A few years ago, I stumbled on the story of Saint Winifred of Wales—the tale of a young woman and daughter of a Welsh chieftain who lost her life to a jealous lover and, in turn, created a healing spring.

I‘m obsessed with more unknown stories from the early medieval era, particularly when they can be connected with even more ancient sites. That curiosity led me to an unbelievable story of a possibly ancient Celtic goddess who was worshiped in Northern Wales before being co-opted by the Catholic church. 

Let’s follow the clues to unearth the mystery of this potential Celtic goddess.

Who is Saint Winifred?

Saint Winifred, also known by her Welsh name Gwenfewi or Gwenfrewy, is a well-known Welsh figure wrapped up in mystery and legend. The daughter of a well-regarded Welsh chieftain, she was brought to her untimely death at the hands of a jealous suitor.

The oldest surviving account of Saint Winifred and her life comes from Robert Pennant the Prior of Shrewsbury in the 12th century, in an attempt to popularize her story and relics, which were then housed at the cathedral, to draw in more pilgrims and donations.

As Winifred‘s popularity grew, more mentions of her were noted down by religious scholars. Cardinal Baronius, an Italian orator and historian, recorded her life in Roman Matyrology in 1584, many years after her supposed death in 650 AD.

At the height of Winifred‘s fame from the 11th century until the 16th century, pilgrims would travel from across England to visit her healing well in North Wales. Winifred also appears in the legendary tale, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a 14th-century chivalric romance tale, where Sir Gawain meets the ghost of Winifred and is asked to help her retrieve her head from the well.

The story of Saint Winifred

Saint Winifred‘s story begins in North-East Wales, named Tegeingl in Welsh, deriving from the ancient name Deceangli, a Celtic tribe that inhabited the region since the 1st century BC.

Winifred was the daughter of the chieftain Tyfid ap Eiludd and a woman named Wenlo, said to be the niece of Saint Beuno, a 7th-century Welsh Abbott. Winifred was the only daughter of the couple and, being a noble woman, was afforded the luxury of being educated.

When Winifred became of age to marry, her father sought a suitor to give him an heir. Without wasting any time, he arranged for her to be betrothed by a local chieftain, Caradoc or Caradog, meaning "lover" in Welsh.

Winifred was witty and, by all accounts, had no interest in being married off. So, she told Caradoc that she was already engaged to another man and fled to Beuno‘s oratory.

As she was fleeing, Caradoc, enraged by her rebuffing of his romantic advances, came up behind her on his horse and cleaved her head from her body. Beuno is said to have heard the commotion and run out of the oratory to curse Caradoc for his actions, turning him to melted wax.

​Beuno fell to his knees beside the body of his beloved niece. He gathered up her head and placed it onto her body once more, praying over her remains for a miracle. It’s said that her soul returned to her body, and only a thin line around her neck showed the horrors she was subjected to. 

It is said that before Saint Beuno left the spot, he seated himself on a stone by a pool and promised in the name of God that “whoever on that spot should ask a benefit from God in the name of Saint Winifrede would obtain the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul.”

Winifred, alive once again, became the Abbess of the oratory and recruited 11 other virgins as her nuns. Later, she was said to have joined the nunnery at Gwytherin and died 15 years later. Her relics were enshrined at Gwytherin, later transferred to Shrewsbury Abbey in 1138. 

In another version of the legend, Winifred‘s head was said to have rolled down a hill, where it abruptly stopped and a spring erupted from the ground, providing anyone who bathed in it with healing. Her blood permanently stained the rocks a bright red, a reminder of her sacrifice.

Saint Winifred‘s Well

In Holywell, Flintshire, Saint Winifred‘s well stands tall and imposing against the Welsh landscape. The location of the well, Holywell, or Trefynnon in Welsh translates to "town of the well" showing how important the site was. It‘s believed that the local people of the area worshiped her as early as the 8th century, however, she was not well known outside of the community at that time.

The water at Saint Winifred‘s well gushes out into the pool below, spurting out 22.5 tonnes of water per minute. The keepers of the well even had to place stones over the spring to stop it from turning into a spurting fountain. It‘s almost as if ancient people equated the force of the water‘s flow to the speed of the blood spurting out of Winifred‘s neck when Caradoc decapitated her.

The legend of Winifred‘s story also mentions the red-stained rocks around the well as a symbol of her blood. Interestingly, the stones around the well in times past were stained red from a special red algae. Medieval pilgrims would scrape a part of the red moss off as a souvenir, leading the keepers of the well to replenish the algae daily from a nearby hill. 

The chapel above the well was built in the late 15th century, which begs the question: what was there before? Is there any evidence that Holywell was an ancient site?

Interestingly, archaeologists, when surveying the area around Holywell, found evidence of an Iron Age settlement some 2000 years ago. Roman round houses, coins, and a triskele artifact were found, along with evidence of former Roman sites such as forts, baths, and other settlement locations. Down the road at Rhosesmor, archaeologists discovered Welsh timber longhouses dating to the 3rd millennium BC—the earliest human settlement known in the area. 

Saint Winifred‘s Church at Gwyrtherin 

In the small town of Gwyrtherin, Conwy, Wales, an old church dedicated to Saint Winifred stands only 45 km from Winifred‘s Well. Winifred‘s remains were kept at the Gwyrtherin church until they were taken to Shrewsbury in 1138. The church that remains today dates to the 19th century, but historians and archaeologists have found that the site itself is much older.

Archaeologists found Romano-British inscriptions on the earliest placed stones in the church, suggesting that worship in this area had continued from around the 5th or 6th century.

Historians suggest that since the stones with inscriptions were found at the back of the church, it could indicate an earlier burial mound, making the church the site of Saint Winifred‘s ancestral grave.

The church is built on top of a naturally occurring mound that leads down to a natural ditch where today a cemetery still functions. Around the site, ancient yew trees stand in an organized circle. Experts agree that the yews, perhaps around 2500-3000 years old, denote an ancient sacred gathering place to celebrate the dead.

In the story, it‘s said that Winifred travelled to the church in Gwyrtherin with 11 of her virgin disciples. Interestingly, experts found all three of the remaining trees around the church to be female—if more trees did exist at one point, perhaps these yews could be the 11 disciples.

All of these findings around Saint Winifred‘s church lend more credence to Winifred being an old Celtic goddess.

The Cult of Saint Winifred 

Saint Winifred‘s tale is filled with Celtic motifs, symbols, and references to the natural landscape. The water spurting forth like blood, the red algae that lined the stones, and the mystery of both the well and the church that bears her name.

Historians believe that Saint Winifred‘s legend can be traced back further than its early medieval records, suggesting the version of the story we have today is highly Christianized, trying to obscure her pagan origins. Perhaps there was a Cult of Winifred.

The way that Winifred dies can even be traced to many other well-known pagan legends about a maiden being killed by a lustful man, where a spring gushes forth on the spot. In Celtic mythology, the head was said to be the seat of the soul.

Instead of Winifred being the niece of a famous Welsh abbot, she was likely a whisper of an old pagan tale that aimed to connect virginity, sexual rituals, healing water, and nature. Winifred gave her life to cleanse the land and provide healing water to those who were in need.

Her story reminds me of many other Celtic tales about women and water, like the goddess Boann who summoned the great Boyne river, or Sabrina who gave her life to the River Severn.

What happened to Saint Winifred?

The amazing archaeology studies into Saint Winifred‘s life and sacred locations points to her being a more ancient Celtic goddess. Like other local water goddesses, Winifred must have been a healing figure, associated with the natural springs around the area.

Associated with fertility and virginity, and the blood of her slaying, her story fit into Celtic literature archetypes of the time. Her noble origins, as a daughter of a local chieftain, could have been a later addition as a way for lineages of local chieftains to assert their dominance.

Over time, Winifred‘s story was co-opted by the Catholic church to gain a foothold in the area and convert pagans to Christians.

The most interesting part of Winifred‘s legacy for me is the church built upon an old hill, surrounded by a circle of cultivated yews and standing stones. We may never know what rituals were performed to call to Winifred, but we do have the remains of a once great place of Celtic worship.

Discover more goddess tales

In the German-speaking world, however, the 12 days of Christmas are called Raunächte. It refers to a time when ghouls and dark premonitions roam the wild winter landscape. It‘s a far cry from the jolly English carol but rather, a time to be cautious and stay indoors so that the malevolent spirits don‘t bring bad fortune into the New Year.

What does Raunächte mean?

The meaning of Raunächte has been long disputed by scholars. It‘s now generally agreed that it doesn‘t come from the German word for smoke Rauchen referring to incense burnt in the home, as previously thought.

The word Raunächte comes from an old German word rûch meaning rough, hairy. It refers to the demons believed to be dressed in fur who would cause mischief and mayhem in villages. This is best seen in the tradition of Krampus or Perchta in Alpine countries—the demon that is said to accompany Saint Nicholas to teach naughty children a lesson.

Why are there 12 days of christmas?

The 12 days of Christmas or Raunächte, between December 25 and January 5, carry special significance because of the calculation of the old lunar calendar. The lunar calendar comprises of 354 days, meaning that 11 days and 12 nights are missing entirely from the calculation of the calendar.

The days became to be known as a period “outside of time” or “dead days” which led to mythology springing up about these supposed missing days. It was believed that the laws of nature were suspended, and the boundaries between our world and the mystical Otherworld were thinnest.

It wasn‘t until Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in the 14th century that the New Year was celebrated on January 1. In fact, before this time the New Year was celebrated on January 6 after the so called dead days.

The magic of the raunächte

The mythology and rituals during the 12 days of Christmas in Alpine countries focused heavily on the exorcism of demons from the home and the surrounding village.

Traditions focused on magic and harnessing “good magic” to eradicate harmful demons and spirits. Herbs gathered during this time were said to be especially potent for healing and casting spells. Brooms made during this time were also said to have the power to sweep away evil from the home.

Medieval people were also cautious to hang laundry for fear the spirits would tangle themselves in it and be unable to leave. The same goes for mess and clutter—demons are attracted to chaos and so it makes sense to have the home neat and orderly. One tradition done to scare away evil spirits was to knock loudly on doors or ring bells through the town.

Another strange ritual has to do with animals. Medieval people believed that during the 12 days of Christmas, since the laws of nature were turned on their head, animals were said to speak in a human language at midnight and would reveal the secrets of the future. The catch is if you would hear the animals talking then death was not far off.

During the Raunächte, medieval people were concerned immensely with not only eradicating malevolent spirits but also on death. The fear of death during the colder months makes sense—a time when food was scarce and wood for the fire running low. Rituals were done to preserve health and ward off illness or misfortune.

The demons krampus and perchta

The Raunächte in the medieval world had a strong focus on winter-time demons like Krampus and Perchta. In Alpine communities, the demon Krampus was symbolised as a half-man, half-goat figure with large horns and grotesque features. Clad in furs, carrying chains, birch branch whips, and a sack, Krampus would roam the land to deliver punishments to children who had misbehaved through the year.

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Krampus to the medieval mind was the balance of the world. There‘s Saint Nicholas, symbolising the church, who brings gifts and good tidings, and there‘s Krampus representing the shadow. Although scholars have thought that perhaps Krampus comes from an older pagan tradition—perhaps the worship of a mountain goat that abound in Alpine areas.

Frau Perchta is another Alpine demon figure that is similarly dressed in furs and appears either as haggard and old or youthful. In some writings, she‘s said to have a goose foot, showing unwitting passers by her non-human origins. Her name means “the shining one” which relates more to her being a spector or ghost than a shining, comforting figure.

Figures like Perchta or Krampus were so feared because they were said to arrive in the home unexpectedly. If Perchta found that you had been spinning when such work was forbidden during the 12 nights, she would whip the young maiden and chastise her. If however the home was neat and orderly, she might grant you a wish.

This is best seen in the German folklore story of Frau Holle, a Northern German equivilent to Frau Perchta. In the story, a young maiden is asked to do chores for the old woman to prepare for the New Year. When she does so graciously, the demon grants her riches. However the other girl who does not comply with Frau Holle‘s requests gets bad luck that sticks with her for life.

In Austria, Perchta was said to leave a silver coin in a shoe if the inhabitants of the house looked worn out from their year‘s work. If they hadn‘t, she would rip out their innards and replace them with straw. One ritual to turn the tide in their favour was to leave out a small meal for Perchta so she might take pity on those inside.

The medieval mindset of working hard to rest during the 12 days is evident here. We can see the values of the past and how traditions were strictly adhered to. Of course these myths and traditions remind me also of the ancient wild hunt.

Connection to the wild hunt

The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif that has its roots throughout Europe, which has led many scholars to deem it a relic of our ancient past. It denotes prominent gods and goddesses, and in German regions this includes Frau Holle, Perchta, and Krampus.

A ghostly army of hunters was said to rumbles across the skies and descend on communities in the dark of night, which is a large reason why medieval people stayed indoors during the 12 nights.

The armies of the hunt were said to be made up of fallen men from battle. It could indicate a way that the dead were remembered—a final hunt before retiring to the afterlife.

Historian Carlo Ginzburg in his research into the pre-Christian traditions of Northern Italy theorized that the Wild Hunt became more demonic and fear provoking as the church gained in power. It could be that at first, the Wild Hunt was a phenomena that was not directly associated with the ghoulish, but simply a time of year.

