MYTHOLOGY
CeITIC
brothers plunged the country once again into dreadful srife The fighting came to an end only with the death of Eber. Amairgen then installed Eremon as High King of Ireland atTara Even then conflicts still occurred becauseof the ceaseIessrivalnes between lesserrulers. AUNONTNS
SCCPELLES
was a Welsh otherANNWN world that was an idyllic land of peace and plenty. ln Annwn there was a fountain of sweet wine and a cauldron of rebirth, which, it would seem, was the basis of the medieval Grail myth ln one Welsh tradition, ARTHURlost most of his warriors in a disastrous attempt to seize this magic cauldron. The lord of Annwn was the grey-cladAMwN, wirh whom the Dyfed chieftain PWYLLagreed to exchange shapes and responsibilities for ayear Arawn had a pack of hounds, the Celtic "hounds of hell", which were believed to fly at night in pursuit of human souls (See AISOCELTICOTHERWORLDS; WONDROUS CAULDRONS) attempted to force himself upon magically transformed rrees inro Aine and rape her, she slew him warriors to fight in the battle with her magic. sometimes known Aine's worship was alwaysasso- AUAInCEN, ciated in lreland with agriculture, as Amergin, was one of the first because,as a goddessof fertility, Irish druids, the ancient priests in she had command over crops and Celtic lands He came to Ireland animals. Even as late as the last with the Milesians Thesechildren century, celebrationswere still held of ulrrsluS, or Mil, who was a in her honour on Midsummer Eve leader of the Celts who lived in at l(nockainy, or "Aine's hill", in Spain, were believed to be the ancestorsof the present-dayIrish County Ketry Having defeated the divine rulers of (whose name lreland, the ru,trqADE DANANN, AueerHoN the Milesians could not agreeon means "labourer" or "ploughman") was the god of agnculture and the which of their leaders should be hng Two sons of Mil, Eremon and son of the Welsh goddess ool contested the throne and for Amaethon was said to have EBER, stolen fromAMWN, the lord of the the sake of peace the island was orherworld euruwru, a hound, a divided into rwo kingdoms, one in deer and a bird, and as a result the north, the other in the south. causedthe Cad Goddeu or Battle However, peacewas not to surive of Trees It was in this battle rhat for long, and renewed fighting Amaethon's brother, GWYDION, between the followers of the two
AJVTAIRGEN(above)was one oJthe Jirst druidsin lreland He possessedboth spiitual and political authoity, and pronouncedthe first judgement in the land,decidingwhowouldbe thefirsthing.
aWelshotherworld, ANNWN (below), andrest,filled wasa landoJJruitfulness Annwn's maglcal wtththesongoJbirds healed guarded byninemaidens, cauldron, thedeadto lfe A thesichandrestored
with a mysticalpoem in the Book of
recurrent motifin Celticmyth,magic cauldrons Jeaturein thetalesoJBranand
crtoxA^roN' Invasions (ILLusrn )
Dagda
An inspiredshamanand seer,heis credited
(IllusrnlloN
By NIcK
BxLE,
1995 )
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