Unique Celtic Goddesses

7 Unique Celtic Goddesses 
 Seattle Scottish Highland Games Speakers Series in 2015

Greetings from the Celtic Goddesses that surround you to the Scottish Heritage Speakers Series.  I am Linda Joy Anderson Stern and I’m the chair of this Series, so I hope you come back and enjoy all our wonderful speakers. 

As an introduction of myself- I am a minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Ballard where we honor all the paths that lead to the Divine.  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… and this of course includes Celtic Goddesses. 

Also- I am blessed to have Scottish heritage on both sides of my family- from two different clans- both of which were in the colonies before the revolutionary war.  One of my clans is Anderson and one is Mitchell, and this is the Anderson Tartan. When I first saw the Anderson clan tent here at Enumclaw years ago, and saw their vast array of weaponry, suddenly I understood my family’s history with fighting in every skirmish and war connected with our American history. I have found that connecting to our roots can really help us understand who we are. 

Also, besides having Scottish heritage, 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 I share about Celtic Goddesses, I want to ask are you having a wonderful time here at the Games?  Great!  One of the reasons you might be enjoying the experience 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, which celebrates the first harvests of the season - which was 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 alcoholic beverages- beer, ale and The Best Single Malt Whisky on Earth- Scotch! 

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- in the lands of the Celts, and it’s no different.  For her people’s survival, Tailtiu single handedly cleared fields for agricultural use and then died from the difficult work. This speaks about the sacrifice that women make to guarantee the continuance of our children. This is true of Mother Earth, Celtic goddesses, and human women. 

On Tailtiu’s deathbed, she asked those gathered 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 gratitude for the sacrifice of women, and there would always be happiness and song.  And as you can see and hear at these games- that prophesy is true. Strong goddesses and strong women, making for a strong future.

So perhaps later…. tip back a few to the festivals past and present, to the Goddesses that live in your life now and to celebrate Lughnasadh and our earth’s harvest with joy and gratitude. 

So, looking around this tent, I would bet that most of us have roots in Celtic Lands. I believe that a good way to understand a little bit about who we are is to gain knowledge of who we were in the past, which includes knowledge of the Celtic form of spirituality, of which goddesses are a part.

In times past, connecting to Goddesses was a way of life. The ancient Celts saw that the female face of the creation, held the key to fertility and birth both in themselves, and in the plants and animals of earth. And the Celts saw the relationship of the goddesses and human women and respected women in their clans. Females were equal to males and held just as much power. 

Celtic Priestesses were highly revered and birthed children into this world, sang the dying to sleep, preformed ceremonies to ensure food to feed people and were healers in times of need. 

Celtic Goddesses are a part of the Celtic system of spirituality, which is deeply tied to the earth, the universe, the cycles of the year and to the cycles of our own body. The Celtic form of spirituality acknowledges the spiritual world inside and outside of us and that we are intimately related to all there is. 

There are so many Celtic goddesses and gods that you can think about them as aspects of a larger whole, or parts of a puzzle.  If you look at the goddesses as a whole, they balance each other out. If you look at the gods as a whole, they balance each other out. If you look at the God and goddesses together- they balance each other out. They needed each other for that healthy balance- as did the humans in the Celtic societies. In fact, this balance was a sign of a healthy culture.  Balance is an important factor in the natural world and in our world.  It is something that our modern world has gotten far away from and perhaps that is one of the reasons our world is in such a crisis both from an ecological standpoint and a human one. 

There are goddesses 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. 

I want you to know there are no soft and fuzzy Goddesses. Goddesses all had more depth or umph…. like Goddess of Love and Nature ...... Goddess of Love and Duty…or Goddesses of Love and War.  Elements that require strength, like we do to thrive. 

One of the major features of Celtic Goddesses is a fusion of powers, like love and war.  Goddesses were in effect---- the Openers and Closers of Life: The Givers and Takers.  Many of the old-world Goddesses, encompass both light and dark and the Celtic people knew these there 2 sides of one coin…… in balance. 

