The Cailleach is the Celtic winter goddess who is believed to have created everything, including the seasons and whose protection during winter is especially powerful. Learn about this goddess known as Cailleach Bheara and many other names, and how you can embrace a relationship with her.
There was a time, before modern science and modern monotheism, when great goddesses and gods were believed to rule the land. They created everything, had relationships with human beings, and even made seasons happen. They were believed to be responsible for all life on earth and one of the deities responsible for this was the magnificent Cailleach of the Celtic people. Join Mysticsense to learn all about the Cailleach. Discover stories about her and how she is related to the goddess Brigid. Find out most importantly, how you can have a relationship with her. The Cailleach doesn’t call everybody, but when she calls you, you will know it.
Who is The Cailleach?
The Cailleach is an ancient goddess who was revered by pre–Christian Celtic pagans. We don’t know exactly where the Cailleach originated, and experts say she may be pre-Celtic and worshipped for much longer than we can imagine. She is a goddess who has many names. Her Gaelic name is used in multiple forms in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Mann. Cailleach means “hag” or “old woman, and it also means “veiled one”. She is called the Cailleach, Beira, Cailleach Bheara, Cailleach Bheurra, Caillagh, the Hag of Winter, and the Hag of Beara. Her name in Irish means “hooded one” and Irish stories say she was born in Dingle, County Kerry. She was said to have been a foster mother and mother to many different families of the area of Cork, Ireland and gave birth to many ancestors of Irish clans. Her name is powerful, and yours is too. Read about the power of names here: All About the Power of Names
She is a goddess of winter who is characterized as an old woman. Some stories say she has blue skin and unkempt white hair. Other stories say she is a giantess who built the land one rock, loch, and valley at a time. Other takes say she is the mother of all gods and goddesses and her appearance is terrifying. With her blue skin she has a single eye right in the center of her forehead and her teeth are red like rust. She is a protector of animals, herding deer, and she is believed to bring storms on land and in the water. She is said by some to transform into a giant bird to fly and she can leap across hills and mountains. She rides wolves, and she both creates and destroys with the storms she raises. The last grain sheath harvested is dedicated to the Cailleach and she is asked to protect the grain harvest through the winter.
Stories about The Cailleach
One good way to get to know this goddess is through stories about her. Countless generations of people have shared folktales of the Cailleach. Some stories talk about her husbands, and others talk about where she is said to reside. Other stories tell how she created the land and others explain how she makes winter happen.
Husbands
She was said to have married Mag Ruith, a mythic Druid who created storms with his breath and had such a long life, he lived through the lifetimes of 19 kings. He made the mistake of falling for the Cailleach’s sister and in her anger she threw a great boulder at him, knocking him into the River Funshion and his death. The Cailleach was not one to be trifled with, even by the ones she loved! She was also said to marry Bodach. Various stories have different accounts of who he is but one says he was a great king of Mag Mell, the underworld. Indeed, the Cailleach was linked to kingship and at one time anybody who took vows as a ruler first had to have her blessing. Read about why we get married here: Will You Marry Me? Why Getting Married Matters
Her Home
The Cailleach is said to reside in multiple places. The Labbacallee Wedge Tomb is one of those places. It is a megalithic burial tomb where multiple stone age remains and artifacts were found. This is said to have been where she lived when alive, and that it is now her grave. Indeed, a skeleton of a woman was found there. Could there have been a powerful woman in history who inspired stories of this goddess? We may never know.
She is also said to live at a place called Slieve Gullion in Northern Ireland at a passage tomb named “ Calliagh Beara’s House.” It is the highest point in the whole county. There is a lake called “Calligh Birra’s Lough” and a rock formation called “ Calliagh Birra’s Chair.” During the high day of Lughnassadh, people sit in the “chair”, perhaps hoping to be blessed by the goddess. This is another sacred site where burials were. Interestingly, one of the burial cairns there has an entryway that aligns with the setting of the sun on the Winter Solstice, when the Cailleach becomes powerful. The Winter Solstice starts in December. Read about December love matches here: Love Matches for December
Creation Stories
It is believed that bodies of water, hills, and valleys were created by the Cailleach. Scottish folklore said she strode across the land with a fishing basket filled with rocks. Where she dropped rocks by accident, hills and mountains formed. Others, she built deliberately to use as steppingstones. She carries a great hammer and uses it to strike the ground to form valleys, and bulge up more mountains. She controls wells, some of which overflow when she falls asleep and flood the land. This is how some lochs like Loch ness and Loch Lomond were created. It is also said that some of the Cailleach’s sons threw giant stones in a game and where the stones landed, they stayed and became mountains and hills. Some people say the Cailleach not only created the earth, but she is the earth itself. Some people believe in many goddesses and gods. Read about gods and goddesses of war here: Who is the Goddess and God of War?
