My Celtic ancestors shared stories through spoken word. Loathly Lady tales, the story of Sir Gawain and Lady Ragnell, were initially passed orally. The oldest written versions are from 14th-century Ireland by an unknown author.
Green Lady by Aliehs
I have always loved stories - the ordeals, tragedies, and joys of others open my heart and reveal powerful truths. Humans have told stories for millennia. Stories help us empathize with ourselves, others, and the world. Myths commonly depict women in stereotypical roles, victims or helpers. In contrast, Lady Ragnell finds an authentic and ethical way to reclaim power after a spell is cast on her. She inspires me. In these times, with the curse of ecocide afflicting the planet, may we break the spell!
King Arthur and his men were hunting deep in the woods of Inglewood Forest when a white stag came into Arthur's view. Arthur and his men were separated as he ventured off to slay it. The stag escaped him, but an old enemy appeared. Sir Gromer swung his sword as if to kill Arthur, who was alone and felt vulnerable, with only his bow and a small dagger in his belt.
"To slay me like this would bring you no honor," Arthur said. "If you spare my life, I will give you whatever you desire."
Sir Gromer sought revenge for losing his northern lands to Sir Gawain under Arthur's direction. "I'll give you a chance to survive if you solve a riddle," said Sir Gromer. "Come to the woods alone and unarmed in one year. If you can't solve the riddle, I will kill you."
"What's the riddle?" asked the King.
"What do women desire most of all?" he said. "Tell me, and you will live."
Sir Gromer left, and the King was upset. He returned to the castle and anxiously explained to his nephew, the Knight Sir Gawain, what happened to him in the woods with Sir Gromer.
"Don't worry," said the youthful Knight. "We will search the kingdom together for the answer to this tricky question."
The King and his nephew rode around asking everyone and taking notes: What do women want above all else? Everyone thought their answer was correct. Some said women wanted to be adorned. Others said they wanted a handsome husband. Some said they wanted a man who would never prove them wrong. King Arthur and Gawain had many answers, but none promised to save Arthur.
A few days before he was to meet Sir Gromer, King Arthur returned to the Inglewood Forest feeling hopeless. Traveling into a grove of oaks, he was startled by an ugly hag on a fine horse. She rode over to him, covered with precious stones but with a snot-dripping nose and weed-like hair covering her red face. She was grotesque, a woman of unparalleled horror. Her yellow teeth were hanging. She was shaped like a barrel. Yet, her demeanor was graceful. She wore fine clothes and spoke eloquently and intelligently.
"You will meet Sir Gromer in two days," she said.
"Who are you?" He asked, surprised. "How did you know?"
"I am Lady Ragnell, Sir Gromer's step-sister," she said, stroking her horse's mane. "You don't have the answer."
"I have many answers."
"None of them will help. Your life is in my hands."
"Tell me the answer," Arthur said, aware of his anxious tone, "And I will give you a bag of gold."
"I have no use for gold. There's only one thing I want."
"What? If I can, I will grant your wish."
"There is a knight I wish to wed," Ragnelle responded with a yellow-toothed grin. "His name is Sir Gawain. Either I marry him, or you lose your head."
"No," the King shouted, "I can't bring this proposal to my nephew!"
"If you change your mind, I'll be here tomorrow," she said, turning and disappearing into the woods.
Shaken, Arthur returned to the castle. Sir Gawain noticed he was pale.
"Are you ill?" he inquired.
The King told him what happened, leaving out the loathsome lady's demand to marry Sir Gawain. Instead, he reported that Lady Ragnell said she would share her secret in return for the promise of a husband.
"Is that all?" said Sir Gawain. “I will marry her. How fortunate I am to help you!"
The King hurried to Inglewood Forest with Sir Gawain, who met the loathly lady face-to-face and, without flinching, accepted her marriage proposal.
"I will tell you what women desire most," she said. "Some men think it's beauty; others, the attention of men or to marry well. But women desire sovereignty most—to rule our lives as we see fit."
The King rode as fast as he could to meet Sir Gromer and decided to try all the other answers first. One after another, Sir Gromer shook his head with glee.
"None are correct," he said. "You will bleed. Prepare to die."
"I have one answer left," the King interjected. "Above all, women want sovereignty, the right to exercise their will."
"My cursed step-sister gave you the answer," Sir Gromer said, angrily riding into the forest and swinging his sword, looking for his step-sister.
King Arthur rode to where Gawain and Ragnell waited. All three rode to the castle to plan the wedding. Arthur wanted a discreet ceremony with only a few guests, but Lady Ragnell wanted a public wedding with a grand feast. Gawain said Lady Ragnell should have the wedding she desires. After the ceremony, she watched her groom to see if he was disgusted by her appearance, large appetite, or unconventional manners. Sir Gawain behaved as if he cherished her at the ceremony, the feast, and later in their bed chamber.
"Sir Gawain, now that we are wed, kiss me," said Lady Ragnell. "If I were beautiful, you would not delay."
A miraculous transformation happened as Sir Gawain sped around to kiss his bride. Suddenly, he saw a breathtakingly beautiful woman.