Much of Ginzburg‘s research centers on old agrigarian cultures of anicent times. In a time before the Catholic Church, oral traditions abounded of malevolent spirits seeking to destroy crops and ruin entire communities. The Wild Hunt lets us see into their minds.

Ginzburg believes that the tradition of running around the village dressed as a Krampus or Perchta, clad in furs and causing menace, harkens back to a time of “dead armies” where disgusing yourself as an animal could help to confuse the spectors in the sky. It was in a sense, a way for humans to join the ghostly hunt without being harmed.

why celebrate the 12 days of christmas?

Having a sense of tradition and ritual can help us as humans organize and prioritize our lives. The 12 days of Christmas or Raunächte can be a time of reflection and introspection.

Journalling to get our thoughts straight, preparing herbal teas, and cleaning up our homes before January 6 is a great way to get everything in line for the New Year.

We can remember those that have long left our physical world and try to connect with nature as it hibernates ready for spring.

Read more folklore and mythology

For my submission to the Young Storyteller Award 2024 I decided to revive the first short story I ever wrote. I was so captivated by the story when I came across it—a world-renowned painter who took up with a servant girl and stayed with her until their last days.

Below is an insight into my process and why I decided to put the servant girl, Hendrickje Stoffels, at the center of my story.

the historical research

Through my years of running this blog and being a history enthusiast generally, I knew how uncommon it was in the medieval age to achieve class mobility through marriage. In ages past for someone of Rembrandt‘s position, it wasn‘t normally done.

His first marriage to a wealthy noblewoman, Saskia van Uylenburgh was even more so since women of a high class were often positioned to marry above their standing. Marriage throughout the medieval period acted as a means of securing wealth for the family.

However, by the 17th century, society was beginning to change. During the Dutch Golden Age, (1588-1672), wealth was flooding into the city. The Dutch East India Company established in 1602 was bringing back gold, spices, and slaves from the East. Amsterdam became the center of this trade, providing the city with its backbone of wealth to commission artists for beautiful new buildings and masterpieces to hang inside.

It wasn‘t long before some of the centuries‘ most famous painters like Vermeer, Van der Heyden, and De Heem took up residence and began painting both secular and religious pieces.

With new wealth and art came changing social standards—beating servants became frowned upon, marriage attitudes changed to include an element of friendship between spouses, and wealth became the marker of success. In Dutch society, the nobility had relatively little influence since most of them lived out on provincial lands—not in the heart of Amsterdam. The city itself was always a sea trading hub, a place for merchants and those looking to make their fortunes.

rembrandt‘s relationships

This historical backdrop made it possible for a wealthy man like Rembrandt to choose intimate partners beneath his social class. To me, this detail made the story all the more interesting. Rembrandt is a man who values passion over marrying purely for wealth. It‘s no secret the women he took as lovers were also models in his paintings. His muses.

From the beginning, his affair with Hendrickje was fraught with obstacles. She was unwittingly in the middle of an existing relationship with a former maid of the house, Geertje Dircx. She was 16 years older than Hendrickje and had been with the household since Titus was a baby, when she was hired as a wet nurse after Saskia‘s sudden death from childbirth.

Being practically a mother figure in the household, Geertje seemed to only care about one thing—securing her position as Rembrandt‘s permanent lover.

In surviving records, Geertje was said to have outbursts when things didn‘t go her way. Even in the presence of a notary, she refused to sign certain documents to secure a more lucrative settlement for herself.

Hendrickje‘s new life

When Hendrickje is hired by the household, she‘s in the middle of a difficult time in her life. One year prior, her father died in a terrible gunpowder explosion at the Bredevoort garrison. Her brothers were fighting in the Eighty Years‘ War, which wouldn‘t end until 1648, one year after she moved to Amsterdam.

To make matters worse, her mother decided to remarry her neighbor with three children, just one year after her husband‘s death. Some sources claim that Hendrickje was forced out by her mother and told to fend for herself. Being 20 at the time, she was definitely old enough to begin working, but something told me there was a sting behind this chain of events. She had lost her father, and now her mother had forced her out and remarried quickly.

If she wasn‘t forced out, I believe Hendrickje might have wanted to start a new life far away from the countryside she grew up in. Perhaps the reminder of the explosion was too much, or maybe she needed distance from her mother‘s new life. Whatever the reason, she traveled far into Amsterdam, no doubt wanting to find her own way in life.

Through hendrickje‘s eyes

I put Hendrickje in the center of this story. To me, she seemed bold, and incredibly strong, but also quiet, cheerful, and observant. In Rembrandt‘s paintings, she always has a youthful glow, mysterious eyes, and a lighthearted manner. It feels like Rembrandt wants us to know that she‘s a layered woman. A woman who‘s sure of what she wants yet also shy and hides her emotions. At this moment in time, she‘s a young woman with not much life experience yet has lost her father and watched as her family break apart before her eyes.

Her complexity as a character is why I centered the story on her. I wanted to see what was happening from her perspective, and how she managed to navigate a household full of tension.

Dutch society was still staunchly protestant, so there were rigid laws around intimacy. Later in life, Hendrickje was excommunicated from the church for living in “whoredom” with Rembrandt. She couldn‘t throw all caution to the wind and sleep with Rembrandt without any kind of security, yet she also couldn‘t betray her heart. Everything was a balancing act.

Read the book

The book is now available to buy via print-on-demand. Get your copy here. If you‘re in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland you can get your copy at Thalia.

Want a sneak peek? Check out several of the chapters for free on Story One.

Editing your first novel is hard. It‘s a difficult process that‘s entirely self-directed, and if you don‘t have a map of how to approach the process, it‘s utterly daunting.

I was in this process, madly hurrying around and shuffling scenes here and there before I hit a wall and thought enough, there has to be a better way to approach this.

I recently did an editing course with the National Centre for Writing online which provided me with an invaluable guide of how to approach the editing process.

The process of editing your first novel

Through the course, I discovered about 3 overarching types of editing that help bring your first draft ideas into a finished manuscript.

1. Structural editing—Looking at the entire manuscript and how it‘s laid out. Here you can use a template such as the Hero‘s Journey or Freytag‘s Triangle.

2. Line and style editing—Editing of the language, overall style, pacing, and flow.

3. Proofreading—Final edits including punctuation and fixing typos.

Fixing the structure

In the course, we considered different structures and ways of presenting the story to the reader. I found this really useful and it helped to consider my narrative in different ways to make the story more appealing.

Some of the different structures we explored:

• Linear—traditional storytelling, told from beginning to end.

• Interleaved—The same narrative returns in a set order.

• Vignettes—A collection of stories arranged together in order of theme or mood.

I‘m mostly using a linear structure so that the Hero‘s Journey structure shine through. I didn‘t want to burden the reader with too much going on or make it difficult to understand. For another short story I recently finished however, I used the vignette story structure because I had a word count cap and this was the best way to tell the story. Story structure really depends on your story, and there‘s no right and wrong way to do it. It‘s all about leading the reader through your story so they stay engaged.

editing a novel in sticky notes

One of the best tips I got during the course was to lay out your story with sticky notes! It seems chaotic and messy but in reality, it gave me the best overview of my entire novel.

Once you have the structure outlined, take out the sticky notes and tape up the various sections onto the wall. Then, add the scenes that you have in the order they should appear in your novel. This is your basic plot.

I used color coding to add in other pivotal moments like red for obstacles, and blue for the relationship key points between my two main characters.

This process is great because you can step back and think about each part of the book. Does it accomplish the goal that it needs to? Are your obstacles too close together or could they be spaced further apart? It‘s all about having a clear vision of what you need to do when you go in for the rewrites.

approaching the first rewrites

Once you have your map of where to start, you can get right into the weeds and start rewriting. For me, this is the most daunting part. In the past, I was struggling to see how to connect certain scenes without anything feeling too jarring.

One last tip that I found really useful is knowing the difference between a scene and a summary.

Writing a scene is about fleshing everything out and immersing your reader in what is happening. This comes naturally to most writers and it‘s the bulk of the story.

Knowing how to write a summary though, is equally as important. You don‘t need to flesh out absolutely everything that‘s happening all of the time, and sometimes you need to transition between scene A and scene B. A summary can help to bridge the gaps and help you focus only on writing scenes that are valuable to the plot and story as a whole.

How are you approaching editing your novel? Drop your tips or comments below!

read more about writing

In April this year I was targeted on Instagram with an ad for the Young Storyteller Award hosted by Story One and sponsored by Thalia. I live in Austria, so this was an incredible opportunity—to have my story recognized by one of the biggest book retailers in Austria and Germany. I was nervous—I hadn‘t ever seriously entered my writing into a competition before. But this was an opportunity I didn‘t want to pass up, so I cracked open my laptop and started editing.

the story I‘ve been writing for 8 years

I started writing my first novel manuscript when I was 19. I had just started University and I wanted to work on a larger writing project that would make a difference in the world.

I wanted a story that was calming but suspenseful, interesting and intriguing, but not triggering. I wanted to show the inner journey of the protagonist and detail their inner struggles, while portraying how overcoming inner obstacles can help them overcome real-world problems.

I wrote at varying speeds—sometimes for 4 hours a day, and at other times 1 hour or 30 minutes a week. It didn‘t matter to me, I was on my way to having my first manuscript finished.

While I wrote, I researched the Mesolithic period thoroughly. I have a passion for history and wanted to make sure my story was as accurate as possible. Writing historical fiction gives you liberty, but I didn‘t want that. I wanted to authentically write from an ancient perspective —well, as much as is even possible.

So I devoured archaeological papers and research books. I read many materials from historians and archaeologists on Irish mythology, and the archaeology of sites like Star Carr. I incorporated these materials not just into my own writings, but into myself. I breathed this time period so you can enjoy it too.

Editing, editing, editing

By the time I saw the ad in April, I knew I had the summer to prepare my submission. It was enough time, but there was much to be done.

Over the past few months, I hadn’t exactly been writing. I was in the process of reading The Writer‘s Journey by Christopher Vogler a writing guide to Joseph Campbell‘s work on the hero‘s journey. Originally written for screenwriters, this guide was helping me to carve and etch my story into a tantilizing framework.

I broke up my story into parts and arranged the plot into what seemed the best and most natural for the story and the characters. This process was agonizing and I felt entirely overwhelmed.

The excuse to prepare my manuscript and start doing line by line edits for the book was almost a relief. I could put my editing work aside and just start.

The submission process

Before the competition submission I had roughly 130,000 words in my entire manuscript. There was no way I could widdle down my full story to fit into the submission guidelines.

I could however prepare the first part of my book for the submission.

The first part of the book had always been clear to me. There was a definite start, Kuma‘s hand raised to the cave wall against the flickers of a fire as she asks the tribe shaman, Litrigid, for guidance about a dream she had.

The next beats in the story seemed to unfold naturally. The mystery about the past of the tribe, the protagonist‘s own struggles—Kuma, a good-natured young girl who was struggling to find her own path against the wishes of her family, and Lavena, an orphaned girl who wanted to find where she belongs.

The two protagonists‘ budding friendship, the mysteries of the ancient past, and a prophecy that would unravel over the course of the story and ultimately change their lives forever.

Like vines the story wrapped its way around my psyche.

I set to work editing the first three chapters of my book, sending it to my friends for their reader inputs. After about a month, I realized that I would need to make it even shorter to fit into the strict 3500 character limit per chapter.

I was determined. I spent every evening after work widdling down the story bit by bit. I wanted it to be dynamic in this short format. A bit of intrigue mixed with compelling storytelling that would have the reader flipping from page to page to find out what would happen next. At least, that‘s what I was aiming for.

I cut down the first part of my story to only its necessary parts and found a flow from chapter to chapter. For the first time, I felt confidence in my writing and the story I was telling. When my friends gave me some positive feedback, I timidly knew by the end all that was left to do was to hit submit.

The confidence to share my writing

The whole process wracked my nerves. I wondered if it would be good enough for the competition. After all, I wasn‘t submitting my full manuscript so I hoped that everyone would be excited for a teaser into the longer story, rather than wrapping everything up in only 17 chapters.

The guidelines ultimately helped me not to overthink too much. I was going to do my best, submit it, and hope for the best.

In a way, this competition helped me get out of my own way. It forced me to submit something by the deadline.

I let go of the nerves by the end, and just left it to the winds. Whatever will be, will be. Whatever happens, I know that this competition helped me to condense down my ideas and put myself out there.

I reached the top 20 in the young storyteller competition

Through my efforts, my writing was recognized. I quickly made it into the Top 100, and then the Top 20.

I was gobsmacked. I didn‘t expect anything to come of the competition, really.

I realized I wasn‘t giving myself enough credit for my writing. I‘ve always loved writing and expressing myself through writing, I had studied creative writing, read classic literature and books in my genre, but I didn‘t think others would enjoy it as much as I do when I read back on what I‘ve written.

The feedback from those of you that have already bought my book was astounding! It still gives me the courage and affirmation to keep going.

you can buy my book online

Now, the first part of my manscript is out there on Amazon and other print-by-demand retailers with an ISBN to be bought all over the world.

One of the most thrilling parts of the competition was the possibility of being sold in Thalia, one of the biggest retailers in German-speaking areas like Austria and Germany. Through the competition, my book is now ready to be ordered from Thalia. What more could a budding author want?

