Celtic Gods & The Wheel Of The Year

[Morr]

So I'm looking to build a sort of chart that will sort of map out the wheel of the year and the corrosponding Celtic (mostly Irish) Gods/Goddesses, as part of my goal to getting to know the different Celtic dieties and working with them (as well as forging a bond with them).

I know the 4 Fire Festivals' corrosponding "bigger" Dieties (but PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong about these) -

Samhain = The Morrigan.
Imbolc = Brigit.
Beltaine = Bel/Bile/Belenos.
Lughnassadh = Lugh.

I'm sorta looking for the "inbetween" gods/goddesses that fit into the rest of the cycle of the year & the seasons.

thankies in advance, any insight is appriciated!

[Fideal]

Aine and Oengus Mac Og are also associated with Beltaine, because of their 'love' aspects. I would imagine Medb would also be appropriate to honor on Beltaine, both because of her sexuality and her soverighnity, because wasn't beltaine when the High King was crowned at Tara? I can't remember, really, but I think it was. Also, Beltaine is when the Tuatha De Danaan arrived in Ireland.

In the Isle of Man, Manannan was honored at Midsummer with an offering of reeds. I've also seen books that relate the Tale of Airmid, Miach, and Dian Cecht to Midsummer, because of the association of herbs, and midsummer is when herbs were harvested.

At Lughnasadh, it is also a good thing to honor Tailtu, as she is the reason for the whole festival!

At the autumn equinox, the Celts were still harvesting, so thats still very Lugh oriented.

At Samhain, you could also honor Don(n?) an underworld god whos island is were all the Irish dead go before heading off to the blessed isles. The Callieach also reigns during the dark half of the year, and so you could honor her.

Alexei Kondratiev mentioned in his book that on the winter equinox it is appropriate to honor the Birth of Lugh, The Bright One, who eventually defeats Balor of the Evil Eye. He has this whole archetypal system that he applies to all the Celts, with the midwinter theme being the birth of child of light who is then hidden until later in the year, as Lugh was fostered with Manannan and Tailtu.

Imbolc is, as you said, primarily Bridget ruled, but if you wanted to, you could honor Oengus Mac Og, as some myths say that he is the one who rescues Bridget from the Calliech and lets her bring summer to Ireland.

At the spring equinox, I imagine any healing god or goddess would be a good one to honor, like Airmed, Dian Cecht, or Miach.

Though, as you probably know, the Celts didn't really do much for the lesser holidays.

[Morr]

thanks!!
I have a sort of organized list of "main" Irish Gods & Goddesses (which I kinda sorta hijacked from Faeawyn's post on the "Faery Gods" thread...) and I looked some of the names on there, but couldnt find any info! grrr... such has Dhon (God of the Underworld & Death), as well as the Crone Cailleach.

Are there any books out there about the Celts & their Gods/Goddesses & History & Traditions, which isnt considered TOO Pagan? :lol: my mom is going for a visit to the US in Sept, and I want her to get me a few books, but if they are too Pagan, she wont buy them for me... So I need to get books which are mostly historical ones...

Any suggestions would be appriciated!
thanks again though :D

[Fideal]

Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Gregory is pretty much a mythological history of Ireland. You would find it in the literature or folklore section of the store, so I'd say it's not too pagan. :lol: Anything by here or Yeats is good. One book I'd really reccomend is The Red Haired Girl from the Bog. It's in the New Age section of some bookstores...but it's not too pagan looking. It has a lot of Catholic stuff in there too, along with Irish history and Paganism.

The Caillech is the Winter Crone. She drives the Wild Hunt in some myths. Most stories from Ireland and Scotland have her either kidnapping Bridget, who is rescued on Imbolc, and turning to stone, or have Her actually turning into Bridget during the summer months. There's a good article on her at House Shadow Drake, which I guess is down right now, but when it comes back I'll post the link.

