Celtic Gods and Goddesses

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Celtic Gods and Goddesses
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• Brighid the Daughter of the Dagda, one of the
  more universal deities of the pagan Gaelic world.
  She is known as the Goddess of Healers, Poets,
  Smiths, Childbirth and Inspiration Goddess of
  Fire and Hearth and a patron of warfare or Briga.
  Her soldiers were called Brigands. Her name means
  "Exalted One." She is also known as Brigantia,
  Brid, Bride, Briginda, Brigdu, and Brigit. She is
  said to lean over every cradle.

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Lugh
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• Lugh was an inventive and clever god known for
  his many skills. He was best known as the god of
  light however, he had skills as a warrior,
  physician, druid, bard, smith, and brewer. He was
  also the patron of Lugodunum in Gaul.

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The Dagda
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• The supreme god of the Celtic pantheon appears to
  have been the Dagda. This word means the Good
  God, not good in a moral sense, but good at
  everything, or all-powerful. The Dagda is a
  father-figure, a protector of the tribe and the
  basic Celtic god of whom other male Celtic
  deities were variants.

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Danu/Anu
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• Celtic Goddess of Wind, Wisdom and Fertility.
• More importantly, she's the Irish Mother Goddess
  who brought into being the TUATHA-DE-DANANN, her
  own chosen people who originally ruled Ireland.

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Aine
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• Irish goddess of love and fertility. Daughter of
  Eogabail, who was in turn the foster-son of
  Manannan mac Lir. Later worshipped as a fairy
  queen in County Limerick.

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Manannan mac Lir
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• Irish god of the sea and fertility. He forecasts
  the weather. His wife is Fand and he is the
  foster-father of many gods, including Lugh. He is
  the guardian of the Blessed Isles, and the ruler
  of Mag Mell the paradise were the deceased live.
  Manannan has a ship that follows his command
  without sails his cloak makes him invisible his
  helmet is made of flames and his sword cannot be
  turned from its mark. He is described as riding
  over the sea in a chariot. His Welsh equivalent
  is Manawydan ap Llyr. He is also called
  Barinthus. He is older than the Tuatha De Dannan,
  yet appears to be one of them.

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The Morrigan
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• The Dagda's consort was known by various names.
  The most common of these was the Morrigan (Queen
  of demons - sometimes spelled Morrigna), but she
  was also known as Nemain (Panic) and Badb Catha
  (Raven of Battle). She was said to change into a
  crow or raven and gloat over the blood on the
  battlefield. She reappears in Arthurian legend as
  Morgan le Fay, that is, Morrigan the fairy.
  Pronounced as More Ree-an.

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Aengus mac Og
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• God of love. Son of the Dagda and 'the wife of
  Elcmar', generally believed to be the goddess
  Boann. He is associated with the valley of the
  River Boyne. One of the Tuatha De Danann.

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Nuada
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• Also Nudd or Ludd. "Silver Hand." The
  Irish/Celtic chieftain-god of healing, the Sun,
  childbirth, youth, beauty, ocean, dogs, poetry,
  writing, sorcery, magic, weapons, and warfare.
  Similar to the Roman god Neptune, Nuada also had
  an invincible sword, one of four great treasures
  of the Tuatha Dé Danann, that he used to cleave
  his enemies in half.

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Bel/Belenos
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• The Celtic god of light and healing, "Bel" means
  "shining one". As the Welsh Beli, he is the
  father of Arianrhod by Don. Patron of sheep and
  cattle, Bel's festival is Beltane, one of two
  main Celtic fire festivals.

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Herne
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• Opener of the Gates of Life and Death Herne the
  Hunter Cernunnos Green Man Lord of the Wild
  Hunt. The masculine, active side of Nature Earth
  Father. His sacred animals were the stag, bull,
  goat, bear. Growing things, the forest, Nature,
  wild animals, alertness, annihilation, fertility,
  panic, desire, terror, flocks, agriculture, beer
  and ale. See Cernunnos.