"Aye!" he cried out. "What magic is this? Are you a witch?!"
"I am your wife," she responded, looking up at Gawain as he came to join her on the bed.
"I am confused," said Sir Gawain. "Pardon me for saying so, but earlier, you were the foulest vision a man could see. Now, you look gorgeous!"
He rushed into her arms and kissed her.
"My stepbrother hated me," she explained. "He made me into a monstrous creature through his mother, who knew sorcery and said I must live in that shape until I could persuade a great knight to marry me."
"Why did he hate you?" Gawain asked, caressing Ragnell’s hair.
"I refused his commands for my property and my person," she said. "He thought me bold and wanted to punish me."
"Now the evil spell is broken," Gawain said.
"Only partially," Ragnell said, "My looks are restored half of the day. You have to choose. Do you want me in my natural shape at night and hideous by day? Or would you have me in my natural form by day and hideous at night?"
"This is hard," said Gawain, his heart swelling with love. "To be with you in your true form only at night would grieve my heart during the day. But the nights would be hard if you were as you seem now only by day. What do you prefer? It's your body. This choice is yours to make. I'll abide by whatever you decide."
"Mercy, knight! I am so lucky," she exclaimed, grabbing his hands. "Your answer has lifted the curse. I can stay in my natural form day and night. The only thing that could release me was if my husband granted me the power of choice. You have given me what every woman wants - sovereignty!"
Ragnell remained in her natural beauty day and night. She and Sir Gawain enjoyed a short but joyful marriage on her ancestral lands, demonstrating the power of respect and autonomy in a relationship. She passed away five years after they married. Gawain mourned her; their legacy lived on in their son, Gingalain.
I drew from versions written in Wikipedia's The Wedding of Sir Gawain & Dame Ragnelle and The Loathly Lady; Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale in The Canterbury Tales; Ethel Johnston Phelps's Gawain and the Lady Ragnell in Sea Girl: Feminist Folktales from around the World; Sharon Blackie's The Enchanted Forest: Restoring the Balance in If Women Rose Rooted: A Life-Changing Journey of Authenticity and Belonging, Tom P. Cross & Chris Harris Slover's The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon in Ancient Irish Tales.
The Generative Feminine
Numerous versions of this story exist. A straightforward moral is that women value the right to choose. A deeper view suggests women should return to their ancient role as leaders of the land. A recurring theme in other Celtic myths is central here: the goddess of the land (the hag) enters a sacred marriage with the King of the people.
This story calls us to honor and balance the feminine principle within ourselves and the world. In my book, Wild Yoga: A Practice of Initiation, Veneration & Advocacy for the Earth, I offer practices to restore balance by cultivating inner feminine qualities. Listening to our bodies and dreams and relating to the wild world as if it is ensouled, we attend to the less-known voices in our psyche and the world and cultivate love, creativity, ferocity, nature connection, mystery, and vision. We honor the intelligence of dreams and the imaginal world. To deny our inner lives is to suppress the feminine side of our psyche. When in balance, feminine intuition guides masculine actions in the world. Imagine a culture that listens to dreams, nature, and mythos to lead communities, establish laws, and organize a government.
The healthy masculine reveres the feminine, women, and the Earth and has reconciled with the goddess. In old Celtic stories, the generative feminine is the essence of the universe, and women hold the spiritual and ethical center, always with a foot in the other world. Until the sixteenth century, to become a king in Ireland meant having a ceremonial marriage to the goddess and vowing to protect the land. Writer and teacher Sharon Blackie wrote, "When there is mutual respect between two partners, between the goddess and the king, between land and the people, between nature and culture, between feminine and masculine – then all is in harmony and life is abundant." [1] When the contract is broken, everything suffers. Restoring and honoring the voices of the feminine are keys to healing the land, as is healing the relationship between the masculine and feminine.
Hags are often seen as evil in fairy tales and folklore: witches, crones, and nags. Yet, Ragnell bravely faces her terrible situation, saving Arthur's life and partnering with Gawain, who helps her break an evil spell. Ragnell frees herself from expected feminine roles and engages in a transformative union with a healthy man. Sir Gromer attempts to regain control of his lands by slaying Arthur, but Ragnell and her family govern the land. In Ireland, the hag symbolizes sovereignty, and her union with a rightful leader portrays harmonious governance of the land.
May this story honor our ancestors and ground us in love and strength. May we restore the qualities of the feminine within ourselves and the world. May we come back into balance so we can grow the capacity to have ethical relationships with each other and sacred reciprocity with the planet.
[1] Sharon, Blackie, "The Ancient Practice of Marrying the Land," Uplift, 2016.
If you are new, WELCOME! I’m Rebecca Wildbear, soul guide and author of Wild Yoga: A Practice of Initiation, Veneration, & Advocacy for the Earth. My newsletter, Radical Dreaming, invites readers to listen to their body, nature, and dreams while unveiling power imbalances & other root causes of ecocide. Enjoy this newsletter for free. By upgrading to a paid subscription, you’ll receive additional benefits, like:
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