There is some dissent about Donn. He was the brother of Mil, father of the Milesians. Some people say he refused to honor the goddesses of Ireland, and so they drowned him, but others (like Lady Gregory) say that he was one of the Milesians that drowned trying to reach the shore of Ireland. He has his own Island, The House where dead people go as a sort of briefing station.

[Morr]

thanks so much :)

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Here are a couple of articles about the Cailleach if you're interested:

More than Winter's Crone (http://www.caerclud.vscotland.org.uk/cailleach.html)
Queen of Air and Darkness (http://druidry.org/obod/deities/cailleach.html)

I don't have much suggestions for you as far as celebrating deities during the Solstices and Equinoxes as I really don't do much for those days except to acknowledge them. However you might want to consider Grianne, the Irish sun goddess at these times, considering they are clearly solar days as oppossed to the more earthly fire festivals. And I'm sure you know that Samhain is a good time to honor the Dagda as it was then that he is said to have mated with Morrighan (I leave off the "the" here as I'm refering to her in her seperate form from the triplicity).

[Morr]

ooooowww thanks so much!! :D
Yup, I honor The Dagda on Samhain (he is also my Patron).

I think he sorta stands out in all the Sabbats that celebrate the changing/shifting of the seasons - seeing as according to the myths, when he plays his harp the seasons change.
but its just a thought.

[Seren_]

At Lughnasadh, it is also a good thing to honor Tailtu, as she is the reason for the whole festival!


Actually, evidence for the Tailtu associations can only be seen to go as far back as around the seventeenth century (according to Ronald Hutton, anyway). There's also a theory that the name given to the festival is more modern than the others as well, because it's the only one of the four "cross quarter days" that is named after a deity - based on the assumption that Beltaine has nothing to do with a god named Bel (it's thought that the correspondence given by Cormac's Glossary to Bel is likely to have been influenced by the Biblical Baal, the most well known pagan deity in the book) - bel meaning "bright" and perhaps referring to the fires instead. Doesn't mean it's any less pagan if it is modern, though.

The tale Tocmarc Emer (The Wooing of Emer) refers to Lughnasadh as "Bron Trogain, earth's sorrowing's autumn". Bron means "wrath", and Trogain is usually taken as a proper name. Who, or what, it is, I don't know. It's been suggested that this might be an older or alternative name for Lughnasadh, which fell out of use.

Hutton also mentions that the idea of the "Four Fire Festivals" was originally coined by a man named Charles Hardwick, who mistook the festivities of Beltaine as being the norm for all the cross quarter days.

[Seren_]

In more modern times, Brigit is also associated with Beltane (in her role as a saint). In Scotland, according to the Carmina Gadelica, a song was called An Saodachadh - The Driving as the cattle were taken to graze on the hills for the first time in the year, at Beltane:

The protection of Odhran the dun be yours,
The protection of Brigit the Nurse be yours,
The protection of Mary the Virgin be yours,
In marshes and in rocky ground,
In marshes and in rocky ground.

The keeping of Ciaran the swart be yours,
The keeping of Brianan the yellow be yours,
The keeping of Diarmaid the brown be yours,
A-sauntering the meadows,
A-sauntering the meadows.

The safeguard of Fionn mac Cumhall be yours,
The safeguard of Cormac the shapely be yours,
The safeguard of Conn and Cumhall be yours
From wolf and from bird-flock
From wolf and bird-flock.

The sanctuary of Colum Cille be yours,
The sanctuary of Maol Ruibhe be yours,
The sanctuary of the milking maid be yours,
To seek and search for you,
To seek and search for you.

The encircling of Maol Odhrain be yours,
The encircling of Maol Oighe be yours,
The encircling of Maol Domhnaich be yours,
To protect you and to herd you,
To protect you and to herd you.

The shield of the king of the Fiann be yours
The shield of the king of the sun be yours
The shield of the king of the stars be yours
In jeopardy and distress,
In jeopardy and distress.