As I mentioned above, this book is a teaser or insight into my larger work. There‘s so much more to this story than what I was able to submit, but I think it‘s also a more approachable read you can easily pick up and read on a trip to a café.

More stories coming soon

After the competition, I feel more ready than ever to share my writing publically.

Right now, I‘m revising and reuploading the first short story I‘ve ever written on the Story One platform, so keep your eyes peeled for that! You can follow me on Story One to get an update and subscribe to my newsletter for upcoming details.

Putting my boldest idea out there gave me confidence in myself, in my writing, and in my ability to make something of my craft. I think that‘s something we all need. The invitation and opportunity to share our greatest passions with others. It‘s something I want to keep doing for a long time to come.

Get your hands on my first book

My new book, The Last Oracle, is now available to buy worldwide. Check out this page for more details in a location near you!

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The lost city of Lyonesse, or the Cornish tale of Atlantis, describes a once great city that sunk under the waves in a storm. The tale survives in literature, but what about the historical accuracy of the tale? Is there any evidence to suggest Lyonesse was a real place?

According to the latest archeological findings, Lyonesse is far more real than we might have imagined. And, there are references to the island and its people in other historical accounts.

When did Lyonesse sink?

The most well-known surviving accounts we have today place the island‘s sinking in 1089 or 1099 AD. This is because the legend of the island got tangled up in medieval oral tradition and folklore—including the tales of King Arthur. Sometimes the island‘s sinking is dated to the 6th century, because of the inclusion of the real Cornish King, King Mark, but this is also simply medieval speculation.

When looking at the story itself, there are mentions of fertile lands, forests, and even Trevillian riding to Cornwall on his white horse. White horses in Celtic mythology are usually used by royalty or those from the Otherworld (like Rhiannon on her white mare).

All of the symbolism found in the tales of Lyonesse point to a more ancient origin of the story.

It wasn‘t until the 20th century that the dating of the sinking of the island was placed further back in time. Journalist and writer, C. Lewis Hind, published a book called Days in Cornwall where he placed the island‘s sinking at 3,000 BC.

He placed the sinking of the Isle during the Bronze Age because of the known rising sea levels close by at Mount‘s Bay. He theorized that the rising sea levels at this period would have drowned the island.

How Cornish Atlantis sank below the waves

However, Hind‘s theory was not rooted in any archeology of the Scilly Islands themselves, not to mention that the Bronze Age flooding at Mount‘s Bay is miles away from the Scilly Islands.

It wasn‘t until 2015 that a group of archeologists would publish their findings on the real sinking date of Lyonesse, finally putting an end to the speculation.

Research collected by the Lyonesse Project (2009 to 2013), found that the islands have been continuously sinking at a rate of 10,000 m2 per year and that the sinking started much earlier than the Bronze Age.

Archaeologists found that during the Bronze Age, the Scilly Islands had indeed been one unified island. The island had a permanent population, thought to have settled there in the Mesolithic or perhaps earlier.

When archeologists looked further back in time to before the Bronze Age, they found that the island had been completely abandoned, with two-thirds of the entire island lost.

Atlantis and the Younger Dryas

What was the event that caused two-thirds of the island of Lyonesse to sink?

In the project, they noted that "a few influential scholars have favored the idea that Lyonesse stories recall the gradual post-glacial flooding of the Scilly Isles platform."

The melting of the ice sheets that covered most of Europe dates to around 1170 years ago, ending with the Younger Dryas. During this period, the world‘s sea levels rose rapidly, causing rising sea levels. Some theorize that the rising sea levels and melting of the ice sheets were caused by a comet, creating the deluge floods that we know of through mythology.

Interestingly, Doggerland, the land mass connecting Britain to Europe, also disappeared around the time of the melting ice sheets which lends credibility to their theory. Given the rapid melting of the ice sheets and the rising sea levels that followed, it‘s entirely possible that was the event that caused Lyonesse to disappear by two-thirds at a quick pace.

Who were the cornish atlanteans?

Of course, throughout history there are a number of literature references to Lyonesse, but what about real historical references? Do these historical accounts reveal who the real people of Cornish Atlantis were?

In the 1700s, Reverand Borlase, a Cornish Antiquary, wrote to Reverand Birch,

In the 18th century, myths and legends about the islands were already pervasive and deeply embedded into popular stories and mythology. But what about ancient history? If the island is ancient, then surely there has to be some mention of it?

Latin grammarian and compiler Gaius Iulius Solinus in the 3rd century AD remarked,

Solinus from 240 AD speaks of the Scilly Islands in the singular, Siluram insulam. Another ancient writer from 400 AD Sulpicius Severus, also refers to the isle in the singular.

The references to Lyonesse throughout history paint a vivid picture. The people of the island did not follow Roman customs (like using money or having privately owned property) but represented an older way of life. A tribal, communal life that involved offerings to the gods and having equality among the genders. 

These accounts also back up the scientific findings of the archeologists—that once, the Isles of Scilly were one island, Lyonesse.

Cornish Atlantis is real

While there hasn‘t been solid evidence of the Greek city of Atlantis, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Cornish Atlantis was in fact a real place.

As we begin to unravel the secrets of the past with both literature analysis and history, it becomes clear that our ancient past is more complex than we once thought. These weren‘t primitive people that were "less" than us today, but intelligent people that we must seek to understand.

Read more legends

The tale of Lethowsow or Lyonesse is the tale of a land lost beneath the waves. It‘s reminiscent of the lost city of Atlantis from Greek texts, but with a Celtic spin.

Lyonesse was said to be a land off the coast of Cornwall—a once great city with no less than 140 churches and fertile low-lying plains, disappearing beneath the waves after a catastrophic storm. According to legend, all that remains today are the Scilly Islands and the Seven Stones Reef—a shell of what the islands once were.

There are many references to the island of Lyonesse throughout history and even across cultures. Tracing back the stories that have come to us from the past shed even more light onto the mythology of Lethowsow. They call us to question: are these more than stories? Is it all fiction, or is there some truth behind the tales?

The Tale of Lyonesse

The tale passed down to us today records a simple history of the island and an account of the legendary sinking. There is no one version of the story, but rather, a collection of fragmented stories transcribed over time that form the story we now know today.

There are certain parallels with Plato‘s description of Atlantis, and other Celtic tales like the Breton story of Kêr Ys or the Welsh tale of Cantre'r Gwaelod. In the story of Lyonesse, there‘s also the tale of a survivor, that is also mentioned in Arthurian legend.

Lyonesse in Arthurian legend

The story of Lyonesse can be found in both historical accounts and medieval literature. The most famous references to the island actually come from Arthurian legend. The references are so pervasive and are rarely explained in detail, meaning that the story itself must survive from an older, oral tradition.

Arguably the most famous mention of Lyonesse comes from the poetry tale of King Arthur, Le Morte D‘Arthur written by Sir Thomas Malroy in the 15th-century and then later popularized by Lord Tennyson in the Victorian Era.

Malory references the hero, Tristan or Tristram in some versions, the prince of Lyonesse, displaced and living in Cornwall with his uncle after the island sunk. This tale, the story of Tristan and Isolde, is one of the oldest Arthurian tales and is even thought by some scholars to have influenced the Arthurian love triangle between King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere. 

Tristan and Isolde crops up in France, influenced by the notions of courtly love, written by the Norman poet Béroul in the 12th century. Although this tale is indeed old, an older version of the tale exists in German written by Eilhart von Oberge.

Eilhart‘s version was called Tristrant and it is the oldest known complete version of Tristan and Iseult in any language. Later, the German poet Gottfried von Strassburg popularized the tale for the German royal courts around the early 13th century. Knowing this, it is more likely that the tale indeed comes from a rich oral history that was written down in the early medieval period. 

All versions of the tale refer to Lyonesse, but only in passing. It‘s as if the rich oral tradition of the tale doesn‘t need to be explained to the medieval audience.

In the first part of the story, Tristan has something of a flashback where he weeps, remembering the land of Lyonesse and how it fell beneath the waves.

The ballad describes a land of rolling hills and forests stretching out as far as the eye can see. The place Malroy describes is not of medieval farming lands, but of a wild past. 

What we know about the kingdom of lyonesse

What we know today of Lyonesse comes mainly from Tristan and Isolde, but there is more we can learn directly from chroniclers of the past.

The very first reference to Lyonesse comes from Geoffrey Gaimar, an Anglo-Saxon chronicler. He wrote Estorie des Engleis around 1130 AD. When Geoffrey of Monmouth came along to write his own chronicle in 1155, he translated the name as Loudonesia or Loeneis. 

In 1602, William of Worcester in his Survey of Cornwall retells the stories of fishermen in the area,

In 1586, William Camden wrote Britannica, detailed an early reference to the island,

Later on in 1602, Richard Carew, a Cornish antiquary, wrote down the complete tale of Lyonesse or Lethowsow that we know today. It‘s apparent that he knew of the story from oral tradition since he is our only surviving source for the full tale.

Scholars agree that much of the tale is based on clear repetition. All authors through history seem to be recording details from one another, each time with slightly more detail from folklore.

So the question arises—what about the folklore? Are there any transcriptions of the oral tradition? The most detail we have today about Lionesse comes from a noble Cornish family.

The Vyvyan family

The Vyvyans are a prominent Cornish family who were prestigious members of parliament, barons, and landowners from around the 15th century. Although their legendary ancient origins are disputed, they do have a treasure trove of folklore about the mysterious isle of Lyonesse.

According to legend, the Vyvyans claim to be direct descendants of Trevelyan, who was the last governor of the lost kingdom before Lyonesse was swallowed by the sea.

The similarities to the Arthurian tale of Tristan are clear—the naming similarity between Tristan, Tristram, and Trevelyan is strikingly similar, both characters are esteemed in their societies (the Vyvyans claim he was a governor, and Malory calls him a prince), and both escape the flood by horse.

In Cornish the word ‘vyvyan’ means "to flee" or "escape" which is interesting in the context of Lyonesse, an island that sunk below the waves. 

During Richard Carew‘s travels, he came across accounts from local Cornish people that told him stories about the Vyvyan family,

This matches up with accounts from Camden, that record the island‘s name as Lionesse. The local Cornish people at the time also claimed that the Seven Stones Reef was called The City of Lions before the island sunk. 

The recurring motif through the ages of lions, raging waves, and storms solidifies Lyonesse as an island ruined by the sea. It connects to the ancient, primordial tales of Atlantis and other deluge myths.

In the next post in this series, I‘ll dive into the archaeology that is known about Lyonesse. These historical facts shed more light onto what life on the island was like, and provide more evidence for a real, ancient city on the island lost to time.

Read more about atlantis

Lately, I've been trying to find balance in my life. A perfectly weighted balance between work, household chores, time with loved ones, and time to myself. That also includes balance in my creative and writing life.

In the past, I would go overboard. I would dedicate a large chunk of my life outside of work to writing and being creative. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it meant that because of day-to-day work, I didn't make the time to do other essential chores like cleaning my kitchen or exercising.

I didn't really understand why balance was so important. Until of course the burnout hit me and started to affect the relationships with my loved ones and friends.

Balance and how it affects creativity

Within myself, I noticed that balance within my own inner world was actually essential to creativity. Through all the burnouts and to-do lists, I was missing a key element of equilibrium that properly facilitates creative growth.

When artists sit down to create, their art to some degree reflects the world outside of them. In one sense, it's the psyche trying to make sense of itself within the realm of society. Creativity can be seen as a balancing force between the unconscious and the conscious; between what we experience and what we think.

So as a writer, this made me think. What if my ability to create is solely driven by maintaining a balance within my daily life, so that I can accurately make sense of and "digest" my experiences of the outside world?

That would mean that balance, something that can seem out of reach in our hectic lives, is actually essential to the proper functioning of the creative.

Beneath the surface it's about finding harmony in daily life, not taking on too much, and redirecting energy to what's important in the moment.

How creativity thrives

I've noticed that the times where my life feels chaotic and "up in the air" completely throws off my creative cycle.

The creative process can look to the outside chaotic (ideas floating all around, a mess of papers on the desk, projects strewn around) and so you might assume that chaos in daily life actually helps creativity. But in my experience, it's the opposite. When life is calm, safe, and peaceful, that's when the mind can explore and experiment with creative ideas. 

It reminds me of this quote by Flaubert, who was writing in the 19th century.

Having a fast-paced, busy life flittering from one city to the next, or bar hopping every other night, sounds like it would stimulate all your senses and reward you with creativity, yet when I'm traveling or on a trip, it doesn't spur me to write or feel extra creative. I just get overwhelmed. 

When my life is ordinary and predictable, with manageable challenges, I feel creative. Everything just flows because my mind is in a state of equilibrium. 

The science of balance

On Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, psychological or esteem needs can only flourish when physical and safety needs have been met.

In other words: calmness is essential to creativity.

When we feel comfortable in our space when we have food in the fridge and work time goes according to a smooth schedule, then our minds are suddenly freed from the strain of life to explore and be curious. We become creative.

According to recent studies, there is evidence to say that creativity doesn't happen when we are stressed. It only happens when we are calm and relaxed.

Innovative solutions and seeing things clearly can only happen when the mind is in a calm state.

