Goddesses of Love and War
in their Heritage Speakers Series, 2013
Greetings and welcome to the Scottish Heritage Speakers Series and to Celtic Goddesses of Love and War!
I am Linda Joy Anderson Stern, and my family is blessed with Scottish heritage on both sides of my family from many different clans- hope they got along! But knowing one of them, probably not! In my family, the Scots were in the colonies before the Revolutionary War, and some fought in our War of Independence and someone in my family has fought in almost every war since then.
One of my clans is Anderson and when I first saw the clan tent here at Enumclaw several years ago, and saw their vast array of weaponry, suddenly, my family’s history with fighting battles became understandable. Being a Warrior is a familiar role to my particular set of genes, but I am also a Lover.
So, this year, I decided to speak about Warrior Goddesses and to bring a little balance…Celtic Goddesses of Love. I am told that the planets are aligned now to bring in strong Feminine energy but are you a Lover or a Warrior……. or a little of both? Do you notice that at times we are all about Love and at times we are all about War? And that it can change at a moment’s notice? I’ll bet our partners notice that as well! And when you think about it, sometimes Love and War can be two sides of one coin.
As an introduction- I am an associate minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle where one of my areas of expertise is the Divine Feminine face of Creator as She shows her face all over the world- now and in ages past… which includes Celtic Goddesses. And also, besides having Scottish Celtic heritage, I have other Celtic lineages from Wales, Ireland, England, and France so I’m sort of a Heinz 57 Celtic Mutt. So, when I speak about Celtic matters, I am speaking from my roots, and I feel it in my bones- like we can feel the bagpipes.
Before we get to our Goddesses of Love and War, I want to ask are you having a great time here at the Games? Wonderful! I know that one of the reasons you are having such a wonderful time is that for 1000s of years this is the time of a Celtic celebration- this is the eve of Lughnasadh! Lughnasadh is a Celtic Holy Day at the time when the first fruits of the season come in- traditionally Barley, wheat, and corn.
With Lughnasadh, we give thanks to Mother Earth for her beauty and abundance because it is from these harvests that we eat through the upcoming winter. This is true on a physical level, but it is also true on an emotional and spiritual level.
In Scotland, and Ireland and Wales we have always honored Lughnasadh and the first harvests……by making the best of alcoholic beverages of beer, ale, and the best Scotch on Earth! The first stalks of corn are called "John Barleycorn" and were used to make some of these beverages. Many an ode or poem or drinking song has been written to John Barleycorn, then and now. The earliest one from 1465. Now a-days there is a version by Traffic, Joe Walsh, and Steve Wynwood.
So perhaps later tip back a few to the festivals past and present, to the Goddesses that live in your life now and then and to celebrate Lughnasadh and our earth’s harvest with joy and gratitude.
Lughnasadh is named in honor of the Celtic Sun God, Lugh, but it’s really a celebration of a warrior woman, Tailtiu the last Queen of Fir Bolg. History is peppered with many warrior women. For her people’s survival, she single-handedly cleared fields for agricultural use for her people’s survival and died from the endeavor. When the people of the area gathered at her deathbed, she told them to hold games in her honor- like the one you are at today. As long as these games were held, she prophesied that the area would never be without song. And if you listen… I think we can hear that prophesy of music and joy coming true.
So on to our Goddesses of Love and War - these Goddesses are a part of the Celtic system of spirituality, which is vast. The Celtic form of spirituality helps us become aware of the spiritual world both inside and outside of us…… and that we all are intimately related- all humans, animals, plants, and elements.
There are many Celtic goddesses and gods, and you can think about them as aspects of a larger whole, or parts of a puzzle, including but not limited to wisdom, love, war, fertility, death, birth, the wind, the sun, the rain, birds, animals, the cycles of the earth, the cycles of the universe- the cycles of our bodies- anything you can think of and that aspect will have a god and a goddess.
If you look at the gods and goddesses as a whole, they balance each other out. Balance is an important factor in the natural world. Something we may have forgotten now a days. There are goddesses of birth and death, joy and sorrow, sun and rain, Love and War and so on- you get my point- balance.
So, when considering the Goddesses of Love or War, they bring strength and balance not only to the system and themselves but, as guides, to us as well. Light and Dark- Each does not exist without the other, and each makes the other stronger.
