My Patroness - the Goddess EPONA
The Goddess Epona is said to have her start in Gaul and spread to the lands of Bulgaria. In Ireland, she was paired with the stag horned God Cernunnos “the mare and Stag” were potent fertility symbols. A goddess of fertility; prosperity, abundance as well as the aforementioned horses, horse breeding and their riders. Horses are so much a part of her that she is always depicted with them, either standing surrounded by them or riding sidesaddle (both legs on one side with one locked around a horn on the front of the saddle and the other in a stirrup) this was in the not to distant past consider the “ladylike” way to ride a horse. Other animals seen with her are dogs and birds usually in groups of three. Other symbols with her are Horns of Plenty, and ears of corn and apples.
Epona is the only deity, Celtic or otherwise accepted by the Romans without change. The Roman Armies even went so far as to honored her with a feast day on “December 18th and some of her warring attributes may have come from this acceptance. Epona was also known as a dream goddess. In Ireland, children were told to be good or Epona would visit them with her nightmares.
Having no direct ties to other Celtic deities, Epona Goddess of Fertility is thought to have been a “Great Goddess Mother” and because of this came acceptance in the Christian middle-age as a kind of holy maid/virgin for the horses.
The British folktale of Lady Godiva came from an area occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. In the story she rode naked through the town of Coventry, with her long hair as her only covering, to shame her husband into lifting taxes on their people. Her significance as a powerful horsewoman may well place her within Epona's cult.
Epona is also connected with Celt ideas of the Otherworld (it is the source of their wisdom, the place of their gods, the dimension in which poets and wanderers are most at home. Whoever has visited the Otherworld becomes more than mortal.) She has been portrayed carrying the key to the Otherworld and leading a human to it.
The Goddess Epona has many faces and meanings, but foremost she is a divine maiden/mother/woman riding on a mare. Her swiftness and beauty, supernatural power, linked with fertility and tribal territory, make her a formidable Goddess.
My Patron - the God LUGH
To keep all things in balance I bring forth The God Lugh, Pan-Celtic in origin and is known by numerous nations and in many ways. The (Shining One) Sun God or King, in Ireland - Ioldanach “Master of all Arts", in Wales – Llew the steady hand a great archer. He has been likened to Apollo, Baal and Hercules. A deity of many skills metallurgy, crafting, weaving, scribe, seer, and as a protector of the weak.
His festival day is Lughnasadh on August 1st (in Wicca ritual days from sundown to the following sundown) One of his stories is of the Great Mother’s gift of cultivation to her people and Tailte is that mother in human form, Lugh is her son and the “Sun King”. Tailte clears the land and teaches her people but in her efforts she dies doing so, but before she does she tells them that her son Lugh the Sun King will pour his spirit in the grains of her body and they will sustain them through the cold winter.
She asks that they honor Lugh’s sacrifice at the harvest of the grains. Lugh in turn mourns greatly over his mother death and calls the people around him asking that they honor her work and their own in the fields with a day of song, dance and games giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest. In this they will also honor him for his gift of life poured into the grains and that in this act is the mysteries of life, death and rebirth.
In Christianity, Lughnasadh has been transformed in “Lammas” meaning “loaf mass” where the country people would bring loaf of bread from the harvest to place on the altars.
Lugh is also known as the “Master Craftsman” - The story is told of how he gain entrance into Tara the great hall of Kings by asking if they had a Bard, Farrier, Healer, Warrior, Goldsmith, Weaver, Scribe and Seer in turn, with Yes to each in turn. He then asked “But do you have a person who can do all these things?” The answer came back “No” No man can do all those things!” Lugh then shouted “But I am no man!” displaying his full glory and walk into the Tara, the Hall of Kings.
Epona and Lugh have held their place in the Celtic Pantheon and Culture with their superior attributes which established them as higher deities that even the Christian dogma could not ignore. It had to incorporate them into the fabric of its religion or risk losing many of its new found followers back to the old ways.
In the ability to find ones own path to spirituality and today’s more enlightened views on religion as a whole, Lugh and especially Epona have found a serge of new followers. The same hold true today as it did a thousand years ago “Honor, Truth and Justice” to one’s self, clan or coven is and should be the foremost goal in one’s path to spiritual oneness with the deities and the universe itself. Blessed Be!
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