Llew Llaw Gyffes: The Initiation of the Divine Son^©
by Mary Pat Mann

(Note: This essay presents an interpretation of Llew Llaw Gyffes' story as it appears in the legend Math Son of Mathonwy, and assumes that readers will be familiar with the events of that portion of the Welsh Mabinogion. Although I refer to specific parts of this story, I do not recount the story in full. If you would like to review the original, please go to: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/mab/math.htm)

Llew is often presented to modern readers as the plucky, but naive, hero-child who surmounts the malicious curses of his uncaring mother with the loving help of his good-hearted, if tricky, uncle. Looked at through another lens, there is much more to his story than that. In this essay, we'll try another lens and see what comes into view.

Who is Llew? Usually, he is considered to be a cognate of the Irish god Lugh. Although there are more tales of Lugh as an adult, we know little of his childhood. It might be that the story of Llew contains a missing piece of Lugh's history. Both Llew and Lugh are gods of light, skilled in many crafts. Both share many hallmarks of a hero's birth: a difficult or unusual conception, a virgin birth (both sons of mothers who were not supposed to have known men), a childhood separated from one or both parents, and unusual portents and events surrounding them. (1)

More specifically, both Llew and Lugh were conceived in circumstances that are unclear at best and surrounded by possibilities of deception and trickery. Lugh's mother Ethlinn was sequestered away by Balor, her father, hidden in a crystal tower to prevent his conception. A prophecy foretold that Ethlinn's son would one day kill his grandfather. The stories say that Cian, son of Dian Cecht, was Lugh's father, smuggled into the tower with the help of the Druidess Birog. But little is said of Ethlinn's part in all this. Did she receive Cian willingly, or did he use trickery or force to gain his ends?

Even less is known of Llew's parentage. Dropped on the floor of a castle as his mother Arianrhod stepped over Math's wand, he is swept into a chest by his uncle Gwydion. Did Math engender him through the magic of the wand, tricking or forcing Arianrhod in some way? Was Gwydion also his father? Or was he the son of the goddess alone, through the power of the moon?

Both boys are separated from their mothers at birth and raised under their fathers direction, but not directly by them. Both are also separated from twin brothers, who seek the sea and live there ever after. Clearly there are parallels between them, although their stories are not identical.

We know nothing of Ethlinn's qualities as a mother. In Arianrhod, there is no maternal warmth, no appearance of loving care for her sons. But then, Arianrhod is not a typical mother. She is a goddess, and a virgin goddess at that. She is virgin in the ancient sense of the word; not under the control of any man, she is one-in-herself, spiritually and emotionally whole.(2) What should Llew's relationship be to such a mother?

To become a man, he must give up childish dependence. Through trials and initiations, he must learn that seeking only to feed his animal desires will not feed his soul; that his ego and intellect alone lack the power to pierce the veil of the ancient mysteries. So, tradition tells us, he must find his own path and accept his own fate.(3)

Unfortunately, Llew's story is bound up with other themes. Gwydion and Math, his maternal uncles, should be sponsoring his initiations into the mysteries of the goddess. Instead they are seeking to replace the goddess with a new male-dominated spirituality with (no surprise here) themselves at the helm. As a result, Llew's three early trials (for a name, weapons, and a wife) become contests between Gwydion and Arianrhod rather than opportunities for Llew himself to grow in power and understanding.

Gwydion is often seen as a positive figure, a skilled magician and able caretaker of his nephew/son. Yet events within the tale suggest that his aspirations are patriarchal. First, he engineers an entire war solely to arrange the rape of the virgin Goewin by his own brother. Goewin is footholder to Math, the king, and therefore is the source of his power and sovereignty. Any violence, and rape in particular, in such circumstances is generally interpreted as an attempt by men to wrest control of spiritual matters from goddesses. Second, he tricks Arianrhod into providing fake initiations to Llew. In this way, he seeks to control her, the boy, and the process. Third, with Math's help, he seeks to create a wife for Llew who is not born of woman, an impossible but sought-for male prerogative.

Llew successfully acquires many skills during these early years; all the skills, in fact, that he will need. But it is possible to become very skilled indeed and still lack any understanding of the deeper meaning of life. And so we see Llew and Blodeuwedd, his flower wife, happily together in the pleasant life provided for them by Gwydion, and we know the story won't end there. Gwydion is happy; he is poised to succeed Math as king and has his own successor, Llew, under his thumb. Llew and Blodeuwedd are controllable, he thinks, because they are still children, still naive, still uninitiated. Despite Gwydion's plans, though, we know this scenario is not stable. Gently or otherwise, life always opens the eyes of its children.

