A Mabinogion tale performed, How Culhwch Won Olwen

A descendent of Twrch Trwyth and piglets

The Photo: A wild boar sow and her piglets. Boars are typically social animals, living in female-dominated sounders [a herd of wild swine] consisting of barren sows and mothers with young led by an old matriarch. Male boars leave their sounder at the age of 8–15 months, while females either remain with their mothers or establish new territories nearby.

Storm Frank: Oh my! 70 mph winds and record rain fall. For the month of December there was record breaking rainfall; 1015 mm = 40.6 inches for the month fell in Capel Curig in the north west of Wales. The M4 along the south of Wales was blocked at Bridgend (west of Port Talbot) by standing water for a day, but that’s clear now. Locally we have been extremely fortunate to have just a few trees blown down and no substantial damage.

A Holiday House Party: Since this was my first year end holiday season as Baroness I wanted to extend the hospitality of the Barony to everyone in the area, but particularly the landed gentry and farmers with land abutting the Barony as well as local leaders in government, business and industry. So I invited the local land owners (a few neighbors from surrounding farms and estates) and the movers and shakers from the local villages to a long weekend house party over the New Year weekend when most were on vacation during the holidays. Guests arrived on Thursday the 31^st and departed today, Sunday the 3^rd of January.   

Thursday and Friday dress for dinner was business attire. Dress for Saturday night was black tie for the men and gowns for the ladies. I would have gone with white tie, but some probably didn’t have it and the men looked splendid along with Tim in his Dress uniform.  The menu for Saturday night (Jan 2^nd) was the castles famous crown rack of spring lamb (in two rack crowns) and wild boar tenderloin, green string beans, roasted potatoes with mince pie and ice cream for dessert. Coffee, tea and sloe brandy or wine with dessert. I think it was more curiosity than anything else that had so many women guests asking for the Barony’s sloe brandy rather than wine since the brandy is not sold and bottles are rarely given away. The meal was served in the Great Hall with the Yule log burning in the massive fireplace at the other end. I used the great hall so the minstrel galleries, there are two, could be used for the entertainment and the acoustics from the galleries is quite marvelous with the voices reflecting off the huge roof timbers so that every word spoken can be heard clearly by the guests in the hall below.

I was delighted that no one sent regrets (and all attended even with the terrible weather we are having) though I imagine everyone was curious, especially the women, to see what changes I’d made to the castle and to judge the new Baroness ‘in performance’.  Not leaving anything to chance I had the conversations in the bathrooms recorded so I could hear the comments when the women (especially) though they were alone. Being reviewed by ones jealous and sometimes hormonal neighbors is not particularly pleasant, but I’m very pleased to say the castle and the meal were given very high marks! I was given high marks for both hospitality and presentation, but my reputation as a Cougar and an expert in the art of Pompoir was well known and the women all talked about keeping their men out of my aura as even some of the women found me attractive. I really want to try and stay away from establishing sexual relationships with married neighbors since if they go bad having a disgruntled neighbor can be unpleasant so I don’t think the local wives have anything to fear from me as I’m not giving local married men (not that some aren’t worthy of my time) any romantic encouragement.

In welcoming remarks before we sat down to dinner I confirmed that I will continue to allow hunting, fishing and trapping on Barony land as long as applicable laws are followed. I had been holding that announcement back building the suspense. There had been a rumor in the village that I might forbid hunting, fishing and trapping on my land so there was a sigh of relief and a applause when I got that out of the way as one of the first things I talked about. Another thing that I knew local people are edgy about, but no one dared mention, at least not to my face, is that I wasn’t born in the UK and therefore “She’s not one of us.”   

It’s true that I was born in Virginia and have an East Coast accent to the extent I have an accent at all and not a plummy one from a posh school in the Home Counties or Switzerland, though as an actress I can speak in one when necessary. And my immediate family hadn’t been of the aristocracy nor lived in the UK for years. So I tried to allay any fears by mentioning that while born in the U.S. I was of British parents whose ancestors can be traced back for hundreds of years and in the case of my great aunt’s family from whom I inherited the Barony for almost a thousand years. Too, I am very interested in my Welsh heritage and the history and legends of the Welsh nation if I’m permitted to use that term, not that I’m a nationalist. Actually, I’m a Royalist and support the Monarchy even though HM may not be too pleased with my forms of employment and amusement. Not that some Royals aren’t above a roaming hand in a girl’s tights or down her cleavage when the opportunity presents itself.  

