Transcript Celtic Gods and Goddesses

Celtic Gods and Goddesses
 Brighid: the Daughter of the Dagda,
one of the more universal deities of
the pagan Gaelic world. She is known
as the Goddess of Healers, Poets,
Smiths, Childbirth and Inspiration;
Goddess of Fire and Hearth and a
patron of warfare or Briga. Her
soldiers were called Brigands. Her
name means "Exalted One." She is
also known as Brigantia, Brid, Bride,
Briginda, Brigdu, and Brigit. She is
said to lean over every cradle.
Lugh
 Lugh was an inventive and clever
god known for his many skills. He
was best known as the god of
light; however, he had skills as a
warrior, physician, druid, bard,
smith, and brewer. He was also
the patron of Lugodunum in Gaul.
The Dagda
 The supreme god of the Celtic
pantheon appears to have been the
Dagda. This word means the Good
God, not good in a moral sense,
but good at everything, or allpowerful. The Dagda is a fatherfigure, a protector of the tribe and
the basic Celtic god of whom other
male Celtic deities were variants.
Danu/Anu
 Celtic Goddess of Wind, Wisdom
and Fertility.
 More importantly, she's the Irish
Mother Goddess who brought into
being the TUATHA-DEDANANN, her own chosen
people who originally ruled
Ireland.
Aine
 Irish goddess of love and fertility.
Daughter of Eogabail, who was in
turn the foster-son of Manannan
mac Lir. Later worshipped as a
fairy queen in County Limerick.

Manannan mac Lir
 Irish god of the sea and fertility. He forecasts
the weather. His wife is Fand and he is the
foster-father of many gods, including Lugh. He
is the guardian of the Blessed Isles, and the ruler
of Mag Mell the paradise were the deceased
live. Manannan has a ship that follows his
command without sails; his cloak makes him
invisible; his helmet is made of flames and his
sword cannot be turned from its mark. He is
described as riding over the sea in a chariot. His
Welsh equivalent is Manawydan ap Llyr. He is
also called Barinthus. He is older than the
Tuatha De Dannan, yet appears to be one of
them.

The Morrigan
 The Dagda's consort was known by
various names. The most common of
these was the Morrigan (Queen of
demons - sometimes spelled
Morrigna), but she was also known as
Nemain (Panic) and Badb Catha
(Raven of Battle). She was said to
change into a crow or raven and gloat
over the blood on the battlefield. She
reappears in Arthurian legend as
Morgan le Fay, that is, Morrigan the
fairy. Pronounced as More Ree-an.
Aengus mac Og
 God of love. Son of the Dagda and 'the
wife of Elcmar', generally believed to
be the goddess Boann. He is associated
with the valley of the River Boyne. One
of the Tuatha De Danann.
Nuada
 Also Nudd or Ludd. "Silver Hand."
The Irish/Celtic chieftain-god of
healing, the Sun, childbirth, youth,
beauty, ocean, dogs, poetry, writing,
sorcery, magic, weapons, and warfare.
Similar to the Roman god Neptune,
Nuada also had an invincible sword,
one of four great treasures of the
Tuatha Dé Danann, that he used to
cleave his enemies in half.

Bel/Belenos
 The Celtic god of light and
healing, "Bel" means "shining one".
As the Welsh Beli, he is the father
of Arianrhod by Don. Patron of
sheep and cattle, Bel's festival is
Beltane, one of two main Celtic
fire festivals.
Herne
 Opener of the Gates of Life and Death;
Herne the Hunter; Cernunnos; Green
Man; Lord of the Wild Hunt. The
masculine, active side of Nature; Earth
Father. His sacred animals were the
stag, bull, goat, bear. Growing things,
the forest, Nature, wild animals,
alertness, annihilation, fertility, panic,
desire, terror, flocks, agriculture, beer
and ale. See Cernunnos.

