Celtic Mythology - Tumblr Posts
Does anyone know how long the legend of Cú Chulainn is? I believe it came before the Arthurian legends, right?
Culann: your damn nephew eat my shoe!
Conchobar: but it's you who told him to be your dog
Culann: not literally! what's wrong with him?
Conchobar: he is a good boy
Cu Chulainn: *bark at the postman*
Conchobar: I feel a little nauseous
Cu Chulainn: maybe you're pregnant
Conchobar:
Conchobar: I don't know who's the most idiot - you assuming it or me almost having a heart attack
guardian entering the room: sir there is Connacht army at our gates
Cu Chulainn:
Conchobar: fuck
Children of Lir (2020)
The Children of Lir (2022)
“Scratch a bit at the thin topsoil of Irish Catholicism,” the saying goes, “and you soon come to the solid bedrock of Irish paganism.”... paganism and Catholicism in Ireland are joined twins that can not be separated. They are not opposites, as archaeologist Proinsias MacCana has pointed out, for in Ireland pagan ways and beliefs formed an “extraordinary symbiosis.” ...paganism and Christianity in Ireland need each other to live.
Patricia Monaghan, The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit
We are accustomed to distinguish the supernatural from the natural. The barrier between the two domains is not, indeed, always impenetrable: the Homeric gods sometimes fight in the ranks of human armies, and a hero may force the gates of Hades and visit the empire of the dead. But the chasm is there nonetheless, and we are made aware of it by feeling of wonder or horror aroused by this violation of established order. The Celts knew nothing of this, if we are entitled to judge their attitude from Irish tradition. Here there is continuity, in space and in time, between what we call our world and the other world–or worlds. Some peoples, such as the Romans, think of their myths historically; the Irish think of their history mythologically; and so, too, of their geography. […] The supernatural and the natural penetrate and continue each other, and constant communication beteen them ensures their organic unity. Hence it is easier to describe the mythological world of the Celts than to define it, for definition implies a contrast.
- Celtic Gods and Heroes byMarie-Louise Sjeostedt, translated by Myles Dillon, page 1. (via nicstoirm)
You’re extremely welcome - happy to help anyone with their Irish/Celtic Mythology needs to the best of my abilities/knowledge!
Teaching myself celtic mythology (pt. 3)
An amazing person has just helped me.
Thank you so much @ravenslynch
You are awesome.
CDTH SPOILERS will tag also but just so you’re warned
The use of the word Fenian in CDTH is so jarring to me. Like I’m sure she’s trying to invoke Fenian in the sense of a member of the Irish mythological Fianna ? But like... it’s unavoidably political as a word ?
I could delve into a better explanation of this but I’m currently in a doctor’s waiting room so have this Wikipedia explanation of the term.
Being associated with Boudicca as an organisation makes it weirder that it’s being used and isn’t political to me. (There are probably a host of reasons why Boudicca as a figure could also complicate this further, but I just mean in the barest sense of it being a shady dangerous group, not that they appear to be even remotely paramilitary in nature, which also adds to the weirdness)
I mean lbr here is a man who must have memories of being from Belfast during the Troubles as evidenced by his shared past with Niall discussed in Chapter 64:
And calls himself the New Fenian apolitically ? As a henchman of this group ?? So odd.
I mean the term even has specific American history too.
I just don’t think any of the reasoning behind this will touch upon any of the connotations/history of this in itself - I mean that’s absolutely not the point of CDTH, nor do I particularly think it should be. So just... why ? Is it just that it sounds like a cool rebel name ? If so that surely would be shrouded in the actual historical rebellion it’s linked to ? Being from Belfast when Niall would have been there, there is no way he’d be ignorant of the word or immune to its connotations, he wouldn’t use it without those being considerations, and I don’t know why he’d particularly want to in this context regardless of political leaning. Therefore: very strange.
Like generally when people are talking about the Fianna even you wouldn’t say “Fionn mac Cumhaill was a Fenian” you’d say he was a leader of the Fianna? Diarmuid Ua Duibhne - solider or member of the Fianna. Calling them Fenian would be weird. It’s still an extremely recognisable term today.