Relaxation and calm help our brain to look at problems from different angles, without being thrown into a fight-flight-freeze state that aims to make any threat simply go away. Dopamine released from exercise can also boost the amount of creative thinking the mind is capable of.

In Vedic texts, some of the oldest texts known to humankind, creativity is seen as "integral excellence" and emphasizes "(a) unitive view of consciousness and creative coexistence."

So actually, creativity is the realization that we are one within the realm of the universe, and that through harmonious coexistence with everything outside and inside of us, our minds can expand to creative opportunities.

To the Vedas, creativity takes on an otherworldly quality. The texts tell us that creativity is a kind of meditation, where within it truth, transcendence, intuition, and imagination can all be found.

Divergent thinking (something that I haven't seen praised in schools or universities) means a way of thinking that proposes several answers to one problem. It's the opposite to convergent thinking, which requires only one solution.

I feel that's how a lot of creatives are. They often see multiple answers to a prescribed problem, allowing the mind to be flexible and hold many possibilities at once, rather than confining themselves to finding the one, right, true answer.

The creative process, defined

The part of the creative process that is often glorified, the creative breakthrough, is actually only one step on the creative ladder.

Before the breakthrough point, a creative must examine the problem from many angles, form many different theories to varying degrees of success, then allow those ideas to incubate inside them for a period of time.

It's kind of like how a butterfly bursting from the cocoon is the last step in the creative chain of life.

Right before the breakthrough, there is an "intimation" process. The creative person feels the idea is on the way but doesn't know what it is yet.

This part of the process intrigues me the most because it's so like the intuition that is talked about in psychology. There is a part of us that is aware and knowing of what problem needs to be solved, but first it must be digested in the unconscious first, before it can burst forth as a creative idea.

Being creative in our busy society

Creativity, in some way, brings a sense of order to the psyche.

We can take events that have happened in our lives, and deconstruct them, make sense of them, before reassembling them to fit our new and changed worldview.

As Virginia Woolf once wrote about how creativity seems to bring order to our lives.

In short, creativity can help us make sense of ourselves and the world around us. It can help us bring balance and order, but can only be born from a state of calm.

Over time, our creative works don't become something that balances us but a product of what our balanced life has created. 

We need predictability, comfort, safety, and security in order to channel all our bravery into our projects.

Our minds, totally unencumbered by the stresses of the everyday world, can relax and breathe. We can start to think of new ideas and concern ourselves with totally imagined problems, all for the sake of art.

Writer's block has been something I've been dealing with the past months as I continue to write my book.

It's something every writer admits to sheepishly, before coming up with many reasons why the words aren't flowing like they used to.

But herein lies the rub. This is the reason I believe that's the reason why it has the reputation and stigma that it does. We are not meant to be productive all the time, and yet we push ourselves to be.

What is writer's block?

Writer's block can be defined as: being unable to produce new ideas; the experience of a creative slowdown.

The whole idea hinges on feeling stuck, being unable to create anything new, and feeling like a fraud. The natural genius when you start writing gradually fades, as does the desire to write. You no longer feel compelled to keep up with your writing habit and instead, fall gently into the monotonous abyss of daily life.

At least that's what the phenomenon feels like.

What causes writer's block?

Everyone has their own perspective of what causes writer's block. I generally believe that the feeling of being unable to write has its roots in our own mental health and self-care.

If we force ourselves to keep going despite our mind and body wanting us to slow down, then of course we will feel tension and then, be unable to continue the writing process.

From my point of view, writer's block is caused by a few factors:

• Exhaustion. When we push ourselves to show up and write at any time of day, we soon become exhausted and want to retreat from the writing process.

• Anxiety. When you feel anxious and on edge in your daily life, this stifles your creativity.

• Adversity. Facing adversity in our daily life similarly puts more stress and pressure onto us so we have no free headspace to be creative.

• Guilt. We stop being productive one day and before we know it, a week has gone by. We then feel guilty for all the missed opportunities, which pushes us further away from trying again.

• Unrealistic expectations. Setting goals is great, but if you're setting goals that are way above what is reasonable, then you are more likely to feel resentful towards the writing process.

• Perfectionism. Being too hard on ourselves discourages us from trying something new because of the pressure to do everything perfectly.

How to overcome writer's block

In order to overcome writer's block, I think we need to flip our perspectives of what writer's block really is.

I think it signifies a deeper issue.

What if experiencing a creative slowdown wasn't meant to be something we push past? What if it is really a symptom of a deeper issue that our mind and body are pointing us toward resolving?

Writer's block could be telling us to:

• Relax more

• Take some time to be inactive

• Take the pressure off ourselves

• Set more realistic goals

• Be fearless in the face of trying something new

The consumeristic nature of modern creativity

In our modern consumeristic world, we are always taught to have more, to be more, to do more.

There is no room for quiet or for being in a state of inactivity. In the medieval period, we would rotate crops on fields and leave one field fallow each year to rejuvenate. Yet in our modern world, we continue to reap crops from the land year after year while it degrades.

What if we aren't always meant to be creative?

In my honest opinion, the whole concept of writer's block reflects our societal ideas about productivity. Don't you think it's madness that we're expected to be productive and creative all the time? It's not reasonable or natural.

Maybe, you don't have to check yourself into writer's block rehab. Maybe there's nothing wrong with you. Perhaps writing happens in seasons and cycles, just like in nature.

How to get over writer's block

Being able to work through and get over writer's block is something we all must do from time to time in our writing careers.

Over the past few months, I have been balancing my self-care more. Prioritizing myself has been instrumental in feeling more confidence towards my writing again and so maybe, these tips will also help you.

Things you can do to get over writer's block:

• Do something else. Stop obsessing and detach completely. Spend some time, guilt-free, on your favorite hobby. I've been knitting all kinds of beanies and sweaters lately, as well as baking and going for hikes in the countryside.

• Journal. Dig deep and see what pops to mind when you explore: why don't I want to write right now? I really believe we always know the answer within us, sometimes we just need some space to pinpoint what it is.

• Talk to a friend or therapist. Sometimes, writer's block can be a symptom of unresolved issues or trauma. Talking with a trusted friend or therapist and exploring your past can help you gain clarity on your unresolved issues or warped internal view of your own creative talents.

• Connect with yourself and nature. The creative juices are somewhat mystical at times, so connecting in with yourself and your own sense of spirituality can help lift the burden. Sometimes, our psyche and soul are just craving our own attention. Giving yourself your own time and attention, away from the demands of daily life, can reignite your creative passions.

• Sleep more. Maybe you're just exhausted full stop. Make some more time to rest (maybe even 10 to 12 hours if you can swing that) and replenish your exhausted mind and body.

When the creative juices don't flow

I don't think there is a silver bullet for these types of problems. We are all unique and individual, so our medicine will also be individualized.

Self-doubt and feeling like a writing imposter can go away the more we build competence in our area of expertise. When we receive positive feedback, either external or internal, we gradually build more confidence in our own ability and will probably suffer less from writer's block.

Making small tasks for ourselves and tracking our progress can help, but sometimes, we truly do need to rest and be "fallow" for a bit.

The remedy for me was to find more things that brought me joy, so I would feel happier, more at ease, and more relaxed. From this space, I've been able to work through the barriers I had between me and my writing, even if that process is still ongoing.

I'm learning to find my own rhythm by doing things that bring me joy, in the hopes that I will circle back to creating again soon.

The word “butterfly” has intrigued me since I was a child. I always thought there was something strange about it. The word itself sprouted bad childhood jokes about butter being thrown out the window to create a butterfly.

I decided to dig deeper into the origins of this word and it was darker than I imagined.

To understand why butterflies became connected to the dark magic of witches, we have to uncover the history behind the witch hunts throughout history and how ordinary people thought back in the middle ages.

German witches in history

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe was whipped up into a frenzy over witches. Although the history of witch hunts shows us that they were taking place sporadically in the early medieval era, the peak of witch hunts and witch trials happened in the 17th century.

Not so coincidentally, it was the same time as the Little Ice Age. The drastic climate change spurred communities into a hate-filled rage, looking for possible causes of failing crops and scarce supplies. Medieval people needed a reason for the change in climate because after all, this would not have happened unless they had done something to displease the Lord.

The history of witchcraft in Germany is gruesome, to say the least. In Würzburg during 1625 - 1631 the largest amount of witches were convicted in the whole of Europe. From this and similar historical evidence from Germany, we know that the peak of the witch trials is dated between 1561 - 1670.

Interestingly, witchcraft before 1500 in the medieval world was largely dismissed. That was until powerful medieval people such as King James VI of Scotland, who published Daemenologie, and Maximillian I, Elector of Bavaria, became obsessed with stamping out perceived witchcraft. Soon, regular people started to become "witch hunters", carrying out the deeds of their radicalized leaders.

The harsh circumstances people faced in both medieval England and Germany show that people struggled to reconcile their hard circumstances with their religious beliefs. This in turn spiraled into attacks on marginalized people within their societies.

This struggle was not only shown through their actions during the witch hunts in history but also through the words they used.

How medieval witchcraft changed words

The history of witchcraft and magic reveals a deep-seated belief in magic. We know this from the trial documents and what people confessed to. Apart from this, we don't exactly know what people of the middle ages from this period believed because no records of this are kept.

The one place their beliefs do surface, however, is in language.

Language can be a record of the folklore of beliefs based on how words changed and how they were created.

The word “butterfly” in both English and German reveals a sinister belief that caused many innocent people to be burned alive.

In English, the word butterfly derives from the Old and Middle English word “buterflege” referring to the flying insect. If we look closely at the two words, it means as it does today — “buter” meaning butter, and “flege” is a Germanic word for flying.

At first glance, the word is strange and nonsensical. Digging a bit deeper and looking at how the word evolved, etymology reveals a dark meaning.

Before the peak of the witch hunts in the 1500s, there is a record of a botanist by the name of Jean Bauhin, who worked with the Duke of Wüttemburg and recorded the term “Pfeiffholter” in his translation of a Latin text.

This word has no relation to the later term for butterfly and in fact is rather benign. Going back even further into the early middle ages, we can find the original ancient word for butterfly.

In German, a butterfly was called “fifaltra” and in Old English, it was “fifalde” which means "to flutter”. This is related to a German word still in use, "falter" which refers to a flying insect.

This ancient word literally relates to the fluttering of the insect's wings. It's a pure and accurate description of what a butterfly is. By the 17th century, however, a new word was coined a used. A word that would bring the threat of witchcraft into the everyday.

German folklore reveals the real meaning of the butterfly

German witchcraft history shows us through etymology how the word began to change. A new word began to be used to mean butterfly — Schmetterling. Schmetterling itself is a dialect word coming from East Central Germany “Schmetten” meaning “cream” or other churned dairy products like butter.

This word, "Schmetterling" contains a folkloric belief that helped condemn thousands of witches. In German folklore, it was said that butterflies are witches in disguise — shapeshifting with black magic into a fluttering creature in order to steal milk products like cream and butter from farmers.

It was even believed that the butterflies would spoil the milk if they came in contact with it. That’s why in German, butterflies were called “Molkenstehler” or “whey-stealers”.

To counteract the evil from witches and their butterflies, the milk pail was covered to protect it. Since this did indeed stop the milk from spoiling, this was taken as further evidence against witches.

Etymology reveals to us what ordinary people of the period believed. They believed in shapeshifting witches that were purposefully and maliciously out to cause harm.

Dairy products were extremely important to medieval people, especially in times of food shortages and hardships. Butter and cream were staple foods that provided a high amount of nutrients to a family and community. Anyone stealing this for themselves showed that they were against the community -- something very dangerous in a middle ages society since they operated far more communally than we do today.

In short, the witches were stealing from good, hardworking farmers for themselves. They used their evil magic in order to bring down the community from within.

The fear of witches through the ages

Folklore shows us how incredibly feared witches were, especially within the Holy Roman Empire. The fear of those who practiced witchcraft was so high that folklore beliefs and customs sprouted to protect oneself from the threat of enchantment.

Folklore is tricky because we don’t always have a record of people’s beliefs. Language is the door that reveals what early modern people believed and allows us insight into what an accused witch was tried for.

The mapping of words reveals that throughout the course of the time that the trials occured, fear was so great that innocuous insects were turned into a coded insult towards those accused of witchcraft.

Can you imagine being a humble peasant churning butter, and feeling your stomach drop as a butterfly flutters past? The terror when you realize that the suspected witches are really out to get you and your family? This was the reality for men and women in early Christian communities.

Witch persecutions affected not just those put to death, but the whole community.

Explore more medieval articles

Branwen appears in the second branch of the Mabinogi, an ancient Welsh text that details many stories from Celtic mythology.

Branwen is the daughter of Llyr, an elusive Welsh father deity, and Penarddun, an elusive feminine deity whose name means "Chief of Beauty" perhaps alluding to the fact that she was a high chieftain. Branwen is the sister of Bran the Blessed, a giant mentioned in the Mabinogi and one of the central characters in Branwen's own story.

Throughout the study of mythology and folklore, the question often arises: is this fact or fiction? This question is nowhere more important than in the story of Branwen. While her tale includes extraordinary elements of magic, it also includes more grounded elements like political wars and arranged marriages.

This raises the question, is Branwen a Celtic goddess? Or is she an exalted chieftain that has become legendary over time?

