Thursday Thirteen - 13 Celtic Gods and Goddesses

We used to play some online games and love using old demon names, Celtic medieval names, etcetera to name characters, places, that kinda thing. So here are so names to share with you.

Historical Celtic Gods and Goddesses for all of you

1.

Epona - A Continental Celtic Goddess of horses, mules, and cavalrymen. She was worshipped all throughout Gaul, and even as far as the Danube and Rome. Her cult was adopted by the Roman cavalry, the only Celtic deity to be worshipped 'officially' by Romans. Epona is often depicted sitting side saddle or reclining on a horse, or standing with 2 horses, one on either side of her. Her symbol is the Cornucopia ("horn of plenty") which suggests that she could also have been a fertility goddess. She is also identified with the Celtic goddess Edain. She may also be one and the same as the Irish Macha. [source]

2.

Albion - (Anglo-Celtic) A giant fathered by a forgotten Celtic Sea God who may have been part of a lost creation myth. He once was said to rule the Celtic world, and his name became the poetic name for Britain.

3.

Uathach - (Irish, Scottish) The daughter of Scathach and a warrior Goddess in her own right who taught male warriors magickal battle skills. Her name means "spector" which may link her to sovereignty archetypes. She was Scathach's assistant at the warrior school on the Isle of Shadow, and was Cuchulain's lover during the time he stood as guardian of the island school.

4.

Aliesin - {tal-i-ess-in} (Welsh) "Radiant Brow", Prince of Song; Chief of the Bards of the West; a poet. Patron of Druids, Bards, and minstrels; a shape-shifter. Writing, poetry; wisdom; wizards; Bards; music; knowledge; magic. A semi-mythical figure whose life has become deeply intertwined with the Divinities of the Celts. He apparently lived in the 6th century CE, and was regarded as the premier bard, or poet of his or any other time. A book of his work exists, set down in the 13th century; several of the works within it are regarded as genuine. He figures in many tales, but chief among them is the story that he began as the boy Gwion, was asked by the Cauldron-Crone Cerridwen to watch the vessel in which she brewed a Knowledge potion, inadvertently tasted it himself, was pursued by her in a chase involving many shapeshifts, and was at length swallowed by Her, to be reborn nine months later as the Divine bard Taliesin.

5.

Melusine - (Breton, Scottish) [Mel-oo-SEEN] Also Melsuline. A serpent Goddess brought to common awareness through the writings of French author Rabelais. She was the daughter of Elinas, a King of Scotland, and a Breton faery woman named Pressine or Pressina. When Elinas discovered Pressine was a faery, he banished her and their three daughters of whom Melusine was the eldest. The banished daughter led her sisters to revenge when they locked their father inside the Brandebois Mountains. The mother, in her outrage, placed a spell on her for this act against the father. The spell would make Melusine appear as a serpent from the waist down on Saturdays. when she married she made a condition that her husband never ask where she was on this day, as her mother had asked before, so that her husband would not know what she was. When he discovered, she sprouted wings and flew away in sorrow leaving her three cherished sons behind. She and her sisters, Melior and Palatina, are a triplicity.

6.

Nicevenn - (Scottish) "Divine"; "Brilliant". A Samhain witch-goddess; equated with the Roman Goddess Diana. In Scotland she is said to ride through the night with her followers at Samhain. During the Middle Ages she was called Dame Habonde, Abundia, Satia, Bensozie, Zobiana, and Herodiana.

7.

Condwiramur -(Welsh, Cornish) [KOND-oor-uh-moor] An archetypal guardian of the feminine mysteries and a Goddess of sovereignty who appears briefly in the Grail legends as the wife of Sir Percival. He weds her and beds her, then immediately sets off for the Grail Castle to which he is finally admitted. After wedding her, Perdival becomes the ruler of the Grail kingdom, acknowledging Condwiramur's sovereign role.

8.

Cernunnos - Celtic god of fertility, abundance, regeneration and wild animals. Worshipped widely in Roman times, but also known from Pre-Roman sites. Cernunnos means "horned one." The distribution of images show that Cernunnos was widely worshipped in both Gaul and Britain.

