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Rhiannon's Healing Touch

22/1/2019

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Rhiannon, Goddess of Self Love and Justice
Claudia Olivos

I've had a long journey of healing with Rhiannon, even though it's not what She is known for through Her mythology. This is a personal story, admittedly full of subjectivity, but I want to share it, so here we go.
I had been consciously honouring Epona for some years when I began praying to Rhiannon at the suggestion of a friend. This friend is a Shaman, or neo-Shaman, if you will. (Yes, I know all the arguments about the use of that word, as well as the full discussion about first world people attempting to do this work.) Whatever we call my friend, I respect him and the work he does enough to have paid attention to this, even though he was talking about things that at the time had no real meaning for me.
He told me that I needed to strengthen my third chakra, and that Rhiannon would help me to do this. Well, I had never given chakras any thought, except one other time when this friend had mentioned them to me. To be honest, I had never given Rhiannon much thought, either. It had been many years since I had read the Mabinogi and probably thought of Rhiannon as more of a character in a story than a goddess. So I resisted a bit, but I thought about how valuable my friend's help had been in the past, and then I "happened" to find the perfect white horse figurine for an altar, and so I read the Mabinogi again . . .  That must have been five or six years ago now.
I like having a personal liturgy of prayers that are meaningful and easy to remember. Most of these I have borrowed from somewhere else, then adapted to suit my personal beliefs and needs so that I am completely comfortable with them. I soon found that I had created a prayer to Rhiannon concerning the seven chakras, which I had by that time studied a little. I always start my prayer with a series of epithets, like the ones I've given here, and the prayer goes like this:

Great and Blessed Rhiannon, Mother of Horses, Queen of the Land, Queen of the Starry Fillies, Great Mare of Sovereignty
Teach me to stand firm on the earth
and to love and honour your body

Teach me to know my will
and to feel the pleasure of life

Teach me to wield my power
to wield it from the belly

Teach me to love your children
and all who share our world

Teach me to speak the truth
with honesty and compassion

Teach me to see the truth
seeing both far and deep

Teach me to commune with you
make me worthy of that honour


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I'm generally not drawn to "new age" things, but once I understood the basics, the chakra system made sense to me. Of course, it is and isn't a new concept, and this article describes its origins and some of the changes it has undergone in the west better than I ever could. Ultimately, I see it this way. Either we have chakras, or we don't. Either they exist, or they don't. Or perhaps they were always intended to be a metaphor. If they do exist, or indeed, if the metaphor works for you, then your cultural orientation isn't an issue.

Then last spring I got a drum, and began using it at my full moon rituals. That is blossoming into something very special, and I believe very healing for me, in which I find myself singing and sometimes dancing. In September, something new happened, and I was shown how to drum the chakras, which I believe is a much more vibrant and effective approach for me, and sometimes leads on to other bits and pieces of self-healing. Sometimes I also hear the voice of Macha and Epona joining in, encouraging me to heal myself. That is something I have been needing to hear.

As with any ritual, saying this prayer is more effective if I put energy and intent into it. I am prone to lapse on anything like this. I call it my "daily practice" - well, it is when I'm doing it! However, every day that I do it adds up to a bit of strength and depth that helps carry me through the lapses. And if I'm a bit short on energy and intent? I think it helps keep the pilot light lit. There is a spark of energy and intent even when I mumble the words with my mind half on other things. It is easier, by far, to light the furnace when the pilot light is working, just as it is easier to build a fire from a live spark than it is to begin by rubbing a couple of damp sticks together.

The other day I was meditating, and I wondered about Rhiannon's healing connection, and I heard Her speaking to me. "I am not as different from Bride as you might think. After all, I love the land and the little healing springs." In my mind's eye I saw the muzzle of a white horse, drinking from the smallest of springs.


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Click here to view my new chapbook of poetry and prose about horses.

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Brigid Walks the Land. Fire Up Your Forge!

6/1/2019

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It's starting. Can you feel it? The light has already changed so obviously here in Oregon. Something is waking up in me. I am not usually depressed around MIdwinter. I love the dark and the long nights, and don't mind being alone at this time like some people do. But I have been deeply depressed recently.
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DavidBellamyArt
Yesterday morning was not the first day I noticed the change in the light, but it was the first morning that it broke through my gloom and touched me in some physical way. Got through my skin. As often happens around Imbolc, a new poem for Brigid came to me.

wind in the hair and
fire in the head
Brigid walks the land

fire up your forge!
gather your cattle
for calving
fletch your arrows
and set them alight

go to a high place
and look how
she has spread
her cloak of green fields
and brown fields

Brigid walks the land
fire up your forge!


