List of Celtic deities The Celtic pantheon is known from a variety of sources such as written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names. Celtic deities can fall under two categories: general deities and local deities. "General deities" were known by Celts throughout large regions, and are the gods and goddesses invoked for protection, healing, luck, and honour. The "local deities" that embodied Celtic nature worship were the spirits of a particular feature of the landscape, such as mountains, trees, or rivers, and thus were generally only known by the locals in the surrounding areas.[citation needed] Gaulish and Brythonic deities[edit] Male[edit] Female[edit] Welsh deities/characters[edit] The Welsh were the Britons that inhabited modern-day Wales (Welsh: Cymru). Male[edit] Female[edit] Gaelic deities[edit] Note: Modern spellings are shown in brackets. Male[edit] Female[edit] Celtiberian deities[edit] Male[edit] Female[edit] References[edit]
Celtic mythology Overview[edit] Though the Celtic world at its apex covered much of western and central Europe, it was not politically unified nor was there any substantial central source of cultural influence or homogeneity; as a result, there was a great deal of variation in local practices of Celtic religion (although certain motifs, for example the god Lugh, appear to have diffused throughout the Celtic world). Inscriptions of more than three hundred deities, often equated with their Roman counterparts, have survived, but of these most appear to have been genii locorum, local or tribal gods, and few were widely worshipped. However, from what has survived of Celtic mythology, it is possible to discern commonalities which hint at a more unified pantheon than is often given credit. Celtic mythology is found in a number of distinct, if related, subgroups, largely corresponding to the branches of the Celtic languages: Historical sources[edit] Irish mythology[edit] Cuchulainn carries Ferdiad across the river
Ceridwen In Welsh medieval legend, Ceridwen was an enchantress. She is the mother of a hideous son, Morfran, and a beautiful daughter, Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) in north Wales. Medieval Welsh poetry refers to her as possessing the cauldron of Poetic Inspiration (Awen) and the Tale of Taliesin recounts her swallowing her servant Gwion Bach who is then reborn through her as the poet Taliesin. Ceridwen is regarded by many modern Pagans as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration. In 19th century literature and etymology the name Ket, Ked and variants were assumed to relate to the goddess Ceridwen.[1] Etymology[edit] Legend[edit] According to the late medieval[6] Tale of Taliesin, included in some modern editions of the Mabinogion, Ceridwen's son, Morfran (also called Afagddu), was hideously ugly, so Ceridwen sought to make him wise in compensation. The mixture had to be boiled for a year and a day. Later interpretations[edit]
Horned God The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god with pseudohistorical origins[4] who, according to Margaret Murray's 1921 The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, was the deity worshipped by a pan-European witchcraft-based cult, and was demonized into the form of the Devil by the Mediaeval Church. The Horned God has been explored within several psychological theories, and has become a recurrent theme in fantasy literature.[5]:872 Horned God of Wicca[edit] For Wiccans, the Horned God is "the personification of the life force energy in animals and the wild"[6] and is associated with the wilderness, virility and the hunt.[7]:16 Doreen Valiente writes that the Horned God also carries the souls of the dead to the underworld.[8] In the name of the Lady of the Moon, and the Horned Lord of Death and Resurrection[12] Names of the Horned God[edit] Horned God in psychology[edit] Jungian analysis[edit] Humanistic psychology[edit]
Epona Epona, third century AD, from Freyming (Moselle), France (Musée Lorrain, Nancy) In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona (pronounced /ɨˈpoʊnə/) was a protector of horses, donkeys, and mules. She was particularly a goddess of fertility, as shown by her attributes of a patera, cornucopia, ears of grain and the presence of foals in some sculptures.[1] She and her horses might also have been leaders of the soul in the after-life ride, with parallels in Rhiannon of the Mabinogion.[2] Unusual for a Celtic deity, most of whom were associated with specific localities, the worship of Epona, "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself,"[3] was widespread in the Roman Empire between the first and third centuries AD. Etymology of the name[edit] Evidence for Epona[edit] Epona and her horses, from Köngen, Germany, About 200 AD. Although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are in Latin or, rarely, Greek. Iconography[edit] In Latin literature[edit] In Great Britain[edit] Today[edit]
Celtic polytheism Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism,[1][2][3] comprises the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts the British and Irish Iron Age. Celtic polytheism was one of a larger group of Iron Age polytheistic religions of the Indo-European family. It comprised a large degree of variation both geographically and chronologically, although "behind this variety, broad structural similarities can be detected"[4] allowing there to be "a basic religious homogeneity" amongst the Celtic peoples.[5] The Celtic pantheon consists of numerous recorded theonyms, both from Greco-Roman ethnography and from epigraphy. Among the most prominent ones are Teutatis, Taranis and Lugus. In the later 5th and the 6th centuries, the Celtic region was Christianized and earlier religious traditions were supplanted.
