Celtic Myths

Cernunnos
Serpents in myths that are associated with knowledge can be found in many cultures (see Mesoamerican and Judaic Myths of Memory). There was a ram-horned serpent in Celtic mythology. Serpents occurs in myths from all across the world, and are often associated with knowledge. Spoke Cernunnos: "I give the knowledge of life everlasting." Usually these associations are purely pagan, but remember that it was a serpent that tempted Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge (see Judaic). In his right he carries a torc, the Celtic symbol of nobility, the symbol of having been initiated into that special state. (source) Was Cernunnos the Celtic god of initiation ? Greek depections of clearly show snakes being used in initiation rituals (see Joseph Campbell's book, "Transformation of Myth Through Time"). Initiation rituals are celebrations of the attainment of experience and knowledge.

Cernunnos was worshipped by the iron age Celts all across Europe as late as the first century AD, and his worship must have begun centuries before that. (source)

The Celts had no written language of their own, and although some druids could write in Latin and Greek they were
forbidden to write down any of their knowledge. The classical writers themselves never mentioned this particular Celtic divinity, and so we have nothing in writing about him at all. Everything we know about him can only be guessed at from the iconography: the images of him created by the Celts themselves.

(source) Cernunnos - Cernowain - Cernenus - Herne the Hunter

Known to all Celtic areas in one form or another. The Horned God; God of Nature; god of the Underworld and the
Astral Plane; Great Father; "the Horned One". The Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, the Horned God of fertility. He
was portrayed sitting in a lotus position with horns or antlers on his head, long curling hair, a beard, naked except for
a neck torque, and sometimes holding a spear and shield. His symbols were the stag, ram, bull, and horned serpent.
Sometimes called Belatucadros and Vitiris. Virility, fertility, animals, physical love, Nature, woodlands, reincarnation,
crossroads, wealth, commerce, warriors.

The Great Father God, Who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names. (source)
                            "My Law is Harmony with all things.
                          Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life
                            And mine is the dish of salt of the earth
                                 That is the body of Cernunnos
                            I give the knowledge of life everlasting,
               And beyond death I give the promise of regeneration and renewal.
                           I am the sacrifice, the father of all things,
                             And my protection blankets the earth."

Saint Cornely (source)
When the Christians were not demonising the old gods, they were quietly recruiting them.
Carnac in Brittany, France, is a small town famous for its proximity to hundreds of menhirs placed in neat rows, several miles long, during the bronze age. Although now a Christian community there are records of ancient pagan rites being performed amongst the stones by the local villagers as late as the end of the 19 th century. In the centre of the town is a catholic church dedicated to Saint Cornely. He is the patron saint of horned beasts.

Saint Cornely of horned beasts? The town of Carnac ? Cernunnos the horned god of the hunt ?

The old pagan deity has been picked up, cleaned up, dressed up, de-horned and canonised.

Bridget, Celtic Knowledge Goddess
Condren, Mary. The Serpent and the Goddess. Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland. San Francisco: Harper &
Row, 1989.
Amazon.com customer comment: An Ancient Goddess is Transformed into a Saint. A history of the many faces of the Celtic Bridget, from Goddess (of knowledge) to Catholic Saint. Read about the legends and the politics that forced changes to them.

Brigit - Brid - Brig - Brigid - Brighid (source)
Ireland, Wales, Spain, France. "Power"; "Renown"; "Fiery Arrow or Power" (Breo-saighead). Daughter of Dagda;
called the poetess. Often called The Triple Brigids, Three Blessed Ladies of Britain, The Three Mothers. Another
aspect of Danu; associated with Imbolc. She had an exclusive female priesthood at Kildare and an ever-burning sacred
fire. The number of her priestesses was nineteen, representing the nineteen-year cycle of the Celtic "Great Year". Her
kelles were sacred prostitutes and her soldiers brigands. Goddess of fire, fertility, the hearth, all feminine arts and
crafts, and martial arts. Healing, physicians, agriculture, inspiration, learning, poetry, divination, prophecy,
smithcraft, animal husbandry, love witchcraft, occult knowledge.

More Celtic myth books.

In Celtic legends there is probably none better known than the tale of Saint Patrick ridding Ireland of its snakes. This tale is often told, and too often taken as literal truth. In fact of matter, Ireland never had any significant serpent population, and one tiny snake still makes it home among the shamrocks. The tale must be taken as allegorical, and refers to the conflict between good and evil, between Christian sanctity, represented by Saint Patrick, and pagan non-Christian gods, who would, in early Christian eyes represent evil. The serpent is also seen as a frequent symbol of the attributes of the
Celtic version of the War God. The bloody cult of Crom Cruaich in County Caven demanded human sacrifice to a serpent deity and the dismantling of that cult may now be remembered as " snakes being driven out of Ireland". (source)

Morgan (Celt) sea dweller

Morgan, a witch goddess, ruled over Avalon, the Isle of Apples, where fruit and other vegetation grew without
cultivation. On Avalon, there was no sickness, and everyone remained young forever. Moreover, eternal peace reigned.
There were no criminals, and the weather was always perfect. Morgan told Arthur that he would regain his health
through her if he stayed on the island, and he accepted her offer. Avalon is essentially life inside the womb of the
Mother.

Avalon became the Celtic word for "apple" and corresponds to the word "ablach" in the Otherworld island Emain
Ablach, to which Bran sailed. In Celtic thought, as well as many other Indo-European traditions, the apple symbolizes
fertility and immortality. (source)

It is the unconscious mind that provides the experiences and landscape of the Otherworld, but the truths that are
imparted to the shaman come from a higher plane. The journey unleashes both our fears and our untamed nature, as
well as psychic phenomena so different from our ordinary way of "seeing" that the journey may become treacherous.
The unconscious is a storehouse of instinctual psychic knowledge that began before the first humans ever evolved from
life in the primal sea, and we must become reconciled with it in order to become completely whole.

The Unconscious--itself likened to the sea--recognizes a link between woman-water-sex-birth-death. We see only the
surface, but the depths are dark, mysterious and seemingly endless. The women in these Celtic myths are aspects of
the Goddess who is in every man and woman.

more memory myths:
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