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Ogma
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• The God of communication and writing who invented
  the Ogham Alphabet and gave it to the Druids. He
  is sometimes thought of as the patron deity of
  poets. Writing was considered a very sacred and
  holy act by many early people including the
  Celts. It is for this reason that the Celts had a
  strong oral tradition, even among their magickal
  folk, as very little was believed safe to commit
  to paper. Aside from Oghma's literary
  association, he was a warrior of Tara who fought
  with Llugh against the Fomorians. He was also
  given a role in myth of helping to escort the
  recently dead to the Otherworld. He had two
  nicknames which tell much about his character.
  One was Cermait, which means "the honey-mouthed",
  relating to the Irish gift of gab known as
  blarney, and the other is Grianainech, "the
  sunny-faced", believed to come from his great
  wisdom.

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Cailleach
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• Cailleach is referred to as the "Mother of All"
  in parts of Scotland. Also known as Scotia, she
  is depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a
  wild bear and boar's tusks. She is believed to be
  a great sorceress. One superstition regarding
  Calliach is that the farmer who is last to
  harvest his grain would be the person to "look
  after" Caileach for the rest of the year, until
  the next harvest. The first farmer who finishes
  harvesting would make a corn-dolly from the grain
  he has harvested. He would, then, pass it on to
  the next farmer who finishes. It would keep going
  until the corn-dolly ends up with the last
  farmer. That last farmer would be obligated to
  watch the "old woman". She is also known to have
  created the earth. "With her hammer she
  alternately splinters mountains, prevents the
  growth of grass, or raises storms. Numerous wild
  animals follow her..."

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Boann
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• Goddess of bounty and fertility. Her symbol is
  the white cow. Her name means "She of the white
  cattle". Irish goddess. Also goddess of the River
  Boyne. She is the wife of the water god Nechtan
  or of Elcmar, and consort of the Dagda, by whom
  she was the mother of the god Aengus.

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Banba, Eriu, Fodla
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• Banba The goddess who represents the spirit of
  Ireland, and who is the wife of king MacCuill.
  She was thought to be the first settler in
  Ireland. She is part of a trinity of goddesses,
• Eiru Ireland daughter of the Dagda, her
  alternate name, Erin, was given to Ireland.
• Fodla One of the three goddesses who ruled
  Ireland before the first Gauls, came to the
  island.

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Etain
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• An early sun goddess of ancient Ireland

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Macha
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• One of three aspects of the Morrigan, goddess of
  war. Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies.

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Rhiannon
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• a version of the horse-goddess Epona and of
  sovereignity. She was mistress of the Singing
  Birds.

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Arawn
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• The Welsh god of the underworld. The god Amaethon
  stole from him a dog, lapwing and roebuck with
  led to the Battle of the Trees, in which his
  forces were defeated. A tale in the Mabinogion
  relates how he persuaded Pwyll to trade places
  with him for the span of a year and a day. In
  this period, Pwyll defeated Arawn's rival for
  dominion of the underworld Hafgan. Because Pwyll
  also refrained from sleeping with Arawn's wife,
  they became close friends.

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Bran
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• ("raven"), son of Llyr and Penarddun, and brother
  of Branwen and Manawydan, and half brother Nisien
  and Efnisien. Bran was too large for ordinary
  houses. When Bran learned of the slavery imposed
  upon his sister Branwen by her Irish husband
  Matholwch, he sailed to rescue her. Matholwch was
  terrified at the sight of a forest approaching
  Ireland across the sea Bran's navy, and Bran
  himself wading through the water. He sued for
  peace, they built a house big enough for Bran,
  and Matholwch agreed to settle the kingdom on
  Gwern, his son by Branwen. Some Irish lords
  objected, and hid themselves in flour bags to
  attack the Welsh. But Efnisien, scenting Irish
  treachery, cast them into the fire, and then cast
  Gwern himself in (avoiding the geas against
  shedding kinsmen's blood thereby). A war broke
  out, and the Irish replenished themselves through
  the cauldron. Efnisien, repenting, sacrificed
  himself by feigning death and being thrown into
  the cauldron, which he then broke, dying in the
  process. Only seven Welshmen survived, and Bran
  was fatally wounded. His head, which remained
  alive and talking, was returned to Wales and
  buried, and soon afterwards Branwen sailed to
  Aber Alaw and died. According to legend, England
  could never be invaded as long as Bran's head,
  facing south and buried in a hill near London,
  was left alone.

