Rhiannon

In the Welsh epic, the Mabinogion, Rhiannon, a princess of the Otherworld, falls in love with a mortal king, Pwyll. She is betrothed to another, and so their relationship has many difficulties. Eventually, they end up together, but the difficulties don’t end. Rhiannon’s story is a tale of resilience, hardship, and forgiveness. She is most often portrayed riding a white horse, accompanied by three birds, whose song is said to lull the living into slumber and wake the spirits of the dead. Rhiannon is seen as someone who “walks between worlds”, a woman who can confidently switch between the light of the mortal world and the dark mysteries of the Otherworld, her light and shadow, finding healing in her darkness and bringing it into the light as forgiveness and grace. The horse is a symbol of freedom and wild abandon but at the same time is a beast of burden. Could this symbolize the balance between our own Divine Feminine and Masculine, something that every human needs within themselves to thrive? The wind in the lower part represents movement, divine intervention, and the vital spirit of the Universe, and the peonies are a symbol of forgiveness, for it is forgiveness to ourselves for our past mistakes and forgiveness for those who have harmed us that is essential for us to heal.