Gobnait of Baile Mhuirne seems a rather clear hypostasis of the Goddess Brighid, appearing in her fiery aspect. She exhibits especially strong associations with Beekeeping, Boundaries, and Curing Disease.

As one of a variable triad of Brighid-like saint-goddesses in the South of Ireland, she also offers a useful view over some recurring tropes of this, and perhaps other, Goddesses (or "Saints"). Their feast days also seem to mark out seasonal transition-points for Spring, Summer, and Autumn. But why not Winter? Spoiler: I can only speculate.

This week's "Patterns" section will deal with Saints and Animals.

The Female Smith

Gobnait's name is the first interesting detail about her. "Gob" suggests smithing, as in "Goibniú" or "Gobbán Saor". "Nat" can be a suffix simply feminising a name. So, "Smith Woman"?

Uncommonly, Gobnait has two Hebrew names, too: Abigail, and Deborah. These are both significant characters; both are prophets, one is a renowned judge. Abigail is a peacekeeper of sorts, Deborah encourages warfare and brings victory. The latter in particular, has a name meaning "Bee" and takes part in a Honey-Themed myth with Samson.

It's interesting to consider why the devotees of Gobnait would choose to affiliate her with these interesting but contrasting women from the Abhrahamic traditions. Deborah meaning "Bee" might be an obvious choice as Gobnait is clearly a Bee goddess. But there might be more - Prophesy, Judgement, and Peaceability or Victory are all traits that could make sense for aspects of Brighid.

Origins

Gobnait has no "Vita" of her own but appears tangentially in at least one; the Life of Abbán, which only mentions that he grants a religious institution to her: "Many holy churches then were sained by Abban. And he blessed Boirnech, and gave it to Gobnat."

Abbán is rather obviously a Water god (1), and is commonly understood as Gobnait's brother - sadly this is not much use for identification. Abbán's likeliest matches are Nuada or Ler, and neither have well-defined family trees, to help cross-identify Gobnait (2). However, Abbán is not the only sibling of Gobnait's, and if one follows the threads, it appears she belongs to a large nuclear family.

Gobnait's story usually begins in Clare, and she flees an unexplained family feud, or a marauding pirate father, to Inis Oirr. But, an angel tells her she is destined to live out her days elsewhere, and to travel until she met with nine white deer. Accounts vary on how the deer are split up along the way; but suffice to say she ends up around Baile Mhuirne in modern day Co. Cork.

Deer?

If you read the issue on Brighid, you know that one of her divine roles is "Celtic Artemis". Artemis likes Deer! Could these nine deer be some kind of association with the Huntress-Goddess?

Er, maybe. It's honestly really hard to tell. Deer are such a recurring motif in Irish Hagiography that they have little value in distinguishing gods. "Stock Miracles" include Deer that pull ploughs or chariots, for example - seemingly anyone can have this miracle.

It might be different though when we see the animal being used to indicate a holy or destined site, however. I'll explore that a bit in the "Patterns" section of this issue. But it's possible that Gobnait's Deer mythos is genuine of Brighid. Maybe.

Bees!

Gobnait's greater association, however, is Bees. She's _the beekeeping saint, and she uses bees as weapons to defend her townland in several myths. In some myths, they turn into soldiers for her - in others, they simply chase and sting evildoers.

Bees are an interesting association. Bees give two holy substances: Honey, and Wax.

The former is the precursor to Mead, which is hinted to be the sacred drink in Celtic religions just as it was for the related Germanic religions (compare to Soma/Hauma in Indo-Iranian, and Wine in Mediterranean, though even the latter may have started out as Mead). I'll discuss further down the possible significance of Honey & Mead to associating Gobnait and Brighid.

The latter substance is less obviously "holy" until you learn or recall how terrible the alternative forms of light were in Northern Europe in the Iron Age and early-medieval period. Up north, we didn't have very abundant or clean-burning oils for lamps. It was fish oil lamps or tallow rush-candles, for the most part. Smelly and short-lived, requiring a lot of management and careful handling. Beeswax offered a bloodlessly collected substance seemingly made of the distilled essence of flowers, those beautiful sun-worshippers of brighter months. Not only convenient and reliable, the symbolism is transcendent and hopeful; perfect for religious application. Beeswax remains the preferred substance for religious use in many religions including Irish Christianity.