The Story of Branwen

Branwen's story begins with a betrothal. In order to bring peace between Britain and Ireland, Matholwch, the King of Ireland, journeys to Britain to ask for Branwen's hand in marriage. He asks Bran the Blessed, her brother, if this can be arranged, so he agrees to ask Branwen. Both Bran and Branwen come from a high lineage and so the marriage of Branwen is highly sought after.

Branwen agrees to the marriage, seeing the benefits of harmony between the two Celtic nations, and they hold a celebratory feast that evening. During the feast, Branwen‘s half-brother catches wind of the engagement and flies into a rage that no one consulted him before arranging his sister‘s marriage. He mutilates the Irish horses before disappearing into the night.

Matholwch is deeply offended, and as compensation, Bran gifts him one of the treasures of Wales, a cauldron that has the power to bring men back to life after death, with the catch that they can no longer hear or speak. Branwen and Matholwch return to Ireland and the pair seem to be happy.

However, due to Matholwch's bruised ego, Branwen is then treated unfairly. After suffering at the hands of her new husband, she does give birth to an heir, Gwern, but even this is not enough to save her from her unhappy marriage.

Peering out her window she speaks to a starling, tames it, and convinces it to deliver a message to her brother. Rolling the parchment under the bird‘s wing, it flies to send Bran details of her unhappiness and how she wishes to come home to Britain.

Bran receives the message and gathers an army to rescue her from Matholwch. Upon meeting his army in Ireland, the King doesn‘t want to resort to war, and so agrees to give his kingdom to Branwen's son, Gwern, in an attempt to pacify Bran.

This angers the Irish nobles who then hide in flour bags near the Welsh camp to attack. Branwen‘s half-brother in the Welsh camp discovers the hidden nobles and kills them by crushing their heads one by one.

Later at the feast to celebrate Gwern inheriting the Irish lands, the half-brother flies into a fit of unprovoked rage and throws Gwern into the fire. This creates a chain reaction where a war between Ireland and Wales ensues, whereby the Irish use the magic cauldron to resurrect their men and thus win the war.

Branwen‘s half-brother sees what he has done towards the end of the battle and instantly regrets his actions. Disguising himself as an Irish warrior, thinking him one of their dead men, throw him into the cauldron, whereby he pushes it from four corners on the inside and destroys it, perishing in the attempt. Only Branwen, Bran, and seven Welsh warriors survive, and they set sail for Wales.

On the shores of Wales, Bran discovers a poison arrow lodged in his leg and passes there and then. Branwen, so distraught from the bloodshed and pain of her people, son, and brothers, dies of a broken heart.

Branwen is said to be buried in Angelsey under a stone circle that bears her name. Bran‘s head is said to be buried in White Mount, London.

Branwen as the Goddess of Love and Beauty

Branwen's story is a tale of heartbreak, grief, and loss. For this reason, many folklorists like to place her as a Celtic goddess of love.

The tale itself doesn't reveal any particular affinity to helping in matters of the heart, and we simply don't have any evidence that she was worshipped as a Welsh or Irish goddess of love. Evidence for pagan worship in Britain can be scanty, but we do have evidence for other goddesses such as Brigid or Aine.

Instead, the historical record gives us another clue about the real identity of Branwen.

In the 1960s archaeologist, Frances Lynch, excavated the burial circle in Angelsey, said to be where Branwen was buried. They found several urns with human remains, dating to the Bronze Age.

The Celtic Chieftain, Branwen

The findings in the 60s bring a whole new layer to the tale of Branwen. If this story is indeed a retelling of ancient events, then we can begin to look at the whole story with new eyes.

In the tale, Branwen is actually mentioned as "one of the High Matriarchs of this Isle" and then additionally, "a daughter of the king of Island of the Mighty." So perhaps a "druid goddess" is actually a more fitting title for her.

Even though this story was recorded in the early medieval era, it is explicitly mentioned that she is a "High Matriarch" first, then a daughter of the King second.

This likely means that Branwen was actually a High Chieftain, like the real-life Chieftain Cartimandua who ruled the Brigantes tribe before the Roman invasion. Instead of being the Celtic Briton goddess Branwen, she's a high chieftain, which in my mind is more grounded in the story's reality-focused themes.

This places Branwen in a whole new light, with new importance. She was not just a high-born woman to be married off, but a ruling Chieftain of a tribe.

After some digging, it seems most logical that she ruled in Angelsey since it is said that she consummated her marriage to the Chieftain of Ireland at Aberffraw. Her legendary tomb is also located in Angelsey, so this location was indeed tied to her importance.

Ancient Politics of Arranged Marriages

While the story of Branwen touches upon mystical elements, it is also very much grounded in Celtic politics. The story of Branwen is most likely to be dated to the Bronze Age, which is interesting because at the time Ireland was struggling with a population boom and dwindling resources.

The first issue raised in Branwen's tale is maintaining harmony between Ireland and Wales. Ireland in the Bronze Age was growing rapidly, putting pressure on the land to provide the people with what they needed. It's entirely possible that an arranged marriage with Britain would be exactly what Ireland needed to gain more allies (and other resources like wood, metal, and food) to ensure their survival. 

Arranged marriages were common for high-born individuals in ancient and medieval societies because they secured alliances between tribes. The marriage feast that is described in Branwen's tale is a common hallmark of rituals done in ancient societies to guarantee peace.

Since Mesolithic times and possibly even earlier, feasting was a ritual performed to strengthen bonds, especially between different tribes.

At Star Carr, large quantities of cattle and pigs were ritually killed, cooked, and consumed in a short amount of time. A high volume of meat being consumed in a short time means feasting, especially when the amounts of meat were so high sometimes that it indicated over 1000 people would have been present.

It's easy to imagine our ancestors gathering around a burning fire to celebrate a marriage, with large amounts of red deer, cattle, pigs, and even mussels.

The Truth Behind the Cauldron

Ireland throughout its history was also a huge power player as the story of Branwen suggests. In the Bronze age, the Bell Beaker culture exploded throughout Europe. In Ireland, they brought with them advanced metallurgy. The earliest known copper mine is found in County Kerry, which was used to make beautiful jewelry, as well as weapons.

During this time, large riveted bronze cauldrons were also made and commonly used -- just like the one mentioned in Branwen's tale! They weren't just used for cooking either but had a special ceremonial use or mystical connection because they have been found at the bottom of bogs (a way to make a sacrifice to the Otherworld and the old pagan gods).

Magic in Ancient Ireland

Looking through the story of Branwen, The Cauldron of Rebirth is only one example of the tradition of old pagan magic mentioned in the saga. It's important to note that while the story of Branwen comes from Welsh mythology, the tale largely takes place in Ireland, which means we also have to look at Irish mythology to understand the context.

In the story, Branwen tames a starling to warn her brother, Bran the Blessed, of the terrible injustices she was suffering from.

In Welsh, the word for starling is “drudwen" meaning "fair, blessed, white" which mirrors the meaning of Branwen; "bran" meaning "raven" and "gwen" meaning "blessed".

Branwen's ability to teach the bird to talk, or to understand the language of birds, alludes to her "blessed" or "fair" nature -- which in Celtic society always alluded to someone with divine knowledge. 

While the Branwen is sometimes said to mean "white raven" I think the etymology is actually alluding to a deeper meaning focusing on divine knowledge. In Welsh and other Celtic languages, "white" in this context means "knowledge" equating to pure knowledge from divine inspiration.

In prehistoric Ireland and Wales, ancient magic was wielded by the druids to advise the chiefs on everyday matters as well as matters of war. However, the chiefs themselves could also have a special connection to the divine. Boudica, the Iceni chief, called on the power of Andraste, the hare goddess spirit, to assist them in overpowering the Romans.

It's not that the druids were expected in Celtic society to be the sole "knowers" of magic in society, but on the contrary, they were there to keep the powers from the material and mystical world in check.

The Historical Evidence for Branwen

In terms of the story of Branwen, what evidence exists?

As I mentioned previously, the story of Branwen can be dated to the Bronze Age due to the findings of Frances Lynch in the 1960s.

To recap, Lynch excavated Bedd Branwen, a stone circle in Angelsey, which is where Branwen was said by legend to be buried. He found several urns containing human remains that could be carbon dated to the Bronze Age.

Bedd Branwen was found to be a Bronze Age funerary mound near the Alaw river. Eight Bronze Age urns were recovered, with fragments of three others, in addition to that recovered in 1813. Four were incorporated into the cairn ring and the remainder were found in the inner court, with one crammed into a small cist. Other items that were found included a string of jet and amber beads.

Since the site was able to be carbon-dated, archeologists found the contents of the site dated to 1274-1403 BC. It seems likely that if the story of Branwen was true, the Bronze Age would be the era to place the story. This makes sense given the special importance given to cauldrons -- which were an important part of Celtic culture at the time.

The situation of the urns near a river also makes sense, when you consider in the story that Branwen and the rest of the survivors were on a boat sailing back into British waters at Aber Alaw when Branwen herself dies. It makes sense that Branwen's final burial site should be near a river.

In the last part of the tale, Bran's head was said to be severed from his body and taken to London, where it is buried under White Mount. Today, this is under the Tower of London which begs the question; if excavated, would we also find the skull of Bran? Who knows what Bronze Age treasures lie buried beneath the tower.

The lineage in Irish DNA

One last spicy piece of evidence can be found in living Irish DNA.

According to the mythology, the Irish population is massacred during the war except for five pregnant women who live in the wilderness of Ireland.

The women are said to have repopulated the island and consequently formed the modern-day 5 provinces of Ireland itself.

Genetic evidence has recently found that modern-day Irish DNA comes from a narrow gene pool originating in the Bronze Age. Essentially, scientists have found that all living Irish people today originate from this genetic landscape coming directly from the Irish Bronze Age.

Given that we know that the story of Branwen makes sense to be placed in the Bronze Age, could it be that the mythology is telling us a kernel of truth. 

Scientists conducted more genetic studies into the Irish and found another piece of ancient evidence. Sometime in our Bronze Age past, there was what scientists describe as an "ancient Irish genocide" around 2,500BC. Exactly in the midst of the Irish Bronze Age.

From DNA alone, experts were able to see that Ireland itself had a thriving culture, then ran into some difficulties, and their culture was wiped out by an invasion. This sounds exactly like the landscape of Bronze Age Ireland, backed up by other research into deforestation and the spreading of new cultural ideas like cauldrons and beaker designs.

So where does this leave us?

It means that the stories of our oral tradition can be used as pointers for further investigation. That the events told to us in the story of Branwen likely did happen, even if the tale is written more fancifully than we would like. It also helps dispel the idea that our ancestors simply made up the stories that have been passed down to us. 

The Celtic Goddess Branwen: a potential Brythonic queen

The past is abundant in stories of all kinds, many of which sound like they have the capacity to be true. The nature of archaeology means we can‘t always find the evidence our mind needs to prove a whole mythology story, but in some cases, we can find small breadcrumbs of truth in the archeological record to prove certain parts of the mythological story.

I think the astounding partial amounts of evidence that are linked to this story help verify the likelihood of a past great woman leader like Branwen. In history, women's voices and stories are often lost, so it's nice to see that perhaps we have reason to believe that Branwen isn't just an elemental natural goddess, but could have been a real Chief.

By looking at the past with an open mind, we can begin to see the truth of a folktale, even if only in part.

Throughout history, famous philosophers have shaped our culture and way of life. Famous creative thinkers are not necessarily regarded as philosophers, but in my opinion, they should be.

Artists, authors, and famous creative thinkers in history have shaped the cultural zeitgeist through their creative works. These famous deep thinkers have over time become some of history's greatest thinkers, challenging society to think more broadly and have greater compassion for themselves and those around them. 

1. Marcel Proust and the madeleine moment

Marcel Proust was a French author and can be considered a French philosopher of the 20th century. His book, À la Recherche du Temps Perdu or In Search of Lost Time, unearthed how memory works in the human brain. He theorized that emotions are the core of our memories and that memories themselves are not an unalterable fact but change according to our emotional state.

The most famous moment of the book, the "madeleine moment" sometimes called a "Proustian moment", summarized this theory of emotion and memory when the main character recalled an early childhood memory based on the taste of a madeleine.

Marcel Proust's madeleine quote shows how involuntary memory can be:

The quotes from his intimate letters to friends also explain his theories about life in greater detail. As a great thinker, he popularized theories about love between lovers, love for life, daily gratitude, and reveling in the present moment.

In subsequent books and quotes to the press, he exposed his theories about creativity and writing, cementing his place as one of the most famous French philosophers and creatives in history.

2. Gustav Flaubert and a simple heart

In the 19th century, Flaubert had some pretty radical ideas about life. After his debut novel, Madame Bovary, the French author became one of the greatest thinkers in France.

He cemented his position as a prominent French philosopher of the 20th century with his novel, A Simple Heart. Sometimes called A Simple Soul by Gustav Flaubert, captures the life, struggles, and inner fantasies of Felicitie, a kind-hearted servant who lives a simple but honorary life.

Gustav Flaubert's books always aim to uncover central truths. He is one of the greatest famous French creative thinkers because he lends a sympathetic ear to the struggles of ordinary people. Although Emma in Madame Bovary is insufferable and shallow, we empathize with her because of the cruel and materialistic society we all live in.

