Modern Sidhe

Arawn of Annwn

PART I

When surfing for information on this figure one may run into a version of Arawn that is a horned god of death, who comes from the underworld of Annwn to conduct the “Wild Hunt” and take the souls of men.

What such a surfer may not know, is that this depiction is far removed from the original depiction of Arawn. He first appears in the White Book of Rhydderch, the source from which we the four branches of the Welsh Mabinogi. In this source, Arawn is marked as an otherworld being by his shock white, red eared hounds, and his dappled horse. He also has the ability to change the appearance of himself, and others.

So where did this change occur? One possible source is another figure called Gwyn Ap Nudd, a figure some take to be another or later the Lord of Annwn. The first appearance of this figure is on the Welsh Arthurian tale of Culwhch and Olwen. There is no explicit statement of him being the Lord of Annwn in this tale however. One possible source of of confusion is that this tale states that Gwyn is given charge over the “Demons of Annwn, lest this world be destroyed.” This may be the reason he is concluded to be the Lord of Annwn as Annwn later becomes a land of the dead and the “demons of Annwn” would be the souls of the dead. However, it is not entirely explicit that Annwn is a land of the dead either.

If, however, it is accepted that Annwn is a land of the dead and if Gwyn became seen as having charge of the souls of the dead, it is only a small leap to connect this figure to the Wyld Hunt that originated within Nordic and Germanic tales concerning Woden/Odin.

PART II

I have re-read the tale of Culwhch and Olwen. I still have not ascertained the source of the idea that Gwyn ap Nudd was a king of Annwn.

He is mentioned a few times 4 or 5 If I recall. The first is in a long list of warriors that Culwhch (I think it’s him speaking, can be hard to tell) swears by. The second is a brief mention that he and another guy fight over this lady once a year. The third is the part that mentions him having the “demons of Annwn” so that they don’t destroy the world. In this part it is being said that Gwyn will be needed for a successful hunt (perhaps this is a huntsman reference). The fourth or fifth (I may be missing one) simply has him talking to another dude with no mention of his title at all.

There is a poem called “cad Goddeu” (battle of the trees) that allegedly tells of a battle between Gwydion and Arawn over some stolen animals. In this, it is alleged that Arawn brings to the battle very strange creatures that possibly could be construed as “demonic.” However, in the long form of the poem, Arawn’s name is not ever mentioned

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/t08.html

I’ve re-read this a lot, but perhaps I still missed the reference……I doubt it though given the commentary on the bottom. In said commentary, it states that a LATER short version names Arawn and Bran on one side with Gwydion and Amaethon on the other. Amaethon wins by guessing Bran’s name.

However, I cannot find a source for this shorter version at all. I don’t think they are lying, I just can’t find it.

The point? If it can be construed that Arawn led possibly “demonic” creatures to the Battle of the Trees. Then it can be construed that he has charge of the “demons of Annwn” which Culwch and Olwen state that Gwyn ap Nudd has. That would make Gwyn and Arawn one in the same.

This has problems though. the reference to Gwn and the demons of Annwn has GOD placing them lest they destroy the world. Why then would the be allowed loose over some battle and who would be able to lose them if God did the placing?? Obviously, the reference to God is a later christianization of the myth, so it’s actually not a good reference, IMO.

There still seems to be no connection between Gwyn and Arawn, and that Arawn is the only ever king of Annwn in these tales. This is attested by another account in the 14th century book of Talisien where Arthur and seven companions raid Annwn to try to get Arawn’s cauldron.

HOWEVER, cauldron tales are so pervasive in celtic myth that it could just be an adapted, retelling added to arthurian tales.

In the end, my conclusion can only be that Arawn was never a Lord of Death hunting the souls of men. To me he appears a “simple” sidhe king who enlisted the aid of a human, Pwyl of Dyfed, in overcoming his nemesis, Hagvan (to which he seems to have had a geasa).

Gwyn Ap Nudd, by my estimation, is a different character that really can’t be solidly concluded to be the Lord of Annwn. Even if it could be proven that Annwn is indeed a land of the dead, which is a sketchy notion, a figure that simply has charge of the “demons” of Annwn can’t be concluded so easily to be the Lord of the Realm.

I think these visuals can help explain some of what I talked about in my opening post here in regards to the different way Sidhe and Tuatha energy comes across to me. I first noticed it in my own art work where if I tried to draw Tuatha, they HAD to have gold items, or it wasn't a Tuatha to me. Sidhe HAD to have silver items and/or silver light. The below pictures illustrate this i think. Now that you have read this, you know I didn't select the second one down for the hairdos......



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Klq_zDXG_Ek/TkZZonSSwlI/AAAAAAAAAJg/dX5Rvmu7tHU/s400/tuatha.jpg


http://shadowness.com/file/item3/69570/image_t6.jpg

I was referred to this resource by another. I am here to network with more like her, more like me. So what am I talking about?

Well it all started years ago when I was a young lad working on a paleontological site between highschool semesters. I had embarked upon reading the Silmarillion. Taxing book that. Anyway. I was strangely drawn to the character Feanor. It was the oddest thing. Something from within just insisted that my nature was something more akin to what that guy was supposed to be. Fear not, I don’t mean literally. He was a symbol of something else.

Now I was raised in a church going, God fearing home. And truth be told, I had seen that kind of prayer, etc work on a number of strange things, so I still buy it. Thus, my approach to this odd inner insistence was to ask on high about it. I did this for a couple three years. Asking for dreams. I got them. I decided I was tricking myself by dwelling on the subject so much that it induced dreams. So I switched it. I asked to be kept from dreaming about it for 7 nights straight. Twice, on the seventh night, I dreamed about it. That was enough coincidence for me. I concluded there was something to all of this. But what exactly?

