The Supernatural Forces of Celtic Belief Wells, too were sacred places. Firstly they were associated with underground deities, and it was thought that they were a way of communicating with the underworld. They formed a bridge between this world and the spirit world, as did the tree, but led to the underworld. Secondly, it was believed that water contained its own supernatural forces, and that these were amplified within the confines of the well. As with rivers and lakes, votive offerings would be cast into wells. Some of these appear to have been effigies or wooden figures. A well at Kelvedon, in Essex, was found to contain a ritual chalk figurine while another at Caerwent in Wales held a small stone image of a Mother-goddess. In another Caerwent well, the skeletons of five dogs were found which suggested some form of ritual sacrifice. It is worth noting that in an extremely deep well at Muntham Court in Sussex, large numbers of canine remains were also found. The sacrifice of hounds at well-sites might therefore have been widespread throughout Britain and Wales.       It is quite difficult to establish truly Celtic patterns of well-worship since many of the sites were later used for Roman ritual and offering, displaying evidence of both strands of worship. An example of this is the well at Carrawborough, the ritual site of the Romano-Celtic goddess Covenanta; the offerings there suggest her dual-racial status. Primitive arrows and cult objects, such as statues, together with coins and jewellery from the Roman period have all been found there. The suggestion of the underground Otherworld was strong at such places. To drink from certain wells was to acquire the dark and diabolical wisdom of the subterranean sphere, and there are a number of references to characters who had done just that. Fionn MacCumhaill, the Irish warrior, received supernatural knowledge and powers while drinking from a well on the side of Slieve Gullion in County Armagh.       In Christian times, wells retained their legendary potency but were associated with Christian saints. Through the power of its saint, a well was deemed to be a healing or curing place. Recalling the Celtic practice of displaying the severed heads of enemies at sacred wells, a saint’s head or skull would be displayed at the well. Such holy heads were believed to benefit the waters and the disintegrating head of Saint Mellor of Cornwall and Brittany was displayed at a Breton well that depended on this grisly artefact for its healing powers. If any unworthy person drank from the well, or washed either themselves or their clothes in it, the well might either lose its powers, dry up or else relocate.       Again, the serpent made an appearance as a symbol at sacred wells and there are a number of stories of gigantic snakes guarding hidden treasure or submerged artefacts. These stories persisted well into medieval times. Geraldus Cambrensis told of snakes that guarded a submerged treasure in a well in Pembrokeshire, and ultimately entered the realms of children's fairy tales and hero-fiction.       Tribal Totems The landscape was not the only source of awe for the ancient Celts. Originally hunter-gatherers, they were dependent on the abundant stocks of wild life that thronged the ancient world. It was imperative that such stocks of prey animals remained constant and that the Celtic hunters were able to catch and kill them. The Celts admired hunting animals, and warriors wished for the hunting prowess of a wolf or the strength and fearlessness of a bull. These desires became incorporated into tribal worship, as clan groupings adopted these creatures as their totems or associated spirits, hoping that the characteristics of that animal would be conferred upon the group itself.       Such a belief appears to have come down from prehistoric times. Cave paintings and later metalwork from the early to late prehistoric period depict either hunting scenes or representations of animals that were undoubtedly venerated in some way. It is known that animals served as favoured sacrifices to a number of spirits in many ancient religions.       The sacrifice of hounds at wells has been mentioned but other sites contain a mixture of human and animal bones. Aulnay-aux-Planches used in the tenth century bc, and the third-century bc site at Libenice, in the Czech Republic, are such places. Although separated by over seven hundred years and by a huge distance, they share certain characteristics of ritual worship. Both have similarly-shaped earthworks of equal length that contain a similar mix of animal and human remains.       In Ireland it was common practice, even within living memory, to bury animal bones at the corners of houses or under the hearthstone in order to bring good luck to the dwelling, surely a remembrance of pagan ceremonies (see: Kevin Danaher, The Year in Ireland, 1972). Most of these ritualised burials involved horses, sheep, deer and pigs, but even chickens, rats, voles and frogs have been found. Such practices were current in the Celtic west long before the coming of the Romans; coins and vessels from the Romano-Celtic period often bear stylised designs of animals such as the boar and the horse.       