Wednesday is St. Dwynwen’s day, the “Welsh St. Valentine.” This is one of those saints with very clear pre-Christian origins and it only take a little squinting to see it. Her story is honestly pretty sketchy. She wanted to marry someone, but was either spurned or her father forbade it. So she prayed to God for a solution and got a potion (!) that froze the poor dude (Let it Goooo, Let it Goooo). Anyway, she prays and gets offered three boons: to unfreeze the guy, to let God bless all true lovers, and for her to never have to marry (!?).
If you’re thinking that this makes no sense, well, yeah. I can only assume this sort of thing drove the early church fathers nuts too. She’s like hot for this guy so god freezes him? And you can pray to her for love? Plus she could use herbs to heal people. Wut?
It’s likely this was an actual noblewoman who got smushed together with some much more ancient lore by a bard named Iolo Morganwg. This site has some information that seems reasonable.
This is the kind of Saint bothering I really enjoy. If this is a woman (albeit a dead one) who somehow became an avatar for the great ancient goddess of Europe, for whom rivers were named…. well, that gives us a lot of material to leverage.
For example, you might decide to write your petition for love or heart healing and drop it into your nearest mother river. You could ask for insight on herbs to heal the wounded heart. You might ask for your own over-protected heart to be thawed or cool the ardor of someone who's attentions you don't want.
This week also has days for strategy, winning a court case, and finding buried treasure. Join the Magic Circle to learn more.