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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Rhiannon: Goddess of Horses

By Juliette Frette'

Women's Issues Examiner Examiner.com
Ancient goddess spotlight: Rhiannon May 22, 4:15 PM

An equine goddess-turned-magical queen, she is unique in the sense that she is exclusively a horse deity -- while other goddesses of antiquity typically have other identities and functions. Accordingly, horse themes are very strong in Irish and Welsh mythology. As such, Rhiannon's Irish sister Macha, a transfunctional goddess spanning all possible functions of society as priestess, warrior, and nurturer, has also been represented as a horse.

Nevertheless, Rhiannon is one of a kind with the exception of one Gaulish equine goddess counterpart known as Epona -- a deity who has no other function than being the patroness of horses. Rest of article.

Stevie Nicks rocking out in 2008 at Soundstage -- I've watched lots of videos of SN performing this song over the years, with and without Fleetwood Mac, but in my opinion, this is the best one. In the performance, at age 56, Nicks personifies the ageless mystery and timeless beauty and fascination of Rhiannon.



Lyrics to Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon:

Rhiannon rings like a bell throu the night
And wouldnt you love to love her
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover
All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win

She is like a cat in the dark A
nd then she is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless
All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win
Will you ever win

[Verse sometimes added in live performances]
Once in a million years,
a lady like her rises
'Rhiannon' you cry but she's gone,
and your life knows no answer,
and your life knows no answer.

She rings like a bell throu the night
And wouldnt you love to love her
She rules her life like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover
All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win Will you ever win

Dreams unwind
Love's a state of mind...

Wikipedia entry on Rhiannon

See also Nemeton, the Sacred Grove: Rhiannon

A Cymric and Brythonic Goddess, also known as Rigantona: Great Queen, from which the image (above) was taken -- a representation of Rhiannon (or one of her birds, the "Birds of Rhiannon"), riding on the back of a horse. Many thanks to the artist who crafted it!

5 comments:

  1. ...riga, a river in rossia/ross/
    hoss. rigaredo(goth)= r/l/tlec/ga
    r/l/tletl/t/do(letra)=tlecotletl(N)=rising fire, ricardo(sp). so, the riga rises/floods.
    rhiannon=rigatona= tlecotonatiuh(N)=rising antonia/sun. she's a
    sun goddess, the sun's charioteer.
    nemeton=nemi(N)=to live, appear, nemyets(russ)=german, ton=tonatiuh(N), so, where the sun lives, or appears.
    ualchiua(N)=to do, to own on
    top=chi ua(N)=walsh/welch. they
    were conquered/invaded 8c bc,
    during the sea age, and by the looks of it, by rossia horse tribes, who were toniti sun worshippers(they always move west,
    did so 22k bc to amerindia).
    the old name for the volga=
    rha= r/l/tla(letra)=tlatla(N)=flame, and in rh(i)annon(letra)
    the name we have the word, flame,
    also ra(egypt sungod). that's her, rhiannon, on her fiery steed=
    (s)t/tle(e)tl/t/d(letra)=tletl(N)=
    firegod.

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  2. Hola Carlos!

    Can you please explain what "letra" means. That might help me understand better some of the things you have written.

    If the horse tribes from the plains of central Russia arrived in Amerindia (South America?) in 22000 BCE, how did they cross the ocean if they went west?

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  3. ...t/l/rar/log/c, t/let/l,
    tl/re(a)d/tl t/le(e)r/l/tl.
    t/l/raza t/lazy. letra is
    the letter code of language
    based on nauatl as pie, and
    using the 26letter alphabet
    of europe and america and
    australia. letra was developed by
    following words from one language
    to another and noting the letter
    changes and inclusions in the different forms
    of the same word, e.g.,
    ago(E)=aco(N)= g/c
    paca(N)=baco(sp)=bach(ger)=
    b(r)ach(OE)=brook, in this case,
    p/b,(r)inclusion,c/ch,a/o, and,
    b(r)ook=book, cf., tzopilotl
    wordpress.
    the gravettians 22k bc crossed
    in light hide boats, high-sided and portaged floe to floe.
    they took the solutrean point
    with them.

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  4. ...of course there was no russia
    in those days, at 22k bc or at 8c bc, what we have here are the people called the toniti by the inuit. "the people before us",
    the tonatiuh. subsequent study
    and chance posted with you and
    matilda have discovered them as
    deer culture people, we all were,
    apparently, nomads in tlaloc tlaloa's kingdom, that fleeting moment after 52k bc when religion was born near the altai mts and
    deer/deor/teotl was what we offered for our trespass of survival as parasites on her flank,
    as europe froze, north afrika
    and the mideast became wet, when
    it dried out again and the drunken
    rain binge of tlaloc was offer,
    some of the deer tribe went to sheep, like the berber/masyes/
    mazatl yectli(N)=yes deer, and
    religion became scape goat, other
    tribes like the massagetai went
    from horse, to beeve, to dog,
    later(9-12 ad)founding the christian kingdom of alania,
    when another deer tribe/sun tribe,
    the mongols under the khan drove them to the caucassus, then the
    alans subsequent mercenary diaspora to iberia, europe,
    and england, the blond race
    originally by azov/lake meotis,
    which began selective breeding
    on three fronts, cattle, dogs, and themselves, and are still around
    today looking for trouble, empire,
    and the holy gravy boat. but i
    digress. horse, and horse breeders
    are part and parcel of these people, the blond versions are neander cross from the russian
    riverine, linked to the alan/
    alaua/annointed, neighbors of
    the mongols, the khazars who
    held allah's scimitar from
    europe, even the saxons, a fighting
    horse race. they all moved west,
    and rigatona/rhiannon was one of
    their idols, sun symbol antonia
    on her horse, if it had been
    many k's earlier she would have
    been riding a deer, but not a sheep/xipeua(N)=to flay. tks

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  5. ...walcheren, island in province of zeeland, departure point for britain, goddess nehallenna=
    nepa tentli/tenitl(N)=back and
    forth edge/stranger. 871 ad,
    according to ibn rustah, seat of
    the khagan of the rus, scand norse
    people, who took the northern route
    through germany to avoid hungarian calvalry, 9c ad, seat/sede of harald, norse sea king. nerthus,
    teutonic/teuhtli tonatiuh goddess,
    celebrated at yule, varmland, sweden. nethuns(etruscan)=neptune.
    walla/uallaquia(N)=arrive, double,
    increase=wallace/wallacra(Roman).
    nehalennia/neptenitl/neptuna/
    ne(r)pa(rus)=seal has 2 temples
    on walcheren, a plaque shows her
    with a basket of apples and a
    sitting dog looking suspiciously
    like a seal but with hind legs,
    she is the provisioner, the wife
    of neptune. nertha/ertha(earth
    as counterpart of the sea/neptune)
    has a yule bread baking ceremony,
    e.g., itacatl(N)=day/journey
    provisions=(hard)tack. hertha
    is what gives welch it's peculiarly
    teutonic structure, also it must
    be true that the corgi, a herd dog
    who nips hooves, was either once
    a dachshund, or got the same treatment that produced them, for
    the legend persists that 3k bpe/
    1k bc, the queen's cardigans were
    as german as she is. how's that
    for historical synchronicity in
    the now?
    teuhtli tonatiuh riga-tona
    rhiannon rings like a belle in
    the twilight of early walch history.
    the toniti nomads, from deer/
    mazatl/7 to horse/ross/tochtli/8
    to cattle/ehecatl/2 to wlacheren
    to wallace, scotland, to wales.

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