The Goddess Rhiannon

The Goddess Rhiannon

I thought I would do a few of my favorite Celtic Goddess. I have always love the Celtic legends and I do have Irish blood. So I would love to share with you all my first Goddess of the Celtic - 
The Goddess Rhiannon - Goddess of the Moon - Divine Queen of the faeries  besides being the enchanted Goddess of the faeries she is one of truth and survival.
Rhiannon Goddess of the Faeries ~
Rhiannon the Goddess of Divine Queen of the Faeries, was promised in marriage to an older man she found repugnant. Defying her family wishes, Rhiannon had loved another and decline to marry the one of her own kind. In the - Land of the Divine Faeries.  
Instead, Rhiannon chose the mortal Prince ll as her husband. One afternoon Rhiannon appeared to the Prince ll while he stood with his companions on a large grassy covered mounds, that were deep in the forest surrounding his castle. These mounds were called Tors. They were thought to be magical places, perhaps covering the entrance to the Ethelda beneath the earth. It was thought also that, who ever stands upon them would become enchanted, so most of the Prince ll people would avoid them at all costs. 
So it is no surprise that the young prince was enchanted by the vision of the Beauty of the young

Goddess Rhiannon - Divine Queen of the faeries, who was dressed in glittering gold as she galloped by on her powerful pure white horse. 
Rhiannon rode by on her most powerful and enormous white horse without sparing the prince even a glance. Of course this intrigued and entrapped him by her enchantment and beauty even more. He had never had a lady of such beauty not ex-knowledge his noble invitation. His companions were understandably concerned. Ignoring the protest of his friends, Prince ll sent his servant off to ride his horse as swiftly as his horse would go, to catch up with the Goddess Rhiannon and to ask her to return to meet the Prince.
But of course the servant soon returned and reported that she had rode so swiftly that it seemed like her horse's feet scarcely touched the ground. He told the Prince he could not even follow her to learn where she had went. 
The next day the prince decided to take matters in his own hands against the wishes of his friends advice, and returned alone to the mound once again in hopes to see the Celtic Goddess one more time. To his surprise and gratitude the lovely Rhiannon appeared yet out of nowhere. She was mounted on her beautiful pure white horse, standing before the prince. Then in a blink of an eye, she was off on her horse which ran faster than ever before. The prince couldn't believe how fast her horse could run. The distance between them was always the same, about 20 feet so it was very hard to keep up with the Goddess but the Prince was very determined to catch up with the lovely Goddess Rhiannon. Finally after the Prince's horse began to tremble with exhaustion he stopped dismounted  and called out to her. The Prince then sat near by his horse feeding him some food he had brought with him waiting for the Goddess Rhiannon. And after he called out her name he saw that she had waited for him. The Beautiful Goddess was sitting on her horse waiting for the Prince to catch up with her.

The sight of the Celtic Goddess waiting for him, had tugged on the Prince's heart. When he finally reached to the Celtic Goddess, he reached for her reins to guide her to his Kingdom. He said,'Welcome to my Kingdom.' 
Rhiannon just smiled tenderly and shook her head, telling him that they must wait one year and that is when she would marry him. In the next moment, The Goddess Rhiannon of the Faeries simply disappeared from him into the deep forest. And the Prince didn't see the beautiful Goddess for that entire year.
Rhiannon's Return~
Well Rhiannon did indeed return a year later, dressed as before to greet the Prince on the Tor. He

was accompanied by a troop of his own men as it should be for a prince on his wedding day. Speaking now words, the Goddess Rhiannon turn her horse and gestured her horse for the men to follow her into the tangled woods. Although fearful, they complied, As they rode through the trees, suddenly it parted before them and a clearing of a huge valley turned into a path. As they walk on the path with their horses, with a slow trot the forest behind them closed. When they passed through, what seem to be an enormous valley, they soon entered another clearing and were joined by a flock of small colorful songbirds that swooped down playfully in the air around Rhiannon golden hair. The sound of the song birds beautiful caroling put all fear and worry out of the heads of the Princes' men.  Suddenly they felt a peace and harmony within their hearts and felt no threat where they were going.
Rhiannon's Home ~

Before they all arrived at Rhiannon's Father palace, the Prince and his men were stunned by the site before them. There was a castle unlike any that they have ever seen before in their lives. It wasn't built of wood or stone but of pure crystal and silver. The castle was in the center of this enormous deep blue lake that seem to get a deep purple color in the center for what they could see. Around the lake was the most beautiful flowers and and very tall trees. The song birds seemed to be coming from those trees. 

Rhiannon's family and people were both welcoming and helping the prince and his men up the stairs to the King's Castle and when they all arrived the spiral steps steps disappeared under their feet. 

