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Epona
Oct 24, 2008 20:52:19 GMT -1
Post by littleraven on Oct 24, 2008 20:52:19 GMT -1
The place to talk about Her, and heated debate about whether She is Rhiannon.
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 9:29:07 GMT -1
Post by arth_frown on Oct 25, 2008 9:29:07 GMT -1
Epona and Rhiannon, the description of them both is similar. At a guess these are regional names of the same Goddess. Both have links to the land. I always think of the white horse of Uffington as being Epona looking over the tribal land.
Would it be fair to say she is a sky Goddess?
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 9:50:06 GMT -1
Post by jez on Oct 25, 2008 9:50:06 GMT -1
What makes you think that?
I have always met Her very much on the ground, Her hoof-prints making protective enclosures around Her people.
--
Jez
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 10:23:09 GMT -1
Post by arth_frown on Oct 25, 2008 10:23:09 GMT -1
What makes you think that? I have always met Her very much on the ground, Her hoof-prints making protective enclosures around Her people. -- Jez I know what you mean, I'm sure I've seen or read about iconography of her with a sky wheel.
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 10:29:34 GMT -1
Post by Francis on Oct 25, 2008 10:29:34 GMT -1
Are there any legends connecting Epona directly to smaller horses? i.e Ponies...
I have dialogue with some Spirits of Place, but I haven't often really made contact with the traditional gods of these islands. I think on a couple of occasions surrounded by unbroken feral Welsh Mountain Ponies running for the sheer joy of it, I've felt the emotion of her presence, but there was no direct exchange - just sort of the briefest shared smile.
It would be great if people felt comfortable sharing stories of the sort of contact they have had with her, as well as legends and historical stuff?
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 10:47:37 GMT -1
Post by jez on Oct 25, 2008 10:47:37 GMT -1
Would there have been any 'larger horses' in the times we are looking at?
The depictions are of ponies, or maybe foals.
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Jez
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 16:07:55 GMT -1
Post by arth_frown on Oct 25, 2008 16:07:55 GMT -1
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 16:52:52 GMT -1
Post by Tegernacus on Oct 25, 2008 16:52:52 GMT -1
Goodall, D. M. and A. Dent (1998) "A history of British native ponies : from the Bronze Age to the present day" says that most of the horses in Roman times would count as ponies today. oh, and a nice site: www.epona.net/index.html
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 17:18:02 GMT -1
Post by jez on Oct 25, 2008 17:18:02 GMT -1
Nantanos (sp?) is on BritPoly - maybe someone should invite him here, he is very knowledgeable.
--
Jez
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 18:39:26 GMT -1
Post by arth_frown on Oct 25, 2008 18:39:26 GMT -1
Goodall, D. M. and A. Dent (1998) "A history of British native ponies : from the Bronze Age to the present day" says that most of the horses in Roman times would count as ponies today. oh, and a nice site: www.epona.net/index.htmlwow! someone put in some hard work.
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 19:08:45 GMT -1
Post by Lee on Oct 25, 2008 19:08:45 GMT -1
Epona isnt someone i have much experience with. Rhiannon on the other hand is a different matter. now, as to whether they are the same person or not. im inclined to think not though there is a lot of overlap. academic sources such as Gruffydd (might be out of fashion now) equates them as being the same though with rhiannon a later local development of the original.
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 19:17:05 GMT -1
Post by Tegernacus on Oct 25, 2008 19:17:05 GMT -1
that Epona site argues (or theorises) that there is little or no evidence of Epona in Gaul before the Romans (although plenty of other europewide evidence). Possibly she was taken to Gaul, and from there to Britain. Of course, doesn't mean we didn't have our own Epona (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence), and maybe Riannon is our Epona. Or maybe she developed after the Romans brought her here.
Similar to Lee, I don't have any experience of Epona. While I don't doubt she is living large on the Downs, she hasn't come up here into the Valleys. And I have looked. Even when standing at the foot of the White Horse, it left me cold (although I felt a huge surge of ancestral connection, I felt no spiritual one). So I dunno... maybe the Silurians weren't a horse people or something.
