take on the mantle of godhood (apotheosis),

  • the insistence of many cultures on the veneration of ancestors, especially very important ones -- so they may reach some critical mass of spiritual power and become gods who may then have the power to intervene on behalf of humans, 

  • the overlap between the Tylwyth Teg/Fair Folk and the Gods (or Alfar, or YoÌ„kai, or whatever your culture calls the not-quite-human but also not-quite-gods sometimes-very-powerful spirit beings who inhabit the Otherworld, not that these are all identical, they aren't, but making sweeping generalizations here) -- whether you see them as demi-gods, or as just other types of spirit beings who are more powerful than humans (in some ways) but not quite powerful enough to be rendered gods (except of course when they are also rendered gods),

  • and, of course, it also makes sense of the fact that qualifying to be a "god" in polytheism is a blurry, wishy-washy thing causing people to disagree on whether a specific being is actually a "god" or not!

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Taken in this light, the fact that Rhiannon's name literally means divine queen is clear evidence for Her being a god. Her explicitly being described as "wearing a shining golden garment of brocaded silk" (Davies, p. 8) indicates She is royalty -- this also applies in Annwfn, where both Arawn and his unnamed wife were also described as wearing the exact same type of clothing previous to Rhiannon's arrival in the First Branch. That She comes from Annwfn, moves outside of time, has magical powers and magical items, is very wise, is associated with a mound, and readily takes action and stands up for Herself (as opposed to the passive behavior one might expect of medieval human women, which Branwen is more an embodiment of) can be indicators of either Her being a "fairy" (Tylwyth Teg) queen and/or  as indicators of Her being a god (because these factors could be said to describe both). And, the fact that She arrives on the scene as a fully mature woman (as opposed to our getting Her childhood and birth backstory) and an immediate love interest of the prince Pwyll, who Pwyll then must act appropriately in order to earn Her favor, points to Her overlaps with the Fairy Bride motif. 

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So, is Rhiannon a deity? Royalty among the Tylwyth Teg? A human's (or perhaps a deity who is a role model for human kings) fairy bride? ...Yes.

 

D. All of the Above.
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Sovereignty & Motherhood

Rhiannon is a sovereignty figure not only in Her name (divine queen), but also in Her roles and behaviors. She is unable to be captured by pursuit; no matter how fast one chases Her down, one cannot get any closer. She can only be approached by request and only answers to respectful address -- She will not be hunted down like some animal or prize, nor can She be overtaken by brute force of strength or speed. She also chooses Her own mate, in defiance of Her father's preferred betrothal as well as in defiance of Her betrothed's attempts to manipulate and force the situation. Force -- be it by way of the patriarchy or physically -- cannot win the Lady of Sovereignty. She chooses for Herself, and Her choice is for the one who addresses Her with courtesy and heeds Her advice in rectifying problems which involve Her. These are the actions of a self-determined, autonomous woman with healthy boundaries.

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Repeatedly throughout the Mabinogi, when Rhiannon is disrespected, disaster immediately follows (this is actually a recurring theme for all of the women in the Mabinogi). Rhiannon is framed and unjustly punished, made to behave as the animal She earlier defended (highlighting again Her empathy with the horse’s treatment), in conjunction with the tragedy of Her son Pryderi’s disappearance. It is not insignificant that, had Pwyll trusted and listened to his wife as he did before their marriage, he could have known that Pryderi was missing (rather than dead) and likely would have found his son much sooner. There is no small bit of irony in the fact that the very same council who insisted Pwyll put Rhiannon away and get a new wife over Her failure to produce an heir quickly enough is also largely responsible for Her unjust punishment -- and for the heir they were previously so very concerned about not being found for years. Indeed, the Mabinogi also repeatedly sends the message of warning regarding whose council to trust in which situations.

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This is mirrored in the Third Branch when Pryderi gives his widowed mother Rhiannon to Manawydan (as would have been his legal right to do in human Welsh medieval law) without consulting Her first. (And Manawydan is, significantly, the rightful heir to be the High King of Britain.) Although She does prick up Her ears at their conversation about the transaction and says “I will agree to that gladly”, almost as if to assert Her own will one final time, this response only comes after the transaction has already been made as far as the men are concerned. The very next major plot point, as Andrew Welsh notes, is that the land “is deserted but not infertile. Even under the enchantment it abounds in game, fish, and wild honey. Only the refinements of civilized life are gone: domestic herds, dwellings with their hearth fires, the society of people. It is not nature but culture that has failed” (p. 135).

 

Although Andrew Welsh is making a different point about Manawydan’s hero’s journey in the source cited, highlighting the failure of the “old ways” and the consequences of the “relentless processes of honor and revenge which characterize the heroic code: apocalyptic destruction in the Second Branch, an empty land in the Third”, the words still ring true in the context here. It is adherence to the culture of machismo – violence, absolute domination, and objectification of others – which continuously leads to ruin in the Mabinogi, and in Rhiannon's portions of the story, this is expressed via the effects on the land itself and on the loss of both Rhiannon Herself and the royal heir (Her son). Only by way of rejecting this culture – by casting aside the idea that one is literally 'too good' for labor, and by finding shrewd and non-violent ways to survive in the meantime of eventually using wit rather than bloody blade to overcome the enemy – is the day ultimately won when the land, Rhiannon, and Her son are restored in the Third Branch. Indeed, Manawydan’s story alone is resolved without loss of life in the Mabinogi.

