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The following list of Celtic deities gives a brief description of each and lists the magickal powers connected with them. This list is for use in determining what powers to call upon when you are working magick.
ANGUS MAC OG; ANGUS OF THE BRUGH; OENGUS OF THE BRUIG; ANGUS MAC OC (mak ohk):
Ireland.
“Young son.”
One of the Tuatha De Danann. He
had a gold harp that made irresistibly sweet music.
His kisses became birds carrying love messages.
He had a brugh (fairy palace) on the banks of the Boyne.
GOD OF YOUTH, LOVE AND BEAUTY.
ANU (an-oo); ANANN; DANA; DANA-ANA: Ireland.
Mother Earth; goddess of plenty, another aspect of the Morrigu; Great
Goddess; greatest of all goddesses. The
flowering fertility goddess, sometimes she formed a trinity with Badb and Macha.
Her priestesses comforted and taught the dying.
Fires were lit for her at Midsummer.
Two hills in Kerry are called the Paps of Anu.
Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess in Ireland.
Guardian of cattle and health. GODDESS
OF FERTILITY, PROSPERITY, COMFORT.
ARAWN (ar-awn): Wales. King of
Hell; god of Annwn, the underground kingdom of the dead.
REVENGE, TERROR, WAR.
ARIANRHOD (ari-an-rod): Wales. “Silver
Wheel”; “High Fruitful Mother”; star goddess; sky goddess; virgin; goddess
of reincarnation; Full Moon goddess. Her
palace was called Caer Arianrhod (Aurora Borealis). Keeper of the circling Silver Wheel of Stars, a symbol of
time or karma. This wheel was also
known as the Oar Wheel, a ship which carried dead warriors to the Moonland (Emania).
Mother of Lieu Llaw Gyffes and Dylan by her brother Gwydion.
Her original consort was Nwyvre (Sky or Firmament).
Mother aspect of the Triple Goddess in Wales.
Honored at the Full Moon. BEAUTY,
FERTILITY, REINCARNATION.
BADB (bibe); BADHBH; BADB CATHA: Ireland. “Boiling”;
“Battle Raven”; “Scald-crow”; the cauldron of ever-producing life; known
in gaul as Cauth Bodva. War goddess
and wife of Net, a war god. Sister
of Macha, the Morrigu and Anu. Mother
aspect of the Triple Goddess in Ireland. Associated
with the cauldron, crows and ravens.
LIFE,
WISDOM, INSPIRATION, ENLIGHTENMENT.
BEL; BELENUS; BELINUS; BELENOS; BELIMAWR: Ireland.
“Shining”; Sun and Fire god; Great God.
Similar to Apollo. Closely
connected with the Druids. His name
is seen in the festival of Beltane or Beltain.
Cattle were driven through the bonfires for purification and fertility.
SCIENCE, HEALING, HOT SPRINGS, FIRE, SUCCESS, PROSPERITY, PURIFICATION,
CROPS, VEGETATION, FERTILITY, CATTLE.
BLODEUWEDD (blod-oo-eeth); BLODWIN; BLANCHEFLOR: Wales.
“Flower Face”; “White Flower”.
Lily maid of Celtic initiation ceremonies. Also known as the Ninefold Goddess of the Western Isles of
Paradise. Created by Math and
Gwydion as a wife for Lieu. She was
changed into an owl for her adultery and plotting Lieu’s death.
The Maiden form of the Triple Goddess; her symbol was the owl; goddess of
the Earth in bloom. FLOWERS, WISDOM, LUNAR MYSTERIES, INITIATIONS.
BOANN (boo-an); BOANNAN; BOYNE: Ireland. Goddess
of the river Boyne; mother of Angus mac Og by the Dagda.
Other Celtic river goddess: Siannan (Shannon), Sabrina (Severn), Sequanna
(Seine), Deva (Dee), Clota (Clyde), Verbeia (Wharfe), Brigantia (Braint, Brent).
HEALING.
BRAN THE BLESSED; BENEDIGEIDFRAN (bran): Wales.
A giant; “raven”; “the blessed”.
Brother of the mighty Manawydan ap Llyr (Ireland, Manannan mac Lir) and
Branwen; son of Llyr. Associated
with ravens. GOD OF PROPHECY, THE
ARTS, LEADERS, WAR, THE SUN, MUSIC, WRITING.
