The Birth and the Naming of Lleu Llaw Gyffes

The Naming of Lleu Llaw Gyffes

I'm going to just post this and write it as time allows. It's gonna take ages. suggestions and corrections welcome x

I want now to demonstrate how some memorable passages in Culhwch and Olwen, and in Math fab Mathonwy converge to reveal the identification of certain characters in the tales with constellation figures as depicted on the stereographic projections or star charts inherited, ultimately, from Ptolemy, Eratosthenes, Aratus and Hipparchus. I hope to show also that the Welsh authors of these two amazing stories were using these same Ptolemaic star charts to plot their narratives... and to map the land, and to make it sacred in order to protect it.

There is a technical aspect to this part of my research which is concerned with a slowly 'moving' point in the sky known as the 'First Point of Aries' or the vernal equinox.

By AxialTiltObliquity.png: Dna-webmasterderivative work: Basilicofresco (msg) - AxialTiltObliquity.png, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6934673

The Equinoctial Colure is the (orange) line which passes through the Poles via the two points where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator, these are the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, or The First Point of Aries and The First Point of Libra. Due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, caused by the 26,000 year gyroscopic wobble of the Earth, the first point of Aries is no longer in Aries but is now in Pisces, likewise the first point of Libra is now in Virgo. Since being identified by Hipparchus in 130 b.c. until the present the first point of Aries has moved, at the rate of 1 degree every 72 years, almost 30 degrees along the ecliptic. 

Schaubach's Northern Hemisphere depicts the sky as Hipparchus first recorded it. Because this is a stereographic projection (with the North Pole at the centre), the equinoctial colure or celestial prime meridian is drawn as a straight line from the original First point of Aries, through the Rams Head, then Triangulum, then the upraised right hand of Perseus, then the North Pole, then The Ploughman (Arcturus) and on to the First point of Libra hiding beneath skirts of Virgo

W. G. Evans Illustration of the northern circumpolar constellations for Burritt’s 1856 edition of the Atlas to  the Geography of the Heavens shows the Prime Meridian now passing through the right hand of Cassiopiea, then the left foot of Cepheus, then the North Pole and through a curl of Draco and the rump of Ursa Major. It doesn't show that the line begins firmly in Pisces and ends decisively in Virgo, but it does illustrate a near 28 degree shift in the positions of the equinoxes.

This is important because I want to demonstrate that the Welsh authors were using star charts where the First point of Aries really was at the First Point of Aries, in other words uncorrected star charts based on the works of the early Astronomers mentioned just now. This despite the fact that the equinoxes had shifted some 15 degrees from the time of Hipparchus to the end of the 11th century, the assumed date the tales were set down. First, though, it is important to revisit some of the characters I have already identified with constellations.

That Lleu Llaw Gyffes (of the Sure Hand) was equated with Perseus cannot be seriously doubted and this has been demonstrated, not just by me, in previous posts on this blog, but by many others including most recently Astronomer Martin Griffiths (Dark Land, Dark Skies:The Mabinogion in the Night Sky) and by Prof. Arfon Rees (The Mabinogi Decoded). So take that as something of a given. 

It is also clear that the small southern constellation Corvus was behind several representations of  birds in Culhwch and Olwen and once, probably, in Branwen, the Second Branch. The first reference, in Culhwch, is when the hero arrives at the gates of Arthur's Court at Celliwig in Cornwall and engages with the porter.

Said the youth, " . If thou openest the gate, it is well. If thou dost not open it, I will bring disgrace upon thy Lord, and evil report upon thee. And I will set up three shouts at this very gate, than which none were ever more deadly, from the top of Pengwaed in Cornwall to the bottom of Dinsol, in the North, and to Esgair Oervel, in Ireland." 

There is no mention of a bird here but note the three yells in connection with the three, apparently, geographic, sites including Oerfel Ridge or Esgair Oervel, in Ireland. 

The second occasion is when Arthur sends Menw son of the Three Shouts to confirm the whereabouts of the giant boar Twrch Trwyth in Ireland.

And after Yskithyrwyn Penbaedd was killed, Arthur and his host departed to Gelli Wic in Cornwall. And thence he sent Menw the son of Teirgwaedd to see if the precious things were between the two ears of Twrch Trwyth, since it were useless to encounter him if they were not there. Albeit it was certain where he was, for he had laid waste the third part of Ireland. And Menw went to seek for him, and he met with him in Ireland, in Esgeir Oervel. And Menw took the form of a bird; and he descended upon the top of his lair, and strove to snatch away one of the precious things from him, but he carried away nothing but one of his bristles. And the boar rose up angrily and shook himself so that some of his venom fell upon Menw, and he was never well from that day forward.

In my post The Supernova of 1006 I believe I have presented convincing evidence which shows that the constellation Therion (now Lupus, who was turned into a wolf for sins against God, just as Twrch Trwyth was turned into a boar for sins against God), was in the mind of the author when he located Menw son of the three Shouts, the little bird, above the lair of the Beast. The story that Menw, in the form of a bird, who tried to snatch up a bristle of the enormous Boar and was never well from that day forward, is an obvious take on the tale of Corvus snatching up the long body of the snake Hydra and he was never well from that day forward. Later Arthur sends Gwrhyr Gwalstad Iathioedd, (Interpreter of Languages) to Esgair Oervel who also descends in the form of a talking bird, to parley with the beast; these passages further hint at the stellar nature of these locations.

