Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers [Hardcover]

Miranda Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995 | ISBN-10: 071412303X | ISBN-13: 978-0714123035

This text offers a wide-ranging review of the significance of the female in Celtic myth and religion. Celtic goddesses presided over nature, animals, healing and fertility. Terrifying battle goddesses were invoked in times of war and a Mother Goddess was supplicated for the fertility of animals and crops. Goddesses were often linked with animals - birds, dogs, bears, pigs and snakes all had their divine protectresses. Divine and semi-divine females abound in Welsh and Irish myths, often associated with themes of virginity and sexuality, promiscuity and destruction. The concept of partnership is a prominent aspect of Celtic religion and myth, and it is possible to trace evidence of the divine marriage in both European iconography and Irish myth. The female is sometimes the dominant partner. In this account, the role of woman as religious leader, priestess (even druidess) and as seer, appeasing and controlling the supernatural powers, is examined. The final section of the book explores the transition from polytheistic paganism to monotheistic Christianity in the Celtic west. Here Celtic spirituality embraced women as of major importance as saints and mystics. One example is the Irish goddess Brigit, who became a Christian saint, but retained her pagan function as presider over the aleharvest.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: British Museum Pubns Ltd (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071412303X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714123035
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating historical study, May 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers (Hardcover)

Celts are big right now. Seems like everyone and their dog is claiming Scottish/Irish/whateverish ancestry, which neo-pagans and goths alike sport knotwork jewelry and call themselves things like Rhiannon and Cerridwen and so forth. And there are a lot of books out there, many of which are so sure in their assertions of things that happened millenia ago that you wonder where their bibliographies are.

Miranda Green has, in contrast, skillfully charted a path through myth, legend, history, and archeology to present us with a fairly brief, but overall comprehensive portrait of the divine feminine in the Celtic world. Drawing on sources as diverse as Welsh lore and ancient shrines buried beneath modern-day cathedrals, she illustrates the influence of goddesses in this ancient world, how their power was transmuted to that of saints with the dominance of Christianity, and how the pedestals on which they stood compare with the role of women in their society.

Green is also willing to leave certain questions open, to point out that current historical inquiry does have its limitations, and that there are many things about the Celtic world that we will likely never know. But from such well-known deities as Rhiannon, the Morrigan, and Blodduwedd, to lesser-known guardians of springs and hills, Greeen takes us on a guided tour of the Goddess as She was revered in this particular pre-Christian world