May 2018 - Blodeuwedd

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May 2018 - Blodeuwedd: Creation of Owl

While doing a bit of research, I came across an ancient Welsh book of legends and myths called Pedair Cainc Y Mabinogi (The Four Branches of the Mabinogi).  This book is a collection of the earliest written prose stories of Britain collected from oral retellings of legends from before the 11th century throughout Wales, Ireland and England.  In the 4th Branch there is a legend of the creation of the Blodeuwedd, the Middle Welsh word for "owl".  The word is actually a combination of the word Blodeu (flowers) and Gwedd (face) and this is where the legend begins.

In Welsh mythology, there is an enchanted hero akin to Heracles or Odysseus named Lleu Llaw Gyffes.  He suffers a tynged (magical curse) from his mother Arianrhod to never have a human wife.  To overcome this dweomer, Lleu receives help from the magicians Math and Gwydion.  They gather the blooms of oak, broom flower and meadowsweet and from these beautiful florals they conjure into being the most beautiful maiden on earth... Blodeuwedd ( Flower Face).   Lleu is constantly off on adventures and Blodeuwedd grows lonely and eventually takes a lover.  Together with her lover she conspires to kill the near-immortal Lleu.  They almost succeed in their murderous plot before Lleu escapes the attempt.  The magicians Gwydion and Math are enraged that their conjured flower-face girl should so blatantly rebel against her purpose that they set out to bring her to justice.  They capture her and transform her into an owl.  She is cursed to never dare show her face again in the light of day.  All other feathered creatures will hate her and attack her on sight.  It will be the nature of all birds to hate her, despise her and harass her wherever she should run to over the whole earth.  For all time though, she will retain her name "Blodeuwedd" (Flower-Face).

On the face side of the coin we see Blodeuwedd under the dark eye of dark moon embossed with the tradition Oak Dara knotwork.  Feathers spray around her as she flees pursuers under the blossoms of meadowsweet, broom flower and a leaf of oak.  On the reverse side we Flower Face at her creation surrounded by flowers of the spring season in a riot of color and full bloom.  Pale of skin, fair of face and lushly sporting the colors of fresh flower stems.