July has, in the UK at least, frequently been a time of squally weather
and drizzle with little or no respite. What can we deduce though from the
ancient and mysterious mythological background associated with August, the late
summer month ahead?
With the feast of the great god Lugh, our ancient Celtic ancestors once
celebrated the opening of August. Lughnasadh (meaning ‘Commemoration of Lugh’),
was one of the four great Celtic annual festivals, the other ones being: Imbolg
(February 2nd) Bealtaine/Beltane (30th April) and Samhain (31st October.)
In Gaelic mythology Lugh is portrayed as battle leader of the Tuatha De
Danann (Tribe of the goddess Danu.) This deity was seen as having numerous
talents. His athletic prowess and
commanding skills earned him amongst other titles: Samildanach ‘God of all
Arts,’ and Lugh Lamhfhada, ‘Lugh the Long-Handed’, or ‘Far-shooter.’ This
subsequent epithet relates to Lugh's expertise with his rod sling, with which
he was to later defeat the enormous Fomorian giant, Balor.
Balor was Lugh's grandfather. This frightful cyclopean figure needed four men to lift his baleful-eye that could kill with a single glance. Lugh defeated the vast giant by piercing his evil eye with a stone from his magickal slingshot. This tale gives evidence to Lugh's popular ‘light-defeating dark’ aspect, that remains a primary feature of all Pagan wisdom inherent in ancient native mythology.
Balor was Lugh's grandfather. This frightful cyclopean figure needed four men to lift his baleful-eye that could kill with a single glance. Lugh defeated the vast giant by piercing his evil eye with a stone from his magickal slingshot. This tale gives evidence to Lugh's popular ‘light-defeating dark’ aspect, that remains a primary feature of all Pagan wisdom inherent in ancient native mythology.
By the way, it is interesting to note that such poetic analogies of
light overcoming dark (good versus evil) were manifest in our indigenous Pagan
culture long before the Church’s theocratical machine first targeted these
craggy, green shores with evangelical fanaticism!
Lugh was well respected by all the Celtic peoples that inhabited this
nation, long before monotheistic totalitarianism first sought to gain spiritual
domination of the native populace.
The Welsh tribes knew him as Llaw Llaw Gyffes, which marks Lugh as an exact counterpart to his Gaelic/Irish namesake. The Celts of the Continent called him Lugus and this Gaulish equivalent leaves his mark in localities such as: Lugudunum, (now Lyons) the town of Lugus, Laon, and also Leyden among others.
The Welsh tribes knew him as Llaw Llaw Gyffes, which marks Lugh as an exact counterpart to his Gaelic/Irish namesake. The Celts of the Continent called him Lugus and this Gaulish equivalent leaves his mark in localities such as: Lugudunum, (now Lyons) the town of Lugus, Laon, and also Leyden among others.
At various stages in time Lugh has been depicted as a deity of fire,
corn, marriage or the sun, which has lead to some confusion as to his true
identity and mythological status. The
worship of Lugh first arrived in this land with the Goidelic (Gaelic) Celts
(progenitors of the Irish people) around 600 BCE. This invasion was followed
some two hundred years later by the Brythonic (Cornish/Welsh) Celts.
Lugh (Lleu or Llew as the Brythons called him) was very much a hero god
of the Hercules type pedigree to the Celts.
Llew or Lleu means Lion/Light respectively. Great tales of his brave adventures would be
told on cold nights around the comforting warmth of the hearth, giving hope to
the tribe in the harsh lonely periods of winter's chill. This god was
particularly venerated by the Celts at harvest time, his powerful energy seen
resplendent in the golden fields of summer.
Lugh's perceived force altered somewhat with the arrival of the Roman
legions under Caesar. The Latin
conquerors eventually amalgamated their own deities with those of the Celtic
peoples. Lugh was no exception; his
divinity was cleverly blended with the Roman/Greek Apollo, a well beloved god
who exhibited solar qualities. Lugh
impressed the Romans so much that his feast day was later rededicated to Augustus.
The lovely month of rich harvest, that Celtic people held sacred to their corn
god, eventually became known as August.
Like Apollo, the question arises to whether or not Lugh was in reality a
sun god proper. I personally believe that initially he was not, yet with later
and greater development of agriculture (reliant upon the sun) Lugh manifested
into a deity of ever-increasing solar force. History testifies to the fact that all deities go through cycles of
transmogrification with shifting developments in the social structure. Such is
the force of divine evolutionary progress.
Modern man would do well to remember that he/she is a vital component in
this ongoing natural (earth-orientated) advancement too!
The embodiment of Lugh as a god of the ripening cornfields in August,
gives us clear substantiation of our antediluvian progenitors deeply
subconscious desire to (spiritually) link up with the beautiful cosmic energies
inherent in nature.
Lughnasadh with its rich native Pagan heritage has now been
transparently Christianised under the name, ‘Lammas Day.’ This title is gained from the old Anglo-Saxon
word, ‘Hlaf-mass’ (Loaf-Mass) which relates to the older ‘Lughomass,’
(Lugh's-Mass.)
Lugh, correspondingly to other Celtic deities, was taken by later
Christian Norman romancers and given a new role in mythology. Lugh's heroic Pagan deeds were skillfully
intermingled and euphemised into the celebrated figure of Sir Lancelot. Incidentally, it should be noted here that some scholars have linked the
mysterious Lancelot to the Gaelic cultural hero figure, ‘Cuchulainn’ who was
the result of a divine impregnation by Lugh with a maiden called ‘Dechtir’.
Old gods and goddesses of the indigenous people have been deviously
converted into heroes, saints or very often demons, the latter working of
course under the remit of Satan himself.
The manifestly iniquitous stronghold of the Church has always managed to
penetrate native heathen faith systems, by using such conniving tactics as
this. This sad fact stands as a memorial
to the intolerance of man and the danger of monotheistic, spiritual
intimidation against native faiths and traditions.
Lugh’s ancient resurrection associations are far older than the present
day Christian account
In the dying cornfields of August, Lugh takes on the role of god of
death and resurrection. A common theme throughout history, recently of course
adopted by Christianity in order to associate Christ's alleged human aspect to
the indigenous Pagan feast days that flow naturally through the year.
Such stealthy missionary tactics ensured that the indigenous people of
these Isles would eventually abandon their original earth-orientated religions
in favour of the intolerant new, man-made devotion that had seeped into Britain
from the East.
The Church's foreign eastern cult
The Church's foreign eastern cult
It is vital to comprehend here that Christianity was a ‘foreign’ eastern
cult; cleverly imported into the British Isles, via skilfully executed
ecclesiastical subterfuge and thus later on into the United States, etc. This foreign import in reality had nothing to do with love, tolerance or
desire to share spiritual grace, but ‘everything’ to do with power and
domination of the unsuspecting populace.
This ancient Celtic celebration of ‘First fruits,’ with its charismatic
folklore, tradition and customs gives us a vital clue to the joy and reverence
in nature felt by our pre-Christian forefathers.
NB. I have dealt with these and many other native British Pagan traditions more intensely within countless articles and several of my recent books including...
The Devil God’s Best Friend.
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