Epona of the Plains

Description

This is a devotional piece for a priestess of the goddess, Shirlee Moon and will be displayed in the Temple of Wicca Moon in London. Shirlee works with reiki healing for horses, and through this practice she has come to a deeper connection with Epona goddess of Horses, which prompted her to request for this devotional piece. 

As with all of my pieces it began with meditation and connections. Both of us meditated on the April new moon and later shared our experiences. Which came in the form of visions and words. In the end, as often happens in this co-creative process, I have a stream of impressions and from these threads I can begin to weave.

Epona threads:

I am mother of this land Rigatona, 

I am the battle cry Boudicca,

I am that I am…

The sacred mare all white,

Mother of herd and tribe,

ride out and heal our land…

From then on I continued to interweave our connections to the goddess. I had no real choice of where in the land I would find Epona when I began calling her, and as I flew across a sea of grasses I knew it was very definitely Salsibury Plain reaching all the way to the Oxfordshire hills. Last time I connected with her I was in Glastonbury and she appeared in a different guise for different reasons. In this vision I saw her at the Uffington horse site, then she was the calk white horse then it appeared on her palm, then we were galloping across the grasslands to come to stand on the kings mound, the plains stretching out before us, and I knew it was here she abides this time round, she as mother sovereign goddess, the blessed white mare, the protector of herd and tribe, Epona of the plains. 

In the image The white mare, sacred to the goddess and sometimes the goddess herself is at the centre and rides towards us, her tail spreads out behind directly connecting the land in a multitude of strands. The priestess sits upon her back, arms outstretched in devotion as the king and queen of the tribes escort her on either side. The goddess is above her as she appeared to me, sacred bowl/cauldron in one hand spilling over onto the ground a multitude of blessings, and prayer beads in the other hand weaving magick in the air, the Uffington Horse etched into her palm. Her fire red hair writhes around her and she is crowned by a horse skull with warrior braids of chalk white, dissipating into the mists. The ancient Ogham and runes swirl about the piece, as I often see them dancing in my visions, they speak of sacred spaces, of the ancestors and they speak her name. 

Epona, rigatona,   

’Your name is on the lips of every hearth and home

Your story sings through our blood and bone,

from birth to tomb we are with you.

Devotional piece completed June 2022 for Shirlee Moon of Wicca Moon please check her out

Fb: @wicca moon eltham

insta: @wiccamoon

Web http://www.wiccamoon.org.uk/