Arianrhod
The Virgin Mother Goddess
Arianrhod is a Welsh Celtic Sky or Moongoddess. Her name means Silver Wheel. Her uncle Math, a Magician King, has to rest his feet on a virgin when he is not at war, and first asks her to marry him, as the line of the Mothergoddess Don can only be passed on through the feminine. She refuses, valuing her independence. When Math’s student suggests her virginity should be tested by stepping over the king’s magician's rod, she gives birth to a boy and blob.
The THree Curses
The boy, Dylan, is a sea spirit and flees to the ocean immediately. His uncle Gwydion takes the blob away and hides him. Over time, he takes the boy to see his mother thrice, but she curses him each time. With her three curses, Arianrhod denies her son the three aspects of masculinity, as it was perceived by the ancient Celts, which are a name, arms and a wife. Through trickery, Gwydion manages to make her cancel her own curses, however.
Independence & Sexuality
Arianrhod is the epitome of feminine celestial power who rules over fertility, childbirth and reincarnation. She is the most powerful child of Don, the primeval Mothergoddess, a parallel to the Irish Danu. She is a Virgin Goddess, a woman all unto herself, independent, who doesn’t need protection from a man. She was also said to enjoy her sexuality. Her animal associates are the Owl and Wolf.
The Heavens
Arianrhod is associated with weaving the tapestry of life itself. She also rules arts, magic, and manifestation, the fundamentals of the conscious creation of life and its ongoing flow and change of events. Arianrhod’s palace, Caer Sidi, also the land of the dead, was a place associated with the heavenly constellation of Corona Borealis, the constellation of stars moving around the apparently motionless North Star, where astrologers learned their science.