ABC… A Basic Compendium.
by Jon Grundy.
The 400 or so gods, goddesses and spiritual entities of “Celtic” peoples.
This is designed to be a searchable tool so, using your browser tools, enter your deity names or keywords and search.
Celtic: The name “Celtic” comes from “Keltoi” (Greek) and “Celtae” (Latin) for the European peoples of a certain culture. The Classics would also name the Germanic peoples, for instance, as not being “Celt”. It has come to mean Gaulish, Briton / Welsh / Cymry (the enclave of original inhabitants after the Germanic and Norse incursions) (English heritage people are mixed Briton, not exclusively Germanic Anglo-Saxon), Gael (Irish, Scots and Manx), Pict (a trace Irish culture in Scotland), Cornish, Breton (Britons who fled the Saxons), also Celtiberians (Spain and Portugal), the Gauls of today’s Benelux countries, Transalpine (“across” of the alps from Rome) and Cisalpine (“this side” of the alps from Rome) Gauls, Germanic Celts and Galatians (Gaulish-Grecian) as a huge homogenous mass. That can be misleading, so in each deity heading are the places where the manifestation was encountered.
Proto-Indo-European language and faith: A culture and belief system that arose in central Asia about 8,000 years ago. It had a coherent and linked pantheon and mythology. Fire and the sacrifice of cattle were key. The people were nomadic herders who travelled to India and Persia taking their language and faith with them. As the people became more sophisticated, they travelled for trade along the great rivers and came into Europe. Most of the languages and great faiths of India, Persia (Iran) and Europe that took over from the animistic ancient beliefs have this pre-Abrahamic “PIE” ancestor. The variances are from absorbing what was there before and the experiences of the people in the different regions.
Trigger warning: Within the foreword that precedes the listings and after each description, historical Bronze and Iron Age sacrifice traditions, including human, are explained and detailed. Those short mentions can be uncomfortable to read. The Romans claim to have abolished the practice, but this work clarifies how and why that really stopped. Modern practice has an entirely spiritual communion that can involve offering objects and acts as a gesture of commitment but nothing is killed or injured. The end of the foreword discusses how the ancient observances can be rendered into meaningful modern practice and each entry suggests a deed of devotion commensurate with today’s commitment to the sanctity of all life.
A word of explanation: I am an animist – I believe that all things have a spiritual component, life, and that, together, all things make up a whole. That ‘whole’ is not ‘a god’, it is The All, of which we, animals, plants, objects, spirit creatures and the gods, are parts. This outlook is reflected in the below. I also believe that Druidry emerged out of an evolution of beliefs going back into the Palaeolithic era. There were gradual developments and sudden leaps, encounters and exchanges with other belief systems, up to the Iron Age, the collision with Rome and beyond. From the carvings, images and artefacts left, it seems that the faith had four spiritual and physical realms – the Earth, the Sky, the Ancestors and, not mentioned much as it seemed obvious, us here and all in our daily lives – the Living. The triple spirals were carved, depicting what is seen in a corridor of four doors when looking out through one of them. Also, two transition vectors – water and fire, a wind of inspiration, an eternal breath of life and a breeze of ever-forwards positive purpose. When we die, we are reborn, in many forms, always forgetting the previous life, but able to commune with its memories through particular techniques and in special places. Your core beliefs may vary so, to save your ire, I refer to this understanding of Druidry as “The Ancient Way”, that you may indulge me.
Thank you – Jon Grundy, “Green Raven”, November 2022
[editor: this extensive article has been cut into sections, and it is strongly recommended they are read through in order before diving into the list entitled The Role Call.]