In selecting Goddesses for today, I found that there are many more Warrior Goddesses than Goddess of Love. Interesting, isn’t it? And actually, there were no Goddesses of Love as we might think of it today as the soft, fuzzy, sweet item- they all had more depth or umph…. like Goddess of Love and Nature or Goddess of Love and Spring, of Goddess of Love and Duty…or Love and War.
Many of the Goddess that I am going to speak about today, possess dual qualities of love and war…..as in “I will devour you with my love” or “respect my rules of Love or I will punish you” or “my strength taking you to heaven today shows you, my Love.”
One of the major features of Celtic Goddesses is a fusion of powers, like love and war. These goddesses were in effect the Openers and Closers of Life: The Givers and Takers. Many of the old-world Goddesses encompass both love and war and the Celtic people knew these there were 2 sides of one coin. The apparent conflict between a goddess ruling both fertility and death presented no problem to the Celt who knew that death comes from life and life from death.
So, having said all that -here’s a small sampling of Goddesses of War and Love. And we will start with Love!
Our first Goddess of Love is Creiddylad who is a Goddess of Flowers and Love, she is celebrated at Beltane, which is May 1st. She is the eternal May Queen, always seeking peace and stability. She is the promise of love- love enduring through all hardship.
Here is the story of Creiddylad. She was promised in marriage to her heart’s desire. But before the marriage could be consummated, she was abducted, by a man who possessed many dark aspects.
Her beloved then gathered together his warriors and set out to rescue her. A fierce battle ensued, during which, unfortunately, the dark lord emerged as the victor.
So- King Arthur heard of this and marched off to settle the matter. He declared that neither man could marry Creiddylad and returned her to her father. An arrangement was made forcing the two men to battle each other for the hand of Creiddylad every year on May 1st at Beltane; the Forces of Light and Forces of Dark in battle, the Darkness of Winter in battle with the Light of Spring. Creiddylad’s destiny was set; she would remain an eternal maiden; living with her father, until the final battle on Judgment Day. Now that’s a long time to be engaged!
Cryeiddylad’s story is the origin of the Celtic love-triangle of a beautiful young woman who loves a virile hero but is pursued or married to a darkly driven man.
The story is a metaphor for the cyclical nature of time and found in Celtic legends such as Tristan and Isolde and Arthur and Guinevere.
Beltane reminds us of the wisdom of Creiddylad. She emerges when the earth is filled with sweetness and flowers and bestows her gifts of abundance on us all. Not only does She gift humanity with an abundant earth she gifts us with the ability to receive that abundance. And yet to know that the cycle of the earth will return to darkness.
Our second Love Goddess is Branwen. She is The White Raven, a Celtic Goddess of love and duty. In her story- the King of Ireland asked for her hand, and then gave horses to her brother. Another brother of Branwen, mutilated the horses, nearly causing war, but the prospective husband was appeased by the gift of a magical cauldron that resurrects dead warriors.
To bring peace to Wales and Ireland, Branwen wed him, and goes to Ireland, where she births a son. But the Irish began to complain about their foreign queen, and she was banished to the kitchen. After 3 years, Branwen trained a starling to speak and sent it to Wales, to tell her family of her troubles. Her brothers then sailed to rescue her.
For a short while, all is well, and Branwen’s husband agreed to give the kingdom on to their son. Then through many twists and turns the war started again and in the heat of it, many died including her son and 2 brothers. After this, Branwen, who was heartbroken, sails home and dies.
Branwen’s tale shows us that She too knows what it is like to be overwhelmed with emotion. In the end of Her story, she dies from the heartache of the devastation of the death of her brothers and son.
But it was Branwen’s Love and duty that united two lands of Ireland and Wales. And it is Branwen that teaches us that making difficult decisions to benefit others that have negative life results for ourselves…. sometimes need to be made. And that Love is not all Light.
Our third Goddess of Love is Aine. One of the most beautiful, feminine, and powerful Celtic goddesses was Aine, the goddess of love, light, and fertility. She was popular in Ireland all the way up to the Western Isles of Scotland.
The goddess, as a muse, inspired great works of poetry. However, if her writers failed her, it is said that she would drive them mad. Starting to see more of the Light and Dark?
She is often referred to as a mother deity and credited with creation. Some even claimed that she had life-restoring powers, which earned her yet another title- that of the goddess of life and death- another presentation of how light and dark live naturally with each other.
Aine's blatant sexuality brought her into disfavor when Christianity began to take hold. The goddess, like many of her Roman and Greek counterparts, believed in free love and wasn't about to be bound by the ties of matrimony. Her expression of Love was usual for the time and place but not for the incoming Christians.
