20 Nemeton: The Sacred Grove in Antiquity
known as Llew Llaw Gyffes. Llew, the leader of a war party in the medieval poem attributed to Taliesin, the Cad Goddeu or “The Battle of the Trees” may be equated with the Irish Lugh, the god of light and skill, but Loucetius’s link with lightning also links him with gods such as the Celtic Taranis, the thunderer. Gods of thunder and lightning were often connected to the sacred oak tree, and perhaps the Welsh Llew once had these associations as well. When an oak was struck by lightning, it became particularly sacred and powerful. Talismans and sacred objects were sometimes made of lightning-struck oak, as it was considered touched by the god, but such trees were also considered divine in their own right. At one point, gods of sun, light, and lightning were probably one and the same although they had different names attached to them. However, eventually they formed a cross-Celtic pantheon (and later a Romano-Celtic pantheon) with subtle changes over time and across regions. The god of lightning and the oak eventually became the oak king and the green man we know today, but his relationship to the goddess of the land is a continual tradition across the Celtic cultures from Europe to Ireland. Such gods had undoubted warrior aspects, but as already discussed they were also connected to protection, healing, and nature, developing into gods of agriculture as farming practices became increasingly sophisticated. Nemetona’s association with Loucetius/Llew equates her naturally to that romantic figure of Welsh myth, the flower goddess Bloddeuwedd.25 Her tale can be found in the collection of Welsh myths contained in The Mabinogion, where it is said she was formed of flowers and sea foam by the Welsh wizards Gwydion and Math to be the bride of Llew llaw Gyffes. However, this is likely to be a patriarchal gloss over an earlier story, as Bloddeuwedd is said to attempt murdering Llew with her lover Gronw and is turned into an owl by Gwydion as punishment. This reveals Bloddeuwedd as a fierce and strong female character, a force of nature rather 25 Caitlín Matthews and John Matthews, The Aquarian Guide to British and Irish Mythology (London: Aquarian Press), 34.