In some artwork and metalwork, the figures of animals and humans are placed side by side. Wild beasts accompany the various Celtic hunter-gods as in Gaul, in a desire for continued good hunting, or to display the mastery of the human over the brute. In Romano-Celtic art, the god Mercury is sometimes portrayed accompanied by a ram as a symbol of fertility. Over the year s animal and human characteristics merged creating a deity or spirit who could shape-shift between animal and human forms. Gods and goddesses most frequently took on the aspects of stags, boars and hares – probably because of these animals’ strength, ferocity and speed. Even Geraldus Cambrensis, writing in the 12th century, stated that it was a common belief among the Normans that all old Irish women could turn themselves into hares at will (see: Cambrensis, A History and Topography of Ireland).       Cernunnos, meaning ‘horned or peaked one’, was a famous shape-shifting god, who combined the attributes of a stag and balding, bearded man. There is little doubt that this deity was pre-Roman and that, in various incarnations, he may have been worshipped across the Celtic world. The name Cernunnos appeared on only one monument, in Rheims, dedicated by Gaulish sailors to the Emperor Tiberius. The name might then have been used to describe a number of antler-headed deities elsewhere.       A depiction of an antlered god appears on a fourth-century bc rock carving at Paspardo in Northern Italy. A ram-horned snake, possibly a symbol of wisdom and fertility, accompanies the god. In other depictions, he is accompanied by stags and further ram-headed serpents. His most well-known incarnation comes from Britain where he is identified with the god Herne. This is possibly a part-medieval connection, as Herne was believed to have been a hunter, killed at Windsor Great Park in the early medieval period. An older representation of the god at Cirencester suggests that Britons were worshipping him from a very early time.       Cernunnos/Herne was a spirit of the woodlands and closely associated with fertility and fecundity. In many representations he was shown holding a bowl spilling out the bounty of the earth – fruits, grain and sometimes even money. He is also the lord of all animals – the embodiment of wild and unfettered nature. In this incarnation, he was sometimes denoted in folklore as Master of the Wild Hunt. This was probably a Christian invention, of the medieval period and was supposedly a madcap, and often purposeless, chase through the heavens comprising demons, ghosts, tormented souls and a whole host of supernatural creatures. At its head was the antlered Herne/ Cernunnos, urging his followers on to greater efforts by holding out a long wand to direct the Hunt. The wand was also the symbol of growing wildlife and fertility, very much in the style of the later Wand of Mercury. Often those who took part in the Hunt were the souls of the dead or the damned who were condemned to wander endlessly across the skies – in the almost symbolic form of a travelling windstorm. It was not a great leap of early monkish imagination to equate Herne with the Devil and his followers with diabolical worshippers. The figure of Cernunnos, then, embodied a number of elements valued in the Celtic world – man, god and beast. Folklorists have suggested that the legend of the werewolf arose from this belief. Other gods were purely animal and worshipped as such. Both wild and domesticated creatures were revered and often regarded as the embodiments of spirits or divinities. In the Celtic mind there was no distinction between the gods and the animals that represented them.       Domestic animal gods embodied the attributes that their votaries found most desirable. The bull was worshipped for its aggression and sexual potency; the horse for its speed; the dog was associated with healing, because its spittle was believed to have curative properties, and with the underworld, because of its digging and scavenging. Among wild animals, stags and boars were clearly venerated at a number of shrines. The boar was admired for its ferocity, making it a natural war-symbol while the stag was worshipped for its virility and swiftness of foot. The boar was associated with the gods of the underworld, for Welsh legend states that the pig was one of the gifts given to Pwyll by Arawn, King of the Nether Regions, in return for a favour. In the Romano-Celtic world such creatures began to appear in paintings and bronzes as companions to the Roman gods - perhaps demonstrating a link between the Roman and Celtic worlds and belief-systems.       One of the foremost Celtic animal-goddesses was Epona, the name derived from the Celtic word for horse. She was especially revered in both Gaul and the Rhineland but there might have been instances of British and Irish worship too. There is evidence of her veneration in North Africa, where Celts had entered the Egyptian army as mercenary corps, in the Czech Republic and even in Rome itself. In her earliest incarnation, Epona may have been worshipped in horse-form but, probably under Roman influence, she soon took on classical female form. Even so, she was never seen without the horse as her constant companion. Some depictions showed the goddess riding side-saddle on a gigantic horse while others showed her straddling two or more horses, usually of different sexes, and with baskets of fruit and grain illustrating her fertility aspect. Sometimes, she is even displayed in triple-form.       Epona's symbolism and function is incredibly complex. Sometimes she was portrayed as the swift horse; that in itself made her the object of worship since horses were greatly prized among the ancient Celts. She was depicted as a sorceress and ruler of the dead and the Otherworld.       