REVISITING BLODUWITH

When the rains came in the springtime and the sun warmed the oak forest, a deva of the meadow called Blu felt the desire to help the yellow broom and primrose flowers blossom.  She raised herself up during the twilight hours, when the starlight sings and the roots of the plants touch like lovers. All the nature spirits knew each other well in the woods, and made space for one another. Many had a particular season they loved best. The oaks enjoyed the open field in summer, where the meadowsweet bloomed and the deer came to rest at night.

            The nature spirits knew about hunters and how the animals hid from them. They also feared the hunters, and they pulled the life force from flowers before the tender petals were bruised by boots or the hooves of horses. Still, they were curious about the human world. Men brought chaos and laughter into an otherwise peaceful existence.

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            One afternoon close to dusk, the shadowy magician Math and his nephew Gwydion came into the meadow and began picking blossoms from the broom bushes, primroses, cockles, meadowsweet flowers and young oak leaves. They were chanting as the sun set and an eerie mist began to fill the valley. The birds distrusted their words, except the crows who began to gather.

            As the starlight weaved its way between the branches, Blu could also see the owls gathering. The spirits of the flowers were drawn to the enchantment. Blu, the deva who had been singled out by the magicians to come forth was the same deva who helped the primroses, meadowsweet and other wildflowers grow. She enjoyed the feeling of bees and butterflies on the stalks of flowers. She also liked the way the roots interwove and the pulse of life they would bring from the nearby spring.

            The Goddess Arianrhod stood beneath the oaks watching the two magicians weaving spells. Perhaps creation was listening to them, but when the Goddess spoke a silver ray from the moon touched the leaves and with the guidance of the Goddess, the deva found herself being drawn to the form the magicians were creating.

Arianrhod looked compassionately at the lovely deva for a moment and said, “Dear sweet flower spirit. There are times that the world of men will call you, as they have called me in the past. Forgive me, for I already know that as much as they will love your beauty they in their ignorance will also attempt to control and eventually to crush you.  Even so, I ask your permission to give you woman-like form.”

            Blu nodded in agreement, somewhat excited at the prospect of having a new form. The deva had never felt the sensation of being separate from the forest. There had simply been the soil, the rain, the sun, the moon and the changing seasons. Curious about who she might become, she rose up into a misty form and looked at the Goddess.

            “Speak child,” said Arianrhod. As she waved her hand, the deva felt her self becoming separate from the flowers and taking on this new form that separated itself out from the others who grew in the woods. The nature spirits looked on with great curiosity and then drew back as the newly formed flower-faced Goddess stood with ghostly feet in the meadow.

            “I have a voice,” she said hesitantly....