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Penelopeia, `She-Whose-Face-is-Veiled'.
P]N]LOPA1
Alternate meaning: `She-With-a-Web-Over-Her-Face', `Duck.'
[to Whom the first day of July, day 182, is dedicated]


Geography/Culture: Greek.
Linguistic note: Her name is traditionally associated with pene, `a bobbin'. By some Her name is connected with Greek penelops, a kind of duck. Or Her name may refer to the warf-and-woof tattooing such as displayed by the Maenads for woodland revelling.
Description: Goddess of spring; Goddess of clear understanding and wit; Leader of orgiastic mountain and woodland revelling; Queen; Presider over the sources of life and death; Bestower of sovereignty; She Who weaves by day and unravels by night.
As mortal Queen of Ithaca She was celebrated for Her loyalty and constancy to Her consort.
To whom are sacred: duck; shroud (which She wove and unraveled); net (She may have worn a net in Her orgies like Dictynna, qv Britomartis, and Goda, qv); weaving (weaving can be an expression for the conception of human life, or of the human body); tapestry; {repetative acts}.
Male associates: as a mortal Her consort was, Odysseys (or Ulysses); son, Telemachus, ----. Source: Dunkling NADFN 335; Graves GMv2 160.10.
Penelope, -----.
PAN]L6PY
Geography/Culture: Celtic. Welsh. Especially the area of Snowdon mountain (53 05 n x 4 04 w).
Linguistic notes: the name of the family whose Ancestress She is, Pellings, is regarded as a corruption of Her name. The element pen- is frequent in Welsh toponyms.
Description: Goddess of the moon, luck and prosperity; the Lake Lady; She Whose appearance is like that of alabaster; flaxen haired, clear blue-eyed Fairy Ancestress of the Pellings, ("Children of Penelope"); She Whose voice is as agreeable as the nightingale and as unruffled as the zephyr in a flower garden at the noon of a long summer's day; She Who dances by the light of the moon; She Whose feet in dance are as light on the grass as the sun's rays on rippling water; Epitome of sensual charm, industry and skill in manual work; She Who can become as invisible "as one's breath in July"; everything prospers under Her charge.
To whom are sacred: cow (She could milk a cow three times a day obtaining the same amount of milk each time); filly; iron (to which She has an aversion); dance.
Male associate: mortal heir of Ystrad, whose consort She became on condition She not be struck by iron; She disappeared when struck by a bridle he threw while trying to catch a filly.
Sources: Rhys CFv1&2 45-48, 86-88, 668.
worked on: June 1990; August 1991; June 1995.
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