The Circle of Abred, in which are all corporal and dead existences.
The Circle of Gwynvyd, in which are all animated and immortal beings.
The Circle of Ceugant, where there is only God. The wise men describe them thus, in three Circles.
The Second Examination
Q. Whence didst thou proceed and what is thy beginning?
A. I came from the Great World, 1 having my beginning in Annwn.
Q. Where art thou now and how camest thou to where thou art?
A. I am in the Little World, whither I came, having traversed the circle of Abred, and now I am a man at its termination and extreme limits.
Q. What wert thou before thou didst become a man in the circle of Abred?
A. I was in Annwn the least possible that was capable of life, and the nearest possible to absolute death, and I came in every form, and through every form capable of a body and life, to the state of man along the circle of Abred, where my condition was severe and grievous during the age of ages, ever since I was parted in Annwn from the dead, by the gift of God, and His great generosity, and His unlimited and endless love.
Q. Through how many forms didst thou come and what happened unto thee?
A. Through every form capable of life, in water, in earth, and in air. And there happened unto me every se-verity, every hardship, every evil, and every suffering, and but little was the goodness and gwynfyd before I became a man.
- Excerpt from Barddas, c/o Internet Sacred Text Archive.
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