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Rhiannon's name may mean divine queen, but She is also very much a mother figure. Her punishment in the First Branch, being made to go on all fours and give people rides on Her back like a horse -- as well as Her being collared like a horse and made to labor in the fortress of the mist in the Third Branch -- both come as a result of the loss of Her only child, Pryderi. When others pursue Her or attempt to subjugate Her directly, Rhiannon cannot be overcome -- She is a sovereignty goddess and rules Her own fate. But, when Her beloved child is involved, She is yoked, unjustly punished, oppressed, and subdued. This is not coincidence -- whether looking at Her sovereignty aspect or Her motherly one -- both caring sovereigns and loving mothers are brought to their knees when the welfare of their children (and/or their people) are at stake. Endangerment of Her child also brings out heroism in Rhiannon -- when the king (Manawydan) does not do His duty to protect the fruits of Her womb, it is the Divine Queen of Sovereignty and the caring Mother who shows initiative and bravery that Manawydan does not. She is the one who heroically dashes off to the rescue of the adult man (Her son) who is locked away in the magical castle in the mist by the adversarial wizard! So much for gender stereotypes, and so much for chivalry! Epona, a Gaulish goddess who shares several thematic parallels with Rhiannon, was also a mother goddess figure (to the extent that She was even included with carvings of the Matres) -- this is gone into in more detail in my blog post here.

 

Her immediate and bold response to Pryderi going missing in the Third Branch is enough to make one wonder to what lengths She would have gone to find Her son if She had not been immediately apprehended for legal punishment in the First Branch. This question will resurface when considering Rhiannon in the Winter-Solstice-to-New-Year's tradition of the Mari Lwyd.

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Grief, Hope, Death, Rebirth, & the Winter Sun

Rhiannon is a 

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Perseverance through Injustice

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Eloquence & Wit

As is fitting of a goddess of sovereignty whose name means divine queen, Rhiannon takes no bull. She does not accept the man chosen as suitable for Her by Her (presumably also divine) father and goes off to find one of Her own. That Rhiannon's father is probably also a deity is not mere groundless speculation -- Her father is (H)euf(e)ydd Hen (sometimes written Hyfaidd) -- Heufydd the Old. His name is cognate with the ancient pre-Christian Gaulish god Ogmios (you may recognize the name Ogmios as cognate with the more obviously linguistically related Irish Oghma as well) (RhyÌ‚s, 1908, p. 62). Also depicted as old, Ogmios was the god of eloquence and binding, bearing chthonic associations with death and the underworld (hey, there's that death connection again) -- Lucian tells us that the ancient Gauls used Hercules as interpretatio Romana for Ogmios, the god of eloquence who led people willingly by chains connecting their ears to His tongue, because they believed the power of words was the greatest strength (Brunaux, 1988, p. 72; Lucian, pp. 63-7; MacCana, pp. 37-41). This serves as an eye-opening example of how very symbolic and not-straightforward interpretatio Romana could be and how cautiously we should approach it.

 

If Her father is the god of eloquence and binding, Rhiannon is every bit as swaying with Her words, although perhaps not always with the height of eloquence so much as with the power of authority. She calls a prince (Pwyll) stupid to his face, and not just any prince, but Her prospective future husband (Davies, p. 12). This is not hyperbole or summary; She literally calls him stupid. While this may invoke a shrug or a reaction of distaste in the modern audience, it perhaps cannot be emphasized enough what a bold move this would have been to a medieval audience -- anyone directly insulting a ruling noble to his face, nevertheless a woman doing so, could easily have been a death sentence. This marks Her out not only as special compared to other women, but also as authoritative in comparison to other rulers, as She is not only unpunished nor rebuked for saying such a thing, but She is still the pursued and desired prospective wife, and Her suggestions are still followed by Pwyll without question or argument. She is sovereignty -- anyone who desires Her will do as She wills, and anyone who attempts to usurp, circumvent, or disrespect Her faces the consequences, as Gwawl discovers the hard way. 

 

Speaking of Gwawl, Rhiannon can be not only bitingly blunt but also scathingly sarcastic -- one can almost see Her tilting Her head to one side and lifting Her starry eyes aloft, clutching Her palms together at Her heart in mock-damsel behavior as She knowingly tricks Gwawl into being beaten to a bloody pulp, spurring him on to his doom with "My hero!" (Davies, p. 14). Gwawl should have known better than to try to force the matter.

 

Say what you will about Rhiannon, despite Her darker associations, She has a sense of humor and a sharp tongue. 

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Recommended Sources & Further Learning

 

​Books

  • Davies, Sioned, (Trnsl), The Mabinogion, (Oxford University Press, 2007).

    • This is the recommended and most accurate translation available according to Gwilym Morus-Baird, Kristoffer Hughes, and Mhara Starling, who are all Welsh speakers. Please support your local bookstore, if possible.​

  • Hughes, Kristoffer, The Book of Celtic Magic: Transformative Teachings from the Cauldron of Awen, (Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2014).​

  • Telyndru, Jhenah, Pagan Portals. Rhiannon: Divine Queen of the Celtic Britons, (Winchester, UK: Moon Books, 2018).

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Online

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Regarding Rhiannon's Father Heufydd Hen & His Ancient Gaulish Cognate Ogmios

  • Brunaux, Jean-Louis, The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries, (London, Great Britain: B.A. Seaby, 1988).

  • Lucian, The Works of Lucian : with an English translation, translated by A.M. Harmon, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1913), https://archive.org/details/lucianiii130luci/page/74/mode/2up

  • MacCana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology, (Feltham, Hamlyn, 1970).

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