nobility and strength
• • •
In the days of Arthur, there was a nobleman
who lived in the land called Penllyn.
His name was Tegid Foel, and his home
was the body of water now called Llyn Tegid.
Ystoria Taliesin
You will note that the following interpretation of the Tegid Foel character is subject to a similar treatment as that of his offspring. Very little is recorded of this masculine figure, yet he is essential to the telling of the tale. In a similar style to the exploration of Creirfyw, Awen must be utilised, in conjunction with research and written sources, to tease meaning from this mysterious character. Although his presence within the tale is limited to the first paragraph alone, this is no indication that his role is unimportant. In fact, one can find attributes of immense value that contribute to the overall meaning of the tale. With the exception of Tegid, every other archetype and component within the tale has a definite supernatural quality. Their contributions are those of magic, of deep human qualities and attributes; they bring the gifts of acceptance and learning, liminality and innocence to the cauldron. These qualities are subjective and fluid; they have no defined parameters or borders and can blend with one another. Tegid’s properties are very much the opposite: they are steadfast and based entirely in the physical world. Tegid Foel is the personification of the material plane.
His name appears in the old texts as Tegit Uoel50 and Tegid Voel51; both variations appear in modern Welsh as Tegid Foel, meaning “Tegid the bald.” He appears briefly in other Welsh genealogies, where we are informed of other children whom he fathered. We are not, however, provided any further information about them or their lives.52 One may immediately note the peculiarity of the term “bald”—why such a reference to his baldness? As with all names in Celtica, nothing is used by accident or without meaning; his baldness is indicative of something. Surely his title is not a nickname directly related to male pattern baldness! But baldness does denote something specific to our exploration of Tegid—it implies high levels of the male sex hormone dihydrotestosterone. This hormone is produced in the male prostate gland and affects the hair follicles; it denotes increased virility and sex drive. These males’ body types are generally hirsute, but the side effect of such a powerful hormone is the ultimate loss of head hair. If we take this into consideration, we are presented with the image of a tough, sexually powerful, and fiercely masculine figure. He is the epitome of manliness. We are told that he is noble, and a further folk legend presents him as vicious and cruel. These masculine traits all point to a “god” type figure, the polar opposite of the feeling, emotional, instinctive aspects of Cerridwen in her aspect as Goddess.
In Pagan lore, Tegid Foel represents the energy of the Lord, with all his authority, stability and the setting of boundaries. Without this aspect of the God, the inspiration of Cerridwen’s cauldron lacks the ability to be manifested on the physical plane. Tegid provides the structure and discipline necessary to hold the energy of inspiration being produced or channelled by Cerridwen. The energy symbolised by Tegid is present throughout the tale, but he is not always obvious, as he is not always represented as an anthropomorphic being. The physical boundaries he represents can be seen as the structure and material of the cauldron that holds Cerridwen’s potion. This provides the boundary and holding function necessary to contain Cerridwen’s catalytic and magical work, symbolic of the constraining and disciplinary function of Tegid. Tegid can be seen as the “holding” aspect of the land during the chase sequence. He represents Awen made manifest through the structure of the physical world.
The coracle, or skin-bag, contains the transformational forces being experienced through access to Awen; without the principle of structure, authority, and boundaries, there is nothing to contain and focus the transformative energy being experienced. Without the principles represented by Tegid, the forces of inspiration that lead to the act of transformation would dissolve and return to the void. Tegid is an essential component that “holds” the tale in place and provides it with a physical stage upon which to play out. Pure inspiration remains ethereal and unmanifest without the structuring nature of the physical world. Without the boundaries and limitations imposed by the physical, our inspiration remains just that: unmanifest. We need Tegid Foel to manifest them onto this plane. Without his influence, the tale would be devoid of security and stability—it would descend into anarchy and become disarranged. Awen would be too fluid and would run through the fingers to be absorbed by the void; Tegid provides the cup that contains our Awen.
Tegid is the tutelary archetype of the lake, and yet the waters themselves are representative of the Goddess aspect—unconscious, formless, emotional, and otherworldly. But for the qualities of the Goddess to be made manifest in this realm and for us to connect to the elements that embody her, she needs the containing boundary of the surrounding banks, which provide the structure, discipline, and boundaries—i.e., the material world. Both these elements combine to provide a link between the manifest plane, represented by the masculine force, and the unmanifest: the feminine force. Neither is greater than the other, but both are essential for making manifest the mysteries and bringing them to applicable cohesion. Ultimately the mysteries are useless unless we are able to set them on a stage that makes them manifest, tangible; anything less than this would simply be a mental exercise. All the other archetypes bring subjective, supernatural qualities vital for the assimilation of mystery, but without the principle of Tegid—the steadfastness and sureness of the physical world—they would lose their cohesion and dissolve into abstraction.
Tegid Foel is our connection to the physical plane and our localities; he represents the qualities of support and security, of stability and strength. He is an allegory for community and tribe, family and friends; he connects us by means of bone and blood to the soil and sap. We are all supported in one manner or another, whether in our personal, professional, or spiritual lives; support is vital for us to be nurtured and permitted to develop. In this light, Cerridwen and her children are supported within a family unit; if Cerridwen is out foraging every day for over a year, someone is maintaining the larder. This role is fulfilled by her husband; he supports the witch’s skills by providing for his family. He maintains the physical, visible world to enable Cerridwen’s pursuit of the occult arts. The roles here are not those of dependency, but rather of honourable reciprocation. For relationships to grow and fruit they must be symbiotic, each to his or her role, each one contributing to the family or spiritual unit in a manner that is conducive, not predatory or parasitic.
