The Children of Dagda

The Tuatha De Danaan were the main family of Irish gods. The name means "Children of the Goddess Danu". Danu served as their chief goddess and matriarch but was not literally their mother. They defeated the Fomors at the battle of Moytura. They were in turn defeated by the Milesians, after which they retired to the Irish underworld.

Dagda, the Good God is a god of immense strength and appetites, he is all competent. He wears the humble garment of a servant, wields a huge club symbolic of his power, which could both kill and restore men to life, and a great cauldron which provided an inexhaustible source of food. This is the same cauldron which Cerridwen guards. This cauldron has properties of rejuvenation and inexhaustibility; The Dagda couples with the Morrigan at Samhain, invoking her fertility and blessings on the tribe in the coming year. He is leader of the Tuatha De Danann. One of his epithets was Ollathir, which is generally interpreted as meaning 'All-father'. He is paired with the goddesses Morrigan and Boann, and is the father of Brigit and Aengus Mac Oc. The Dagda is portrayed as possessing both super-human strength and appetite.

Nuada, "Nuada of the Silver Hand". An Irish god and one time leader of the Tuatha de Danaan. He lost a hand at the first Battle of Magh Tuireadh fighting against the Firbolgs. Due to this infirmity, he was forced to give up his position as king of the Tuatha De Danaan. Dian Cecht made him a silver hand (whence the epithet). However, Dian Cecht's son Miach later gave Nuada a new hand of flesh and blood which allowed him to regain the kingship. Nuada was killed in the second Battle of Magh Tuireadh by the Fomorii leader Balor.

Balor, Irish god of death, King of the Fomorians. Son of Buarainech, husband of Cethlenn. Balor had one eye which had the power of striking dead anyone who looked into it. At the Battle of Moytura he slew Nuada but was slain in turn by the god Lug. It had been prophesied that Balor would be killed by his own grandson. To prevent this, he had his only daughter Ethlinn locked up in a crystal tower on Tory Island. But Cian, one of the rival Tuatha De Danaan, managed to reach Ethlinn with the aid of a druidess named Birog, and slept with her. Ethlinn gave birth to a boy, which Balor discovered and threw into the sea. The druidess Birog saved the boy, who was subsequently fostered by the sea god Manannan Mac Lir, and the boy grew to become Lugh Lamhfada of the Long Arm, or Lug.

Danu, Anu, Dana, Irish (Celtic) earth mother. Matriarch of the Tuatha de Danaan ('People of the Goddess Danu)', the gods of Ireland. The Dagda, one of the 'People of Danu', was sometimes referred to as her father. Her Welsh equivalent was the goddess Don.

Angus eventually displaced his father Dagda from his palace. As a god of love and amorous alliances, he has some of the qualities of the Greek Eros. He is the Irish god of youth. Son of the Dagda and 'the wife of Elcmar', generally believed to be the goddess Boann. He is associated with the valley of the River Boyne. Aengus was said to have dreamed of a beautiful maiden, for whom he searched all Ireland. He eventually found her, named Caer, chained to 150 maidens who were destined to turn into swans at the feast of Samhain (November 1). Aengus transformed himself into a swan and was so united with Caer, who followed him back to his palace at Brugh na Boinne on the River Boyne (modern New Grange).

Brigit, Brigid, Brigindo, (Brigantia - "exalted one"), is the Goddess of Northern England; She is the triple goddess of the hearth, childbirth, abundance and poetic inspiration; is also the goddess of poets, healing, fertility, and patroness of smiths. In Ireland she was known as the daughter of the Dagda and wife of the god Bres. Also known in Gaul and Britain, she is patroness of the spring festival of Imbolc, on February 1. Giraldus Cambrensis, a medieval Welsh chronicler, wrote that in his day a fire was maintained at her sanctuary at Kildare, Ireland. Her worship continued after Christianization in the form of St. Brigit or St. Bride.

Mider was king of the underworld and had his castle in Falga, (Isle of Man)

Ogmas is the God of literature and invented the Ogham alphabet. He is married to Etain, a daughter of Dianecht, the god of healing and medicine. The son of Dagda. He is equivalent to the Gallic Ogmios.

Morrigan (also Medbh), which means Phantom Queen, has three sister aspects: Morrigna or Macha, the death crone symbolized by the raven; Nemhain or Ana, the fertility maiden; and Badb, the boiling mother cauldron, producer of life; she is the red haired war goddess of the Sea and of death; she is sometimes seen as the Wise woman in her destructive aspect. She often appears in triple form. She combines the threshold energies of life and death, sexuality and conflict in one Goddess. She has the ability to open up your capabilities to prophecy or channeling. She is an enchantress. But you must beware of her ability to awaken deception in yourself and others. Her symbols are the Raven and crossed spears.


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