In A Simple Soul, we empathize with Felicitie because she embodies everything on a soul level we wish to be. Flaubert is an expert at flipping our thinking. When we want to chastise someone, he implores us to be kind. When we want to celebrate our society's ideal of a woman, we are called to question if this ideal is really admirable.

Flaubert ultimately became a top philosopher in the cultural zeitgeist for his astute observations of how things should be, rather than how a society thinks they ought to be.

3. Emily Bronte on love and friendship

In the 19th century, Emily Bronte shocked the Victorian world by releasing her debut novel, Wuthering Heights while writing under a pseudonym. A mix of the grotesque and beauty of nature, Bronte was the first woman to write such a deeply shocking and exposing book.

Although her real genius comes out in her poetry, where she writes about the human experience of love, loss, and friendship. The poems by Emily Bronte expose the depth of her heart and call us to question how we approach love and friendship on a fundamental level.

Of all the quotes from Emily Bronte, the poem Love and Friendship contains one of my favorite quote:

Although Bronte is not considered a famous philosopher, to me she perfectly encapsulates the genius of famous feminist thinkers and other great famous English thinkers. Her poems remind us that friendship is in itself a powerful force of love and that the love we seek should be sturdy and everlasting like ivy, not lustful and fickle like the rose.

4. Hegel's Dialectic 

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an 18th-century German philosopher. His theories centered around consciousness and how as a society we tend to repeat historical "karmic" lessons until they are learned.

In Hegel's dialectic, Hegel proposes that in order for a culture to accept something as the norm, it first must oscillate like a pendulum between a counter-movement and a synthesis of both options, before finding harmony in the middle.

One of history's greatest thinkers, Hegel understood the human psyche and our visceral internal reaction to change. For the western audience of the time, this profoundly eastern approach to accepting change and allowing time and emotions to evolve to find peace and harmony was almost unheard of.

Ultimately, Hegel understood that knowing how events in history occur is fundamental to our evolution as a human species.

Famous critical thinkers in history have one thing in common: their ability to change the opinions of those around them for the better. These great thinkers in history had no hidden agenda for power or money, they simply wanted to tell stories to help improve the lives of those around them.

To receive wisdom, our minds must be open to all possibilities. These famous philosophers and creative thinkers were able to pry open our minds and allow us to dream of worlds that do not exist and make them a reality.

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I’ve struggled with burnout for as long as I can remember.

When I started my writing journey more than 5 years ago now, I was struggling.

I would constantly start writing, researching, diving into my creative self, and then crash from exhaustion months or even weeks later.

I thought that I had to become tougher. That I needed to be stronger to cope with the strain of writing a novel while studying and working but in reality, I needed to learn how to relax.

In the first episode of my podcast, Let’s Write a Book, I decided to open up and talk about my journey and struggles with burnout. The podcast is an authentic look at my journey to writing my first novel. It’s not about how I have it all figured out, it’s an authentic look at the process I’m going through and what I’m learning along the way.

The hardest lesson: learning to relax

It sounds silly but the hardest thing I’ve had to learn on this journey so far is how to relax.

I’m someone that’s good at going the extra mile. I can push myself to my limits and beyond if I truly believe in what I’m doing. But over the course of this journey, I realized that not only is this unhealthy, but it’s exactly what prevents us from achieving our goals.

Hustle culture is rife these days all over social media. I bought into this mentality and actually got less done than if I had just taken the time to relax and recharge.

One day when I had spent hours every day for weeks on end researching and writing, I could feel my mind tire, and the need to relax arise. I told myself I would take a break when I finished my most pressing task.

Then all of a sudden, a lightbulb went off. I realized this was the core of my burnout. I was ignoring my own needs.

If I just took a week off to recharge, I could get back into it the following week. But if I pushed myself to exhaustion, it would take a month or more to recover from that, pushing my progress further into the future. This was the catalyst for me to change.

I didn’t master relaxation after this moment, but it definitely made me more aware. Awareness was key to forming healthier habits and a better relationship with my book and myself.

Forming a better relationship with your creative work

Through the course of my novel writing journey, I’ve had to consistently learn how to form a better relationship with my creative work.

Resources like Atomic Habits by James Clear helped me to form more sustainable habits so I could keep on a healthy path.

While keeping my expectations in check helped me to appreciate the small steps to success along the way.

Forming a better relationship with my creative work has helped me to make more consistent and sustainable progress, instead of glorifying going above and beyond all the time.

Taoist wisdom says that we should never use 100% of our energy on any one task. Energy is a finite resource and so we need to manage it accordingly.

Like how water erodes rock over time, we can also learn to take the path of least resistence and stop giving in to the absolutist mind that tells us our worth hinges on our achievements.

Listen to the podcast

If you want more tips for your next creative project, or you’re just curious about my process, then head over to stream my new podcast.

I’ll be uploading a new episode each month so be sure to follow the podcast or subscribe to my monthly newsletter for a reminder.

How have you learned to cope with burnout?

Living the writer aesthetic means getting in touch with your inner poetry. It's about accepting the chaos of the process. It's early mornings and late evenings with another cup of coffee as you pour over your manuscript.

But it can be hard to always be the aesthetic girl writing. Sometimes, writing no longer feels like a verb. It's a stuck mess of confusion where not even the moonlight can guide your way.

This is a guide to getting your writing sparkle back. To commit to confusion and chaos. To writing again.

Here are my favorite aesthetic writer pictures from my own Pinterest.

1.Create your dream writing space

Every writer needs a dreamy aesthetic place to pen their latest work. You don't have to go over the top, simply arrange and organize your space so that when you sit down, you're completely focused on the work at hand.

I really love adding unique, personal touches from flea markets or second-hand stores to my space to make it feel special. Add a vase, some hand-picked wildflowers, and a nice candle to create a ritual of imagination for yourself.

If you like to write in the hustle and bustle of it all, take yourself to a cute vintage cafe and feel the writers down the ages imparting their knowledge to you. Write where they have written. Let the well-worn path carry you to a completed piece of writing.

2. Display an array of aesthetic books

Authors throughout the ages have tackled the same problems as you and succeeded. Remind yourself that you are one in a lineage of many when you sit down to write your masterpiece.

Surrounding yourself with books that speak to your soul will help guide your practice. Re-read paragraphs where writers before you have captured chaotic emotion, or perfectly written the slaying-the-dragon scene.

I particularly love collecting vintage books. The smell of their ancient pages and the feeling of well-worn paper between my fingers speak to my soul. Line them up on your shelf. Surround yourself with hundreds of well-written scenes.

3. Write handwritten notes and poems

Words penned by hand are beautiful. They are the purest form of writing. Writing directly from your mind to the paper awakens something in us. It allows us to be completely present and consider our words carefully before we write them.

Litter your favorite notebooks with carefully crafted words. Practice writing in different styles. Use a calligraphy pen. Print with a felt tip. Collect pressed flowers and write poems about love. Go to the locations of your novel and absorb the atmosphere.

Record your process and reflect on the world you have created. Draw your main characters. Writing everything down in a paper book makes it feel real, and will be a time capsule in years to come. 

4. Surround yourself with writing quotes

The road you travel to writing a piece of fiction is paved by those that have come before you. The ancestors of your craft worked tirelessly for centuries before you to build the fabric of the world we now live in. Go with this flow.

Remind yourself of the triumphs and struggles of Bukowski or Dickens. You'll feel all the more in good company when the harsh nights come. When the way forward seems rocky and unsure. These old greats will coax you out of your shell, and help you write again.

5. Write in creative places

To be a writer, to be an author is a verb. It's an action. Writing itself can be done in solitude with the sound of rain falling onto petals, or it can be done in the flurry of the city.

Remind yourself that the best writing is done whenever you have time. Writing is not always done on a nice desk with a cup of coffee. Sometimes it is done on the train between home and afar. Or after class at the back of a busy library. Or even on a park bench. 

Don't resist it, make it part of your journey. Make the chaos comfortable.

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 ]]>5 Steps to Embody the Writer AestheticHistoryClaudia MerrillFri, 15 Jul 2022 11:56:51 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/madeleine-effect57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:62d154f3dc8078667fe3ed7a

The workings of the mind and memory are perhaps the greatest mystery to us as humans. Although we like to think memory is a chronological remembrance of events as they happened, the reality is that memories are often lost in the backwaters of our mind, only to resurface when triggered by sensory experiences.

Marcel Proust, the famous 20th century novelist and thinker, coined the term "involuntary memory" to summarize the sudden flood of memories according to an outer stimulus like scent or taste. This became known as a "Proustian memory" in honor of his work.

Although Proust isn't remembered for being a philosopher, in my opinion, his thoroughly scientific observations of how smell and memory are interconnected are remarkable.

What is a Proustian memory?

Sometimes called the Proust effect or a Proust moment, a Proustian memory is an involuntary memory called to the surface of the psyche triggered by a sensory experience like smell.

In his book À la recherche du temps perdu or In Search of Lost Time, the main character, an analogy for Proust himself, remembers a childhood moment triggered by the taste of a French Madeleine cake soaked in tea.

“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. ”

Proust didn't know it at the time, but the Proust "madeleine memory" is scientifically correct. It would take some decades before scientists could pinpoint exactly why sensory experiences trigger involuntary memories.

How are fragrance and memory connected?

In recent years, scientists have begun to decipher the mysterious workings of fragrance and memory. Sensory experiences are connected to the limbic system in the brain, the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses, and is related to our basic survival urges.

The limbic system is also connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which are involved in regulating emotion and emotional memories.

A study in 2010 found that memories associated with smells are more likely to be remembered because they are more emotionally evocative. Proust was right on the money when he talked about the taste of the madeleine dipped in tea triggering an involuntary memory of his grandmother in the French countryside.

In a similar vein, studies have shown that vivid autobiographical memories tend to be the result of emotional events. Participants could recall very specific details with more clarity when compared to neural events.

There seems to be a tight connection between emotion and memory. Psychologists discovered that the amygdala is connected to smell and memory because the amygdala is involved in higher-level perceptual processing. This emotional arousal means certain smells trigger memories giving us proof that smell is tied to memory.

In a similar way, smell affects mood and can balance emotions, which remarkably connects more to what Proust describes in his novel. 

This new research done by psychologists on the mind and scent calls into question our version of events gone past.

Are our memories reality?

The Proust madeliene memory calls us to question whether our memories really are an impartial reality.

We like to think that we are mostly sensible and rational beings, but when emotion and memory are so inextricably tied together, another picture emerges.

According to the Proust effect, we are highly emotional beings that are recalling memories based on how we felt in that moment.

“This new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it?”

Proust is able to pinpoint exactly how he felt drinking that cup of tea as a young boy without knowing why he felt this way. The removal of the conscious mind from emotion and memory creates a kind of frozen vignette in time.

“And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.”

The character can recall all the details of his Aunt Leonie. He remembers it was a Sunday morning and that he said good morning to her in his bedroom. But only the memory associated with strong emotion can be recalled in this amount of detail. Moreover, while he may remember lots of small facts, the character's love for his Aunt has skewed his perception, making the memories not impartial or reliable.

A simple theory: reliving events through sensory experiences

Although it is a simple theory compared to some, the madeleine effect impacts all of us on a deep level.

It calls us to question our memories and reality. Is what we remember objectively true, or colored by our emotional state at the time? In some modes of therapy, scent can be used to help ease traumatic memories or pain.

Essential oils have the potential to improve some anxiety disorders and post traumatic stress disorder among other applications, because they use the sense of smell to balance emotions.

Marcel Proust, a novelist from 20th century France, would have had no idea that his momentary experience of taste and a madeleine would impact psychology in the way that it has.

“The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.”

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 ]]>The Proustian MomentMythologyClaudia MerrillFri, 08 Jul 2022 10:57:03 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/sabrina-goddess-river-severn57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:62c800f87367652f1d03322b

I'm always fascinated by stories where nature and humans intersect. Our ancestors did worship the land and saw the human side of natural forces. Yet some stories are not so intertwined in layers of mythology. Sometimes, stories are exactly as they seem.

Mountains can be protective goddesses, and the sky can bring rain and abundance, but by the same token, some stories are cultural renditions of actual events. The famous poem, The Brus, for example, details how Robert the Bruce defeated the English and became the King of Scotland.

The story of Sabrina, the drowned princess, has many cultural layers. It's a story about warring factions and jealous wives, about king and country. It's also a story about how the River Severn got its name.

I wrote a prelude to this a while ago in this Instagram post, so I thought it was about time to dissect this myth further and go more into detail.

The Story of Sabrina, goddess of the Severn

The story of Sabrina and the River Severn dates back to at least the 2nd century AD when the name Sabrina was first recorded by the Romans. Even then, the Romans recorded a Latinized version of the river name given by the locals, meaning that the story had to have survived from an earlier time.

In Welsh, Afon Hafren is the local name for the River Severn that harks back to a legendary princess who is said to live beneath its waters. The name Hafren was first recorded in the 12-century Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth and reveals the deep political tensions of early medical Wales.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's tale, Hafren was the beautiful, bastard daughter of King Locrin of the Britons by his secret lover, a Germanic princess named Estrildis.

Estrildis had been abducted by Humber the Hun and brought to Britain during their invasion following King Brutus' death. Eventually, the Hun invasion was suppressed by King Locrin, who fell in love with Estrildis upon discovering her in one of Humber's ships.