BRANWEN (bran-oo-en): Manx, Wales. Sister
of Bran the Blessed and wife of the Irish king Matholwch.
Venus of the Northern Seas; daughter of Llyr (Lir); one of the three
matriarchs of Britain; Lady of the Lake (cauldron).
GODDESS OF LOVE AND BEAUTY.
BRIGHT (breet); BRID (breed); BRIG; BRIGID; BRIGHID:
Ireland, Wales, Spain,
France. “Power”; “Renown”;
“Fiery Arrow or Power” (Breo-saighead).
Daughter of the Dagda; called the poetess.
Often called The Triple Brigids, Three Blessed Ladies of Britain, The
Three Mothers. Another aspect of
Danu; associated with Imbolc. She
had an exclusive female priesthood at Kildare and an ever-burning sacred fire.
The number of her priestesses was nineteen, representing the
nineteen-year cycle of the Celtic “Great Year”.
Her kelles were sacred prostitutes in her soldiers brigands.
Goddess of fire, fertility, the hearth, all feminine arts and crafts, and
martial arts. HEALING, PHYSICIANS,
AGRICULTURE, INSPIRATION, LEARNING, POETRY, DIVINATION, PROPHECY, SMITHCRAFT,
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, LOVE, WITCHCRAFT, OCCULT KNOWLEDGE.
CERNUNNOS
(ker-noo-nos); CERNOWAIN; CERNENUS; HERNE THE HUNTER:
Known
to all Celtic areas in one form or another.
The Horned God; God of Nature; god of the Underworld and the Astral
Plane; Great Father; “the Horned One”.
The Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, the Horned God of fertility.
He was portrayed sitting in a lotus position with horns or antlers on his
head, long curling hair, a beard, naked except for a neck torque, and sometimes
holding a spear and shield. His
symbols were the stag, ram, bull, and horned serpent.
Sometimes called Belatucadros and Vitiris. VIRILITY, FERTILITY, ANIMALS, PHYSICAL LOVE, NATURE,
WOODLANDS, REINCARNATION, CROSSROADS, WEALTH, COMMERCE, WARRIORS.
CERRIDWEN;
CARIDWEN/ CERIDWEN: Wales.
Moon Goddess; Great Mother; grain goddess; goddess of Nature.
The white corpse-eating sow representing the Moon.
Wife of the giant Tegid and mother of a beautiful girl Creirwy and an
ugly boy Avagdu. Welsh Bards called
themselves Cerddorion (sons of Cerridwen).
The Bard Taliesin, founder of their craft, was said to be born of
Cerridwen and to have tasted a potent brew from her magick cauldron of
inspiration. This potion known as “greal” (from which the word Grail
probably came), was made from six plants for inspiration and knowledge.
Gwion Bach (later called Taliesin) accidentally drank the remaining three
drops of the liquid. Her symbol was
a white sow. DEATH,
FERTILITY, REGENERATION, INSPIRATION, MAGICK, ASTROLOGY, HERBS, SCIENCE, POETRY,
SPELLS, KNOWLEDGE.
CREIDDYLAD;
CREUDYLAD; CORDELIA: Wales.
Daughter of the sea god Llyr. Connected
with Beltane and often called the May Queen.
Goddess of summer flowers. LOVE
AND FLOWERS.
THE
CRONE: One aspect of the Triple
Goddess. She represents old age or
death, Winter, the end of all things, the waning Moon, post-menstrual phases of
women’s lives, all destruction that precedes regeneration through her cauldron
of rebirth. Crows and other black
creatures are sacred to her. Dogs
often accompanied her and guarded the gates of her after-world, helping her
receive the dead. In Celtic myth,
the gatekeeper-dog was named Dormarth (Death’s Door).
The Irish Celts maintained that true curses could be cast with the aid of
a dog. Therefore, they used the
word cainte (dog) for a satiric Bard with the magick power to speak curses that
came true.
THE
DAGDA: Ireland.
“The Good God”; “Allfather”; Great God; Lord of the Heavens;
Father of the gods and men; Lord of Life and Death; the Arch-Druid; god of
magick; Earth God. High King of the Tuatha De Danann. He had four great palaces in the depths of the earth and
under the hollow hills. The Dagda
had several children, the most important being Brigit, Angus, Midir, Ogma and
Bodb the Red. God of death and
rebirth; master of all trades; lord of perfect knowledge.
more to come...