Ogma
 The God of communication and writing who
invented the Ogham Alphabet and gave it to the
Druids. He is sometimes thought of as the patron
deity of poets. Writing was considered a very sacred
and holy act by many early people including the
Celts. It is for this reason that the Celts had a strong
oral tradition, even among their magickal folk, as
very little was believed safe to commit to paper.
Aside from Oghma's literary association, he was a
warrior of Tara who fought with Llugh against the
Fomorians. He was also given a role in myth of
helping to escort the recently dead to the
Otherworld. He had two nicknames which tell
much about his character. One was Cermait, which
means "the honey-mouthed", relating to the Irish
gift of gab known as blarney, and the other is
Grianainech, "the sunny-faced", believed to come
from his great wisdom.
Cailleach
 Cailleach is referred to as the "Mother of All" in
parts of Scotland. Also known as Scotia, she is
depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a wild bear
and boar's tusks. She is believed to be a great
sorceress. One superstition regarding Calliach is
that the farmer who is last to harvest his grain
would be the person to "look after" Caileach for the
rest of the year, until the next harvest. The first
farmer who finishes harvesting would make a corndolly from the grain he has harvested. He would,
then, pass it on to the next farmer who finishes. It
would keep going until the corn-dolly ends up with
the last farmer. That last farmer would be obligated
to watch the "old woman". She is also known to
have created the earth. "With her hammer she
alternately splinters mountains, prevents the
growth of grass, or raises storms. Numerous wild
animals follow her..."
Boann
 Goddess of bounty and fertility.
Her symbol is the white cow. Her
name means "She of the white
cattle". Irish goddess. Also
goddess of the River Boyne. She is
the wife of the water god Nechtan
or of Elcmar, and consort of the
Dagda, by whom she was the
mother of the god Aengus.

Banba, Eriu, & Fodla
 Banba The goddess who represents the spirit of Ireland,
and who is the wife of king MacCuill. She was thought to
be the first settler in Ireland. She is part of a trinity of
goddesses,
 Eiru Ireland; daughter of the Dagda, her alternate name,
Erin, was given to Ireland.
 Fodla :One of the three goddesses who ruled Ireland
before the first Gauls, came to the island.

Etain
 An early sun goddess of ancient Ireland
Macha
 One of three aspects of the Morrigan, goddess of
war. Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies.
Rhiannon
 a version of the horse-goddess Epona and of
sovereignity. She was mistress of the Singing Birds.
Arawn
 The Welsh god of the underworld. The god Amaethon
stole from him a dog, lapwing and roebuck with led to
the Battle of the Trees, in which his forces were defeated.
A tale in the Mabinogion relates how he persuaded
Pwyll to trade places with him for the span of a year and
a day. In this period, Pwyll defeated Arawn's rival for
dominion of the underworld Hafgan. Because Pwyll also
refrained from sleeping with Arawn's wife, they became
close friends.

Bran
 ("raven"), son of Llyr and Penarddun, and brother of Branwen and
Manawydan, and half brother Nisien and Efnisien. Bran was too
large for ordinary houses. When Bran learned of the slavery imposed
upon his sister Branwen by her Irish husband Matholwch, he sailed
to rescue her. Matholwch was terrified at the sight of a forest
approaching Ireland across the sea: Bran's navy, and Bran himself
wading through the water. He sued for peace, they built a house big
enough for Bran, and Matholwch agreed to settle the kingdom on
Gwern, his son by Branwen. Some Irish lords objected, and hid
themselves in flour bags to attack the Welsh. But Efnisien, scenting
Irish treachery, cast them into the fire, and then cast Gwern himself in
(avoiding the geas against shedding kinsmen's blood thereby). A war
broke out, and the Irish replenished themselves through the
cauldron. Efnisien, repenting, sacrificed himself by feigning death
and being thrown into the cauldron, which he then broke, dying in
the process. Only seven Welshmen survived, and Bran was fatally
wounded. His head, which remained alive and talking, was returned
to Wales and buried, and soon afterwards Branwen sailed to Aber
Alaw and died. According to legend, England could never be
invaded as long as Bran's head, facing south and buried in a hill near
London, was left alone.
Branwen
 ("white raven") a daughter of Llyr and Penarddun,
and sister of Bran, and Manawydan, and half-sister
of Nisien and Efnisie
 The Celtic goddess of love and beauty. Also of
Manx and Wales. She is similar to the Greek
goddess Aphrodite and the Roman goddess Venus.
After the death of her brother Bran, due to a war
caused by Matholwch, Branwen died of a broken
heart.
 n.
Taliesin
 god of magic, music, poetry, wisdom, writing.
Known as Prince of Song, Chief of the Bards of the
West, and Patron of Druids, he was a great
magician, bard, and shapeshifter who gained his
knowledge from the goddess Cerridwen directly.

