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King Arthur and The Goddess of the Land

The Divine Feminine in the Mabinogion

Caitlín Matthews

Revised and updated edition of
Arthur and the Sovereignty of Britain

"Once again Caitlín Matthews has used her tremendously rich powers of imagination and presentation to produce a personal interpretation of Celtic literature that inspires and enchants."
Ronald Hutton, Ph.D., author of The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles

"As with its companion, Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, I have found King Arthur and The Goddess of the Land to be essential reading. No other study takes the reader through the Mabinogion more masterfully. This book is an indispensable guide to indigenous Celtic literature and myth."
Ari Berk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Mythology and Folklore, Central Michigan University

"The heart of the Celts beats in these tales from the ancient Welsh, interpreted by one of today´s most astute and sensitive writers on mythology."
Patricia Monaghan, author of The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines

The ancient Celtic stories of the Mabinogion have received universal recognition from scholars as both sources of the Arthurian legend and keys to an understanding of the magic of the Celtic Otherworld. Now Caitlín Matthews, drawing on a full range of medieaval texts, ancient Welsh writings, and related Irish folk stories, provides a fully revised and updated reader's guide to these rich and far-reaching tales.
King Arthur and The Goddess of the Land sheds light on Sovereignty - the Goddess of the sacred land of Britain - and the spiritual principle of the Divine Feminine. Clearly revealed are the various aspects assumed by Sovereignty - including her manifestation as Morgan of Avalon, who plays a dominant role in the Arthurian cycle. Also established are links between the legendary characters of the Mabinogion and their counterparts in other living myths of the West. Through the ritual marriage between the Celtic king to the Goddess of the Land, the sacred contract of political rulership for the land's well-being is dramatically revealed - a mythic model that prefigures today´s concern with environmental responsibility. Matthews once again articulates definitively the continuing relevance of ancient Celtic thought and belief and the myths that illustrate them.

Caitlín Matthews is the author of thirty-six books on Celtic and ancestral traditions, including Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, The Celtic Tradition, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom, and Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom. She is co-founder of the Foundation for Inspirational and Oracular Studies, has a shamanic practice in Oxford, England, and teaches worldwide.