Anyway this is my off the cuff rambling as a confused Irish reader.
Bit of a long story...
My name is Finn, and I named myself after the giant Finn McCool in Irish mythology. He created the Giant's Causeway.
Full myth from the Giants Causeway Tour website.
Here's the link if you want to read more.
https://www.thegiantscausewaytour.com/the-giants-causeway-story/#:~:text=The%20Myth,hurling%20them%20into%20the%20sea.
As legend has it, Northern Ireland was once home to a giant named Finn McCool (also called Fionn Mac Cumhaill). When another giant – Benandonner, across the Irish Sea in Scotland – threatened Ireland, Finn retaliated by tearing up great chunks of the Antrim coastline and hurling them into the sea. The newly-created path – the Giant’s Causeway – paved a route over the sea for Finn to reach Benandonner.
However, this turns out to be a bad idea as Benandonner is a massive giant, much bigger than Finn! In order to save himself, Finn retreats to Ireland and is disguised as a baby by his quick-thinking wife. When Benandonner arrives, he sees Finn disguised as a baby and realises that if a mere baby is that big, the father must be far larger than Benandonner himself!
Following this realisation, Benandonner rushes back to Scotland, tearing away as much of the Causeway as he can in his haste to put as much distance between Ireland and himself as possible. And thus, the myth of the Giant’s Causeway was born.
normalize asking 'who gave it to you?' after complimenting someone's name
Mythology Around the World: Common Themes:
The Ocean
An oaken comb with ancient symbol - Knot of Longevity, wich helps to take health, beauty and longevity.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZxfurIs-t/?igshid=10sosnjctf30
https://www.etsy.com/listing/705220720/comb-knot-of-longevity
I wrote a poem. I don't write poetry so it isn't good. It's about the Autumn Equinox.
Happy Autumn Equinox, Blessed Be.
Cernunnos and Nodens
The duality of man
Two ancient Celtic gods who, thanks to the aural tradition of the Druids and the stabbing tradition of the Romans, we know very little about. But I've been thinking about what we do know about them and I have some speculation that has zero evidence but I'd like to share anyway.
To me they seem to be gods of different aspects of the same things. To quote Terry Pratchett, to be human is "To be the place where the Fallen Angel meets the Rising Ape," we aren't quite animals but nor are we divine. We have one foot in each camp.
Cernunnos represents our beastial side while Nodens represents our civilised side. Here's my reasoning:
Cernunnos is god of wildlife. Nodens is the god of dogs, our first domesticated animal.
Cernunnos is a god of fertility, or at least male virility. Nodens is a god of healing. One is the base lust that creates new life, the other is practiced learning that preserves existing life.
Nodens is a hunting/fishing god, as in the practical activities we do to sustain ourselves. Cernunnos is god of THE HUNT, as in the actual bloody thrill of the chase.
Another way to look at this last one would be; Cernunnos is a hunting god whereas Nodens is a war god. The two forms of violence man partakes in, one is arguably natural while the other man made. However, I feel the need to point out that Nodens isn't exactly a war god, he's a healer god, but the Roman soldiers in Britain associated him with Mars, a war god who from the perspective of a soldier had healer aspects.
A start of shift prayer:
Gorfannon the Smith, guide my hand.
Amaethon of the Plough, give strength to my back.
Let me lose myself in my labours and find peace in my toil,
May my efforts be fruitful and my respite well earned.
The King of Annwn
Brythonic Paganism Essays: Part I
The Usual Disclaimer: The tales of The Mabinogion and other surviving Welsh texts were once shared orally, passed down across generations, and over vast distances. By the time these stories were finally committed to writing, the Welsh had long embraced Christianity. As a result, what remains in these medieval manuscripts offers only a faint echo of the ancient beliefs held by the Brythonic or Romano-British peoples. Yet, by examining these stories in relation to one another, and drawing parallels with other Celtic or even Indo-European traditions, we may catch glimpses of the older beliefs that inspired them. What follows is simply theory, built upon these comparisons.
