Tag: Lludd

The Dragon’s Gate

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In the medieval Welsh story Lludd ac Llefelys the island of Britain is beset by three plagues. The second is a scream which is ‘heard every May eve… It pierced people’s hearts and terrified them so much that men lost their colour and strength, and women miscarried, and young men and maidens lost their senses, and all animals and the earth and the waters were left barren.’ (1)

Lludd finds out from Llefelys the plague ‘is a dragon, and a dragon of another foreign people is fighting it and trying to overthrow it, and because of that… your dragon gives out a horrible scream.’ (2) It is likely the ‘foreign people’ are ‘the Coraniaid’, the Romans, who are the cause of the first plague.

Following the advice of Llefelys, Lludd digs a pit in the centre of Britain and fills it with mead. After the dragons have stopped fighting, firstly as dragons, then in the shapes of ‘monstrous animals’ and finally ‘two little pigs’, they fall into the vat, drink the mead and sleep. Lludd wraps them in ‘a sheet of brocaded silk’, puts them in a stone chest, and buries them at Dinas Emrys. (3)

The dragons battle again during the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons. At this time Vortigern attempts to build a tower at Dinas Emrys and it will not stand. Merlin tells Vortigern this is because there is a pond beneath the foundations and when the pond is drained two dragons will be found in hollow stones. 

Whilst Vortigern is sitting on the bank, the two dragons, one red, one white, begin a ‘terrible fight’ casting ‘forth fire with their breath’. The white wins. Merlin says this predicts the defeat of ‘the British nation’ by ‘the Saxons’. (4)

The scream of the red dragon and the battle between the red and white dragons takes place at times of war and potentially during other periods of upheavel. I believe it is connected with the diasbad uwch Annwfn ‘scream over Annwn’ or ‘cry over the abyss’ which is found in several of the Welsh law texts including The Laws of Hywel Dda. It is uttered by a claimant who is threatened by the loss of their claim to ancestral land. (5) It perhaps has its origins as an invocation of the spirits of Annwn, those who were held back by the King of Annwn, Gwyn ap Nudd, to prevent their destruction of the world. These spirits may well include the dragons who Gwyn’s father, Nudd / Lludd subdued.

According to the National Library of Wales The Laws of Hywel Dda features an illustration of a two-headed dragon. (6) I couldn’t find this image but did find two of the red dragon, from f.21.r and f.51.r, which are in the public domain. 

*

I’m returning to this lore after a journey circle with the Way of the Buzzard wherein we discussed the connection between dragons and voice and journeyed to the underworld to ask a dragon for guidance around personal power.

I met a black dragon who instructed me to ‘put on my dragon skin’. I shapeshifted into a dragon and we flew over the volcanoes with the smoke cleansing my skin. I was then taken to an iron grate with forms behind it. I was told I ‘must learn to release the prisoners’. The black dragon’s final message was: ‘Those who are denied are needed.’ I’m not sure if they are parts of myself who I have shut away, people, or spirits, or perhaps might be all.

Other participants reported visions of a dragon’s golden eye and dragon’s heart. This really struck me as it fit with the black dragon who I met, who I suspect to be Gwyn, the King of Annwn, in dragon form, His heart the Heart of Annwn. Several years ago my aunt sent me a birthday card with a golden dragon eye on it and it watches over me here in my monastic cell. 

My vision of a black dragon fits with the legends of the red and white dragons because white, red and black are the colours of the Otherworld.

I later received the gnosis that the iron grate is ‘the Dragon’s Gate’. I believe behind it lie the spirits of Annwn who Gwyn keeps shut up until the end of the world because of their furious and nature which can harm or possess us.

That these spirits, ‘who are denied are needed’, feels like a big revelation although not an entirely unexpected one. The story of Lludd and Llefelys and the scream over Annwn teach us that occassionally these spirits need to be released.

I’m going to be talking with Gwyn further about safe ways of releasing these spirits with His guidance and how this might relate to my personal power.

(1) Davies, S. (transl.), The Mabinogion, (Oxford University Press, 2007), p112
(2) Ibid. p113
(3) Ibid. p113 – 4
(4) Thompson, A. (transl.) Monmouth, G. History of the Kings of Britain, (In Parentheses Publications, 1999),p110 – 133
(5) https://awenydd.weebly.com/the-scream-over-annwfn.html
(6) https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/manuscripts/the-middle-ages/laws-of-hywel-dda

    The King of Distractions

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    He came into my life around 2012 when I started this blog and joined the strange world of the blogosphere. His presence was invisible at first and it took me a few years to perceive his influence. I started this blog to share inspiration and find and connect with like-minded people and I succeeded in those aims. Only I found that during that process ‘something’ had gained power over me. I was not only reading what inspired me and felt important but trying to keep up with every last thing on the blogosphere, on social media, not wanting to miss out or get left behind.

