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In the Welsh romance of Math ap Mathonwy
Blodeuwedd is conjured up by Gwydion the Magician as
a bride for Llew Llaw Gyffes. Blodeuwedd is made from
nine powers of nine flowers and when Llew Llaw Gyffes
sees Her He falls in love with Her. The two lovers live
happily for a time until one day whilst Llew is visiting,
Math Gronw Pebyr comes by Blodeuwedd's castle hunting
a stag. When their eyes meet the Hunter and the Goddess
fall in love. Blodeuwedd then tries to kill the magically
born Llew by devious means, but Llew can only die if
he is struck by spear one year in the making, not within
a house or without and not on horseback or on foot.
Llew is finally struck down by Gronw, who Blodeuwedd
has persuaded to kill him with a deadly spear whilst
Llew is taking a bath in a roofed cauldron by the side
of a river, and standing with one foot on a buck's (deer)
back and the other in the edge of the cauldron. Llew
turns into an eagle and ascends to heaven. Gwyidon the
Magician who created Blodeuwedd then goes off to find
Llew. He finds him on a tree above a pigsty transformed
back into himself. They then go and seek revenge on
Blodeuwedd and Her maidens. They eventually catch up
with the Goddess and turn her into an Owl/
Blodeuwedd is the Guardian of Emergence and reclaiming
the True Self. When working with Her Blodeuwedd asks
us "Who are you?" and She offers you clarity
and wisdom.
Blodeuwedd is in essence the Flower Goddess who creates
Herself each springtime. Blodeuwedd, like Rhiannon,
is a love Goddess, she chooses her lovers as she pleases
and is unrestricted by castle walls or containment of
the social morals of the day. She leads her lovers into
initiation (male and female) by asking you to surrender
to love.
Blodeuwedd is portrayed as a betrayer and is chased
out of her communal home into the wilds where she adopts
another face, that of the owl. The owl is a symbol of
wisdom, the bird of wisdom. The owl is the part of us
that sits on our shoulders and whispers into our ears
the wisdom of our life experiences.
At Beltane Blodeuwedd asks us to honor the love and
the beauty within us. She asks us to create ourselves
anew each springtime out of the beauty of the flowers
all around us. Then at Samhain she is the wise owl taking
our knowledge and experience and turning it into wisdom.
Connect with Blodewedd through meditaion at Beltane
(30th April/1st May) and Samhain (31st Oct) which are
both portal times. She can be invoked to assist with
any matters of betrayal in love and can help you to
find wisdom in these times.
Blodeuwedd's Ritual of Understanding Betrayal.
Do you feel betrayed by a lover or friend? Have you
betrayed someone and are feeling the pain of this? Then
this meditation can help heal the betrayal and any residual
pain you may be holding. It is best performed on Beltane
but will work at any time.
Gather around some or all of the nine flowers of Blodeuwedd
or sit under a flowering hawthorn tree. Now close your
eyes and begin to sing to Blodeuwedd. It can be a low
hum or a grand song of love to draw her towards you.
When you begin to feel yourself drifting away imagine
yourself running in a field full of beautiful spring
flowers. You are running towards a seated maiden, she
has her back towards you and you slow down as you approach.
She turns and smiles and asks you to unburden yourself
of any betrayal. You begin to tell her your story and
the details come flooding back. As the characters of
your story appear in your mind, you see you are linked
to them by a vine of ivy. You cut the vine now and begin
to unravel yourself from the drama of the betrayal.
Spend a while here in the Goddess Blodeuwedd's company
unraveling your betrayal. See all the Ivy shrinking
and deteriorating and disappearing as the feelings you
have carried begin to leave your being. When you have
completed this sit with Blodeuwedd for a while and allow
her to cover you in Owl feathers and flowers and to
mend any broken pieces of your heart.
When you are ready to let all this go
and return to the waking world send Blodeuwedd your
love and thanks and offer her a gift. Respectfully walk
away from the Goddess and slowly breath yourself back
into the now. Ground yourself and awaken. Welcome back.
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