Many centuries ago, I know, that in my ancestors practiced Celtic spirituality, as Celtic Spirituality was an everyday approach to life- like eating or breathing.  So, I feel, it’s no wonder that I sometimes return to my Celtic roots. And for you, perhaps knowing about the path that some of your ancestors walked will give you a different perspective on how to walk your life path now.

So, as I speak about these Goddesses, see which ones you connect to and which ones you may want to investigate. Trust your intuition- it may have nothing to do with the information I give you- it may be a spark of recognition, a blink of an intuition, she may be speaking to your Heart. 

After I speak you can come up here to the fire, water, herbs or flowers and connect with any of these goddesses. So off we go!

Our first goddess today will be Áine: who is a goddess of love, creativity, and fertility………. who has a very dark side- As a muse she has inspired great works of poetry.  However, if her writers failed her, it is said that she would drive them mad. A little give and take, a little light and dark.

Aine's blatant sexuality brought her into disfavor when Christianity began to take hold. The goddess believed in free love and would not be bound by matrimony. Stories sprung up about the belief that Aine used enchantment to mate with mortal men. Spellbound by the goddess, these men were said to do whatever she commanded, and the attraction was always fatal for them. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen that it takes enchantment for men to want to mate! 

It was believed that she regulated the vital spark of life, which, circulates 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 out of the body and the person would die- And just to be aware, if you are thinking about doing any bloodletting –that is next weekend! 

Also, Aine is credited with life-restoring powers, which earned her the title of the goddess of life and death- an example of how light and dark live together naturally.

Here with Aine, you can see that goddesses can indeed have a dark side to them.  Perhaps Light needs Dark and Dark needs light. That 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 powers. The apparent conflict with a goddess ruling both fertility and death presents no problem, as life and death are an ever-cycling event. 

Next is Airmid- who is a member of Tuatha De Danu - the most ancient race of deities. 

One of the stories told about Airmid, is when her kings’ arm was severed, her father, the Chief Healer and Magician, decided to replace it with an arm made of silver.  Airmid didn't like this plan as she knew she could regenerate the King’s own arm to perfect working order. So, she did and then her brother re-attached it to the King’s body.  

Also, Airmid, along with her brother and father, built the Well of Health. It was said that waters could not only restore life to warriors, but it could also actually return them to perfect health so they could return to battle. 

Airmid also knew the secret healing life of herbs. After her brother died, she would frequently visit his grave. One day, when she arrived at his grave, she was amazed to find 365 healing herbs growing on and around that grave, one herb for every joint and organ of the body. 

Airmid began to gather up the herbs in her cloak and quite amazingly, the herbs began to speak to her, telling her of their healing powers. With the knowledge she gained from the herbs, she became a master healer and taught all those who desired this skill. 

And then there is Bridget- the Triple Goddess of healing, smithcraft, and inspiration, the One in the painting, who was revered by all Celtic cultures.  

To give you an idea of her -Here is the story of her birth.

 A long time ago, at the first crack of a pink dawn, 

near the waters of the magic well,

the goddess Bridget slipped into the world and

the waiting hands of the nine sisters who swayed and crooned in a great circle around her.

The waters of the magic well gurgled their joy.

Suddenly, up rose a column of fire out of Bridget’s head that burned to the very heavens connecting the above 

with the below. 

Then she reached up her hands and broke away a flaming plume from her crown of fire and dropped 

it on the ground before her.

There it leapt and danced. Leapt and Danced!

The nine sisters hummed and crooned, and the waters of the magic well trembled as Bridget built a chimney around the dancing fires, uniting above with below, inner and outer.

From this fire, Bridget used both her hands to draw out a leaping tongue of flame, swallowed it, and felt the fire burn straight to her heart.

There stood the goddess,

fire crowning her head,

fire licking out from her heart,

and fire glowing, shooting, and dancing from her hands.