Tegid Foel represents what holds us and gives our lives structure and support. There is a degree of practicality here, for without support we may be unable to fulfil our goals or responsibilities. When we look at our own lives and examine the details that make up our everyday patterns, we will note the structures of support and stability, security and encouragement that bring meaning and reciprocation to our relationships. These are essential for us to be permitted to pursue our dreams, studies, career paths, and life choices in the knowledge that we are supported. This is not a selfish notion, for the concept of reciprocation must be utilised for these relationships to be symbiotic. We may need the support of a spouse or partner to look after the children whilst we pursue our studies with our covens and groves. I reiterate that this is not dependency, it is practicality. We live in a world where nothing is given to us on a plate; our lives are restricted by finances, working patterns and shifts, and family obligations. We may all dream of being full- time priests to the gods, but that is not the world we inhabit; our devotion to the old ways must be balanced with the sheer practicalities of twenty-first- century life. And to enable this we must have support systems in place that mould the physical environment around the spiritual in a beneficial manner.
Generally our support systems go unacknowledged—they morph gradually into the humdrum of existence, and we take them entirely for granted. The message of Tegid Foel is the conscious acknowledgment of the physical, material systems that give our lives the structure and support they require. The anarchic spirit may find this concept utterly anathema and condemn it at first sight, but to do so would be to dishonour the nature of relationship. As children we are supported by our parents and their interaction with the world—they nurture, house, and feed us. We reciprocate by caring for our parents in later life and raising our own children; the cycle repeats. In our educational years we are supported by our peers, encouraged by the unit of friends that arise from intense periods of schooling. These folk become the shoulders upon which we cry in our darkest moments and the invokers of laughter and the joy of love-filled companionships. Our careers are supported by the systems that enable the smooth running of any operation or task; nothing truly happens independently. Within our spiritual development, we are equally supported by means of our spiritual family groups—the covens, groves, groups, and orders to which we belong. Without these structures in place, we would be hard-pressed to maintain Awen’s form, and it may become too fluid to form shape and substance. To be in receipt of support is to also provide it—a one-sided relationship based on what one can gain is doomed to fail from the offset. To be in sacred, meaningful relationship is to swim in symbiosis.
The physical location and materials that make up our nonhuman support systems are also vitally important for our well-being. They provide us with a sense of place, of being, by connecting us physically with the world around us. We tend to choose our physical habitats carefully. A house is more than just a series of bricks and mortar to a practitioner of the mysteries; it is a home, an extension of the persona that inhabits it. An untidy house is an untidy mind, says the wisdom of the grandmothers, and there is a certain degree of truth in this old wives’ adage. Our states of mind affect the physical, and good mental health is reflected in good physical health. Our emotions are able to affect our environments in manners that are very real. The saying that “you could cut the atmosphere with a knife” is not a whimsical notion but one based on the activation of the subtle senses, which perceives something beyond the ordinary. The subtle world directly affects the physical world and vice versa; the proper and effective maintenance of both realms is an essential task for any student of the mysteries.
For this to take place, we need systems that guide and support us. We need teachers who can guide us, partners and friends who provide us with the time and energy to commit, and the physical materials needed to practically enable us to develop. For the modern Pagan, however idiotic the notion may seem, a car is equally as essential to those in isolated communities as the ability to imagine. We are communal pack animals; we thrive in community and need this aspect to be human. We are products of our time, and we cannot deny the world as it currently exists, warts and all. It is our world, and it supports us; our communities and families sing of exquisite connection to the material world whilst simultaneously reaching into the subtle realms. To acknowledge our relationships is to deeply honour them, so next time you feel like screaming at your mother for annoying you or verbally attacking your partner for leaving laundry about the bedroom floor, stop and think of what forged that connection in the first place. Examine your relationships and what effect they have on your physical/material world.
In some Eastern spiritual traditions there exists the function of denying the physical, of rising above and beyond the limitations of this dimension. This is not a function of the Celtic systems, which celebrate the essentialness of this experience as something that brings richness and individual expression to the overall knowing of the universe. Tegid Foel is our connection to the here and now; his message tells us to be of the world, for we are of the world—our spirits may exist between dimensions, in the space between place, but our corporeal forms exist in the here and now. This planet, this physical earth, is a vital cog on the wheel of experience, and by observing the cycles of nature, we glean an understanding of human nature and the wisdom that that entails. The physical and the spiritual cannot be separated whilst we are within human form; they are not destined to do so.
Exercise
What is the nature of your support systems? What are the systems you have in place that enable you to participate in the world? What are your relationships based upon?
When you study your life and the complex web of relationships within it, how do they appear? Chances are that you have probably never sat down and examined the nature of your support systems. This exercise gives insights into the functionality of our relationships and what role we play within them.
Contemplate your relationships by initially focusing on the most poignant ones. Take your journal and note the structure of the most immediate relationship in your life. Ask yourself these questions:
Contemplating the above will cause you to deeply question the nature of your relationships. The danger within any relationship is stagnation; the prevention of this is dependent on our ability to acknowledge the value—and sometimes the destructive elements—of them. Love and hate share the sides of the same coin; they are not opposites, for there is still a connection there—the opposite of these is indifference. Indifference in relationships causes the breakdown of the supporting systems that they contain. The Tegid element is removed. Consider:
Record your experience in your journal.