Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is about the three flowers used to create Blodeuwedd! Although in some tellings nine blooms are used to call Blodeuwedd forth into corporeal form, I want to focus on the three always stated to be part of her creation. I felt this was an ideal post to welcome the changing of the dark half to the light half of the year, as we are in the season of Spring, a time of reawakening after the long sleep of Winter. This means that Blodeuwedd’s aspect as a Flower Goddess and Flower Bride is also in full bloom in the light half of the year, with her Owl aspect being more in line with the dark half of the year. At least this is how I feel her energy in my own practice as Her Priestess, with her being much more fierce in the Autumn and Winter and much softer in the Spring and Summer! Now, that I have gone over why I am doing this post the day after the official Spring Equinox, let’s look at each of the three Blooms of Blodeuwedd in their own sections.
OAK
~Oak is the most sacred of all trees to the Druids, with the word Druid even most often being translated to mean ‘Wise Oak’. Magickally speaking, Oak is stated to have the powers of granting Protection, Health, Money, Healing, Potency, Fertility, and Luck according to Scott Cunningham. There is much to be said about how important the Oak was to ancient Celtic culture and the society of the British Isles generally, with stories of Druids not meeting unless there was an Oak tree present in the Grove and Witches meeting beneath Oak trees. That makes the Oak a very powerful tree indeed, so the fact that the first bloom chosen to create Blodeuwedd was the flower of the Oak tree is significant. The connection to Fertility certainly aligns with Blodeuwedd’s energy as a Flower Bride, she is the Sovereignty Goddess who is literally the land made manifest in feminine form, making Lleu Llaw Gyffes’s marriage to her a marriage to the land. Like the land, Blodeuwedd in her Flower Goddess aspect is ever fertile and abundant, full of limitless potential, and inspiring us to go for our dreams, to plant the seeds in Spring which will bloom in Summer, and be harvested in Autumn! The association with Protection and Luck can mirror Blodeuwedd’s learning to protect herself and create her own luck, in falling in love with Gronw Pebyr, she chose to embrace her Sovereignty and protect her place as Queen by plotting the death of Lleu, thus creating what she could have seen as a lucky circumstance for herself. While she did not succeed in getting to be with her true love, for she became an Owl and he was killed, she did free herself from the confines of a marriage that had become unhappy.
BROOM
~Broom is, as the name suggests, a plant that was most often used in the making of besoms (another word for the brooms we sweep our floors with). It is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub that has fragrant yellow flowers. Magickally speaking, Broom is stated to have the powers to grant Purification, Protection, Wind, Spells, and Divination according to Scott Cunningham. The association with Purification is an obvious one, as the sweeping of a broom across a floor not only cleanses the physical environment but also cleanses the energy of the place where the broom has swept across. This is also true of the Protection aspect of Broom, as sweeping an area of negative energy also provides protection! There are also magickal associations of Broom with Fertility, Balance, Banishing, Communication, Creativity, Intuition, Security, and Wisdom according to Magical Faery Plants by Sandra Kynes. The association with Balance relates to the fact that Blodeuwedd is in herself a Goddess who balances the sweet-faced Flower with the fierce Owl. After all, her Sovereignty Goddess nature is one of Seasonal Sovereignty, that is Blodeuwedd chooses between two lovers whether in the light or dark half of the year, a common motif in Celtic myth. She is with Lleu as the Flower, the light half of the year, and with Gronw as the Owl, the dark half of the year! Clearly, Seasonal Sovereignty Goddesses have Balance as a large part of their mythic and magickal associations in general.
MEADOWSWEET
~Meadowsweet is a plant that grows in clumps that can reach three to four feet tall and has sweet-smelling tiny white five-petalled flowers. Magickally speaking, Meadowsweet is stated to have the powers to grant Love, Divination, Peace, and Happiness according to Scott Cunningham. There are also associations with Balance, Creativity, Fertility, Healing, Inspiration, and Luck according to Magical Faery Plants by Sandra Kynes. This means that each plant of the three used to create Blodeuwedd does have a connection to Fertility, firmly cementing that she is a Goddess of the Fertility of the land made manifest in her Flower Goddess form! Finally, Meadowsweet’s connection to Love and Happiness is easy to connect to the relationship between Blodeuwedd and Gronw, finding true love and happiness together, even if that was short-lived!
~I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the magickal associations and uses of the three Blooms of Blodeuwedd and how they relate to her story. What is your favorite of these flowers? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely image of Blodeuwedd with her three blooms present. I found the image on https://goldseven.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/blodeuwedd-oak-broom-and-meadowsweet/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
- Mythic Moons of Avalon by Jhenah Telyndru
- The Avalonian Oracle by Jhenah Telyndru
- Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty by Jhenah Telyndru
- Magical Faery Plants by Sandra Kynes
- Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham
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