Gwyn Read online

  In this first reference to her, there is no mention of Gwyn having a rival for her affections, but a hundred years later (around 1350 A.D.) in the above mentioned ‘Kulhwich and Olwen’ story, there is a detailed explanation of the frustrations of Gwyn’s desire;

  “. . . A little while before this, Crieddylad the daughter of Lludd Llaw Erient, and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl, were betrothed. And before she had become his bride, Gwyn ap Nudd came and carried her away by force; Gwythyr the son of Greidawl gathered his host together, and went to fight with Gwyn ap Nudd. But Gwyn overcame him, and captured Greid the son of Eri, and Glinneu the son of Taran, and Gwrgwst Ledlwm, and Dynvarth his son. And he captured Penn the son of Nethawg and Nwython, and Kyledyr Wyllt his son. And they slew Nwython, and took out his heart, and constrained Kyledyr to eat the heart of his father. And therefrom Kyledyr became mad. When Arthur heard of this, he went to the North and summoned Gwyn ap Nudd before him, and set free the nobles whom he had put in prison, and made peace between Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl. And this was the peace that was made: - that the maiden should stay in her fathers house, without advantage to either of them, and that Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwythyr the son of Griedawl should fight for her every first of May, from thenceforth until the day of doom, and whichever of them should then be conqueror should have the maiden . . . “

  We have here, in story form, the vague memory of some native British star-lore. That Creurdilad was sent to live in her fathers house probably implies that she was a constellation in the night sky. For Gwyn and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl (which means ‘Victor the son of Scorcher’) are believed to represent the eternal battle between Winter and Summer, each year, for the Spring and fertile earth (Creurdilad). It’s from this story that Gwyn is connected with Beltane. As mentioned Glastonbury Tor is on the Beltane sunrise alignment.

  Gwyn is said to ride out across the night sky on winter nights. This is because he is the constellation of Orion ‘The Hunter’. This great constellation is also the ‘Winter King’ because it appears in the sky each October where it stays until April. Then it will disappear from the night sky until the next October, remembering of course that the end of April is Beltane! As Orion leaves the heavens in April, his opposite and rival appears, ‘Scorpius the Scorpion’ is ‘Victor the son of Scorcher’ and inhabits the Summer night sky until October when Orion returns!

  Orion is Gwyn, the ‘Winter King’ and Scorpius is Victor, the ‘Summer King’. For all eternity, until the day of doom, they battle for the hand of their ‘Hearts Desire’, Creurdilad. At Beltane, Victor gains the upper hand and at Samhain (the Celtic New Year) Gwyn ap Nudd reigns. Each king ruling the night sky for six months each.

  Standing by the monument which is Glastonbury Cross, in the centre of Glastonbury, (and the centre of the Glastonbury Lake villages) I have observed for myself, throughout the Winter months, the constellation of Orion, or Gwyn ap Nudd, appearing to rise out of Glastonbury Tor and go hunting across the night sky!

  An equally moving spectacle can be seen from the site of Burrow Bridge Mump, the next site down the Beltane alignment to St. Michael’s Mount. In the next chapter we will consider the possibility that the Mump is, in fact, the earthly nose of a vast dog set in the landscape of Somerset. If, as I suspect, there is a connection with ‘Dormarth’, Gwyn’s hunting dog, imagine how much intensity and spiritual excitement can be found, standing on Burrow Mump, looking at the Tor upon the horizon, and seeing Gwyn/Orion rising into the night sky;

  “Dormarth, red-nosed, ground-grazing

  On him we perceived the speed

  Of thy wanderings on Gwibir Vynyd’(Cloud Mount).”

  ‘On him we perceived the speed of thy wanderings’ -from Burrow Mump, looking at the Tor, in the direction of the Beltane sunrise, the Hunter (or the ‘Wild Hunt’) speeds into the night sky. Awesome!