Toward the close of that segment, I had finally stumbled across the concept of the ‘otherkin” online. Neato. But that kind of turned into a drag. See I have NO for sure memories of my own. So when everyone else was sharing these nifty visions, I was just sorta on the bench. Ok maybe, I have one experience, but I can’t call it a memory. I’ll explain why later.

What I DO have, is a silver star thing in my torso, which I hear some other sidhe types report. I also have spent a long time taking note of some “energies” if you will. I found one variety in pictures of places like newgrange. I found it in stories containing the concept of sidhe. That was all ho hum until I found it in a couple people who later stated that they saw themselves as Sidhe. That tipped me off, again, that something was going on here. This ‘energy” I call ‘silver.’ I also have identified a “gold” one which I link to the Dannan. There’s a less sure blue and silver one I link to the ljos alfar. ALL of the above have a sort of underlying white light, for me, that sort of fuels the other colors.

And now we get to my “theory” (I use the term loosely here). As I have no memories, no visions of a fae land etc…how did I get here? After literally years, it one day dawned on me that the faith I had been raised in had a possible answer. I noticed the white light stuff in the concept of the nephilim, and in the idea of Angels. For those not familiar, Nephilim are believed by quite a few to have been the oversized off spring of Angels and humans.

Traducianism. This is the notion that when parents make a baby, the baby’s spirit is made at conception out of components from the mother and the father, like it mirrors the biological process. So here it goes. If I had a great great great etc pappy that was an ‘angel,’ how would he make babies? Maybe by taking on human form. Wait, wouldn’t that just be human biology then? Why the odd offspring? Well, perhaps traducianism would cause the weird offspring. And if those weird offspring made more offspring, they might pass on more strange spiritual components down the line. If some of these populations isolated, they may take on specific energetic attributes, or heck, that may even come from different angel types.

Some of these strange spiritual components might even be a sort of spiritual, ancestral memory, which is why I can’t conclude my experience was from a life MY spirit actually lived once.

And that is my ‘theory.’ I identify as ‘sidhe” and believe the origins to be in the mixing of divine (angel) and human spiritual components. I know it won’t jive with other people who have all these memories and stuff, but it’s the best I have as it wouldn’t be prudent of me to just believe just any memory I read online.

So that’s me, Part I

Part II is a recent occurence, relatively.

In the christian paradigm, a word of knowledge is information given by YHVH.

There is an exercise to practice knowing the “voice” of YHVH so that the person will recognize it. I have done this quite a few times.

It’s a simple request for information based on passages from the text. The verses are one about every hair on a person’s head numbered, (Luke 12), the pouring of spirit in the last days, (Joel 2m Acts 2) and asking in his name will be given to you (John 14)…and…ask in faith, nothing wavering (James 1.)

What we (my honey and I…and others from previously in my life) do is ask for tidbits about each other that we did not previously know. My answers mostly come in images. Usually a scene that includes accurate details, like a hat her dad used to have or another was a toy red car her brother and her would squabble over as kids.

Once I got “words.” It’s in quotes because I don’t hear anything. A name popped into my mind and the concept of stealing food. Turns out one of her friends by that name used to nick goodies from the Subway they worked at.

Yesterday and today I tried this on another subject, that being the sidhe. It took a lot of work. For one I had to quell my mind. My brain likes to constantly speculate on things, and flood me with images. If I have my eyes open and can remain focused on something, it’s not so bad, but when i try to sleep….errgh….but i digress.

I had to quell this. I had to let go of all I wanted as I wanted something true, not something from my mind to satisfy my desires. So when I started I went first to my subject of interest, the sidhe, but then stopped myself, and gave over to YHVH that he would tell me whatever he thought I should know. So of course, when got my mind cleared, the Sidhe came up. It was immediately different. It was like the information from the exercise above. It came, not from the buzzy stream of my mind, but from some deep well.

What were the sidhe? The wording of the answer was, “These same were the Sons of Lyr.”

Very interesting. Also, I got that they TOOK boats, and came to Ireland by way of Britain, meaning they originated somewhere else.

I had to quell my mind again, then i asked about the Dannan. I had previously had this idea that perhaps they were from the two Amorite cities spared by Joshua. The answer, “Not entirely Amorites.” That was confusing. I asked, what they were. The answer was, “They come out of the Sidhe” And I got “Intermingling” Then was reminded (as this took some time) “Not entirely Amorites.”

Seems I was being told that at some point Those Amorites mingled with the Sidhe, and the dannan were the result.

Lastly, I asked about Lyr. “Giant. Very Tall.” and thus of course Lyr would be dead. A shedim of sheol.

After this I was overcome with some emotional need to praise and thank YHVH. It got teary, also, I felt I needed to fast at least 24 hours, which i finished today. I asked more then, about myself specifically. How I came to be. There were no words now, just concepts. My mother, the summonings she did as a teenager and the idea of bloodline.

I am not sure what it means, I will be praying and fasting on this likely later. I am worried though. My mother was, for lack of a better word, afflicted with a spirit for years. It got to her when she did summonings. What worries me is that was the very shedim of sheol, and that is part of how I am sidhe. I am worried that this thing may have been with her when she became pregnant with me, and that is where the sidheness came from, coupled with a bloodline.

it’s not a good feeling really, and it may not be a good thing. But i wanted to know.

Finally, I am here bacause I want to network with other Sidhe, to put it simply.