By Sean Kelly, August 2024

 

Enchanted and evocative in its otherworldly narratives that are best preserved in the British Isles, Celtic  mythology somewhat lacks well-documented sources on what would be described as “creation myths”when compared to key texts preserved in other traditions, such as Finland's Kalevala, Hesiod's Theogonia or the Enūma Eliš of Mesopotamia. Similar problems are encountered in Slavic mythology, with which Celtic myths and folklore have much in common. References to the primordial creation and ancestral goddess can, however, be found throughout the Celtic world, where even long after Christianisation and a degree of Romanisation, these ancient rural customs remain. Furthermore, logical conclusions can be made about the nature of this goddess in her many forms by linking her to the equivalent deity from across Europe and the Mediterranean.

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For more discussion about solar goddesses specifically, please see my previous article on Celtic Solar Deities. A large part of this article acts as a companion chapter on the Solar Mother Goddess. 

 

The Primordial Mother

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Anu, Danu (Ireland), Dôn (Wales)

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The largely hypothetical goddess Danu is associated closely with both the Tuatha Dé Danann and the landscape. Sources on her are scarce so she is largely a reconstruction from linguistic links, but given the close association with the land and with this divine race, she was no doubt of great significance to the Gaels as an and ancestral deity. One arrives at a similar issue to the many names and epithets of "Potnia Theron" in Greece regarding the ambiguous origins of their names. Most of these names including Potnia and Despoina, and arguably Demeter as well, being mere epithets meaning mistress and mother, with names such as Athena and Isis remaining, much like "Danu", truly mysterious. Apuleius in Metamorphosis - a heavily syncretic rite of passage narrative -  goes as far to say that Isis is the "true name" of this mother goddess. In Celtic tradition, however, where pantheons are difficult to entirely reconstruct by name, particularly within one distinct branch of Celtic language, the "true name" of this mother goddess beneath the epithets and pseudonyms is even more elusive.

 

It is vital to consider the Celtic "All-Mother" goddess in relation to both the "diminishing" of Celtic deities in later medieval narrative and the infinitely divisible nature of the divine. Neoplatonists such as Sallust and Proclus discussed this theological concept at length, as did R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz in more mathematical terms. The One is infinitely divisible, which means that Danu as a primordial All-Mother Goddess is naturally tied to deities such as Brigid or Brigantia, Sulis, and the grim Morrigan triad. Where the diminishing of gods in medieval narratives is concerned, naturally when these stories were documented by Christians, they refrained from explicitly referring to them as a divine pantheon. Though it is important to consider the roles these diminished deities played specific to these medieval narratives, it is no bold stretch of the imagination to recognise them as a pantheon. Tuatha Dé Danann, or the "tribe of Danu", became the Sidhe. Welsh gods were similarly called the "Children of Dôn". In later traditions, Danu or Dôn was linked to the stars, notably in the old Welsh name for the Cassiopeia constellation Llys Dôn ("The Court of Dôn"). Dôn's children are named as Arianrhod and Gwydion in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, and as Amaethon the farmer and Gofannon the smith in How Culhwch won Ohwen. Arianrhod's name derives from Proto-Celtic Arganto-rotā or "silver wheel", indicating her link to both smithing and the moon. The hero Gwydion plays a key role in the Battle of the Trees recounted in the Book of  Taliesin, in which the forces of Dôn go to battle with those of the Welsh Otherworld Anwnn, which are led by Arawn, the Welsh equivalent of Dagda.

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Anu is another ambiguous primordial goddess in Irish folklore, who lends her name to two breast-shaped hills known as the "Paps of Anu" (which are also known as the Paps of Danu). Though a subject of debate, it has been suggested that Danu and Anu are one and the same. Anu is linked to the "Black Annis" preserved in Leicestershire tradition, and Robert Graves discussed Anu also at length in "the White Goddess". Graves linked Black Annis to "Anna", and referred to this "Anna" as the Pelasgian sister of Belus, or the archaic Apollo. This Apollo was much like his classical form closely associated with nature and healing, and it is in this context that the parallel with Freyr and his sister Freya becomes more apparent. The Irish god Bile (Belenos in the iron age) has been suggested as a sibling-consort of Danu. This "incestuous" and even androgynous relationship is even more noticeable when we look at the Germanic deity Nerthus, who may be linked linguistically to Celtic Nodens and Nuada, as well as the Norse god Njörðr. Several scholars have argued that Nerthus was originally an androgynous fertility deity. Eliade, noting the androgynous nature of Egyptian gods, argued that all major gods in the Germanic pantheon preserved "traces" of androgyny, including Nerthus.

 

Regarding Annis as Anna, Graves went further to link her to a purported triad of Diana (Artemis), Urania (Aphrodite) and Athana (Athena). This interpretation sees Anna as a triad in much the same way as Morrigan is a triad of mother goddess or Matres. This identification of Anu with Aphrodite, as well as the possible association of Danu with the Danube, stresses the link of Ana to water and rivers. Brigid, or Brigantia in the iron age, is also comparable to Anna as a triad, given her close parallels to Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena. Iconography akin to Athena is more apparent in depictions of Brigantia and the British patron goddess Britannia. On Mycenaean Linear B tablets at Knossos, Athena is named as 𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, or "Atana Potinija". This association of both Artemis and Athena with the archaic Potnia Theron or "Mistress of Animals" epithet would indicate that Anu as much as Freyja in Germanic mythology is indeed the same triad. Danu as a consort of a primordial skyfather and creator Bile or Belenos further highlights a parallel to the equivalent chthonic relationship between Dadga and Morrigan. 

