MYTHIC GLOSSARY
Many of the characters in the Time out of Time series have their beginnings in ancient British, Welsh, and Celtic mythology. I have used legendary names for some of my characters and kept many of their mythological traits. However, I have ignored other traits that did not fit my story. So, while the characters aren’t completely true to their mythology, none are completely foreign to it, either.
BALOR: He is often called “Balor of the Evil Eye.” He’s an evil warrior god found in Celtic-Irish mythology, and stories of his deeds originated in western Ireland. He comes from a race called the Fomorians, who were giants. Balor is a powerful magician who is able to strike people dead with one glance from his Evil Eye. Sometimes he is described as having one “normal” eye in the center of his forehead and one “evil” eye, covered, on the back of his head.
BATTLE OF THE TREES: This is from a fourteenth-century Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin, which contains the poem “Cad Goddeu.” The battle begins when the Welsh god of agriculture, Amaethon, the brother of Gwydon (or Gwydion), steals a dog, a lapwing, and a roebuck from Arawn, king of the otherworld in Welsh mythology. Arawn had been keeping the animals prisoners in his kingdom under the earth. Gwydon, the enchanter and master storyteller, awakens the trees, who have been sleeping for hundreds of years, and calls them to battle. In the poem and in Irish legend, each variety of tree has its own personality and role in the battle. The warrior trees correspond to characters in the Druidic alphabet known as Ogham. Gwydon and the trees win the battle when Gwydon guesses the true name of one of Arawn’s men, Bran.
CERRIDWYN: She is a Welsh goddess of inspiration and wisdom. In myth, she is closely associated with Gwydon. She also symbolizes death and rebirth. In the Time out of Time series, parts of Cerridwyn’s character are also borrowed from Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, both a huntress and protector of wild animals. Both Cerridwyn and Artemis are associated with the moon and with deer and wolves. I’ve also used some of the traits of the pagan goddess Brigid for Brigit/Cerridwyn, so my Cerridwyn is a composite character. One Welsh myth states that Cerridwyn gave birth, through an unusual series of events, to the famous poet Taliesin.
FILIDHEAN: Filidhean were Irish poets and scholars. Their role was important in Irish society, and Filidhean were revered. They kept and passed on knowledge, mostly through the oral tradition. The position of Filidh was an inherited rank passed down through specific Irish families.
FOUR TREASURES OF IRELAND : THE YELLOW BOOK OF LECAN : This book, from the fourteenth century, tells of the four magical treasures brought by the Tuatha Dé Danann to Ireland. The Lia Fáil, which is at Tara, is a stone said to cry out under the feet of a true king. The Sword of Victory glows as brightly as a torch, and no one can escape from it. The Spear of Light (or Lugh) triumphs in every battle. And the Dagda’s (the “good god,” of earth and treaties, ruler over life and death) Cauldron never empties until everyone is satisfied.
GREENMAN: The Greenman is a pre-Christian symbol found from Ireland to Russia, with the earliest examples dating back to classical Rome. The origins of the Greenman are still a mystery, but many researchers like to guess. Perhaps the Greenman portrays the interdependence of nature and man. Carvings in stone and wood are found in churches throughout the British Isles and Europe. Some folklorists believe that his foliate head has remained in churches as a symbol of resurrection, that it helped illiterate people understand the concept of rebirth.
GWYDON (OR GWYDION): He is a son of Welsh mother-goddess Dôn from one of the four branches of the Mabinogi, royal families of Welsh mythology. Gwydon, sometimes translated as “born of trees,” is associated with poetry, magic, and music. He’s also a warrior, shape-shifter, and trickster. He is best known for stealing the otherworldly pigs of the king Pryderi, starting a war, and being turned into various animals as a consequence for his bad behavior. He also has the ability to turn other people into animals and is known for tricking them to get what he wants. Some researchers believe that the same stories that were once told of Gwydon are now attached to the name of King Arthur, for their tales follow many similar paths. Other sources say that Gwydon fab Dôn is the best storyteller in the world. In Beyond the Door and in The Telling Stone, Gwydon, the shape-shifter, remains in the form of a wolf. His association with King Arthur is mentioned in Book I, Beyond the Door.