Cernunnos Cernunnos is the conventional name given in Celtic studies to depictions of the "horned god" of Celtic polytheism. The name itself is only attested once, on the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen, but depictions of a horned or antlered figure, often seated cross-legged and often associated with animals and holding or wearing torcs, are known from other instances. Nothing is known about the god from literary sources, and details about his name, his cult or his significance in Celtic religion are unknown. Name[edit] The theonym [C]ernunnos appears on the Pillar of the Boatmen, a Gallo-Roman monument dating to the early 1st century CE, to label a god depicted with stag's antlers in their early stage of annual growth.[2] Both antlers have torcs hanging from them.[3] The Proto-Celtic form of the theonym is reconstructed as either *Cerno-on-os[dubious ] or *Carno-on-os. Epigraphic evidence[edit] Iconography[edit] God of Etang-sur-Arroux, a possible depiction of Cernunnos. Neopaganism[edit]
Green Man Types[edit] Lady Raglan coined the term "Green Man" in her 1939 article "The Green Man in Church Architecture" in The Folklore Journal.[3] Some commentators conflate or associate the term with "Jack in the Green".[4] Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of the Green Man may take many forms, naturalistic or decorative. The simplest depict a man's face peering out of dense foliage. Some may have leaves for hair, perhaps with a leafy beard. Often leaves or leafy shoots are shown growing from his open mouth and sometimes even from the nose and eyes as well. The Green Man appears in many forms, with the three most common types categorized as: the Foliate Head: completely covered in green leavesthe Disgorging Head: spews vegetation from its mouththe Bloodsucker Head: sprouts vegetation from all facial orifices (e.g. tear ducts, nostrils and mouth)[5][6] In churches[edit] Later variations[edit] Modern images[edit] Related characters[edit]
Grannus Name[edit] Etymology[edit] In the early twentieth century, the name was connected with the Irish grian, ‘sun’.[1] Along these lines, the god was often linked to the Deò-ghrèine and the character Mac Gréine of Irish mythology. However, the Irish grian, ‘sun’ is thought to be derived from Proto-Celtic *greinā ‘sun’ and the Proto-Celtic *greinā is unlikely to have developed into Grannos in Gaulish and other Continental Celtic languages. Derivation from a Proto-Celtic root *granno- ‘beard’ (cf. Epithets[edit] At Monthelon[disambiguation needed], Grannus is also called Amarcolitanus ("The one with a piercing or far-reaching look"[4]) and at Horbourg-Wihr Mogounus.[5] In all of his centres of worship where he is assimilated to a Roman god, Grannus was equated with Apollo,[5] presumably in Apollo’s role as a healing or solar deity. Centres of worship[edit] Hot springs such as those at Aquae Granni (today's Aachen) are thought to have been dedicated to Grannus. Festival[edit] Divine entourage[edit]
IRISH LITERATURE, MYTHOLOGY, FOLKLORE, AND DRAMA Irish Writers OnlineIrish PlayographyStudy Ireland: Poetry - BBCIrish Women Writers - M. OckerbloomIreland Literature GuidePoetry Ireland / Éigse ÉireannEarly Irish Lyric Poetry - Kuno MeyerSonnets from Ireland - E. BlomquistColum's Anthology of Irish Verse - Bartleby.comBREAC - Digital Journal of Irish Studies Medieval Celtic ManuscriptsThe Book of KellsCarmina GadelicaCELT Irish Electronic Texts Irish Writers OnlineIreland Literature ExchangeBibliography of 19th-c. Irish Literature - J.M. Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift ArchiveJonathan Swift Biography - IncompetechGulliver's Travels - U. Bram StokerDraculaBram Stoker Biography - Classic Literature LibraryBram Stoker's Dracula - Carstens smith Oscar WildeThe Official Home Page of Oscar WildeWilde Biography - BBCOscar Wilde OnlineCELT: Oscar WildePoetry of Oscar Wilde - Bartleby.com George Bernard ShawShaw Biography - C. William Butler YeatsYeats Biography - Poetry FoundationCollected Poems - W. Donn ByrneByrne Biography - J. Fine Art Oisín