CELTIC DEITIES?

Here is the promised beginning discussion of "The Gods" in Celtic religion.  The 
majority of this post is brought to you by Lorax, Small Furry Tree-Creature of the 
Gods <g>

I shall throw out the first hot caber by suggesting that use of the term "Gods" 
within a Pagan Celtic context is totally useless, misleading, and an example of 
the sloppy scholarship that Deartha'ir Isaac bemoans.

This notion has been long in coming for me, but was triggered this week when an 
ADF member noted the use of the word "God" [singular] several hundred times in 
a suggested reference work on pre-Christian Greek religion.  It made her 
somewhat nervous as it seemed to not be the best possible term in a polytheistic 
culture, given that a multitude of things, from entities to abstract concepts had 
been subsumed as "God".

This, combined with my very recent reading of the Dunnaire Finn, the Book of 
Invasions, and the Tain has led me to be more discriminating.

As my Priestess colleague, Brandy Williams, has often said, there are 2 kinds of 
people: Splitters, and people who deny the existence of splitters. <g>

So, let us take it from the very top, the creation of the world. At least, according 
to one translation of one version of the Book of Invasions.

The first inhabitants of Ireland were Cesair, daughter of Bith, son of Noe (Noah), 
and their 3 men + 50 women.  <Happy happy, joy joy!>  These people all 
drowned, and are therefore unimportant to this story, save that Fintan survived to 
recount tales of the beforetime.

Partholan was the second discoverer, the chief of his people.  Partholan brought 
with him the people that were first in many arts--brewing, cauldron making-first 
combat, farming, and a host of other things.

Partholan chose a fertile place, cleared 4 plains, and homesteaded there. His 
wife slept with his retainer, which caused problems.  This resulted in the giving of 
the First Verdict, that of Delgnat.  Boan, Brea, Ban, Aine and 6 others were the 
"pure daughters" of Partholan, implying perhaps that he had more, following the 
customs of the times.

The generation of Partholan was the one responsible for first naming of places in 
Ireland.  Partholan's generation was also long-lived, and no plants grew old in 
their time.  His generation largely died out after a plague.

Both of these first generations are referred to as men and women, not deities.  
People of Arts [Aes Da'na] maybe yes, but not deithe [deities].  This, at least, 
according to the Christians who recorded the tales.

The third generation is that of Neimhedh (Nemed).  He came from Scythia. 
Neimhedh had 4 chiefs with him.  Nemhed fought and won three battles over the 
Fomhoire.  Fo-mhor (over the sea, or something like that). Despite this, the 
Fomorians seemed to be quite good at oppressing the Nemedians, by 
demanding 2/3 of their agricultural output at Samhain, delivered to Magh Cetne.  
The Nemedians went to Greece and collected an army, some drui and ban-drui, 
wolves and venomous animals.  A proper challenge was delivered, and the 
battles were engaged.  The Fomorians were defeated at last.  Only 30 
Nemedians survived.

The next group of invaders are the somewhat mysterious Fir Bolg, or Bagmen.  
The Fir Bolg had 5 chiefs (one more than all of the previous invaders) as did the 
De Dannan.  The Fir Bolg divided Ireland into 5 parts.  Previous invasions had 
separated Ireland into 4 parts.  Much is made of the poetic, noise-shakin skill of 
the Fir Bolg.  They were some jammin' magickal folk, alright.  The Fir Bolg have 
the distinction of the first "riogh" (king) in Ireland. So we have division into 5 
parts, kingship, and the use of iron.

Now, the Sons of Nemed had not been sitting still all of this time.  They had been 
off in Greece, learning draidheacht, cleverness, niceness, and Spiffy Things In 
General (slight gloss from bad 19th century Victorian english).  These folks were 
called "Tuatha De" " ... that is, they considered their men of learning to be gods, 
and their husbandmen non-gods, so much was their power in every art and every 
druidic occultism besides.  Thence came the name, which is Tuathe De, to 
them."

