Celtic mythology

The following is just from a few documents I had on Celtic creatures and myths (from irl) that well appear in some form or another in Saedra) currently very unorganised.

## Celtic Creatures

Caoránach: Irish Perceived as female, Caoránach was said to be the mother of demons and devils. Lough Derg ('red lake')was named for the blood of the dragon Caoranach issuing from an old witch's thigh bone, the dragon was slain by Fionn Mac Cumhaill. In Irish folklore, there is a story of a she-beast that St. Patrick banished to Lough Derg (Red Lake). There is an island in the middle of Lough Derg that is called St. Patrick's Purgatory; it is said that the she-beast called Caoranach was sent to this island. It was said that there was a woman who followed St. Patrick very closely, but no one ever knew her name. After St. Patrick stated that he had banished the she-beast, this woman was never seen again.

**Cailleach Bhéara(ch)** or Bheur(ach): **Irish, Scottish and Manx ,is a divine hag, a creator deity** and weather deity, and possibly an ancestor deity. In Scotland, where she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter, she is credited with making numerous mountains and large hills, which are said to have been formed when she was striding across the land and accidentally dropped rocks from her creel or wicker basket. In other cases she is said to have built the mountains intentionally, to serve as her stepping stones. She carries a hammer for shaping the hills and valleys, and is said to be the mother of all the goddesses and gods.

The Cailleach displays several traits befitting the personification of winter: she herds deer, she fights spring, and her staff freezes the ground.

In partnership with the goddess Brìghde (Brigid), the Cailleach is seen as a seasonal deity or spirit, ruling the winter months between Samhainn (1 November or first day of winter) and Bealltainn (1 May or first day of summer), while Brìghde rules the summer months between Bealltainn and Samhainn. Some interpretations have the Cailleach and Brìghde as two faces of the same goddess, while others describe the Cailleach as turning to stone on Bealltainn and reverting to humanoid form on Samhainn in time to rule over the winter months. Depending on local climate, the transfer of power between the winter goddess and the summer goddess is celebrated any time between Là Fhèill Brìghde (1 February) at the earliest, Latha na Cailliche (25 March), or Bealltainn (1 May) at the latest, and the local festivals marking the arrival of the first signs of spring may be named after either the Cailleach or Brìghde.

Là Fhèill Brìghde is also the day the Cailleach gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on 1 February is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood to keep herself warm in the coming months. As a result, people are generally relieved if Là Fhèill Brìghde is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep, will soon run out of firewood, and therefore winter is almost over. On the Isle of Man, where She is known as Caillagh ny Groamagh, the Cailleach is said to have been seen on St. Bride's day in the form of a gigantic bird, carrying sticks in her beak.

In Scotland, the Cailleachan (lit. 'old women') are also known as The Storm Hags, and seen as personifications of the elemental powers of nature, especially in a destructive aspect. They are said to be particularly active in raising the windstorms of spring, during the period known as A' Chailleach.

The Corryvreckan whirpool (Scottish Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'cauldron of the plaid') washtub of the Cailleach

On the west coast of Scotland, the Cailleach ushers in winter by washing her great plaid (Gaelic: féileadh mòr) in the Gulf of Corryvreckan (Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'cauldron of the plaid'). This process is said to take three days, during which the roar of the coming tempest is heard as far away as twenty miles (32 km) inland. When she is finished, her plaid is pure white and snow covers the land.

In Scotland and Ireland, the first farmer to finish the grain harvest made a corn dolly, representing the Cailleach (also called "the Carlin or Carline"), from the last sheaf of the crop. The figure would then be tossed into the field of a neighbor who had not yet finished bringing in their grain. The last farmer to finish had the responsibility to take in and care for the corn dolly for the next year, with the implication they'd have to feed and house the hag all winter. Competition was fierce to avoid having to take in the Old Woman.

Moddey Dhoo: Mauthe Doog (meaning "black dog") is a black hound in Manx folklore that reputedly haunted Peel Castle on the west coast of the Isle of Man. As to the version where the black dog is described "as big as a calf and with eyes like pewter plates"

Cabbits: Cat-rabbit hybrid.

