“Rhiannon’s Ride” by Selina Fenech
“Rhiannon’s themes are movement, communication, rest, ghosts, fertility and leadership. Her symbols are the color white, horses and the moon. This Celtic horse Goddess rides into our festival calendar today on a white mare bearing fertility, leadership, and a means to get things moving where they may have stagnated. Some historians believe the swiftness of Her steed (which is white, a lunar color) alludes to a lunar Goddess. In stories, Rhiannon commands singing birds that can wake spirits or grant sleep to mortals.
In Britain, people would come to Berkshire hillside today to partake in the White Horse Festival in which they scour the white horse that adorns the grasses here. This ancient galloping steed is created from pale clay, and this ritual kept it, and Rhiannon’s memory, vibrant. So, if you have any images of horses (magazines, statuary, paintings) around, dust them off and put them in a place of honor today.
Since this was a festival for horses, you might consider tending to your own ‘horse’, be it a car or a bicycle!
Give it a tune-up or oil change, then take a ride! As you go, visualize yourself on the back of Rhiannon’s horse moving swiftly toward attending productivity or improved authority wherever you need it. Alternatively, wear something silver or white so that Rhiannon’s lunar energies can begin filtering into your day through the color’s vibrations.”
(Patricia Telesco, “365 Goddess: a daily guide to the magic and inspiration of the goddess”.)
This is pretty much a repeat of the entry I did on Rigantona back June 28.
“Rhiannon” by Caroline Gully-Lir
The great Goddess Rhiannon is a potent symbol of fertility, yet She is also an Otherworld and death Goddess, a bringer of dreams, and a moon deity who is symbolized by a white horse. Her father was Heveydd the Old, and She was married to both Pwyll and Manan. The story of Her marriage to Pwyll, and the subsequent accusation of the murder of Her child, is well documented and most people are familiar with Rhiannon from this tale. [Click here to read Her tale].
“Rhiannon” by Susan Seddon Boulet
Patricia Monaghan comments: “What can one expect of a Goddess of death? Her son disappeared, and the queen was found with blood on Her mouth and cheeks. Accused of murder, She was sentenced to serve as Pwyll’s gatekeeper, bearing visitors to the door on Her back; thus She was symbolically transformed into a horse. All ended happily when Her son was found; Rhiannon had been falsely accused by maids who, terrified at finding the babe absent, had smeared puppy blood on the queen’s face.
Behind this legend is doubtless another, more primitive one in which the death queen actually was guilty of infanticide. This beautiful queen of the night would then, it seems, be identical to the Germanic Mora, the nightmare, the horse-shaped Goddess of terror. But night brings good dreams as well as bad, so Rhiannon was said to be the beautiful Goddess of joy and oblivion, a Goddess of Elysium as well as the queen of hell” (p. 266 – 267).
“Rhiannon” by Helena Nelson-Reed
“In Her guise as a death Goddess, Rhiannon could sing sweetly enough to lure all those in hearing to their deaths, and therefore She may be related to Germanic stories of lake and river faeries who sing seductively to lure sailors and fishermen to their doom. Her white horse images also link Her to Epona, and many scholars feel they are one and the same, or at least are derived from the same archetypal roots.
In today’s magick and ritual, Rhiannon can be called upon to aid you in overcoming enemies, exercising patience, working magick, moon rituals, and enhancing dream work.” [2]
“Call upon Rhiannon to bless rites of fertility, sex magick, prosperity and dream work. Work with Her to enhance divination skills, overcome enemies, develop patience, and to gain self confidence. She is most definitely a Fae that every woman can relate to on some level. Her perserverance and will is an example of what we as women are, have been, and will continue to be for millennia to come. Solid, unwavering beauty and strength, like Mother Earth below our feet.” [3]
ASSOCIATIONS:
General: Moon, horses, horseshoe, songbirds, gates, the wind, and the number 7.
Animals: Horse, badger, frog, dogs (especially puppies), canaries and other songbirds,hummingbirds, and dragons.
Plants: Narcissus and daffodils, leeks, pansies, forsythia, cedar and pine trees [evergreens], bayberry, sage and rosemary,[jasmine, any white flower]
Perfumes/Scents: Sandalwood, neroli, bergamot, lavender, narcissus, and geranium.
Gems and Metals: Gold, silver, cat’s eye, moonstone, crystal, quartz, ruby, red garnet, bloodstone, turquoise, and amethyst.
Colors: Dark green, maroon, gold, silver, rich brown, white, black, charcoal grey, and ruby red. [4]
Element: Earth
Sphere of Influence: Animals and fertility
Best Day to Work with: Monday
Suitable Offerings: Music
Associated Planet: Moon [5]
Moon Phase: Waning
Aspects: Leadership, movement, change, death, fertility, crisis, magic for women, protection, strength and truth in adversity, dreams
Wheel of the Year: Willow Moon (Saille): April 15 – May 12
Ivy Moon (Gort): September 30 – October 27 [6]
Great Goddess, help me remember that times of sorrow are opportunities for the greatest growth. Rhiannon, I affirm that I have the courage to overcome my doubts and fears.
