Gwydion Caer Wydion

Gwydion (Goo-Eed-Yon), Caer Wydion the Celtic Bard born of the trees, at ‘the Castle of Gwydion’ which was the traditional Welsh name for the Milky Way ie under the Sky above ~

Gwydion is a Celtic Bard, Sorcerer and Trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the Welsh Triads and the 14th century medieval Welsh book of poetry The Book of Taliesin by the Bard Taliesin, whose name means Radiant Brow.
Here we hear Gwydion recite a verse from the Cad Goddeu – the Battle of the Trees, found in the The Book of Taliesin which tells the story of a battle fought between Gwydion and Bran. Gwydion enchants the trees to fight as part of his army, which he is empowered to do as he is himself ‘Born Of Trees’ which is the meaning of his name.

In the section of the poem narrated here, Gwydion is declaring his magical lineage and shared spiritual existence with the underlaying forces below and beyond nature, he is a poetic shaman of the highest order.

Before I assumed a consistent form,

I have been a sword,

Narrow variegated,

I will believe it when it appears.

I have been a door in the air,

I have been a shinning star,

I have been a word among letters,

I have been a book originally.

I have been the light of lanterns,

A year and a half.

 

I have been a course,

I have been an eagle,

I have been a corricle in the seas,

I have been compliant in the banquet,

I have been a drop in a shower,

I have been a sword in the grasp of a hand,

I have been a shield in battle,

I have been a string in a harp,

Disguissed for nine years in water –

In foam.

I have been sponge in the fire,

I have been wood, in the covert,

There is nothing in which I have not been.

 

Neither of mother or father, when I was made,

Was my blood or my body.

Nine formed faculties.,

Of the fruit of fruits, of fruit God made me,

Of primroses and blossoms,

Of thyme hill,

Of the flowers of trees and shrubs,

Of Earth, of an earthly course,

When I was formed.

 

Of the flower of nettles,

Of the water of the ninth wave.

 

I was enchanted by Math,

Before I became Immortal,

I know the star knowledge,

Of the stars before the Earth was made.

c. Taliesin from the Cad Goddeu.

 

On the Power Of Trees; Mytho Poetic Beings Rooted in the Here and Reaching Hereafter;
In many mythologies Trees are embued with far reaching powers that are infact commensurate with their actual influence over the nature and wildlife of their environs. The mythologies have explored these connections further than the mere material, as can be seen in the words for Oak and Door in Irish and Welsh being related (dair — the same word for both in Irish — derwen and drws, and even English “door”, Norse dyrr and Greek thura), implying perhaps a view of the Oak as door to the Otherworld. In addittion also consider the Norse World Tree Yggdrassil.

The original poem is fragmented and full of riddles which has given rise to a wide range of interpretation and speculation. Most famous of these is Robert Graves remarkable mytho-poetical study ‘The White Goddess’.

On The Excellence of the Poetic Word; Druid Rhetoric and Shaman Transormations;
We see many details about Gwydion exisiting as diverse beings in this poem, as shapechange itself is a well known device of Druids, Bards and Shamen. Joan Halifax, in ‘Shaman: the Wounded Healer’ (1982), says: “To the heavens, to the well at the end of the world, to the depths of the Underworld, to the bottoms of spirit-filled lakes and seas, around the earth, to the moon and sun, to distant stars and back again does the shaman-bird travel. All the cosmos is accessible when the art of transformation has been mastered.” (p. 24)
Thus the Shamanic technique of flight which encompassess many transformations is often expressed, evoked and even facilitated via the Bardic power of the word, the hypnotically chanted word, the alliterative or allegorical poem, and the very wings of the song. As such, i’m sure that many will easily recognise, tales, poems and songs do indeed hold a transformative power over our individual awareness and ensuing spiritual essence, empowering changed perceptions and consequently lives and worlds..

Of the Battle of the Trees itself;
The Battle of the Trees originated when Amaethon stole a dog, a lapwing, and a roebuck from Arawn, the god of the Underworld (called Annwn). Robert Graves, who speculated that Bran and Arawn were names for the same Underworld god, wrote that the battle was probably not meant as a physical one but rather a struggle of wits and scholarship. Gwydion’s forces could only be defeated if the name of his companion, Lady Achren was guessed (her name meant “Trees”), and Arawn’s host could only be defeated if Bran’s name were guessed (which Gwydion did).
The trees who fought in the battle were also part of the Druidic alphabet known as Ogham, where each sound is represented by a pattern of notches and a particular tree. Each tree had a meaning and significance of its own, which was why Gwydion was able to win the battle: he guessed Bran’s name by the Alder branch Bran was carrying–the alder being one of Bran’s prime symbols.

Blessed Be By Star And Stone *~

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