This month's full moon altar honours the Celtic Horse Goddess of ancient Europe. She had many names among the various Celtic tribes -- Epona (Britons), Rhiannon (Welsh), Mare (Irish), and Horsa (Nordic/Germanic). She was the only Celtic divinity adopted and worshipped as well by the Romans who conquered those regions.
The Horse Goddess's most unique and powerful attribute was the ability to carry her people safely across thresholds, boundaries and transitional spaces, all of which were central to Celtic spirituality. Such magical, liminal spaces were sacred but also considered very perilous. And they were everywhere -- between physical spaces (like land/sea, earth/sky, fields/mountains, inside/outside of buildings), between temporal spaces (day/night, old year/new year, winter/spring etc.), and between states of being (such as sleeping/waking, illness/health, womb/birth, life/death). The Goddess's protection kept people safe as she transported them across those boundaries.
I chose the Horse Goddess for October's altar because Samhain/Halloween marks the important transition between the Celtic Old Year and the New Year. This is when "The Veil Between the Worlds" is said to be at its thinnest, when people, spirits and ghosts can move more freely between the worlds of the living and of the dead. The Veil is represented on the altar by the sheer purple scarf with its crescent crone moon and pentacle motifs.
Traditionally, the Horse Goddess is depicted naked, as in both these representations. Her nudity represents the wild, untamed nature of the Divine Feminine. Similarly, any horse associated with the Horse Goddess is always a white horse, symbol of purity and freedom.
The Horse Goddess lives on in our modern world in a couple of ways. It is believed that the medieval myth of the saviour-figure Lady Godiva on her white horse harks back to the old pagan imagery in a new Christian world. Most scholars also believe that the prehistoric Uffington White Horse carved into the chalk hills of Berkshire, England honours the Horse Goddess as well.
[Photos #1-3 © Debra She Who Seeks, 2023; Photo #4 from Wikipedia]
18 comments:
Horse goddess looks very elegant.
Thank you for another moon goddess lesson! She is beautiful!
Wow, those horses carved by your father! They are amazingly well made. I did go to that link where you had more detail about them, so thank you for that!
Lovely display. The horses are just beautiful, I read your story about your Dad and his carving. Such an inspiration. Now I know where you got your artistic ability!
Your father was a talented carver. So your art ability must be inherited.
The theme song to Maude comes to mind:
"Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
She made sure the whole world looked..."
Another interesting full moon post. I did not know that Halloween marked the end of the Celtic New Year, but if both Christmas and Easter have pagan origins, I should have guessed it to be doubly true for that most eclectic, most open-minded of holidays as well.
The Briton, Epona (Britons), name had a twofold purpose. The first was to tell someone to get on the horse. "Come on girl, get epona". The second was to tell the horse to go, "Git Epona, git."
you got your artistic talent from your dad! was your mother artistic too? i love your altars.
How wonderful that you can have something your father made on your alter
A beautiful alter as usual
Another thought provoking altar. Thank you. I will read this again.
I have never had a deep connection with a horse altho I love them and they are beautiful. I have had the privilege of living with donkeys. It is not the same but we reach out from Equus asinus world to express our appreciation and thanks. We recognize our kinship and send our best wishes. Love, A. Burro.
@ jaz@octoberfarm -- No, my Mom couldn't even draw a stickman. But the brains came from her side of the family!
Your father’s carvings are beautiful! How great that you can include them in the altar!
A moving and touching altar.
Well that is my kind of Goddess.
I remember the draft horses. So powerfully and elegantly done. Your father had a gift.
This is so beautiful, I remember reading about this goddess 💗
-Quinley
Lovely !
A very beautiful altar, Debra. Perfect for the season.
I am reading a post-apocalyptic series which includes a Celtic clan. One of the characters has a horse named Epona. She is black instead of white but has all the mythic power of her forebear.
Cheers!
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