More on Rhiannon-Epona in the Welsh landscape

Previously I wrote about the story of Rhiannon’s ride with Pwyll, and how the story can show us perhaps that a truly equal love partner can show up when we stay true to our own sovereignty and boundaries.

A more tragic echo of Rhiannon’s mythos, however, shows up in the local story of Mynydd Epynt.

15 minutes’ drive from where I live is a place called ‘Mynydd Epynt’ (pronounced ‘Munuth Epunt’), Epynt Mountain. The etymology of Epynt is the same as that for Epona, both coming from the Proto-Celtic for horse. And Mynydd Epynt used to host annual horse fairs. So for me, I always call it Epona Mountain.

Now though, it’s a wild, sad place - it used to be a Welsh-speaking farming community, but it was subject to land clearances during WW2 for army training and manoeuvres. The inhabitants were never allowed to move back to their houses and farms - it remains Ministry of Defence property, although there is minimal road and byways access. The stories of the land clearances are heart breaking: many of the evicted died young, one example farmer driven from his land was said to have ‘cried himself to death’.

Another evictee, an 82 year old woman sat motionless and tearful on the day of her eviction with her back to her house, where she had been born, as had her father and grandfather, saying “…Mae’n ddiwedd byd yma" ("...it is the end of the world here"). The Welsh phrase Mae’n ddiwedd byd yma has become associated with the evictions and is the title of the Welsh-language history of Mynydd Epynt published in 1997. These days, the Drovers Arms pub (horses again) is the only remnant of the community up there, and is only accessible by the MOD.

It is really beautiful in daylight, but also really heart breaking and I feel like I need to do something for the land up there. During our July 2023 women’s retreat exploring the stories of Blodeuwedd and Rhiannon, I brought the group up to Mynydd Epynt to imagine Rhiannon riding her white horse in freedom and sovereignty on the landscape, and we made offerings and prayers to the land here and the people who call this land their ancestral home.

My attention was drawn to this story from the Mabinogion: after Pwyll’s death, Rhiannon’s son Pryderi arranges a marriage between the widowed Rhiannon and Manawydan, who take to each other with affection and respect. With Rhiannon, Pryderi and Cigfa, Manawydan sits on the Gorsedd Arberth (Throne of Arberth) as Pwyll, Rhiannon’s first husband, had once done. But this time disaster ensues. Thunder and magical mist descend on the land leaving it empty of all domesticated animals and all humans apart from the four protagonists. Manawydan eventually redeems himself by achieving restitution through the release of the enchantment for Rhiannon, Pryderi, and the land.

I struggled with this story, as it seemed to be hinting towards the story of Mynydd Epynt and a potential resolution, but at the same denying Rhiannon’s sovereign power and placing it instead in the hands of her second husband. Maybe though this is a distortion, written as the Mabinogion was, in the medieval era, when patriarchal themes had begun to undermine the power of goddesses and female protagonists in the ancient tales. Perhaps there is a story to be reclaimed, as with the story of Blodeuwedd, of feminine power, sovereignty and agency.

Questions swirl in my head about this place: how do I help the land? Do I need to work with a modern day Manawydan? (As I type that, I see hints of a connection between his name and ‘MoD’, the current land owners!)

This one is still stirring in the cauldron for me, but I’d love to think that in some way, our earth offerings and prayers are contributing not only to the healing of this land and the people who lived here, but also to the collective healing of women in reclaiming their stories and their agency in their lives.

Images from our gorgeous women’s retreat in July 2023 with myself and Sophia Blanton, exploring the stories of Blodeuwedd and Rhiannon. Please do check out our events calendar for upcoming events, both at Beacon Retreat Centre and online.

You may also enjoy ‘Voices from Goddess: Hail Mother Epona’.