  Glastonbury’s connection with May Day has been known about since the 1960’s when the author and visionary John Michell brought the ‘St Michael Line’ (Beltane Line) into public awareness in his inspired book ‘The View over Atlantis’ is a great introduction into the ‘sacred landscape’ of Britain. This fits perfectly with Gwyn’s tradition of his annual May Day battle. Whilst I was aware of this significance, and learning to perceive Gwyn as the ‘Winter King’, it was a happy and astounding surprise to me when I learnt that Glastonbury Tor also had a fantastic and unique connection with the Winter Solstice! In 2005 I attended a talk at Chalice Well, given by local author Nicholas Mann and learnt for the first time about his great discovery. During Winter Solstice sunrise, 2006; I was able to witness the event for myself. Standing with a good friend, and a dozen or so other Glastonbury souls, on an old ‘mound’ on top of Windmill Hill, we stared at the Tor on a cold, but blue sky, morning. At almost exactly 8.30 am the sun appeared at the very base of the eastern slope of Glastonbury Tor, and then for 30 minutes the sun slowly rolled up the side of the Tor and then launched into the sky! The sloping angle of Glaston-bury Tor is ‘cut’ perfectly, so that from the ‘viewing mound’ on Windmill Hill, the ancient Britons could observe the Mid Winter sun roll up the hill of the Winter King’s sacred isle. It truly is fantastic and wonderful.

  So Gwyn overlords the Celtic ‘New Year’ of Samhain, after the constellation Orion has returned to the night sky. He also overlords the beginning of the solar year, Mid Winter, when the days start to grow in length again. Like some forgotten native British Yule King or Father Christmas, he rides across the sky too! The Mid Winter sunrise can be seen to roll up the Winter King’s sacred mountain! Every year - weather permitting!

  In the stories of the Mabinogion (written in the late 1300’s) the tales are a confused mix of historical characters and mythical/divine beings. King Arthur for example, is far beyond being simply ‘human’. He comes across as a demi-god who interacts with deities. For instance it is Arthur who binds Gwyn and Gwythyr into their eternal battle - so it is Arthur who fixes the Winter king and Summer King into their places (no mere human king!) The same story (Kulhwich & Olwen) also has Arthur seeking advice from Gwyn and Gwythyr, no longer fighting each other but co-operating together in duality, as advisers;

  “. . . Said Arthur, ‘Is there any one of the marvels yet unob-tained?’ Said one of his men, ‘There is - the blood of the witch Orddu, the daughter of the witch Orwen, of Penn Nant Govid, on the confines of Hell.’ Arthur set forth towards the North, and came to the place where was the witch’s cave. And Gwyn ab Nudd, and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl, counselled him to send Kacmwri, and Hygwyd his brother to fight with the witch. And as they entered the cave, the witch seized upon them, and she caught Hygwyd by the hair of his head, and threw him on the floor beneath her. And Kacmwri caught her by the hair of her head, and dragged her to the earth from off Hygwyd, but she turned again upon them both, and drove them both out with kicks and with cuffs. And Arthur was wroth at seeing his two attendants almost slain, and he sought to enter the cave; but Gwyn and Gwythyr said unto him, ‘It would not be fitting or seemly for us to see you squabbling with a hag. Let Hiramreu and Hireidil go to the cave.’ so they went. But if great was the trouble of the first two that went, much greater was that of these two. And heaven knows that not one of the four could move from the spot, until they placed them all upon Llamrei, Arthur’s mare. And then Arthur rushed to the door of the cave, and at the door he struck at the witch, with Carnwennan his dagger, and clove her in twain, so that she fell in two parts. And Kaw, of North Britain, took the blood of the witch and kept it . . . “

  During the same series of adventures (of Arthur achieving impossible challenges) with the help of deities and heroes. The final challenge is to capture a monstrous giant Boar. To achieve this, Arthur is told that he would need the assistance of the supreme ‘hunter’, Gwyn.

  “. . . It is not possible to hunt the boar Trwyth without Gwynn the son of Nudd, whom god has placed over the brood of devils in Annwn, lest they should destroy the present race . . . “

  This may be gar
bled Star Lore again. As Orion appears to be hunting the constellation of Taurus the Bull, probably Gwyn (as constellation) was known to hunt some kind of ‘Giant Boar’. This way of thinking probably applies to the above story of Arthur defeating the Witch, and needing the advice of the Winter night sky and Summer night sky (Gwyn and Gwythyr.)

  As the story of Kulhwich & Olwen was written in the 1300’s, it shows how already the traditions were now being distorted by the centuries of Christianity. We are told that ‘God’ placed Gwyn ap Nudd ‘over the brood of devils in Annwn’. Gwyn’s role in the pantheon of the ‘Children of Don’ now seems to be forgotten, but interestingly, he is still portrayed (like the archangel Michael) as a spiritual protector ‘lest they should destroy the present race!’

