Goddesses Of Reptiles, Birds, And Amphibians

Like animals, reptiles and birds appear frequently as images of feminine divinity. 

While these creatures might seem opposites, many early statues show them united, as we find in the unnamed bird-headed snake goddesses of central Europe, whose image may represent the cosmic reach of a goddess who ruled both earth and sky. 

The imagery survives into historical times as the Greek Gorgons, winged snake haired sisters of the goddess Medusa. 

Snake goddesses often represent rebirth or renewal, for as the snake sheds its skin, so the soul is reborn into another life. 

Egyptian Mafdet and Mertseger were con nected with both burial and the promise of an afterlife. 

In India, black-faced Kalı, ruler of death and transformation, is bedecked in writhing snakes. 

Other Indian goddesses associated with snakes include Manasa, who guards against snakebite and brings prosperity, and the snake-women called Naginıs, associated with water and the mon soon season. 

This connection of snakes with water is also found in Australia, where the rainbow serpent Julunggul (see also Kunapipi) lived in deep pools, from which she stirred herself at times of creation and of initiation ceremonies. 

Snakes could appear maternal, for snakes protected stored grain from encroaching vermin and thus preserved the familys health. 

Lithuanian Aspelenie was such a protector, as was Greek Athena. 

Even in nonagricultural societies, we find snake pro tectors, such as Siberian Irt (see Circumpolar), who protected the fecundity of rivers. 

Snakes appear as images of reproductive sex in the image of Chinese Nu¨wa, entwined with her serpent mate, while Indian Kadru offers an image of reproductive abundance with her clutch of a thousand eggs. 

Conversely, snakes could be fearsome and threatening. 

Some terrifying snakes were connected with magic and shape-shifting, such as Greek Hecate, Roman Angitia, Celtic Morrıgan, and Aztec Coatlicue. 

Perhaps as an extension of this power, serpent goddesses ruled sexuality, as we find with Celtic Melusine and Ezili-Freda of the African disapora. 

The snake Kundalinı, in Hindu India, symbolizes sexual power that rises through the snakelike spinal column linking the groin and head. 

Finally, reptilian goddesses appear as cosmic creatrixes. 

In Africa, the snake Aido Hwedo was present at creation and provided the pattern for the sinuous shape of mountains and rivers. 

Some serpents provided the material for the world from their own body, as did Aztec Cipactonal and Babylonian Tiaˆmat. 

Polynesian Walu tahanga suffered dismemberment but, once made whole again, provided fresh water and food to humanity. 

The snake goddess can appear as a dragon, especially in Asia where these imagi nary hybrids were a common mythic motif. 

Typically, dragons were associated with the oceans power. 

Japanese Benten either took the form of a dragon or rode one on the ocean waves. 

In Egypt, the goddess Meretseger was a snake with human head, or a snake with three heads, a form that stressed her otherworldly aspects. 

Other rep tiles appear as goddess images in regions where they are common, as with African Nyakae, a crocodile. 

Birds also appear frequently as goddess images. 

Pedamma-Mariamma (see India) was one of several creatrixes who took bird form; she laid an egg that contained the universe and the gods. 

Polynesian Tuli flew across the primal ocean, creating island homes for people as she did. 

Finnish Luonotar was not herself a bird, but provided a place for the cosmic eggs to be laid by a duck in primeval times. 

Sometimes the bird is of a specific species: the owl accompanied and represented Greek Athena, while Irish E tain took the form of a swan (see Celtic). 

In such cases, the birds qualities were associated with the goddess (wisdom and loyalty, respec tively). 

Observation of bird behavior led to the connection of the Greek tragic heroine Aedon with the loud-crying nightingale; the Celtic war goddess Badb with the carrion-eating crow; the Saami spring goddess Barbmo-Akka (see Finno-Ugric) with migrating waterbirds; and the loyal Celtic heroine Fionnuala with the similarly loyal swan. 

Greek Aphrodite was associated with several kinds of birds, including the goose and the sparrow, which were imagined as sexually vigorous. 

Occasionally the bird was not the goddess but her mate. 

The goddess of sexuality in the African diaspora, Oshun, is associated with the peacock, the male of which preens its lavish tail to attract a mate. 

Eskimo Sedna (see Circumpolar) was mated to a sea bird, but grew tired of living on scraps of fish that he provided. 

In Greek mythology, the sky god Zeus turned himself into a bird in order to assault goddesses and Nymphs. 

Thus Hera was associated with the quail, for Zeus disguised himself as one in order to gain access to Heras lap, while Leda was associated with the swan, in which form Zeus raped her, as he did the goddess of vengeance, Nemesis. 

Frigg, the Scandinavian all-mother, lived in a sky palace to which she ascended on hawks wings. 

Birds provided a disguise for shape-shifted goddesses such as Russian Baba Yaga (see Slavic) and Irish Morrıgan (see Celtic). 

Nemain, a Celtic war goddess, flew over the battlefield like a crow to observe the slain, as did the Scandina vian Valkyries. 

Birdsong figures in goddess imagery both as a positive image of beauty (Thai Kinnarı, see Southeast Asia) and as a threatening one of loss of self (Greek Sirens). 

In addition to the earthbound serpent and the airy bird, we find goddesses in the form of amphibians, which live in water as juveniles and, after undergoing metamor phosis, breathe air as adults. 

The most common amphibian image of the goddess is the frog or toad, often used as an image of the birthing creatrix because its bent legged shape looks like a woman squatting in labor. 

This connection of frogs with birth was found in Egypt, where Hekt, a woman with a frogs head, was a midwife. 

Frogs and toads were also widely associated with weather. 

The Australian frog goddess Quork-Quork was the mother of rain, thunder, and lightning. 

Yang Sri, the toad goddess of Vietnam, controlled the weather, as did the Baltic weather witch Ragana. 

Scandinavian Holle hid in a deep well disguised as a frog. 

Finally, in a few instances, we find a connection between frogs and fire, notably in South America, where the frog goddess Nayobo made fire by vomiting, while another frog goddess of the region, Kibero, brought fire to humanity. 

~ Kiran Atma

You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.

Goddesses Of Abstract Qualities

Where abstract qualities are associated with goddesses, the goddess might appear as the embodiment of the quality, or she may be envisioned as bestowing it upon favored humans. 

Beauty, love, wisdom, and justice are commonly associated with goddesses, as is the control of fate or destiny. 

Some of these qualities are associated with an essen tialist ‘‘femininity, while others are more typically associated with ‘‘masculinity. 

In the realm of goddesses, expectations of the social roles typically occupied by women do not always hold true. 

Even within a culture, goddesses defy gender stereotypes, as with war goddesses found in imperial patriarchies like Rome (see Bellona). 

Beauty is the quality most commonly associated with goddesses. 

The beauty of some goddesses reflects their status as divinities of earth and represents the idea of natures loveliness. 

One such is the Tantric Bhuvanesvarı (see India), described as so beautiful that the god Shiva made himself a third eye, the better to enjoy her. 

At other times, beauty is connected with sovereignty. 

Queenly figures are flatteringly described as beautiful. 

Thus the Queen of Sheba, Bilqis (see Eastern Mediterranean) was described as possessing great beauty, although she was also said to have had the legs of a goat. 

Hera, Greek goddess of womens power, was renowned for her beauty, as was the Irish warrior queen Medb (see Celtic), who represented sovereignty over the land as well as womens sexuality. 

The Celtic goddess who appeared variously as Grainne, Iseult, and Gueneviere embodied the lands need for a vigorous king, with the ‘‘love triangle of their stories describing the replacement of an aging ruler with a younger one. 

Not surprisingly, beauty is often (although not invariably) connected with love. 

