Saint Moling is the Peaceable Divine Twin, better known as Aengus mac Óg. God of youth, peace, and love; a trickster and counseller. He's fast and sneaky yet has surprising parallels to fellow Youth-Divinity, Cúchulainn.

This is the first of two issues today; the issue for Nechtan will be out later. Also, when I published this issue, I had forgotten to go back over it and provide links to other resources that I mentioned. For the sake of the archive, I'm editing it to add links. Where required for clarity, I've added some text also - where there is new material, I'll use a sword symbol "†" to mark them, in case readers of the email newsletter want to do a quick search over the page and see what's new.

In the issue on Cellach and Muiredach, I introduced my model for the Divine Twins: that they are usually distinct from one another. One, a conflict-averse trickster; the other an enthusiastic warrior. I've foreshadowed Saint Moling as a fantastic example of the Peaceable Twin. Indeed, he's the Saintly form of Aengus mac Óg.

Noteworthy Differences from Taliesin's Map

My model of the Divine Twins conflicts sharply with that of Taliesin's Map, whose work has provided a foundation for much of my own: what I describe as a "Peaceable Twin", he considers the entirety of the Divine Twin. What I describe as a "Warrior Twin", TM models as a "Vishnu Type". Further, the "Gandharva Type" of TM's model, I don't see as distinct from a particular role of the Divine Twin (particularly the Peaceable).

† In TM's previous writings, you'll find modelling on the Horse Twins in the parallels to the Iliad, and in the reconstruction of the "Lunar Cycle" myth, which extends the posited Proto-Indo-European "War of the Foundation" myth into a conserved wooing cycle. TM also has various videos exploring the Divine Twin (Dolan favours "Ashvin" or "Horse-Twin"), most recently a video in his Deity Chart Mythstreams series.

† As to TM's modelling on Vishnu, the only written trace is from 2021 on "Neit" as a Celtic Vishnu, but his linkage with Fenrir, Typhon, and Cúchulainn is laid out in detail in various videos on the TM youtube channel.

In TM's model, these are sharply delineated - in my own research, I see a continuity of traits and mythemes spread across these three archetypes. Any time you see a TM link that's about a "Vishnu", for my purposes you can read this as "Warrior Twin".

Illicit Conception, Dangerous Birth

Let's learn a bit about Aengus mac Óg. The official account we find in the manuscript tradition is that Aengus was conceived by a tryst between An Dagda and Boann (AKA Eithne/Fidelm).

Of course Boann becomes pregnant: As "Dáire", the Dagda is the essence of fertility, and Eithne/Boann is (among other things) a maternal goddess. To conceal the pregnancy, An Dagda stopped the sun in the sky and charmed Boann's husband, Elcmar (AKA Nechtan, whose issue also releases today!), so that he would feel no want or need and would mistake a year for a day. A year-long pregnancy? OK, whatever. Aengus is born, anyway. His epithet "Mac Óg" is explained (a little unsatisfactorily) as (being conceived, gestated, and born in a single "day") he's a very "young son": "mac óg".

Aengus is a secret love-child, and "Elcmar" is thought to translate to something implying wrathfulness - one can infer that he'd be in mortal danger from birth. An Dagda gives infant Aengus in fosterage to another son of his, Midir: the God of the Moon and Immortality.

The Bestest Boy

As foster of Midir and his wife Fuamnach, Aengus doesn't lack company; Midir & Fuamnach foster many boys. But, Aengus is the best of the lot, and this causes him to become haughty, and some others to resent him. One day, Aengus disdains a boy of lower birth, and the boy retorts that at least he knows his lineage. This shocks Aengus, who thought until now that he was Midir and Fuamnach's own son.

Going to his foster-parents, he challenges them and learns of his heritage, so he then goes to demand his rightful inheritances from his father, An Dagda.

What happens next varies from version to version. In some versions, he uses magic or trickery to drive An Dagda out of Brú na Bóinne (but..that was Nechtan/Elcmar's place with Boann, wasn't it?). In others, he drives out Nechtan/Elcmar with help and advice from Manannán, and in others it's with advice from An Dagda. In either latter case, the elder conspirator promises to give Elcmar another good domain.

Using verbal trickery that translates to English poorly, or using a sort of magical incantation, he forces Elcmar to cede the Brú, and he becomes lord of Brú na Bóinne thereafter. Indeed, he's sometimes referred to as "Aengus of the Brú".

