I’ve always loved myths and legends and ancient gods and
goddesses. One of the aspects that I love about my Roman/Druid books set during
the 1st century in Britain
is the mysticism that surrounds the Druid peoples. This was a time when gods
and goddesses were integral to every day life—but the thing that really
captures my imagination is the goddess culture.
The heroine of BETRAYED (released yesterday from Ellora’s
Cave!) is Nimue. She appeared right at the end of book #3, CAPTIVE, and was an
acolyte of the Moon Goddess Arianrhod. I knew next to nothing about Arianrhod
at that point but when Nimue wouldn’t leave my mind because her story had to be
told, I knew I was going to have to do some research.
Legend has it that Arianrhod’s uncle, the magician King
Math, was required to keep his feet in the lap of a maiden whenever he wasn’t
at war, in order to retain his sovereignty and power. When Arianrhod and her
brother-god Gwydion’s younger brother fell in love with her Gwydion, God of
Illusion, manufactured a war which entailed Math leaving his domain.
The younger brother immediately took advantage and raped the
maiden. How is this love? But I digress...
Upon Math’s return, and learning that his maiden could no
longer perform her duty, he married her and then punished his two nephews. His
punishments involved turning them into a mated pair of deer for a year, then a
mated pair of wild hogs and finally a pair of mated wolves. At the end of each
year the brothers produced one offspring (I’m not going there!
)
Finally the punishment ended but Math still required a
maiden as his footholder. Gwydion suggested his sister, Arianrhod. She was
brought to court and had to step over a magical wand to prove her virginity. As
she did so she gave birth to twin boys, one who slipped into the sea and swam
away and the other was taken by Gwydion who raised him as his own.
Arianrhod was humiliated and shamed before the whole court,
forsaken by her brother Gwydion and later thwarted by her son. She retreated to
her castle and later drowned.
Unimpressed by that ending that appears to punish a woman
for not conforming to a certain patriarchal worldview, I dug deeper.
Arianrhod’s name means “starry wheel” and her palace, or
castle, was the Aurora Borealis. She is one of the Triple Goddesses, a Moon
Goddess associated with reincarnation and is connected to the womb, death,
rebirth and creation. She is a weaver of the fates and could shapeshift into an
owl—symbolic of wisdom.
In short, Arianrhod was a powerful goddess in her own right
and would have been a strong, independent woman and a primal figure of feminine
power.
Too powerful, perhaps, for a patriarchal society to
accept?
I’d found the hook I’d been looking for. Nimue is strong,
independent and doesn’t need a man to protect her. But when she’s captured by
Tacitus, a Roman Tribune, her world is turned upside down and she and
Arianrhod’s fates become inextricably entwined.
Betrayed
In 51 A.D., Druid
priestess Nimue is injured and enslaved by the hated Roman Legions. Even though
she is drawn to her captor, she’s determined to escape and complete her mission
for the Briton king and her duty to Arianrhod,
the goddess she is bound to.
The tough Roman
warrior who captures her is far from the brutal barbarian she expects. His
touch inflames her desires and passion burns between them. Though Nimue does
not accept her enslavement, her heart surrenders to her enemy. When Arianrhod
appears to her in the form of an owl, Nimue knows the union is blessed.
Roman warrior Tacitus
is enchanted by the fiery beauty who shows no fear and challenges him at every
turn. Though enslaving her goes against his heart, he’s determined to make her
his. No woman has ever heated his blood as she does. But when he discovers her
true nature as one who actually communes with the gods, his loyalties are torn
between his heritage and a woman who could destroy everything he’s ever
believed in.
I have an e-copy of Betrayed to giveaway to one lucky
commenter on this post. Just leave a comment or let me know if you had the
power of shapeshifting, what would you love to shapeshift into? (Personally I’d
like to shapeshift into the smexy woman in Clive Owen or Henry Cavill’s arms.
Just saying…)
The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte
Guest. Welsh legends collected in the Red Book of Hergest, a manuscript which
is in the library of Oxford University.
Arianrhod’s legend is in the Fourth Branch, Math, the Son
of Mathonwy
