Moon 11
The Moon of Purification
Moon Eleven of the Avalonian Cycle of Revealing is called the Moon of Purification, and is associated with the herb wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) and the lunar month begins on the first full moon when the sun is in Virgo; the full moon is in Pisces. It is the third of four moons during the Time of Rhiannon.
As the cycle turns downward again, our commitment to our growth is challenged—difficulties arise to push our limitations and stretch our understanding. Painful lessons can yield great harvest if they are shouldered with patience, peace and understanding. It is easy to give in to what is not true—but perseverance and dedication to right action in the face of difficulty gives us the strength to see it through.
The Mythic Portion
After their marriage, Rhiannon and Pwyll take up residence at Pwyll’s court in Arberth where Rhiannon builds a reputation as a good and generous queen. After three years without an heir, however, Pwyll’s advisors suggest he put Rhiannon aside, but he refuses, confident that they will have a child. And indeed, within a year, Rhiannon gives birth to a son. Six nurses are assigned to the care of the newborn and his mother, but they all fall asleep and wake the next morning to find the child gone. Panicked, they conceive a plan to save themselves, killing a puppy and spreading its blood and bones all over the sleeping Rhiannon. When she awakens and asks for her son, the nurses tell her that she destroyed the child in the night, and though they tried to stop her, she was too strong for them to subdue. Rhiannon pleads with them to tell the truth, but they refuse to change their story. Thus accused, Rhiannon is brought before the court, and Pywll lays a punishment upon her, and she agrees to comply: for seven years, she is to sit on the mounting block outside of the gates of Arberth. While there, she is to tell everyone who passes how she destroyed her newborn child and then offer to carry them to the court on her back.
The Work of the Moon of Purification
Rhiannon’s grief is the grief of all mothers sending their children out into the world. Whether we birth children or ideas, art or music, programs or processes, or commit ourselves to living a life in alignment with who we are and what we wish to be in the world, there is a degree of risk involved. We are forced to acknowledge our vulnerability, process our lack of the support we hoped to have, and face our fear that we will fail. From the moment we are born, we begin the process of separating from our mother, from our origins, from our Source. So much of our inner pain is generated by this disconnection—the sense of feeling lost, unworthy, unlovable, and unloved. This separation of the son from the mother in particular represents a primal wound so strong that it is embedded in our cultural and mythic memory. But what is it that makes this mytheme so poignant? Why is it something that transcends space and time, to evolve and shift, and yet to remain so enculturated? Who is the Stolen Child … this Divine Prisoner?
The answer is not hard: The Divine Prisoner is each of us.
He is that part of ourselves that has been parted from our Divine Mother. We are imprisoned by this disconnection in so very many ways: whether the literal removal of the Female Divine by the predominant monotheisms of our time or the patriarchal damage that oppresses women, devalues women’s work, and punishes any behaviors in men that are considered “feminine”; or our culture’s overarching value of what is logical and empirical over what is emotional and intuitive; or our subjugation of this planet and reducing all who dwell upon it or within it as resources to be exploited. Anywhere the metaphor takes you represents what is true, for it is the magic of myth that is universal enough for everyone to see themselves in it, yet personal enough that we can use it to better understand ourselves and our struggles.
It is not only the son who is separated from the mother; women also suffer from being imprisoned. We are taught to distrust other women, compete with them, and judge them just as Rhiannon’s nurses do in the tale. Consumed with their own self-preservation, the frightened women bonded together in a lie rather than uniting in a truth. No matter how Rhiannon begged them to say what really happened, no matter that she promised she would protect them from any potential harm, the nurses knew that their several voices would hold more weight than Rhiannon’s singular voice, and they simply did not trust that their queen, this grieving new mother who had just lost her child hours after birth, would support them. How much suffering could have been averted had these women spoken the truth which would have seen the grieving parents rally their resources to find their missing babe, instead of accepting that he was gone, and never even knowing to look for him? It is tragic indeed.
There is no denying, on the other hand, that in a very literal sense our primal separation is that of the child from the mother. We are transitioned from a place of safety, warmth, and comfort into a new world where even in the gentlest of circumstances, shock and confusion result from the sudden separation and distinction; we are set adrift in a sea of experience for which we lack the neural connections to process or understand. As we grow and adapt to life in this world, our conscious, intellectual selves constantly seek to make sense of our environment; for many of us, this is the part that has learned that we are separate, we are alone, and we are left to fend for ourselves.