The Goddess Bridget was Born! 

Brigit is associated with Fire as she is the Lady of the Sacred Flame. This fiery energy is the energy of creative power of our consciousness and transformation. Bridget is associated with both the inner fires of the soul as well as the physical fires of the hearth underscoring the wisdom that the inner and outer worlds live in unity. Again- Balance

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 to walk our own life path.   Fire is Light that burns brightly in us and in the dark to show the way. 

Here is one more story about Bridget as a healer and her sacred wells. Symbolically, water, especially water that rises up from the earth, is seen as a source of wisdom and healing. And Bridget is the Celtic Goddess of Healing Waters, Wells and Springs.

One day Bridget was at her sacred well when 2 lepers appeared and asked to be healed.   To the first man she said- "Bathe yourself in my well.”  At every point that Bridget's waters touched, the man's skin turned whole again.

"Now bathe your friend," said Bridget to the first man. Turning to see his friend, the first was repulsed and backed away. "I cannot touch him,” he said.

Then Bridget said, "You are not truly healed," And she gave the first man back his leprosy and healed the second man by washing him herself with the healing waters.  Then Bridget said to the first man- "Return to me with compassion and there you will find your healing." 

So, here was not only the element of healing with sacred water of a well, but also wisdom, compassion and a mind set to not put up with selfishness.

Next is Cerridwen: The Goddess of herbs, inspiration, and wisdom who is also associated with the Cauldron of Wisdom, Inspiration, Rebirth and Transformation.

It was said that she lived on an island, in the middle of a Lake with her husband and two children, a beautiful daughter, and an ugly son. To help her son for his unfortunate appearance, Cerridwen brewed a magical formula, which would make her son the most brilliant and inspired of men. For a year and a day, she kept six herbs simmering in her magical cauldron, with the help of another boy named Gwion.

One day, while Gwion was stirring the formula, hot liquid splattered on his hand.  In pain, Gwion, sucked his burned hand, and, suddenly, he could hear everything in the world, and understood all the secrets of the past and future. 

With his new foresight, he knew how angry Cerridwen would be that he- even accidentally- stole the wisdom meant for her son.

So, he ran away, but Cerridwen pursued him. With his new knowledge Gwion changed into a hare, and Cerridwen chased him as a greyhound; he changed into a fish, and she pursued him as an otter; he became a bird, and she flew after him as a hawk; finally, he changed into a kernel of corn, and Cerridwen, triumphant, changed into a hen, and ate him.

During this chase, Cerridwen forced Gwion to acquire new wisdom and knowledge, as they both ran and shape-shifted in response to each other. And in the end, when she devoured him, he transformed into new and greater identity, that of the legendary poet, Taliesin. 

Our next goddess is the Goddess of Love and hardship, Creiddylad.  She is celebrated on May 1st at Beltane and is the eternal May Queen, bringing the promise of love that endures 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 knight possessing many dark aspects.

The man of her heart 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.

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.  And then an arrangement was made forcing the two men to battle each other for the hand of Creiddylad every year on May 1st at Beltane until Judgement Day—The Forces of Light and Forces of Dark in battle—the Darkness of Winter in battle with the Light of Spring. Now that’s a long engagement! 

As we all know- Spring is victorious but winter always comes. Creiddylad’s destiny was set however- she would remain the eternal maiden, living with her father, until the final battle on Judgment Day.  Creiddylad reminds us that light emerges from dark, and all life is a cycle. 

She emerges from a cold earth bringing sweetness and flowers and bestows her gifts of abundance on us all.  Not only does she gift humanity with an abundant earth, but she also gifts us with the ability to receive that abundance. And yet she reminds us- the cycle of the earth will always return to darkness.

And finally, one of my favorite stories- the powerful and lustful Goddess Maeve.  Maeve is a Celtic Goddess of personal power, the passion of love and war, and sovereignty of the land. She is definitely Light and Dark fused together.