9.

Coventina - Celtic goddess of a spring at Carrawburgh, near Hadrian's Wall. Although the spring had no medicinal properties, Coventina may have been regarded as a healer and water goddess. She apparently had high status, and is referred to in inscriptions as "Augusta" and "Sancta." Coventina is usually portrayed as a water nymph, naked and reclining on lapping waves. She holds a water lily, and in one depiction is shown in triplicate pouring water from a beaker.

10.

Dea Nutrix - A particular form of Celtic mother goddess, usually depicted sitting in a high-backed wicker chair suckling one or two children. Pipeclay statuettes in this form have been found throughout all ancient Celtic areas. Finds of these statues in graves suggest that Dea Nurix was also a goddess of renewal and rebirth. Pipeclay figurines resembling the classical Venus are also probably connected with a Celtic-Roman domestic fertility cult.

11.

Nemhain - (Germanic) she was the goddess of war and battle. A triple Goddess of the Valkyries, similar to/ and often mistaken for the Morrigan exalting in battle frenzy, chaos, and the gore of slaughter. She/they have a particular role of choosing who will be slain in battle; selecting, severing from the body, and guiding to the afterworld the spirits of fallen warriors. She has, however, many and diverse aspects and functions. She has been closely associated with water in general, and rivers in particular. She seems in this latter aspect to be a chooser of the slain as well, in that she is seen by those whose fate it is to die in an upcoming battle as a crone, washing their clothing beside a river.

12.

Medb - (Irish) She is the Queen of Connacht, her name means "she who intoxicates". A goddess of war. Medb wields a weapon herself and the sight of Medb blinds enemies, and she is said to run faster than the fastest horse. She is sometimes mistaken for one of the triple Goddesses of Morrigan.

13.

Manannan - Manawydan ap Llyr, son of Llyr and Penarddun and brother of Branwen and half brother of Nisien and Efnisien. Manawydan was a scholar, a magician, and a peaceful man. He married the Goddess Rhiannon, widow of Pwyll of Dyfed and mother of Pryderi.

THE BIG BONUS

My first name is Mary and I was very interested to find the Celtic connection with the Christian Mary Magdalene. I hope you enjoy the way this historical take weaves together and a Celtic Maeve becomes the world's Celtic Mary Magdalene

Thus our Maeve, as she comes to be called, has eight mothers, one womb mother and seven foster mothers who "all succeed in their determination to lactate," all eager to teach her everything a hero ought to know. When she is born, they give her a childhood name, to protect her from being stolen by the beansidhe, although, as one of them remarks, "for all intents and purposes, we are the beansidhe." When their darling reaches menarche, they begin her sex education with tales of the infamous Irish Queen Maeve of Connacht who delighted in offering the men of her choice "the friendship of her upper thighs" and had never been "without one man in the shadow of another."

In a dream-like Otherworldly encounter, the Queen of Connacht bestows her name on our Maeve with the stirring words: "Keep fighting for our sovereignty. Without it, there can be no balance between men and women. No blessing, only battles." So if I had ever wondered—and I tend not to question the Muse; the more bizarre her instructions, the more likely I am to follow them—here is an answer to the question: Why a Celtic Mary Magdalene? Like her namesake, Maeve embodies sovereignty, being not the disciple, not the follower but the companion and partner of her cosmic counterpart. In the spirit of Celtic hero-women, Maeve even gets to be his savior—literally. Could she have been who she was without this, let’s call it Irish, spirit? Surely there are stories of hero women all over the world, in every culture, in the Bible, too. For whatever reason, (and maybe it’s the spirit of my unknown Irish great grandmother reclaiming her own sovereignty)in seeking her true name, Maeve and I turned towards Ireland.

And so a Maeve becomes a Mary, and the world's Christian history is intertwined with the great knowledge of the Celts and the Druids.

Enjoy your read!

Just a little difference between Wicca, neo-paganism, and Celtic paganism. It's often completely confused as a single understanding.

[source] [source] [source] [source]