Blodeuwedd was a Welsh Goddess who was created by the magicians Math and Gwydion from broom, meadowsweet, and oak. Her name means 'flower faced', and she features heavily in the last of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. She is associated with flowers, beauty, owls, passion, emotions, transformation, and love.
The Welsh hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes was 'cursed' by his mother to never have a human wife, and so Math and Gwydion aided the young warrior by creating a wife for him out of flowers, said to be the most beautiful maiden that had ever been seen, and naming her Blodeuwedd.
They married, but during their time together Blodeuwedd fell in love with another; the Lord of Penllyn, Gronw Pebr. Together they decide to murder Llew so that Blodeuwedd can be free to be with the love of her choosing. As a magical hero, there were many ways that it was said that Llew could not die; he could not be killed during the day or during the night, neither indoors or outdoors, nor riding or walking, naked or clothed, and so on. It would appear that the Llew was invincible, but Blodeuwedd tricked him into revealing the way in which he could be killed. Llew tells her that he can only be killed at dusk, whilst he is wrapped in a net by a riverbank with one foot in a bath and one on a black goat, and then stabbed with a spear made during the hours that the people are at Mass.
The Welsh hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes was 'cursed' by his mother to never have a human wife, and so Math and Gwydion aided the young warrior by creating a wife for him out of flowers, said to be the most beautiful maiden that had ever been seen, and naming her Blodeuwedd.
They married, but during their time together Blodeuwedd fell in love with another; the Lord of Penllyn, Gronw Pebr. Together they decide to murder Llew so that Blodeuwedd can be free to be with the love of her choosing. As a magical hero, there were many ways that it was said that Llew could not die; he could not be killed during the day or during the night, neither indoors or outdoors, nor riding or walking, naked or clothed, and so on. It would appear that the Llew was invincible, but Blodeuwedd tricked him into revealing the way in which he could be killed. Llew tells her that he can only be killed at dusk, whilst he is wrapped in a net by a riverbank with one foot in a bath and one on a black goat, and then stabbed with a spear made during the hours that the people are at Mass.
And so Blodeuwedd makes the necessary arrangements, but when Llew is struck by a spear thrown by Gronw, he turns into an eagle and flies away. The magician Gwydion finds him and coaxes him down, transforming him back into his human form. Gwydion and Math nurse Llew back to health, before helping him retake his lands from Gronw and Blodeuwedd. During this attempt, Bloduewedd flees but Gwydion catches her and turns her into an owl, and Gronw is eventually killed by Llew with his own spear.
Whilst it may appear that Blodeuwedd is the villain in this story, other interpretations see her as a victim; created solely with the purpose of being a wife to another with no choice in her fate, she is essentially a slave to Llew. However, she finds true love with another, and wanting to be free to marry the man who has captured her heart, has to resort to drastic measures as the only means of her escape. As such, she represents love and the emotions, passion, following your heart, and putting your own happiness first (preferably without the murder though).
She is also seen as a Goddess of transformation. There are the transformations she herself goes through, from flower, to Goddess, to owl, but she also plays an instrumental part in the transformation that Llew needs to go through to later become King. She is a great deity to call upon if you too are looking for transformation in your life, or if you are emotionally struggling through a period of change. With this association of transformation (as well as love and beauty), the moon and lunar energies have also become symbolic of Blodeuwedd, a reflection of its cycle from new to full, and to new again.
Whilst it may appear that Blodeuwedd is the villain in this story, other interpretations see her as a victim; created solely with the purpose of being a wife to another with no choice in her fate, she is essentially a slave to Llew. However, she finds true love with another, and wanting to be free to marry the man who has captured her heart, has to resort to drastic measures as the only means of her escape. As such, she represents love and the emotions, passion, following your heart, and putting your own happiness first (preferably without the murder though).
She is also seen as a Goddess of transformation. There are the transformations she herself goes through, from flower, to Goddess, to owl, but she also plays an instrumental part in the transformation that Llew needs to go through to later become King. She is a great deity to call upon if you too are looking for transformation in your life, or if you are emotionally struggling through a period of change. With this association of transformation (as well as love and beauty), the moon and lunar energies have also become symbolic of Blodeuwedd, a reflection of its cycle from new to full, and to new again.