  The British lord of Paradise to whom the pre-Christian Britons would entrust the bodies of their deceased loved ones, is now portrayed as a protector guarding the doorway of hell, to stop the devils from attacking humanity. The Christian ‘Heaven’ had replaced ‘Gwynfa’ the British paradise and Annwn, ‘the other- world’ had been turned into a dark Celtic Hades. Sadly this corruption was just the beginning of the diminishment and distortion of Gwyn’s good character.

  The Glastonbury Zodiac was discovered in the 1920’s by Katharine Emma Maltwood, or at least it was she who brought it to public awareness. There is some evidence to suggest that the Elizabethan astrologer Dr John Dee knew about this Zodiac. Katharine Maltwood was an exceptional woman who had lived a very fascinating life. She was a Master Freemason in her own right and married to a Master Freemason; a sculptress and a visionary mystic, an occultist and theosophist.

  Gwyn’s presence at Glastonbury coincides wonderfully with both the Beltane alignment of the Michael Line and also with the Mid Winter sun roll of the winter king. Most curiously he also appears to have a fascinating connection to the enigma of the Glastonbury Zodiac! Which is drawn into the landscape of Somerset, covering a circular area of ground, approximately 10 miles in diameter.

  One of the oldest books about the Holy Grail was written around the early 1200’s, ‘The High History of the Holy Grail’ . At the beginning of the 1900’s the ‘High History’ was translated into modern English and Katharine was commissioned to illustrate a map for the book, showing where the various ‘Knights of the Round Table’ had travelled on their quests.

  She based her map on the Somerset countryside, around Glastonbury, because the ‘High History’ itself declared (albeit indirectly) that the events it contained all happened near Glastonbury;

  “The Latin from whence this history was drawn into Romance was taken in the Isle of Avalon, in a holy house of religion that standeth at the head of the Moors Adventurous, there where King Arthur and Queen Guenivere lie, according to the witness of the good men religious that are therein, that have the whole history thereof, true from the beginning even to the end.”

  (The High History of the Holy Grail; written in their early 1200’s by an unknown author.)

  On the basis that what is clearly Glastonbury Abbey, (“where King Arthur and Queen Guenivere lie,”) is located at the ‘Head of the Moors Adventurous’ - Avalon’s ‘Sea Moors’; there must be more than the possibility that one could figure out the other locations in ‘the High History’ from their various descriptions. The task of creating a map of these locations was given to Katharine Maltwood.

  It was whilst studying the local maps and thinking about the contents of ‘the High History’ and contemplating a great Lion that the knights had been hunting for, she noticed that there were quite a lot of Red Lion pubs in one area. Within the map she was studying, she saw the shape of a Lion jump out at her near the ancient seat of the Wessex kings, Somerton! Drawn into the very land itself, by the lines of roads and rivers. This huge beast was around 4 miles in length! She then went on to discover a human shape, which she believed to be a Giant that played an important role in ‘the High History’.

  It wasn’t until she showed a friend of hers this Lion and Giant that her friend (a fellow theosophist and astrologer) suggested that maybe it was Leo and Gemini of a Terrestrial Zodiac. Madame Blavatsky who founded the Theosophical Society had believed that priests from ancient Egypt had travelled across the world building Zodiacs wherever they went. With this idea in mind, Katharine went on to discover the other ten signs of the Zodiac and nearby, a huge guard dog effigy!

  Katharine Maltwood published her first book about the Glastonbury Zodiac, ‘Glastonbury’s Temple of the Stars’ in 1929. She and her husband financed the very first aerial photographs of Somerset (to promote this discovery) then she wrote a follow up book, ‘The Enchantments of Britain’.

  I had taken quite a deep interest in the enigma of the Glastonbury Zodiac and for a few years, working as a taxi driver, had the pleasure of driving around all the locations on a daily basis, for a living! I got to know each sign of the zodiac (on the land) very intimately. However, I hadn’t really thought that there was any real connection between Gwyn ap Nudd and the Zodiac, until my good friend Richard Ward (an Antiquarian book dealer) pointed out a reference to Gwyn in the Welsh Triads;

  “The three renowned astronomers of the Isle of Britain: Idris the giant; Gwydion son of Don; and Gwyn son of Nudd. Such was their knowledge of the stars, their natures and qualities, that they could prognosticate whatever was wished to be known until the day of doom.”

