I Like the image of Arianrhod somewhat isolated in her fortress, shunning the rest of her House. Interesting to hear of her leading an army. What do you think of the theory that she had affairs with 2 different men which is why the magic rod she stepped over made her have 2 children with different characteristics?
Theories like that feel a bit two prosaic to me. I feel like the answer is more magical/dynastic. I go into that end of things more in Lugh Lleu ua-cam.com/video/6Xsm3fBRm04/v-deo.html (I should probably put that one on the end screen, now I think about it.)
This had me thinking. Doesn't the whole Sovereignty Goddess of hing go that the man copulates with the goddess and then he is king. So by keeping her as a maiden and keeping her feet in her lady parts, there are all kinds of interpretations. It's like he is holding on to kingship without fulfilling the normal bargain and keeping anyone else from fulfilling it either. But she doesn't seem to resent the arrangement, from how the story is told. Then when she is taken against her will, is that an attempt to take the kingship? And when she tells him that she is no longer a maiden and can no longer fulfil whatever bargain they have, that's when he decides to take her as his wife? So big picture....he's got the benefits of being king as long as he has his feet on the land. But then if he leaves to fight a battle it's a ki d of "move your feet, lose your seat" situation. Only everyone is used to having him as king by that point, so they are just "oh well, you lost your sovereignty and let someone else stomp all over the land, but what the heck, we'll still keep you as king." And then they make it official by finally having him marry the sovereignty goddess. It does sound very odd. It feels like this is a faded memory of some political arrangement that was complicated and then was broken but fences were mended and everything was ok in the end. Of course, as much as there is a "typical way" sovereignty goddess and king stories go, there are also many many ways they go atypically. Like the story of Aine. So the typical story is probably just the way the arrangement is supposed to go, and unfortunately, men being men, it doesn't always go that way. Actually it would be interesting to see how many stories there are about the times it went the way it was supposed to. I would bet there are more stories about the times it went wrong. Because usually the stories that get told are not made from events where everything went smoothly.
These are fascinating insights that recontextualize the myths -- from postmodern Welsh Ariadne, returned to her roots as a strange woman lying in a pond. Could the rock's ability to sink unfriendly ships speak to her power as a sovereignty goddess? Might her existence have been regarded a sailor's tale, reserved for comrades and the initiated?
I'm not sure that there is any history of ships being sunk by hitting that reef - it was just an offhand comment that you wouldn't want to! I don't think any connection to sailors should be assumed.
I used to cross a pile of rocks at low tide to get to an island when I was a kid. It was a man made pile meant to protect a small marina, and it was only above water at low tide. I will never forget the day I sat there waiting for low tide and watched a medium side recreational boat go full steam ahead I to what I knew was only 1/2 a foot of water at that point. Then I sat there watching as the tide got lower and their craft was starting to tilt and they shouted at 12 yr old me to help them...and I was like "I can't lift your boat off the rocks, radio the coast gamuard." And they said they didn't have a radio. LOL. They did not have life jackets either. And my guess is they didn't have charts either or they would have known about the rocks. I don't think rocks sink unfriendly ships as much as they sink boats full of the unprepared and those who don't have respect for the water lol
Interesting question.
I Like the image of Arianrhod somewhat isolated in her fortress, shunning the rest of her House. Interesting to hear of her leading an army. What do you think of the theory that she had affairs with 2 different men which is why the magic rod she stepped over made her have 2 children with different characteristics?
Theories like that feel a bit two prosaic to me. I feel like the answer is more magical/dynastic. I go into that end of things more in Lugh Lleu ua-cam.com/video/6Xsm3fBRm04/v-deo.html (I should probably put that one on the end screen, now I think about it.)
This had me thinking. Doesn't the whole Sovereignty Goddess of hing go that the man copulates with the goddess and then he is king. So by keeping her as a maiden and keeping her feet in her lady parts, there are all kinds of interpretations. It's like he is holding on to kingship without fulfilling the normal bargain and keeping anyone else from fulfilling it either. But she doesn't seem to resent the arrangement, from how the story is told. Then when she is taken against her will, is that an attempt to take the kingship? And when she tells him that she is no longer a maiden and can no longer fulfil whatever bargain they have, that's when he decides to take her as his wife?
So big picture....he's got the benefits of being king as long as he has his feet on the land. But then if he leaves to fight a battle it's a ki d of "move your feet, lose your seat" situation. Only everyone is used to having him as king by that point, so they are just "oh well, you lost your sovereignty and let someone else stomp all over the land, but what the heck, we'll still keep you as king." And then they make it official by finally having him marry the sovereignty goddess. It does sound very odd. It feels like this is a faded memory of some political arrangement that was complicated and then was broken but fences were mended and everything was ok in the end.
Of course, as much as there is a "typical way" sovereignty goddess and king stories go, there are also many many ways they go atypically. Like the story of Aine. So the typical story is probably just the way the arrangement is supposed to go, and unfortunately, men being men, it doesn't always go that way. Actually it would be interesting to see how many stories there are about the times it went the way it was supposed to. I would bet there are more stories about the times it went wrong. Because usually the stories that get told are not made from events where everything went smoothly.
These are fascinating insights that recontextualize the myths -- from postmodern Welsh Ariadne, returned to her roots as a strange woman lying in a pond.
Could the rock's ability to sink unfriendly ships speak to her power as a sovereignty goddess? Might her existence have been regarded a sailor's tale, reserved for comrades and the initiated?
I'm not sure that there is any history of ships being sunk by hitting that reef - it was just an offhand comment that you wouldn't want to! I don't think any connection to sailors should be assumed.
I used to cross a pile of rocks at low tide to get to an island when I was a kid. It was a man made pile meant to protect a small marina, and it was only above water at low tide. I will never forget the day I sat there waiting for low tide and watched a medium side recreational boat go full steam ahead I to what I knew was only 1/2 a foot of water at that point. Then I sat there watching as the tide got lower and their craft was starting to tilt and they shouted at 12 yr old me to help them...and I was like "I can't lift your boat off the rocks, radio the coast gamuard." And they said they didn't have a radio. LOL. They did not have life jackets either. And my guess is they didn't have charts either or they would have known about the rocks.
I don't think rocks sink unfriendly ships as much as they sink boats full of the unprepared and those who don't have respect for the water lol