Gems of the Goddess

CAILLEACH

Winter has come.  Bringing along its snowflakes, whistling winds, and darker nights. Causing all living things to feel the need to hibernate against this bitter cold, only to return again in the spring refreshed and new.  Cailleach governs all of this. She is a Celtic winter goddess, as well as creation and transformation deity.  She is in the rocky mountain tops and hills. Her blanket of snow rests quietly over all that lives beneath its preserving grasp.

She is a death goddess, who lets die out what is no longer needed (in nature and within ourselves) but she also plants the seeds for new life to grow.

A very, very ancient goddess, previously worshiped in Scotland, Cailleach was so well respected she was said to have created the earth, with her hammer.  Banging out mountains and carving out streams.

Cailleach was a unique beauty.  She was depicted as an old women, with blue skin, bears teeth, matted hair, and piercing eyes.

On top of all that fierceness, she could also give kings the power to rule their land.

Cailleach reminds us what winter is all about.  A time for renewal.  A time for hibernation, even if its just a mental hibernation.  Those moments alone, digging deeper into your very core, are highly important to ones mental health.  With Cailleach there to guide you into the spring, as a refreshed individual, she can teach us all vast lessons about creation.  Strengthening us even more for the coming seasons.

CONNECTING WITH CAILLEACH

Meditate upon this wise women.  What things in your life need refreshment or change?  Let her guide you within the realms of her snowy earth.

Also make sure to give the animals some food to hibernate with.  Like nuts or berries.

SYMBOLS AND THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR ALTER

Hammers, rocks, snow, hills, wands, blue, deer, mountains, earth