 

Graves described the suckling hag, Anu as mother of the “original three gods” Brian, Iuchurbar and Iuchar, a triad one may compare to Lucan's triad of Taranis, Esus (possibly an epithet of Cernunnos and later Dagda) and Teutates (who may be linked to Nodens and later Nuada). ​Described in some sources as a druid or witch of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Danu may have been adapted in Irish literature as Danand in The Book of the Taking of Ireland. Danand is the mother to three sons described as the "Gods of Dannan", who are named Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba. Sharon Paice MacLeod has suggested that these sons are more likely to be the three crafting gods Goibniu, Luchta, and Creidhne (the blacksmith, the carpenter and the goldsmith respectively). It is logical that Danu would be closely related to smithing gods as a creator goddess, and this link to smithing is also found in the hag goddess Cailleach with whom Danu has much in common.

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Albina

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There is also a disputed goddess of Britain Albina, mentioned by both Graves in the White Goddess, who was also referred to as Alpena by Charles Godfrey Leland in Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Religion. Though the existence of a British Albina is debatable due to the limited source material and the much contested nature of Graves' fascinating but controversial book, the possible link to an Etruscan deity in Celtic and specifically British tradition is certainly interesting. Linking Albina to the Etruscan Alpena or Alpan and the dawn goddess Eos or Aurora (and Zorya in Slavic tradition), the name literally means "white" if derived from Latin "albus". This meaning ties Albina to the suggested origin of the word "Albion", and links her to the famed white cliffs of Dover that greeted many an invading force, be it Caesar's legions or the Jutes settling in Kent. The etymologies of this hypothetical Albina, the Alpan of Etruscan tradition (described as a "spectral spirit" and servant of the mother goddess Turan by Nancy de Grummond) and "Albion" are all debatable. However, a possible Latin root for Albina could raise the question of whether such a figure derived from closeness between the Latin and Celtic languages and other peoples in central Europe, namely Etruscans. Celts, Latins and Etruscans alike had close likes to the Halstatt culture, and in particular the preceding Urnfield culture. 

 

The Winter Hag

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Cailleach, Cailleach Bhéara, Bui (Ireland), Cailleach Bheurra (Scotland), Beira – Queen of Winter (Scotland)

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A particularly striking figure in the Celtic world is the Gaelic creation goddess Cailleach. The hag was later documented in twentieth-century Scotland as Beira, the Queen of Winter, and is closely associated with Ana and the "Black Annis" of Leicestershire's folklore. Cailleach (like her other epithets) forms part of a triad of Matres. As a "hammer" in aquatic form, she battered and shaped the landscape. The closest Britain and Ireland have to surviving depictions of Cailleach is the Sheela na gig grotesque found on Cathedrals throughout Western Europe. Margaret Murray and Sarah Jones have both argued that this mysterious figure, whose private areas are exposed, is Cailleach. The word for hag in Irish is síle, and the Oxford English Dictionary claims that Sheela na gig derives from Síle na gcíoch, or "Julia of the breasts". Jamers Jerman Anthony Weir has liked the iconography to the practice of skirt-lifting to ward off the evil eye, and in Ireland the figures are sometimes referred to as "evil eye stones".

 

As noted by Robert Briffault, a common name for her in Ireland was Cailleach Bhiarach, or "the old woman with the horns", which links her to the horned god (Cernunnos) as well as evoking iconography relating to the mother cows Hathor Egyptian mythology and Auðumbla in Germanic mythology. Similar applies to the literal meaning of Baba Roga or "woman with horns" in Slavic tradition. Briffault also links the "horned" Cailleach to the sickle and the moon and the "three Brigits" (mirroring the Morrigan triad). He also links Anu to Nehelauia, stating that the Sequani knew her as Mena or Mona, further emphasising her link to the moon. This association of hags with the moon and the horned god persisted throughout Britain and the rest of Europe, and informed superstition surrounding alleged witches during Europe's witch craze. Eliade also noted the relevance of the moon in connection to both witches and snakes in Celtic folk tradition, and that snakes are "creatures of change". He referred to a Breton tradition that involved cutting a woman's hair when she was "under the influence of the moon" and burying it, which would result in it turning into snakes. 

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​We may compare Cailleach to Gaia in Greek myths, Jörð in Norse myths, and the Baba Roga figure of Slavic folklore, herself clearly stemming from the creator-destroyer mother goddess tied to the death and rebirth of nature's cycles and seasons. Cailleach is also reminiscent of the winter hags of Finnish myths closely associated with both winter and the land of the dead. Though culturally distant, these Finnish myths, the similar romantic setting in which these rustic folk traditions were documented and the northern climate nonetheless demonstrate the close parallels to this winter hag in Celtic tradition. In the Irish folklore, Cailleach Bhéara is associated with the cliffs and outcrops of the emerald isle, and this ancestral creation and weather goddess is a striking example of how the Celts viewed the surrounding landscape and directly linked it to their deities and ancestral traditions. This association with the cliffs, rocks and sculpting of them as well as her return to the water in some narratives suggests a close link to, or perhaps origin in, the primordial waters. This mother of the sea is comparable to Aphrodite and Venus, and the Mediterranean mother's return to and emerging from the waves in all her beauty. 

 

Cailleach Bhéara is also associated with tomb complexes and mountains, with the “grave of Clooth-na-Bare” being mentioned by W. B. Yeats in his “Hosting of the Sidhe” poem. In Irish tradition she had seven consecutive periods of youth, every man to had lived with her would die of old age and her grandsons and great-grandsons were tribes and races, which shows clearly her significance in primordial ancestor worship traditions. Furthermore, it stresses her representation of both a creative force in nature and the culmination of the tribal ancestors. The association of cold and winter with old age does of course relate to the natural process of death and rebirth. That she had seven consecutive periods of youth is significant in numerological terms, linking her to the seven days of the week, a prime number as a primordial deity and to the "perfect" number of God. According to Celsus, in the eight stages of Mithraic initiation the number seven was linked to the sun, gold and Jupiter. Cailleach is therefore linked to the journey of the sun and the changes that it brings with the seasons. One may also note that the sovereignty goddess Medb has seven sons.