Arkan Sonney: Manx  a fairy pig with long hair.

Nicnevin: Queen of Scottish fairies.

## More detail

**Cailleach Bhéara(ch)** or Bheur(ach): **Irish, Scottish and Manx ,is a divine hag, a creator deity** and weather deity, and possibly an ancestor deity. In Scotland, where she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter, she is credited with making numerous mountains and large hills, which are said to have been formed when she was striding across the land and accidentally dropped rocks from her creel or wicker basket. In other cases she is said to have built the mountains intentionally, to serve as her stepping stones. She carries a hammer for shaping the hills and valleys, and is said to be the mother of all the goddesses and gods.

The Cailleach displays several traits befitting the personification of winter: she herds deer, she fights spring, and her staff freezes the ground.

In partnership with the goddess Brìghde (Brigid), the Cailleach is seen as a seasonal deity or spirit, ruling the winter months between Samhainn (1 November or first day of winter) and Bealltainn (1 May or first day of summer), while Brìghde rules the summer months between Bealltainn and Samhainn. Some interpretations have the Cailleach and Brìghde as two faces of the same goddess, while others describe the Cailleach as turning to stone on Bealltainn and reverting to humanoid form on Samhainn in time to rule over the winter months. Depending on local climate, the transfer of power between the winter goddess and the summer goddess is celebrated any time between Là Fhèill Brìghde (1 February) at the earliest, Latha na Cailliche (25 March), or Bealltainn (1 May) at the latest, and the local festivals marking the arrival of the first signs of spring may be named after either the Cailleach or Brìghde.

Là Fhèill Brìghde is also the day the Cailleach gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on 1 February is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood to keep herself warm in the coming months. As a result, people are generally relieved if Là Fhèill Brìghde is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep, will soon run out of firewood, and therefore winter is almost over. On the Isle of Man, where She is known as Caillagh ny Groamagh, the Cailleach is said to have been seen on St. Bride's day in the form of a gigantic bird, carrying sticks in her beak.

In Scotland, the Cailleachan (lit. 'old women') are also known as The Storm Hags, and seen as personifications of the elemental powers of nature, especially in a destructive aspect. They are said to be particularly active in raising the windstorms of spring, during the period known as A' Chailleach.

The Corryvreckan whirpool (Scottish Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'cauldron of the plaid') washtub of the Cailleach

On the west coast of Scotland, the Cailleach ushers in winter by washing her great plaid (Gaelic: féileadh mòr) in the Gulf of Corryvreckan (Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'cauldron of the plaid'). This process is said to take three days, during which the roar of the coming tempest is heard as far away as twenty miles (32 km) inland. When she is finished, her plaid is pure white and snow covers the land.

In Scotland and Ireland, the first farmer to finish the grain harvest made a corn dolly, representing the Cailleach (also called "the Carlin or Carline"), from the last sheaf of the crop. The figure would then be tossed into the field of a neighbor who had not yet finished bringing in their grain. The last farmer to finish had the responsibility to take in and care for the corn dolly for the next year, with the implication they'd have to feed and house the hag all winter. Competition was fierce to avoid having to take in the Old Woman.

According to the Scottish folklorist Donald MacKenzie, Bride (the Scottish Brighid) is imprisoned in Ben Nevis by the hag goddess known as the Cailleach during the winter months before being freed by Angus Og, the god of love. An alternative version of the same seasonal legend states that the Cailleach can transform herself from a terrifying hag in the winter half of the year to a beautiful young maiden in the summer half- implying that Bride and the Cailleach are the same entity.

The sources for both these stories are unclear, and may have been cobbled together by folklorists such as MacKenzie out of much vaguer references in the oral tradition to the Cailleach imprisoning or transforming into an unnamed maiden representing the spring. However, since Bride’s festival on February 1 is the beginning of spring in Gaelic lore, and the Cailleach is represented as struggling to hold back the spring before finally giving up on March 25, the connection between the unnamed maiden and Bride is at least a logical one. It is also possible that the folklorists had access to a now-lost source specifically naming the maiden as Bride. This concept is not found anywhere in other sources such as the Carmina Gadelica. However, there is a rather convoluted point of connection between the two otherwise very different deities.