There are many contenders for the title of King or Lord of Annwn, the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. So many, in fact, that most Brythonic polytheists I’ve spoken to tend to agree that Annwn, like the mortal world, has multiple rulers. However, I believe these deities share too many similarities to be entirely distinct. Rather, I see them as different aspects or variations of a much older, singular god. Before delving into the gods themselves, let’s examine the key motifs:
The God-King is often depicted as a hunter, accompanied by the Cŵn Annwn—the hounds of Annwn—described as pure white with red ears.
He is locked in an eternal, seasonal conflict, where he can be seen as representing winter, battling against an opponent who embodies summer.
This struggle often revolves around a goddess who symbolizes spring, the earth, or fertility. This mythic framework is incredibly ancient, with perhaps the most well-known version being the story of Persephone in Greek mythology.
The conflict often involves a journey to the Underworld and escalates to such intensity that a mortal king must intervene.
The god is also often depicted as a psychopomp—an entity that guides the souls of the dead to their final destination, much like the Grim Reaper. However, it’s important to note that Annwn wasn’t necessarily viewed as an “afterlife” by its original believers. Instead, it was more of a mystical realm, later misunderstood and conflated with Hell or Hades through the lens of Christian propaganda.
Arawn
Pwyll, King of Dyfed, embarks on a hunt and encounters a pack of white, red-eared dogs bringing down a deer. He claims the kill for himself, only to be confronted by Arawn, the true owner of the hounds, who is also hunting. To make amends for his transgression, Pwyll agrees to a request from Arawn: they will swap appearances and live as each other for one year. Arawn explains that he goes to war every year with Hafgan—a name meaning something like "summer song" or "summer white"—for rulership of Annwn. Despite defeating Hafgan in combat each time, Arawn always loses in the end. As Hafgan lays dying, he taunts Arawn to strike again, and Arawn, unable to resist, delivers the fatal blow—only for Hafgan to be magically revived.
Pwyll agrees to the plan and spends a year living in Annwn disguised as Arawn. Though he shares a bed with Arawn’s Wife every night, Pwyll honors the situation and never takes advantage of it. When the time comes to face Hafgan in battle, Pwyll defeats him but refuses to strike the final blow. With Hafgan dead, his followers recognize Arawn as the true King of Annwn.
Here, we see the recurring motifs of the hunt, the yearly conflict with summer, and the intervention of a mortal king. In this version of the myth, it is the King who travels to the Otherworld, not the goddess who is absent. While the myth lacks a love triangle with a goddess, Arawn’s unnamed Wife does play a role, with her honor preserved, this was included in the story for a reason. The psychopomp element isn’t explicitly referenced in this story, but other familiar themes remain.
Gwyn ap Nudd
Culhwch desires to marry Olwen, the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden. However, Ysbaddaden knows that he is doomed to die once his daughter marries, so he sets Culhwch forty impossible tasks. One of these is to slay the monstrous boar Twrch Trwyth, a cursed Irish king who now roams Britain as a destructive beast. Culhwch seeks help from his famous cousin, King Arthur, who agrees but warns that to hunt this particular monster, they will need the aid of Gwyn ap Nudd.
Gwyn ap Nudd - whose name means "White Son of Mist" - is somewhat preoccupied at the time, having just abducted the lady Creiddylad from her betrothed, Gwythyr ap Greidawl, whose name means "Victory Son of Scorcher." The ensuing conflict between Gwyn and Gwythyr grows vicious. In one particularly brutal act, Gwyn kills a captured knight, cuts out his heart, and forces the knight's son to eat it, driving him mad. King Arthur intervenes and orders the two rivals to cease their war. From that moment on, they are condemned to battle each other once a year, on May Day, until the end of the world.
Gwyn also appears in the poem The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir in the Black Book of Carmarthen. It can be interpreted from this poem that Gwyddno, unaware that he has been slain in battle, meets a warrior (Gwyn) and asks for his protection. During the course of their conversation Gwyddno learns that the warrior has witnessed many battles and the deaths of many of Britain's heroes, and Gwyddno realises he is now one of those dead heroes as he is speaking to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Later traditions place Gwyn at the head of the Wild Hunt as the King of the Tylwyth Teg, the fair folk, the inhabitants of Annwn, where he rides his host on the night between October 31st/November 1st looking for the souls of the dead. He hunts with the Cwn Annwn, the same pack of dogs Arawn had.
