The Gods
The Gods are ever present and there is no clear dividing line between the natural and the supernatural world. We are at all times balanced precariously on the interface between the divine and the profane. All around us live the denizens of the otherworld, in springs, in rivers and lakes, in forests and marshes, in caves and on mountain tops. The Gods intrude into the affairs of men and often take sides in the disputes of mortals. They are capricious and moody, and at times benevolent and helpful, at times malicious and spiteful. It is necessary to mollify and appease them constantly by means of offerings, by the correct rituals and by the proper manner of behaviour. You offend the Gods at your peril!
Raftery, Barry
Pagan Celtic Ireland, The enigma of the Irish Iron Age
Thames & Hudson 1994 pp. 178
I had originally prepared to deliver this for the Tuatha de Bhriain feast of Imbolc in 1998 but the actual event went off a bit differently. Those who attended might have preferred this more sedate version. I have also posted the Wheel of the Year that I kept that year, and although the specific events and folks mentioned therein may no longer be relevant, it gives a good flavour for the Celtic year.
And what story about “The Gods” is complete without a cameo by The Dagda himself? The Dagda is “the good god” or as I have been told, its better to describe him as “the god who is good at stuff”. The link above brings up a picture I drew of him after reading a particularly detailed description of him.
I’m (maybe not so) obviously thinking about the Celtic pantheon here which is a stretch for a lot of folks since all you really get to read about in school (usually) is the Greek mythos and they’re such a bunch of backstabbing socialites its not supernatural enough for me. I mean, I think some of the Greek Gods summer out in the Hamptons. I also have a fondness for Viking mythology, but I’m not prepared to discuss that rabble tonight. Anyone else have some good Gods stories? Please note: I have enough copies of the Bible, I’m merely soliciting comments regarding polytheism here – so if you can’t afford more than one god, you can’t afford to join in on this discussion.
Comment posted on 12-5-2004
The Birth of the Boyne
from "Celtic Myths and Legends"
by Charles Squire
1997 Portland House (a division of Random House)
New York, ISBN 0-517-18932-1, page 55
Chapter: The Gods of the Gaels
[] actual footnote in the book
{} my comments
The Dagda’s wife was called Boann. She was connected in legend with
the River Boyne [ 1 ], to which she gave it’s name, and, indeed, its very
existence. Formerly there was only a well [ 2 ], shaded by nine magic
hazel trees. These trees bore crimson nuts, and it was the property of the
nuts that whoever ate of them immediately became possessed of the
knowledge of everything that was in the world. The story is, in fact, a
Gaelic version of the Hebrew myth of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil’.{ 3 }. One class of creatures alone had this priviledge –
divine salmon who lived in the well, and swallowed the nuts as they
dropped from the trees into the water, and thus knew all things, and
appear in legend as the ‘Salmons of Knowledge’. All others, even the
highest gods were forbidden to approach the place.
Only Boann, with the proverbial woman’s curiosity, dared to disobey this
fixed law. She came towards the sacred well but, as she did so, its
waters rose up at her, and drove her away before them in a mighty,
rushing flood. She escaped; but the waters never returned. They made
the Boyne; and as for the all knowing inhabitants of the well, they
wandered disconsolately through the depths of the river looking in vain
for their lost nuts. One of these salmon was afterwards eaten by the
famous Finn Mac Coul, upon whom all its omniscience descended [ 4 ].
This way of accounting for the existence of a river is a favorite one in
Irish legend. It is told also of the River Shannon, which burst like the
Boyne, from an inviolable well, to pursue another presumptuous nymph
called Sinann, a grandaughter of the sea-god Lir.[ 5 ]
[1] The story is told in the Book of Leinster.
{Nate’s commentary:The Book of Leinster is a manuscript of the Twelfth
Century. It is a collection of stories and poems of the Irish countryside
compiled by monks who recognized that the oral histories and traditions
of the Irish people were fast dissapearing and decided to collect them
into a written form. Not all stories are contemporary with the
compilation of the book, for example, the version of ‘The Tain’ given in
it probably dates from the eigth. Also, there is a decidedly Christian bent
to some of the obviously originally Pagan stories that must certainly
have been inserted by the monks at the time of writing – by the way, the
Dagda was the ‘good god’, the father of the gods. He was ‘good at’ stuff
not necessarily ‘good hearted’ Read more about him at The Dagda, Who
was he?}
[2] Now called the ‘Trinity Well’
{3} It does not say anywhere in the book that there is evidence that the
story was indeed developed after contact with the Christians
~450A.D.(St. Patrick) and that it is definitely based on the Hebrew
story, or if it is just similar. Possibly, since the only stories we have were
written down by Chrisitan monks, the original Pagan myth has been
adapted and changed by the writers – who knows!
[4] See chap. XIV ‘Finn and the Fenians’ {Although some historians give
Finn (a great hero of Irish legend) an actual date in history of 238AD
and believe the lineage given in the Book of Leinster to be historical
fact, most modern scholars believe it more likely that Finn (which means
‘fair’) is another mythical ancestor of the Gaels much like Cuchulain and
his band; born more out of the great boasts and tale-spinning common
to Irish folk than actual deeds}
[5] Book of Leinster. A paraphrase of the story will be found in O’Curry’s
‘Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish’, vol. II p.143