Such love could be generic, as with Greek Aphrodite or African Oshun, whose power infused the world of animals as well as humans. 

Other goddesses embody divine love, such as Indian Parvatı whose beauty was reserved for her consort Shiva. 

Finally, a goddesss desire could be directed only toward humans, as with Celtic Niamh, who sought lovers among human men, or the group of Indian spirits called Yaks˛ı who have sex with human men before eating them. 

More positively, Lakota Whope (see North America) formed the pattern of beauty after which human women were designed, so that they might attract vigorous mates. 

Love goddesses are not always benevolent. 

Many narratives emphasize betrayal and heartbreak (Celtic Bloduewedd and Deirdre, Hebrew Naamah, Greek Sirens). 

Although a beautiful goddess can be heartless, loyal lovers such as Indian Radha and Hebrew Sarah are found in mythology alongside destructive seducers like the Celtic Leanann Sidhe and Hebrew Lilith. 

Additionally, some myths warn of the difficulties that beauty can bring, as with Hindu Manasa (see India), whose beauty attracted the god Shiva, leading to her mutilation at his wifes hands. 

Unlike beauty, wisdom is not today necessarily connected with the archetypal femi nine. 

But in many cultures, goddesses were associated with this quality, which refers to a right ordering of society that aligns it with natural law. 

Thus Greek Athena and Metis, Roman Egeria and Providentia, and Hebrew Hokmah all connected the human world with nature through wise counsel. 

In some cases, as with Scandinavian Voluspa and Greek Python, wisdom was conveyed through oracular practices inspired by an all-seeing earth goddess. 

Roman Egeria pronounced the first laws of the city-state while in an oracular trance. 

In Ireland (see Celtic), goddesses of wisdom such as Boand gained knowledge through eating nuts that fall from a magical tree that con nects underworld, middle earth, and sky; thus their wisdom encompassed the universe. 

In most of these Irish narratives, the woman was specifically forbidden from seeking wisdom, but her decision to break that prohibition results in world-creating acts. 

Goddesses of justice, often pictured as mature or even elderly women, control the orderly structure of society. 

Thus Greek Themis, on whom oaths were sworn, repre sented the just underpinnings of civilization. 

Similarly, Hebrew Torah represented ‘‘the law that controlled and defined appropriate human behavior. 

The domain of Egyptian Maat (see Africa) extended beyond death, for she judged the souls right eousness. 

The Iroquois heroine Genetaska (see North America) brought justice and peace to her people. 

Some goddesses of justice were also goddesses of vengeance, demanding retribution for wrongdoing, as did Greek Erinyes and Nemesis. 

Goddesses also represent scholarship and learning. 

Because most societies have been oral rather than literate, such goddesses were associated with the transmission of wisdom through speech and stories (Scandinavian Saga and Edda, Indian Vac). 

The connection between memory, including historical memory, and the creation of art was emphasized in the Greek belief that Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, was mother to the Musae, goddesses of art. 

Goddesses like the Eastern Mediterranean Nisaba represented both the act of writing and the priestesses who employed it. 

Finally, one of the most common powers ascribed to goddesses is control over destiny. 

Individual fate goddesses are connected with midwifery. 

Such divinities as Baltic Laime˙, Egyptian Hathor, Slavic Dolya and Orisnitsi, and Finno-Ugric Madder-Akka appeared at a childs birth and predict its future life. 

Fate goddesses could be ancestral spirits (see Scandinavian Dıs) because heredity is one determinant of fate. 

Fate goddesses measured a persons life, like Hittite Wurusemu (see Eastern Mediterranean) or Greek Lachesis (see Moirae). 

Other fate goddesses, like the Roman Camenae and Carmenta who lived in springs, were associated with especially hal lowed places. 

~ Kiran Atma

You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.

Goddesses Of Animals

  

Both wild and domesticated animals appear as goddess images. 

In at least one case, we find a wild and a domesticated version of the same animal representing separate god desses: Egyptian Bast (domesticated cat) and Sekhmet (lioness). 

In all circumstances, however, the goddesss familiar animal was common in the area where she was wor shiped; goddesses are not represented by exotic or alien fauna. 

One of the most important animal images for the goddess is the cow. 

Domesticated in Egypt approximately 5,000 years ago from wild cattle (where cows were honored as images of the goddesses Hathor and Neith), the cows nourishing milk symbolically connects this animal to human mothers. 

In a few cases, the goddess is seen associated with a bull. 

Greek Europa was carried across the sky by a bull, Mesopotamian Innana owned the bull of heaven (see Eastern Mediterranean), Irish Medb kidnapped a mag ical bull (see Celtic). 

But most commonly, the milch cow serves as a symbol of the abundant and nurturing goddess. 

In Scandinavia, the cow was a primal being, Audhumbla, who freed the first beings from the primordial ice in which they were frozen. 

Among the Irish Celts, we find Boand, ‘‘she of the white cows, who brought fertility to the land through the waters of the river that bears her name (Boyne). 

Honoring the ‘‘sacred cow, embodiment of the Hindu goddess Prthvı, in India gives religious support for respecting the cows economic and nutritional importance. 

In the same culture, the goddess of wealth, Laks˛mı, appears as a beautiful cow, and cows are called by her name. 

In Egypt, Hathor was depicted with the horned head of a cow, which had huge wings rising from her shoulders; in this shape, she gave birth to the universe. 

Anahita (see Eastern Medi terranean) was embodied in herds of cows on whose brows moons were branded. 

Nearby, Ugaritic Anat took on the form of a cow to mate with her beloved brother, the god Baal. 

The cow was not only an earthly creature but was imagined as heavenly as well. 

When a greedy person milked Irelands Glas Ghaibhleann (see Celtic) into a sieve, the animal was so insulted that she levitated into the heavens where she walks the ‘‘White Cows Path, the Milky Way. 

The Greeks connected this broad band of stars with the cow goddess Hera, who sprayed the heavens with milk while feeding her son Heracles. 

In some Christian narratives, the starry road was formed from the milk of the virgin Mary (see Eastern Mediterranean). 

The Egyptians saw the sky as a great cows belly, with the sun rising between the horns of the solar cow Hathor. 

Another domesticated animal that provided meat and milk, as well as skin for leather, was the goat, whose usefulness became part of her symbolic importance. 

The hollow horn of Greek Amaltea became the cornucopia, symbol of abundance. 

The Scandinavian heavenly goat Hedrun provided endless intoxicating mead that fed heroes in the afterlife. 

Goats were offered as sacrifices to Hittite Wurusemu (see Eastern Mediterranean). 

Other goddesses to whom goats are sacrificed are Tibetan Tara (see India) and Ethiopian Atete (see Africa). 

Used less often for food than for transportation, the horse appears connected with goddesses prominently in the mythologies of most Indo-European cultures as well as that of other lands. 

Goddesses can appear in horse form, accompanied by or riding horses, or drawn by them in a chariot. 

Many are associated with celestial powers, including the sun and moon. 

Celtic Epona and A ine may have represented the sun that speeds across the sky in a chariot drawn by horses; the folkloric English figure Lady Godiva (see Celts) may descend from a horse goddess. 

The feminine solar horse appears in India as well, in the figures of Samjn a and the dawn maiden Usas, who drove a chariot pulled by red horses. 

Two divine horses pulled the chariot of Scandina vian Sol, while Hungarian Xatel-Ekwa rode three horses simultaneously. 

Occasion ally, a lunar goddess was associated with the horses that pull the moons silver chariot; Greek Selene rode in such a chariot. 

Persian Anahita (see Eastern Mediterra nean) rode in a chariot drawn by four white horses signifying her control over the weather. 

Although typically connected with light, horses can also be associated with goddesses of darkness. 