    In 2015 when I was doing my best to fit the mould of being a politically-engaged Pagan there were days when I did nothing but scroll the internet for information to make the right replies on blogs and Facebook and Twitter feeds. 

    Around that time there were some really nasty arguments between right and left-wing polytheists that led to the breakdown of the polytheist movement. It was a horrible thing to see and this, on top of being burnt out from having forced myself into activism, led me to stop blogging and abandon social media.

    I went to Wales. I had some experiences with Gods and giants. I came back. 

    Since then I have been more mindful of my internet use and how it uses me. After a couple of brief flirtations I have abandoned Facebook and Twitter. I follow only blogs that inspire me. I steer clear of arguments. I limit my engagements to old-fashioned forums at the Monastery of Annwn and The Cloister.

    Yet still I’m distracted which I find to be a terrible irony for a nun of Annwn, one who is devoted to the Gods of the Deep, is writing a book called ‘in the Deep.’ When I need a break or when I get stuck I’m tempted to check my emails or look at a blog, then one thing leads to another and I’ve lost half an hour. 

    The problem of attention theft, of stolen focus, and the resulting atrophy of our deep work muscles is something we have been working with at the Way of the Buzzard Mystery School* and has been picked up on by fellow Polytheist Monastic Danica Swanson.**

    Since then reclaiming my attention and retraining my deep work muscles has been a large part of my personal spiritual development as a nun of Annwn. But it hasn’t been easy. I’ve had a lot of resistance to keeping my focus on one thing at a time, whether it is meditation, writing, gardening, running or a gym work out. I’ve had a lot of minor things go wrong recently from personal and family health issues to a stolen bike and a troublesome member at the monastery. I’ve used them as excuses for letting distractions have their way.

    In spite of my best efforts I have been struggling to focus on one thing at a time to the point I have felt that ‘something’ is actively stealing my attention.

    Returning to look at the Way of the Buzzard journey circle in January 2022 ‘Reclaim your Attention’ last night I noticed the intention was to journey on ‘what is getting in the way of your attention?’ I intended to do so this morning but instead woke up with the answer – ‘the King of Distractions.’

    Having dreamt a couple of days ago about our house being burgled and linking this to the man of enormous stature with a huge hamper who stole food and drink from Lludd in Lludd ac Llefelys I realised I had found the culprit. 

    I then had the gnosis that the King of Distractions has been here, not only in my house, but in my very room since I started blogging. He has been sitting beside me, stealing my attention and focus away from the things that really matter, putting them into his huge hamper, filling it full, as my mind grows weak. 

    (‘And nothing amazed Lludd more than that so much could fit into that hamper!’)

    He’s been following me about taking my mind from nature on a walk, bike ride, or run, from what I’m doing with my body at the gym. He’s been next to me when I sleep, waking me up with distractions, robbing me of my dreams. 

    It thus seems meaningful that Lludd/Nudd/Nodens, God of Dreams, defeats this man and that his identity has been revealed to me by sleeping and dreaming.

    In Lludd ac Llefelys the man achieves his theft by sending everyone to sleep. As the King of Distractions he makes himself invisible by putting us into a sleep-like trance in which we are barely aware of what we’re doing as we flick onto our emails or onto the internet and begin scrolling from this to that.

    On Nos Galan Mai Lludd manages to defeat the man by immersing himself in a tub of cold water every time sleep comes upon him. He then confronts him in a violent battle in which sparks fly from their weapons, throws him to the ground, and demands that all his losses are restored and the man becomes his vassal. 

    Whilst immersing myself in a tub of cold water every time I’m distracted isn’t very practical it could serve as a good visualisation aid against the King of Distractions. As could visualising beating him off, sparks flying, forcing him to give back what is in his hamper and putting him in his place. 

    An additional tactic is to put up some defences. Thus I’ve drawn up a schedule in which I’ve restricted my internet usage to checking emails once a day in the late afternoon when my other work is complete and limiting catching up on blogs and reading articles online to Saturdays.

    I’m hoping this will help me reclaim my focus and strengthen my deep work muscles so I can make better progress with ‘In the Deep’ and my spiritual practices.

    *Nicola at the Way of the Buzzard blogs about stolen focus in her post ‘Attention’ HERE.
    ****Danica Swanson proposes ‘Creative Incubation’ as a remedy for stolen focus and the atrophy of deep work muscles HERE.

    The Long Hard Road

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    ‘I want to live, I want to love
    But it’s a long hard road out of Hell.’
    Marilyn Manson

    So it’s December the 31st and we stand at the gateway between one year ending and the next beginning. As ever I feel obliged to write a retrospective. Looking back, quite frankly, 2020 has been a shitter of a year – on global, national, familial, and personal levels.