Now, please note that their ancestors are PEOPLE.  The TdD became so by 
virtue of their skills.  This is a process that would not be unfamiliar to a good 
citizen of Republi-can (not Imperial) Rome.  One can become deific by proper 
actions, family and/or national devotion, and other things.  The TdD had been 
instructed in 4 cities in the North.  One has to infer that these cities are in 
Greece, where they are instructed in these arts.  Now, not all translations say 
this, exactly.  Greece and Spain are frequently glosses for the Otherworld, but 
not always.  The 4 Treasures were brought from Greece. As we have discussed 
the Treasures before, we shall pass in silence on them here.

The TdD fought battles with the Athenians as their allies, and thru druidic 
demonry reanimated dead bodies that then rose up and fought as if they were 
living.  It is here that we learn that hazel or rowan twigs thru the neck do in 
reanimated corpses.  <Occult Factiod #912 collect em all.)

The TdD arrive in Ireland on a Monday, in the Calends of May, where they burn 
their ships on the shore so they cannot return, or the Fomorians use the ships.

he TdD fought with the Fir Bolg (it is, after all Ireland we  are talking about...), 
won, lost, won again, lost again, were healed, hurt, etc.  Nuada gets his silver 
arm and loses kingship in this process.  The TdD slew all but a few of the Fir 
Bolg, who then fled to the outermost isles of the seas.  Compare this with the 
more archaic traditions of the Hebrides and Northern Islands of Ireland...

The genealogies up to this point are enough to make a kinship specialist 
whimper, cringe, and fall to sleep the final sleep, so we will ignore them, but to 
say that aside from Cessair, everyone is related (or sleeping with someone who 
is) to everyone else.  Biblical begatting is easier, trust me.

The TdD are referred to as goblins in the text.  So much for the great contrast 
between the demonic Fomorians and Deific TdD.  If you care to argue that to a 
medieval monk all deities are one deity and all are demonic, then there is even 
less reason to consider the Fomor demonic.

That said, the text has Eochaid triumph, "without enchantment of idols, shaped 
the distinction of good verses but as for knowledge of the warrior bands of whom 
we speak although we enumerate them we do not worship them."

The picture is far more confused than ANY simple model, folks.  I have not even 
begun to discuss the "giant" stories. If I were to do so, then Finn and his buddies 
are giants, not unlike Jotuns.  But wait!  So is Cu!  And, if they are giants, then 
what are their parents?  Finn is descended from Baiscne, and Cu is descended 
(or a reincarnation) of  Lugh.  So the Aes Dana=Giants?@(#*#*(@#_@

If we get to the local spirits, worshipped well into the 18th century, and maybe 
later, (or the 20th, as Erynn thinks), any meaningful use of the term "God" has to 
be tossed out with the burnt brac after dinner.

We have people, descended from the Trojans/Greeks learning heavy juju and 
becoming like Gods.  They fight, live, die, get reincarnated, stretch their influence 
far beyond a single generation, and are immortalized in song.  Remember, the 
Cauldron of Poesy, the only available text on the training of a fili (one who sees) 
reminds us that we are all more than our birth, at least potentially.

As Patrick Ford has suggested, the written tales/sagas are probably just a 
sequencing of shorter oral bits, there is no real problem with dying on page 23, 
and having hot sweaty sex on page 25.

They are also said to be immortal in the Otherworld.  Many of the later tales have 
all of these survivors gathering in the Otherworld (somewhere near Miami or 
Desert Springs, I suspect) and only sometimes coming out to see us mere 
mortals.

Also note (this flash of awen just in) that most of the folks that wander into faery 
are Aes Dana!  Reverend Kirk, Thomas the Rhymer, Tam Lin and many others.
The Path to Faery must be (therefore) paved with Excellence.

Now, the above analysis depends strictly on my reading of the texts.  I am 
quoting from the handiest text, the one that unfortunately has no bibliographic 
data in it, but is well-reasoned, erudite, and foot-noted to death. This is a facing-
page xlation, btw.

I am NOT saying that some of these beings are not worthy of devotion.  I am 
saying that it is not ness. true that all of them were viewed as "Gods" at all times 
in history, particularly not in the omnipotent, omniscient Xian meaning of the 
word, nor in the usage common to Bullfinch.

It may be best to regard the Aes Dana as Shterpersavs, or "Short-Term-
Personal-Saviors", in Dobbspeak.

<Rant Modes Off>
      Thanks.
Lorax & Erynn