Comment

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 18, 2014 at 7:54pm

Celtic Cross - A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses - a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated. With the Celtic Revival the shape, usually decorated with interlace and other motifs from Insular art, became popular for funerary monuments and other uses, and has remained so, spreading well beyond the British Isles.

In Ireland, it is a popular legend that the Celtic Catholic cross was introduced by Saint Patrick or possibly Saint Declan during his time converting the pagan Irish, though no examples survive from this early period. It has often been claimed that Patrick combined the symbol of Christianity with the sun cross, to give pagan followers an idea of the importance of the cross by linking it with the idea of the life-giving properties of the sun. However this theory is now thought unlikely by most art historians, who think an origin from crosses carrying a victor's wreath around their intersection is more likely. Such a cross is found on the reverse of the Liudhard medalet from Canterbury in England in the 590s.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 18, 2014 at 7:54pm

Solitary Pagan -Mystic )0(

Triskelion - The triskelion, was a prominent Celtic symbol that represented the the concept of completion and progress. The symbol looked like a three legged wheel. According to the first derivation of the meaning, the triskelion, represents actions, cycles, progress, revolution and competition. In all, the triskelion was a representation of a sense of advancement.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 18, 2014 at 6:14pm

She stands regally, alone in the woods, clad in both chain-mail armor and red robes embellished with gold. The dual nature of her character is evident; she is both sovereign and goddess, mother and warrior, priestess and protectress. She is Danu, the Celtic mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a tribe of gods and demi-gods in pre-Christian Ireland. Dean Morrissey has captured the fierce independent spirit of the Irish people in Danu of the Celts. Dean Morrissey - Danu of the Celts
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She stands regally, alone in the woods, clad in both chain-mail armor and red robes embellished with gold. The dual nature of her character is evident; she is both sovereign and goddess, mother and warrior, priestess and protectress. She is Danu, the Celtic mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a tribe of gods and demi-gods in pre-Christian Ireland. Dean Morrissey has captured the fierce independent spirit of the Irish people in Danu of the Celts.
Danu of the Celts
by Dean Morrissey

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 17, 2014 at 10:31am

Solitary Pagan -Mystic )0(

DIA GREINE
(Scotland) The daughter of the sun, or possibly a sun God - in ancient Scotland. She appears in a folktale in which, held captive in the Land of the Women, (a synonym for the Otherworld) she is freed by the Cailleach, disguised as a fox, and a helpful young man named Brian. Her name means "suns tear". Archetypally her legend serves as a metaphor for reincarnation.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 17, 2014 at 10:30am

Solitary Pagan -Mystic )0(

DAHUD-AHES
(Breton) Also Dahut. Her adoring father, King Gradion (or Gradlon) of Cornwall, built for her the city of Ker-Ys ("city of depth") off the coast of Brittany in order that she might escape the persecutions of the monks who had declared her a witch for her violent opposition to their Christianization of her kingdom.

Modern legends tell that her city was swept away by a wave caused by an intervening Christian saint. Pagan stories tell how she asked a city of Korrigans, the Breton sea faeries, to disguise her sea world until it was safe again for them to emerge again in a world without religious persecution. In this way she is similar to the sleeping deities, such s King Arthur, who lie in a state of suspended animation waiting until their people call upon them again.

Dahud was dubbed a Goddess of 'debauchery' by her detractors, while some more recent legends go so far as to make her the destroyer of her realm through her excesses and her worship of 'idols'. Patriarchal legends say her father, recognizing her as evil, either escaped her world, or drowned her.

She is hailed as a Goddess of earthly pleasure by her followers. Archetypally she can be viewed as a mother Goddess cradling the reborn infant of the Old Religion, and as a rebel against patriarchy and its new rules.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 16, 2014 at 7:48pm

Celtic Griffins:
An ancient creature embraced by many cultures, the Celtic animal griffin is a symbol of duality. Part eagle and half-part lion (depending on the region - even part serpent, horse or dog), the meaning of the griffin reflects is dual physical form by presenting a balance of both good and not so good qualities. The griffin's more likeable qualities include nobility, gentleness, and justice. Depicted on ancient stone tombs, griffins are the guardians and protectors of life, and remain loyal in their protection even in the afterlife. Griffins count nobility, vigilance, virtue and strength among their many positive attributes. The griffin is an incredibly strong symbol, and used only when the mightiest gods' attention needs to be captured, and reserved only when the need is greatest. Misused, or invoked for selfish reasons, the griffin brings about gluttony, vengeance, ferocity, and violence. In Roman texts, the Griffin is strongly aligned with the fire god, Apollo. This makes the griffin a possessor of fiery forces - and not to be trifled with when in partnership with Apollo. Given it's power, and considering it can be just as nefarious as it can be kind, respect must be paid when invoking the spirit of the griffin.
(credit whats-your-sign.com)

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 16, 2014 at 7:42pm

Solitary Pagan -Mystic )0(

DYLAN
(Welsh) God of the Sea. Son of Gwydion and Arianrhod. His symbol was a silver fish.