The bootstrap mentality permeates Western culture and forces each successive generation and even individuals to make it on their own without the ethic that we should be lifting each other up. We have accepted the lie that we must be independent rather than interdependent. We live in a society that values logic over emotion, knowledge over wisdom, judgment over empathy, and individuality over collectivity rather than seeking the balance of both. This is not to say we should not be our own person; rather, we must learn to both honor our inner Sovereignty while also acknowledging that it is in the collective good to honor the Sovereignty of others as well. We are in a prison of our own making culturally, psychologically, and spiritually. We need to reunite with the mother … to develop emotional maturity, and cultivate a sense of the circle, from the most literal to the most metaphorical of senses.
For it is we who hold the key to our personal prisons, with its bars formed out of fear, out of the belief that we are unworthy of love, or of honor, or of respect. We have accepted that our needs are irrelevant, our intuitive selves are too woo-woo, and our instincts are wrong. And as much as we seek to be upheld, loved, heard, witnessed, and cared for—we need to consider the mother who also suffers from our separation … she who holds our unmet needs, unvoiced questions, unresolved emotions, disconnect from our inner power.
At this time of turmoil, we are called to reassess our priorities and because of this, the wisdom of the mothers is returning. By learning to honor the emotional self, striving to heed our instincts, seeking to take personal responsibility for our lives, building a sense of trust in the village, consciously forging bonds of community, and embracing a sense of living in respectful balance with the Earth, we help to facilitate that most beautiful of reunions: The Divine Mother, in joy, once more holds her Divine Child … and we become a humanity that is whole once more.
Searching Deeper
The mytheme of a child being stolen from the mother is a powerful one that connects to the international folk motif of the Divine Prisoner seen elsewhere in Celtic British legend. In the Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen, one of the stories usually collected along with The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, we learn that Mabon (“Divine Son”) was taken from his mother Modron (“Divine Mother”) when he was only three days old. The child is hidden and imprisoned, only to be freed after King Arthur’s men undertake a journey that leads them to consult with each of the Oldest Animals in turn before discovering and freeing boy who later joined their war band.
Mabon’s imprisonment is also mentioned in the Welsh Triads:
Triad 52—Three Exalted Prisoners of the Island of Britain: Ll
r Half-Speech, and Mabon son of Modron, and Gwair son of Geirioedd.26
Like Rhiannon, Modron is a goddess of Sovereignty, and she is believed to be a cognate deity (a term used in the study of comparative mythology to indicate connections between divinities from different cultures based upon the shared etymological meaning of their names) of the Gaulish mother goddess Matrona, as their names both mean “Divine Mother.” In the same way, Mabon is a cognate deity of Matrona’s son, Maponos (another “Divine Son”). In Welsh myth, Modron is named the daughter of Avallach, identified in some tales as the King of Avalon who dwelt on Glastonbury Tor. She is mentioned in Triad 70 of Trioedd Ynys Prydein, which enumerates the Three Fair Womb-Burdens of the Island of Britain; the second of which is:
Owain, son of Urien and Morfudd his sister who were carried together in the womb of Modron, daughter of Afallach. 27
The father of the twins mentioned in the above triad is Urien Rheged, a sixth-century semi-historic warrior-king who ruled the early northern British kingdom of Rheged. This is the same Urien at whose court the historical bard Taliesin is said to have served and for whom we have several praise poems collected in Llyfr Taliesin. Modron herself may have connections with the character of Morgan le Fay, as Arthurian tales call Morgan the wife of Uriens of Gorre and the mother of the hero Owain. It is likely not a coincidence that the husband and son of Modron and Morgan le Fay have the same names.
A theory forwarded by Welsh scholar W. J. Gruffudd suggested that the Four Branches of the Mabinogi are a mythic cycle which originally recounted the life of the hero Pryderi; he is the only character that appears in all four of the Branches: he is born in the First Branch, serves as a warrior in the Second Branch, comes into his own as a ruler in the Third Branch, and is killed in single combat with Gwydion in the Fourth Branch. If this is the case, and the most accepted meaning of the word Mabinogi is “tales of the youth,” with the root word mab meaning “youth” or “son,” perhaps Pryderi is a reflex (a term used in the study of comparative mythology to describe a relationship between two different deities who are not cognate to each other but who exhibit similar attributes and/or mythic stories) of Mabon, and these are the stories of the Divine Son—and his Divine Mother.