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Epona
Oct 25, 2008 19:21:37 GMT -1
Post by Lee on Oct 25, 2008 19:21:37 GMT -1
slightly similar thing here - i can cope with her on the down and open flatlands, but back home in wet wales - even though the mabinogi is set there - i struggle to 'get' her there. now, boars and pigs on the other hand are a different matter there. hence why my aelwyd will be piggy themed
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Epona
Oct 26, 2008 10:23:09 GMT -1
Post by potia on Oct 26, 2008 10:23:09 GMT -1
Epona has been a presence in my life for a long time now. She is my guide and guardian as well as a beloved friend. Is she the same as Rhiannon? I don't think so but I'm not sure. She's not answering me on that one
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Epona
Oct 26, 2008 11:16:58 GMT -1
Post by Blackbird on Oct 26, 2008 11:16:58 GMT -1
Nantonos is already a member here, but think he wandered off a few years back.
There are no legends about Epona at all, unless we assume the Rhiannon theme of a lost/returned Mabonesque son is relevant.
Her iconography usually shows abundance and fertility. She often is surrounded by foals, fruit and grain, and often holds a patera, which is a kind of flat offering dish.
In Iron Age symbolism, the horse seems to have been a solar creature - perhaps there was a belief that horses pulled the sun across the sky. Many of the iron age coins show solar wheels in conjunction with horses. Of course, the sun is usually associated with abundance, which links back to the Epona images. And then there is our one reference to Eponalia, at midwinter, which may indicate a solar connection there too.
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Epona
Oct 26, 2008 15:49:24 GMT -1
Post by jez on Oct 26, 2008 15:49:24 GMT -1
Her iconography usually shows abundance and fertility. She often is surrounded by foals, fruit and grain, and often holds a patera, which is a kind of flat offering dish. In Iron Age symbolism, the horse seems to have been a solar creature - perhaps there was a belief that horses pulled the sun across the sky. Many of the iron age coins show solar wheels in conjunction with horses. Of course, the sun is usually associated with abundance, which links back to the Epona images. And then there is our one reference to Eponalia, at midwinter, which may indicate a solar connection there too. And what if the 'solar disk' on the coins is actually an offering dish? -- Jez
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Epona
Oct 26, 2008 16:07:14 GMT -1
Post by arth_frown on Oct 26, 2008 16:07:14 GMT -1
Maybe she is the Goddess that connects the land with the sky?
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Epona
Oct 26, 2008 16:33:53 GMT -1
Post by jez on Oct 26, 2008 16:33:53 GMT -1
Nantonos is already a member here, but think he wandered off a few years back. There are no legends about Epona at all, unless we assume the Rhiannon theme of a lost/returned Mabonesque son is relevant. Her iconography usually shows abundance and fertility. She often is surrounded by foals, fruit and grain, and often holds a patera, which is a kind of flat offering dish. In Iron Age symbolism, the horse seems to have been a solar creature - perhaps there was a belief that horses pulled the sun across the sky. Many of the iron age coins show solar wheels in conjunction with horses. Of course, the sun is usually associated with abundance, which links back to the Epona images. And then there is our one reference to Eponalia, at midwinter, which may indicate a solar connection there too. And the horses of the sun are the horses of a goddess in heathen myth - Sunne/Sunna is female, and considered to be an aid to the fertility of the land. -- Jez
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Epona
Oct 27, 2008 13:51:01 GMT -1
Post by Adam on Oct 27, 2008 13:51:01 GMT -1
I'm very tentative about even submitting this article, it seems a little tenuous... that said, given my arguments on potia's thread regarding the Cailleach it may be pertinent www.northernearth.co.uk/permsaddle.htmJohn Billingsley discusses the saddle as a landscape feature in association with sacred sites, and at one point weakly suggests a possible link to Epona/Rhiannon (his association, not mine)
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