A nightmarish horse, Russian Mora (see Slavic), killed people as they slept. 

In Scandinavia, the goddess Nott drove black horses that pulled the dark ness across the sky at nightfall. 

As horses were often used in battle, it is not surprising to find goddesses of war associated with this animal. 

In Greece, horses were connected with the warrior women called Amazons, who bore horse-names like Hippolyta and Melanippe. 

In Scandina via, a similar group of horsewomen, the Valkyries, brought dead heroes from the battlefield to heaven. 

In Ireland, the war goddess Macha was identified with horses, for she could outrun them even when nine months pregnant. 

Horses can represent transformation, as with Sumerian Ereshkegal (see Eastern Mediterranean), whose horse rode the boundary between death and life, or Greek Medusa who gave birth to the winged horse Pegasus, symbol of transformative poetry. 

Medusa may be connected with an obscure form of the grain goddess Demeter, who was impregnated while wearing a horses head. 

In the Baltic, the death goddess Giltine˙ drove two black horses, while in Wales the goddess Rhiannon rode a white horse from the Otherworld and was later forced to carry people on her own back like a mare. 

In hunting societies, wild herd animals like deer and buffalo appear as divinities, sometimes pictured in whimsical fashion. 

In Scandinavia, the Skogsfruen (see Busch frauen) herded wild animals and, when not otherwise occupied, liked to knit socks. 

But the underlying image of the goddess of wild herds is as a cosmic game warden, controlling access to the beasts and thus to the meat they provide. 

In southeastern Europe, Dali was goddess of mountain sheep who appeared as a nubile woman with whom male hunters had intercourse, which empowered them to become great hunters. 

Yet, like other goddesses of the hunt, she put prohibitions on hunters and killed any who broke her commands. 

The connection of goddesses with hunting is common, despite similarly common prohibitions on human women hunting. 

Greek Artemis wanders through the forests accompanied by her Nymphs, tending to woodland creatures and helping animals safely bear their young. 

Other such goddesses are Celtic Arduinna and Artio, Irish Flidais (see Celtic), Finnish Mielikki, Eskimo Sedna, and Siberian Umaj (see Circumpolar). 

In North America, Wohpe, the white buffalo calf-woman of the North American Sioux, is not only a guide to correct behavior when hunting but a general power of order. 

Such woodland goddesses set the rules and expectations for hunters, who were rewarded with success if they treated the goddess with respect. 

Dogs often appear as goddess images, as do their wild counterparts, wolves. 

Often the dog appears as a companion of the goddess rather than an embodiment of her, as with Celtic Nehalennia, Greek Hecate, and Hawaiian Pele (see Pacific Islands). 

Eskimo Sedna (see Circumpolar) lived with a dog, described sometimes as her hus band. 

Scandinavian Frau Goˆde (see Holle in Scandinavia) always traveled with a dog, which she used to annoy people who did not sufficiently respect her. 

Babylonian Gula was always shown accompanied by dogs, and dogs were buried in her temple, suggesting that they were connected with her healing powers. 

In rare cases, as with Irish Uirne, the divine figures are themselves canine in form, but more typically we find the dog by the goddesss side. 

Wolf goddesses, by contrast, were embodied in wolf form rather than merely traveling in their company. 

The related Roman figures of Rhea Silvia, Lupa, and Acca Larentia show the goddess in both human and lupine form. 

Both as dog and as wolf, the goddess appears more protective than threatening, although as Brimwylf (see Scandinavian) she can appear monstrous to those who would threaten her child. 

Like canines, felines can appear as both wild and tame in goddess iconography. 

However, when the tame cat appears as the wild lion, she changes from an affectionate goddess (Egypts Hathor, with her cat ears; Scandinavias sensual Freya; Chinese Wu Lo, goddess of fertility) to a fierce one (Indias Durga, a warrior goddess; Babylonian Eriskegal, queen of death; Egypts raging Sekhmet). 

At times, a complex but generally kindly goddess such as Cybele (see Southeastern Europe) or Chinas Xiwang Mu appeared accompanied by lions or tigers, which suggest the goddesss fiercer powers. 

Among other wild animals that serve as goddess images or vehicles, the bear appears as both the goddess herself (Greek Callisto and Artemis, Celtic Artio) and as her mate (Tlingit Rhpisunt; see North America). 

The goddess appeared as a fox in Japan (Inari), where she could transform herself into a beautiful woman to seduce and kill men. 

Finally, occasional goddesses take on animal forms appropriate to a spe cific region, such as Egyptian Taweret (hippopotamus). 

~ Kiran Atma

You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.

Goddess Arnamentia

Arnamentia is the goddess of flowing water in Celtic mythology. 

• Arnamentia governs all bodies of water, including springs and rivers, as the goddess of spiritual healing and cleansing. 

• She provides rejuvenation of the mind, body, and spirit in times of hardship and despair.

Goddess of springs Arnamentia is said to have formerly been a minor sun goddess. 

This ancient deity is mostly unknown. 

She who resides next to the holy grove is the literal meaning of her British-born name.

Roman worship of a British goddess in Aquae Arnemetiae, now Buxton Water in north-western Derbyshire, the highest town in England (at 1000 feet), which has long been known for its mineral waters. 

Her name includes the crucial word 'nemeton', which means holy grove.

What we do know was written on stones by the prehistoric Celtic people. 

Arnamentia is a sun deity who represents flowing water, spiritual healing, and cleansing. 

She has control over every body of water, including the biggest seas, lakes, rivers, and streams. 

It is stated that she provides regeneration of the mind, body, and spirit in times of gloom or danger. 

Some of the characteristics of Goddess Arnamentia include healing, oceans, rivers, and bodies of water, as well as purification. 

Arnamentia's sacred colors are green and blue. 

Arnamentia is connected to the pagan holidays of Yule, Imbolc, and Samhain. 

In the Anglo-Celtic, Romano-Celtic, and British pagan pantheons, she is regarded as a Water Goddess. 

Arnamentia, the goddess, is sometimes referred to as Arnemetia. 

She is widely regarded as a Brittonic River Goddess and a river goddess discovered in England at Buxton Springs. 

She was worshipped as a deity in Romano-British religion by the name inscribed as 'Arnemetia'. 

At Aquae Arnemetiae ("waters of Arnemetia"), which is now Buxton in Derbyshire, England, she had a shrine. 

Celtic roots are ("against, alongside") and nemeton make up the name Arnemetia ("sacred grove"). 

This interpretation of her name, "she who resides in the holy grove," raises the possibility that Arnemetia may be a heavenly epithet rather than a name in and of itself. 

Arnemetiae Aquae, a place named after Goddess Arnamentia. 

A tiny village called Aquae Arnemetiae was located in the Roman colony of Britannia. 

The area's natural hot springs served as the center of the population. 

It is now a town in Derbyshire, England called Buxton. 

"Waters of Arnemetia" is what Aquae Arnemetiae implies. 

The Romano-British deity of the holy grove was named Arnemetia (the name Arnemetia was derived from the Celtic for beside the sacred grove). 

Around 700 AD, the village was listed as Aquis Arnemeza in the Ravenna Cosmography's list of all known locations worldwide. 

The entrance lies between Nauione (the Nauio Roman fort at Brough), Zerdotalia (the Ardotalia, subsequently known as Melandra fort, near Glossop), and Mantio, locations with which the town had road links (Manchester). 

Aquae Arnemetia's Baths. 

There were only two Roman bath cities in Britain: 

1. Aquae Arnemetiae and 
2. Aquae Sulis (the present-day town of Bath in Somerset. Refer to Sulis). 

At the site of the major thermal spring, the Romans originally constructed a bath. At the hot spring near the Buxton Old Hall, Cornelius White ran bathing establishments in the late 17th century. 

