August Eve :: Deity of the Sabbat :: Llew Llaw Gyffes
"Shining One with Skillful Hand"
A Welsh god very similar to the Irish Lugh, Llew Llaw Gyffes is a sun god, god of grain and the harvest and patron of cobblers.
Llew and his twin brother Dylan are the children of Arianrhod and her brother Gwydion (possibly). When Arianrhod realizes that it was her brother with whom she has lain, she is repulsed by her children and casts them into the sea. 1 Dylan drowns and becomes a sea deity, but Llew is saved by Gwydion who disguises the boy as a cobbler and raises him in secret.
When Arianrhod discovers Gwydion deception, she curses the child, declaring that he will never have a name, a wife, or weapons. Gwydion and Math, the benevolent god of sorcery take pity on the boy, reverse the curse, and create Blodeuwedd from a tree and beautiful blossoms to be his wife. But Arianrhod’s curse seemed fated to happen and soon Blodeuwedd betrayed Llew by sleeping with the Lord of Darkeness, Gronw Pebyr. The new couple began to plot Llew death and, by virtue of her relationship with him, Blodeuwedd soon discovered her husband’s only vulnerability.
The only circumstance under which Llew could be killed were amazingly unlikely; he had to have one foot on a cauldron, the other on a buck (or billy goat) with his hair tied to an oak tree.2This unlikely scene was arranged and Llew was struck in the groin by Gronw Pebyr’s lance. His hair, which was tied to the tree, saved his life by not allowing him to drop to the ground. Instead, he shapeshifted into an eagle and sought out the help of his sorcerer/healer father. Gwydion treated him and returned him to mortal form and Lugh retuned home to kill Gronw Pebyr.
2 Other versions say that the spear that could kill him must be crafted on a specific day, one year prior to death or the deadly strike must be in his heel, similar to Achilles.
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