Celtic Gods and Goddessess

Celtic OtherworldIn Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is the realm of the living and the home of the deities and other powerful spirits.

Tales and folklore refer to the Otherworld as "The Fortunate Isles" in the western sea, or at other times underground (such as in the Sdhe) or right alongside the world of the living, but invisible to most humans. The intrusion of the Otherworld into this one is signaled by the appearance of divine beings or unusual animals, or other phenomena such as sudden changes in the weather.

Bashees (spirits that communicate the death of someone) Elfs, goblins, fairies, irish fairies, etc.

Celtic Gods and GoddessessDanuLughBrighidCeltic Trinity THE CELTIC TRINITY

It means the union between the three goddess that represents the three faces of death.MORRIGAN, MACHA Y BADB

Morrigan: Represent the battle and death. She sometimes appears in the form of a crow.Macha: goddess of strife and sovereigntyBadb: Is a war goddess

Dadga Gods

The Dagda was the father God of the Celts they called him the Good God because he protected their crops. He was king of the Tuatha D Danann and ruled over Uisnech in Co. Meath. He was portrayed as wearing a brown low-necked tunic which just reached his hips and a hooded cape that barely covered his shoulders. On his feet were horse-hide boots. Behind him he pulled his eight pronged war club on a wheel, one end of the club killed the living and the other end revived the dead, and when it was dragged behind him it left a track as deep as the boundary ditch between two provinces.

There are many humorous tales about him, about his appetites both for food and sexual gratification. In these stories he never seems to get enough of either!He had a cauldron called the Undry which supplied unlimited food and was one of the magical items the Tuatha brought with them when they first landed on Ireland. He also had a living oak harp called Uaithne which caused the seasons to change in their order and also played three types of music, the music of sorrow, the music of joy and the music of dreaming. She is the daughter of The Dagda, the All Father of the Tuatha de DanannPoetry and inspiration. Midwifery and healing. Crafts and smiths.She was born at sunrise and a tower of flame beamed from her head. As Goddess of fire and water, she is immortalized by many wells and springs. Most important of her monuments, a shrine at Kildare where there was a perpetual flame burning. Her feast is St.Brighids Days in Ireland and is the Pagan Festival of Imbolc.When Christianity began its onset, so loved was Brighid that she was made a saint. However, the upkeep on her flame was considered pagan by the church and it was extinguished out of more than a thousand years of burning.

Dark the bitter winter, cutting its sharpness, but Bride's mantle, brings spring to Ireland.Brighid ChantThe Universal Mother. Patroness of wizards. Symbolizes rivers, water, wells, prosperity, magick, and wisdomDanu

Goddess, the mother of The Dagda the All father, Creation Goddess, and Mother of the Tuatha de Danaan. Aspect of the Morrigan or Triple Goddess. Considered to have been an early form of Anu, the Universal Mother. EXTREMELY potent Goddess form I easily connect with and work very closely with, personally for most of my rituals and castings. Her celebrations were either Beltane and/or Litha (Summer Solstice).

Celtic (Welsh, Irish) God, also known as Lleu, Llew and Lugh the Many Skilled. He is a druid, carpenter, poet, and mason. His animals are the raven and the lynx. Also a Sun God as well hence the Pagan Sabbath Lughnasadh, his namesake. Son of Cian, a Tuatha de Danaan. LUGHHe symbolizes healing, reincarnation, prophecy, and revenge.He had a magic spear and otherworldly hounds.

I am Lugh SamildanachI am Lugh the Il-DanaI am Lugh, master of the battleI am Lugh, master of healingI am Lugh, master of knowledgeI am Lugh, master of sailingI am Lugh, master of sorceryI am Lugh, master of smithing."The Coming of Lugh", Iarwain.

Is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore.

The son of the god Lugh and Deichtine (sister of Conchobar mac Nessa), his childhood name was Stanta.C Chulainn

He gained his better-known name as a child after he killed Culann's fierce guard-dog in self-defence and offered to take its place until a replacement could be reared. At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the epic Tin B Cailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley"). It was prophesied that his great deeds would give him everlasting fame, but that his life would be a short one. For this reason he is compared to the Greek hero Achilles. He is known for his terrifying battle frenzy, or rastrad(translated by Thomas Kinsella as "warp spasm" and by Ciaran Carson as "torque", in which he becomes an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe. He fights from his chariot, driven by his loyal charioteer Leg and drawn by his horses, Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend. In more modern times, C Chulainn is often referred to as the "Hound of Ulster".

C Chulainn shows striking similarities to the Persian epic hero Rostam, as well as to the Germanic Lay of Hildebrand and the labours of the Greek epic hero Hercules, suggesting a common Indo-European origin,but lacking in linguistic, anthropological and archaeological material.A druid was a memeber of the educated,profesional class among the celtic peoples of Gaul, Britain and Ireland during the Iron Age.

Druids

In ancient times a Druid was a philosopher, teacher, counsellor and magician, the word probably meaning A Forest Sage or Strong Seer. In modern times, a Druid is someone who follows Druidry as their chosen spiritual path, or who has entered the Druid level of training in a Druid Order.

The druid class included law-speakers, poets and doctors, teachers, magicians and philosophers among other learned professions, although the best known among the druids were the religious leaders.

Druid beliefsTheology

The Otherworld

Death and Rebirth

Living in the world

The web of life

The law of the harvest

3 Goals:WisdomCreativityLove

Celtic PaganismBurial and afterlifeCelts believed in reincarnation and transmigration of the soul.A common factor in late Celtic nations was the otherworld, this was the realm of the fairy folk and other supernatural beings. The burial practices included burying food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead (only for wealthy people).

Ritual of Oak and MistletoeMistletoe was believed to have all sorts of miracle qualitiesThe ritual consisted of a ceremony in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two bulls and used the mistletoe to make an elixir to cure infertility and the effects of poison.

Cultic PracticeOfferings to the gods were made throughout the landscape both the natural and the domestic.At times they worshipped in constructed temples and shrines.They also worshipped in areas of the natural world that were held to be sacred namely in groves of trees.

Votive OfferingsOfferings were buried in the earth or thrown into rivers or bogs.In particular, there was a trend to offer items associated with warfare in the watery areas.At times, jewelry and other high prestige items that were not related to warfare were also deposited in a ritual context.

Head HuntingThe head was believed to house a persons soul.This practice continued approximately till the end of the Middle Ages in Ireland.

HalloweenInspired by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries.Samhain (summer end) was the limital time, when the spirits or fairies could more easily come into our world.Offerings of food and drinks or portions of the crops were left fot the Aos si.

Samhain

Beginning the Celtic year, was an important social and religious occasionSAMAHAINSamhain also contains in its ritual some of the old pastoral cults, while as a new year feast its ritual is in great part of all festivals of begginings

Divination and forecasting the fate of the inquirer for the coming year also took place. Sometimes these were connected with the bonfire, stones placed in it showing by their appereance the fortune or misfortune awaiting their owners.In Gaul and Germany riotous processions took place with men dressed in the heads and skins of animals

The earliest temples of the Gauls were sacred groves

TemplesSacred groves were still used in gallo-roman times, and the druids may have had a preference for them.

But ptobably more elaborated temples, great tribal sanctuaries, existed side by side with these local groves

Kenia OsornioAldo PerazaAmairani HernandezArmando PonceMelisa TerronesGaly ValeroGenevive RodilesEquipo