Wax is of course also very useful to produce various medical products, and Gobnait has many associations with healing and protection from disease, far moreso than most saints.

Other Bee Goddesses

There is a Hindu goddess with a similar myth of using Bees (among other arthropods) as 'weapons'; Bhramari, an incarnation of Mahadevi (the ultimate deity, when conceived in female form). As a comparison, this isn't very useful for decoding Gobnait; strictly speaking all gods are aspects of Mahadevi. But if you wanted to pick an Irish goddess whose name matched the grandiosity of "Mahadevi" (Great Goddess) you could do little better than "Brighid" (Exalted One).

Melissa (or Melitta), a Greek name or title associated with Bees, is given to several characters in Greek myth. But it's also a word that was seemingly used to refer to priestesses of various cults, particularly Demeter but also Persephone and Artemis. The latter two I've previously linked to Brighid; the former, meanwhile, seems to align in some of her myths more with the Horse-Goddesses Macha and Rhiannon.

This is all very suggestive: Gobnait's name, her ties with Bees and Fire, her circumstantial connections to other gods that I've previously mapped to Brighid.. but can we find any myth patterns that are concretely shared by Gobnait and Brighid (& other Brighid saints)?

Fiery Myths

I've previously mentioned a myth where Brighid-type saints carry a coal in their clothes without burning them. This seems to be a generic Fire myth - the times I've seen it so far, have generally been among Fire saints, and the Female ones seem to be hypostases of Brighid herself.

Gobnait has such a myth. But, so do a cluster of other Goddess Saints who are regionally associated with Gobnait as tripled-sisters: in some parts, the Triple is Lassair, Latiaran, and Inghean Bhuidhe (3), in others it's Gobnait, Latiaran, and Crobh Dearg ("Red Talon").

"Laterian" is a big local Goddess-Saint in her own right. She appears in both triples, and she shares the Coal-in-Clothes myth with Gobnait. In Latiaran's version, after the Smith caused her to feel vanity and the coal damaged her clothes, she cursed the town of Cullen that they would not have a smithy there ever again (Mac Neill, 1982: 273). Note the similarity of the placename to the Ulster Cycle version of Goibniú: Cullan.

I've mentioned a Lassair in Máedóc's issue - that one associates closely with Fire-God Saint Lasar of Devenish, a male Fire god who has essentially the same name as her. In the same issue I noted how the other main Fire-God Saint, Máedóc, has this close relationship with Brigit and the two essentially share a feast day. Seemingly one Goddess and God of Fire in each case. It is my suspicion that Lassair and Gobnait are two of the names of the Fire Aspect of Brighid.

Does Brigit herself exhibit this Coals-In-Clothes Fire myth? She sure does, and the way Brigit's version plays out even resembles the myth of Mél's kinswoman, who I mentioned in the previous issue.

Goddess of the Cup

I alluded in Brighid and Mél's issue to a possible occult trait of Étaín - that she might be the goddess of the sacred chalice. There's a lot to unpack in this idea - Dolan explores the broad strokes of the "Sacred Liquid" in his book "Taliesin's Map". One of the details that recurs when we see Étaín described by others is that she's often bearing a chalice or bowl, or she's dispensing drink or water to others.

For her part, Gobnait has one or more special bowls - one of them is built-into one of her chapels in Baile Mhuirne, and folkloric accounts have it that the bowl used to be thrown by her over long distances to prevent a rival cult from building a temple nearby hers. The bowl was also taken to provide healing to people and animals, but after being taken for too long one time, it reappeared fixed in place at her chapel.

The Bee association may also carry an indirect hint - we know that one of the "Sacred Drinks" of Irish legend was probably a form of Mead.

