On Greek & Welsh Witches

Make it stand out

Rhiannon

Rhiannon is the horse goddess and faery queen of Wales. She is also known to have otherworldly powers as she came from the mythical land of Annwn. She is always followed by her three song birds who can sing anyone to sleep and wake the dead from their slumber.

She got herself out of an arranged marriage twice and ended up bagging the himbo prince of her dreams, Pwyll of Dyfed and later became the Queen of Dyfed.

Rhiannon was wrongly accused of murdering her own newborn son and was punished by carrying visitors of Narberth castle on her back. But after the discovery of her child Pryderi she was found innocent and recrowned. 

Her strength and determination to live through the trials of her life proves that you should not mess with a Welsh woman !

My piece is a rework of the famous Stevie Nicks poster for the song Rhiannon!

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Gwenhidw

Gwenhidw is the bearded Queen of the Mermaids. It was recorded that the facial hair was supposed to imply that the mermaids were unattractive. But by queer beauty standards they would be an ethereal goddess !

It is also noted that Gwenhidw and a vengeful streak and would wreak absolute havoc on those who wronged her!

Spartan Women

Spartan women were trained to fight just as much as the men were. They shaved their heads as teenagers and would later grow it all back and styled their braids to look like snakes.

It was also attractive for women to have monobrows and they would paint their faces with suns and moons. They also had their own money and actually enjoyed sex!

I wanted to create a piece to show beauty standards have changed throughout history and to encourage people to do whatever they want with they bodies.

Medea

Medea is mainly known for her dark revenge on her cheating husband. However, she is also a powerful sorceress from divine ancestry.

Her grandfather is Helios, the sun God, and everyone within the family possesses magical powers.

Medea was given the opportunity to flash her potion making abilities to help Jason and the argonauts defeat a dragon. Medea was labelled as a ‘Helper Maiden’ even though she was the brains behind the whole operation. Typical.

Circe

Circe is the sultry sorceress who seduced Odysseus and turned all of his soldiers into pigs. She is also Medea’s cool aunty who definitely wears cool clothes and travels a lot. She is a bad ass witch who uses soft boy tears in her cauldron and shags whoever she wants.

Words and Illustrations: Mari Phillips