He unearthed a lead cistern (2 meters square) on an oak wood frame in 1695, together with an old smooth stone bath (20 meters long by 7 meters broad). 

A Roman bath was found on the property and was called "a leaden cistern" when the Crescent hotel was constructed there in 1780. 

The Natural Mineral Baths building, which was built close to the hotel, presently sits next to the bath, which is now submerged under the Crescent. 

Excavations in 2005 uncovered the Roman baths' entrance corridor and entrances close to the location of the main spring. 

A wall thought to be the side of a palaestra (exercise hall) was also found during this building project. 

Additional subterranean cisterns as well as a huge iron cauldron were discovered between 2009 and 2012. 

A hoard of 232 Roman coins dating from the 300-year duration of the Roman control of Britain was discovered during the 1970s excavation of the main spring. 

To win the favor of the Gods, coins would have been thrown into the holy waters. 

The Buxton Museum has the coins and the bronze jewelry that were discovered alongside them on display. 

A million gallons of water come out of the geothermal spring each day from a depth of around 1 kilometer. 

At a constant 27 °C, the mineral water is released. 

According to water analysis, which dates back around 5,000 years, the water has a high magnesium level. 

On his trip to Wroxeter in 122 AD, Emperor Hadrian stopped at the town (Shrewsbury). 

Under the terraced slope of The Slopes, a significant portion of the Roman town wall was discovered in 1787 by Major Hayman Rooke. 

Rooke also captured information about the temple's base, which looked over the location of the baths and springs, at the same time. 

The water goddess Arnemetia was honored at the temple. 

It contained a shrine chamber that was perched on a rectangular pedestal and had a portico with columns in the front. 

On the west side of Buxton's market square, close to Fountain Street, the Roman floor plan of a macellum (covered market with a central atrium) and floor mosaics were recorded in 1860. 

At the location of the Bath Gardens, a prehistoric Celtic temple was recorded in 1755 as having an octagonal foundation and a faint inscription that read "Aeona." 

It was determined that the temple was devoted to either Apona or the horse deity Epona (goddess of healing waters). 

The 2,000-year-old temple was destroyed when Edward Milner redesigned the Pavilion Gardens in 1871, leaving just the foundation standing today. 

Note that the octagonal building in the Pavilion Gardens is really the ancient bandstand and not Roman in origin. 

At Staden, a Roman farm, there was one mile south of the town. 

Several construction platforms, walls, enclosure banks, quern grinding stones, ceramics, animal bones, and jewelry were discovered during excavations in the 1980s. 

The pottery is dated to between 100 and 130 AD by the Sepuminus potter's mark. 

The farm house featured an underfloor heating system, as shown by a hypocaust tile discovered there. 

In 1862, a Roman milestone was found in Buxton's Silverlands neighborhood. 

It is the earliest engraved landmark discovered in Derbyshire. 

The writing reads "TRIB POT COS II P P A NAVIONE M P XI," which translates as "From Navio 11 miles. 

With the authority of the tribune, twice consul, father of this land." Near the modern community of Brough lies where the Navio Roman fort once stood. 

Roman artifacts were discovered in the Silverlands region in 1903 during excavations by local archaeologist Micah Salt, including a silver coin, tiles, leather sandals, gritstone hearths, glassware, and several shards of exquisite Samian pottery. 

According to pottery inscriptions, it was created between 60 and 100 AD in Verulamium (modern St Albans). 

The Buxton Museum has the milestone and other Roman artifacts on exhibit. 

Additionally, when Buxton's Town Hall was constructed at the northern end of the market place in 1811, a significant number of Roman relics were also found there. 

Roman floor slabs were discovered in the basement of 3 Hall Bank near the Town Hall in 2006, while 8A Hall Bank had significant Roman stonework exposed. 

In the neighboring Poole's Cavern in 1865, Roman coins and Romano-British copper jewelry were also discovered. 

In 1903, a gritstone shrine honoring Arnemetia (Arnomecta) was discovered in the Principia strong chamber of Navio fort (headquarters building). 

"To the goddess Arnomecta, Aelius Motio cheerfully, voluntarily, and rightly fulfilled his pledge," reads the inscription on the altar. 

The Buxton Museum also has the altar on exhibit. 

Batham Gate and The Street, two important Roman thoroughfares, intersected near Aquae Arnemetiae. 

A Roman route leads from Templebrough Roman fort in South Yorkshire across Navio Roman fort and towards Buxton. 

Batham Gate (Old English for "way to the spa town"). 

This ancient Roman road's path on Tideswell Moor is classified as a Scheduled Monument. 

This was a crucial route for getting to the Peak District's lead producing locations. 

The Batham Gate road, which leaves Buxton towards the east, is still in existence. 

The Street route (Margary Number 71a) left Derventio (Derby) and headed south of Buxton before meeting the contemporary A515 road in certain areas. 

The Street is still the name of the route that may have linked Buxton and Condate in the Upper Goyt Valley (Roman Northwich). 

By The Street road, next to Arbor Low, there is a plaque in a stone wall (at OS map location SK 1649 6232). 

The Roman route from Buxton to Little Chester (Derby) is shown by the marking "Aquae Armentiae Derventio." "Huius viae curam curatores viarum non susceperunt" is written below. 

The literal translation of this is "The road menders have not maintained this road." In the north, there were Roman roads that went to Mamucium (Manchester) and Melandra fort, both close to Glossop (Margary Number 71b). 

These two northbound rounds' agger pieces have been located and dug. 

Between Buxton and Leek, there was also a Roman Road (Margary Number 713), which may have been the Roman town of Chesterton. 

Its path connects to the current A53 road heading into Leek near Morridge Top. 

Edward Tristram inferred the potential site of a fort in the town to the south of the market area by the present-day Bath Road in 1916 as a result of the roads' junction at Aquae Armetiae. 

The entrance to the bigger fort of Melandra, northwest from Navio Fort, was guarded. 

The substantial Centurial stone with inscriptions that was discovered at Navio in 1903 was part of the fort's reconstruction in 154 BC by invading troops from southwest France. 

The Buxton Museum has the Centurial Stone on exhibit. 

Buxton is still identified on OS maps by its Roman name, Aquae Arnemetiae.

~Kiran Atma

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References And Further Reading:

• Sterckx, Cl. (1996). [Review of Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, by M. J. Green]. Latomus, 55(1), 237–238. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41537607

• Patterson, M., 2016. Roman Derbyshire. Five Leaves Publications.

• JFitzpatrick-MATTHEWS, K.E.I.T.H., 2022. BRITANNIA IN THE RAVENNA COSMOGRAPHY: A REASSESSMENT (REVISED 2022).

• "The chequered history of a holy well". www.whitedragon.org.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2022.

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•  "Roman Buxton – Enchanted Springs and Hot Baths". www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2022.

•  The Secrets of the Buxton Coin Hoard". www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2022.

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Goddesses Of Fire

The mobile element of fire is more typically depicted as feminine than masculine, although a few fire gods appear in world mythology. 

These are often blacksmiths, such as the Celtic Goibniu, Greek Hephaestus, or Roman Vulcan. 

Such gods do not so much embody fire as use it in transformation of one material to another. 

But the role of smith is not always a male one in mythology. 

Smith goddesses also appear, most notably Celtic Brigit, connected to smithcraft, poetry, and healing, all of which show her trans formational power. 

In Japan, too, we find the smith goddess Ishikore-Dome, who crafted the first mirror and saved the world from darkness. 

In China, the smith Moye worked with her husband to craft an impossibly strong sword, in the process of which she sacrificed herself to the fire. 

