Birth of the Cailleach

She is ancient ...

She is the landscape beneath our feet

She is the mountains and the hills

She is the rock and stone that leads down to the shore

She is wisdom

She is knowledge

She is mysteries

She is the old hag

She is The Cailleach

Within the pages of this book I hope to give you an introduction to the mysteries, myths, legends and magic of the ancient hag goddess the Cailleach.

The Cailleach – goddess of the ancestors, wisdom that comes with age, the weather, time, shape- shifting and winter.

She is said to have shaped the landscape by dropping boulders from her apron, which given that she is often portrayed as a giant should have been a fairly easy task. Later on stories also began to surface that reported the Devil as being the one with an apron who drops stones to shape the landscape. Not sure the image of the Devil wearing a pinny with the apron strings flapping in the breeze works for me, but it may have been an attempt by early Christianity to cover up the pagan stories of the Cailleach.

Her time is Samhain to Beltane, which is when she is at her most powerful – and powerful she most certainly is for in my experience she is a strong, feisty, no-nonsense, and kick-bottom goddess with a wicked sense of humour. Towards the end of autumn when the weather starts to get that clear, fresh and chilly air you can feel her draw near.

Often referred to as a Neolithic goddess, her origins seem to lie in ancient Britain. However, traces of her can be found across Europe, still as part of Celtic tribal history, but also in places such as Greece, Spain and Portugal. Some suggest that she was originally a Spanish princess named Beara and others that she originated from the Hindu mother goddess Kali, but some believe she travelled across from the continent, who is right? (I don't have the actual answer to that question ...)

Although she rarely appears in myths with other deities she is occasionally linked with the goddess Brighid/Bride as her opposite. In a couple of legends she is also said to have married the Celtic sea god Manannan. She is usually put into the Celtic pantheon (I have done so myself on occasion) possibly just to put her somewhere, but there are traces of her long before the Celts. She is, as far as I can make out, one of the most ancient deities and has survived for thousands of years. An old Irish poem states: 'There are three great ages; the age of the yew tree, the age of the eagle, the age of the Cailleach.'

The word Cailleach has several meanings or translations such as:

Hag

Crone

Old woman

Veiled one

Witch

Older wiser woman

Biting old woman

Old wife

In Gaelic there seems to be suggestion of a link between the word 'Cailleach' and the word for 'chalice'. The chalice possibly being later thought of as a cauldron, which is a symbol for rebirth and symbolic of the womb.

In most texts the word 'Cailleach' seems to translate as 'veiled one' and the prefix 'Caill' also means a 'covering'. It suggests that an older woman wore a 'cover chief' or 'calle' upon their head, perhaps referring to a veil or headscarf, and of course the veil also symbolises hidden mysteries.

There are many, many stories about a Cailleach, whether they are one and the same figure or a group of figures I will let you decide. She may just have had slightly different names in each region such as:

Cailleach Bheur – the sharp Cailleach/genteel old lady (Scotland)

Cailleach ny Groamagh – the old gloomy woman (Manx)

Cailleach Groarnagh – old woman of spells (Manx)

Cailleach Beara/Bheare/Bearra (Ireland)

Caillagh ny Gueshag – old woman of the spells

Cailleach Uragaig (Isle of Colonsay, Scotland)

Cailleach Bheirre/Beira – the sharp Cailleach (Ireland)

Cailleach Beinne Bric/na Bric – old woman of the speckled mountain/protector of the deer (Scotland)

Cailleach Mor/Mhore – great old woman (Scotland)

Cailleach Mhor Nam Fiadh – the Great Cailleach of the deer (Scotland)

Cailleach na Mointeach – Cailleach of the Moors (Scotland)

Cailleach Usig – water Cailleach

Carlin (Scotland)

Beira (Scotland)

Cally Berry (Northern Ireland)

The Hag of Beare/Digne (Ireland)

Cailleach Nollaigh – Christmas old wife (Scotland)

Mag Moullach

Gentle Annie (NE Scotland)

Bronach or Brenach – ugliness (W Ireland)

The Blue Hag

The Bear Goddess

The Boar Goddess

Owl-faced

Ancient Woman

The Woman of Stones

She is probably most well known for her landscaping, with many mountains, caves, rivers and landmarks named after her. She is therefore strongly associated with the elements of both earth and water.

As a water goddess the Cailleach rules over lakes, rivers, oceans, streams and wells, and holds responsibility for floods as she also controls the weather, particularly storms. Stories of the Cailleach storming (pun intended) down the mountainside in a fury hurling lightning rods and bolts of thunder are plenty.

She is also linked with the wise woman who played the role of midwife and layer-out of the dead. Several stories I found linked her to Christian times when it was said she appeared as a nun ... although this could be confusion caused by her Gaelic name meaning 'hood' or 'veiled one', which after Christianity arrived was the term given to nuns reflecting the hooded wimples they wore.

The Cailleach is at her most powerful during the winter months, bringing the cold weather, icy winds and snow with her. She is said to often ride a wolf (sometimes a wild pig) across the sky bringing the snow and riding the wolf through the lands crushing any signs of plant life. But she is also seen as the midwife for the dying year, keeping the seeds of new life safe and warm beneath the earth, caring for them throughout the winter months so that they may become new life in the spring.

The 25th of March was known as Latha na Caillich, Cailleach Day or Lady Day. Right up to the 17th century in Scotland this date was celebrated as New Year's Day and contests would be held to drive out the winter hag.

On 1st May on the Isle of Man, mock fights were held between the harsh forces of winter and the promising light of summer, with summer always winning of course. This represented the hag goddess fighting with her sisters over the rights of the land.

In February (around Imbolc) in Orkney, the Gyros festival happens where two of the boys in the village dress up as hags and chase the younger children around town trying to catch them and hit them with ropes. The name Gyros may be connected to the Gyre of Carling, one of the...