A place of beautiful gardens and and lakes high in the heavens. 
Where as soon as they got there the wedding happened so fast the wedding feast had already had started, in celebration of the marriage of the Goddess Rhiannon Divine of the Faeries and everyone was merry. But even in a perfect world there is problems. 
Quarrel in the Festivities ~ 
While everyone was having a grand time, a quarrel had broke out in the courtyard of the castle during the festivities of Rhiannon's and the Prince's great Feast.
It was said that the man she'd once been promised to marry to, was making a scene. He was arguing that, she should not be allowed to marry outside the kingdom and only with her own kind. 
Rhiannon slipped away from her husbands side to deal with the situation and as directly as she could...
Using a bit of magic she turned the persistent suitor into a badger and caught him into a bag which she tied up closed and threw the bag into the lake of the courtyard grounds. Unfortunately he manages to escape and later returned to cause great heartache in the Goddess Rhiannon.
Rhiannon leaves her homeland~ 
The next day Rhiannon left with the Prince and his men to go to Wales as his Princess when they

emerged from the forest and the trees closed behind them. Rhiannon took one last moment to take a glance at her lovely home behind her. She knew that the entrance to her Fairy Kingdom was now closed forever and she could never return to her childhood home ever again. 
But she didn't pause for long and seemed to not have any regrets-  
Rhiannon was welcomed by her husbands people when they arrived in Wales at this Palace with open arms. They loved her great beauty and her singing. But after two years passed without becoming pregnant without an heir to the throne. The questions of her bloodline, her fitness to be the Queen began to be an issue?
Years of Happiness / Sadness of the Goddess Rhiannon~
In the next year, Rhiannon had a healthy heir to the throne, a son. However, this would become the

greatest source of sorrow for the Goddess Rhiannon and her King. 
As custom in those days, six women servants had been assigned to stay with the Goddess Rhiannon in her living quarters to help her care for the infant. The servant's were suppose to work in shifts in tending to the baby, throughout the night so Rhiannon could sleep and regain her strength after giving birth-
However this one evening would change everything that was good and happy in their lives, for the Goddess Rhiannon and her beloved King. 
That night all the servants had fell asleep on the job. When they woke up to find the cradle empty, they feared they would be punished severely for their carelessness so they devised a plan to cast the blame on Rhiannon, who was not really one of their own people in their mind. So what they did was, kill a small puppy and smeared its blood on the sleeping Goddess and scattered the puppy's bones all around her bed. Then they sound of the alarm and accused the Goddess Rhiannon of eating her own child. 
Rhiannon of course swore her innocence to her King. Suffering from his own shock and grief he was faced with the anger of his adviser and his own people of his Kingdom.
Who did not come strongly to Rhiannon's defense. Many said, the Prince would not divorce her and asked only that her life be spared. 
Rhiannon the Goddess punishment was announced ~  
Rhiannon Punishment~   
For the next seven years Rhiannon the Goddess was to sit by the castle gate, bent under the heavy

weight of a horse's collar and to greet all the guests that come to the grand gate with the story of her crime. Afterwards she is to offer to carry them on her back to the castle for seven years and to do this in all seasons of the years.
The Goddess Rhiannon bore humiliating with her punishment without one complaint. She would go thought the seasons of the bitter cold winters and the heated summers.  The Goddess would endured with quiet acceptance.  
Her courage was such that few accepted her offer to transport them into the castle. Respect for her began to spread throughout the country as travelers talked of the wretched punishment and the dignity with which the Goddess Rhiannon bore her suffering. 
In the fall of the fourth year, three strangers appeared at the gate - a well dressed nobleman and his wife with their young boy.
Rhiannon rose to greet them saying "Lord, I am here to carry each of you into the Prince's court, for I have killed my own child and this is my punishment." The man, his wife and the child dismounted. 
While the man lifted the surprised Rhiannon onto his horse, the boy handed her a piece of an infants gown. Rhiannon saw that it was cloth that she  had woven with her own two hands. The boy then smiled at her, Rhiannon recognized that he had the eyes of father - Prince ll.
The Goddess Rhiannon is Queen once again! 

Soon the story was told. Four years earlier, during a great storm the noblemen had been called to the field to help a mare in labor, then he heard the infant cries and found him lying abandoned. He and his wife took the baby in and raised him as if he were their own, when the rumors of the Goddess Rhiannon fate had reach their ears. The Nobleman realized what had happened and had set out at once to return the child to his parents. 
Most legends suggest that the badger actually was the enraged suitor that Rhiannon had rejected who had escaped and taken his revenge by kidnapping Rhiannon's infant son. 
The Prince and his people quickly recognized the boy as their heir to Rhiannon and the Prince ll. 
The Goddess Rhiannon was restored to her honor as Queen and was place beside her husband once again as Queen Rhiannon, along with her Prince son.
Although Rhiannon had suffered immensely by the hands of her own people, Rhiannon Goddess of Noble Traits, saw that they were ashamed and filled with forgiveness and understanding. 
So she decided to stay with her beloved Prince and the people grew to love her all over again. 

This story of the Celtic Goddess Rhiannon reminds me of the power of healing, tears, and forgiveness.  The Goddess Rhiannon is a gift of movement and change who remains stead fast, comforting us in times of crisis and loss. 
Rhiannon brings us grace and dignity through her seven(4years) of unjust punishment by the people who she trusted. And they use her trusted - still she endured and was empowering through promise that truth and integrity will always prevail. 
The Goddess Rhiannon gives us the assurance through her grace and dignity that there will always be balance in the universe. 
She is Truly a Divine Goddess of Peace, Truth and enlightenment.
Again as I wrote above I think Goddess Rhiannon is one of my favorite Goddess - her story and  what she brings to us all - Her grace, dignity, forgiveness, empowerment, trust, endures , healing powers, love of forgiveness ,integrity, truth, enlightenment,and giving us all the the assurance that there will be balance in our world and the universe.
I hope that you all! enjoy the beautiful images - there are from fantastic Artist that I found. That I felt  went well with this installment of the Goddess of Rhiannon.. 
Wendy