Rhiannon, Goddess of Birds and Horses by Judith Shaw

[sigmasix]

1. we named our eldest "Rhianon"

We found the name in an old book of welsh myths. according to the book Rhianon was a queen and her husband was away at the wars. Her son gets kidnapped by enemies of the kingdom, but a rumor that the queen is a witch that killed the boy to consolidate her power goes round, and she gets exiled to the woods. Rhianon spends years and years in the wilderness, acquinting herself with the magic denizens of nature and perfecting white magic that helps the people of the kingdom. One day her son returns and tells the truth of his circumstances. The people welcome the queen Rhianon back into the castle and she magnaminously forgives everyone. The name also means "white witch" or "fairy queen" or something like that. I was not aware of this history- will share it with my daughter. Thank you for an interesting OP.