St Lythan's Chambered Tomb

“Freya is not a goddess to be taken in pieces or sanitized into acceptability; she is the full scope of life and death, the beautiful and the terrifying.”
Morgan Daimler : Pagan Portals – Freya, Meeting the Norse Goddess of Magic

K1 in need of a change of scenery today, so we headed off to Dyffryn Gardens for a wander around to make the most of the morning sunshine. Not too busy when we arrived so K1 opted for a coffee before walking around (honest), orange and poppy-seed cake was really refreshing. Just for a change we took a detour around the low wooded hills first; the crocuses, narcissi and snowdrops are gorgeous. So much seems to have changed, but I think it’s because we don’t normally visit there at this time of year. Plenty going on in the grounds too, gardeners busy with the preparations for the coming season. As we wandered through the rather muted colours of the formal gardens – they’ll be a riot of colour before long, the Magnolias are showing lots of buds and the Wisteria is just showing signs of waking – my eye was drawn to a small, brightly painted pebble. Painted in bright, vivid colours, it commanded attention. And so I discovered one of Freya’s Pebbles, and later discovered several others laid out in the landscape – the last near Lao Tzu’s hand on the back of the water buffalo. I’m not on Instagram so I didn’t take any pebbles with me – that’s where you can find out more if you wish. I’d also remembered Freya, or Freyja, was a Norse Goddess with several aspects, amongst them love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold and … magic (divination). It all seemed appropriate somehow given the time of year and events in the world, so I was ready for more inspiration and decided to visit nearby St Lythan’s Chambered Tomb, described by Cadw as a “lonely Neolithic tomb with links to Arthurian legend”. Had to be done and for me it was a fitting close to my photo foraging today, really chuffed with the result as the sky had greyed over beautifully and the silhouette against the skyline was perfect for my purposes. After that the visit to M&S Culverhouse was a real downer, talk about coming back to earth. But then again it’s the contrast between the two that makes it so intriguing and alluring, just like Freyja.