Deity Discussion

Our knowledge of Brythonic deities, their function, and their ranges is heavily obscured by the fact most written records are from the perspective of Roman and Greek writers, who applied our old enemy interpretatio romano to everything. There’s this really interesting article ("Interpretatio: Roman Word Power and the Celtic Gods", Brittania, Jane Webster, 1995) about how interpretatio romano has informed our entire way of thinking about the pre-Roman Britons.

Brythonic deities were largely tribal in nature, closely tied to one area or group. A few were more generally recognized and worshiped – Toutatis, Sucellos, Gobannos, Taranis, Camulos, Brittania, Brigante, Rosmerta, Lugus/Lleu, etc. But there are over 300 distinct deities named in the Brythonic regions, so to produce a complete list would be exhausting if not impossible.

Let’s use this as an opportunity to compile, instead, as much reliable information about those deities most commonly known or followed. We can add to this list as necessary, because gods know I’m leaving some out. And I’m doing alphabetically so no one gets upset,

Brythonic / British Deities

• Artio
• Belenus / Belenos
• Brigante / Brigantia
• Brittania
• Camulos
• Don
• Epona
• Gobannos / Govannon
• Lug / Lugus / Lleu
• Modron / Madron / Matres / Dia Matrona
• Maponos
• Rhiannon
• Rosmerta
• Sucellos
• Sul / Sulis
• Taranis
• Toutatis

The following paragraphs are entirely my own opinion formed through years of study and should be considered informed UPG at best.
Welsh deities often appear distinct from their Cornish or Cumbric neighbours. I am of the opinion that this is really just a quirk of orthography. Because of the geographic inaccessibility of most of Wales, the Welsh language had retained its fierce independence and developed without a heavy influence from Latin or later Saxon and Norse. But if you’ve studied the languages, you know how often nasal mutation and soft mutation are utilized in the language, and how easily a commonly slurred word or name can be misspelled by an outside observer until it appears entirely differently.

Lug and Lleu, for example. The final ‘g’ in Lug is actually a lenited ‘gh’ that’s pronounced more like the end of ‘though’ than the beginning of ‘ghost’. Easily, easily dropped in repition. Similarly, the initial ‘l’ is often lenited to ‘ll’ in Welsh – which produces an entirely un-English sound that’s a bit like saying ‘l’ with a mouth full of cottonballs. This happens after certain words or in the presence of vowels, or when changing case or gender.

Gobannos and Govannon are the same case, but even more closely related. ‘b’ and ‘v’ are, again, lenited pairs. You can even see the similarity as you pronounce the two words – note where your tongue is in your mouth and how little change would need to happen in order to transform those two sounds.

But at the same time, from a hard polytheist perspective, you have to balance orthography against the spectre of polyvalence. I can easily say that the Gaulish Lugus or British Lug is the same deity as the Welsh Lleu, but that doesn’t make him the same deity as the Gaelic Lugh. And it doesn’t make him the same person as the character of Llew Llaw Gyffes in the Mabinogion.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is . . . let’s talk gods!

I primarily worship Camulos, Lug, Artio, Gobannos, and a female deity who I have seen but whose identity I still don’t know – I call her Arglwydd Fawr.

How about you?