Let's go through all this. We have two examples of a Hunt motif, the Hunting of Twrch Trwyth, and The Wild Hunt. Both can be seen as metaphors for Gwyn's role as a psychopomp, The Wild Hunt is explicitly about the souls of the dead being taken to the Otherworld, and Twrch Trwyth is no ordinary boar, he is a human soul transformed into a monster, and Arthur believes that only with Gwyn with them could they succeed.
We also have a war with summer over a girl. Creiddylad is of uncertain meaning, it could mean "heart-flood", "blood-flood" which is unclear to me, but Gwythyr being "son of Scorcher" seems to be a clear reference to summer, their battle is to commence on May Day, the start of summer, every year, forever. It's also worth noting that the Wild Hunt the night before November 1st is the start of winter. This was of course decided by the (not so mortal) legendary King Arthur.
A note on Gwyn's family: Nudd (pronounced Neathe like breathe) is a god who's name means mist. Getting lost in mist is a sure fire way of getting to Annwn, like a portal, and the Tylwyth Teg, or fair folk of whom Gwyn is king, are said to waylay travelers with mist and fog. Nudd comes from the older Celtic word Nodens, a god associated with healing, specifically but not limited to eyes, as well as dream interpretation. So here we see a god who is responsible for clearing or obscuring vision, both physically and mentally, like mist. Nodens is also closely linked to dogs, hunting and fishing. Lludd is another version of this name, and Lludd is given to be Creiddydlad's father, making her Gwyn's sisters as well as lover, but we don't know for sure if the medieval writers saw Lludd and Nudd as literally the same person, so it's really a matter of opinion.
Gronw Pebr
Gwydion, a magician, trickster, bard and potentially tree deity (more on this in a future essay), has gone to great trouble to bring about the birth of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, Lleu of Many Skills. This includes him stealing divine pigs from Annwn, given to Pryderi ap Pwyll by Arawn and magically impregnating his own sister. As a result Lleu's mother, Arianrhod, has laid three tynghedau on him, which is like a curse or a fate.
One tynged is that Lleu could not marry any woman of any race in this world. So Gwydion, along with his magically talented uncle King Math, created a wife for Lleu out of flowers and named her Blodeuwedd, meaning flower-face. Blodeuwedd and Lleu are happily married until one day, when Lleu is away from home, a hunter arrives.
His name is Gronw Pebr, Gronw the Radiant, and he requests shelter. Blodeuwedd, having never seen another man in her life other than her husband and her creators, falls in love with him. Gronw explains that in order for them to be together, Lleu must die. So Blodeuwedd discovers from her trusting husband the very specific and convoluted means that Lleu could be killed, which involves a spear that takes a year of Sundays to create. She tells Gronw about this, who goes about creating the spear.
When the time comes, Blodeuwedd tricks Lleu into the exact situation in which he can be killed, and Gronw strikes him with the spear. Lleu is "killed" but his body transforms into an eagle that continually rots, and flies away. Using pigs to sniff him out, Gwydion finds the decaying eagle perched in an oak tree, and with his gift of awen (divine talent and knowledge) sings Lleu back to life.
Lleu, Gwydion and Math return for vengeance, and this time it is Lleu who slays Gronw with a spear thrust that pierces the solid stone Gronw used as a shield. Blodeuwedd and her maidens flee, but as they keep looking behind them the maidens fall into a lake and drown and Blodeuwedd is transformed by Gwydion into an owl as punishment, a goddess of flowers cursed to never see the sun again.
This story is a lot more from the point of view of our summer representative Lleu, who's fleshed out far more as a god in his own right in the full telling of it. Lleu specifically is the god of light, as well as being "many skilled" and sharing many characteristics of the "divine son" god that will be explored in the next essay.