I’ve been engrossed for months in reading a new (2007) translation of The Mabinogion by Sioned Davies to get a feel for ancient Welsh legends that began as oral tales and much later were set down in manuscripts very few of which have come down to us. So I thought it would be fun to have as entertainment for the final evening of our gathering one of the legends recorded in the Mabinogion performed from memory by a troupe of Jongleurs.  The troupe used Sioned Davies translation as their script and had been working on their lines for the past few months and for the last several weeks has been rehearsing in great hall. They are amazingly good with voice changes for the different characters in the tale! The story we chose was How Culhwch Won Olwen.

How Culhwch Won Olwen: In the introduction to her translation of The Mabinogion Sioned Davies says this about the legend How Culhwch Won Olwen:

“How Culhwch Won Olwen portrays a world far removed from that of European romance, a world where Arthur holds court in Celli Wig in Cornwall and heads a band of the strangest warriors ever… who, together with Arthur, ensure that Culhwch overcomes his stepmother’s curse and marries Olwen, daughter of Ysbaddaden Chief Giant. The interest throughout is in the action with the hunting of the magical boar Twrch Trwyth reminiscent of a fast moving film as he and his piglets are chased by Arthur and his men from Ireland across south Wales, and eventually to Cornwall.  All characters are stereotyped – the beautiful Olwen, the handsome Culhwch, the treacherous Ysbaddaden; talking to ants, owls, stags, and salmon poses no problem as one of Arthur’s men, Gwrhyr interpreter of languages is there to translate. Indeed, the story with its rhetorical set-pieces and burlesque scenes, is a world apart from the restraint and control of the ‘Four Branches’ [the first four stories in the Mabinogion] and is without doubt, a tale to be performed – vocality is of its essence.”

That particular tale’s vocality is why I hired the Jongleurs to perform it during my house party at the castle to boost interest in Welsh history and develop regional (if not national) pride. Years ago all Welsh children were read tales from The Mabinogion so they became familiar with the legends and characters in them. Now however, that’s seldom the case. So I included a brief synopsis (below) of the story, from Wikipedia, for each guest as sadly there are great many people in Wales these days who are unfamiliar with the Welsh legends set down in The Mabinogion. You can read the full Wikipedia article HERE.

“Synopsis: Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wife Goleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Pencawr. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin Arthur. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in Celliwig in Cornwall; this is one of the earliest instances in literature or oral tradition of Arthur's court being assigned a specific location and a valuable source of comparison with the court of Camelot or Caerleon as depicted in later Welsh, English and continental Arthurian legends.

Arthur agrees to help, and sends six of his finest warriors (Cai, Bedwyr, Gwalchmei, Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd, Menw son of Tairgwaedd and Cynddylig Gyfarwydd) to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen. The group meets some relatives of Culhwch's that know Olwen and agree to arrange a meeting. Olwen is receptive to Culhwch's attraction, but she cannot marry him unless her father agrees, and he, unable to survive past his daughter's wedding, will not consent until Culhwch completes a series of about forty impossible-sounding tasks. Fortunately for Culhwch (and the reader), the completion of only a few of these tasks is recorded and the giant is killed, leaving Olwen free to marry her lover.”

Imagination and romance: The Jongleurs with their marvelous performance kept everyone at the feast on the edge of their seats, entrancing even most skeptical and the faint-of-heart as they told of Arthur and his men gathering items required in the 40 tasks needed to win Olwen and chasing the magical boar, Twrch Trwyth, and his piglets through Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. The audience responded with sighs at the frequent and vicious fights and high death toll of Arthur’s men in bloody battles with the forces of the magical boar; and cheers when Ysbaddaden, Olwen’s father, faced with having all his demands met reluctantly gives her to Culhwch and then was beheaded. Even the most rational guests found themselves spellbound suspending disbelief for the time it took to enjoy the performance.

Although everyone knew better there was a definite feeling among my guests that the delicious wild boar tenderloin that was being served was from Twrch Trwyth himself. For the two hours that the Jongleurs were performing my guests and I were drawn so deeply into the tale that time passed very quickly. It was as though we were hypnotized by the fluidity and cadence of the narrative as the marvelous performers told the ancient tale.