Fire itself appears as a goddess in one of two forms: as the wild, tempestuous fire of volcanoes, and as the tamed and useful fire of the hearth. 

The former figures are typi cally depicted as voluptuous and demanding of lovers, who often perish at their em brace. 

The unpredictability of volcanic eruption and the potential destructiveness to human settlement, coupled with the astonishing fertility of volcanic soil after it has cooled and settled, led to depiction of volcano goddesses as both threatening and fecund. 

Around the ‘‘ring of fire in the Pacific, such volcano women can be found, from the Aleutian Chuginadak and Multnomah Loo-Wit (see North America) to Micronesian Latmikaik and Hawaiian Pele (see Pacific Islands). 

In Europe, a similar figure is Roman Aetna, whose mountain bears her name. 

The earths inner fires, which pour out from the surface as lava, gave rise to images of women with flames hidden in their genitals, as in Goga (see Pacific Islands). 

The connection of such natural fires with the domestic flame upon the hearth was articulated in some cases, as in Japanese Fuji, who was both the volcanic mountain and the familys cook fire. 

More commonly, the fire goddess of the household is seen as a distinct domestic presence, to whom simple rituals are offered daily while cooking and eating. 

The hearth, which is either the home of the goddess or her very body, was often hedged about with taboos. 

Spitting in the fire, dumping urine or other waste upon it, or otherwise showing disrespect was typically forbidden, with penalties enacted for transgressions. 

Across Indo-European territory, the hearth goddess was typically vir ginal (Greek Hestia, Roman Vesta, Celtic Brigit) and served by a college of similarly chaste priestesses. 

At other times, she was a nurturing maternal force (such as the Bal tic Gabija). 

Finally, in a few cases fire goddesses were connected with water, espe cially hot springs, as was Celtic Sul (see Sun, above). 

~ Kiran Atma

You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.

Goddess Worship In Ireland

 

How Prevalent Was Goddess Worship In Ireland?

Ireland has a long association with Goddess and water because to the fact that it is a nation entirely surrounded by the ocean. 

Goddess' nutritious milk flows swiftly in springs, wells, lakes, and rivers, and it is no accident that civilizations first encountered her and flourished close to these water-rich areas. 

To dwell near water meant to live close to the Giver of Life, where her secrets were accessible, as shown by Brigid's holy wells in Ireland, Sequana's Seine River in France, and Persephone's Lake Pergusa in Sicily. 

The healing waters that flow from the holy locations where Goddess has manifested in her many forms are still being collected by devotees. 

Examples include Artemis' epiphanies in Ephesus and the Mother Mary's apparitions at Lourdes and Knock. 

Both Chalice Well at Glastonbury and Sulis Minerva's spring in Bath, England, flow in a tint of crimson suggestive of the Mother's holy life-giving blood. 

Many English communities still choose to honor the hallowed waters with rituals known as "well dressings" that pay homage to their ancestors' pagan traditions. 

Goddess as water is personified in some of these holy locations. 

Goddess Worship At Castle Clonegal. 

There is no museum, relic, or ruin to be found in the Temple of Isis at the 17th-century castle in Clonegal, Ireland. 

In a maze-like maze of rooms under the castle, there is a functioning temple perched over a holy well. 

The international group The Fellowship of Isis calls Clonegal Castle home, and rituals and rites are still performed there. 

Under the direction of Lady Olivia Robertson, a 90-year-old founder of the group, they revere the Goddess in all of her manifestations. 

In the middle of the 1970s, Lady Olivia, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, and Pamela Robertson, his wife, formed the temple and organization. 

In other regions of the globe, other leaders expanding the knowledge of goddess spirituality were also becoming more visible at this time. 

Even when it was unfashionable for a woman to be a rebel, Lady O, as some of the Fellowship of Isis members refer to her, has always been a liberal and open-minded thinker. 

She started researching esoteric sciences while still a popular author in the 1950s in order to use her innate psychic abilities. 

She had always seen ghosts and angels, but in 1976, she had a vision of the goddess Isis, which surprised and perplexed her. 

Despite the fact that her cousin Robert Graves (author of The White Goddess) was not well respected in the family or in what was considered "proper society" at the time, she was able to relate to their beliefs. 

Scota, also known as "the black one," was an Egyptian Priestess of Isis and the daughter of the Pharaoh Cincris. 

According to Lady Olivia and Lawrence, Scota was also a hereditary Daughter of Isis. 

Following Olivia's encounter with the Goddess Isis in the middle of the 1970s, Pamela, Lawrence, and Olivia made the decision to convert their family castle, Clonegal Castle, into the headquarters of the Fellowship of Isis. 

The Fellowship is prospering, with more than 20,000 members worldwide as of the time of this writing, despite the passing of Lawrence and Pamela. 

The Noble Order of Tara was established by the Fellowship of Isis, or FOI, in 1990. 

Its members were committed to promoting environmental causes. 

They have other environmentally conscious initiatives going on and have been crucial in stopping strip mining on Mount Leinster. 

The Druid Clan of Dana, named after the Irish Mother Goddess, was established in 1992 and is committed to the secrets of the Druids. 

They arranged the 1993 Druid Convention in London via their publication, Aisling, which participates in the Council of British Druid Orders. 

A second Goddess-oriented group, the Fellowship of Isis, was one of two that attended the Chicago-based World Parliament of Religions in 1993. 

The Fellowship reveres all Goddesses, so why does Lady Olivia seem to connect with Isis the most? Isis is the global Goddess, the Isis of Ten Thousand Names, in her own words. 

Demeter, Lakshmi, Kwan Yin, Dana, Ngame, and Mary are all mentioned by her. 

As most Neo-Pagans could concur, Mary of the Christian faith was Isis to Lady Olivia. 

After Osiris' resurrection, Christ was both Osiris and Horus. 

In Lady O's opinion, the Goddess Isis is physically and spiritually appearing at this moment of universal change and the birth of the Feminine Divine. 

As they return to the "old ways," millions of people all around the world claim to hear the Goddess calling. 

These followers of the Divine Feminine believe that unless we once again value women and the Divine Feminine, the ecological, spiritual, and technical destruction brought about by a patriarchal society would eventually result in disaster. 

Goddess spiritualists believe that Mother Nature's ultimate goal is to reestablish love and peace amongst all living things so that everyone may nurture and benefit from a healthy, bountiful way of existence. 

The main sanctuary, naïve, Chapel of Brigid, and shrines honoring the twelve signs of the Zodiac are among the 26 shrines that make up the castle temple. 

This is an illustration of what one would see when entering the shrines, but they do vary from time to time. 

Devotees enter in procession through elaborately carved doors at the sound of a gong, and the Egyptian deity Thoth, protector of the secrets, stands directly in front of them. 

A landing is reached by way of stone stairs. Goddess symbolism are seen everywhere. 

There is a plaque with a picture of Jesus that is surrounded by further art that shows the Divine Feminine. 

The main temple area, which is to the left, would be surrounded by sculptures of goddesses. 

An iron gate leading to the historic castle well stands in front of you. 

A large Tibetan bell that is used to signal entry into the Temple is located to the left of the gate. 

The temple's interior, which is made of granite, measures 79 by 40 feet (24 by 12 meters). 

There is a sizable sanctuary there, as well as nine stone pillars arranged in a row. 

The sanctuary is surrounded by a short brick wall and two brick pillars that stand before the High Altar. 

The clergy offer invocations on a modest elevated stone dais before the High Altar. 

The High Altar of Isis serves as the main altar for all temple ceremonies. 

The Fellowship of Isis commissioned gifted woodworker David Robertson, son of Lawrence and nephew of Olivia, to carve Isis of 10,000 Names as its centerpiece. 

