#WingedWordsWindsday: 05/18/2022 -- Taliesin, The Doctor, and the Galactic Core

 WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 1, No. 29: May 18, 2022

 

Taliesin, The Doctor, and the Galactic Core

 

Editor’s Note

                Taliesin was a Welsh bard – probably a Christian Druid – of the sixth century CE, who may have been associated with Merlin and King Arthur. Various tales of his bardic prowess and Otherworldly adventures began to circulate after his death or disappearance, and these were compiled and transmitted by his disciples and successors. His legendary biography appears as an appendix to the Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh myths and legends. He also figures prominently in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s versified Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin) from the 12^th century. In the 20^th century, Charles Williams published two collections of Arthurian poetry that revolve around Taliesin: Taliesin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars.

                Several poems attributed to Taliesin have come down to us from the Middle Ages, most notably in the Welsh Book of Taliesin. Two of these poems appear below, and they constitute an early specimen of what we might call “proto-science-fiction,” in which Taliesin is portrayed as a traveler through time and space, whose homeland is situated somewhere in “the region of the summer stars.” One has to wonder if the creators of Doctor Who had Taliesin in mind when they came up with the character of The Doctor – an immortal extraterrestrial traveler through time and space.

 

This imaginative illustration of “An Archdruid in His Judicial Habit” comes from The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands by S. R. Meyrick and C. H. Smith (1815).

 

“Primary Chief Bard”

(Attributed to Taliesin)

 

Primary chief bard am I to Elphin,

And my original country is the region of the Summer Stars.

Idno and Heinin called me Myrddin;

At length every king will call me Taliesin.

 

I was with my Lord in the highest sphere

On the fall of Lucifer into the depth of hell.

I have borne a banner before Alexander.

I know the names of the stars from north to south.

I have been in the Galaxy at the throne of the Distributor.

I was in Canaan when Absalom was slain.

I conveyed Awen to the level of the vale of Hebron.

I was in the court of Don before the birth of Gwydion.

I was instructor to Eli and Enoch.

I have been winged by the genius of the splendid crozier.

I have been loquacious prior to being gifted with speech.

I was at the place of the crucifixion of the merciful Son of God.

I have been three periods in the prison of Arianrhod.

I have been the chief director of the work of the tower of Nimrod.

I am a wonder whose origin is not known.

I have been in Asia with Noah in the Ark.

I have witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

I have been in India when Rome what built.

I am now come here to the remnant of Troy.

I have been with my Lord in the manger of the ass.

I strengthened Moses through the water of Jordan.

I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene.

I have obtained the Muse from the Cauldron of Cerridwen.

I have been bard of the harp to Leon of Lochlin.

I have been on the White Hill, in the court of Cymbeline,

For a day and a year in stocks and fetters,

I have suffered hunger for the Son of the Virgin.

I have been fostered in the land of the Deity.

I have been teacher to all intelligences.

I am able to instruct the whole Universe.

I shall be until the day of doom on the face of the Earth,

And it is not known whether my body is flesh or fish.

 

Then I was for nine months

In the womb of the hag Cerridwen.

I was originally little Gwion,

And at length I am Taliesin.

 

“Alexander the Great”

(Attributed to Taliesin)

 

I wonder that there is not proclaimed

An acknowledgment of heaven to the Earth,

Of the coming of a giant Ruler,

Alexander the Great.

Alexander, possessor of multitudes,

Passionate, iron-gifted,

Eminent for sword-strokes.

He went under the sea,

Under the sea he went,

To seek for science.

Whoever seeks science,

Let him be clamorous in mind.

He went above the wind,

Between two griffins on a journey,

To see a sight.

A sight he saw,

The present was not sufficient.

He saw a wonder,

A superiority of lineage with fishes.

‘What he desired in his mind,

He had from the world.

And also at his end

With God, mercy.

 

At the core of our Milky Way Galaxy lies the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* -- imaged for the first time ever just last week! This NASA composite photo shows the galactic core, which is located in the summer constellation of Sagittarius as seen from Earth. Taliesin sang, “I have been in the Galaxy at the throne of the Distributor” and “my original country is the region of the Summer Stars.” 😊