Category:Celtic and Gaulish Deities
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
The Celts were tribal people who lived in what is modern-day Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, and Brittany (the northwest region of France). The Gauls were Celtic tribes who inhabited what is modern-day France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Northern Italy.
The conquest of most of Europe by the Roman Empire led to the term "pagan" being applied to these European conquered people who did not adopt the Roman pantheon of deities in their worship. The word "paganus" is Latin for a "rural" or "rustic" person, and it originally referred to the indigenous peasantry who served their urbane Roman masters but retained their own traditional veneration of tutelary deities and kept the feast days and customs associated with them.
The Roman Empire converted to Christianity in 313 CE during the reign of Emperor Constantine. The emperor Theodosius followed this by the prohibition of all pagan sacrifices and ceremonies in 391-392 CE, including the Olympic Games, which had originally been dedicated to the gods of the Greek Pantheon. Active suppression of indigenous Celtic, Gaulish, Druidic, Germanic, and Nordic deities led to the destruction of ancient pagan temples and sacred sites, the reconstruction of the former holy sites of tribal Europe to Catholic churches and monasteries, and the identification of Celtic, Gaulish, Druidic, Germanic, and Nordic deities with Catholic Church Saints and Catholic Folk Saints
The Neo-Pagan Revival of Celtic and Gaulish Pantheons
With the revival of interest in Western European indigenous religions during the 20th century, the term "pagan" came to include the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian pantheons, which had not formerly been given that designation, but the two dominant forms of Neo-Paganism are the Western European umbrella group combining Celtic, Gaulish, Anglo-Saxon, and Druidic beleifs, and the Northern European or Norse group embracing the veneration of Scandinavian deities.
Druidry, Wicca, British Traditional Witchcraft, Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, and Feri are Neo-Pagan Traditions that derive a large part of their cosmology and concepts of deity from ancient Celtic, Gaelic, Gaulish, and other Western European tribal and regional religions that originated in the very broad region that now comprises all or parts of the modern nations of France, Switzerland, Austria, Northern Italy, England, Ireland, Wales, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland. Given the wide area and complex geography of Europe, and the movement of people over many centuries, these indigenous religions varied in practice, and their specific pantheons differed according to the cultures in which they grounded their religious beliefs.
Most modern Neo-Pagan Traditions are polytheistic, celebrating several gods and goddesses in their practice, and in the interest of cross-cultural unity, especially in America, some groups encourage adherents to develop a system of correspondences whereby the regional deities of various ancient European tribes are associated with the deities of other ancient European tribes -- for instance, linking all European fertility goddesses as aspects or faces of a greater pan-European fertility goddess.
Typically the chief god and goddess venerated by a given Neo-Pagan group are portrayed as consorts to one another, and their story of courtship, love, conception, childbirth, death, and transition back to life are the focus of the mysteries celebrated in Neo-Pagan holidays. These holidays are generally commemorated at eight seasonal festivals, collectively known as The Wheel of the Year.
Below is a list of typical types of gods and goddesses found in many Neo-Celtic and Neo-Gaulish Traditions, including Druidry, Wicca, Celtic Reconstructionism, and British Traditional Witchcraft. At least one such group, the Feri Tradition, has created somewhat generic names for the deities in order to present them in a more universal and less tribal context.
Popular Celtic and Gaulish Deities
Belenus/Bel
Belenus the Celtic god of fire, the Sun, healing, and prophecy; his yearly festival is Beltane.
The Blue God
The Blue God is worshipped in the Feri Tradition as the God who fell from heaven to gift humanity with awareness and intellect.
Ceridwen
Ceridwen or Kerridwen, known as "The Keeper of the Cauldron," is a legendary Celtic sorceress and seer of poetic inspiration who has assumed the role of a goddess in some modern Neo-pagan traditions.
Dagda
Dagda is the Celtic God of the Earth.
The Dark Goddess
The Dark Goddess is the Feri Traditions keeper of souls, the owner of the gate between the worlds of the living and the dead.
The Divine Twins
The Divine Twins are two distinct Feri gods who are brothers worshipped and celebrated in many pagan traditions including Feri, Wicca and Druidry.
The Earth Goddess
The Earth Goddess is the Feri Tradition name for the goddess also known as Gaia, who is worshipped as the divine consciousness of the planet Earth itself.
Eostre
Eostre is the Celtic goddess of spring.
Epona
Epona, whose name means "Great Mare" or "Divine Mare," is the Gaulish and Celtic goddess of horses, donkeys, and mules.
The Green Man
The Green Man is celebrated in the British Isles and among Anglo-American Neo-Pagans as the embodiment of living vegetation, agriculture, and nature whose life cycle is intimately tied to The Wheel of the Year. (Read More ...)
The Horned God
The Horned God or Cernunnos is a Celtic deity prominent in modern Wicca and Druidry as the God of the animals who is deeply connected to our instincts. (Read More ...)
Lilith
Lilith whose name means "disease-bearing wind spirit," is an ancient Sumerian demon or succubus mentioned in Jewish and Christian scriptures and venerated by some Gnostics and Neo-Pagans. (Read More...)
Lugh
Lugh is a Celtic solar deity of sorcery, poetry, history, and carpentry; he is associated with the festival of Lughnasadh or Lammas.
Macha
Macha is the Celtic goddess of war, life, and death.
The Morrigan
The Morrigan is the Celtic great queen of war and ghosts.
The Star Goddess
The Star Goddess is the Feri Tradition name for the keeper of the heavens and the stars, and the creator of the cosmos.
Sucellus
Sucellus is an ancient agricultural god of the Celts; his popularity grew during the era when the Roman Empire ruled Gaul.
Taranis
Taranis is the ancient Celtic thunder god. (Read More ...)
The Triple Goddess
The Triple Goddess is not one Goddess, but rather a collection of three faces of the divine feminine, generally characterized by Neo-Pagans generally characterize her as The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone. (Read More ...)
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: catherine yronwode
- Contributors: Reverend James, Dr. Jeremy Weiss, Papa Newt
- Image: From Smithonian Magazine
See Also
- Religious Traditions
- Magical Traditions
- Divination, Fortune Telling, and Oracles
- Hoodoo, Conjure, Witchcraft, and Rootwork
- Working with Spirits
- The Pagan Wheel of the Year
Pages in category "Celtic and Gaulish Deities"
The following 11 pages are in this category, out of 11 total.
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