How She Makes it Winter
In Scotland, they have a detailed story to explain how the Cailleach makes winter happen. Every year, the Cailleach takes her plaid garment to the Whirlpool of Corryvrecken, and washes it until it is pure white. The storms howl and rage and can be heard from as far as twenty miles away when this happens. At the end of three days, her plaid is an immaculate white color, and she spreads it across the land, a dazzling blanket of snow to make it winter. Other stories say the Cailleach overthrows the goddess of the summer, Brigid, imprisoning her. Once Brigid is imprisoned, winter comes. Other stories say the Cailleach appears, and every few steps, she strikes the ground with her staff, freezing the earth, making it winter. January is a winter month. Read about January love matches here: Love Matches for January
The Cailleach and Brigid
There are two different viewpoints on what type of relationship the Cailleach has with the goddess Brigid. Some people believe that the goddess Bridgid is in power from Beltane to Samhain, or the first of May to the first of November, ruling over the summer months. These people believe that when Samhain, or November first happens, the Cailleach rules. The people who believe this say that my Beltane happens, the Cailleach turns to stone. So, the Cailleach tries to hold off the beginning of Spring so she can stay alive and rule, but every Spring, Brigid wins the battle and takes command of the warm months. Other people believe that these two goddesses are the same, and the goddess changes her form when the seasons change. Brigis is also a goddess of fire. Read about candle magic here: Beginning Candle Magic
Some people say that these two goddesses are not real, but just ancient people's personification of the seasons. Ancient people would say when snow would hit in early spring before Beltane, it was the Cailleach trying to hold off warm weather so she could remain in power. Some stories say the Cailleach imprisons Brigid in a place called Ben Nevis all winter so she can rule, but the god Angus Og frees Brigid to rule again in the Spring. Other stories that say the Cailleach and Brigid are the same says that the Cailleach travels to an island and drinks from a well of youth at springtime to become Brigid every year. As the year goes on, her youth fades and so she has to make the journey annually to become young again. Read about the Spring Equinox here: The Spring Equinox
Communication with the Cailleach
If you feel called to a relationship with the Cailleach, you don't have to belong to any groups or have a clergy person help you. You can contact her yourself. There are a few simple ways to do this. The easiest way to establish communication with her is to go outside during winter and fully experience her and all of her magnificent glory. You can also say some prayers to her, and she will hear you. Another way to communicate with her is to leave her some gifts.
Experience the Cailleach
The Cailleach can be seen as the embodiment of the earth during wintertime. The best way to get in touch with her is to go outside and experience her. If you are not used to being outdoors during cold weather, it's a good time to get used to it. Bundle up, and go for a beautiful walk in nature. Listen to the sounds of the wind moving through the bare leafless trees. Feel the cold hardness of the ground under foot in its frozen state. Experience the silence and the stillness of the land. Notice how the sunlight is dimmer than it is during the summer months. This is the Cailleach.
Some people will hold off a relationship with her because they're afraid of her cold touch. Some people only want to experience a relationship with the land when the weather is warm, but this is a mistake. If ancient people who believed that she and the goddess Brigid were the same goddess were right, welcoming the communication with the goddess and her summer and winter form is crucial to fully understanding her. So, don't hide from her in winter. Open the doors and windows and let her blow her cold breezes into the house every so often. You can also light a candle and welcome her to abide in your home and bless you and everyone in the home all winter long. A good time to experience the Cailleach is after the Winter Solstice and you can read all about the Solstice here: All About the Winter Solstice
Prayers to the Cailleach
The Cailleach can be spoken to in prayer. A simple prayer to her can be for protection and the winter. You can say something like, “ Mother Cailleach, smile upon me and all of the people and creatures who I protect and provide for. The winter is a famine time, and a time of death and disease. Look down upon us with your divine mercy and touch us with your protection. Let us never go without and let us never suffer. Abide with us and watch over us, protecting us through the cold months until you once again become the goddess of summer.” Read about the Summer Solstice here: The Summer Solstice
Gift for the Cailleach
In Glen Lyon Scotland, some people still tend a shrine to the Cailleach. An ancient story says that the Cailleach and Bodach, her husband, and their children sought shelter once long ago from a family. The family took them in, caring for them. Before the Cailleach and her family left, they told the family there that if stones named in their honor were cared for each year, the land would be especially fertile there from Beltane to Samhain. People to this day continue to care for the stones. To do this, stones are placed at a shrine outdoors in summer and taken indoors in the winter.
Like the devotees in Scotland, you can give the Cailleach the gift of a place in your home. Even if you don’t have a large garden, you do have a place for stones that represent her and her family. Choose stones that represent them, and place them in a special place outdoors at your home. Plant flowers around them in their honor and give libations of water, wine, or anything you would like to offer them. Children can draw pictures for them or sing songs for them. In winter, bring the stones indoors so the goddess and her family reside with you all winter. Even when you move, take these stones with you so the Cailleach will always be with you. Another goddess is Oya. Read about Oya goddess of transformation here: Oya, Goddess of Transformation
Magnificent and terrifying, the Cailleach is the bringer of life, and she can deliver death with storms and cold when she wants to. She is believed to be the mother of all life, and to some, the very earth itself. She transforms the earth, and the lives of everything upon it by making summer become winter, and she is both feared and celebrated by many. Embracing a relationship with her isn’t for everybody but if you feel called by her, you can experience her presence by walking in nature in winter and by praying to her. May the Cailleach smile upon you and be gentle on you when she is in her winter form. May she guide and protect you, and may your winters be safe and blessed. So Be It.
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