Things aren’t the way they should be.
Things are the way the are.
==Unknown
Category Archives: Celtic Wisdom
Myrddin Wyllt
Myrddin Wyllt (Welsh: [ˈmərðɪn ˈwɨɬt]), Myrddin Emrys, Merlinus Caledonensis, or Merlin Sylvestris[1] (a legendary figure associated in some sources with events in the sixth century), is a figure in medieval Welsh legend, known as a prophet and a madman. He is the most important prototype for the modern composite image of Merlin, the wizard from Arthurian legend.
Texts about Myrddin Wyllt have similarities to an account of a north-British figure called Lailoken. He was probably born sometime around or in AD 540, and is said to have had a twin sister called Gwendydd or Gwenddydd or Languoreth. Myrddin Wyllt is said to have gone mad after the Battle of Arfderydd at Arthuret, which was waged between the victor Rhydderch Hael or Riderch I of Alt Clut and Gwenddoleu in AD 573.[1] He fled into the forest and lived with the animals. There he is said to have found his gift of prophecy.[citation needed]
Myrddin reportedly prophesied his own death, which would happen by falling, stabbing, and drowning. This was fulfilled when a gang of jeering shepherds drove him off a cliff, where he was impaled on a stake left by fishermen, and died with his head below water. His grave is reputed to lie near the River Tweed in the village of Drumelzier near Peebles, although nothing remains above ground level at the site.[1] This strange threefold death is a theme common to many Indo-European mythologies, and according to Georges Dumezil suggests a strong threefold division in Proto-Indo-European religion.
Contents
In Welsh literature
The ‘altarstone’ in Stobo Kirk on which Merlin was converted to Christianity.[1]
The earliest (pre-12th century) Welsh poems that concern the Myrddin legend present him as a madman living an existence in the Caledonian Forest but said to be born in Carmarthen South Wales. Carmarthen in the Welsh language is Caerfyrddin; caer translates into English as “fort”. When Britannia was a Roman province, Carmarthen was the civitas capital of the Demetae tribe, known as Moridunum (from Brittonic *mori-dunon meaning “sea fort”). Legend has it that second part of the towns name fyrddin was representative as Myrddin and of his place of birth, Caer-fyrddin (Fort-Merlin). There he ruminates on his former existence and the disaster that brought him low: the death of his lord Gwenddoleu, whom he served as bard. The allusions in these poems serve to sketch out the events of the Battle of Arfderydd, where Riderch Hael, King of Alt Clut (Strathclyde) slaughtered the forces of Gwenddoleu, and Myrddin went mad watching this defeat. The Annales Cambriae date this battle to AD 573,[2] and name Gwenddoleu’s adversaries as the sons of Eliffer, presumably Gwrgi and Peredur.[3]
A version of this legend is preserved in a late fifteenth-century manuscript in a story called Lailoken and Kentigern, which probably happened in August 584, after Myrddin, also known as Lailoken, had finished writing his prophecies in July of that year. In this narrative, St. Kentigern meets in a deserted place with a naked, hairy madman who is called Lailoken, although said by some to be called Merlynum or Merlin, who declares that he has been condemned for his sins to wander in the company of beasts. He adds that he had been the cause for the deaths of all of the persons killed in the battle fought on the plain between Liddel and Carwannok. Having told his story, the madman leaps up and flees from the presence of the saint back into the wilderness. He appears several times more in the narrative until at last asking St. Kentigern for the Sacrament, prophesying that he was about to die a triple death. After some hesitation, the saint grants the madman’s wish, and later that day the shepherds of King Meldred capture him, beat him with clubs, then cast him into the river Tweed where his body is pierced by a stake, thus fulfilling his prophecy.
Welsh literature has examples of a prophetic literature, predicting the military victory of all of the Celtic peoples of Great Britain who will join together and drive the English – and later the Normans – back into the sea. Some of these works were presented as prophecies of Myrddin; while others such as the Armes Prydein were not.
Clas Myrddin, or Merlin’s Enclosure, is an early name for Great Britain stated in the Third Series of Welsh Triads.[4]
Geoffrey of Monmouth
The modern depiction of Merlin began with Geoffrey of Monmouth. His book Prophetiae Merlini was intended to be a collection of the prophecies of the Welsh figure of Myrddin, whom he called Merlin. He included the Prophetiae in his more famous second work, the Historia Regum Britanniae. In this work, however, he constructed an account of Merlin’s life that placed him in the time of Aurelius Ambrosius and King Arthur, decades before the lifetime of Myrddin Wyllt. He also attached to him an episode originally ascribed to Ambrosius, and others that appear to be of his own invention. Geoffrey later wrote the Vita Merlini, an account based more closely on the earlier Welsh stories about Myrddin and his experiences at Arfderyd, and explained that the action was taking place long after Merlin’s involvement with Arthur. However, the Vita Merlini did not prove popular enough to counter the version of Merlin in the Historia, which went on to influence most later accounts of the character. One exception to this is the work of Count Nikolai Tolstoy titled The Coming of the King.
