Rhiannon is the resourceful herioine of the Story, Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed. A Goddess of the Underworld, she chose a mortal condition in order to marry Pwyll and overturned her father's desire for her to marry Gwawl, a disruptive Underworld being whose malice caused him to steal Rhiannon's new born son.

Since the midwives attendant on her feared Pwylls anger, they smeared dog's blood on Rhiannon's face and cast dog bones about the bed to set the blame of the child's disappearance upon her.

For seven years, Rhiannon was sentenced to stand at the mounting block, to stop all strangers and tell them this tale against herself and then offer her own back to carry them into the hall.

After a few eyars, he son was restored to her and she was exonerated from blame.

After Pwyll's death, she married Manawyddan ap Llyr and was again subject to otherworldly enchantment.

Her three blackbirds grant forgetfulness, delight and refreshment.

In the Irish tree alphabet, the letter G is represented by gort or ivy.

Loch Lochaidh near Lochaber in Scotland was called the lake of the Black Godess in ancient times.

It was still venerated under this name when St. Columba was missionizing the area. St. Columba secretly copied Finnian's psalter, and this was one of the earliest copyright cases known. the copy was determined to belong to Finnian, and Columba had to ignominiously return the psalter he had so painstakingly copied from Finnian's scriptorium.

The Black Goddess is another name for the Cailleach. One of the Three Faces of the Goddess.

Mabsant was a festival held in Wales at nutting time, usually coinciding with the Christian feast of Holy Cross Day, which commemorates the finding of the Cross by St. Helena.

The nut-gatherers returned to the inn where they played games, using the nuts to pay fines and forfeits.

Mabsant was a name generally given to the locality's patron saint, in whose honour dances and assemblies were held.

Musicians travelled from Mabsant to Mabsant around the land.

One Glamorgan harpist began such a circuit when he was twenty three and retired when he was eighty three.

The nine-fold groups of dedicated women act as inspirers, foster mothers, and teachers, their blessing maintaining the sacred order in the Celtic world.

Sometimes called the Nine Witches, their function is a sacral one, fo rthey act as the maintainers of the sacred flame, they initiate children into knowledges and as the nine guardians of the Cauldron of Annwn, are the original faery godmothers who imbue each living soul with innate gifts.

The Autumn equinox is called Alban Elued or the Light of the Water among the reformed druidic orders.

This day represents the sun's mid-way point between midsummer and midwinter and so the Light of the Water indicates the descent of the sun into the cosmic ocean.

As Lughnasadh marks the grain harvest, so this festival marks the fruit harvest.

Neldoracht is a Druidic method of divination often involving cloud watching or star gazing.

We know that this method was used in the creation of the Coligny Calendar, since each night is annotated with remarks about the clarity or cloudiness of the heavens and the subsequent omens which accompany each day.

The custom of cutting the last sheaf of grain or the Cailleach's Sheaf was practised all over the Celtic world.

In Shropshire, this custom is called 'Cutting the Neck' or 'Crying the Mare', where the last standing bunches of grain were tied up like mare's legs and the reapers took turns at throwing their sickles to sever the last sheaf.

In Wales, this custom was called Y Gaseg Fedi, the Harvest Mare. No-one would willingly be selected for this ritual since it carried overtones of ill luck and sacrifice, so that all the harvesters would try throwing their sickles at one time so that no individual was marked out.

The last sheaf was often brought in and made into a corn dolly to be venerated as the power of the fields until the next year.