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In Scottish tradition, the hag is also personified as a winter deity, and is said to rule as the Queen of the Four Red Divisions of the world. Just as the four divisions represent the four points of the compass and the four seasons, the four red corners may also symbolise the womb. The four “corners” of the solar cross act as a pictogram of the sun, the wheel, the tomb and the womb simultaneously. With the coming of spring, the Scottish Beira's subjects rise up against her. The subjects long for the return of the Summer King Angus of the White Steed and Bride, his beautiful queen, who were loved by all as bringers of gifts, light and of happy days. The white steed acts as a spirit guardian and escort to and from the otherworld, and is a particularly prominent symbol in Celtic culture, yet also seen throughout the Germanic sphere.

 

The notion of a "horse goddess" appears to be rather specific to Celtic tradition; Epona, Rhiannon and Étaín may all be described as "horse goddesses". As is always the case, however, the deities, their many layers and their diminished manifestations are complex and nuanced, and this may be an oversimplified interpretation of these goddesses. The procession of the horse in connection with both the sun and the soul would suggest a strong connection to the originally female solar goddess. The solar connotations (including those relating to dusk and dawn specifically) can be found in a number of European deities, such as Aurora in Roman tradition, Eos in Hellenic tradition, Sunna in Norse tradition and Zorya in Slavic tradition.

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It is further explained in the Scottish tradition that Beira “lived for hundreds and hundreds of years”, and does not die of of old age because of yearly visits to the Well of Youth on the Green Island of the West. This island is most likely Ireland, linking the folklore to the origin of the Scots. This green island also ties in with the motif in myths of journeying to the West (as Odysseus does), matching the movements of the setting sun and descending into the Otherworld. Beira's yearly revival of her youth – her rebirth – again emphasises her role as an ancestral deity, representing both the image of the hag or crone - the ageing and dying woman – and that of the undying and revived ancestor, and it is not uncommon to find these seemingly contradictory characteristics of goddesses especially or them showing characteristics of different stages of womanhood (such as “fertility” goddesses that simultaneously embody the images of both the beautiful, youthful maiden and of the fertile or pregnant mother).

 

This Green Island is described as a “floating island” where summer is the only season. This links us to one of several depictions of the Celtic Otherworld, which in several manifestations is depicted as a land of rebirth, nourishment and healing, or an "Eden" of sorts, often with a close connection to islands and the sea. Thus Cailleach or Beira is again linked to the healing and rejuvenation. The island is described as being elusive and hidden by mist and the waves, but Beira is said to always know where to find it when the time comes for her to visit it. Beira waits in the darkness “before the first lengthening day”, and drinks the water from its source as soon as the sun – the light of rebirth – rises in the east and casts its first rays upon the waters. After drinking the waters, she returns to Scotland and goes to sleep before waking in bright sunshine with her youth and beauty restored. This narrative also mirrors that of initiation and rebirth, and the waking of the ancestor in the tomb.

 

The yellow of Beira's hair is compared to broom buds. One sees this comparison to the yellow of broom buds in the Welsh Mabinogion. A deciduous plant known for its use in producing a yellow dye and for the role it plays in women's health, the hardy broom ages rapidly much like Beira and the season she embodies. Its bright flowers appear from April to June,  indicating a period of youthful rejuvenation as summer returns. Beira also wears a green coat, which links her to the Green Man and Beltane rites. In Celtic and Germanic tradition, as much as in Classical tradition, May Day ushers in the return of the sun. The revolt against and even "death" of Beira in spring, therefore, parallels that of Dionysus and broadly European festivities associated with the Green Man. One modern example of this tradition is the Jack in the Green festival that was revived in Hastings, Sussex.

This festival ends with the slaying of the Green Man, whose foliage is ripped from his "body" after his procession around the town. This May King or Green Man that is slain in several traditions, and can be found in other territories with ties to Halstatt culture and Celtic expansion from central Europe, such as Croatia and Slovenia. God as the Son is seen crowning the virginal mother throughout Madonna iconography, which we may compare to Dionysus deifying his mortal mother Semele after her death at the hands of Zeus. A similar parallel also exists in Orphic tradition that names Persephone (another dying and rebirthing goddess) as the mother of Dionysus. The description of the Cailleach growing old and her connection to the netherworld also identifies her, like Gaia, with the world tree and nature as a whole. The word tree loses its “youth” and greenery in the cold season and sheds her cloak, before being revived with lush young growth in the spring and summer.

 

Cailleach has resigned herself to her “death” (and rejuvenation) with the coming sun. In this case the "alter ego", mirror deity or double of this winter hag would appear to be the solar mother goddess of the Celts found under various names but most notably known as Sulis (as found in Bath, England) and Brigantia (later Brigid), visibly a parallel of the (solar) Athena and Minerva. This parallel is also significant because of the role of the mother goddess and indeed hag in initiation rites; Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird notes the common motif in Celtic oral tradition of a "giant hag" leading initiation, and an example of a hero being initiated by an otherworldly maternal figure can be found in Cú Chulainn's military training in Scotland in the Tain. Athena and Minerva are closely associated with the initiation of youths, particularly Herakles, so a Celtic hag linked to the initiation of warriors would be linked to similar rituals in Celtic culture. As William MacLellan suggests in relation to Scottish festivals, Brigid and Cailleach are likely two aspects of the same deity, with Cailleach ruling from Sahmain to Beltane and Brigid ruling from Beltane to Samhain. This connection bears a striking parallel to that between Dionysus and Apollo;  the May King or Green Man is slain so the healer can be born (with the death of the former and birth of the latter both being controlled by the sky goddess Hera or Juno). The pairing of Cailleach and Brigid also bears a close parallel to Demeter and Persephone; one is dead or dormant as the other lives, and being tied to the seasons, the two goddess cannot reside in the same realm at the same time. 