References
Notes
- Seymour, Page 9
- Arthurian Period Sources, Page 45
- Phillimore, Page 175
- Rhys: Hibbert Lectures, p. 168.
Sources
- Seymour, Camilla & Randall, John (2007) Stobo Kirk: a guide to the building and its history. Peebles: John Randall
- Tolstoy, Nikolai (1985) The Quest for Merlin. ISBN 0-241-11356-3
- Morris, John (gen. ed.) (1980) Arthurian Period Sources volume 8, Phillimore & Co, Chichester (includes full text of The Annales Cambriae & Nennius)
- Phillimore, Egerton (1888), “The Annales Cambriae and Old Welsh Genealogies, from Harleian MS. 3859”, in Phillimore, Egerton, Y Cymmrodor, IX, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, pp. 141 – 183.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Myrddin Wyllt |
- The Vita Merlini; translated by John Jay Parry
- Welsh poem: Dialogue between Myrddin and his sister Gwendydd
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THE SON OF LIGHT
I slipped back to the dark side
But did not see
I could sense the wrongness
But clung tightly
I became possessive and protective
Defensive and suspicious
There came a day
When my code of rigorous honestly was betrayed
And Intimacy was forsaken
An Owl flew from across my path
From a nearby perch
As I stood up to the betrayer
and sent this object of desire away
An chose the purification of the Dark
Months past in dark despair
I thought of nothing but the object
I had no reason to keep living
All joy for all time
Had ended
There was no hope
There came a day of relief
And I felt excellence in all
For no reason
Followed by a night of no sleep
The darkness came back deeply
I asked for protection and care
With complete abandon
Suddenly I saw clearly
That I had gone to the dark side
I had not seen it
Now I saw it
I said Thanks over and over
I saw Lilith smile
I thought I could manage
I thought I could go there
I forgot who I am
The son of light
Bourne of the dark.
Myrddyn come!
© 2014 Martin H. Wilde
(Myrddin Wyllt)
Excerpt 27 – Expanding
Spiritual seeking or seeking God is a quest into the unknown; that which is beyond your current understanding. It is about expanding.
It is important that God is unknown. The more we try to pretend we “know” God, the less honest the quest becomes.
We are not supposed to feel safe and secure – life is insecure. Instead we put insecurity aside and honestly seek.
This is the day of the expanding man
I take one last drag as I approach the stand
==Donald Fagen
Excerpt 26 – Enlightenment
As opposed to achieving some fixed form of high wisdom, I think enlightenment is more the idea that insight comes on an as-needed, when-needed basis. And that it is not to be treated as currency, nor can one be materialistic with it.
This is my complaint with traditional religion. The idea that if you are a good boy, and save up all your good deeds [ideas] you get some sort of cumulative reward for being a good spiritual materialist.
Instead I’m leaning more toward the idea of seasons, timing, alignment of factors, instinct, intuition. I think intuition is the sum total of many instantaneous surges of enlightenment. They become imprinted on your being and are later there but not as intellect but more-so as intuition. They inform your choices which could be seen as enlightenment in action.
Excerpt 25 – The quest for Intimacy
It is intimacy that I have been seeking and intimacy that has been lost. I feel unified when somebody “gets me” and devastated when that intimacy is taken away or replaced by false intimacy.
To create intimacy one must become vulnerable and share the truth about who one is. It is this risk that sets the tone for others to reciprocate by also getting real. The bond of one person being real and another reciprocating by being real is intimacy.
Intimacy is destroyed by fear, selfishness, judgement, power games, pride and the pursuit of comfort and intoxication. I have been left alone by others who bail on the intimacy, so maybe all intimacy must end and the only constant is the intimacy of ones self with ones truth and ones world – with no claims on others.
Excerpt 24 – Pains-taking
To consistently stand up to another persons untrue behavior with truth is noble and potentially helpful to a person who seeks change. But for those who allow fear to take them back from their path, you are doing that persons’ work for them and they do not develop. You become the focus of their dysfunctional behavior and are often punished for your kindnesses.
Today I release others to the dark and light powers so they may be molded as the universe sees fit. I will feel my way through the pain of letting go, until I reach the other side.
Sobriety
Sobriety means facing life honestly and directly.
Honesty means seeking the truth of who you are and then being it.
It is my job to be the man I am, in this universe, on this day.
==Marty Wilde
Excerpt 23
To attempt to write or say the truth, when it only occurs as an instantaneous surge of inspiration is absurd, but then again so is being alive.
Truth is revealed at the right moment and cant really be captured and stored for later use. It is a “just in time” sort of thing.
Brene Brown – what can happen when people confront their shame head-on
Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown, whose earlier talk on vulnerability became a viral hit, explores what can happen when people confront their shame head-on. Her own humor, humanity and vulnerability shine through every word.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame
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