Rhiannon/Rigantona, Fetish sex new dive facility

Grishko 2007 pointes and a Caya contoured diaphragm

The Photo: A pair of turquoise Grishko 2007 pointe-shoes and a Caya contoured diaphragm showing the 55mm cervical cup and the removal dome (the convex oval at the top) of the pink device.

Rhiannon’s equine ceremony: The name Rhiannon is derived from the Celtic Goddess Rigantona (the Great or Devine Queen). My Celtic mythology expert says I should understand that Rhiannon was the embodiment (in Welsh legend as set down in the Mabinogion and other medieval texts) of the Celtic Goddess Rigantona, which explains why my Goddess, Aphrodite, is as comfortable as she is with me actually channeling Rigantona, which occurs primarily when I’m in Wales. For my readers who want to know more about Celtic mythology and the medieval legends that have come down to us the eleven medieval Welsh tales collected in The Mabinogion is a good place to start. The term Mabinogion was popularized in the 19^th centaury when the tales were first translated into English by Lady Charlotte Guest. A new (2007) annotated translation of The Mabinogion by Sioned Davies is available in the Oxford World Classics series.

The ritual offering of apples and the planting of seed with Marvin (Morning Wood) as my partner in Rigantona’s temple grotto below the east tower of Blackthorn castle on December 18^th went well. The spiral staircase down to the temple area in the foundation is hazardous to navigate especial while wearing pointe-shoes, but hand rails have been installed and sawdust has been scattered on the treads to improve traction as moisture is still a problem. The steps are swept periodically. The old sawdust is burnt in the three ancient temple braziers found under layers of trash dumped in the area when it was being used as a garbage pit for several hundred years. Then fresh sawdust is applied to the treads.

The peat fires scented with sawdust and evergreen resin burning in the braziers kept the place warm even though the fires were drawing well so that the grotto was smoke free. I was CD7 and almost fertile so I wore an Oves cap screwed down tight on my cervix. At first Marvin took me doggie style on a thick soft bed of fresh hay. He was magnificently erect and after he skillfully fingered the shaft of my clit I was quivering and gasping with desire as he spread my labia and inserted himself. With a single swift thrust his glans bottomed out in my posterior fornix causing me to gasp and moan with delight. Then with a few quick thrusts he came spewing semen all over my Oves cap. The second time he took me in missionary on my back with a robe under my buns to raise my hips. The third time I mounted him astride taking my pleasure before I gave him Pompoir milking him of his seed while he remained still as I rode him to orgasm.

In residence at Blackthorn Castle: While, Bea, the Dryads, Bryony and Claire, and Willow (for only a few days) are in residence with me and away from the distractions that are available in London not to mention London over Christmas and New Year and since we have virile men available I’m teaching my wards more of the tricks of fetish seduction. None of my wards have romantic attachments to the men so there is no problem having them rotate between women. Marvin also participates in this male circulation between our beds so I get to enjoy the scents, sounds and attention of a series of young lovers with marvelous sexual stamina.  

FCM in the dome for fetish sex: Some men like to lick the fertile cervical mucus out of the dome of a partner’s diaphragm. For this fetish the latex FS diaphragm is ideal since it is very difficult to under-thrust a properly fitted and correctly inserted a flat spring rim thus providing excellent contraceptive protection. In addition, the wearer’s reproductive tract secretions: FCM, natural arousal lubricant as well as an unprotected lover’s semen act as a marinade for the latex to develop a strong rubbery odor within a few hours of continuous wearing.

The newer Caya silicone diaphragm with its smaller 55mm diameter cervix cup can be easier to insert and remove than a traditional diaphragm and the matte finish on the convex side of the dome stimulates a partner’s glans amazingly well. However, even after continuous wearing for more than 48 hours it doesn’t develop nearly as strong a fishy odor as a latex device does which can be a down-side for a rubber fetishist who is fond of the strong bouquet of what one of my friends who hates the smell calls rotting rubber. 

Dryad Lust Training: I’ve been working with the Bryony and Claire as they learn how The Costume Club (AKA Clever Cunts) Hostesses tease members into a sexual encounter of one sort or another. The member’s fantasy can be to have sex with a classical ballerina in pointe shoes, tutu and tights or a bondage ballerina in high quality leather ballet-boots. Or it might be just to watch a Hostess dress or undress while she talks to the member and there is no physical contact. In both cases the Hostess changes out of street clothes into what ever costume and pointe footwear the member she is with desires while he watches. Then she does a barre warm-up which as you can imagine is quite limited if the Hostess is in ballet-boots rather than pointes because of their weight and the boots forcing the feet to remain pointed. During her ballet barre the Hostess sweats in her pointes or boots and the smell of estrogenic sweat dampened leather or melted paste from the blocks of Freed pointes which can be a major turn-on for the member.

