Childbirth Diety

[Haruka2077]

I am looking for suggestions of a Goddess to call on for help during childbirth. I would prefer one from a Celtic or Norse background, since those are normally the pantheons I work within. They don't have to be exclusively childbirth dieties. Thanks!

[Faery-Wings]

Brigid is protectress over childbirth.

Lots of luck- I have been thinking a lot about you!

[Haruka2077]

Brigid is protectress over childbirth.

Lots of luck- I have been thinking a lot about you!

Thanks! That was a primary Goddess I was thinking about using. I wasn't sure if there is a childbirth-specific Goddess in the Celtic pantheon like there is in the Greek.
I'm hanging in there still. :) I think the baby's doing better than I am most days.

[WinterTree]

Frigg is associated with motherhood, and Danu is a mother goddess. Hope that helps a little. :) Good luck.

[Morr]

definitly Brigid.
in the Christian myths she is told to be the midwife of Mary when she was having Jesus.
Dont ask me how Brigid - the Celtic Saint, ended up in Beth Lehem, but thats what some of the stories tell.

So from the Celtic side of things AND the later Christian side of things - She is viewed as a healer & as a midwife.

[aluokaloo]

I was about to mention Frigga but they beat me to it. Epona also presides over childbirth by the way. As well as Audhumla, Freya, and Nodens. A God of childbirth? Never heard of that one.

[Fideal]

definitly Brigid.
in the Christian myths she is told to be the midwife of Mary when she was having Jesus.
Dont ask me how Brigid - the Celtic Saint, ended up in Beth Lehem, but thats what some of the stories tell.

So from the Celtic side of things AND the later Christian side of things - She is viewed as a healer & as a midwife.

The story I heard was that she saw the star, and she sort of astral traveled over there. It's kind of odd, heh.

[Nantonos]

definitly Brigid.
in the Christian myths she is told to be the midwife of Mary when she was having Jesus.
Dont ask me how Brigid - the Celtic Saint, ended up in Beth Lehem, but thats what some of the stories tell.

(I suspect the stories are speaking mythologically rather than historically. So there is no need to figure out a way for Brighid to travel th Bethlehem any more than a method for Joseph of Aramithea to travel to Glastonbury....)

These excerpts from the Carmina Gadelica speak of Brighid as Muime-Chriosd, the fostermother of Christ:
http://www.ordbrighideach.org/CarminaGadelica.htm
http://www.sundown.pair.com/SundownShores/Volume_V/gaelic%20heart.htm
http://www.imbas.org/articles/brighid.html

[Nantonos]

I was about to mention Frigga but they beat me to it. Epona also presides over childbirth by the way.

Where do you get that from, that Epona presides over childbirth? Interested to find out more on that. Foal-birth I can certainly see.


As well as Audhumla, Freya, and Nodens. A God of childbirth? Never heard of that one.

(Nodens is male)

[Nantonos]

I am looking for suggestions of a Goddess to call on for help during childbirth. I would prefer one from a Celtic or Norse background, since those are normally the pantheons I work within. They don't have to be exclusively childbirth dieties. Thanks!

I would suggest Sirona as a general healing deity from the Celtic tradition. Continental Celtic Healing deities seem to be associated with springs.

There is a healing temple at the Forêt d'Halatte, Oise, France; the deity there was associated with healing, particularly of the generative organs (as many carvings show) but not specifically of childbirth.

[morrigen]

A God of childbirth? Never heard of that one.

Bes is the God of childbirth in the Kemetic pantheon...not only is he a man, but he's a midget to boot!

[Ishna]

Hekate is also associated with childbirth. The knife She holds not only cuts the cord from life to death, but also the one into life. Her epithet Kourotrophos, relates to childrearing, and by relation childbirth.

"and the son of Kronos made her child's nurse, for all those who afterwards saw with the light of all-seeing Dawn. Thus from the beginning she is child's nurse..." -- Hesiod, Theogony 450-52

Of course, She's not everyone's first choice. :D

Blessings,
Ishna.

[aluokaloo]

Where do you get that from, that Epona presides over childbirth? Interested to find out more on that. Foal-birth I can certainly see.

I found a link a year ago that mentioned many attributes of Epona, She is a Goddess of horse and dog breeding, but She is also a Goddess of childbirth and the domestic arts as well as motherhood. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the link after some evil little sneek sent us a particularly nasty virus.

(Nodens is male)
That's what I just said.

[aluokaloo]

:reading: I never knew Hekate was a Goddess of childbirth, and I thought that Bes was a protector of children. But then again, I don't know everything.

[Nantonos]

That's what I just said.

It took me a second look at your post to realise what you were saying (the quoting was mixed up). Epona has nothing paticularly to do with dogs; that is an old inaccurate statment dating from late 19th century researchers in Germany, who thought they were seeing dogs; as more statues turned up (and better preserved ones) it became clear (by like 1910 or so) that they were foals.

I don't see any particular link to human childbirth, but was interested if you knew of something I had missed.

[Pandoras]

Artemis, Diana, Umay, Mesenet, Brigid, Carmenta, Thalna.