And here’s a great 13 minute video on Goddess Rhiannon, The Great Queen
Sources:
Goddessgift.com, “Goddess Symbols: Rhiannon“.
LadyRavenMoonshadow. Within the Sacred Mists, “The Celtic Tradition of Witches and Wiccans“.
Monaghan, Patricia. The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, “Rhiannon”.
PaganNews.com, “Rhiannon“.
Saille, Rowen. Order of the White Moon, “Rhiannon: Great Queen of the Celts“.
Suggested Links:
Barkemeijer de Wit, R. Celestial Journey Therapy, “Who is Goddess Rhiannon?“
Epona.net, “Later Influences of Epona“.
Goddessgift.com, “Activities to Invoke the Goddess Rhiannon“.
Goddessgift.com, “Meditations to Invoke the Goddess Rhiannon“.
Goddessgift.com, “Rhiannon, Celtic Goddess“.
Griffith, Carly. PaganPages.org, “Rhiannon“.
The Mabinogion, “Rhiannon“.
Monaghan, Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, “Mórrígan” (p. 339 – 340)
Nemeton, The Sacred Grove: Home of the Celtic gods, “Rhiannon, A Cymric and Brythonic Goddess, also known as Rigatona: Great Queen“.
Revel, Anita. Reconnect with Your Inner Goddess, “Rhiannon“.
Shaw, Judith. Feminismandreligion.com, “Rhiannon, Goddess of Birds and Horses“.
Sisterhood of Avalon, “The Goddesses“.
Took, Thalia. A-Muse-ing Grace Gallery, “Rhiannon“.
Took, Thalia. The Obscure Goddess Online Directory, “Epona“.
Wikipedia, “Epona“.
Wikipedia, “Rhiannon“.
Journeying to the Goddess 
I am particularly fond of the ladies of the Mabinogion, but the timing of this post and other events in my life seem most propitious. While I find your daily goddess posts enlightening, today’s post beckons to me for deeper contemplation. I really appreciate the work you put into these posts.
That is so awesome!!! Blessings to you Steve! 🙂
Hello!
I’m writing to welcome you to the grand opening of an interactive shrine dedicated to the wonderful goddess Rhiannon! http://churchofasphodel.org/shrines/rhiannon/welcome.html
This shrine not only provides information about Rhiannon both old and new, but is also a showcase for art and writing about the Divine Queen. I would be very honored if anyone had devotional writing or art work which they would like to have included. The shrine is a nondenominational, safe pagan space where people may write anonymous prayers to Rhiannon. My hope is that anyone who has been blessed by or would like to know better Rhiannon will feel welcomed.
The shrine was built out of love and gratitude for everything that Rhiannon has done for me in my life. I cannot afford to build her a temple and pay for there to be staff available 24 hours a day seven days a week where other pagans can come to honor her. Because so many pagans spend a lot of time in cyberspace, in ritual and divination Rhiannon communicated that she was happy being where the people are and the online shrine developed from there.
I sincerely hope that you will find the shrine to be useful in many ways, from a place for focusing your thoughts in a devotional practice to when needing to connect with her at work, home or running errands. Rhiannon’s shrine is always available. One of the beautiful things about these shrines is being able to see how many people have also been graced with experiences, faith and/or love for Rhiannon. The variety of requests and gratitude are a testimony to the living pagan tradition happening around the world.
This webmaster has designed the only online shrines that give the worshiper a choice of three different types of anonymous messages:
1. Gratitude: Click Gratitude and the empty field now reads “Thank you Rhiannon for….” allowing you to post your thanks to Rhiannon for whatever blessings she has bestowed upon you.
2. Praise: Click Praise and write whatever your heart moves you to share.
3. Request: Click Request and you will see there are two sections; the first being “Rhiannon, please help…” and the second being “For this…” This allows you to state what offering you will give to Rhiannon in sacred space.
Many pagans are responsible for the shrine being so beautiful with their donations of artwork and devotional writing. No matter what your path, if you have offerings of artwork or writing related to Rhiannon, please do submit it. Either a page could be made by the webmaster or we can have a link to your offering.
There are over 50 of these interactive devotional shrines at the Church of Asphodel. I am not a member but this church is devoted to continuing the worship of the old Goddesses and Gods, and will for free not just host it, but also put the online shrine together with the materials that someone sends. With their extensive connections to many pagan writers and artists, they can find more offerings for the shrine as well. The Church also publishes books about polytheism, especially devotional writing by many different pagans, and hosts the traditional Neopagan 8 Wheel of the Year rituals for the public on their homestead. I am greatly indebted to them for creating this program and website that allows interactive worship as well as their ethical and sacred process in building and hosting the shrine. I personally can recommend them for anyone else who would like to have an interactive shrine in a nondenominational, safe space. They do this for free, although I did make a donation. Already many of the Northern Gods are there, but some Greek, Roman, Gaelic and now Brythonic ones are being built by people like me.
This is not my shrine; this is Rhiannon’s shrine. May it serve her and her followers well.
Thank you so much for your time. If you have offerings you would like to be included in Rhiannon’s shrine, allowing it to become greater with every contribution, please email webmaster Joshua at jt@northernpaganism.org.
In peace,
Heather