Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers

by Miranda Aldhouse-Green

Celtic goddesses presided over war, nature, animals, healing and fertility. Considerable recent interest has been focused on the role of goddesses in ancient societies, though not always with a clear eye on the actual source material. This book, written by one of the leading scholars of Celtic myth and religion, examines the significance of the female in Celtic belief and ritual as expressed in surviving archaeological remains and written sources.
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. Interestingly, the female is sometimes the dominant partner.
Terrifying battle goddesses were invoked in times of war, often believed to change into raven-form as harbingers of death. A Mother Goddess was venerated, often in triple form, and supplicated for fertility of animals and crops. Goddesses were often linked with birds, dogs, bears, pigs and snakes all had their divine protectresses. The great Celtic horse-goddess Epona even had a Roman festival dedicated to her. The transition from polytheistic paganism to monotheistic Christianity in the Celtic west is examined in a final chapter.

Genres: History, Mythology, Nonfiction, Paganism, Religion, Goddess, Womens

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Miranda Green was born in London and educated at Greycoat Hospital, Westminster. She took an Honours degree at University College, Cardiff and an M. Litt. at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She gained a research scholarship at the Open University and was awarded a doctorate in 1981 for her thesis on Romano-Celtic sun-symbolism. She has received research awards from the Society of Antiquities of London and from the British Academy, and was awarded the Leverhulme Research Fellowship at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. After holding posts at Worthing and Peterborough Museums, she took up posts as Tutor in Roman Studies and full-time administrator at the Open University in Wales.

Until recently professor of archaeology at Newport University, Miranda's teaching experience ranges from leading undergraduate courses on Roman Britain and Iron Age Europe to managing and contributing to Newport's MA in Celto-Roman Studies. She has supervised more than twenty PhD and MPhil students to successful completion.

Miranda Aldhouse-Green is Tutor for the MA Archaeology programme, and is module leader for three of the MA skills modules (Research Methods, Writing Archaeology/Writing the Past and Speaking Archaeology). She lectures on Early Celtic Studies and contributes to the third-year undergraduate Theory course.

External responsibilities include membership of the Ancient Monuments Advisory Board for Wales, presidency of the Prehistoric Society (2004-6) and membership of the management board of the University of Wales Press.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a broad introduction and semi-dive into the role of female characters/deities/people in Celtic myth ranging across the entirety of the Celtic lands but focusing on Welsh and Irish with some references to Germanic and central Celtic traditions. Aldhouse-Green shows that the female role within many of these traditions wasn't necessarily one of subservience even where it appears that way, but instead it was one of power, influence, and in some cases downright terrifying fighting strength. On the flip side, many myths also reflected the Mother Goddess and associations with fertility and production and the importance of the natural world. A-G lays out the complexities and opposite partnerships that divine and semi-divine women had in these myths and why these combinations made them so important and how they were often shown to be the dominant partner when paired with male figures. She also shows how this was changed and amended as Christianity started to take hold and how many divine females were transformed to saints or more often sinners as the male dominated religion left its mark. This is a very readable book despite the complex themes and interplay between the different myths and characters, particularly given the crossover through the Celtic lands and the transformation of the original tales into more 'palatable' Christian versions. All of this is supported with illustrations and photographs, evidencing the text and showing how Celtic myths were portrayed through the different areas and over time.

[Mélanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read!

[Djordje · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book led me to a better understanding not only of the Celtic goddesses but also of the position of women in Celtic society. Today, there are many misconceptions about the role of women in Celtic society, mostly because myths and history are intertwined. Miranda did a really great job of untangling these two aspects of Celtic mythology. The hidden gem in this book for me is the transition between Celtic goddesses and Celtic saints, which is beautifully explained through Goddesses/Saint Brigid.
It does not matter whether you read this book from mythological or anthropological perspective - you will not go wrong.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great take on the subject of the female Celtic deities - based on both archaeological and historical materials, the archaeological often enigmatic and the historical records even more so (since it is general of later date (often several hundred years and written down after the shift of religion to Christianity) and need to be somewhat deciphered to come to the core of the stories and what it can reveal about the original stories and ideas). All is done skilfully and with an abundance of knowledge of the subject - and Green generally stays away from speculations which can't actually be founded on concrete evidence which I appreciate very much.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting work! Green's book is very charming and attractive in all possible ways, mixing good academic research and a nice narrative.
I really enjoyed reading. The only bad critic I can make about it is that sometimes she's too 'descriptive' and doesn't analyse some important points since she's only describing them. But that could also be a good thing for those who are not familiar enought with Celtic mythology.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please read my review on my website: Celtic Goddesses

[Angie Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is a great author and she did a good job of covering all the Celtic Goddesses. She tackles the historical facts as well as the myth surrounding each goddess.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview. Bear in mind that the archaeological research etc underpinning her work is now nearly two decades old.