 

It is worth noting that Cailleach's body has “dropt towards the abode we know”, which closely associates her with burial, the return of the sun and the harvest, and the dualistic aspects of theology that involve one reigning above and the other below. Blackness is not only linked to the otherworld because of the darkness of the grave and of night, but also because of the notion that the sun "scorches" the Earth as it passes beneath it. One might also compare this descent to the underworld to the role of sunlight in vanquishing disease; throughout European tradition, vampires as a personification of disease are often destroyed or driven away by the rising sun. Disease and sickliness, which are more common in the harsher cold season, would also more commonly be associated with the image of the frail hag or "witch" as embodied by figures such as Cailleach or Baba Roga. 

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In the following stanza from the Lament of the Old Woman of Beare lies some powerful symbolism relating to death and rebirth:

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“Swift chariots,

And steeds that carried off the prize,—

Their day of plenty has been,

A blessing on the King who lent them!

My body with bitterness has dropt

Towards the abode we know:

When the Son of God deems it time

Let Him come to deliver His behest.”

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The image of the chariot carrying the “prize” evokes the image of the sun being drawn by the chariot as it disappears beneath the horizon of earth and sea. The waters of creation also connect to the womb, and depictions of the sun being carried beyond and beneath the horizon date back to the solar barge of prehistory before the solar chariot became a prominent symbol during the bronze age. Freyja in Germanic tradition is also closely linked to the sea,  being a daughter of Njörðr, and is likewise rides a chariot that is drawn by cats. Particularly in northern climates, this motif also relates to the  “disappearing” or at least diminishing of the sun until it is revived with new vigour in spring and summer. The harshness of the winters of northern European countries is significant in this context, highlighting the syncretic nature of originally central-European Celtic traditions that became increasingly shaped by considerably colder and generally darker northern climates.

 

This passage of the sun in association with rebirth mirrors the return of the soul from the darkness into the light, "drawn" by a solar chariot, a device of initiation and reincarnation, with the horse as a psychopomp relating to the "saddle" of liver, the seat of the soul as well as a map of the cosmos (as in Etruscan haruspicy). This likely relates to agrarian solar chariot tradition shared by Celts and Germanic tribes alike, and to such corn dolly rites from Anglo-Saxon customs that involved riding a solar corn dolly around in a chariot or cart. It is significant that the chariots have been lent by the King, and though the Christian slant in the wording is apparent, the parallel of God the Father and God the Son is the same, with this custom also likely relating to the Fairy King and frequent motif in fairy tales of fairy kings abducting women. The parallel with the yearly passage of Persephone to and from the underworld to sit by Hades  is also apparent, given the close association of Demeter and her daughter Persephone with the yearly harvest and its grain. Another stanza in the Lament of the Old Woman of Beare focuses on Cailleach's rejuvenation:

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​“I know what they are doing:

They row and row across

The reeds of the Ford of Alma—

Cold is the dwelling where they sleep.

'Tis 'O my God!'

To me to-day, whatever will come of it.

I must take my garment even in the sun:

The time is at hand that shall renew me.”

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In these stanzas and those following it, Cailleach speaks of those coming with the waves and the tides, which one might compare with the rebirthing Great Flood motif such as that found in Mesopotamian and Persian narratives. The reference to those crossing the river is also reminiscent of the river Styx in Greek mythology, and signifies that Cailleach is herself on the threshold between death and revival. The close association of the Celtic Otherworld with the sea and islands is further indication of this. Cailleach appears to lament her death and defeat, but is also accepting here of being “renewed” by the sun, and by the warmth and light of summer. The winter hag is, therefore, far from a wholly antagonistic or malevolent deity. ​

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The Mother of the Waters

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The Celtic deities linked to water, especially rivers, are numerous. It should be noted that many of these simply relate to regional "patron deity" names for the same  goddess. Cailleach's link to water is conveyed further by her connection with rain; as Robert Briffault noted, the witches of medieval Europe inherited the role that the priestesses of old played in rain-making rituals, calling forth storms and performing rites such as dipping a broom in water and beating the water with wands. Late medieval legends exist of a naked woman falling from the sky when the blackest rain cloud was shot at. The modern expression "it's raining cats and dogs and old women" stems from such practices. Briffault also noted the link between this saying's German equivalent - "the old women are shaking their cloaks" - and the valkyries riding through the clouds sending dew and rain falling to the earth.

 

Briffault also linked such folklore to rainmaking rites in eastern Europe. It is the storm god who actually triggers and causes rain, and this link between the storm god and birth is further demonstrated when the atmospheric pressure changes in storms can cause the water to break during labour. The close link between the storm god and the mother goddess is truly ancient, and is found in the Eleusinian mysteries that link Dionysus to Demeter and the Minoan association of the mother goddess with the Labrys symbol.

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The link of the mother goddess to healing and springs, which in the case of Bath associates the healing god Belenos with the goddess Sulis, parallels Apollo's connection to healing and springs. Freyr is likewise linked to healing and fertility in Germanic tradition. Other interpretations have identified the gorgon at Bath as Oceanus, but in any case, the gorgon is both solar and linked to the movement of the sun beneath the waters. Depictions of Apollo and Dionysus on two sides of the same coin as a healing and "mad" god respectively signifies this duality regarding the passage of the sun in connection with the healing and rebirthing waters, and this healing mother goddess is likewise multifaceted in nature.

