„Probably because fine weather was so important during harvest time, the #Cailleach was seen as a weather spirit, sometimes called the old gloomy woman or envisioned as a crane with sticks in her beak which forecast storms.“
Source: P. Monaghan `Encyclopedia of #Celtic#Mythology and #folklore
RT @GodysseyPodcast
The Cailleach is the embodiment of winter itself, an old woman and witch who flies like a storm over Ireland and Scotland and wields a powerful hammer that can break trees during a cold snap. A trickster and almost certainly a goddess, she can bless too. #FairyTaleTuesday
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „[T]he hag deity known as the #Cailleach takes human form at Samhain to rule the winter months, bringing in winds and wild weather. Her very steps change the land… she carries a hammer for forming valleys. A touch of her staff is enough to freeze the ground. [T]he Cailleach is thought to be the mother of the gods, the great cold originator of all things.” Katherine May - Wintering
Source: January | Welcome to H A G - by Ali Isaac - H A G (substack.com)
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Like Cáer and Angus, Midir and Étain shape-changed into swans, circled the area and then disappeared into the mound of the #Otherworld.
Source: Helen Benigni/Barbara Carter/Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn „The Myth of the Year“
#MythologyMonday: The #Mórrígan appears in various forms: as a gigantic woman who foretells the future of those about to do battle, as a crow, as an eel, as a gray-red wolf.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#MythologyMonday: „Shape-shifting is commonly associated with divinities connected with druids and bards, both of whom were believed to have the power to change their outward appearance at will. The #Mórrígan was herself a bard, singing her people to victory at the great second battle of Mag Tuired.“
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „Gantz believes that the Arawn-Havgan ("summer white") dispute is the basis for the changing of the seasons.
In the tale of "Pwyll Lord of Dyved," Pwyll encounters some #Otherworld dogs, distinctively marked by their white coats and red ears, with their master from the Otherworld, Arawn of Annwvyn. Because Pwyll has hunted Arawn's stag, he owes Arawn a favor. Arawn asks Pwyll to take his place in the Otherworld to battle Havgan. Pwyll accepts Arawn's challenge and lives Arawn's life. Pwyll is a mortal and cannot stay in the Otherworld. His refusal to engage in sexual union with Arawn's wife allows him to return.
Pwyll remains in the Otherworld for one year and one day, and then he must engage in battle with Havgan. In their combat, Pwyll mortally wounds Havgan with a single blow and although Havgan begs Pwyll to finish him off, Pwyll will not because he has vowed to Arawn not to do so. Pwyll's faithfulness to Arawn's request might be seen as an effort not to entirely destroy Havgan as he is a representation of summer. Pwyll's fate is to merge the two kingdoms & not destroy the one. Pwyll & Arawn as winter figures must merge with summer to explain the seasonal changes that fall brings to the land of Annwvyn.“
Source: Benigni/Carter/Ua Cuinn „The Myth of the Year“
@NeuKelte In his book (at least in French https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3768654-les-druides ) Christian Guyonvarc'h explains that, before Roman invasions, druids and bardes (with ovates) were from the same kind but of different hierarchies (depending on their specialties)
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