nimue

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Wood and Water The Labyrinth of the Heart

Invocation to Nimue.

Nimue, Dark One, Lady of magic and enchantment,
From your home in the Forest of Broceliande, come to us.
Nimue, Light One, Lady of hawthorn and all blossoming trees,
From your home in the Forest of Broceliande, come to us.
Nimue, chooser of all prophets and seers,
From your home in the Forest of Broceliande, come to us.
Nimue, lover of all prophets and seers,
From your home in the Forest of Broceliande, come to us.

Nimue, who inspired the Wise One, be with us.
Nimue, who let him rest in his old age, be with us.
Nimue, who opened your hawthorn tree for him to sleep inside, be with us.
Merlin's Enclosure, the Isles of Britain, calls out to you.
He has been asleep twice seven hundred years.
Nimue, open up your hawthorn tree once more.
Nimue, let him awake and emerge rejuvenated.
Nimue, kind one, grant us a seer.
Nimue, unrelenting one, give us inspiration.

(This was written after one of Hugh Lupton and Eric Maddern's storytelling retreats —see Links. We were asked to create an invocation of a god or goddess of the British Isles, and I felt called on to invoke Nimue, who is conventionally portrayed as Merlin's lover and betrayer, but I see her differently. Where Nimue, also known as Vivienne, placed Merlin has several variants; I chose to see him enclosed in a tree. I also wrote a story about Merlin, which included this and another poem.)

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Wood and Water The Labyrinth of the Heart