Celtic goddeses

The Celtic peoples of the very early pre-Christian British Isles or Brigid's Isles, had a long list of revered gods and goddesses. However, when I was researching them for my book, Wolfmoon Trilogy, I found instead many references to the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses who go by different names-- for instance Venus, the Roman goddess of love is known as Aphrodite to the Greeks. In my search I had to look hard to find the Welsh, Irish and Scottish goddesses and gods. For the purposes of my book I didn't differentiate these geographical separations since the places they harkened to didn't exist in the early days when tribes roamed across the moors.

In the Celtic list there is little crossover with the Greek or Roman deities and many of the names have been lost in the mists of time that existed before Christianity when the patriarchy took hold. But in this current world where masculine energy dominates, the acknowledgement of the goddess is even more important than in that distant past when women rode into battle alongside the men. In the early days of Scotland, inheritance came through the mother's line--reference:  Matriliny of the Picts written by Frank Battaglia: "For some time I have been interested in the idea that native Pict and Brito-Welsh culture was more matrilineal than the Anglo-Saxon societies which overran it in the fifth and sixth centuries. My concern is with matrilineal culture in the broadest sense, the economic, social, sexual and political practices of a people whose blood ties were primarily determined by relationships among women. That such a culture survives in Britain until almost 900 A.D. is a very neglected fact of the country's early history. A complex texture of evidence offers some clear clues that the practices of matrilineal culture are hidden riches, to be rediscovered as our human background

In the pre-Christian past these lands were ruled over by Brigid whose name originally meant goddess. In early times when land ownership had not yet been established and exploited, the land belonged to everyone and it was female--Mother Earth, the source of all life. When neolithic peoples were building barrows, stone circles and standing stones, the land itself was sacred, the body of the goddess, and all was born from her womb. She represented the maiden, the mother and the crone, all three aspects of our time on earth. 

Now more than ever we are being asked to acknowledge the sacred feminine. The Dalai Lama has said that it will be western women who will save the world. In order to do that we have to recognize the damage that's being done. With men in charge, there will be little left to pass on to future generations--oil exploration, mining and global warming has reached a critical point. We must find a way to embrace   the hidden parts of ourselves that we know intuitively but are afraid to speak about, our connection to the mother.

So take a look at what these goddesses have to offer and find the one you resonate with--Celtic goddesses--Is it Arianrhod, goddess of the moon, who shapeshifts into an owl? She sits alone in her castle of ice guarding the magical realm of the Caer Sidi--re: The moonstone. Or is it Rhiannon, the horse goddess whose lover is Pwyll, a mortal? Or maybe you favor the healing goddess known as Airmid who presides over a sacred spring that brings the dead back to life. 

Go to Mothers&daughters and read more about the relationships that bind us to one another and call to our better natures in this fast-paced, modern world.