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| Once upon a time there was a kingdom of gods,
called the Tuatha De Danaan. In a battle with the Milesians, they
were defeated and driven underground. The Dagda, Father of all the
gods, allotted spiritual Ireland to the De Danaan, giving a sidhe to
each of them. A sidhe is a mound beneath the hills, and the De
Danaan became known as aes sidhe, the people of the hills, and
instead of gods, they were relegated to being faery folk. Each
sidhe had a bean sidhe, a woman of the faeries. You know
her as banshee. The bean sidhe warned of impending death by
giving an eerie wail. They say if you see her by a river ford,
washing the bloody grave clothes of the soon to be dead, it bodes ill
for you. Perhaps if you ask her who's clothes she's washing,
she'll say that they're yours.
This is Celtic history. Originally the Celts were spread across Europe, Turkey, the Slovakian countries, Austria and Switzerland, Italy to France and Belgium and Spain. They were eventually pushed back by the advance of the Roman military to Ireland, Scotland and Northern Britain, which encompasses Wales. The stories of the Celts weren't in written form until the early christian era, before that they were strictly oral tradition. Pagans and Wiccans worship the old religion, the God and Goddess that can be found in written and oral history of the Celts. The Dagda was the father of all gods, the horned one, the patron god of Druids, he was also known as Cernunnos. He had a black horse, Acein, and a magick cauldron, from which no one went away hungry. He is lord of animals, particularly the stag and bull. To Wiccans he is lord of life, death, and the Underworld. The Sun is his sacred symbol. He was never an evil or demonic deity, but the RC's, in their attempt to convert Pagans and subvert the old religion, bastardized the gentle Horned God into an evil demon and called it their Devil. The quickest way to piss off a witch is to ask her if she worships the devil. What do you think? |
| The Goddess is a triune goddess, there are three aspects
to her, the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. This symbolizes the
waxing, full and waning of the Moon.
Cerridwen was a Welsh goddess, mother of Afagddu, who was so ugly she resorted to magic to make him wise above all. While tending the potion brewing in her magick cauldron, a few drops fell on Gwion Bach's finger and he becomes wise instead of her son. In fury she eats Gwion Back while he's hiding from her as a grain of wheat. She later gives birth to the druid Taliesin, who is Gwion Back, reincarnated. Cerridwen is goddess of mountains and fertility, associated with the Moon and is regarded as the Crone aspect of Mother Goddess. Blodeuwedd was a beautiful maiden who was conjured out of the flowers of Oak, Broom and Meadowsweet. She was eventually turned into an owl. She is regarded as the Maiden aspect of the triune. Badb was a goddess of death and battles, her name signifies a raven. It is said that she appeared shrieking over the heads of the warriors in the battle of Clontarf, A.D. 1014 She is the Mother aspect of the triune. The God and Goddess are called by many names, not just those noted here. I'm of the Celtic tradition, so I use these. For more on the Goddess traditions and tales, go here. |
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