    A global pandemic. A messy Brexit. Life at home has been incredibly difficult with my dad’s ongoing health problems, my mum having a fall and a hip replacement, and my brother having brain surgery and coming to stay with us with us whilst he recovers. And this has all happened on top of me finding out it’s likely I’m autistic for which I’m in the midst of the lengthy process of getting a diagnosis.

    I received the first hint that this year would prove portentous in February when I was volunteering on the Wigan Flashes Nature Reserve and noticed a profusion of scarlet elf cups (Sarcoscypha austriaca). In a blog post I posed the question: ‘Will these red cups bring good or bad luck?’

    By March we had the answer – coronavirus was spreading rapidly and we entered a national lockdown. This turn of bad luck felt particularly cruel as I had left my supermarket job to volunteer with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust full time as a way into a career in conservation. The first day of the lockdown was meant to be the first day I started a conservation internship at Brockholes Nature Reserve. This got put on hold and all my other volunteering was cancelled. I was left with neither furlough from a paid job or training toward paid work with only the small income from my writing.

    During the first lockdown my mum and I agreed that it was like being in Purgatory – a sentiment I have seen echoed elsewhere, for example in the Scarlet Imprint Newsletter. This makes me realise how deeply engrained Christian concepts are within our psyches, even for non-Christians, and how lacking we are in Pagan and Polytheist concepts through which to understand our situation. At several points I have wondered if the gods are punishing us on a global level for our ‘sins’ against nature and whether my family and I have done something to bring about their disfavour.

    In the Brythonic tradition it is the fury of the spirits of Annwn that threatens to bring about the destruction of this world and usually this is held back by Gwyn ap Nudd – a King of Annwn. Gwyn’s father, Nudd/Lludd, also played a role in protecting Britain from three plagues – a people called the Coraniaid, a dragon’s scream, and ‘a mighty magician’ – all caused by Annuvian forces.

    The term used for these plagues is gormes which also translates as ‘pestilence’, ‘destruction’, ‘oppression by an alien race or conqueror’, ‘oppressor’, ‘oppressive animal or monster’. The coronavirus is a plague and might also be viewed as an alien being or a monster of Annwn.

    My prayers, conversations with my gods, meditations, and research have led me to the conclusion that we are experiencing a ‘monstrum event’ (here I resort to Latin as I haven’t found an equivalent Brythonic concept). Monstrum is the root of the word ‘monster’ and also means ‘revelation’ so seems linked with ‘apocalypse’ in its original sense (from the Greek apokaluptein ‘uncover’).

    As the Beast with the Fiery Halo has ravaged Britain’s populace, underlying physical and mental health problems have been brought to the fore, accidents waiting to happen have happened, the hidden has surfaced from the deep. Many of the excess deaths were not caused by coronavirus.

    If the first lockdown was Purgatory then the past couple of months have felt more like Hell on Earth. Again I struggle to find an equivalent for this oh-so-fitting Christian concept. Perhaps it is possible to see ‘Hell’ as one of the deepest and most unpleasant levels of Annwn, which is described in the medieval Welsh texts both as a paradisal place and a hellish one where souls are imprisoned and tortured in the napes of a Black Forked Toad and within the innards of a Speckled Crested Snake.

    It takes a lot of work to undo our associations of these scenes with the Christian concepts notion that unpleasant experiences are the result of our ill doings and are thus punishments for our sins. Gwyn has taught me they are processes of transformation that lie beyond human morality and reason. This is my current understanding of what has been happening with coronavirus.

    In the ‘hells’ that I have witnessed others experiencing I have also witnessed the power of healing. Of the miracle of the hip replacement and the remarkable intricacies of brain surgery. In this I have seen the work of Lludd/Nudd/Nodens, a god of healing, to whom I have prayed for my family’s health.

    I have also seen the healing hand of Nodens in the advances in treatment for coronavirus and in the creation of the vaccines. It seems to be more than coincidence that, as a more virulent strain emerges in Britain, both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines have been approved. This gives me hope that, even as we face this plague, the gods are equipping us with the tools to deal with it.

    In most stories, Christian and non-Christian, a descent into Annwn or Hell is followed by a return. As things slowly improve at home, as the time my parents get vaccinated approaches, I am intuiting that our time of descent is approaching an end and I am starting to catch glimpses of the road ahead.

    My internship at Brockholes finally began on the 4th of December and I am predicting it will continue within Lancashire’s current Tier 4 restrictions. I believe that due to people being brought into greater appreciation of nature by the lockdown and, unfortunately, because of the climate crisis, in the future there will be more jobs in conservation and am tentatively hopeful about finding work.

    I am beginning to feel, for the first time in a long time, like in the words of a Marilyn Manson song that I listened to a lot at a dark point in my life many years ago, ‘I want to live, I want to love,’ but I am painfully aware it is going to be ‘a long hard road out of Hell.’