Cailleach The Goddess of Life and Death

Cailleach [COY-lck or CALL-y'ach]
Author: Judi Singleton

Cailleach [COY-lck or CALL-y'ach]
Author: Judi Singleton
Subject: A Light in the Window
Published: March 14th 2004

Cailleach was an ugly, crone and hag. She had the teeth of the wild
bear and tusks like a boar The meaning of the word "cailleach",
is old woman or veiled one.
She only has one eye. see beyond the duality of things to
She the oneness of life. She is a weather Goddess controlling the
winds, the Winter cold. She is the winter Goddess. . Cailleach is
a dark Goddess. She represents winter and a going within. She kills
all that s no longer needed, But she holds in the frozen earth the seeds
of a new beginning. For all things are born in darkness into light.
Cailleach is about transformation in some stories just before Spring
appears she washes in a stream and becomes young again. Cailleach to be
the 'other' face of the Goddess Brighid. In this legend, on the eve of
Latha Fheill Bride, the Cailleach goes to the Well of Youth. There at the
Well she drinks of the water and emerges as the youthful fair Brighid,
whose touch turns the grass to green once more. In Scottish folklore,
An Cailleach is born old and ugly and grows younger as the year turns
to Spring and Summer
Cailleach teaches us that there is a time to let go and let die
even our most cherished. We must look at the things we are most
attached to and let them go. Cailleach prunes that which is no longer
beneficial to each of us. Ultimately, we must let go of all.

Every culture has an underworld, dark, hag goddess, whose primary
fnction is to facilitate transformation from one state
of being to the next.
We are in the time of letting go and making room for the new.
Wee cannot create that which we want without room in our lives to do that. So we must let go of the old to have room for the new.
Goddess I am experiencing a time of transformation help me
to know what to let go of and how to be reborn.
gleaned from:
Celtic Goddesses: Warriors,Virgins and Mothers
Miranda Aldhouse Green
Clan of the Goddess: Celtic Wisdom & Ritual for Women
By C. C. Brondwin
The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: Celtic Spirituality & the Goddess in Ireland
By Patricia Monaghan
The Celtic Goddess: Great Queen or Demon Witch?
By Claire French



Cailleach was an ugly, crone and hag. She had the teeth of the wild
bear and tusks like a boar The meaning of the word "cailleach",
is old woman or veiled one.
She only has one eye. see beyond the duality of things to
She the oneness of life. She is a weather Goddess controlling the
winds, the Winter cold. She is the winter Goddess. . Cailleach is
a dark Goddess. She represents winter and a going within. She kills
all that s no longer needed, But she holds in the frozen earth the seeds
of a new beginning. For all things are born in darkness into light.
Cailleach is about transformation in some stories just before Spring
appears she washes in a stream and becomes young again. Cailleach to be
the 'other' face of the Goddess Brighid. In this legend, on the eve of
Latha Fheill Bride, the Cailleach goes to the Well of Youth. There at the
Well she drinks of the water and emerges as the youthful fair Brighid,
whose touch turns the grass to green once more. In Scottish folklore,
An Cailleach is born old and ugly and grows younger as the year turns
to Spring and Summer
Cailleach teaches us that there is a time to let go and let die
even our most cherished. We must look at the things we are most
attached to and let them go. Cailleach prunes that which is no longer
beneficial to each of us. Ultimately, we must let go of all.

Every culture has an underworld, dark, hag goddess, whose primary
fnction is to facilitate transformation from one state
of being to the next.
We are in the time of letting go and making room for the new.
Wee cannot create that which we want without room in our lives to do that. So we must let go of the old to have room for the new.
Goddess I am experiencing a time of transformation help me
to know what to let go of and how to be reborn.
gleaned from:
Celtic Goddesses: Warriors,Virgins and Mothers
Miranda Aldhouse Green
Clan of the Goddess: Celtic Wisdom & Ritual for Women
By C. C. Brondwin
The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: Celtic Spirituality & the Goddess in Ireland
By Patricia Monaghan
The Celtic Goddess: Great Queen or Demon Witch?
By Claire French