The sheltering of the king of kings be yours,
The sheltering of Jesus Christ be yours,
The sheltering of the Spirit of healing be yours,
From evil deed and quarrel,
From evil dog and red dog.

On reaching the hills, the fires would be lit and the cattle driven between them.

[tensen]

Don't forget The Dadgdha for Samhain as well.

[RubyRose]

So I'm looking to build a sort of chart that will sort of map out the wheel of the year and the corrosponding Celtic (mostly Irish) Gods/Goddesses, as part of my goal to getting to know the different Celtic dieties and working with them (as well as forging a bond with them).

I know the 4 Fire Festivals' corrosponding "bigger" Dieties (but PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong about these) -

Samhain = The Morrigan.
Imbolc = Brigit.
Beltaine = Bel/Bile/Belenos.
Lughnassadh = Lugh.

I'm sorta looking for the "inbetween" gods/goddesses that fit into the rest of the cycle of the year & the seasons.

thankies in advance, any insight is appriciated!

With the exception of Bel, I have paid tribut to all of those deities during the Sabbats. Okay, it may have been Llew, but Lugh is his Irish counterpart.
And Brighid to me, is Pan-Celtic...

As for others, I do know Taillte, Lugh's foster mother is also honored at Lughnassadh, as well as Dagda, and possibly Bel's consort Don, or Dana/Danu in Irish circles.

As for, Ostara, Mabon, Yule & Litha ...

Ostara - Morgan (whether this is a reference to Morgan Le Faye or The Morrigan, I am not sure) The Green Man
Mabon - Mabon, of course,
Yule - The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man (I've also found, both Lugh and Brighid mentioned ... :huh: )
Litha - Dana, Dagda, Gwyddion, Llew, Oak/Holly King

I'm not too sure how correct all my research is, as I usually look for Celtic/Welsh deities I 'connect' to, to honor during each Sabbat.

Go here for more information:
http://www.pagannews.com/cgi-bin/gods1.pl
http://citadelofthedragons.tripod.com/

[Morr]

thank you all who have replied!

[Aes Sidhe]

wow, I find it amazing hehe.

I heard mention of the Tuatha de Danaan, and yet no-one mentioned the goddess Danu (tuahta de danaan litterally means "children of the goddess Danu")

Danu was associated with the Rowan tree (as were all the Tuatha de Danaan), However, with the coming of the gaels, Danu was renamed "Bridgit"

oh, enough with the history (im sure i've bored you to death already). Here's a link for the entire gaelic zodiac.

http://www.novareinna.com/constellation/celtic.html

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Actually Aes Sidhe there isn't much evidence for her (Danu) existence. The actual name Danu never occurs in any Irish source itself. One gets that name by assuming that Dannan is the genetive form of the nominative Dannan. This is based on comparison to the genetive form of other n stem nouns such as the genetive from of Ériu being Érenn. However this only rarely found, usually in dé Dannan and further usually is masculine as in the patronymic mac Danann meic Bratha, Danu son of Brath.

Danu herself never appears anywhere in the Book of Invasions, which is our earliest source material for the Tuatha dé Dannan, compiled by Christian scribes between the ninth and twelfth centuries. The closest we come to her name is Danand, daughter of Delbaeth, and father by him of Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba Now Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba are said to be the tri dé Danand and it is from them (not Danu) that the Tuatha dé Dannan took their name. It should be pointed out though, that elswhere in the same work the tri dé Danand are said to be Triall, Brian, and Cet, sons of Bres. Now we can presume that again they are sons of Danand. There is a further passage that states that the tri dé Danand are actually the sons of the Morrígan and that her other name was Danand, further complicated by the fact that Danand and the Morrígan are said in the same work to be sisters, both daughters of Earnmhas

[Aes Sidhe]

really? quite interesting (this is why I came here, looking for some research).

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

I also failed to mention that there is also the possibility of the tri de Dannad being the sons of Brighde due to the fact that she is commonly named as the wife of Bres, who as I mentioned above, was the father of Triall, Brian and Cet.