White Mares and Crop Circles

Epona is a Celtic horse goddess - a White Mare. A nice play of words could be made on Night Mare, and probably was, hmmm... Great Britain is known for the outlines of large white horses carved into underlying chalk deposits. Most of the horses aren't very old - at least, they cannot be classified as "ancient." There is one "white horse" that has drawn more than the usual attention by way of strang crop circle formations (for years). It's located near the Village of Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, England, on Milk Hill. This chalk horse outline is not ancient. It seems it was first created around the year 1812. Above is a photo of a current crop circle that appeared in a field lying below the Alton Barnes (or Milk Hill) white horse. The image is from Crop Circle Connector.com and was reported just a few days ago, on June 21, 2009. The first day of Summer. The photo was taken by Lucy Pringle. In this depiction, Epona reminds of an older goddess, The Mistress of Beasts, a/k/a Astarte a/k/a Artemis. In those older renditions of the Goddess, she is sometimes depicted as a tree (Tree of Life) flanked on either side by rampant deer-like creatures or other wild life, sometimes depicted as a Goddess or woman with a crown flanked by rampant wild beasts. This image of Epona is from Wikipedia and dates to the 4th century CE from Greek Macedonia, and depicts the Goddess Epona flanked by two pairs of horses. The four knights on the chessboard???

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!