Looking internationally, one of the "Melissa" characters from Greek myth is a high priestess of Demeter's mysteries, Melitta, who refuses to reveal the secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries and is martyred for her piety. The mysteries of Eleusis, credited with granting access to a better afterlife and abolishing fear of death, were enabled by an characteristic entheogenic drink - so this Melitta is a "Bee" Priestess (like Gobnait) whose role is master and protector of the Sacred Drink (like Étaín?).

Miscellaneous

One myth that looks a little like our Artemisian Brighid is that of Gobnait freeing a faithful prisoner.

During a time of Plague, probably the "Yellow Plague" unleashed by our friend Féichín, Gobnait marks off the boundaries of the town against plague and protects Baile Mhuirne from plague. This could be viewed as an Artemisian trait also, but Gobnait has broad healing powers that even few gods have by themselves, save perhaps Dian Cécht or his children Miach and Airmed.

Seasonal Goddesses

Above, I introduced the two regional triples of Goddess-Saints, one of which includes Gobnait. Mac Neill gives a good overview of the triples (Mac Neill, 1982: 268-275), and she notes how each of the triples seems to imply a seasonal aspect: There's one sister for each of the Cross-Quarter days that mark the start of Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

As to Winter, it seems to be left out. We already know that the generally-attested goddess of winter is The Cailleach, and it's already widely speculated that she and Brighid were seasonal sides of the same Goddess. So, perhaps the triplicity of Brighid was a 3+1 sort of scenario? 3 Faces of the Exalted One, and 1 Face of the Wizened one?

In any case, things get messy when you look a little deeper at the other sisters, particularly in the Munster tradition of Gobnait/Latiaran/Crobh Dearg.. because the latter, in particular, starts to look uncomfortably like Badb. Her name means "Red Talon", evoking the carrion-bird goddess of battle, and her associated area of worship is a sort of ancient Fort found at the feet of the Paps of Anu, mountains associated with the Mórrígna in some texts.

If I'm correct in surmising that "Inghen Buidhe" means "Daughter of Victory" rather than "Yellow Daughter" (3), then the two triples might line up more clearly as merely regional names for the same Goddesses. Lassair and Gobnait could be the Fire Goddess, Ingen Buidhe and Crobh Derg the War Goddess, and Latiaran is.. whatever Latiaran, exactly. She shares a fire myth, but she might have absorbed that from her relatively forgotten sister Lassair. People eat first-harvested Potatoes in her honour, and she aligns with Lúghnasa, a festival of Tailtiú (among other things) - perhaps she was an Earth goddess?

I see some signs elsewhere to suggest a higher-level triplicity of Goddesses, a Triple including Brighid, Mórrígan, and a third Goddess. Potentially, the third aspect is the higher Earth goddess, who occurs in a Triple as Ériú/Banba/Fódla, but also may appear in singular form as Tailtiú. If these were a sort of Irish "Mahadevi" of Three Triple Goddesses, then Gobnait/Latiaran/Crobh (Brighid, Ériú/Tailtiú, Mórrígan) could be a direct manifestation of this idea.

Or! Or, I'm overgeneralising, and the triple goddesses here are just a set of Brighid hypostases that were always smaller, more local, more specific. They might not represent some higher order at all, their entire point could be that they localised and familiarised the transcendant "Exalted One" (Brighid) for several different towns that could travel to one another over the course of each year to celebrate three festivals in honour of the sisters. Sometimes a thing is no more than it outwardly appears.

Wrap-Up

Gobnait's rather obvious origin as a goddess isn't a new idea, and I'm not the first to compare her to Brighid, either. It's possible that she was simply an alternate identity of the same deity popular in Munster, or that she's a hypostasis, a goddess viewed as being distinct while having very clear shared spiritual meaning.

Possibly, Gobnait and Lassair were viewed as more specific manifestations of Brighid's fiery and craftsperson natures, somewhat distinguished from her other possible roles as Love Goddess or Poet or Afterlife Goddess.

Locations associated with Gobnait can be found throughout Munster, though her chief stronghold is Baile Mhuirne and its surrounds. The name "Gobnait" has long held favour in West Cork in her honour, though her Hebrew names Abigail and Deborah are also used.

