View Full Version : Celtic Deities
Lilith Rain
January 4th, 2002, 05:55 AM
http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/celtic.htm
was
November 24th, 2003, 06:55 PM
Baal God of fertility
Romani Vixen
November 25th, 2003, 05:47 AM
Two quick notes:
Talesin was more a mythological hero figure type. something of an assimilation of the great bards of the region (though lore states him as Ceredwyn's child). I can look for the reference on this if anyone desires.
Also, when reading your discription of the White Lady, I picure Kali, who is quite often seen in all white... blonde... and still quite distructive if she chooses... I'm just finding the cross-cultural influence/similarities.
FalconSong
aefentid
November 25th, 2003, 06:33 AM
I just wanted to point out a few things.
Herne is not Celtic, the name is Anglo- Saxon and he might not even be a God.
A link with more information http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/herne.htm
While the Celts, or at least some of them did have a horned god, such as Cernnunos, The Horned God is modern as is The Greenman.
The Celts were polytheists and did not worship a Great Goddess or a Great Father.
Some of their Goddesses such as Brigid were seen as triple, but not as a maiden/mother/crone triplicity, which is modern and was started by Graves in The White Goddess. Instead she was sometimes regarded as a triplicity of sisters each ruling over one of her functions .
I know plenty of Pagans are not polytheists and believe all Gods are one, and that's a perfectly good and valid belief.You won't find me arguing with someone over how they see and experience their Gods, but I also see nothing wrong with correcting information.
In frith,
Aefentid
RubyRose
November 25th, 2003, 07:55 AM
I just wanted to point out a few things.
Herne is not Celtic, the name is Anglo- Saxon and he might not even be a God.
A link with more information http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/herne.htm
While the Celts, or at least some of them did have a horned god, such as Cernnunos, The Horned God is modern as is The Greenman.
The Celts were polytheists and did not worship a Great Goddess or a Great Father.
Some of their Goddesses such as Brigid were seen as triple, but not as a maiden/mother/crone triplicity, which is modern and was started by Graves in The White Goddess. Instead she was sometimes regarded as a triplicity of sisters each ruling over one of her functions .
I know plenty of Pagans are not polytheists and believe all Gods are one, and that's a perfectly good and valid belief.You won't find me arguing with someone over how they see and experience their Gods, but I also see nothing wrong with correcting information.
In frith,
Aefentid
Nicely put
Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill
November 25th, 2003, 09:59 AM
While the Celts, or at least some of them did have a horned god, such as Cernnunos, The Horned God is modern as is The Greenman.
I guess that depends on your definition of modern. Carvings of the Greenman can be found in churches and cathedrals all over Europe dating back to at least the mideival era. And in fact examples of the Greenman in art can be found on columns in Turkey in the 2nd century and in Jain temples in Rajasthan. There are also very similar images to be found in Nepal, Borneo, and India. The word Greenman is modern yes, as it was coined in 1939 by Lady Raglan. But the concept of the Greenman as an entity and in icongraphyis quite old indeed.
And while his face can be seen quite clearly all over the British Isles, where he is probably found the most, the earlier examples I cited obviously point to the fact that he was not just a Celtic concept.
~Saorise Aiyana
aefentid
November 25th, 2003, 01:11 PM
I guess that depends on your definition of modern. Carvings of the Greenman can be found in churches and cathedrals all over Europe dating back to at least the mideival era. And in fact examples of the Greenman in art can be found on columns in Turkey in the 2nd century and in Jain temples in Rajasthan. There are also very similar images to be found in Nepal, Borneo, and India. The word Greenman is modern yes, as it was coined in 1939 by Lady Raglan. But the concept of the Greenman as an entity and in icongraphyis quite old indeed.
And while his face can be seen quite clearly all over the British Isles, where he is probably found the most, the earlier examples I cited obviously point to the fact that he was not just a Celtic concept.
~Saorise Aiyana
I meant modern as in, were the pre-christian Celts known to worship a deity called the Greenman. By the way thanks for all the extra information on the Greenman.
Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill
November 25th, 2003, 01:53 PM
I meant modern as in, were the pre-christian Celts known to worship a deity called the Greenman. By the way thanks for all the extra information on the Greenman.
You're quite welcome. As for were they known to worship a deity known as the Greenman, I would have to say no, because as I previously mentioned, he was not dubbed the Greenman until 1939. However, it is entirely possible that the figure known today as the Greenman was worshipped by pre-Christian Celts and others as a fertility/earth deity. The Greenman was probably incorporated into the carvings of the cathedrals and churches for two reasons. One, being that he was a widespread folk icon that the non-Christians worshipped or idolized and so the Church wanted to include his carvings in their buildings to draw in the 'heathens.' Another possibility is that those who did the carvings were followers of the folk-religions and incorporated the Greenman on the sly. Either way it points towards the Greenman being an important folk and religion icon previous to the conversion to Christianity.
~Saoirse Aiyana
Morrigan_Wolfwind
January 22nd, 2006, 02:17 PM
This is quite informative, and not only in the literal sense. The pronounciations you've included are also helpful, since I haven't been exposed to much Gaelic.
ancestral_lee
January 22nd, 2006, 05:22 PM
thats not too bad, some of the descriptions are a little simplistic and new-ageified.
Rhiannon for instance is the great queen and mother, her other half being Teyrnon. you can also equate her with epona and to an extent with Modron also.
figures like the white lady, cern etc being attributed to being pan-celtic is modern. certainly there was a cern, but his woship etc is hazy, the white lady is a new one on me, if its the 'ladi wen' mentioned in welsh folklore then she goes back no further than 1200 AD.
is this your own list or is it from a book/website. the reason i ask is that there is a strong focus on the aspecting of the triple goddess, whereas the iron age peoples would have been polytheist rather then seeing goddesses as aspets of a single triple goddess
lee
Nantonos
February 4th, 2006, 10:24 AM
is this your own list or is it from a book/website. the reason i ask is that there is a strong focus on the aspecting of the triple goddess, whereas the iron age peoples would have been polytheist rather then seeing goddesses as aspets of a single triple goddess
lee
Its a straight copy from
http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/celtic.htm
skilly-nilly
February 4th, 2006, 12:33 PM
Its a straight copy from
http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/celtic.htm
Thanks!:clapping:
When you go there,
:adidas:
you see that the main page centers on:
"Click Here to visit our
Magickal Mall"
Which makes me a little doubtful about their scholorship
_wiz_
As well, Wicca is a modern religion, and right in the intro they segue into the one God/one Goddess rethoric, which is completely non-'Celtic'.
kal
February 4th, 2006, 01:00 PM
i have been reading up on them lately
i liked ogma
and,, psychopompos leader of the souls of the underworld
Kaylara
February 4th, 2006, 01:53 PM
This thread is in direct violation of our copyright rules on this site. Therefore I am cropping it, and I ask that you do not plagerize other people's work and post it on this site. If you want to cite it, please post a link to the original text.
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