Gronw, by contrast, has nothing that indicates winter other than he opposes Lleu and his opposition takes a year of work. He also enters our story as a hunter. The circularity of this conflict is reinforced in the resurrection of Lleu, as winter defeats summer just for summer to return and defeat winter and so on. I am reminded by this resurrection by Gwydion of Hafgan's final strike, which revives him.
Blodeuwedd also gets far more attention in this story than the women in the other tales. A being who is a literal embodiment of spring, fertility and the earth, being made from flowers. It is likely that the owl transformation is a medieval invention. There are other animal transformations in this branch of the Mabinogion that I didn't mention here as they weren't relevant, which also seems to be an addition based on a trendyness of people who shapeshift in medieval literature. However, we also have the maidens falling into the lake, which I imagine is a remnant of the original, in which Blodeuwedd falls in, as the maidens are not really mentioned before so this is an odd detail. Lakes were seen as gateways to Annwn, so here we see Blodeuwedd fleeing to her Otherworldly lover. I personally take the owl to represent Blodeuwedd during the dark half of the year, when she is with her winter lover, awaiting to emerge from the earth in spring.
We have no psychopomping either, but we do have two references to swine herding which seems reminiscent of Culhwch and Olwen. King Math is certainly no mortal, but he seems to be a god involved with magic, judgement and punishment.
A note on Lleu's family: just as Gwyn and Creiddydlad are potentially siblings, so too are Lleu's parents Gwydion and Arianrhod. The story doesn't come straight out and say it, creating the characters of Gilfeathwy and Goewin as stand-ins, probably for the sake of Christian sensibilities. These two are never mentioned again or anywhere else as far as I know, and it is Arianrhod who is pregnant as a result of the whole thing, not Goewin. Some versions even have Arianrhod in Goewin's place as foot holder to Math. Lleu appears as Llefelys in another story, who is brother of Lludd (Nudd). This would make Creiddydlad, the Blodeuwedd-like lady of Gwyn's story, his niece, as well as Gwyn maybe his nephew.
This really nails home how these tales became so mixed up in their countless retellings over space and time before being written down. They spread out and became something unique then smashed back together time and again, but somewhere in there is the important truth. It can be confusing and frustrating, but bare in mind always:
The Gods are not their myths,
Embrace the mystery!
One day I'll wander through meadows green,
Where woods are calm and skies serene,
And all my battles, cares, and pain,
Shall fade like dreams; half-lost, half-gained.
When a distant howl, soft but clear,
Echoing through mist, and drawing near.
I wonder where my old dogs roam,
When from the trees, they race back home.
Each faithful friend, long since gone,
Returns to me, as if no dawn
Had ever risen without their sight,
Leading hosts of hounds of pure white.
Their ears are red, their eyes aglow,
And with them comes a shadowed flow;
A rider tall, with knowing grace,
I fear his gaze, yet see his face.
"You know me, don't you?" soft, he speaks,
My heart is light, my memory weak.
No path behind, no end ahead,
No purpose clear, no words unsaid.
I smile at him, no fear to show,
"Yes, my lord, I know you so."
For this is Gwyn, the final guide,
Who leads us where the spirits bide.
In another ask you mentioned that modern druidry overlapped with the new age scene. Can you explain in what ways and what you’ve observed? Are there any other problematic instances you’re aware of? I’ve been interested in pursuing druidry or some other kind of nature-based faith for a while so if they’ve been shitty this whole time then damn I’m bummed :,)
Keep in mind I don't know a whole lot about this topic so I can't answer anything in-depth here, but basically a lot of what's passed for druidry in modern times goes back to Edward Williams, who called himself Iolo Morganwg. The dude just made up a bunch of shit, even forging documents. It was all heavily influenced by the romanticism of the time period, which is a whole can o' worms on its own.
These days, every now and then there's some New Ager calling themself a druid, with their whole idea of druidry being pretty obviously influenced by the modern romantic ideas of what druidry entails. This includes people like Elena Danaan (who apparently also believes that people with reptilian DNA are inherently evil).
I'm sure there's better people out there getting into druidry, but yeah, I definitely know that there's a bunch of sketchy stuff that's been going on for awhile.