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Water is the source of life, and these water sources in springs and in the mountains are closely associated with both healing and the divine creation. In her aged state, Cailleach has white hair, teeth the colour of rust and grey clothing, all of which act as signs of age, death and decay in nature. As she grows older she grows fiercer, and there is further emphasis on her role as a winter deity who creates snow when she washes. Naturally, this water melts as the sun returns. The winter hag also creates rivers and mountains using a magic hammer, which she strikes the ground with to harden it. Rocks found near these mountains were associated with Cailleach, and the same applies to Anu and Medb in relation to natural landmarks in Ireland.

 

Cailleach's role as a hammer-wielding creator-goddess links her to Brigid, who was also known as "Brigid the Smith". As the armour-clad goddess Brigantia or Athena is linked to the smithing god, who is called Goibniu in Irish mythology, the smithing goddess with links to the waters and mountains would be connected to a smithing god in much the same way as Aphrodite is tied to Hephaistos. Water is simultaneously caused by the storm and governed by the moon, hence the mother goddess of the waters being closely linked to the storm god and the lunar god (who in syncretic and Orphic traditions are ultimately one and the same).

 

There are several accounts by Romans of continental Celts worshipping regional deities closely associated with the mountains, the forest, the crossroads and the rivers, such as Dea Abnoba, goddess of the Black Forest's waters, and Dea Arduinna, who was named as a forest goddess of the Ardennes. One Gaulish inscription reading “To the Mountains” is addressed to a god of the Pennine Alps, Pœninus. This god was linked to Jupiter, and the god of the Vosges mountains was called Vosegus, possibly surviving later in the giant said to haunt them. Giants play a prominent role in Celtic and broadly British folklore and fairy tales, and appear in the Mabinogion as well as the more famous Jack and the Beanstalk story. Giants are closely associated with the primordial creation, as is the case in Germanic and Greco-Roman mythology, and often represent the original inhabitants of a land. Alternately, they are linked to the archaic or primordial culture, be it the titans of Greco-Roman mythology, the Fomorians in Irish tales, or the Vanir in Germanic tradition.

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Among these regional river goddesses of iron age Gaul, those particularly worthy of note are Sequana and Dea Matrona. Matrona, who is linked to Modron in Wales, is the goddess of the river Marne, and has been identified as the "Great Mother" in Gaulish tradition. Stone carvings have survived that depict Matrona nursing infants at her bosom. Similar figures in Britain have been linked to Dea Nutrix as a nursing goddess. Sequana is the mother goddess of the Sequani tribe, and the patron goddess of the river Seine. A bronze sculpture of her survived that depicted her standing in a duckboat wearing a crown. Thus the river goddess is widely documented as an ancestral goddess who went by many names.

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The Sovereignty Goddess

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Medb, Meadhbh, Medb Lethberg (Ireland)

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In addition to her role as a water goddess and similarity to other named water and river goddesses, Cailleach is also linked to mead in the Lament of the Old Woman of Beare. In the poem Cailleach, who identifies herself as "Buri", says the following:

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I have had my day with kings, 
drinking mead and wine; 
now I drink whey-and-water 
among shrivelled old hags.

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This ritual links the hag to the sovereignty goddess, while revealing that she has been transformed from this role into a hag. This sovereignty goddess is named Medb, or Maeve in English, and Medb Lethderg specifically in connection with the seat of the High King at Tara.​ Medb's name stems from the Celtic word for mead, medu. Outside of the narrative of the Tain, her greater role as a sovereignty goddess is largely reconstructed through linguistic studies.

 

According to Plutarch, the tetrarch Senatus married a "maiden" by the name of Camma in Galatia, Anatolia. Celts are known to have migrated to Galatia, and in Plutarch's account, Camma murders the tetrarch by poisoning a mixture of milk and mead in an annointing ritual while addressing an unnamed goddess. Camma claims she killed Senatus in pursuit of justice. Though the historicity of this narrative is debatable, it reveals a widespread ritual linked to the sovereignty goddess involving mead, which sees the ruler ritualistically marry the sovereignty goddess so that he may rule over her realm. This is grounded in matriarchal and matrilineal traditions typical of broadly Celtic culture, and one must note that the priestess mentioned by Plutarch is a virgin. Though some virgin goddesses may only play an adoptive "maternal" role in the initiation of youths, the primordial virgin mother of the cosmos is a universal and ancient concept. This ritual that links the ruler to the virginal sovereignty goddess emphasises that he is "given" his power by the goddess whom the land belongs to. 

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The linking of mead to this sovereignty goddess is significant, as the oldest sacred drink that is also linked to divination and prophecy. Bees were linked to the oracle at Delphi, and intoxicating sacred drinks are closely associated with Dionysus or Bacchus in Greco-Roman tradition and with Woden in Germanic tradition. In both a regal and mystical context, the annointing ritual involving this drink signals the initiation of the king and his connection to divinity.

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The story of The Death of Niall and the Nine Hostages is a clear example of this tradition of the sovereignty goddess, which explicitly depicts her as a hag. This ugly hag is likened to a horse, and is said to have a diseased appearance. She is black all over. Niall's two brothers first encounter the hag, who offers them water in exchange for a kiss. The brothers both decline, but Niall offers to not only kiss her but lie with her as well. At this point the hag is transformed into a beautiful young women dressed in the regal colour of purple. This motif of laying with a queen, or goddess, is fairly common in Celtic narratives, and represents the warrior symbolically and ritualistically "taking" the sovereignty goddess in a rite of passage as the female initiate is "taken" by the god in her menstrual cycle. When he is shocked by her transformation and asked what she is, the rejuvenated goddess says to Niall the following:

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“I am the Sovereignty of Erin...
O king of Tara, I am the Sovereignty:
I will tell thee its great goodness, etc."

