[Christine’s Halloween Monster and Faery List]

Celtic Hags 3

[Iodadh Ogham Character]Cailleach Corca Duibhne (Veiled One of Black Oat) Asketi (Bone Mother) Cailleach Bheur (Storm Hag) Gorrymaghey (Blue Hag) Dub (Black) Dubgilla (Dark Child) Dub Lacha (Black Duck) Dubchoblaig (Delight of Ages) Doucéline (Gem of Time) Dobhinia, Dubheasa Binne Buanann (Black Waterfall) Mag Moullac (Miller’s Bounty) Satia (Satisfaction) Bensozie (Black Mountain) Zobiana, Herodiana
Among the witches who served Beira, Queen of Winter, was the Thunder Hag. When Angus, King of Summer, began to reign she fled across the ocean to a lonely island, where she plotted to get even by bringing disaster to man and beast, because they had rejoiced when Beira was overcome by Angus.
 One day in midsummer, when all the land was bathed in warm, bright sunshine and the sea was lulled to sleep, the Thunder Hag came over Scotland in a black chariot drawn by fierce red hounds and surrounded by heavy clouds. The sky was darkened.
 ...She rode from sea to sea, over hill and moor, and threw fireballs at deep forests (of fir and silver birch), which set them ablaze. ...Dry heather on the moors and the sundried grass were also swept by flame. .
 ..Then the king called for Conall Curlew, the fearless hero
He went up to the summit of a high mountain. ...But the hag kept herself hidden behind a cloud. ...As soon as he saw her, he swung his right arm over his shoulder and he cast a spear toward the cloud. The clouds which the hag passed over swiftly in her flight were torn apart, and the rain fell in torrents, quenching the fires that were in the woods and on the moors. ...The king honoured the noble hero by placing a gold ring on his finger, a gold armand on his arm, and a gold necklace on his neck. – Donald A. Mackenzie: Conall & the Thunder Hag
(pron. Cla’yach vare, DOOV, DUV-il-la, doo-KUL-ey doo-VAH-sa, duv-AS-a, doo-VAH-sa Bee-ne, Boonan) Beautiful Goddess of the night of the Corco Duibne of West Cork & Kerry, Ireland who lives in a splendid palace and sleeps on a couch in a room hung with blue gauze. Her hair is black as ebony, spread across pillows, and frames her ivory white skin. She is master of the North Wind. Her eagle carries the Golden Branch with clusters of rubies that look like cherries. Her garden is strewn with pearls, crimson diamond roses with emerald leaves, garnet pomegranates, topaz marigolds, yellow diamond daffodils, sapphire violets, amthyst tulips, opals and diamonds that blaze like the sun. She ushers in winter by washing her clothes in a cauldron, coire bhreacain, (pron. corrievreckan) that is a whirpool on the sea. She created the islands of Inner Hebrides, mountains and lakes in Scotland As a hag she has a blue face with white hair touched by hoarfrost, one eye, grey shawl on the head, dress of plaid, torn apron full of hailstones, who withers crops and spreads frost with a touch of her staff after Halloween and spends the summer disguised as a rock until winter. (Some years she is a beautiful maid or sea serpent). Asketi, the crone aspect of death, rides through the night on Samhain Eve in a midnight hunt on the backs of black unicorns; carving a bloody path through the city that has failed to venerate her the most. She carries the souls of the dead in a burlap sack at her hip. She was abducted by King Brandubh: Black Raven of Rebirth. Mongan rescued her by using the Hag of the Mill in the disguise of Ibhell: Shining Cheek to bewitch him. Her feast days are November 9th and 10th with her sisters Cailleach Bhéara & Cailleach Bolus. Place-names: Doubs & Dole Rivers, France: flows into the Comté River of Beçancon, Dubhsliabh: Black Mountain Well, Dublin: Black Pool, Abhainn Dubh: Black River, Lisín na Péiste: Little Fort of the Serpent, Moyne Castle, Killursaby, Galway. (13, 6, 20, 27, 31, 51, 58, 63, 71, 77, 80. 108, 121, 176, 181)

Next page - Last page - Table of Contents - Index - Works Cited

[French Ministry of Education Site: Centre national de documentation pédagogique]Christine O’Keeffe’s Halloween Home Page
cokeeffe at geocities.com
http://www.tartanplace.com/faery/hag3.html
© Copyright 1997. Christine O’Keeffe Ver. 3.0. Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Created For Educational Use Only