Moling's Birth and Childhood

Now, Moling's turn. Our Saint-to-be is conceived in an illicit tryst between a King (Fáelán..?) and the sister (Emnait) of his wife. The pregnant paramour flees the wrath of her sister, but cannot get to her own people's lands in time before she goes into labour by a roadside in deep snow. She gives birth to a boy, who melts the snow in a wide area around them. In a panic she tries to kill the infant at dawn - but a dove comes and defends him from her.

Passing by are Bréanainn and a follower of his, "Collanach" (who I believe is Bréanainn himself, with a wig and fake moustache). Nothing is made of it in the text, but Bréanainn is actually Moling's Kinsman, being the son of "Findlugh" who's this boy's great-great-great-grandfather. Collanach is instructed by Bréanainn to foster the boy, so he names him "Tairchell" (Explained somehow as about the dove guarding his 'borders'..n.b.: "-chell" -> "Cell", compare "Cellach") († NB: in some versions his childhood name is "Dairchell") and brings him to "Bréanainn's Cave" along with his mother. He's fostered there among many other boys in Bréanainn's fosterage, who are all put in Collanach's care. And he's the best boy of them all.

An event happens here that gives him the name "Moling" that I'll return to, but the story continues with Moling discovering, perhaps accidentally, from Collanach that he's a son of another land - Collanach remarks how many thought Tairchell was his own love-child. Moling asks to know who his father is, learns the truth, and sets out to establish himself in his father's lands. Here, the Christian interpolation seems to garble things; he first goes to become a student under Máedóc (Áed, one form of cryptic Fire-God Manannán), then finds his way to a King Fingín, and then gets directed by an Angel to go to his destined church site and leaves with Fingín's inconsequential blessing. Faelán doesn't figure.

If we interpolate what we know of Aengus, it seems that this is the part where (in some forms of the tale) Aengus gets support from Manannán and then wins lands and holdings from Nechtan/Elcmar. Plausibly, to me, "Fingín" might be Nechtan/Elcmar - the Nuada-cluster of Water-themed King-Gods are subtly related to the Fionn-group of "Wise Destroyers", so a name like "King Fingín" in the context of Aengus' arc may refer to Elcmar, in this case. But, in the Christian version, they just kinda meet, have tea, and then part ways - perhaps a Saint shaking down a cuckolded foster-father for lands might have been hard to put a Christian Spin on.

It's interesting that Moling's arc seems to confirm the version where it's Manannán who is patron of the young Aengus - I would have assumed it was An Dagda, as in some versions, because that father/son duo seem very close, and An Dagda is very supportive to Aengus in all his myths. But instead of gaining the patronage of an Erc, Dubthach, or Déglan (Saintly faces of An Dagda), it's Máedóc that he visits right before his tea with Fingín and winning his church.

About that Name..

Name-earning is absent from Aengus' more widely-known mythic arc, but Moling has to earn his name in a conflict, like Cúchulainn and Cúchongeilt and so many international examples of the Divine Twin do. And there's a lot about it to point to an identity with Cúchulainn, which I found very surprising when I first read it.

So, there's Tairchell, walking from town to town collecting alms, when an evil bandit-spectre (and his spectral wife, hound, gillie, and lackies) blocks his path and threatens him. Tairchell and the spectre exchange poetic threats, and then Tairchell asks them to let him take just three steps before they attack him; three steps towards his creator, three steps "of folly". The Spectre laughingly agrees, and Tairchell's steps carry him entirely out of sight, and onto the walls of his home-town/church.

The Spectres are confused and angry, and accurately identify where he's gone, so they come to give chase. Seeing them chasing him, the hounds, horses, women, and "small people" of the town come out and do battle with the Spectres. When Collanach finds him, Tairchell is radiant with fury. Collanach says his three great leaps are evidence that he's a prophesied one and should be renamed "Mo-ling", and the story of his seeking of his father's lands proceeds from there.

The Radiant, the Three-Stepper, Beloved of Horses, Hounds, and Women

So, there's a lot in this interaction that should remind the keen observer of Cúchulainn. In fact, if we stretch back to Tairchell's birth, even the radiance that melted shoulder-thick snow in a wide radius is exactly what Cúchulainn does in the Táin during a period of deep snow.

