Observations placeholder
Celtic - Spoils of Annwn - 01
Identifier
013890
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
In this observation and all the followong observations there is some dispute as to the translation of caer.
Sarah has translated it as Fortress, which makes it a description then of a castle. But it is worth bearing in mind that it could also mean a symbolic palace or an 'island - again a symbolic feature.
Personally I think he may be describing ascension through the levels and layers and each Fortress is actually a layer - a level, but that would be just an opinion
Caer Sidi would then be the Inner court of the Egg crossed by going over the 'Great Deep', which is the abyss.
A description of the experience
Preiddeu Annwn: The Spoils of Annwn
by: Sarah Higley (Translator) from: The Camelot Project 2007 [The following is the text (and translation) of a poem taken from the fourteenth-century Llyfr Taliesin]I
1. Golychaf wledic
pendeuic gwlat ri.1. I praise the Lord,
Prince of the realm, King.2. [r]y ledas ypennaeth
dros traeth mundi.2. His sovereignty has extended
across the world's tract.3. bu kyweir
karchar gweir
ygkaer sidi.3. Equipped was
the prison of Gweir
in the Mound Fortress,4. trwy ebostol pwyll
aphryderi.4. throughout the account(?) of
Pwyll and Pryderi.5. Neb kyn noc ef
nyt aeth idi.5. No one before him
went into it,6. yr gadwyn trom las
kywirwas ae ketwi.6. into the heavy blue/gray chain;
a faithful servant it held.7. Arac preideu annwfyn
tost yt geni.7. And before the spoils of Annwfyn
bitterly he sang.8. Ac yt urawt
parahawt
ynbardwedi.8. And until Judgment
shall last
our bardic invocation.9. Tri lloneit prytwen
yd aetham ni idi.9. Three fullnesses of Prydwen
we went into it.10. nam seith
ny dyrreith
ogaer sidi.10. Except seven
none rose up
from the Fortress of the Mound.