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Classical writers speak of Dryades or “Druidesses” in the third century. One of them predicted his approaching death to Alexander Severus, another promised the empire to Diocletian, others were consulted by Aurelian. Thus they were divineresses, rather than priestesses, and their name may be the result of misconception, unless they assumed it when Druids no longer existed as a class. In Ireland there were divineresses–ban-filid or ban-fáthi, probably a distinct class with prophetic powers. Kings are warned against “pythonesses” as well as Druids, and Dr. Joyce thinks these were Druidesses. S. Patrick also armed himself against “the spells of women” and of Druids. Women in Ireland had a knowledge of futurity, according to Solinus, and the women who took part with the Druids like furies at Mona, may have been divineresses. In Ireland it is possible that such women were called “Druidesses,” since the word ban-drui is met with, the women so called being also styled ban-fili, while the fact that they belonged to the class of the Filid brings them into connection with the Druids. But ban-drui may have been applied to women with priestly functions, such as certainly existed in Ireland–e.g. the virgin guardians of sacred fires, to whose functions Christian nuns succeeded. We know also that the British queen Boudicca exercised priestly functions, and such priestesses, apart from the Dryades, existed among the continental Celts.

-The Religion of the Ancient Celts by J. A. MacCulloch

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Celtic Gods and Goddess

The Celtic world included Ireland, Britain, and a large section of the mainland

Aine: Goddess of love and fertility; encouraged human love; has command over crops and animals; daughter of Eogabail  

Amaethon: God of agriculture 

Anu or Danu/Dana: Mother goddess 

Aonghus: God of love; son of Dagda and Boann

Badb: Irish goddess of battle; could influence the outcome of conflict by inspiring fear or bravery in warriors

Balor: The one-eyed god of death, everyone he looked upon was destroyed

Belenus or Bel: Sun god; appears throughout the Celtic world in different forms; Beltaine celebrates him 

Boann: Water goddess; mother of Aonghus

Brigantia: Chief goddess of Brigantes tribe; associated with water, war and healing

Brigid/Brigit: Goddess of healing and fertility; said to help women during labor; possibly same goddess as Brigantia 

Camulos: God of war mostly worshiped in Belgium areas; said to wield an invincible sword

Ceridwen: Goddess of fertility

Cernunnos: God of wild animals, forest, and plenty; possibly also the god of death; known as the horned one

Cliodhna: Goddess of beauty; her three birds could sing the sick to sleep and heal them 

Dagda: The great god; could restore the dead to life

Dian Cecht: God of healing 

Don: Welsh version of Dana

Donn: God of the dead

Dylan: Sea god

Epona: Horse goddess

The Formorii: Sea gods; violent and misshapen

Goibhniu: Smith god 

Lir: God of sea, healing  and magic 

Lugh: Sun god (Ireland)

Lugus:  Sun god (France and Britain) 

Mac Cecht: God of eloquence

Macha: One of the war goddess

Manannan Mac Lir: Sea god; could stir up or soothe the sea

Manawydan: Welsh sea god, extremely similar to Manannan

Morrigan/Morrigu: Goddess of death on the battlefield 

Nechtan: Water god 

Nemain: Goddess of war

Nemglan: Bird god

Nodens: God of healing; owned magic healing hounds

Ogma: God of eloquence; creating of Ogham, the oldest writing system in Ireland

Taranis: Name means thunderer; Romans equated him to Jupiter; symbol was the wheel

Teutates or Toutatis: Romans equated him to Mars

**Not all inclusive 

All information gathered from “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm 

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~ it’s gemini season, let’s figure out where we are headed ~

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really want to go sit in the middle of nature and not think for a while

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🔮♊ gemini season ♊🔮

🔑 gemini season is all about getting in touch with yourself, your mind, your words, your emotions. it’s working through the layers of protection you’ve built for yourself, getting under and through them until you find the deepest and truest parts of yourself. the parts of yourself that you’ve hidden for fear of judgement, in order to fit in with others, because it hurts to much to be open with them.

💥 gemini season is finding your truth and speaking it. constantly. no matter how hard it is, no matter who hears, no matter who refuses to hear. it’s about learning who you are, each and every precious aspect of yourself. it’s about growing into a new and better version of yourself each week, each day, each moment.