Arthur sent Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd to parley with him. Gwrhyr went in the form of a bird, landing over the lair of him and his seven young pigs.And Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd asked him "For the sake of the one who made you into this shape, if you can speak, I ask one of you to come to speak with Arthur."
Grugyn Gwrych Erain - like wings of silver were all his bristles, the path he would follow through the wood and the meadow could be seen by the glitter of his bristles.

In the Catalogue of the Court in Culhwch there is a further character called Medyr son of Methredydd, of whom it is said, 'he could take aim from Celli Wig and [hit] the legs of a starling in Esgair Oervel in Ireland. Medyr mab Methredyd 'Aim son of Aimer'. 

All of this provides a context for the naming of the 'Hero' in Math fab Mathonwy. Aranrhod (Andromeda) leaves her 'Caer' (Corona Borealis) to have her foot measured by Lleu (Perseus) and Gwydion (Cygnus) who are disguised as cobblers. Gwydion has conjured a magical boat from seaweed, suddenly a wren is about alight on the boat and Lleu aims, then throws his bodkin and hits the wren 'between the sinew and the bone of the leg'

The naming of Lleu - the Fair One, (or Llew - the Lion as the Mss. have it) Llaw Gyffes, - with the Skillful Hand. This image is only possible once every 26,000 years. 

From a poetic point of view when I look at the Milky Way or Sarn Gwydion and compare it to the 'Gate' of the Menai Straits, I cannot help but see the sandy coasts of Dinas Dinlle and Anglesey 

 "Well," said she, "take the measure of my foot, and desire the cordwainer to make shoes for me." So he made the shoes for her, yet not according to the measure, but larger. The shoes then were brought unto her, and behold they were too large. "These are too large," said she, "but he shall receive their value. Let him also make some that are smaller than they." Then he made her others that were much smaller than her foot, and sent them unto her. "Tell him that these will not go on my feet," said she. And they told him this.
"Verily," said he, "I will not make her any shoes, unless I see her foot." And this was told unto her.
"Truly," she answered, "I will go unto him."
So she went down to the boat, and when she came there, he was shaping shoes and the boy stitching them. "Ah lady," said he, "good day to thee."
"Heaven prosper thee," said she. "I marvel that then canst not manage to make shoes according to a measure."
"I could not," he replied, "but now I shall be able."
Thereupon behold a wren stood upon the deck of the boat, and the boy shot at it, and hit it in the leg between the sinew and the bone. Then she smiled. "Verily," said she, "with a steady hand did the lion aim at it.""Heaven reward thee not, but now has he got a name. And a good enough name it is. Llew Llaw Gyffes be he called henceforth."

We've seen this pattern before. It was marked out by Gwydion in 'The Journey of the Swine'.



Jump over my wand says Math.

Gwydion has witnessed the second birth of Llew llaw Gyffes in the chest at the foot of his bed, has watched him stretch his arms through the fold of a cloth, and he has taken him to 'the lady in the town with breasts' who agrees to nurture him.

The first curse which Aranrhod swears upon her son is that he shall never have a name unless she name him.

“And what is his name?” she asked.“He doesn’t have a name.”“He shall never have a name then, unless I give him one,” answered Arianrhod, putting a geas on the boy. Gwydion swore then that the child would receive a name anyway, though she were unwilling to claim him.
Gwydion took the boy with him and walked along the beach. Where they found seaweed, Gwydion charmed it into the form of a boat, and he took more seaweed and made from it beautiful cordovan leather. They began to sail in the boat and he charmed them into a different appearance so that they could not be recognized. When they came near Caer Arianrhod (the castle of Arianrhod), he put ashore. He took some of the cordovan leather and they began to make shoes from it, where they could be seen from the castle.
“What men are those?” asked Arianrhod.“Cobblers,” she was told. Messengers were sent to see the work and they found Gwydion and the boy in disguise, gilding and coloring the leather. It was very beautiful work; so the messengers informed Arianrhod.
Arianrhod had her feet measured for shoes and sent the measurements to Gwydion so that he could make shoes for her. Gwydion made the shoes, but not in quite the right size; he deliberately made them too big. Arianrhod sent back again, but this time he made shoes for her which were too small. Finally she agreed to go and see him to get the right size shoes. 
When she arrived, Gwydion and the boy were working on the leather. Gwydion and Arianrhod greeted each other. “It’s a pity you cannot make shoes in the right size,” she said. “Now I can,” he answered her.
Just then a wren landed on the deck of the ship and the boy threw his needle at the bird. His needle pierced the bird in the leg between the sinew and the bone. Arianrhod laughed and said, “what a skillful hand the bright-haired one has!”
Gwydion spoke up, “Now he has a name, and a good name it is: Lleu Llaw Gyffes ‘Bright Skillful Hand’ he shall be called!”
Immediately, he dissolved the charm and the leather that they had been working on became seaweed again. That is how Lleu Llaw Gyffes got his name and why he is called a shoemaker.

Minerva and Mercury arming Perseus