Many stories sprung up about the belief that Aine used magic to mate with mortal men. Mmmm......This was often times done by enchantment rather than by mutual consent. Another mmmmm.
Spellbound by the goddess, these men were said to do whatever she commanded. A handy skill to have, perhaps... But ultimately, the attraction was always fatal for her lovers so I can understand why a little enchantment was required. Here is darkness becoming stronger than Light in Aine.
Because of her associations with fire and water, she was also associated with healing. It was believed that she regulated the vital spark of life, which, circulated through the body in our blood every 24 hours. If bloodletting occurred on her sacred days, which were the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday prior to Lughnasadh, it was believed that the sacred spark of life would flow from the body and the person would die- And just to be aware, if you are thinking about doing any bloodletting -this is that particular time of year….so wait a couple of days!
At this point in our story telling, you can start to see that love goddesses can indeed have a dark side to them, right? That perhaps Light needs Dark and Dark needs light. That no one - not even Goddesses of Love – are all Light- and in fact that would limit their power and ours.
As I said before, Celtic Goddesses fuse fertility powers. These goddesses knew they opened and closed life. The apparent conflict between a goddess ruling both fertility and death presents no problem as death comes from life and life from death.
Now, off we go to Goddess of War! Now it starts to get juicier!
Our first Goddess of War is the Supreme Welsh war Goddess- Cymidei Cymeinfoll!
And who doesn’t like a great story!
She is always paired in stories with her husband- in balance. Together they own a magical cauldron into which they would cast warriors killed in battle. From the cauldron these dead soldiers would come to life….. minus their power of speech.
Cymidei Cymeinfoll means “big belly of battle” is in reference to the fact that she could give birth to a Fully Armed warrior every six weeks. Ouch! I wonder if she gave a war cry with all the birthings! So, with the cauldron and her birth abilities she could stock an army with Warriors.
The next Fierce Goddess is Fiery Bridget shown in this painting, the Supreme Celtic Triple goddess. Brigid’s name means the "Fiery Arrow or Fiery Power." She has three aspects- the Fire of Inspiration, the Fire of Healing, and the Fire of the Forge, 3 in balance with each other. Today I am referencing her Fire of the Forge, as the patroness of smithcraft and martial arts. Notice that Goddesses associated with the forge were more about warfare than blacksmithing.
In Fire aspect the ancient mystery of Alchemy is found hidden in the fire knowledge of The Forge. Wisdom gained through strength- like strengthening metal with fire, the fire of life strengthens us. Celtic Warriors appealed to her for the strength needed to fight their battles with their swords and their spirit. Transformation is associated with the forge of the fire – thru sitting in the fire with your true authentic self.
Bridget is teaching us, that sometimes we need to feel the fire, to react to the fire, to be changed and charged by the fire. … into a lioness, into a warrior, into the strength needed to put one foot in front of the other to walk our own particular path. Fire is Light that burns brightly in us and in the dark to show the way. Sometimes if we get too close to the flames, we may just get burned --but the strength that it takes to jump into the flame transforms us into something new, and much stronger.
Our 3rd powerful Goddess is– Scathach of Scotland, goddess of healing, magic, martial arts, prophesy, and protection. Called the Shadowy One, She Who Strikes Fear, she was a warrior woman and prophetess who lived in Alba- ancient Scotland, on the Isle of Skye, where she taught martial arts there with her sister and daughter.
She was the Gaelic Goddess of the Dead, who searched the battlefields for the souls of the slain and guided them along their Death Journey or "Journey of the Soul", to Tir Nan Og, The Land of Eternal Youth. It is also the duty of Scathaich to drop those who acted poorly in life on one of the islands of the other world, where they pay their debts and learn their folly. These actions took an amazing form of love in the Warrior Goddess.
Scathaich was a formidable being, a teacher of war-craft and a Druid prophetess. She was reputed to be the matron of self-defense and female independence as well as the guardian of young people who seek to know their full potential.
It is to her that CuChulainn, the greatest Celtic warrior comes in his youth to learn his craft. It was from Scathach that CuChulainn received his formidably barbed spear whose thrust was always fatal.
Now on to my favorite story of a powerful, lustful, light and dark filled Goddess of Love and War, Light and Dark…...Maeve.