There are five primary chapels, each with characteristics of an element. 

The historic Druidic well, which is 17 feet (5 meters) deep and known for its therapeutic virtues, is located within the Chapel of Brigid. 

The Holy of Holies, also called the Chapel of Ishtar and devoted to the fifth element, Spirit, is reached via carved doors from Brigid's chapel. 

Daily rituals and meditation are conducted at the temple as Lady Olivia assists in healing and attunes with members all across the globe. 

The castle is situated next to a holy grove of trees in Ireland's stunning and verdant landscape. 

The Fellowship of Isis, whose goal is to restore the Goddess to the world by whatever ways the Divine Feminine sees suitable, is still hard at work. 

Rituals often include theatrical acts that impart knowledge of eternal secrets. 

From a small group of three, the FOI's vision and goal have expanded to become a means for thousands of people to recognize and adore Goddess. 

#How to reach Clonegal Castle. 

Southeast Ireland's little town of Clonegal is home to Clonegal Castle. 

Invitations are required for rituals. 

Drop-in visits are not seen as appropriate manners, thus detailed instructions to the castle won't be given here. 

Please contact Lady Olivia Robertson, Fellowship of Isis, Clonegal Castle, Enniscorthy, Ireland, if you would like further information on visiting Clonegal Castle. 

The FOI operates lyceums and institutes both domestically and abroad. 

On the Fellowship of Isis website, one may obtain details on the closest FOI chapter. 

The FOI sells books and rituals that Lady Olivia has written in print and on audiotape, along with correspondence courses, a newsletter, and other products. 

Goddess Worship At Kildare.

While it is exceedingly impossible to visit conservative, Christian Ireland without physically running across manifestations of the Goddess, travelers may experience at least four different facets of the Divine Feminine in Kildare. 

Goddess-seekers may locate a Sheila-na-Gig, a Brigid-related holy well, a Brigid-related fire sanctuary, and the Brigidine Sisters known as the Sisters of the Solas Bride (pronounced breed). 

Similar to Athena and the Roman Vestal Virgins, Celtic Brigid belongs to the category of Virgin Goddess (See Rome and Athens). 

She is revered as a triple goddess and is the protector of smiths, healers, and poets. 

As seen by her hallowed well and fire sanctuary in Kildare, Brigid is also a creative source of energy in her qualities of flowing water and blazing fire. 

Interestingly, steam is created when water and fire come together; this is undoubtedly another source of unending strength and energy. 

Her fire melts the smith's metal, and the water cools it to form the tools that will save humanity. 

She has observable ties to her Neolithic origins via her affiliation with the benevolent female snake known as "the queen." Later, she became a part of Celtic Christianity and was elevated to sainthood as Brigid the virgin nun. 

Because of this relationship, Brigid the Saint and Brigid the Goddess are revered as one by the Brigidine Sisters of Ireland, also known as Solas Bride. 

The flame of Brigid is maintained by current nuns who continue the old custom. 

Visitors may see the flame and take it home with them from their sacred location. 

This is accomplished by lighting a candle from the Solas Bride's eternal flame and then passing the symbolic flame from one candle to another, wick to wick. 

Miriam Robbins Dexter cites Geraldus Cambrensis in relation to the eternal flame of the Goddess and claims that the rivers Brigid in Ireland, Braint in Wales, and Brent in England were all given their names in honor of Brigid or Bride. 

The final nun remarked to Brigid on the twentieth night, "Brigid, I have cared for your fire... and so, the fire having been abandoned... 

it was discovered again, unextinguished." At the time of Brigid, twenty nuns were employed here to serve a master as a soldier, with she herself being the twentieth. 

Brigid is described as "the female sage" and "Brigit the goddess, whom poets worshiped because her protective care over them was very great and extremely renowned" in Archbishop Cormac Mac Cullenan's Cormac's Glossary, written in 908 CE. 

Brigid "originated at an era when the Celts worshipped goddesses rather than gods, and when knowledge – leechcraft, husbandry, inspiration — were women's rather than men's," according to Scottish academic J. A. Mac Cullock in 1911. 

According to the forbidden shrine in Kildare, Brigid had female clergy and it was believed that males were not allowed to participate in her devotion. 

Brigid became a nun and established a monastery in Kildare, a county renowned for its fertility and richness, according to Barbara Walker and Robert Graves. 

They contend that like other components of society that the Catholic Church failed to abolish, they integrate. 

They claim Brigit's bower was the center of an endless springtime where the village cows never ran dry and flowers and shamrocks sprung forth in her wake. 

Brigid was compared to Mary by authors and poets who thought she was more than just a saint and was really the Queen of Heaven. 

"Mother of my Sovereign," "Mary of the Goidels," "Queen of the South," "Prophetess of Christ," and "Mother of Jesus," according to Graves, are names given to Brigid. 

According to Marija Gimbutas, Brigid was connected to childbirth like Artemis and Diana and served as the "midwife to the Blessed Virgin and thus the foster mother of Christ." Others compared Brigid to Tanit, the Heavenly Goddess, and June Regina. 

According to Gimbutas, Brigid, the Greek Artemis Eileithyia, the Thracian Bendis, the Roman Diana, and the Baltic Fate Goddess were all prehistoric decedents of the life-giving Goddesses who survived Indo-Europeanization in the form of Nature, the giver of health, and in the guise of birds and animals. 

Brigid was associated with weaving, spinning, twisting, and stitching, much like her European sisters, and it is stated that this women's activity must be halted on Friday, the holy day of the Goddess. 

It's interesting that she was associated with Saint Patrick, who was allegedly a pagan before converting to Christianity. 

Additionally, she was frequently mistaken for Brigid's early Pagan lover, Dagda, or "father," and was supposed to be a Christianized version of him. 

Irish folklore holds that Saint Patrick is to blame for Ireland's lack of native snakes. 

The account of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland raises the possibility that the patriarchy subjugating Goddess spirituality is a metaphor for these linkages, as well as Brigid's connection to Neolithic snake imagery. 

According to Gimbutas, local traditions include constructing snake effigies on Brigid's holy day of Imbolc, when "serpents are reported to come from the highlands." According to Walker, the twenty Brigid priestesses who were present in Kildare reflected the 19-year cycle of the Celtic "Great Year" She goes on to talk about how the Greeks made references to Apollo going to the "temple of the moon goddess" (Brigid) every nineteen years in their stories. 

Around the Stonehenge circle, markers were placed to designate these Great Years. 

According to researcher Patricia Monaghan, Brigid is linguistically related to Bridestones, also known as sarsens, which are the large sandstones used to build Stonehenge. 

This suggests that Brigid was known in early Neolithic, pre-Celtic periods. 

In addition to the Thuggees of Kali and the "Assassins," who revered the Arabian Moon Goddess, Walker mentions another part of Brigid related to martial arts and her warriors known as brigands as an example of a goddess's follower becoming vilified. 

Brigid, also known as Brigantia in England, Bride in Scotland, and Brigandu in Celtic France, has many distinct names. 

Patricia Monaghan, a scholar, presents a somewhat different story of Brigid. 

In this mythological cycle, Brigid is the human offspring of a Druid who was subsequently canonized and baptized by Saint Patrick. 

It was said that the Christian Brigid had many of the same traits and abilities as the Goddess Brigid, and that the abbess had exceptional authority to choose bishops who had to be goldsmiths. 

Imbolc or Candlemas, Brigid's feast day on February 1st, was a celebration of the "lactation of the sheep, symbolic of new life and the approach of spring," according to Gimbutas. 

She claims that a milk libation was thrown into the Earth and connects the life-giving material to Brigid's flower, the dandelion, which when crushed generated milky juice, supplying sustenance for the young lambs. 