The three-step leap is a trait of Cúchulainn's, named his "Salmon Leap" - Taliesin's Map links this to the three cosmic steps of Vamana, avatar of Vishnu (1). The Radiant Brow is a recurring trait of Cú's († mentioned, for example, in his death-scene as a "hero's light"), and is likewise matched in Vishnu and other international parallels of same. And, the connection to Horses, Hounds, and Women is directly found in Cúchulainn's associations, too: his patronage by the goddess of horses, Macha, his own identity with Hounds, and the favour shown him by women at all stages and the way that they alone can disarm him during his battle-fury.

Finally, this first-conflict event earns him his name, as Cúchulainn's conflict with the hound of Culann does for him. But, Tairchell is not Cúchulainn: Cúchulainn would have destroyed those spectres, and then perhaps lost himself in the fury and attacked his home town for good measure. Tairchell, instead, leaps to safety. He's the Peaceable Trickster Twin, the mirror-image of the Warrior Twin. And while he's earned his name, he hasn't earned his role (as Cúchulainn's parallel myth does for him): to win his role, the Trickster must use Trickery or Magic or Sponsorship to ascend to the priesthood or kingship († NB: I introduced this theory in Cellach & Muiredach's issue), which Moling/Aengus do after they learn of their true parentage.

Word Play

The birth and coming-of-age arcs for Moling are extremely close to Aengus'. He's conceived in an illicit union, he's in danger at birth, so he's fostered to the Moon God (Midir/Bréanainn), who is his kinsman. When he grows up a bit, he learns, due to a verbal slip-up, that he's another person's son, and demands the truth from his foster-parents, then commits to go and get lands from his father's people.

The tricking of Nechtan is the next part of Aengus' story, but only the skeletal remains of this event remain for Moling. Do we not get a verbal-trickery mytheme for Moling? We do: it just happens later, in a different context.

Aengus' word-play isn't easily translatable into English, because English has indefinite articles: "a" and "an". Irish, meanwhile, does not. To say "a night" and "night" in Irish is the same: "oíche". The core of Aengus' word-play is that he asks Nechtan (or the Dagda) to let him have lordship of the Brú for "lá agus oíche" - "a day and a night". When the first day and night are done, Aengus claims that, in fact, he had meant "day and night"; as in, forever.

Moling, for his part, decides that he's going to end the three-yearly Borómha tribute that Leinster has paid to Tara for generations (since Tuathal Techtmhar nearly flattened Leinster in revenge for his daughters). So, Moling goes to the high king, Finachta (son of Diarmait, co-ruler with his brother Bláthmac, sons of Áed Sláine), and asks for a delay in the payment of the tribute. When the kings reluctantly agree, it's only to a delay until "Monday". But when the tribute comes due, Moling says that they'd agreed to delay the tribute until the Monday of Judgement Day.

So, approximately the same verbal trickery as Aengus, but put to different ends. Looking at the King that this trick is played upon, his name "Finachta" also looks.. Fionn-ey, as with the King Fingín that I'm supposing to be Nechtan. The Nechtan issue will be exploring this link between Fionn and Nuada/Nechtan.

Conflict at Fords

After winning the "remitment" of the Borómha tribute until the end of the world, Aengus takes his leave of Tara. But then, Adamnán, Colm Cille's biggest superfan, turns up and scolds the kings for letting him get away with the trick. So, they chase him back.

In Cúchulainn's famous opposition to Connaught's raid, he met his opponents at the many fords along their route as he chased the Connaught armies back through Ireland and delayed their escape. Moling, in a curious inversion of this, is instead the one chased home, and confronting his pursuers at a ford. But while Cúchulainn engages in battle at the ford, Moling uses magic and illusion: when his attackers meet him there, they kill one another, believing their comrades to be Moling. He escapes without having to engage with anyone directly.

Even More Illusion

Previous to his remittance of the Borómha, Moling had pulled off another sneaky win for Leinster against Tara. The joint high-kings, Diarmait and Bláthmac, were insisting that they and Leinster should agree a border over a disputed territory, and said they would not wait for Moling to be present for the decision to be made. Moling, who was quite far away at this point, sent them a message that he would meet them at the new division-point, but that they shouldn't start marching until morning in order to give him a fair chance.