She was a great conqueror who enjoyed enslaving the men that her Armies defeated…. as spoils of war....to pleasure her. Queen Maeve was infamous for her beauty and her sexual prowess. She had many lovers, most who were officers in her army. If they fought courageously on the battlefield, they might enjoy Maeve's "willing thighs." 

As I said before, in ancient Celtic nations, women's rights equaled those of men. They owned property and occupied powerful positions.  Whomever brought more wealth and property into a marriage was considered the ruler of that household, be it man or woman. This is important to Maeve's story.

So, Maeve held the power of the land as she was High Queen and had a consort named Ailill who then enjoyed royal status.

One morning after Maeve and her consort lay in bed basking in the afterglow of lovemaking, he began taunting her, claiming that she was fortunate being with him because of the power and wealth he brought into their partnership. 

Well… Maeve laughed and said, “I possess great wealth and power without you, and you are only my "kept" man.” The quarrel escalated as they began comparing their wealth, assets, and influence...matching one another, until Maeve discovered that Her consort owned a bull of superior breeding- better than the one she owned- making him, technically.......the ruler of their household.

This was unacceptable to the proud warrior Queen.  So, she found a bull of better quality that was owned by the King and Queen of Ulster. When they refused to sell the bull, Queen Maeve decided to take her army and invade their land with the intent of stealing the prized beast. 

She and her troops were met on the battlefield by the most famous of knights- who was-BTW- trained by a Scottish warrior goddess on the isle of Skye. 

It was said that Maeve could outrun the swiftest of horse, she rode at the head of her battalion, and her presence and power made her army invincible. So, in this particular clash- Maeve rode naked into battle in an open car, with four chariots surrounding her. She was so beautiful that she slayed the army just by them looking at her as they fell down in a frenzy of desire. So, she got the bull of Ulster. But at the end......when Maeve and her consort's bulls were penned together........they killed each other.  

Thus, ending the competition for household ruler- Maeve won. But at what expense?  When does being right or being first become too high of a price to pay? 

 Maeve is a goddess who is equally associated with the passion in love AND the passion in war, Light and Dark living together. 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. And sometimes, there is a thin line between states of being. If we lose control of passion and are not mindful of our intent, or honorable in our actions, we can easily cross a line. 

Maeve teaches us that when we lose a battle- whether in love or the battlefields, not to dwell in the negative aspects but to move forward in the present moment. To not make excuses for why things happen, and to learn to accept things the way they are and move on strongly.  Maeve is a confident and strong Lover, warrior and Goddess who tells us to accept ourselves the way we are and to become a warrior in our own life.

Our last goddess today is Skahthahgh of Scotland, goddess of healing, martial arts, prophesy, and protection. She is 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. She trained Culcullakin who fought Maeve.

She was the Gaelic Goddess of the Dead, who searched the battlefields for souls of the slain, and guided them along their "Journey of the Soul", to Tir Nan Og.  It is also the duty of Skahthahgh to drop those who acted poorly in life on one of the islands of the other world, where they pay their debt and learn their folly.

Skahthahgh 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.

All these goddesses can speak to us at some point in our lives.  To which of the Goddesses does your intuition connect you at this moment in your life?  Choose a Goddess- or be open to being chosen by her- with a sense of adventure and gratitude. You probably already know which one- or perhaps just close your eyes and see her name or face. Then come up to the centers of Fire, or water or herbs or flowers to connect to Her. Don’t be shy…. she is waiting!

I’d like to end with an Old Scottish Blessing-

May the blessing of light be on you.

Light from within and light from without.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you

like a great peat fire,

so that stranger and friend

may come and be warmed by you.

And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,

like a candle set in the window of a house,

bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of rain be on you,

may it rain upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,

and leave there a shining pool

where the blue of Heaven is reflected

and sometimes a star. 

Blessings to you all and I thank you.