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Erin or Éirinn is the dative form of the Irish word for Ireland, linking her to the Gaelic tribe and the throne of Tara. Ériu is one of three tutelary goddesses of Ireland along with Banba and Fódla born of the mother goddess Ernmas, who also gave birth to the Morrigan. The goddess then instructs Niall to return to his brothers with the water, adding that domination will remain with him and his children. She adds that he should only give them the water once he can demonstrate his superior strength and ensure their submission to him as a ruler. She says the following:

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"thou hast seen me loathsome, bestial, horrible at first and beautiful at last, so is the sovereignty; for seldom it is gained without battles and conflicts; but at last to anyone it is beautiful and goodly."

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This revelation mirrors that of Aphrodite or Venus as a goddess of love, beauty and harmony. Her role as both the embodiment of beauty and harmony and as a sovereignty goddess is also comparable to that of Isis in Egyptian tradition, who parallels both Aphrodite and Demeter while being closely linked to the throne. Isis is, likewise, in certain contexts at least described as a virgin goddess. The distinction between the virgin, the mother and the crone may not be as well-documented or as explicitly stated in Celtic mythology as it is in Greco-Roman mythology, but this narrative alone shows the sovereignty goddess shapeshifting from one to the other in an initiatory context. As is the case in Cailleach's yearly cycle of ageing and rejuvenation, the sovereignty goddess has returned to a state of youth, beauty and grace. The words of the goddess to Niall highlight the close association of her and women with diplomacy and peacekeeping, while emphasising that blood must be shed in a sacrifice in order to restore her - and her land - to beauty and prosperity.

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Medb later became the "Queen Mab" of the fairies in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Medb plays a significant role as an antagonist in the Tain. She seeks equal status to her husband Ailil, and goes to war to claim the brown bull Donn Cúailnge, the only bull that can rival Ailill's white bull, Finnbennach. This theft of bulls likely stems from a rite of passage and initiation ritual linked to the sovereign goddess and mother goddess, and is comparable to the mystery cults that would have been practiced in Knosssos, Crete involving both the "Mistress of the Labyrinth" and the Bull God (Dionysus). Medb, like Aphrodite, Brunnhild and Ishtar, has a mortal lover. Thus she can be compared to the Sovereignty of Erin in Niall's story.

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The Veiled Mother

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The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare states that “for a hundred years she wore the veil which Cummin had blessed upon her head". Given Cailleach's role as a winter hag this may be viewed as a veil of snow that is lifted with the change of seasons, but more broadly as with Isis and Despoina it serves as a veil to hide the mystery and the deity's true nature. Anu, as noted above, is comparable to the veiled Despoina (Demeter and Persephone) in Greek tradition, and Aphrodite is harmony and beauty unveiled and unclothed. This common motif is found in numerous pantheons sees the goddess reveal herself only through trying initiation rites. One may also relate this to the veil of Maya in Vedic tradition and the belief in a veil masking another reality or another dimension.

 

As highlighted in the iconic horror novella the Great God Pan by the Welsh folklorist Arthur Machen, when wholly unmasked in ritual or through use of substances the Otherworld has the potential to drive one to insanity. As a Baba Yaga parallel, this veiled goddess embodies complex creator-destroyer goddess who appears in less detail in Celtic sources when compared to Kali and Athena. This veiled goddess also plays a role in initiating the young, as previously noted, and archaic depictions of Athena in this context often depict her holding a "veil" or cloak. In Scottish tradition, the winter hag's name "Beira" or "Beara" literally means "the hooded one", further establishing her as a veiled and hidden deity. Graves noted that both Cailleach and Ana were turned into nuns in Christian folklore, and that this was easy as they were already veiled. This association of Anu and by extension the Morrigan runs parallel to other European and broadly Mediterranean veiled goddess motifs.

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The Battle Crow

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The Mórrígan, Morrígu (Ireland), Morgan, Morgen (Wales), Badb, Badbcatha (Ireland), Macha (Ireland), Neman (Ireland), Bodua (Gaul), Nantosuelta (Gaul)

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The etymology of Morrigan is debated, with interpretations ranging between “terror” (Mor in Proto-Indo-European) to nightmare, with the epithet “phantom queen” being favoured in modern scholarship. There is clearly a close link to both the mare in Germanic tradition and the Mara in Slavic tradition, with the mare of Germanic folklore being associated with sleep and also said to ride on a horse. Linked to the archaic English word of Maer, she would simultaneously be linked to both female horses and nightmares and, as the name “Morgan La Fey” or “Morgan the Fairy” in Arthurian tradition conveys, with being carried away to the Otherworld. As noted above, referring to any goddess as strictly speaking a "horse goddess" is an oversimplification. However, this linguistic root would associate Morrigan with Epona and Rhiannon. 

 

A major figure in Celtic mythology, Morrigan is the wife of Dagda as the “phantom queen” of the otherworld and the dead. Forming part of the triad the Morrigan along with Macha and Neman, which sometimes includes Badb. As Badb is also a crow it is most likely that either she was an epithet of Morrigan. Alternatively, like Huginn and Muginn in Germanic mythology, Morrigan and Badb may be seen as a pair. This also applies to the two wolves of Germanic mythology Fenrir and Garm, and Anubis and Wepwawet in Egyptian mythology. Morrigan is the root of the banshee in later folklore, further showing parallels with Slavic traditions of mara. Morrigan, like Cailleach, has much in common with the Slavic goddess Morana or Marena (the Baba Roga or Baba Yaga of later Slavic folk tales).