In Lowland Scotland, the mix of Celtic, Norse and Saxon cultural influences led to the Cailleach being referred to as the Gyre Carling. “Gyre” comes from a Scandinavian word referring to a primal giantess much like the Cailleach, while “Carling” or “Carlin” is the Lowland Scots equivalent to the Gaelic word “Cailleach.” In Scottish folklore, it was always understood that the Lowland Gyre Carling and the Highland Cailleach were the same being.

However, the Lowland Scots also believed that the Gyre Carling could appear in the form of a beautiful witch queen or queen of the Unseelie Court of sinister fairies. This “Queen of Elphame” was supposed to be worshiped by the Scottish witches, and sixteenth century witchcraft trial documents make many references to her, including the statement that she could be young or old at will. According to Scottish folklore, she rides out every Hallowe’en at the head of her spirit army or Wild Hunt. Both the attractive “witch queen” form of the Gyre Carling and the chief witch of any coven of Scottish witches were supposed to be referred to by the same name: Nicnevin.

Some scholars will tell you that this is a Gaelic last name referring to a saint, but that is to be skeptical merely for the same of being skeptical. One of the names of the Irish Sovereignty goddess known as the Morrigan was Neamhain or “Frenzy,” and in Gaelic NicNeamhain means “Daughter of Neamhain” and therefore “Daughter of the Morrigan.” It is pronounced “Nicnevin.”

In other words, not only does the Cailleach (possibly) change into Bride during the summer months, but the Cailleach’s younger alter-ego in the winter months is also referred to as the “Daughter of Neamhain” or daughter of the Morrigan. Despite being portrayed as a sinister entity, this Daughter of Neamhain also performs some of the functions of Bride. Bride is particularly associated with midwives in Gaelic lore, but in volume eight of Calderwood’s “History of the Kirk of Scotland” there is a reference to a midwife from 1582 describing her as “Nicknevin’s daughter.”

If Bride is the patron saint of midwives but a midwife is a “daughter of Nicnevin,” does that mean that Bride and Nicnevin are the same entity in some sense? Because Brighid is the daughter of the Dagda in Irish lore and the Morrigan is sometimes referred to as the Dagda’s wife, many modern pagans consider Brighid to be the daughter of the Morrigan. Personally, I have always felt that Brighid was much more similar to the Dagda’s other mate, the goddess Boann. However, consider the following.

If the Morrigan is Neamhain and Brighid is the daughter of the Morrigan, then Brighid is literally the “daughter of Neamhain” or Nicnevin. Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s the same “daughter of Neamhain” as the Scottish fairy queen — they could just as logically be sisters. However, Bride’s role as a goddess of poetry is paralleled by the relationship between the Queen of Elphame and the Lowland Scottish bard and prophet known as True Thomas or Thomas the Rhymer. It’s almost as if Nicnevin is Bride’s sinister sister- although they are never described as sisters nor even mentioned together in any Scottish lore. In fact, charms such as the Genealogy of Bride invoke Bride for protection against the invisible arrows of the Wild Hunt — who rode with Nicnevin at their head.

Are Bride and Nicnevin estranged sisters? Or, if Mackenzie was right and the Cailleach and Bride are the same entity on some level, then is Nicnevin also the same entity as Bride on some level?

This appears to be an example of the fluidity and ambiguity typical of myth — you can try to work out a logical system with clearly-defined boundaries, but you will never succeed. The lore is just too fluid for that. However, if the Cailleach is the Gyre Carling and the Gyre Carling can become Nicnevin, and Nicnevin is the daughter of Neamhain or the Morrigan… then the possibility of some connection between the kind, gentle and loving Bride and the wild and wicked hag goddesses and fairy queens of Scottish folklore cannot be ruled out.