The Mabinogion · 165 of 192 · tr. Lady Charlotte Guest

Tale MATH THE SON OF MATHONWYi

Lo, I hear the tumult of the men approaching.” “I will do so, gladly.” So she armed him fully, and that right cheerfully.

“Hast thou finished arming the youth?” said he.

“I have finished,” she answered.

“I likewise have finished,” said Gwydion.

“Let us now take off our arms, we have no need of them.” “Wherefore?” said she.

“Here is the army around the house.” “Oh, lady, there is here no army.” “Oh,” cried she, “whence then was this tumult?” “The tumult was but to break thy prophecy and to obtain arms for thy son.

And now has he got arms without any thanks unto thee.” “By Heaven,” said Arianrod, “thou art a wicked man.

Many a youth might have lost his life through the uproar thou hast caused in this Cantrev to-day.

Now will I lay a destiny upon this youth,” she said, “that he shall never have a wife of the race that now inhabits this earth.” “Verily,” said he, “thou wast ever a malicious woman, and no one ought to support thee.

A wife shall he have notwithstanding.” They went thereupon unto Math the son of Mathonwy, and complained unto him most bitterly of Arianrod.

Gwydion showed him also how he had procured arms for the youth.

“Well,” said Math, “we will seek, I and thou, by charms and illusion, to form a wife for him out of flowers.

He has now come to man’s stature, and he is the comeliest youth that was ever beheld.” So they took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw.

And they baptized her, and gave her the name of Blodeuwedd.

After she had become his bride, and they had feasted, said Gwydion, “It is not easy for a man to maintain himself without possessions.” “Of a truth,” said Math, “I will give the young man the best Cantrev to hold.” “Lord,” said he, “what Cantrev is that?” “The Cantrev of Dinodig,” he answered.

Now it is called at this day Eivionydd and Ardudwy.

And the place in the Cantrev where he dwelt, was a palace of his in a spot called Mur y Castell, on the confines of Ardudwy.

There dwelt he and reigned, and both he and his sway were beloved by all.

One day he went forth to Caer Dathyl, to visit Math the son of Mathonwy.

And on the day that he set out for Caer Dathyl, Blodeuwedd walked in the Court.

And she heard the sound of a horn.

And after the sound of the horn, behold a tired stag went by, with dogs and huntsmen following it.

And after the dogs and the huntsmen there came a crowd of men on foot.

“Send a youth,” said she, “to ask who yonder host may be.” So a youth went, and inquired who they were.

“Gronw Pebyr is this, the lord of Penllyn,” said they.

And thus the youth told her.

Gronw Pebyr pursued the stag, and by the river Cynvael he overtook the stag and killed it.

And what with flaying the stag and baiting his dogs, he was there until the night began to close in upon him.

And as the day departed and the night drew near, he came to the gate of the Court.

Themes

◆Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The creation of a maiden from the blossoms of oak, broom, and meadow-sweet implies that natural objects possess an inherent spirit or potential for life.

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◆Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The divine or magical beings (Math, Gwydion, Arianrod) exhibit distinctly human emotions such as spite, anger, and familial obligation in their interactions.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The deities are portrayed as active, dynamic agents who directly intervene in human affairs to resolve curses and arrange marriages rather than remaining abstract principles.

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◆Shapeshifting Transformationtheology

Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.

The passage describes the magical creation of a human woman from plant blossoms, demonstrating the preternatural capacity to alter form across natural states as noted in the definition's reference to the Mabinogion.

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◆Theurgypraxis

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The ritual use of specific material symbols (blossoms) combined with charms to produce a supernatural result aligns with the practice of engaging divine power through consecrated matter.

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◆Word Power Incantationpraxis

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

Math and Gwydion utilize 'charms and illusion' to effect the creation of Blodeuwedd, indicating that spoken or ritualized words carry causal-magical force to alter reality.

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