The High Kings decided to place men at every "gap" along the route, with instructions to waylay Moling, but Moling is aware (supernaturally?) of this, and uses disguise or illusion to conceal himself and his Gillie. He sneaks through and arrives in time to meet Diarmait & Bláthmac at the far end of the territory. In honour of his achievement they rename the site to something like "the extension of the Leinstermen".

Broad Patronage

On both occasions of threat from the high kings, Moling invokes other "Saints" to protect and assist him - both times, this includes Brigit (Brighid, Aengus' sister and possible occasional consort), but the full litany also includes a name-check of lots of Leinster saints of various types.

I do wonder if this help-from-many trope is a trait of this type: in the story of the Dream of Aengus, a consortium of other gods help to find his dream-woman, Caer. † In the parallel myth of Freyr, again a consortium helps find his beloved. In the story of Cellach, it's a group of other Novices who help him return to Cíarán's space. In the escape of Moling (then Tairchell) from the spectres, a crowd of women, horses, dogs, and 'little people' (?) come to his defence.

Brighid and Aengus though..

His prayers do address her first. Possibly that's just because she's Leinster's most famous saint.. but Scottish myth does hold that Aengus and Brighid are springtime lovers. And, if we look at how Moling addresses his prayers to Brigit in this light, it does look kinda suspect:

Till Doom be thus our land in Bregmag,
our union on earth, our union in heaven.
Heavenly health, special love, welcome with right they extend,
though it be Rome of Latium, my life, O Brigit!

Sus.

Sanctuary of the Musical Fly

In The Wooing of Étaín, the understandably jealous wife of Midir, Fuamnach, transforms Étaín into a mist, that condenses and becomes a beautiful purple..fly. As a fly, her wings drop dew that restores youth, and her wingbeats make music that is loved by all.

Fuamnach banishes her with a wind, and eventually she is caught by Aengus. He keeps her safely in a tiny house, which he brings to his bed each night. In most versions this is a chaste co-sleeping arrangement: she is still a fly, after all. But this chaste co-sleeping with the Moon-God's wife is still interesting for comparative reasons.

Moling, meanwhile, is said to have a number of companions at his household:

A madman and a fox (lived with him),
also a wren, and a little fly that
used to buzz to him..

Specifically, it seems to be musical. The wren kills the fly, and he curses the wren that "children and small people be destroying him" - suggesting this is the origin of the Wintertime wren-hunting tradition by Children in Ireland.

The Fly could be some expression of Étaín. But Étaín doesn't die in Aengus' care, and I'm not sure who the Wren could be. The madman, of course, is Suibhne, who we'll get to later this month!

Foster-Brother of Fionn

I discussed this in Conall's issue already. And I don't have much to add, after all that! There seems to be a recurring pattern of the Divine Twins associating with the Fionn-type, often in a fraternal manner..but in a way that slightly removes them from full brotherhood. With Cúchulainn, he has Conall as a foster-brother. Cúchongeilt has a Conall as a close companion, one of only two people who could bring him joy when Cellach dies.

And, Moling has Fionn mac Cumhaill himself. That is, Fionn's only named foster-brother is the only other character I'm aware of with the name "Moling". This Moling's epithet is "Luath", for his athleticism, but we know next to nothing more about him; just that he's Fiacail's son, and that he's from the same part of Ireland as the Saint Moling († NB: this connection is made in Agallamh na Seanórach), who bears the similar-beginning epithet "Luachair".

Fionn doesn't have any surviving myths that make his relationship to Moling very clear. But, he does hang around Aengus more than any other god - he's often invited over to dinner, and usually makes a big messy scene. Yet, he gets invited back again. Well, maybe now we know why: through his cryptic name "Moling", Aengus is foster-brother to Fionn - giving him a reason to put up with all the drama that involves.

Prophet and Counsellor to Kings

Moling is stated to be one of the top prophets in Ireland, which aligns with Aengus' apparent ability to predict the future with robust accuracy. In the Siege of Knocklong, Aengus predicts Cormac's greatest failing as a king, when he will try to invade Munster for contrived reasons and impose tribute. Despite a fairly clear warning, Cormac still makes the predicted mistakes, exactly as Aengus told him.

If the Siege and Moling's life can agree on this deity being so prophetic, then it clarifies some of Aengus' other mythos. When Aengus advises An Dagda on how to deal with Cridhenbhéal, in a way that brings own the rule of Bres, perhaps we should interpret his predictions of Bres' mistaken judgement as a prediction, rather than merely the projections of a plotter. He didn't just think Bres would judge wrongly: he knew.