Maeve is a Celtic Goddess of Earth, fertility, personal power, war, and sovereignty of the land. She was a great conqueror and enjoyed enslaving the men of the Armies that she defeated…. as spoils of war to pleasure her. A lusty woman, it was said she needed 30 men a day to ease….her sexual appetite.
Queen Maeve was infamous for her beauty and her sexual prowess. She had an array of lovers, most of who were officers in her army... thereby ensuring the loyalty of her troops. Her bravest warriors were granted sexual favors, so the men fought hard and courageously on the battlefield for a chance to enjoy Maeve's "willing thighs."
It is said that the ancient kings of Ireland married this Goddess when they took their place of power. She would bestow her many gifts upon them, and they could claim their sovereignty over the land.
Women, real life women, of the ancient Celts held much power. In the Celtic nations, women's rights equaled those of men. They owned property and occupied powerful positions within the society. Whomever brought more wealth and property into a marriage was considered the ruler of the household, be it man or woman. This is important to this story.
So, in the Irish kingdom of Connaught, sovereignty of the land passed to a woman, Queen Maeve. Her consort was Ailill, who received his royal status only by marrying the queen.
One morning after Al-ill and Maeve lay in bed basking in the afterglow of lovemaking, he began taunting her, claiming that she was more fortunate for marrying him because of the power and wealth he brought into their partnership. Well… Maeve laughed and retorted by saying she possessed great wealth and power without him, and he was nothing but her "kept" man. The quarrel escalated as they began comparing their wealth, assets, and influence...matching one another, until Maeve discovered that Al-ill had a bull of superior breeding the likes of which she did not own making him, technically, the ruler of their household.
This was unacceptable to the proud warrior Queen, so she found a bull of similar quality that was owned by the King and Queen of Ulster. When they refused to sell the bull, so Queen Maeve took her army and invaded their land with the intent of stealing the prized beast. Her troops were met by the infamous red knights of Ulster and their great hero, Cuchulainn, who was trained on the Isle of Skye by another Warrior Goddess Skactach and thus the famous battle ensued.
It was said that Maeve could outrun the swiftest of horses, she rode at the head of her battalion, and her presence and power made her army invincible. She was so powerful that battles would stop while she was menstruating.
So, in this particular clash- Maeve rode into battle in an open car, with four chariots surrounding her. She was so beautiful that she could slay the armies of any land just by looking at her because no man could look on Maeve without falling down in a frenzy of desire. What a way to go!
One version of the end of the story states that both armies suffered great losses, but Maeve eventually got the bull of Ulster- It seemed she always got her Bull….. BUT when the Maeve and Al-ill’s bulls were penned together, the two beasts killed each other. And so, after all the death, Queen Maeve, and King Alill finally had equal wealth...BUT not equal power. So, Al-ill eventually left Connaught rather than live in the shadow of Queen Maeve.
What does the legend of Maeve mean for us? Well.... she was a
love-goddess that was equally associated with war. The goddess Maeve is the intoxicating power of passion...the passion we feel in love, desire, sex, as well as in anger and battle- 2 sides of one coin. Perhaps there really is a thin line between love and hate. If we lose control of that passion and are not mindful of our intent, or honorable in our actions, we can easily cross a line.
Also, when Maeve lost a battle- whether in bed or on the battlefields, she did not dwell in the negative aspects, and she moved forward in the present moment. She teaches us to do the same in our life. To not make excuses for why certain things happen, and to learn to accept things the way they are and move on strongly. Maeve is a confident and strong Lover and warrior Goddess who tells us to accept ourselves the way we are and to become a warrior in our own life.
Was Maeve a mortal woman who was exalted to the status of goddess, or was she a Goddess, whose story was watered down over the years, making her a mere mortal? Could it be both? Unfortunately, since the Celts did not keep written records of their history and legends, we'll never know for sure.
All these Goddesses inspired mortal Celtic warrior Queens, such as Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes, Queen Boudicca who led armies against Rome and Marcia Proba, a Celtic warrior queen who lived around the third century BCE.
And the goddesses inspired Celtic women to not be held to any confines in life. They played an active part in all life. They could be warriors, healers, judges and poets. Powerful real-life women; just like us.
These Goddesses were all both Love and War, Light and Dark and have helped guide the way for real women for centuries as they can guide us now. Love and War, Light and Dark tied to each other in a dance of strength for an outcome. We need the strength of to thrive in our worlds.
So, here’s to a healthy balance of both Light and Dark in all of us all!