 

As a triad, Morrigan is the consort of Dagda, the Dis Pater of the Otherworld. Demeter is both the sister of and in some contexts a consort of Zeus, as Danu is in relation to Beli or Belenos, and the triad of Hekate - which was identified closely parallels that of the Morrigan. Servius in his commentary on Virgil's Aeneid spoke of Diana or Artemis as a triad that included Luna in the heavens, Diana on Earth and Persephone in Hell. Diana, like Hekate, was depicted as a triad as Diana Triformis. Neoplatonists discussed this triad at length; Proculus linked Rhea, who he associated with Ceres or Demeter, to the principle of generation and division, but associated Kore or Persephone with a more indiscriminate creative force. Proculus also named another triad that included Ceres, Juno and Diana. Thomas Taylor likewise discussed Diana as part of a triad linked to Kore or Ceres, Hecate, and Minerva, stressing the extent to which these deities used each other's powers and together simultaneously embodied the virgin and the generative mother goddess. This same parallel is found in both the Virgin Mother of Christian tradition and the Morrigan triad, which encompasses aspects of the maiden, mother and crone that would later be identified as a "triple moon goddess" by the Wicca movement. The discussion around the Potna Theron triad and her various names in Greco-Roman tradition is invaluable in better comprehending the true nature of the Morrigan triad.

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Crows are known for their own “funeral” rituals that involves gathering around and pecking at the deceased bird. Crows have a close relationship with wolves; they direct them towards prey and share their food (source). They have long been recognised for their high intelligence, and are widely associated with oracles, divination and Apollo. Apollo's linguistic parallel Beli or Belenos, therefore, would likewise be linked to the raven consort of his "double" Dadga or Cernunnos. Though broadly universal parallels are always important to recognise, it is logical that Celtic mythology carries closer similarity to Germanic traditions. In his role as a parallel of Dagda and Hades, Woden in the underworld acts as as a consort of Hel, accompanied by his ravens.

 

Badb is also known by the epithet “Badbcatha” or “battle-crow”, further identifying her as Morrigan under another name. Inscriptions of a “Boduogenos” show that a goddess by the name of Bodua was known to the Gauls. Cathubodua is also equated with Badbcatha. Her role as a battle-crow who tore at the bodies of the slain and as seeress links her to later banshee folklore, in much the same way as Morana in Slavic tradition is the root of later Baba Yaga folklore and other regionalised female “spirits”. Given the role of two crows in other myths as noted, Badb may function as a double of Morrigan rather than a mere epithet, though such distinctions between doubles and alter-egos and epithets are by nature blurred at times in mythology. Graves claimed that Macha means "raven" and that Badb means "boiling". He linked this hag to the Celtic “cauldron”. He also connects Badb to Ana as the “suckling hag”. Some sources indicate different sets of parents for Badb and Neman or Nemain, leading some scholars such as W. H. Hennessey to argue they are not entirely identical, but this may be another method of masking in oral tradition (just as deities take the form as various relatives, such as uncles and cousins). As noted above, different sets of offspring have been suggested for Danu, and particularly in Orphic tradition, Greco-Roman deities have different parents depending on the context.  

 

Other scholars, such as James Mackillop, have suggested that Badb and the war goddess Nemain are one and the same deity. As is often the case in mythological study, different states may be ignored in this instance, and as ultimately one and the same goddess one may compare them (and Nemain's spouse Net or Neit) to Ares and Athena in their resting and poised states. Such distinctions between different states become even more pronounced in Egyptian mythology, in which Sekhmet goes on a frenzied killing spree until her lust for blood is quelled after Ra tricked her into drinking from a lake of beer dyed red. Such varying states are further conveyed by the ambivalent nature of crows as diviners in these myths, in which they alternately predict peace and death. It is also significant that Badb expels the Formorians after they destroy the agricultural produce of Ireland, emphasising her and the Morrigan's role in a fertility mother goddess trinity before a shift towards more regular warfare.

 

This blood-fuelled frenzy of the ambivalent war goddess is compared to that of Kali in Hindu mythology, and her collecting of severed heads. Heads of slain enemies were dedicated to Macha. The Celts are known for their cult of severed heads, which were both placed above doorways on houses and hung from their horse's saddles. Heads often decorated Celtic doorways and houses and represented a portal to the Otherworld. This same practice of adorning doorways with skulls or heads is also found in Etruscan tradition. Herodotus claimed that the Scythian nomads drank from cups made from the skulls of their enemies, and a similar custom appears to have existed in ice age Britain.

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J. A. MaCculloch noted the resemblance of this “scalded crow” to the Norse Valkyries and the Keres in Greek mythology which, as winged creatures, feast on the blood of the slain. Keres may be linked linguistically to Ceres, highlighting the connection between valkyries, the Morrigan triad and the chthonic triad of matres. Divination involving crows also includes omens relating to the weather, and as discussed earlier, valkyries are linked to rainmaking rituals. Other comparable triads include the Germanic Norns - Urðr ("fate"), Verðandi ("the present") and Skuld ("obligation") - and the Greek Moirai - Klotho (the spinner), Lákhesis ("the allotter") and Atropos ("the inevitable"). It is worth noting that Germanic mythology lacks an obvious parallel of Athena, in contrast with Celtic mythology, which has Brigantia. Given Athena's role as a weaving goddess, it is logical to connect her to the Norns as a triad of fate goddesses, and the same applies to some extent with the Morrigan triad given the close association with divination and omens. As the “Washer of the Ford”, Badb prophesies death to the men whose armour she cleans, further suggesting her role as a psychopomp and “Valkyrie” figure.