An additional aspect is an impregnation fantasy where the Hostess inserts a cervical barrier as contraception for the scene. Of course she has a frameless, stringless GyneFix copper bead IUD implanted for contraception so when the member pulls out her diaphragm or FemCap and fills her with jets of hot, thick, creamy semen containing hundreds of millions of sperm some of which swim in to her uterus they are quickly immobilized by the copper ions of the IUD beads which are slowly dissolving providing very effective contraception. The nice thing about a copper IUD is that it can’t be made less effective by accidental or intentional manipulation of her progestin level by meds, diet pills or counterfeit pills. Too, periods with heavier flow for some women with copper IUDs allows those Hostesses to provide members with heavy flow menstrual sex which not surprisingly is in considerable demand as their wives and/or girlfriends often will refuse them menstrual sex.

Then too there is the worship scene where the member/client kneels before the hostess and masturbates into the laces of her boots or the ribbons of her points. Cleaning the dried semen out of the laces of ballet-boots requires drying them with a hair dryer then scrubbing the laces with a stiff bristle brush which gets most of the dried flakes out however, if the hostess is one who gets a lot of members spewing semen in her laces then every day or two the laces need to be totally removed the boots cleaned and oiled and laces washed dried and replaced.

My new dive facility: While at Blackthorn Castle over the Winter Solstice, Christmas and New Years holidays I am going to begin training my wards in deep diving SCUBA sex using the new dive facility constructed over the past year. Bea and Willow are familiar with the skills required but sex while deep diving will be new to the Dryads. Returning readers will recall that I had a dive facility built that is far better than the 64 ft deep one at my former home in Nevada. This one has two depths; one 64 ft. and the other 136 ft both 25 feet in diameter and within the same concrete silo.

At a depth of 34 ft. (10.4 m) of freshwater, the sum of atmospheric (14.7 psi) at sea level and hydrostatic pressures equal 29.4 lbs. at 68 feet the pressure will be 44.1 psi, at 102 feet the pressure will be 58.8 psi and at 136 ft. the pressure will be 73.5 psi or a hydrostatic pressure of five atmospheres. It has the capability of surface supplying four divers simultaneously at the bottom of the 136 ft. portion and have Nitrox and Trimix capability as well as refilling standard gas cylinders.

The dive facility is buried beneath the ground on the opposite side of the castle from the stream, a tributary of the Severn, and will be reached by a passageway and dressing rooms off the castle cellars. Water comes from the stream and be heated by an extension off the hot water radiator system - on a different heating zone - from the biomass boiler. The dive facility was supposed to be completed by summer, but was finished in September and it took a month to fill and another week to warm the water to a temp in the mid seventies Fahrenheit.

Blackthorn and its uses, Location Z, Celtic site

An old Blackthorn tree in spring blossom

The Photo: The Blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa) is prized for its lovely grained very hard heartwood for making walking sticks, Irish shillelaghs and as a shrub it creates an impenetrable hedge. Blackthorn has been long associated with witchcraft, and it is said that witches' wands and staffs were made using blackthorn wood. And its berries, Sloe, are used in making Sloe gin. Long ago Blackthorn was so common in the Cambrian Mountains that the castle and Barony were named for it.

The Blackthorn riding crop: I’ve had a riding crop made from Blackthorn heartwood by an aged craftsman who I’ll call ‘Garrick Ollivander’. Harry Potter fans will recognize the name as the owner of the Wand shop in the village outside Hogwarts. Mr. Ollivander lives in one of the Barony’s grace-and-favor cottages in the village close at hand having rendered services in making riding crops, walking sticks, crutches and charms for Edith my predecessor as Baroness.