Several businesses in West Cork sport names inspired by her legendarium, including a really quirky bookshop in Baile Mhic Íre, "An Gadaí Dubh".

Footnotes

1. Abbán's name name even resembles the word for "River" and the Proto-Indo-European word for "Waters". His hagiography's very clear about his domain over water. Unfortunately I haven't yet identified any matching myths to known characters that could match his archetype.
2. His mother's name is Mílla, and his uncle is "Íbar", both of which look similar to characters from the early Milesians (Míl and the two Éibhears, respectively). Though, the Milesians in turn seem to play a role that probably originally happened at the divine layer prior to the Tuatha Dé, as if they are either an echo or an outright transposition. Abbán's pre-Patrick appearances and some details of his genealogical role suggest that, like Mél from last issue, he might also have numbered among the pre-Tuatha Dé deities, the Fomhoire/Fir Bolg. And so perhaps also for Gobnait?
3. The name is usually translated "Yellow Daughter". I would advance the possibility that it could also be "Daughter of Victory". We know that Lugh had a wife named "Buí" or "Buidhe" or "Bua", daughter of Ruadhri. Her name, by Dolan's comparison of Lugh to Zeus, is probably "Victory" rather than "Yellow". Her appearances in the Metrical Dindshenchas include: "Cnogba is the Hill of Bui of the battles".

Bibliography

• Mac Neill, Máire (1982) "The Festival of Lughnasa", Part 1, Dublin: Comhairle Béaloideas Éireann. Available nowhere affordably, sorry.
• Ó'Hanlon, John (1875) "Lives of the Irish Saints", Vol. 2, Dublin: J.Duffey. Available at Archive.org

Coming Up

15th Feb: Saint Berach, a Fintan Saint with a key role in the Childhood of Lugh.

An Intermission! March will be busy, and February's remaining saints are still obscure to me. So, I'm taking a break to catch my breath.

5th Mar: Cíarán of Saighir, representing an aspect of the "Demiurge" Creator-God.

Patterns in Celtic Comparativism, #6: Animals

Many saints associate particularly with an animal, or a plant - sometimes this does seem to carry direct meaning for the original God's associations.

One strong exception seems to be Deer, as mentioned above. It seems any saint can have Deer do things like pull ploughs or chariots, or act as book-stands. But in the right context, even a Deer myth might preserve something originally significant about a God's animal associations.

One myth-type for Animals is when they indicate a place according to a prophesy or the intuition of the God-Saint. For example, Mochoemóg sets up his church where he encounters a mighty Boar - Cían is the most likely match for Mochoemóg, and he and his Welsh counterpart Gwydion have clear mythic links to Pigs and Boar. Gobnait may have a parallel myth - it's hard to know if Deer do associate with Brighid.

Another myth-type is what could be the "origin of Animal" type. Coemgen of Glendalough, another Cían, has a helpful Otter who brings him fish daily, and who only goes "wild" due to the betrayal of another monk. This might have explained why there was this dog-like animal in the water that isn't loyal to humans like dogs are, anymore - they were once!

A stand-out animal-friend God-Saint who'll get an issue soon is Cíarán - either one, because they seem to be the same God. This god may align with one aspect of the Demiurge creator, who creates things like Animals within the world once the basic structure of the universe is sound enough. Through this lens we can imagine Cíarán's animal buddies as not just any animals, but the first animals.

The final Myth-type for animals that I'll explore is the identity myth - where the God sometimes is the animal. Íta, as previously mentioned, aligns with a few Horse-Goddesses including Macha and Demeter, and I suspect her Donkey pal was originally a Horse before being Christianised. Indeed, the Donkey who gets abused, leading to Íta punishing the perpetrators, might have been Íta in equine form. Gobnait might be the Deer who finds her destined place. Mochoemóg might be the Boar who finds his sacred place.

And what of Gobnait and her Bees? Is she a Bee? Did she make them? Who's to say..but I suspect the latter.