Enter Gronw the hunter. He is not a spiritual man. But he is a man, not a boy, and Blodeuwedd wants him. Since she believes she has a right to whatever she wants, she takes him. Now in the power of a stronger desire than any she has experienced, she will go wherever that desire takes her. So she and her lover plot the murder of her husband.

Llew, for his part, suspects nothing. He happily tells Blodeuwedd the only way he can be killed. To satisfy her curiosity, he act is out for her. But then, the dart pierces him. He turns to see Gronw, a stranger to him, standing there. He turns again to see Blodeuwedd's face. At that moment, he realizes that his life has been a sham.

What then happens to Llew? He is a child of light, following a bright path. He transforms into an eagle, bird of the sun, and flies upward. But this avails him nothing. The blinding light cannot heal this wound and the heat only increases his pain. He flies until he can fly no more. Then, landing, he seeks darkness, shadows, hidden places, and the shelter of an oak.

This is the time of Llew's real initiation. This period, not described in the story, is his dark night of the soul, the crux of his crisis. We can only guess at the realizations he experiences; but one, perhaps, is the wisdom of his elder twin. Dylan chose a water path, a shadow path, and so avoided the machinations of his uncles. Perhaps Llew comes to realize that the bright path is not always the easier one, although it often appears so. It is easy to become unbalanced on a bright path, to think that light is all there is, that the sun can vanquish any darkness, that shadows are not important and should be avoided.

When Gwydion finds him, Llew's only companions are animals of the dark goddess, the worm and the sow. Modern readers often find them repellent, especially the worms. But consider Llew's state at this point: He is wounded and his wound is festering. If the decaying flesh is not removed, he will die. Most probably, the worms were really maggots, even more repellent to the modern reader. Healers, however, have used maggots to clean wounds since ancient times, deliberately applying them to eat away diseased flesh. They were used that way as late as the Napoleonic Wars; not by the scientific physicians, but by old campaigners and battle-hardened Army surgeons.

The sow and the worms, then, are only removing that which is already dead. In the spiritual sense, Llew is shedding his old life to make way for the new. In shamanic terms, he is being dismembered; the sow and the worms are the allies assisting him. This stage is essential to his growth.

This leads to the question of whether Gwydion, once again, interferes too soon. Maybe, instead of saving Llew's life, he interrupts his transformation before it is complete. Gwydion sings Llew back into human form still grievously wounded. Was this the best choice? Or, if left to complete his vigil, would Llew have emerged more powerful still? Was this precisely what Gwydion was trying to prevent?

Looked at in this way, the efforts of Gwydion and Math on behalf of patriarchy serve only to delay Llew's initiations and ultimately to endanger him. The uncles also implicate Llew in their efforts to control the sexuality of the women in the story, such domination being the key to a successful patriarchy. Despite their best efforts, however, Arianrhod, Blodeuwedd and, to a lesser extent, Goewin set in motion the key actions of the story. In the end, they are the initiators. Llew's initiation may have been incomplete, but many are. There will be other opportunities for him.

There is no more to Llew's story except that he eventually became king. Turning back to Lugh, though, tells us that, somehow or other, he learned to stand on his own two feet, know the goddess as she would be known, and himself become a god.

Notes

1. The original pattern is described in The Myth of the Birth of the Hero by Otto Rank, but has been adapted and used in many analyses of myths, folklore, and other narratives. Go Back
   
   
2. This sense of the term 'virgin' is key to understanding the role of women and goddesses in mythology. It is discussed in Jean Markale's, Women of the Celts (see especially pp 127-131) and in M. Esther Harding's, Women's Mysteries Ancient and Modern (see especially pp 101-106). Go Back
   
   
3. See Women's Mysteries, Chapter 14, The Sacrifice of the Son. Go Back

Llew Llaw Gyffes: The Initiation of the Divine Son copyright © 2002 by Mary Pat Mann, all rights reserved. Go Back

Mary Pat Mann lives in rural southeast Ohio with her husband, two children, two dogs, and many deer, wild turkey, racoons, squirrels, herons, hawks, foxes and other assorted wildlife. She's been drawn to Irish history and legend since she was very young, but only began exploring the shamanic path four years ago when an illness forced her to give up her career and refocus. It's a doors close, doors open kind of thing!