Anyone who has experienced the gloom of Ireland's winters understands how uplifting it is to start to glimpse the light again, the symbolic fire of Brigid. 

This festival also commemorates the return of the light as the world emerges from the winter's darkness. 

This was a joyful period of processions, singing, dancing, and ceremonial baking. 

Gimbutas asserts that "honoring the Bride, giving presents, crafting dolls, preparing special cakes, greeting the Saint in every home, and anticipating her presence as a blessing must have roots deeper than the final decades of paganism; much of it carries on Neolithic customs." 

Brigid's fire sanctuary in Kildare is described by Rufus and Lawson as a "low stone wall, rectangular and not round as in ancient times." 

The recreated shrine is neat, orderly, and quiet, speaking nothing of its past existence as a spiritual center for Irish women, both during the Goddess' lifetime and for centuries following. 

In the heart of Kildare, in the graveyard of the Cathedral Church of Saint Brigid, is where you'll find Brigid's Fire House. 

Before leaving the church, look inside for the Sheela on Bishop Wellesley's tomb from the 16th century. 

It is beautifully placed below the left-hand corner of the top slab and above a panel depicting the Crucifixion. 

The Sheela's legs are split, and her pubic hair is visible. 

The Tobar Bride, also known as Brigid's Well, is a mile or so from the fire sanctuary. 

With a statue of Saint Brigid dressed as a nun and a natural well of healing waters, the holy site suggests that it is equally dedicated to the Saint and the Goddess. 

The brick arch that crosses the holy stream-like well is decorated with Brigid's pagan emblem, the Cross of Brigid. 

Don't forget to bring a container so you may transport the restorative waters of Bride home. 

Votive gifts, such as rags or pieces of fabric fastened to trees (sometimes referred to as clootie trees), are often left at the location. 

In accordance with Gimbutas, who cited Wood-Martin, "The rag or ribbon, removed from the clothes, is thought to be the storehouse of the spiritual or physical maladies of the suppliant. 

Rags are riddances rather than just offerings or votive objects. 

(In another type of riddance ritual, the matriarch of the house would distribute to family members a strip of cloth called the brat Brighide, or Saint Brigit's mantle, which was hung on a tree or bush a few days before Saint Brigit's Eve to protect the family from illness or misfortune in the upcoming year.) 

The healing properties of Brigid's waters have been known since Neolithic times, which helps to explain why numerous wells under Mary-related churches and temples (such as those at Clonegal, Chartres, and Lourdes) may have retained their reputation for miracles. 

It was believed that a few of the goddesses' holy wells may increase a woman's fertility. 

Devotees would go to the wells on the first day of spring to undertake purification rituals, including washing their hands, faces, and feet, removing strips of cloth from their garments, walking around the stone, praying, chanting, kneeling, and sipping from the holy waters. 

They might then go to "a river stone which has footprints," where they would continue to pray, according to Gimbutas, who is quoting Wood-Martin once more. 

Footprints may be observed carved into the stone near the holy waters at Tobar Bride. 

Brigid the Goddess and those who honor her are warmly embraced by the nuns of the Church known as the Sisters of the Solas Bride. 

You are welcome to visit their refuge, but only with previous preparations. 

The Sisters welcome individuals and groups and have joyfully accommodated and shared ritual space with small groups of committed practitioners of Goddess Spirituality. 

Interested parties will be needed to make personal contact to organize a visit. 

How to get to Kildare? 

Kildare is conveniently accessible by rail, bus, and private vehicle and is situated 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Dublin. 

If you're driving, use the N7 Dublin-Limerick Road to the Kildare Cathedral, which is in the town's center. 

One mile south of Kildare is where the well is situated. 

Following the directions out of town toward the Japanese Gardens, there will be a sign directing drivers to the Tobar Bride down a tiny road to the right approximately 300 yards (270 m) before you arrive at the Gardens. 

Goddess Worship At Newgrange.

Another marker pointing left down the path will be located around 100 yards (90 m) farther; this sign will direct tourists to the well at Newgrange. 

The great megalithic tomb of Newgrange is ranked alongside the temple of Ggantija in Malta as one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Europe, according to any old guidebook, but mainstream scholars are still divided over how to interpret the significance of this magnificent Goddess site constructed more than 5,000 years ago. 

According to some experts, the imagery found on Western European megalithic art is connected to altered states of consciousness. 

The altered states may sometimes be brought on by using hallucinogens, and they can also be brought on via shaman trance dances. 

When they find the controversial archaeologist Marija Gimbutas' work compelling, many goddess proponents depart from conventional thinking. 

Even Marija was unable to pinpoint the precise events that took place at Newgrange, but Gimbutas' decades of research into Neolithic archaeology and the significance of artwork and artifacts in a cultural and religious context have given passage graves like Newgrange a fuller and richer meaning. 

Advocates contend that Newgrange was a holy location for the Goddess and that its artwork symbolizes concepts of birth, death, and rebirth, with the passage grave serving as both "womb and tomb," based on the graphic language she invented, folk literature, and a little amount of intuition. 

"The heart of the religion of the Goddess in the British Isles," according to author Peg Streep, is Newgrange. 

It is without a doubt a location for ritual, processions, and significant gatherings that are suggestive of the early Neolithic builders' religion! 

Many claim that Newgrange is the best example of a passage grave in Western Europe. 

Carbon-dating research suggests that it was constructed around 3200 BCE. 

Farmers who kept livestock were the people who constructed Newgrange. 

They used stone as opposed to metal to create this complex edifice, which required not only extraordinary labor but also knowledge of design and engineering. 

They also watched and analyzed astronomical movements. 

It measures 265 feet (81 meters) in circumference and 45 feet (14 meters) high. 

Only 12 of the 35 standing stones, or menhirs, that previously surrounded it are still standing. 

According to Streep, this circle may have served as a barrier between the mother's womb's holy area and the rest of the world. 

Although the mound is now covered in grass, many academics believe that white quartz once covered it. 

The quartz would have significance beyond just aesthetic value since it was a rare stone that had to be imported from a distance. 

Gimbutas compares the mound to the world's cosmic womb or egg, and the white coating was designed to resemble an egg's shell. 

For the construction of Newgrange, an estimated 180,000 tons (163,080,000 kg) of stone were needed. 

The entrance to the mound faces the dawn in the middle of winter. 

The 62-foot (19-meter) long tube leads to a central room from which three side chambers branch out. 

On the midwinter solstice, sunlight streams into the chamber via a roof box lintel at the entrance. 

During the solstice, the sun can be seen slowly filling the interior passageway until it reaches the back chamber and illuminates a carving of a triple spiral that some people think represents the Goddess. 

A symbolic (or literal?) rebirth and regeneration of the dead may result from this, as well as the effect of awakening her powers. 

Before moving back down the entrance passageway and leaving the mound in complete darkness once more, the light briefly fills the cavern. 

It has been speculated that this dramatic effect might have been performed using a polished mirror at other significant times throughout the year, but that is just conjecture. 

Gimbutas thought sacred symbols and patterns that recurred all over Neolithic Old Europe were used to invoke the Goddess. 

According to Streep's citation of Gimbutas, "ritual action" served as a means of "communicating with the divine" and an invocation of the Goddess' enshrined regenerative abilities. 

The art's iconography includes the ideas of life, death, and regeneration, which are all aspects of the Goddess. 

The imagery of the owl and snake—symbols of rebirth and rebirth—represented these ideas. 

These theories are further supported by the structure's orientation and commanding position close to the Boyne River's (named for the Goddess Boand) bend. 

Even if some of the pictures are more abstract, when they are studied across all of Europe, a language and a unified iconography start to take shape. 

