The Celts in Wales and the West of England worshipped a pantheon of Gods and Goddess who have a number of stories attached to them that formed the Welsh Celtic mythology. There are many hundreds of Gods and Goddesses that existed in various different areas with many as local variants of a particular diety. The stories are linked to the names of the particular God or Goddess in question. The list below is not exhaustive and a more complete list is available at The Sacred Grove.
| God / Goddess | Primal Domain | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alator | War, nourisher of the people | Brythonic God |
| Amaethon | Agriculture | Demi-God who could enter the Otherworld without being changed |
| Belanus | Sun, Battle & enlightenment | Principle solar diety worshipped at Beltane |
| Belisama | High Summer, Wisdom & Crafts | Belanus consort |
| Brigantia | Fire, Smiths, Mother Protector | Also has a water aspect |
| Chwimlean | The Wild Traveller, Prophet | Bearer of strange tidings |
| Cicolluis | War and Strength | Also known as Cicollus, Cicolus, Cicollui, and Cichol |
| Condatis | The confluence of rivers | Worshipped in Northern Avalon |
| Cernunnos | Nature, Fertility, the Underworld, Wealth | He is depicted as a horned old man |
| Donau | Earthmother Goddess | Also known as Danu |
| Esus | Axeman, Otherworld Guardian | Known for human sacrifices |
| Epona | Horses, mules, leading the soul to the afterlife | She is depicted as a woman next to or riding a horse |
| Lugus | Trade, Commerce and travellers | Also known as Lugh and Lleu Llaw Gyffes |
| Maponus | Music, youth and poetry | Also known as Aegnus in Ireland |
| Morrigan | War and Death | The Morrigan often appears as a crow |
| Ogmios | Charm, Poetry, Invention | Also known as Ogma in Ireland |
| Nodens | Healing, the sea, hunting & Dogs | Also called Nuada or Nudd |
| Saitada | Grief | A local Brigante Goddess |
| Taranis | Thunder, Celebration | Also known as Taranucno, Taranuo, and Taraino |
| Toutatis | Tribal Protector God | Also known as Teutates |
It is my intention to use Annwn and Avalon as the same place. The Welsh interpretation of Annwn was the Otherworld which was a world of delights and eternal youth where disease is absent and food is ever-abundant. This is the description of the Land of the Fae and it is my intention to tie these stories of the Welsh pantheon into the Court of the Seelie.
Druids
There are three types of leaders in the Celtic world, the Battle Leader / King, the Druid and the Bard. The druids were wise men and the keepers of the law. The druids were a mix of a priest, judge, scholar and teacher and were extremely respected by all. They would study the Druidic law that could take up to twenty years to learn. Druids could punish members of the tribe flouting the law, and the ultimate punishment was excommunication from the religeous festivals (of which there were many and a great social occaision).
Druids could be either male or female though it was more common that they were male. The Druids were also responsible for the sacrifices of holy animals to the Gods, which could even be human sacrifice for particularly important matters that required Seer's knowledge. Druids often had sacred groves where they would grow mistletoe on the Oak trees. Mistletoe was sacred to Druids and used in the New Years festivals. Druids enjoyed exemption from miltary service and payment of taxes.
Although a druid could worship muliple dieties they were all primarily associated with one patron God or Goddess and they would infuse the woad tattoo mark of their patron diety on those that they considered heroes whom the God or Goddess would need in the world to come.
The claimed miracles of the Christian saints was used to show that the Christian God was as powerful as the Druids who supposedly held great magics and could perform miracles in Battle. The miracles of the Saints was a propaganda exercise by the early Bishops in trying to turn away the Celts from their traditional worship.
Bards
The Bards held the Oral tradition of the tribe and were probably a later offshoot of the Druidic tradition probably starting in the 5th or 6th Centuary. The Bards were those who sang the songs recalling the tribal warriors' deeds of bravery as well as the genealogies and family histories of the ruling strata among Celtic societies. The Celtic peoples recorded no written histories; however, Celtic peoples did maintain an intricate oral history committed to memory and transmitted by bards and filid. Bards facilitated the memorization of such materials by the use of poetic meter and rhyme. Bards were often paid by tribal Kings to sit at their courts, though they had to be careful not to offend the Bard who could turn their stories into prophetic form that could bring the King to a nasty end. Some Bards were famed throughout the land and held considerable sway.
It is likely that Druids, Bards and Seers became interchangeable terms at various points during the Dark Ages, though it is likley that many Druids changed their associations at various points during Roman rule due to a ban on Druids by various Roman Emporers.