⌛ gemini season is working through the issues you’ve had since you were a child, the beliefs you’ve long since grown out of, but still hold close. it’s teaching yourself new ways of thinking and being, new ways of speaking to yourself and others, new ways of showing up as the person you want to be- the person you’re capable of being.

🐤 gemini season is finding new things to try, new places to go, new people to see and talk to. it’s making changes as easily as breathing, taking chances big and small. it’s that bone-deep confidence that is still in you, even if you haven’t been able to access it since you were a child. it’s the knowledge that even in the face of challenges and setbacks and even disaster, everything will work out in the end.

interested in a gemini season tarot reading? get one here!

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~ a tarot spread for reconnecting and communicating with your deck ~

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probably my favorite thing about witchcraft is how diy it is. like, I used to be catholic and it was like “this has power because it was anointed by a priest” and witchcraft is like “fuck that. anoint it yourself. you have all the power of the universe in your little hands” and I love it.

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tarot and pendulums can get it wrong

a response to these posts of “if you don’t want to do tarot or pendulum (or general magic) for this thing, you must not really believe in magic” i’ve been seeing around lately. 

Tarot does not have a degree in law, pendulums are not a doctor. They are estimations based on a situation, and they have the ability to be interpreted differently than the answer we think we receive. 

Pendulums, at least for me, have always represented an answered that averages a question down to a yes or no. However, life is rarely that simple. There are almost always other factors. Pendulums don’t communicate as simply as we do. “Does Tommy like me?” Well, he doesn’t hate you. Maybe he even likes you as a person. But maybe not romantically, and pendulums don’t have that nuanced understanding of “like” that we do. “Does Tommy want to romance me?” Maybe, but it could totally be for a practical joke because Tommy is also an asshole. 

Tarot tells you your future supposedly, and you ask it medical questions. However, it is in part working off your own knowledge of what is going on. You may have an unknown condition, and it’s not going to tell you about it, it’s going to tell you how you’re going to live and react to things while not knowing. How can tarot tell you that you’ve got onychocryptosis if you’ve never heard of it? Besides, tarot works solely with themes, not multi-syllabic disease names. You’d have better luck divining what’s wrong with you via bibliomancy and a medical text book (don’t do that, seriously).

In short, do the tarot reading after you visit the doctor, ask it things it will be able to answer. Tarot is not so much a tool for telling the future as it is telling you about yourself. Pendulums are not so much an exact answer as they are a shrug and “it’s kinda leaning towards yes? idk man”. They are not exact answers, they’re vague advice as best. It’s foolish to treat them as cosmic instructions or divine orders.

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me, casually: so like…..what’s the exact time you were born?

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Big sorcerer problems out here

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~ tarot spread intended for self reflection ~

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Something I’ve noticed is that some people who have no knowledge of witchcraft whatsoever have their own small rituals (whether consciously or not) and I’m so in love with it.

- A young boy I know tells me he wears a necklace to help him run faster, and whenever he looks at it he gets a boost of self-assurance and luck. And I couldn’t help but smile when he told me this - it’s his self-created talisman, whether he knows it or not.

- A woman I met recently told me that writing a letter to someone and then burning it is extremely cathartic. It reminds me of spells performed to release negative emotions.

- My mother has a cup of tea around the same time daily, using her favourite mug and sitting in her favourite chair as a way to reduce stress. A calming self-care ritual.

- Even before I discovered witchcraft, I did things as a child like projecting my anger and negative emotions into a stone and throwing it into a body of water so it would leave me alone. I felt better after that, even without knowing it was basically a spell.

I see it everywhere, all kinds of people doing relatively mundane things to achieve better outcomes for themselves: strength, calmness, healing and more. They have their own, personally-developed rituals and magicks - not necessarily of huge proportion or complexity, but effective nonetheless - and I find it so beautiful.

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Reblog Witch Shop Cat, Keeper of Crystals for good luck and successful spells.

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Me: *Does a tarot reading for myself*

Tarot: *tells me what I absolutely didn’t want to know*

Me: …how can I interpret this to my advantage

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Me everyday.