The stone near Newgrange's main gate is vividly engraved with three snake coils, which stand for three sources of life. 

Similar to Neolithic Catal Hüyük, iconography starts to emerge in three-groupings. 

The brow ridge of the Owl Goddess, stone basins, engravings of triple snake spirals, coils, and cartouches, as well as side cells at Newgrange, are all discovered in triplicate. 

Gimbutas can identify the large snake coils that are inscribed on orthostats and are connected to V, M, chevrons, and zigzag bands. 

She postulated that the presence of arcs, wavy lines, bands of zigzags, and serpent shapes indicated a belief in the reproductive capacity of water as well as a relationship between the snake and the strength of stone. 

Triangles are depicted on the walls and curbstones of Newgrange. 

Sometimes they are by themselves, other times they are in rows and pairs linked at the tip or the base, or they are encompassed by arcs. 

These pictures are of the Goddess of Death and Regeneration, according to Gimbutas. 

Her interpretation of the "serpent ship" motif connected to the religion of the dead is particularly intriguing. 

At Newgrange, the union of zigzags or winding serpents (symbols of renewed life) with triangles or lozenges (both special signs of the Goddess of Regeneration) creates abstract images of "serpent ships," which can be taken literally to mean ceremonial ships connected to death rituals that carry the dead toward renewal. 

Gimbutas describes spheres and snake coils representing a full moon, opposed crescents alone or with a snake coil in the middle depicting a moon cycle, and wavy lines of winding serpents measuring time as additional indications of time and lunar movements in the stone carvings at Newgrange. 

She claims that up to thirty winding snake turns corresponded to a near approximation of the lunar month and that serpentine patterns with fourteen to seventeen turns signified the number of days the moon waxes. 

It is possible to speculate that Neolithic practitioners included both of these elements in their death ritual because the structure is linked to death and rebirth and contains imagery that is both reflective of sunlight and water. 

This brings discussions back to folk literature mixed with some whimsy. 

The study of Roman literature, figurines, and inscriptions has revealed what is known about ancient Ireland. 

What before is mostly unknown since Celtic literature did not become widely read until the second century CE. 

It is widely acknowledged that Brigid represented the elements of fire and water (or light), as well as connections with the serpent, whose history dates back to the Neolithic era. 

In light of the fact that the rituals performed at this particular mound are beginning to comprehend and revere her imagery and essence, perhaps we should take a moment to consider how she might be related to Newgrange. 

We should also keep in mind that according to folklore, the god Dagna, who is occasionally referred to as Brigid's consort, constructed Newgrange for himself and his sons. 

What if this is just a patriarchal interpretation of the story? It is entertaining to speculate if Dagna really did construct Newgrange as a spectacular expression of his love for his consort, much as Ramses did when he constructed the Taj Mahal or the little Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel in honor of his great love Nefertari. 

According to a different piece of mythology, Bru na Boinne, the Gaelic name for the area near Newgrange, means "the house of the Goddess of the River Boann." 

It claims the River Boyne, also known as Boinn or Boand, is named after the Goddess Boand and is located close to Newgrange (she of the white cows). 

Boand, who is regarded as one of the main Earth Goddesses of prehistoric Ireland, is the embodiment of the abundance and vitality found in water, or the nourishing milk that flows from a revered cow. 

Boyne, its modern Celtic name, which translates to "illuminated cow," is transliterated as Buvinda. 

Additionally, the Celtic term denotes brightness, whiteness, and knowledge. 

The wise salmon, along with other fish connected to the Goddess, dwells in the River Boyne. 

Perhaps in Newgrange, in a manner similar to Eleusis, the priestesses and priests of the Goddess taught their people the lessons of life and death while performing ritual. 

According to legend, Boann and her partner Elemar were Newgrange's original residents until Elemar was replaced by Dagna, which leads us back to Brigid. 

Could Boann have been a younger version of Brigid? We already know that Brigid inspired the naming of rivers. 

Since Brigid is a Goddess of Healing, the River Boyne was also praised for its therapeutic properties. 

There are undoubtedly no concrete solutions, but many connections cause cultural diffusionists to pause and give a thoughtful "ah-ha." # How to get to Newgrange. 

About 6 miles (10 km) west of Drogheda, in the Boyne Valley, which is located to the south of the N51 Drogheda–Navan Road, is where you'll find Newgrange. 

From Drogheda, you may go to Newgrange by train or bus. 

On the nearby road to Slane, you can find the Knowth and Dowth mounds. 

Within the Bru na Boinne complex, there is also a prehistoric ritual pond made by humans called Monknewtown that might be worth a look. 

If you're traveling by car, think about taking a day trip from Dublin, which is 45 km (28 mi) south of the site. 

There is a visitor center on site, but it is advised to call ahead because there has been discussion about restricting access to Newgrange's interior. 

Much of the discussed imagery can be seen by simply walking around the grounds. 

The tremendous feeling of the sun entering the chamber is reenacted by guides using a flashlight to give tourists some idea of the event, but it is almost impossible to be within the mound on the solstice since individuals are wait-listed for years to enjoy the privilege. 

It could be a good idea for travelers to have a small container with them so they can gather water from the River Boyne. 

Worship Of Goddess Sheila-na-Gigs.

Stone carvings of female genitalia known as Sheila-na-Gigs, also known as Sheelas, are typically found on the walls and doorways of Celtic churches and monasteries in Western Europe and the British Isles, though they can also be found in Indonesia, South America, Australia, Oceania, and India. 

The real role of Sheelas is not clearly known, however most say they were icons or symbols of protection, much like the guardian gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals or the gorgon on Athena’s shield. 

This author concurs with that assertion and suggests that the sign could have stood for the idea that being within the building on which the Sheela is carved is equivalent to entering the holy vulva, a portal leading to the protection of the Mother Goddess' womb. 

The figures' stance of sitting, reclining, or standing with legs akimbo and completely exposed yonis has been suggested as a potential emblem of exhibitionism, however that hardly seems plausible given that they were discovered carved in hallowed locations. 

In addition to raising the intriguing hypothesis that Sheelas are connected to Celtic or pre-Celtic forms of Oriental and Mediterranean holy prostitutes, Rufus Camphausen has also indicated potential ties to Baubo and Ama-no-Uzume. 

He suggests the term nu-gag, which refers to "the pure and immaculate ones" and was used to describe the sacred temple prostitutes of Mesopotamia, as a potential linguistic indicator of the Sheila-na-Gigs' earliest forms. 

Sheelas are often found with the carved portion of the yoni worn by the contact of several hands, probably made in respect or prayer. 

It reminds people of fertility symbols, which some cultures think, if touched, may bring forth plenty and procreation. 

The Sheela, according to author Shahrukh Husain, is connected to the goddess Brigid of the Celts, and she may have represented the "split-off of the sexual aspect of a virginal goddess." 

Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas compared the spread-legged prehistoric Frog Goddess, the frog-headed Egyptian Goddess Haquit (Heket), and the ancient Greek goddess Hekate, known as "Baubo," or toad, to Sheelas. 

Gimbutas asserts that the names for toads in European languages include the connotations of "witch" or "prophetess," and that the toad "was incarnated with the powers of the Goddess of Death and Regeneration, whose duties were both to bring death and to restore life." 

At an archaeomythology symposium in Madouri, Greece, Professor Joan Cichon reports scientists Miriam Robbins Dexter and Starr Goode think the iconography of the Sheelas resemble the “Sovereignty Goddess” of the ancient Irish. 

Some modern ladies have been turning up their noses at traditional taboos and embracing the brazen iconography of the Sheela to indicate their empowerment, sexual liberty, and knowledge of their connection to the Goddess.

~Kiran Atma

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