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Primal/Tribal/Shamanic : Celtic

13th Century

Wales
(Europe)

Taliesin

Timeline (13th Century)

Poems by Taliesin
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Scholars question whether Taliesin was a historical person or more of an archetypal figure of Welsh lore. Traditionally Taliesin is said to have been a poet-seer who lived sometime around the 6th century in post-Roman occupied Wales, though the poetry attributed to him was probably gathered in the 13th century.

His name, Taliesin, means "shining brow" or, alternately, "great value" (tal, meaning both forehead and worth).

One legend is told of Taliesin in which he stole the "liquid mead of poetry" from a powerful witch. The witch chased him through a contest of transformations, Taliesin changing form, to be matched by the witch. Taliesin finally assumes the form of a grain of wheat and the witch, becoming a hen, swallows him, only to give birth to him as a baby in resurrected form. She took the baby, sewed him in a sack, and tossed him into the ocean. A prince rescued him and named the baby Taliesin because of his "lovely forehead." This story of a child being thrown into the womblike water to be rescued by an adoptive parent is, of course, a metaphor for rebirth and initiation, variations of which appear everywhere from the Greek myths to the story of Moses.

Because of his legendary role as a bard and man of secret wisdom, Taliesin has sometimes been equated with the Merlin, the archetypal wizard of Arthurian tales.

The poems that come down to us in such works as the Llyfer Taliesin (Book of Taliesin) express a shamanic perception of the world. The poems are evocations and praises, often taking the reader along with the speaker through a series of transformations that lead to an awareness of unity.

Poems by Taliesin

A Poem for the Wind

Recommended Books

Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe & Oceania, Edited by Jerome Rothenberg

Amazon.com

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Taliesin

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Poetry Chaikhana
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