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As noted above, Briffault made the connection between the horned goddess and "three Brigits", which may be interpreted as Brigantia or Brigid as a triad or the chthonic Morrigan triad that mirrors Brigid. As with the mother goddess, this lunar horned goddess and hag is linked to both the "mad" lunar god and the horned storm god, which as previously noted highlights the influence both the moon and storms have over a woman's menstrual and pregnancy cycles. Graves stated that Anu or Ana was part of a triad with Macha and Badb, highlighting the debate over whether Morrigan as one of a triad or "The Morrigan” as the name for the three Matres and three faced goddess as a whole. 

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The Morrigan triad features prominently in the Tain. Morrigan is hostile to Cú Chulainn because he rejects her, which links Morrigan to the sovereignty goddess and the aforementioned custom of the mother goddess marrying or attempting to marry a ruler or hero. Morrigan goes on to aid the men of Ulster and the brown bull, and tries to prevent the hero's death. At one point, Morrigan comes to a rest on a standing stone and talks to the brown bull. She calls the bull "dark one", observing his restlessness, and comments on "beauty blossoms" grinding the bones of heroes to dust on the battlefield. Battle was, of course, itself a rite of passage, and with that rite of passage came sacrifice on a massive and bloody scale.

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Superstitions surrounding corvids have persisted for centuries in the British Isles. Numerous nursery rhymes exist relating to magpies, and folklorist William Henderson noted that the magpie survived in popular consciousness as a "strange relic" that evoked the pagan world of yore. Other than the drake, the crow was also the only bird whose form the Devil could take, and the association with the Devil is conveyed in the following nursery rhyme:

 

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss,
Eleven for health,
Twelve for wealth,
Thirteen beware it's the devil himself.

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According to the 9th century Glossary written by Cormac, warriors invoked Morrigan in battle by imitating the croak of a raven using war horns. Graves contrasted the "gentle" character of Morgana or Morgan Le Fey depicted in Le Morte d'Arthur with the "black screeching hag Cerridwen" in the Romance of Taliesin. Cerridwen is described as "big-mouthed, swarthy, swift, sooty, lame, with a cast in her left eye", which like the description of the Sovereignty Goddess in hag form in Niall's story, is reminiscent of a horse. It is worth noting that the enchantress is blind in one eye, like Woden, and lameness is in some contexts linked to smithing due to side effects that can result from arsenic poisoning. As noted above, Danu and Cailleach share a close link to smithing. Graves compared Cú Chulainn to dying and resurrecting gods such as Dionysus and Zagreus, noting Morrigan's warning to him that he will only be allowed to live as long as the brown bull calf is only a yearling. He notes that the bulls are shapeshifting figures, and Morrigan as a "fate goddess" plays a key role in this narrative tied to the ancient bull cult.

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The iron age Gaulish goddess Nantosuelta, a consort of Sucellos, is depicted on an altar accompanied by a large raven, and several scholars have have found close similarities between her and the battle-crow in later Irish myth). In the Karlsruhe area of what is now Germany, Sucellos accompanies Aericura as well as Nantosuelta, further indicating his function as a Dis-Pater figure similar to that of Ireland's Dadga. A silver ring from York inscribed “DEO SVCELO” (to the god Sucellos) and “TOTATIS MARTIS” (to Mars Teutates) confirms his worship in Britain as well as linking him to the tribal protector Teutates. Sucellos has many close similarities with Dionysus, and in particular Silvanus, who stems from the Etruscan god Selvans, equivalent to the Greek god Pan. Fufluns is another Etruscan Pan-Dionysus parallel, and a horned god, who is one of several consorts alternately associated with the goddess Catha. Given the poor understanding of the Etruscan language, it may not be hugely far-fetched to connect Catha with the Gaulish battle-grow goddess Cathubodua. One must also note the poor-documentation of Cernunnos, and he may simply serve as one of several epithets relating to the horned Dis Pater of the Otherworld who has the Black Mother and battle crow as his bride.

 

​Sources:

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Robert Briffault, Mothers

Clark, Rosalind, The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrígan to Cathleen Ní Houlihan, Irish Literary Studies. Vol. Book 34, 1990

Robert Graves, the White Goddess, 

J. A. MaCculloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts

Mircea Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion

Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of Invasions; §55-64: The Tuatha de Dannan

Heichelheim & Housman, Sucellus and Nantosuelta in Mediaeval Celtic Mythology, 

L'Antiquité Classique , Miscellanea Philologica Historica et Archaeologica in honorem Hvberti Van De Weerd (1948), pp. 305-316

Hennessy, W. M., "The Ancient Irish Goddess of War", Revue Celtique 1, 1870–72, pp. 32–37

Irslinger, Britta, Medb 'the intoxicating one'? (Re-)constructing the past through etymology, Ulidia 4. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Queens-University, Belfast, 2013 

Mackillop, James (2004). A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 30

MacLeod, Sharon Paice (2018). Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld : Mythic Origins, Sovereignty and Liminality. Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland. pp. 93–116.

Plutarch, De Mulierum Virtutibus, Vol. III of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1931

The Tain

Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice-Hall Press, 1991. pp.38–40

McNeill, F. Marian (1959). The Silver Bough, Vol.2: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals, Candlemas to Harvest Home.

MacLellan, William, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches, pp. 20–21. 

Taylor, Thomas, The Six Books of Proclus, the Platonic Successor, on the Theology of Plato, 1816

Anthony Weir, James Jerman, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches, Routledge, 1986 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45116614

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12478115

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Sean Kelly, 2020, edited 16/03/2023; 29/08/2024