  (from the compilation of Iolo Morganwg, published in 1807.)

  The Welsh Triads of Iolo Morganwg are a hotly debated topic. Some scholars argue that they were invented by Iolo and others believe that they are a genuine compilation of original medieval texts. Whatever the case may be, it is more than curious that Gwyn should be here described as an Astrologer, more than a hundred years before Katharine Maltwood even discovered the Glastonbury Zodiac; -another case of Welsh knowledge appearing to know more about Somerset than the English do.

  I was fascinated by this idea of Gwyn being an Astronomer (and his sacred island being a part of a giant terrestrial Zodiac) and was pleased to read that another author had picked up on the idea of Gwyn the Astronomer;

  “Gwyn ap Nudd was a celebrated astronomer, said to be able to predict whatever was wished to be known to the end of the world; their home was Annwn, the vale of the Ann or Test, consequently it is of interest that Wace should have mentioned, when describing the coronation, that the Caerleon priests were astronomers who ‘often enough prophesied to Arthur what the future would bring’. The astrologers of Nudd had been absorbed into the Church. Their memory is with us still, in the nursery name for the sky, the ‘land of Nod’.”

  (John Whitehead, ‘the Guardian of the Grail’.)

  Seeing here that the Caerleon priests, were described as ‘astronomers of Nudd’ (acting as advisors to King Arthur,) immediately brings to mind Arthur seeking advice from Gwyn and Gwythyr, Winter and Summer kings, in the story of the crazy witch Orddu in the Mabinogion.

  When Katharine Maltwood had discovered the Zodiac, she convinced herself of its reality by superimposing a map of the night sky upon the Somerset landscape. Not only were there zodiac shapes in the ground but they corresponded to their heavenly counterparts.

  The Giant that she found corresponded with the constellation of Orion the hunter, and the giant’s head was the ancient hill fort of Compton Dundon (the ‘Court of Don’). Of course, the exciting thing is that the nearest hill fort to Ynys Witrin, located upon the Glastonbury Zodiac, is itself, the very ‘head’ of Gwyn ap Nudd (Orion)! From the summit of ‘Dundon Beacon’ hill fort, you can see Glaston-bury Tor very clearly - the ‘sacred ground’ of the natives who lived upon Gwyn’s Head!

  Chapter Five

  Dormarth— guardian of the Zodiac

  “Madame Blavatsky says (Secret Doctrine p. 502), ‘As above so below. Sidereal phenomena, and the behaviour of the celestial bodies in the heavens, were taken as a model, and the plan was carried out below on earth. In the same manner and on the plan of the Zodiac in the upper Ocean or the heavens, a certain
realm on Earth, an inland sea, was consecrated and called “the Abyss of Learning”; twelve centres on it in the shape of twelve small islands representing the Zodiacal signs - two of which remained for ages the “mystery signs” and were the abodes of the twelve Heirophants and masters of wisdom. This “Sea of Knowledge” or learning remained for ages there.’ May we suggest that the ancient Mystery School of Glastonbury’s Holy Grail offers a parallel to the above.”

  There are days when I think about Katharine Maltwood’s ‘Glastonbury Zodiac’, and I think to myself, ‘No, it’s not really there, too much of it feels contrived and invented . . . ‘Then I also have periods when I believe in its reality, absolutely. But I never have days of doubt about the ‘Big Doggy’ of Somerset! I love the ‘Girt Dog of Langport’. He’s big, beautifully drawn, and will forever ‘Bark!’ at those who would attempt to dismiss him as a delusion of an over-creative mind.

  The Girt Dog is not a part of the Glastonbury Zodiac proper. The dog exists outside of the Zodiacal sphere, as if playing the role of some great guard dog. Around the dog’s body are place names that growl defiantly to ‘non believers’. The best of them - his neatly drawn ear lies upon ‘Earlake Moor’ and his tail is drawn upon the small village of ‘Wagg’! And there are other doggy-related place names around him too. This giant hound of Somerset is a staggering 5 miles long from nose to tail!