Arianrhod the `Silver Wheel'

NAME: Arianrhod (Silver Wheel) Aranrhod, Arianrod. The name is said to mean silver wheel though there is some evidence that this might just be folk etymology and that a more correct interpretation, at least of arian might be huge or round.

SYMBOLS: Silver Wheel, Owl, Starry Sky, Moon. Oar Wheel a boat that was used to carry dead warriors to Emania (Moon Land).

USUAL IMAGE: Woman with pale white skin, thin red lips, & blonde hair.

HOLY BOOKS: The Mabinogion

AREAS OF INFLUENCE: Fertility, Reincarnation, Cosmic Time, Weaving. Sovereignty.

HOME: Caer Arianrhod the Castle of Arianrhod or Caer Sidi which is the constellation of Corona Borealis and was thought of in Welsh myth as a magical realm to the North.

RELATIVES: (mother) Don, (father) Beli, (sisters) Gwenna `Gwen´, Maelen, Elen. (brothers) Gwydion, Gofannon, (sons) Dylan, Llew Llaw Gyffes.

SYNODEITIES: Artemis & Selene (Greek), Chang-O or Heng-O (Chinese), Tsukiyomi (Japanese), Varuna (Hindu), Yemella (African), Amana (Calina People of South America), Mielikki (Finland.)

DETAILS: Arianrhod is another ancient Goddess about whom real details about her worship and her myths are at best thin, with what little is left being highly distorted.

The only detailed (if confused) account taking place in the medieval work called The Mabinogion. which tells of a sorceress who lives in castle far away surrounded by women, and is elected to serve as the new virgin for a king who must rest his feet in the lap of same when he is not on the battlefield.

On arriving at court she is accused of having many relations with men, mermen, and all sorts of others, even her own brother. As a test she has to jump over the staff of a wizard.

On doing so she promptly gives birth to a boy and a blob. The boy (Dylan) quickly dashes to the sea while the blob (which eventually becomes a boy) gets 3 harsh restrictions placed on him by Arianrhod saying that he can have no name, bare no sword or wed a woman of Earth until she says so.

All three are later tricked into being given him. No word on whether the king ever gets another lap virgin.

Many think this is a much changed story telling of the time when things changed from mother rule to father rule. Others who say the Celts never had any such thing doubt this theory.

It is thought that Arianrhod, who's name may mean Silver Wheel, or perhaps huge or round wheel or circle is a remembrance of a once powerful Goddess.

A Goddess who was associated with the moon, the Milky Way, and was the goddess who wove peoples lives into the fabric of the afterlife, sending them ether on to another realm or returning them for another life.

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