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Branwen
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• ("white raven") a daughter of Llyr and Penarddun,
  and sister of Bran, and Manawydan, and
  half-sister of Nisien and Efnisie
• The Celtic goddess of love and beauty. Also of
  Manx and Wales. She is similar to the Greek
  goddess Aphrodite and the Roman goddess Venus.
  After the death of her brother Bran, due to a war
  caused by Matholwch, Branwen died of a broken
  heart.
• n.

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Taliesin
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• god of magic, music, poetry, wisdom, writing.
  Known as Prince of Song, Chief of the Bards of
  the West, and Patron of Druids, he was a great
  magician, bard, and shapeshifter who gained his
  knowledge from the goddess Cerridwen directly.

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Blodeuwedd
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• Blodeuwedd was created out of flowers by Gwydion
  to wed Llew Llaw Gyffes. She betrayed Llew,
  either because she had no soul, being non-human,
  or because she resented being his chattel, or
  because the triplet of one woman and two men must
  play itself out in Welsh myth, and Llew Llaw
  Gyffes must die. At any rate, she fell in love
  with Goronwy and, wishing to be rid of Llew, she
  tricked out of him the clearly supernatural and
  ritual manner in which only he could be killed
  neither by day nor night, indoors nor out of
  doors, riding nor walking, clothed nor naked, nor
  by any weapon lawfully made. She asked him to
  explain this, and he did he could be killed only
  if it were twilight, wrapped in a fish net, with
  one foot on a cauldron and the other on a goat,
  and if the weapon had been forged during sacred
  hours when such work was forbidden. Blodeuwedd
  convinced him to demonstrate how impossible such
  a position was to achieve by chance, and when he
  was in it, het lover Goronwy leapt out and
  struck. Llew was transformed into an eagle and
  eventually restored to human form, after which he
  killed Goronwy. Blodeuwedd was transformed into
  an owl, to haunt the night in loneliness and
  sorrow, shunned by all other birds.

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Cernunnos
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Cernunnos from Gundustup
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• The Horned One" is a Celtic god of fertility,
  life, animals, wealth, and the underworld. He was
  worshipped all over Gaul, and his cult spread
  into Britain as well. Cernunnos is depicted with
  the antlers of a stag, sometimes carries a purse
  filled with coin. The Horned God is born at the
  winter solstice, marries the goddess at Beltane,
  and dies at the summer solstice. He alternates
  with the goddess of the moon in ruling over life
  and death, continuing the cycle of death, rebirth
  and reincarnation. Paleolithic cave paintings
  found in France that depict a stag standing
  upright or a man dressed in stag costume seem to
  indicate that Cernunnos' origins date to those
  times. Romans sometimes portrayed him with three
  cranes flying above his head. Known to the Druids
  as Hu Gadarn. God of the underworld and astral
  planes. The consort of the great goddess. He was
  often depicted holding a bag of money, or
  accompanied by a ram-headed serpent and a stag.
  Most notably is the famous Gundestrup cauldron
  discovered in Denmark.

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Epona
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• The Celtic horse goddess whose authority extended
  even beyond death, accompanying the soul on its
  final journey. She was worshipped throughout
  entire Gaul, and as far as the Danube and Rome.
  Her cult was eventually adopted by the Roman army
  and they spread her worship wherever they went.
  She was the only Celtic Goddess to be honored by
  the Romans with a temple in their capital city.
  Among the Gaulish Celts themselves, she was
  worshipped as goddess of horses, asses, mules,
  oxen, and, to an extent, springs and rivers.
  Epona is depicted sitting side saddle or lying on
  a horse, or standing with multiple horses around
  her. Her symbol is the Cornucopia ("horn of
  plenty") which suggests that she could
  (originally) have been a fertility goddess. She
  is also identified with the Celtic goddess Edain

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Taranis
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• The thunder-god of ancient Gaul, and master of
  the sky. He may be compared to the Roman Jupiter,
  although his place in the Celtic pantheon was not
  as prominent as that of Jupiter in the Roman
  pantheon. His attribute is the wheel, which could
  be the symbol of thunder. The Romans described as
  receiving human sacrifices

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The End is a new beginning