One day, Locrin divorced his wife from an arranged marriage, Gwendolen, daughter of the King of Cornwall, and married his secret foreign lover, Estrildis, causing the dishonored ex-wife to raise a Cornish army against him. So torn with jealousy and rage, she threw Estrildis and her daughter, Hafren, into the river and drowned them.

Hafren then became the name of the infamous river. Her memory was preserved by poets in later centuries such as Edmund Spender in The Faerie Queen (1590) and Milton in his Sabrina Fair poem from masque Comus (1634), that transformed her into a water nymph.

The ancient history of the River Severn

The River Severn, or Afon Hafren in Welsh, is one of Britain's most renowned rivers. Its name was one of the first recorded in the 2nd century AD as Sabrina, a Latinized version of an earlier Celtic name thought by some scholars to be Samarosina meaning "land of summertime fallow”.

The river is one of the most voluminous flows of water in all of England and Wales. It commonly floods, causing destruction and death in its path. Historically, flood levels have been recorded both at Worcester and Shrewsbury since the late 17th century, with flood levels recorded on Watergate at Worcester Cathedral since 1672. At the cathedral, 20 floods are marked on the wall, leading to reason that flooding along the Severn must have always been a common and fearful occurrence.

Going back further through time, the region of the Upper Severn Valley near Clun Hills in Shropshire was inhabited in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze age. Archaeologists even found sparse evidence of funerary burials of specific people in a ring ditch between 3000BC - 2750BC. Although there are natural boundaries here between the hills and the river, there is no suggestion that this region held any unified cultural identity in prehistory.

In the early Bronze age, the area around the Severn shows much more activity, and two possible henges were discovered close by with numerous possible stone circles near Clun Hills as well as arrowheads.

There was a Roman rampart unearthed closeby to the Severn, meaning that the river was important for the Romans. That is likely why they chose to directly translate the name of the river from the locals, and preserve with it the tale that came with it.

Over many centuries, the river also came to divide England and Wales. It was the grounds of war between the two sides, especially in the Elizabethan era when the division between Welsh and Englishmen was sharp.

Decoding the legend of Sabrina

Tracing back to the roots of the tail, the story of the goddess Sabrina and the River Severn is fundamentally a story about a woman that is given to the river and becomes a part of it.

A similar tale is mirrored in the story of Boann or Boand, the Irish mother goddess of the River Boyne.

“As thrice she walked round, about the well heedlessly, three waves burst from it, whence came the death of Boand. They came each wave of them against a limb, they disfigured the soft-blooming woman;...Every way the woman went the cold white water followed from the Sid to the sea (not weak it was), so that thence it is called Boand.”

Boann goes to the magical Well of Segais, despite being forbidden by her husband, Nechtan. When she gets there, the water overpowers her and she is torn limb from limb until she becomes one with the water, and transforms into the River Boyne.

In some accounts, Boann (the River Boyne) goes to her husband Nechtan (the well) and is overcome and merges with the water, which clearly shows the natural process of a river flowing out from a well.

The association between women and water goes back to the very dawn of time. Water goddesses in all their forms articulate a delicate balance between chaos and nourishment.

River goddesses are especially powerful since rivers provide life, nurturing, and sustenance. They symbolize life and fertility and reveal a glimpse into the ancient attitude towards the unpredictability of living close to rivers.

Without appeasement, rivers can flood severely and cause too much destruction.

Was Sabrina, goddess of the river Severn, real?

According to academic sources, there is no recorded evidence that gives a name to the river prior to Geoffrey of Monmouth's tale. While it’s certainly possible that the name was just known aurally, we also don’t have any folk story evidence for this either.

Looking at the original tale, Hafren is described simply as a princess who drowns. She originally had no fantastical superpowers but was described as an ordinary woman.

It wasn't until the 1600s that the poet, Milton, named Hafren a river nymph and gave her magical attributes. Put simply, time and mystique transformed her from an ordinary princess into a wonderous river nymph.

Of course, the powerful symbolism between women and rivers cannot be overlooked. And the mirroring of Boann's tale to Sabrina's is undeniable. Her tale could be a simple one describing the violent flooding of the river paired with historical events of foreign invasion.

Perhaps the truth is lost beyond the sands of time, or perhaps Hafren was a real Brythonic princess, who drowned in the river and was forever immortalized.

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 ]]>The Goddess of the River SevernMythologyClaudia MerrillTue, 22 Feb 2022 19:02:48 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/how-the-goddess-brigid-was-worshipped57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:620d6524e302021af2e57426

The Celtic goddess Brigid has been worshipped in many different ways since Pre-Christian times. She was worshipped as the mistress of the sacred hearth, the healer of the waters, the bringer of sacred wisdom, forming a bridge between the human world and the Otherworld.

Like most goddesses, Brigid can be found throughout the Irish landscape -- masked by thousands of years of traditions and rituals. Brigid, the goddess, druidess, and saint, has been invoked to heal and impart wisdom to those who call upon her. Although Brigid is a mysterious goddess, her footprint can't be fully erased.

The druidess oak cult of the goddess Brigid

“Of all the Irish saints, Brigid of Cell-dara has been by far the most popular and has enjoyed the most widespread cult.”

In Kildare, an ancient chapel once stood, dedicated to the Celtic goddess Brigid, and then Saint Brigid. This was the cult of Brigid; where pagan women once gathered to worship the goddess in an effort to understand the esoteric truths she kept.

Brigid was especially important because she was seen as the gateway between the esoteric world and the human realm. A poem called Hail Brigid emphasizes her importance to the community at the time.

“Oh Brigit whose land I behold, on which each one in turn has moved about, thy fame has outshone the fame of the king—thou art over them all.”

Brigid and her connection to Kildare sheds even more light on her function as a goddess. Saint Brigid has always been associated with Kildare, or Cell-dara in Old Irish meaning “wood of the oaks.” According to the legend, her monastery was said to have been built on “The Church of the Oak'' that lay there before it. The folklore says that the church and monastery were built on a former shrine to the goddess Brigid — but what if this shrine was the oak trees themselves?

It’s likely that Brigid’s church and monastery were originally built in a sacred Celtic oak grove given this description. Oaks give an important clue to who the Celtic goddess Brigid really was, since to the ancient Irish, oaks were an important sacred tree closely associated with the druids.

Looking at the archaeology, there are records of Brigid’s first church being built on the site under an oak tree. The original building was built with wattles, a common building material from the Neolithic era onwards, and was directly under a large oak tree. This gives credit to the legend preserved in folklore and also strengthens Brigid’s own claim as a Celtic Goddess of esoteric wisdom.

The site is also positioned on a hilltop, a common feature in ancient deity worship. What’s more, records show that the church itself was built in wood. All over, oaks and the Celtic goddess Brigid go hand in hand. 

How to invoke the goddess Brigid

“She is provider of plenty, giver of life and is also identified with nurturing, fertility and fire. All wells are sacred to Brighid for they are the doorway to the Underworld and the womb of our Mother, the source of all life. ”

The ancient Celts used to invoke Brigid for an array of functions. Healing was one of Brigid's primary functions in the Pre-Christian world and so, the ancestors used to invoke her to ask her for healing or to show gratitude.

One of the key places Brigid was invoked was near natural springs and wells. Since ancient times, people would go to springs and wells in the hope of being healed of their illnesses.

The most renowned well associated with Brigid is called Saint Brigid’s Holy Well in Kildare. It’s a simple stone well-fed with pure fresh mineral water with trees overhanging it. Ancient people would invoke Brigid by tieing a piece of cloth to the tree, called a "clootie" in Scotland, as a token offering for the healing water. This tradition is mirrored at nearly all other spring sites and has persisted since ancient times.

The practice even happens in Japan, where objects called yorishiro are left for the spirits or “kami” to attract them. According to Japanese tradition, the yorishiro give the kami physical space to occupy, attracting them to occupy the site.

So in a way, the pieces of cloth tied to a tree become the house where Brigid can occupy. The more clooties hung on a tree, the more likely it is that Brigid is actually there in the space with the people.

How to honor the goddess Brigid

“A perpetual flame burned in Kildare in pre-Christian times and was kept alight by Brigid and her nuns, possibly up to the sixteenth century.”

Brigid is closely associated with both fire, the hearth, and esoteric knowledge. Her fire associations stretch back to her pagan fire temple at Kildare, where druidesses or later nuns guarded her eternal flame.

Brigid's fire temple is probably the most interesting discovery associated with her. The fire temple was found on the same site as the monastery. 

The temple was thought to be small and inside its walls, an eternal flame burned tended by nineteen priestesses called The Daughters of the Flame. In ancient times, eternal flames were found in many different cultures and were used to represent the ever-present nature of a deity. As long as the flame was lit, the spirit would continue to be present with the people.

The Daughters of the Flame were said to be priestesses or Bandrui in Irish meaning “woman druid.” The Roman accounts of this priestess cult were identified strongly with the Vestel Virgins of Rome, but I think we cannot assume that these women were also virgins, since Celtic society was less concerned with a woman’s virginity.

Bandrui in ancient Ireland were responsible for communing with the divine and imparting wisdom to the people in the form of lawmaking, medicine, philosophy, astrology, and other applications that were useful to society.

Since flames symbolize knowledge, then these Daughters of the Flame were probably responsible for imparting the wisdom of Brigid to those that came to seek it. Another interesting note is that the Fire Temple itself was surrounded by a ring of hedge and brushwood to “keep men out” indicating it was a sacred space for women. Any man that entered was said to have been punished. 

Fire in mythology is always closely associated with illumination or enlightenment. In the Welsh druidic tradition, esoteric knowledge is called “Awen” and it describes how a poet or bard can know abstract concepts about the universe through devotion to the spirit world. 

Looking to other cultures can also provide more possible insight into the function of the temple. In Chinese culture, eternal flames are representative of ancestor worship and remembrance. It could be that the Celts wanted to keep the flame alive to remember their ancestors, which in the mythology is cited as the Tuatha De Danann, which included Brigid as the daughter of the Dagda; the establishers of their civilization.

It's also interesting to note that the goddess Brigid was worshipped with bonfires at the beginning of February on Imbolc. The fires were thought to hasten the coming of spring, with themes of rebirth, fertility, and illumination.

In this way, Brigid's association with fire, women, and enlightenment makes sense. As a deity, women would worship her and tend to the eternal flame in order to find enlightenment. As a flame casts out darkness, so too does Brigid cast out the darkness of the mind.

Does Brigid protect the hearth?

For the average home, there are records that the Celtic goddess Brigid was invoked and worshipped by the hearth as a protectress of the home. This is because she was a fire deity, associated with the flame and women.

In local folk customs, Brigid is actually heavily associated with fire. In one Scottish ritual, the women of the house would level out the ashes and wait until morning to check to see if she “walked” across the ashes leaving her markings.

Part of this ritual could be leaving a straw bed out at night to welcome her. This is much the same tradition as those found in ancestor worship or the practice of inviting benevolent spirits into the home.

In Irish folk customs, fires would be raked out at night to preserve the glowing embers. This ritual was said to invoke Brigid by saying a special blessing over the fire so that she would protect the house until dawn.

In a ritual for fertility and motherhood, Ancient Celtic women would walk over smoldering embers and ash, allowing the smoke to waft into their vulva for blessings. Brigid's strong association with women and childbirth, especially for protection and fertility, shows through in this ancient tradition.

History, archaeology, and customs

Unlike other Celtic deities, there is so much evidence for the goddess Brigid. The historical accounts reveal Roman documentation of her primeval worship, the archeology reveals the structures and sacred places her attendants would invoke her at, and the folk customs surrounding her mythology all tie in together to reveal fascinating insights.

She was a goddess worshipped for her healing and protective abilities. As an aspect of the primordial Mother Goddess, Brigid is a goddess that helped people. Like her Christianized stories, we can assume in ancient times that she was invoked to heal the sick, help the poor, and bring clarity where darkness and confusion once were.

My favorite aspect of hers is her motto that her monastic order adopted: strong and gentle. She embodies both the strong warrior aspect and the gentle mother aspect. A mysterious figure both a goddess and a saint, Brigid has shown generations of people that healing and wisdom can be your strength.

Read more about Irish mythology

 ]]>How the Goddess Brigid Was WorshippedWriting TipsClaudia MerrillWed, 16 Feb 2022 03:00:00 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/how-to-do-historical-research-for-a-novel57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:62091155a8f5305e7e87e55b

Writing historical fiction is a challenging genre. It requires a level of research and attention to detail that's usually seen in exclusive, academic circles. On top of needing pro-level research skills, you also need to imagine an interesting storyline and dream up compelling characters that your readers will love.

Although it can be a challenge, historical fiction can be one of the most interesting genres to write. You'll always learn something new, find a new appreciation for the past, and inspire your readers to love history as much as you do.

I recently joined my friend, Isla Fynn, on her podcast Writing The Past, to discuss how I research for my writing and other historical fiction writing tips. You can listen to the full episode above to learn even more about my process.

How to research for historical fiction

The cornerstone of writing this genre is research. Historical fiction writers like Philippa Gregory or Ken Follett spend hours upon hours researching so their books can be as detailed and as accurate as possible.