HERNE: Herne is one of many horned god figures found in various mythologies and is always associated with hunting, forests, and wild animals. In all stories, he has antlers sprouting from his head. Herne the Hunter is the Britons’ version of this figure, while Cernunnos is the Celtic version. Herne was one of the keepers of the Forest of Windsor and was known for his hunting skills. There are many versions of his legend, including how he came to hunt in the night sky. Herne is said to still haunt the forests of Britain, leading the Wild Hunt, where he travels with his pack of white hounds, sometimes called Gabriel or Yell hounds. A sighting of Herne is said to predict a national disaster of some sort. Chaos, noise, and excitement are associated with the Wild Hunt, which usually occurs in the fall on Samhain, signaling the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the “darker” half of the year. Other mythologies connect Herne with Dionysus, the Greek god of the grape harvest, wine, and revelry.
MORRIS DANCING (FOUND IN BOOK 1, BEYOND THE DOOR): Morris dancing is an ancient tradition in Britain, but no one actually knows when it started. Even the name “Morris” has unclear origins. It may come from “Mary’s men” or from exotic, “Moorish” dancing, or even from the Latin mores, meaning “customs” or “folkways.” Historians believe that the tradition is anywhere from eight hundred to three thousand years old—earliest written records date from 1477—and it is still practiced today! Morris dancers performed for many festivals at the release of new, church-brewed ales, for May Day celebrations, and for village fetes. It was a way of celebrating life’s richness and joy.
OGHAM: This was a system of writing developed in Ireland in the fourth century. It looks like a series of hatch marks crossing or joined to a central line. These marks form the twenty letters of the Ogham alphabet. The straight hatch marks were easy to carve on wood or stone, and that’s where Ogham is usually found. You can still find stones in Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland carved with Ogham letters. The marks read in the same way that a tree grows, from bottom to top.
PLEIADES (OR SEVEN SISTERS): The Pleiades are star sisters said to be companions to Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon. Although they have individual stories in Greek mythology, I did not use these. Instead, I gave one sister, Electra, the characteristics, impartiality, and invariability of the moon—a constant observer who waxes and wanes with the seasons.
PONT’S MAP: Timothy Pont was a Scottish cartographer and topographer who made detailed maps of Scotland from the late 1580s through the 1590s. Seventy-seven of his maps survive. The maps are known for their astonishing detail and accuracy, and many have tiny drawings of buildings of the period. The maps are considered key historical documents, and the surviving ones are kept in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.
PORTWAYS: Secret passageways to other locations, times, and sometimes other worlds are common in myth. In Ireland, fairy mounds are said to lead people into the underworld. Pagan Celts and, later, early Christians described thin places where the boundary between the physical and the spiritual world disappeared. Time portals, often caves and tunnels, allowed travelers to move backward and forward in time. The two thousand miles of ancient Roman roads that still crisscross Britain are often thought to be the site of magical events.
TAM LIN: The legend of Tamlane was first seen in The Complaynt of Scotland in 1549. The story tells of a young Scotsman who fell from his horse while hunting. He was taken captive by the fairie queen and enchanted. His enchantment could be broken only when a young maiden held him in her arms as he shape-shifted through all manner of creatures, including a newt, a snake, a bear, and a lion. If she manag
ed to hold him, the spell would be broken. But if the enchantment was not broken, he would be given as a tithe to Hell. A young woman named Janet broke the spell. In The Telling Stone, Tam is not rescued but diminishes until there is nothing of him left.
THE TELLING STONE: The Telling Stone is actually called the Lia Fáil, or coronation stone, also the Stone of Destiny, and its story has as many twists and turns as a suspense novel. It is a real stone on which the ancient kings of Ireland and Scotland were crowned. Myth says the stone cried out loud whenever a true king placed his foot on it. Myth also says the stone was brought to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann.