Having a riding crop made is not quite like having a Wand fitting as the crop doesn’t have a personal relationship with its owner as a wand does. However, the length and thickness of the crop shaft should be proportional to the size of its owner and the grip should fit comfortably in the owner’s hand. Mine I use for play with my submissives during BDSM scenes when I’m training men as well as when I’m riding horses. I also use it to correct students during ballet class and when I’m teaching pointe while wearing ballet-boots I strike the crop against the heel cup of my boot when I’m displeased with the students performing a combination and the soft leather popper makes a wonderfully sharp crack which really gets my students attention.  For more about Prunus Spinosa, see the article: HERE

Location Z disappears:  Actually, it didn’t really disappear. We know exactly where it went. The last reported earthquake in the Scottish Highlands was a magnitude 3 centered near Fort William in July of 2014. So it doesn’t seem that temblor was the trigger for the massive slide that caused the top several hundred feet of the cliff on which Location Z was located to fall in to the valley to the north. Returning readers will recall that the north altar at Location Z was on the edge of the cliff and the standing stones to its north had already fallen into the abyss. Jack, Viscount Sandbach and one of my former lovers, whose father owns the land, had always said the location was safe. Apparently he was mistaken! Fortunately the slide occurred between celebrations so none of us were injured and since it occurred at night and fell into a forested area no one was injured in the valley where the slide landed. I give thanks to the Goddess that no humans were injured or killed!

I should still have time to find a suitable location to celebrate the Winter Solstice which I think will almost certainly be Blackthorn Castle since it would eliminate a good bit of travel and having to stay with friends, the long ride to and from the mountain top and changing into ceremonial garb on site in tents. Not that His Grace, the Duke of M**** hasn’t been a perfect host whenever I’ve stayed with him, but losing Location Z removes a great deal of the reason for going to the Scottish Highlands to celebrate the changing seasons. Although, changing the location of the ceremony will have little effect on the weather experienced, which is almost as cold and wet at Blackthorn castle as at Location Z.  However, getting out of the weather afterward will just be a matter of going back inside the castle. From recent research in the Barony archives by a scholar who works in the Bodleian Library and is an expert on early Welsh texts, prose stories (The Mabinogion, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Red Book of Hergest and others) I’m finding that one of the oldest parts of Blackthorn Castle an east facing tower is said to have been built over a sacred Celtic site which may properly serve the needs of Aphrodite.

It’s amazing the ancient texts setting down the legends surrounding the castles location that my Bodleian researcher has discovered. She found them shelved in an alcove previously blocked by a medieval bookcase in the castle muniment room. The tower is a part of the castle that (so legend has it) hasn’t been entered in more than three hundred years since the 12 y/o son of the 18^th Baroness fell to his death from its roof while hiding from a playmate and is said to haunt it. Well, hasn’t been entered other than gain access to repair the roof during which strange things happened with some of the materials being used. No one has wanted to go into it especially the cellars where the Celtic ruins form part of the foundation fearing both the ghost and spirits from the old ways. It would seem that being built over the sacred Celtic site the tower, which is on the eastern side so has a marvelous view of the sunrise, should be ideal. I’ll have to have the roof checked for size and safety and I look forward to inspecting it myself with Charles.

Circe’s Lair at Blackthorn Castle: Several years ago I started a small gathering spot in my club Naughty Pleasures in Las Vegas called Circe’s Lair, which was a private costume encounter club, giving women an opportunity to act out their fantasies with men by giving them so much sex it drains the men of their energy changing them from tigers to kittens. Rather like Delilah cutting off Sampson’s hair, but a club member’s weapon of choice is her vagina not shears. A talented woman with stamina could turn a man who thought himself a tiger in bed into an exhausted tabby during a single encounter.

This past February I approved plans to upgrade part of one of the newer wings of Blackthorn Castle to make a small getaway destination for aristocratic vanilla women who want to improve their sexual skills and I’m calling it Circe’s Lair. The modifications are complete and it’s quite lovely! The Lair when it’s opened for clients won’t be specifically to train them to exhaust men sexually, but should that happen more power to the women. It is an achievement devoutly to be wished! From what I’ve seen of young aristocratic British women many of them are vanilla and sexually naive so there should be quite a market for a course that teaches my seductive techniques and pelvic skills. It will be a combination of the Contemporary Sexual Health and Advanced Sexual Techniques courses I taught at St. Lucy’s in Las Vegas.

The Lair is lovely, very feminine without being the least twee. It has three suites each consisting of a bedroom, sitting room, large full bathroom and an encounter salle. On the ground floor is a very nice residential size enclosed and heated swimming pool. Not that their was a large amount of traffic at Blackthorn House in Belgravia when I trained women there, but having a student away from the delights of London should help focus her mind on her training. Tanaquil has agreed to send one of her French Dommes over to run the Lair and manage the male trainers and their female students.