The research process can quickly become tedious and time-consuming, chewing up the time you could spend writing. In order to avoid this, I have found that it's best to have a focused approach that's trackable.

1. Pinpoint the exact period and place. When writing your book, it's important that straight off the bat, you pinpoint exactly when your story takes place and where. The Renaissance in Italy and in Germany, for instance, occur at two different time periods and in two different locations, meaning that the food, clothing, and philosophy of the time are completely different. Brainstorm and do some quick "skimming" research to see when and where you want to set your novel. I like to use Pinterest for this to gather initial ideas.

2. Find reliable sources. History is never cut and dry. It's a study that's formed from academic studies and scholars' opinions. Therefore, it's important to have the most up-to-date information on the topic and read about the opinions of several different scholars. To find free and paid resources can be tricky, but with some expert googling, you can find really amazing sources that give you the information you need. I really like to use Google Scholar to find freely accessible papers online.

3. Allocate time to research and track it. This is a super important part of novel research. Dedicating a lot of time to researching historical events is great, but without tracking it, you might be doing more research than is needed and missing out on time you could be spending writing. I recently set up a tracking system with Notion that allows me to track which stage of my novel I'm at. At a glance, you can see how far you are, how long you expect each stage to take you, and how long it actually took you. That way, you can plan months in advance and set yourself deadlines so you don't accidentally get carried away.

How to organize research for a novel

After you've started your research journey, you're quickly going to realize that you need a structured way to organize the notes you've just collected. History notes getting out of control is a real problem (trust me). 

I wrote an article similar to this years ago and my method for researching the historical record has changed a lot since that time. I started out writing my notes by hand, typing them up in documents, and even writing in the margins of books with sticky notes. It was chaotic but now after some trial and error, I think I've found the most organized and traceable way of researching.

In order to combat note confusion, I've created some Notion templates to help. The first template is a Monthly Reading Research Tracker that will help you keep track of how many sources you've read and analyzed each month.

The template will help you estimate how many days it will take you to finish each source based on the number of pages the source is and how many pages you can read per day. When you've read the source, you can then record actually how many days it took to help you make more accurate estimations in the future. The sum calculations at the bottom help you to see over a month how much time you spent on each source.

The second template is a Novel Reading List Tracker that helps you to see, rate, and organize your sources at a glance. This way, you can keep track of all the sources you've read for your novel and how useful they were for your writing.

This one is a game-changer! The amount of times in the past that I lost a source is hard to admit. With this template, you won't lose track of those important sources again.

I've created these templates to be interlinked. So the tracker will link to your novel sources so there's no room for confusion.

I hope these templates help with your writing process and relieve some of the pressure of this incredibly complex genre. Over time, you'll see real, trackable progress that you can be proud of!

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 ]]>How to Do Historical Research for a NovelWriting TipsClaudia MerrillSun, 13 Feb 2022 14:09:02 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/how-to-be-creative-when-youre-feeling-stressed-out57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:62090e39de99f90f5936328d

We've all been there. Trying to force something out of our souls but then quickly falling into a pit of despair and hopelessness. It's a trying time when the creative juices just don't seem to flow, and good writing seems to be out of reach.

It's important to realize that in this stressed-out state, creativity cannot flow. Stress builds a dam between you and your projects. It's not that you need to find a new "creative spark" to finish works of fiction, it's that you need to start viewing your writing process differently.

My Creativity Theory: Input vs Output

I have this theory with creativity. The theory is that creativity can only flow when you have a balance of creative input and output. Instead of seeing your creativity as a spark to be reignited, start viewing it as a balance like your finances.

To be a creative writer, you have to have a series of inputs and outputs to leave you with a balance of creativity. But if either end is unbalanced, then it won't work and you'll end up either dazed and unproductive or burnt out.

The Input

The first step is to input creativity. By that I mean, you need to give yourself stress-free moments in order to actually be creative.

As an example, I find nature and art galleries give me a lot of inspiration. For my life, it's important that I do these things regularly so I can keep exercising my creativity.

In your own life, you need to think about what activities give you energy. It could be drawing, knitting, baking, traveling. No matter what it is, it's important to feed your creative balance with inspiring moments.

The inspiring and fun moments you fill your life with is your "creative income" which will give you the power to write well later on.

Maybe the main problem is that people think creativity and inspiration happen out of nowhere. Like a sudden and random spark that happens in a snap but fizzles out shortly after. Through my own practice, I really don't think this is the case. I say that because any time I've felt uninspired it's because I stop doing things that make me feel inspired.

As soon as I did an activity that inspires me, like looking at artists in a gallery or doing a class of aerial silks, I all of a sudden feel like writing again. Hands down, I think it proves my theory.

The Output

The second part of the equation is the output. Going back to the finance analogy, creative output is how you decide to spend all the accumulated inspiration.

I think this is also important to point out because you might feel super inspired after filling yourself with exciting experiences, but you have to remember not to "splurge" so to speak. Take time to plan out and consider which projects you will tackle first.

I did this by identifying 3 main goals. My first is obviously my novel, the second is my blog, and the third is social media. Starting with my first goal, I scheduled the time I would write each day and made sure to track this. It's just like having a budgeting app for your creativity! For my blog, for example, I also have a schedule that is attainable for me to make sure that I am directing my energy in a productive way.

It's important to look at where your creative energy is going and consider if you are "overspending" on some tasks (which can lead to burnout by the way) or not spending enough in other areas (because then you won't make any progress).

How to be more creative in writing

As a writer, it's so important to consider your mental health. I've learned from my years of writing that you can't create from an empty cup. When you are on the verge of burning out and feeling stressed, you can't expect creativity from yourself.

These days, there's this toxic mentality when it comes to writing. It's seen as a grind. There's even NaNoWriMo that encourages young writers to churn out a whole book in one month! I think it's more sustainable to ask yourself: what do I need in order to be more creative in my writing?

I really believe in making time for creativity, but using your time and energy wisely. It's not about doing it all, it's about putting in the effort where you can and tracking it, in order to see progress over time. You can be more creative by dedicating 30 minutes to writing every day and making time for yourself to explore and feel good.

To me, being more creative in your writing means lowering stress and anxiety, giving yourself permission to do fun activities, and above all, enjoying the writing process for what it is. Having a finished book in your hands is nice, but living for the process is more fulfilling in the long run.

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 ]]>How to Be Creative When You’re Feeling Stressed OutMythologyClaudia MerrillFri, 04 Feb 2022 18:50:00 +0000https://www.claudiamerrill.com/blog/2022/2/2/the-mystical-places-of-the-goddess-airmed57609def37013b5169612da8:5760b2c4356fb0f59a8a7d08:61faabc81072754b3efa3f4d

Airmed or Airmid is the goddess of healing. She is also a goddess of Irish mythology and folklore meaning that associations with her can be found all over Ireland.

I love that gods and goddesses of ancient Celtic times are not only found in stories, but in the landscape. That's because our ancient Celtic ancestors saw spirits in the landscape. Gods and goddesses accrued a human form over time but originally, they are always an anthropomorphism of the landscape.

Airmed's Healing Wells in County Sligo, Ireland

The first location in Ireland that's connected to Airmed is Heapstown Cairn or Ochtriallach's Cairn in County Sligo, Ireland. The cairn today is a pile of stones but in the past, it was said to be Slaine's Well, where Airmed along with her alchemist brother, Miach and her father and Irish healing god, Diach Cecht, helped to heal wounded warriors.

In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed was said to have used the water in the well to help heal the soldiers during battle. During the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Cath Maige Tuired), the Irish mythology god of healing, Dian Cecht, found a strategy for healing the wounded.

He devised a plan of bringing every herb to  Slaine’s Well and mixing it with the water. Then, he enlists the help of his daughter, Airmed, to chant over the water to activate its healing powers. Dian Cecht then throws the soldiers down into the well and they are healed when they reemerged. 

Slaine's Well was said to have been located in Achad Abla (The Field of the Apple Tree) northwest of the battle in Magh Tuired. The legend goes that today, the well is buried under the stones, becoming Heapstown Cairn in County Sligo, Ireland.

“Dian Cecht, his two sons Octriuil and Miach, and his daughter Airmed were chanting spells over the well named Slaine. They would cast their mortally-wounded men into it as they were struck down; and they were alive when they came out. Their mortally-wounded were healed through the power of the incantation made by the four physicians who were around the well.”

Slaine's Well as a ritual goddess location

If you've read my other blog post, you'll know that it's common for goddesses to be worshipped at freshwater sites. Especially for the Celtic healing goddess Airmid, it makes sense that she would be worshipped at a site that has freshwater.

Today, Heapstown Cairn is all that marks this site so you might be wondering, how do we know for sure this is the site of the well? In the mythology, it actually tells that after the battle, the Cairn was instructed to be built.

“He suggested that every single man they had should bring a stone from the stones of the river Drowes to cast into the well Slaine in Achad Abla to the west of Mag Tuired, to the east of Lough Arrow. They went, and every man put a stone into the well. For that reason, the cairn is called Ochtriallach’s Cairn.”

Luckily, there has been some scientific investigation done to give us more clues.

The cairn is a man-made megalithic monument made of stone, so it matches up with the mythology so far. It is also in the same location as it is stated in the mythology, northwest of the battlefield. Although the cairn has not been excavated, it is believed to be a passage tomb 60 meters in diameter.

Passage tombs in Ireland were connected to particular gods and goddesses and were thought to be direct passages to the Otherworld. Ancient Irish people would go to the passages to seek guidance from the gods and goddesses that resided there.

It’s therefore not a stretch to say that ancient people would go to Heapstown Cairn to ask Airmed for cures and healing guidance.

The significance of wells in Irish mythology

Although the healing at the well is always attributed to her father, Dian Cecht, it's actually Airmed that transforms the well water into healing water in the first place. When you consider that it's goddesses that are often associated with water and healing, this makes even more sense.

Dian Cecht is the one boasting about his ability to heal with the well, but Airmed is the one that gives the well its potent curative power. She gathered and grounded the fresh herbs on the nearby plain Lusmag or herb-plain and then sung over the well. The men were then instructed to lay under the water of herbs and they would arise healed of their wounds.

The mythology points even more to Airmed being a healing goddess associated with hidden wisdom. There is a mystery to her cures, which is probably why ancient people built the Cairn and possibly a passage tomb on the site of her greatest healing victory.

Wells in Celtic mythology symbolize hidden restorative and healing powers. In Irish Celtic mythology, the goddess Brigid rules over the well as a source of poetic inspiration or Awen. In this tale, Airmed, the Celtic goddess of healing, uses the powers of the well to heal lethal wounds like decapitation, showcasing her mystical healing knowledge.

Wells full of freshwater are laden with minerals, which was why they were so sacred to ancient Celtic tribes and essentially seen as “magical”. In Irish Celtic mythology, wells were often birthplaces of the Celtic gods and goddesses, symbolizing their importance but also showing that the gods and wells were interconnected. Wells in this sense, are a portal to the gods.

The hidden meaning of Airmed's healing chants

The last part of the mythology story is Airmed's chants. In the story, she was said to chant or sing over the water in order to activate its healing properties. Although Airmed's healing knowledge is well-known, no one talks so much about her chanting ability.

Sacred chanting for healing and medicinal purposes is used in many ancient cultures however, due to lack of records and information about Celtic mythology and healing practices, it’s hard to say how the ancient Irish used this tool. From this story alone, we can see that Airmed uses chanting in the direst of circumstances, meaning that it must be one of the most powerful tools she possesses.

In Hinduism, chanting is a regular part of Ayurvedic medicine and is said to heal any and all kinds of illnesses. According to the Vedas, the mantras used to chant are cosmic sound currents that travel into each of our cells to restore balance.

Chanting helps the lungs, the circulatory system and it also helps the mind. Physically, chanting strengthens the Vagus Nerve which when stimulated helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system or the rest and digest function which helps the body heal itself.

Sound healing is also used in many eastern traditions including Hinduism and can be done either by chanting or using singing bowls. The voice or the bowls create vibrations that create balance on a cellular level within the body.

In Ayurveda, chanting has been done for over 2,000 years. In one study, scientists found that low-frequency sound waves helped blood circulation and bone metabolism in elderly patients.

Airmed in the modern day

In the mythological cycle, Airmed was revered as a Celtic healing goddess. She bravely helped soldiers recover from their "mortal wounds" by lacing water with herbs and chanting until the water gained healing properties.

In the ancient past, it isn't hard to see why Heapstown Cairn could have been a pilgrimage site for Airmed. Ancient people could have gone to the Cairn to remember the healing that day, and perhaps performed rituals and sacrifices to the goddess in the hope that she would grant their healing.

Until archaeological excavations can confirm a well at the bottom of the Cairn, it's hard to say, but one thing we do glean from the story is how Airmed was seen and the practices that may have been done. Healing chants, something not so often talked about in Celtic studies, could have been a prominent part of the culture.

As the daughter of Dian Cecht, I think Airmed still lives in his shadow. She was perhaps a more prominent goddess for healing than her father, especially given the fact that her specialty included healing herbs. Everyone in ancient times would have been calling on her for healing help, if not venerating her in their homes.

Visiting these former sites where goddesses roam is part of how we keep their memory alive.

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 ]]>The Mystical Places of the Goddess Airmed