- Hawaiian goddess of volcanic fire, personification of the female power of destruction.
Poliahu has an extensive story associated with Pele. Poliahu liked to play with mortals along the eastern peaks of the mountain Mauna Kea.
One day, it is said, Poliahu and her friends had come down from Mauna Kea to a grassy sloping hillside south of Hamakua for holua sledding.
Pele loved he'eholua, the exhilarating race that took place on sleds with runners set only six inches apart. A narrow piece of matting attached to sticks lashed to the runners provided a place for the racer to rest his chest. A racer held the holua sled in his right hand as he ran pell-mell to the crest of the downhill track, hurled himself upon the sled, grabbing a hand-hold on the left side of the sled, as well, and then plummeting down-slope toward the ocean.On this day,
Pele appeared in the guise of a beautiful young woman and the unsuspecting Poliahu welcomed her to join in their sport. As the ground grew hotter and hotter, Poliahu realized the beautiful stranger was none other than Pele, her arch enemy. Pele called forth fire from the depths of Mauna Loa, sending fire fountains after Poliahu as the terrified goddess fled to the summit. Red hot lava licked at the edges of Poliahu's white mantle, but she grasped her robe and managed to escape.
Regaining her strength, she flung her white mantle over the mountain peak. The grounds trembled, fire licked the heavens, and the snow goddess unleashed snow from frozen clouds overhead. Pele sent rivers of lava down the hillside, which cooled and hardened so quickly it choked the yawning chasms that spewed the molten rock and drove the streams of lava underground into Kilauea and Mauna Loa, but not before the land masses that comprise Laupahoehoe and Onomea were formed.
From time to time, Pele continues to hurl fire and lava from Mauna Loa and Kilauea, but legend says that Poliahu always gains the upper hand in these battles. She and the other snow goddesses keep the mountain tops barren under their icy mantles, allowing melting streams to form the rivers that feed the fertile valleys and give the Hamakua Coast and North Kohala a green, misty surrealistic beauty.
"Pele". Hawaiian Gods. mythome.org. web. 22 Jan. 2009.
Celtic Culture Mythology:
Arianrhod is a celtic goddess. she is from Whales. she is the goddess of beauty, fertility, and reincarnation. she is known as silver wheel and high and mighty fruitful mother. she is a sky goddess and her palace was Caer Arianrhod. (Aurora Borealis). she is daughter of the mother goddess don and her consort beli. she is ruler of cear sidi.
Welsh Star and Moon Goddess
Arianrhod (ah-ree-AHN-rhohd), Arian meaning 'silver', and Rhod meaning 'wheel' or 'disc'. Celtic Moon-Mother Goddess. Called the Silver Wheel that Descends into the Sea. Daughter of the Mother Goddess Don and her consort Beli. She is ruler of Caer Sidi, a magical realm in the north. She was worshiped as priestess of the moon. The benevolent silver sky-lady came down from her pale white chariot in the heavens to watch more closely over the tides she ruled. Her Festival is on 2nd December, she is also honoured at the Full Moon.
In addition to native variations by locality or over time, there are often several possible transliterations into the Roman alphabet used for English, Arianrhod Aranrhod - Arianrod.
A star and moon Goddess, Arianrhod was also called the Silver Wheel because the dead were carried on her Oar Wheel to Emania (the Moon- land or land of death), which belonged to her as a deity of reincarnation and karma. Her consort Nwyvre 'Sky, Space, Firmament' has survived in name only. Caer Arianrhod is the circumpolar stars, to which souls withdraw between incarnations, thus she is identified as a Goddess of reincarnation. The Mother aspect of the Triple Goddess in Wales, her palace was Caer Arianrhod (Aurora Borealis), or the secret center of each initiate's spiritual being.
The moon is the archetypal female symbol, representing the Mother Goddess connecting womb, death, rebirth, creation. (Albion, the old name of Britain, meant 'White Moon'). The Celts "know well the way of seas and stars", and counted time not by days, but by nights, and made their calendars, such as the famous Coligny Calendar, not by the sun, but by the moon. Ancient astrologers took their observations from the position of the moon and its progress in relation to the stars - the starry wheel of Arianrhod.
In Celtic Myth the Goddess has three major aspects: the maiden, the mother and the crone. These three represent the three stages in life of a woman. Blodeuwedd is the flower maiden, Arianrhod represents the mother and The Morrigu at last is the crone. These three aspects of the Celtic goddess may have different names in different regions and regional legends. For example, Morrigan also takes the mother role at times.
Arianrhod is said to be able to shapeshift into a large Owl, and through the great Owl-eyes, sees even into the darkness of the human subconscious and soul. The Owl symbolizes death and renewal, wisdom, moon magick, and initiations. She is said to move with strength and purpose through the night, her wings of comfort and healing spread to give solace to those who seek her.
Hymn to Arianrhod
Arianrhod of the Silver WheelBy all the names men give thee -
We, thy hidden children, humbly kneel
Thy truth to hear, thy countenance to see.
Here in the circle cast upon the Earth
Yet open to the stars - unseen, yet real -
Within our hearts give understanding birth,
Our wounds of loss and loneliness to heal.
Isis unveiled and Isis veiled, thou art;
The Earth below our feet, the Moon on high.
In thee these two shall never be apart -
The magick of the Earth and Sky.
"Arianrhod" thewhitegoddess.co.uk. web. 8 Jan. 2013.
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