Awen


Awen is a Welsh, Cornish and Breton word for " inspiration".
In the Welsh tradition, awen is the inspiration of the poet bards; or, in its personification, Awen is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general: the inspired individual is described as an awenydd. Emma Restall Orr, founder and former head of The Druid Network, defines awen as 'flowing spirit' and says that 'Spirit energy in flow is the essence of life'.
In current usage, awen is sometimes ascribed to musicians and poets. It is also occasionally used as a male and female given name.
It appears in the third stanza of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, the national anthem of Wales.

Etymology

Awen derives from the Indo-European root *-uel, meaning 'to blow', and has the same root as the Welsh word awel meaning 'breeze'.

Historical attestation

The first recorded attestation of the word occurs in Nennius' Historia Brittonum, a Latin text of c. 796, based in part on earlier writings by the Welsh monk, Gildas. It occurs in the phrase 'Tunc talhaern tat aguen in poemate claret' where the Old Welsh word aguen occurs in the Latin text describing poets from the sixth century.
It is also recorded in its current form in Canu Llywarch Hen where Llywarch says 'I know by my awen' indicating it as a source of instinctive knowledge.
On connections between awen as poetic inspiration and as an infusion from the Divine, The Book of Taliesin often implies this. A particularly striking example is contained in the lines:
ban pan doeth peir

ogyrwen awen teir
-literally “the three elements of inspiration that came, splendid, out of the cauldron” but implicitly “that came from God” as ‘peir’ can also mean ‘sovereign’ often with the meaning ‘God’. It is the “three elements” that is cleverly worked in here as awen was sometimes characterised as consisting of three sub-divisions so “the ogyrwen of triune inspiration”, perhaps suggesting the Trinity.
Giraldus Cambrensis referred to those inspired by the awen as 'awenyddion' in his Description of Wales :

In 1694, the Welsh poet Henry Vaughan wrote to his cousin, the antiquary John Aubrey, in response to a request for some information about the remnants of Druidry in existence in Wales at that time, saying

Neo-Druidic Symbol

In some forms of Neo-Druidism the term is symbolized by an emblem showing three straight lines that spread apart as they move downward, drawn within a circle or a series of circles of varying thickness, often with a dot, or point, atop each line. The British Druid Order attributes the symbol to Iolo Morganwg; it has been adopted by some Neo-Druids.
The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids describe the three lines as rays emanating from three points of light, with those points representing the triple aspect of deity and, also, the points at which the sun rises on the equinoxes and solstices – known as the Triad of the Sunrises. The emblem as used by the OBOD is surrounded by three circles representing the three circles of creation.
Various Neo-Druidic groups and individuals have their own interpretation of the awen. The three lines relate to earth, sea and air; body, mind and spirit; or love, wisdom and truth. It is also said that the awen stands for not simply inspiration, but for inspiration of truth; without awen one cannot proclaim truth. The three foundations of awen are the understanding of truth, the love of truth, and the maintaining of truth.
A version of the awen was approved by the U.S. Veterans Administration in early 2017 for use on veteran headstones.