Blodeuwedd
 Blodeuwedd was created out of flowers by Gwydion to wed Llew
Llaw Gyffes. She betrayed Llew, either because she had no soul,
being non-human, or because she resented being his chattel, or
because the triplet of one woman and two men must play itself out in
Welsh myth, and Llew Llaw Gyffes must die. At any rate, she fell in
love with Goronwy and, wishing to be rid of Llew, she tricked out of
him the clearly supernatural and ritual manner in which only he
could be killed: neither by day nor night, indoors nor out of doors,
riding nor walking, clothed nor naked, nor by any weapon lawfully
made. She asked him to explain this, and he did: he could be killed
only if it were twilight, wrapped in a fish net, with one foot on a
cauldron and the other on a goat, and if the weapon had been forged
during sacred hours when such work was forbidden. Blodeuwedd
convinced him to demonstrate how impossible such a position was to
achieve by chance, and when he was in it, het lover Goronwy leapt
out and struck. Llew was transformed into an eagle and eventually
restored to human form, after which he killed Goronwy. Blodeuwedd
was transformed into an owl, to haunt the night in loneliness and
sorrow, shunned by all other birds.
Cernunnos
Cernunnos from
Gundustup
 The Horned One" is a Celtic god of fertility, life, animals,
wealth, and the underworld. He was worshipped all over Gaul,
and his cult spread into Britain as well. Cernunnos is depicted
with the antlers of a stag, sometimes carries a purse filled with
coin. The Horned God is born at the winter solstice, marries the
goddess at Beltane, and dies at the summer solstice. He
alternates with the goddess of the moon in ruling over life and
death, continuing the cycle of death, rebirth and reincarnation.
Paleolithic cave paintings found in France that depict a stag
standing upright or a man dressed in stag costume seem to
indicate that Cernunnos' origins date to those times. Romans
sometimes portrayed him with three cranes flying above his
head. Known to the Druids as Hu Gadarn. God of the
underworld and astral planes. The consort of the great goddess.
He was often depicted holding a bag of money, or accompanied
by a ram-headed serpent and a stag. Most notably is the famous
Gundestrup cauldron discovered in Denmark.
Epona
 The Celtic horse goddess whose authority extended even
beyond death, accompanying the soul on its final journey. She
was worshipped throughout entire Gaul, and as far as the
Danube and Rome. Her cult was eventually adopted by the
Roman army and they spread her worship wherever they went.
She was the only Celtic Goddess to be honored by the Romans
with a temple in their capital city. Among the Gaulish Celts
themselves, she was worshipped as goddess of horses, asses,
mules, oxen, and, to an extent, springs and rivers. Epona is
depicted sitting side saddle or lying on a horse, or standing
with multiple horses around her. Her symbol is the Cornucopia
("horn of plenty") which suggests that she could (originally)
have been a fertility goddess. She is also identified with the
Celtic goddess Edain
Taranis
 The thunder-god of ancient Gaul, and master of
the sky. He may be compared to the Roman
Jupiter, although his place in the Celtic
pantheon was not as prominent as that of
Jupiter in the Roman pantheon. His attribute is
the wheel, which could be the symbol of
thunder. The Romans described as receiving
human sacrifices
The End
is a new beginning