Seeking Sovereignty Within:
Journaling Prompts and Self-Reflective Questions
Moon Eleven
The Moon of Purification
The Time of Rhiannon
Mythic Focus: Rhiannon’s newborn son goes missing. She is falsely accused by his nurses of having destroyed him and is punished unjustly for a crime she didn’t commit.
Personal Insights Around This Moon’s Mythic Portion: Meditate upon the portion of Rhiannon’s story associated with this moon and reflect it within yourself. Her story is your story.
The Focus of the Moon of Purification by Phase
Seek the lessons of the Moon of Purification at each moon phase by using the Stations of the monthly Cycle of Healing; be sure to journal all of the insights, symbols, and guidance you receive from each goddess at each moon phase. As you work with the information you receive between each phase, perhaps following the daily process outlined in Chapter 3 of this book, and using tools such as trance postures and doorways as detailed in Avalon Within, be sure to record those insights in your journal as well.
Full Moon: Connect with Rhiannon at the full moon to set up your work for the month and to receive insight on the issue of focus. Review the work of the previous month and the insights it brought to you, set up your work for the coming month, and ask for insights on the issue of focus which may have shifted or deepened due to the work you have done.
Third Quarter: Station of Descent in the cycle of the moon. Bring the issue of focus to Rhiannon to explore through the filters of the Station of Descent and the Moon of Purification.
Dark Moon: Station of Confrontation in the cycle of the moon. Bring the issue of focus to Ceridwen to explore through the filters of the Station of Confrontation and the Moon of Purification.
First Quarter: Station of Emergence in the cycle of the moon. Bring the issue of the focus to Blodeuwedd to explore through the filters of the Station of Emergence and the Moon of Purification.
Night before the Full Moon: Station of Resolution in the cycle of the moon. Bring the issue of focus to Arianrhod to explore through the filters of the Station of Resolution and the Moon of Purification.
At any point in the month, bring the issue of focus to Branwen to explore through the Station of Integration and the Moon of Purification. Some women will do this on the night after the dark moon in counterpoint to working with Arianrhod on the night before the full moon.
Herbal Ally for the Moon of Purification
Wild Thyme (Taraxacum officinalis)
Creating the Mother Elixir: On the night of the full moon, create your Wild Thyme Lunar Elixir using the directions found on page 105 of Chapter 4. Be sure to label and date the bottle you are using to store the Mother Elixir. Journal any of your experiences around the creation of the Wild Thyme Elixir.
Prepare the Daughter Elixir: After you have made the Mother Elixir, use the directions found on page 107 of Chapter 4 to prepare a dosage bottle for use in the daily experience of this elixir throughout the month. Remember to use a blue or amber dropper bottle for this purpose, and to clearly label your Daughter Elixir.
Daily Work with the Wild Thyme Elixir: As discussed in Chapter 4, begin your daily exploration of the Wild Thyme Elixir. Be sure to journal everything you can about how the elixir makes you feel, what you think it its energetic actions are, where it sits in your energy body, and any and all impressions, insights, symbols, visions, and memories it presents to you:
Week One of Moon Eleven: Immerse yourself in the lunar elixir by taking it every day, reflecting upon how it makes you feel, and journaling all of the insights that come to you when you meditate upon the energies of the elixir.
Week Two of Moon Eleven: Continue to take the lunar elixir daily, but this week spend time experiencing and comparing the energetic impact of wild thyme as an essence, and wild thyme as a magical herb that you burn, as detailed in Chapter 4. Again, reflect upon how each makes you feel, and journal all of the insights that come to you when you meditate upon the energies of the elixir and the energies of the herb itself.
Week Three of Moon Eleven: Continue to take the lunar elixir daily, but this week spend time researching the medicinal, folkloric, and magical uses of wild thyme, beginning with the information provided in Part Three of this book. Compare your findings this week with your direct experiences, being sure to journal all of the insights and connections you’ve made.
Week Four of Moon Eleven: Continue to take the lunar elixir daily, but this week meditate upon the mythic portion of the month and reflect upon the ways in which the energies of wild thyme are related to the present portion of Rhiannon’s tale, and how it helps you to build a relationship with Rhiannon herself.
End of Moon Reflections: Under what circumstances could you see yourself using the wild thyme elixir in support of your work and personal process? If you had to describe the actions of this lunar elixir using one word, what would it be? What about using one sentence? What about using a whole paragraph? Again, be sure to journal everything.