In the Welsh Mabinogi she appears as Rhiannon, the witch and ‘wronged wife’, possibly a fusion with Rigantona, a traditional goddess of the Welsh kingdom of Dyfed. Even here there is horse imagery for, according to Welsh legend, Rhiannon was forced to ride through the countryside, offering to carry anyone who wished to go to the royal palace. Taking revenge on her husband, Pwyll, she afflicted his family with ailments and illnesses, earning the sobriquets ‘enchantress’ and ‘mistress of the night’.       Bulls were also widely worshipped across the Celtic world and were kept domestically as a symbol of wealth. They started appearing as little devotional bronze figurines from around the seventh century bc onwards and have been found in Austrian graves. It might be that these were worshipped as war or fertility gods. Bulls were widely sacrificed to the gods in many Celtic countries and there is a much evidence of the burial of weak or elderly cattle as, perhaps, offerings to underground deities. The majority of these animals had been allowed to die naturally and had then been buried whole. Formalised bull sacrifice in Gaul is recorded by the Roman writer Pliny, when two white animals were offered to the Moon Goddess at an official mistletoe- cutting ceremony (see The Druidic Tradition). In Classical and eastern societies, bulls were associated with sky gods and the heavens and in the Celtic world connected with the Moon.       During Ireland’s Celtic occupation, cattle featured significantly in its pastoral economy. The status of a chieftain was judged by the number of beasts that he possessed, so, not surprisingly, bulls featured heavily in Irish folklore and mythology. The most famous of all such tales is the Táin Bó Cuailnge – The Cattle Raid of Cooley. It was one of the foremost tales of The Ulster Cycle – which described a war between Ulster and Connacht over the theft of the Brown Bull of Ulster, the major rival to the White Horned Bull of Connacht. It was to this war that the great Ulster hero Cú Chulainn made a significant contribution. Peace returned only after both animals had been killed. Though maybe referring to a real war, the story is largely symbolic with the ferocity and aggression of the bull a major feature.       The most important animal totem of the Celts was, arguably, the boar. The animal served a dual purpose central to the Celtic way of life. It represented the ferocity of the hunt and the pleasures of feasting, companionship and hospitality. Pork seemed to have been widely consumed by the Celts and boars and stags were popular prey of Celtic hunters. Boars were also a symbol of warfare and slaughter among the Celts and appeared on Celtic war-bosses and helmets. Boar-headed horns, known as carnyxes, were perhaps used to signal the start of battle or sounded to terrify an enemy. With its dorsal bristles raised, the boar must have been a frightening spectacle for any hunter and, in placing this symbol on shields and armour, Celtic warriors hoped to transfer that fear to the enemy. But it was not only on armour and weaponry that depictions of the boar were to be found. Celtic coins showing boars with their dorsal crest raised in an attacking mode appear to have been common but might have been issued only in times of war.       More common were the small figurines representing boars with elaborate crests, some from Hungary and Romania. A tiny representation of a boar has also been found on a neck-pin found at Woodendean in Sussex, England. A panel of the Gundestrupp Cauldron shows boar-shaped helmet crests and it has been suggested that the charging boar, with bristles extended, might have been part of the crest of a ruling Celtic household. (see: ‘The Symbolism of Boars’ in Bently (ed), Heroes of the Dawn: Celtic Myth, 1998). The boar-cult and boar-symbolism seems to have been widespread among the ancient Celts.       The association of boar-meat with feasting is well established – pork was central to most banquets in Celtic life and Afterlife. The Feast of Bricriu told of squabbling over ‘the Champion's portion’ among the heroes gathered there. The custom, where the largest, choicest, piece of meat was given to the greatest warrior or mightiest hero present, was mentioned in the annals of Diodorus Siculus (VI, 28). Offerings of pork or boar meat were left at shrines or were buried with great warriors to sustain them after death. The lords of Otherworld banquets were frequently depicted with the bodies of dead boars slung across their shoulders or with pigs at their side. In tales, boars took the form of ferocious magical creatures that had to be defeated as part of a hero’s quest. In the Welsh legend of Culwch and Olwen, the magical boar Twrch Trwyth is a transformed evil king, whom Culwch had to overcome as one of his tasks for Yspaddadan Pencawr. The Irish hero Diarmaid hunted down a halfbrother who had been changed into the shape of a wild boar, and the boar-brother killed Diarmaid in some versions of the tale.       The god Mercury Moccus, worshipped at sites in Gaul, was associated with the hunting of wild boar. Moccus is a Gaulish word meaning pig or hog and the god is thought to have protected the hunters of the Lingones tribe.       Gradually, tribal totems were incorporated into Roman worship but secondary to the Roman gods and goddesses. They were seen as companions to the deities of Classical mythology, in the background of many reliefs and paintings but still a potent symbol of the Celtic world.                   This Chapter extract continues with Spirits of the Earth and Air - Part 3>>>.       From Complete Guide to Celtic Mythology by Bob Curran

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