The Mabinogion story tells us he took off for sea as a newborn where he could swim like a fish immediately and was beloved of these creatures. No wave ever broke beneath him and so he was called Dylan Eil Ton, "the son of the wave". In other stories he married the Lady of the Lake who bore him Vivienne, Merlin's great love.

Romanticized stories grew up around his death, thanks in part to the efforts of the bard Taliesin. The Welsh believe that the restless crash of the sea is an expression of longing to avenge his death. Around River Conway this roar is still called "Dylan's death groan". In some stories he is one and the same as Math Ap Mathonwy.

Also Dyonas (Breton)

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 16, 2014 at 7:41pm

Solitary Pagan -Mystic )0(

DON
(Welsh) [pronounced with a long 'o'] "Deep Sea; "Abyss". Queen of the Heavens; Goddess of Sea and Air. The equivalent of the Irish Danu. Control of the elements, eloquence. It is believed by some scholars that Don has roots in the Goddess Danae of the Greeks, while Dana's origins are believed to be Peloponnesian.

With her consort Beli, Don is the mother Goddess from whom the Britons believed themselves to be descended. Her children taught the arts to the Brythons. The Mabinogion lists among her famous divine offspring Arianrhod, Gwyddion, Amaethon, and Govannon. The Donwy River is named for her.

Also: Domnu; Donn

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 16, 2014 at 7:36pm

Kelts

Badb

Badb was the goddess of war. Often appearing in the form of a raven or crow, she would confuse and frighten armies by flying over the battlefield and shrieking loudly. In some stories, she belonged to the Morrigan, a trio of war goddesses that included Nemain and Macha.
Badb was also the goddess of death: her appearance seemed to indicate that someone was about to die. In the role of "the washer at the ford," Badb washed the equipment of warriors who were about to die. Some sources say that Badb was a friend and helper of the Irish folk hero Cuchulain. When Cuchulain was killed, Badb flew over his body in the form of a crow.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on February 16, 2014 at 7:35pm

Cliodhna

Clíodhna (Clídna, Clíodna, Clíona, but sometimes Cleena in English) is a Queen of the Banshees of the Tuatha Dé Danann. In Irish literature, Cleena of Carrigcleena is the potent banshee that rules as queen over the sheoques (fairy women of the hills) of South Munster, or Desmond. She is the principal goddess of this country. It is said the wails of the banshee can be heard echoing the valleys and glens at night, scaring those who hear as the wail of a banshee is potent and instills fear in good people.
In some Irish myths Clíodhna is a goddess of love and beauty. She is said to have three brightly coloured birds who eat apples from an otherworldly tree and whose sweet song heals the sick. She leaves the otherworldly island of Tir Tairngire ("the land of promise") to be with her mortal lover, Ciabhán, but drowns as she sleeps in Glandore harbour in County Cork: the tide there is known as Tonn Chlíodhna, "Clíodhna's Wave".
In the Dinnsenchus, there is an ancient and heartwrenching story about Cleena, wherein 'it is related that she was a foreigner from Fairy-land, who, coming to Ireland, was drowned while sleeping on the strand at the harbour of Glandore in South Cork. In this harbour the sea, at certain times, utters a very peculiar, deep, hollow, and melancholy roar, among the caverns of the cliffs, which was formerly believed to foretell the death of a king of the south of Ireland. This surge has been from time immemorial called Tonn-Cleena, 'Cleena's wave.' Cleena lived on, however, as a sheoque. She had her palace in the heart of a pile of rocks, five miles from Mallow, which is still commonly known by the name of Carrig-Cleena, and numerous legends about her are told among the Munster peasantry.
The story of Clíodhna exists in several versions, which do not agree with each other except insofar as she seems to have been a Danaan maiden once living in Manannán mac Lir's country, the Land of Youth beyond the sea. Escaping thence with a mortal lover, as one of the versions tells, she lands on the southern coast of Ireland, and her lover, Keevan of the Curling Locks, goes off to hunt in the woods.
Clíodhna, who remains on the beach, is lulled to sleep by fairy music played by a minstrel of Manannán, when a great wave of the sea sweeps up and carries her back to Fairyland, leaving her lover desolate. Hence the place is called the Strand of Cleena's Wave. One of the most notable landmarks of Ireland remains the Tonn Clíodhna, or "Wave of Cl

eena," on the seashore at Glandore Bay, in County Cork.

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