( let Read part story of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake or i may say ciri) after depart
The Lady of the Lake was the foster-mother of Sir Lancelot and it was she who raised him beneath the murky waters of her Lake.
She is, however, best known for presenting the wondrous swordExcalibur to King Arthur, at the behest of Merlin or Myrddin who knew that the young king would need such powers as the sword would give him if he were to prevail in his mission.
But before King Arthur was born, Merlin had met the Lady at the Fountain of Barenton or Brittanyand fallen so deeply in love with her that he agreed to teach her all his mystical powers.
The lady became Merlin's scribe, who recorded his prophecies, and finally she beguiled him and he became her lover. But, with time, the Lady's magical skills grew ever more powerful till she outshone even her teacher, so and she imprisoned him in Glass Tower or dungeon.
At King Arthur's Court, she came to take Merlin's position. And yet it soon became clear that Merlin's absence contributed considerably to the great king's loss of good fortune. The Lady of the Lake was eventually obliged to received her sword back when King Arthur was fatally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. Excalibur was hurled back to misty waters by Sir Bedivere. She was later one of the three Queens who escorted the King to Avalon.
The three Queens who arrived withMorgan Le Fay were the Queen of Northgales, the Queen of the Waste Land, and Nimue or Niniane the Lady of the Lake.
They took King Arthur to the Isle of Avalon where Morgan Le Fay healed his wounds.
The Lady of the Lake is usually referred to by various spellings of the names Nimue, Niniane or Vivienne.
Nimue may be related to Mneme, the shortened form of Mnemosyne, one of the nine water-nymph Muses of Roman and Greek Mythology who gave weapons, not unlike King Arthur's sword, to the heroic Perseus.
The name Vivienne suggests that the Celtic word for the Lady's name would have been Vi-Vianna.
This might suggest a derivation from Co-Vianna, which is a variant of the widespread Celtic water-goddess, Coventina.
Thus the Romans may well have identified the Celtic water goddess with their own Mnemosyne.
She was celebrated for her impressive shrine at Brocolitia or Carrawburgh on Habrian's Wall.
Here a square temple surrounded a central pool fed by a spring. Jewellery, coins and small bronze figurine offerings have been excavated. Her name may also relate to Merlin's original partner in early poetry, his wife Gwendoloena.
Since the Lady of the Lake's place as Merlin's student and lover was largely overtaken byMorgan Le Fay, a lady whose very name in Breton indicates a water-nymph, it seems that two may have been aspects of the same character or different names for the same character.
Indeed, as both appear among the three queens who escort King Arthur to the Isle of Avalon, she may have had a third aspect making up the well-known recently popular theme of a Celtic triple-goddess.
Water deities were ever present amongst the ancient British for it was they who controlled life itself, and were living as they moved.
The moving water of springs, rivers and lakes showed that the supernatural powers of the goddesses who lived within.
Offerings of weapons and other valuables were commonly made into such watery places. Rivers and waters may have also held a symbolic position as a threshold between the living and the dead.
Casting swords into the water was a gift to the Otherworld.
The practice continues today when people throw coins into wishing wells and into rivers waters under bridges, as an invocation of good luck or when they make a wish.
The Lady of the Lake is best known through the Arthurian legend.
Two of her most common names are Nimue and Vivienne, and she has strong ties to Morgan Le Fey.
According to Arthurian legend, she was the foster mother to Sir Lancelot. It is told that Merlin was in love with her and taught her all of his powers. She became his student, his scribe, and his lover.
She recorded his prophecies and she became more powerful than him. She imprisoned Merlin inside of a glass tower, either to protect him or to bind him – no one knows for sure. Whatever the reason, she did love him. And she was among the queens who escorted Merlin’s beloved King Arthur to Avalon as he was mortally wounded and lay dying.
Oil pastel by Gwendolyn LaFae
In Celtic Society the Lady of the Lake was extremely popular for her influence over the essence of life itself. They celebrated the beauty of the lakes and springs. The way the water danced and flowed was a sign of the Goddess and her supernatural powers. It was common for them to throw offerings into the waters, such as valuables and weapons. Imagine seeing Excalibur, the powerful sword which belonged to the Lady of the Lake , slowly descend down into the waters by her hand. This practice of giving offerings to the Lady of the Lake continues today in the form of “wishing wells.”
Nowadays, The Lady of the Lake is remembered as “Lady Luck.”
Pray Peace
Personal note:
I have wanted to do a project on The Lady of the Lake since I began Goddess lessons. I have had a fascination with the Arthurian legend since I was a child. I have read numerous books and papers, seen most of the movies made, and I wrote my college term paper on this legend. The male characters remain consistent in each version of the story, however when trying to focus on the females, I noticed the story lines for the female characters are not consistent. Her names, her roles, her actions and motives, they all change with each version of the legend.
So what does this tell me? We as Goddess are not easily defined. We are versatile and hard to categorize.
We are capable of fulfilling any role, and all roles. To me, The Lady of the Lake is the essential presence in an incredible legend focused on male characters. Without her they would not have a story, and without her versatility, they would not have a great story.
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