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Bridget by Jo Dose
Yes, Imbolc is coming. We think of snowdrops, and increasing light, of Brigid and the Cailleach. Some consider it a time of ascendency for the Rowan tree. I have been wanting to share a little something about this poem, called "Song" by Seamus Heaney for awhile now.
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I love this for many reasons.  Each mention of tree and flower seems to bring the spirit of that plant to me. The red berried rowan which has associations with witchcraft and protection, the alder which so often has its feet in the water, the rushes, the immortelles - which is another name for Helichrysum, those little button-like flowers that dry so beautifully. Then there is birdsong and "mud flowers" and dialect. It's a lot in eight lines! And the music of what happens. What about that? Well, it's referencing this:
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So now you know. It's a bit Zen, isn't it? I find myself so frustrated by what is happening in our world. But I can only do what is given to me to do. Sometimes I have to accept that I am caught up in events much greater than myself, events not of my making. In the story, Stephens goes on the say that Fionn loved what happened and "would not evade it by the swerve of a hair". We spend a lot of time thinking about how to evade what might happen, not stopping to think that our energy is better spent dealing with whatever is before us. That we are better off responding to life with all the strength and beauty we can muster. That was always Fionn's way.

As the season of Imbolc comes, and Brigid walks the land, I always feel Her fiery inspiration. There is work to do.

I have recently created a chapbook of some of my other poems about Brigid and the Cailleach, written over the years. This little book is a handy size to use in rituals and devotional work.
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See product page for details.
Poems for the Season of Imbolc
$
8.00    

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Blogging Highlights of 2018

3/1/2019

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I've had a small core of readers for years, and believe me, you are very close to my heart. However, I want to reach more people, and recently that has begun to happen. But why? I don't think that my writing has improved dramatically, but I am probably better at writing titles and choosing lead pictures, which is essential for social media (okay, facebook, because I can't be bothered to expand beyond it). Having a second blogging platform on Patheos has also boosted the Go Deeper blog. I will try to keep both blogs going, because I like to cover a wider array of topics and share poetry and things that don't feel like a good fit on Patheos.

Most Popular
Interestingly, my two most popular posts this year are my two most recent ones. I really hope that's the start of a trend! These were Ideas for Celebrating Epona’s Day, here, and Why You Should Be Wary of Celtic Facts on Patheos. I really poured my heart and soul into the Epona piece, and although it’s aimed at one day of the year, most of the content is applicable any time.

I’ve only been on Patheos for a few months, and most of my posts there have done well, but one which was especially popular was Horses of the Dark Time, the first in a series of pieces about horse mumming traditions. This one covered Cheshire souling plays that take place around Samhain, and feature a skull horse. For an unsensational piece on folklore, I can only guess that its popularity was due to the timing and a striking lead photo of a Mari Lwyd.
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photo by Rhyn Williams
Back at Go Deeper, another popular post was Halloween is Pagan, Trick-or-Treat is Traditional. Yes/No/Maybe in which I stirred the pot a bit regarding the tackiness of Halloween in the US, vs the mid-20th century traditions surrounding bonfire night in the UK.
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The Story Shawl
was the first piece of fiction I ever published on the blog, and it also did well. It was intended as a metaphor concerning the value of mythology to a society. I was pleased with how it turned out, and that it was popular, but amused that many readers seemed to miss the analogy between the fictional shawl and mythology. Oh well!

In Contemplating Lughnasadh I explored Lammas fairs and the myth of Tailtiu clearing the land for agriculture. As some of you know, I feel that we should be putting wild nature at the centre of our concerns, and that the neo-Pagan wheel of the year, with its emphasis on agricultural cycles, creates a bit of a conflict. This is something I expect to write more about in the future.

In October I was haunted by the tale of The Wild Mare. It came to me in instalments over a few mornings while I was still in bed, almost in the same way that much of the story itself unfolds in the main character’s dreams. I hardly feel that I can claim credit for this one. I wrote it down, but I have no sense of having composed it. I hope there will be more like it, but who knows? You can now buy it in print, along with some poems on a horsey theme, in chapbook form.

My personal favourites
I only write about things I love, and there are a few posts that I especially wish had been read more widely. If you have time, check some of these out. If you find one you love, perhaps you will share it.


The Blackface Sheep Speaks is a post that sits close to my heart. I believe that my oracle cards have a lot to teach us, and this one is among my favourites from this year. The overarching spirit of the card felt very close when I was writing this one.

The Evil That Efnisien Did explores an episode from the Mabinogi that had been bothering me for some time. The answers I came up with in some ways dovetail with what I wrote in the Lughnasadh piece mentioned above.

Another post that meant a lot to me was The Romany Gentleman, my review of Tom Lloyd’s film about his father, Walter Lloyd and their associations with the Romany and Traveller communities at Appleby horse fair. Not only is it a great film, but I so much enjoyed doing research about Walter Lloyd, who turned out to be one of the most ildánach people I have ever encountered.
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Tom LLoyd and friends
Back in January I was preparing to do a talk and a ritual for Imbolc. Reasearch for the talk inspired me to write Cailleach Rant, a prose poem that is also available in print now, along with some of my older poems about Imbolc.

In Making Friends with Celtic Mythology I offered what I hope is some useful advice to readers who aren’t sure how to approach this awfully big subject of study. I see a lot of questions about this on social media. Here are a few answers.

On Patheos I also have a couple of favourites. One is Mabon is a God, in which I try to explain that I don’t mind people honouring Mabon at the Autumnal Equinox, but why I do object to them using His name as the name for the day. The other is Moon Drum, in which I describe the events of a particularly potent full moon ritual.
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Moon Drum
Have a wonderful new year, dear readers!

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    Kris Hughes - writer, hedge teacher,  pony lover, cartomancer,
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