But if the stone started as a coronation stone for the kings of Ireland, how did it get to Scotland? The oldest Scottish document to discuss the stone, Rhythmical Chronicle, was written at the end of the thirteenth century. Supposedly the Lia Fáil was taken from the hill of Tara in AD 500 by the High King of Ireland, Murtagh mac Erc. He lent it to his brother Fergus (later known as Fergus the Great) for the latter’s coronation in Scotland. It remained in Scotland at Scone Abbey, was renamed the Stone of Scone, and was used to crown the kings of Scotland until the late thirteenth century. And the stone still cried out for a true king!
In 1296, Edward I of England decided he would have his army take the stone by force as a souvenir of his victories over the Scots. The plan was to place the stone in Westminster Abbey in London.
Here is where things get interesting. Many people believe that the true Lia Fáil was never taken by Edward’s men, that the monks of Scone buried it on Dunsinane Hill, and that the stone Edward’s men took was a fake. A letter to the editor of the Morning Chronicle of January 2, 1819, states:
On the 19th of November, as the servants belonging to the West Mains of Dunsinane-house, were employed in carrying away stones from the excavation made among the ruins that point out the site of Macbeth’s castle here, part of the ground they stood on suddenly gave way, and sunk down about six feet, discovering a regularly built vault, about six feet long and four wide. None of the men being injured, curiosity induced them to clear out the subterranean recess, when they discovered among the ruins a large stone, weighing about 500, which is pronounced to be of the meteoric or semi-metallic kind. This stone must have lain here during the long series of ages since Macbeth’s reign.
The story of the stone doesn’t stop there. The stone, or the fake stone, was stolen from London by four Scottish nationalists early on Christmas Day 1950. They took the stone to Arbroath Abbey and left it on the altar. The stone was returned to England two years later.
Finally, on Saint Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1996, the British returned the stone to Scotland, and, amid much pomp and ceremony, it was installed with the Honors of Scotland (symbols of national identity) in Edinburgh Castle. Historians in Scotland examined the stone on its arrival and pronounced that it was “probably” the original stone, but no one knows for sure. The stone has been quiet since its return.
TUATHA DÉ DANANN (“PEOPLE OF THE GODDESS DANU”): This is a mythic race who allegedly arrived in Ireland by ship or in a dark cloud. Skilled in art and science, poetry and magic, they brought the Four Treasures of Ireland (the Dagda’s cauldron, the Spear of Lugh, the Stone of Destiny, and the sword Claíomh Solais) with them. They are said to have invented the Ogham alphabet and are associated with fairies and supernatural powers. Their arrival in Ireland supposedly unsettled the existing tribes and resulted in at least three battles for control of the country. Eventually the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated and driven into the underworld. However, legend says they are still present as fairies, the Daoine sídhe, and they will still fight beside mortals in just battles.
WILD HUNT: This is traditionally led by Herne the Hunter in much of Britain, but also by King Arthur in southern England and France. White Gabriel or Yell hounds with red-tipped ears and eyes accompany Herne throughout the sky, often riding on the festival nights of Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and Beltane (May Day). The Irish have their version of the hunt, when fairy folk, the Daoine sídhe, ride on horses through the sky. Farm animals and pets are kept inside when the hunt rides so that they are not stolen, driven through the sky, and run to death. Sometimes the hunt is said to sound like geese in the night, and it is always accompanied by strong winds and turbulent weather.
ERY SPECIAL THANKS to Andy at www.stravaiging.com, an online guide to Scotland. Andy is an avid mountain biker and photographer. In 2008, when I was trying to envision hiking Dunsinane Hill, I asked this complete stranger if he was willing to take pictures of Dunsinane for me to better imagine Timothy’s search for the stone. He sent me nineteen photos! Any errors in description are mine!
Thanks to Jeff and Steve, for making me more dangerous, and to Debra Murphy for her keen eye and early support. As always, profound thanks to my excellent editor, Howard Reeves, who reminded me that, in myth, evil can never cross a threshold until invited in; my agent, Sandra Bishop, who works so hard on my behalf; and to family and friends who cheer me on. Thanks to the great cloud of mythmakers who came before me.
Time out of Time Page 26