Romantic Rival to the Fire God

The Twins are often temporary romantic rivals to the Fire God with his wife: Cúchulainn and Fand, Ares and Aphrodite, Krishna and Svaha. But, the tryst always breaks up and the couple are reunited.

In this light, we can consider Pryderi, who is magically, temporarily abducted with Rhiannon, wife of Manawydan (= Manannán, the fire god). The structure of the story allows a non-sexual framing; Rhiannon is Pryderi's mother.

We can also include Loki's accusation that Freyja and Freyr were once caught in flagrente by the other gods (2), who laughed at them: this is precisely the scene of Ares and Aphrodite. Freyja's husband is Óðr, who many successive scholars have speculated to be a cryptic duplicate of Óðinn. According to Taliesin's Map, Óðinn carries much of the mythology of the Fire God, making this fragmentary myth plausibly a parallel to Ares/Aphrodite.

Aengus has no surviving myth of this interaction, but Moling might. In a tale appended to the life of Máedóc of Ferns, Moling tries to sleep in the bed of the (since deceased) Máedóc, but is tormented and gives up, saying that none shall sleep there now. So, he temporarily challenges the bed of the Fire Saint, lacking a wife.

International Parallels

Aengus or Moling are tricksy, fast, and they use illusions a lot to solve problems. In the Greek religion, Hermes ought to come to mind right away, and I think this an apt comparison. For bonus points, Hermes associates closely with two of his brothers: Dionysus, corresponding to Moling/Bréanainn, and Apollo, corresponding to Fionn. However, it is Hermes who intervenes to protect the threatened infant Dionysus, rather than the converse. Hermes has a clear reluctance to fight, and prefers illusion and disguise to slip past his foes.

Looking further in the Greek Matter, we can find a lot of parallels in Theseus to either Aengus or Cúchulainn - providing a good example of where the archetypes can blend into characters who are neither wholly "warlike" nor "peaceable".

Another mortal hypostasis from Greek Myth is Odysseus, whose tendency towards trickery rather than violence is legendary. Previously blood-brother to the more martial Diomedes, Odysseus' genealogy either traces to Hermes, or to one of the Dioscuroi, making him in either case descended from a Divine Twin. He uses disguise and "illusion", word-play and deceit. In his homecoming myth, he "earns" his wife by stringing a characteristic bow: exactly as Vishnu incarnation Rama does to "earn" his own wife.

In Nechtan's issue, I'll be exploring one of Nechtan's parallels in Hinduism: Jamadagni. One of his sons is Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu. However, Parashurama is very much a Warrior, not a Trickster! Looking at some other Vishnu incarnations though, we can see much more of Aengus in the likes of Krishna and Vamana, who generally eschew violence and prefer trickery and peaceful outcomes.

Krishna and Aengus can be lined up on their danger-at-birth, separated-from-father motif, their love of playful trickery and illusion, and their shared reluctance to fight: Krishna is slow to anger, and assists Arjuna in battle on condition that he himself will not have to strike anyone. In this, Krishna is also a wise counsellor to kings, like Aengus.

Taliesin's map has previously identified a shared mythos between Cúchulainn and Fenris Wolf in the Norse material, and has otherwise identified the Peaceable Twin as Freyr. These links are quite strong, to me: Freyr and Aengus are definite parallels. But, there's another Peaceable Trickster in Norse myth: Loki.

Loki looks like a somewhat late fusion of two different gods. It's popular to model him as a Fire-god, and I think this is 50% true - there is a lot to suggest he derives from fire-god Loðurr (actually much more than this, IMO). But there's also a lot of Divine Twin mythemes in Loki: his trickery, his role as a messenger or rescuer (like Hermes/Aengus), the curious forbearance of (probable) Dawn Goddess Freya, tricking his way into the divine feast (in Lokasenna), his curiously close relationship to Fionn-type Óðinn, and his ultimate "bound" fate. "Earth-bound" in fact, akin to other demonised/apocalyptic "Vishnu-types" explored by Taliesin's Map, including Typhon.

A fusion of the Divine Twin and the Fire God isn't so surprising if the Germanic gods were similar in tone to the Irish. Aengus and Manannán are both counsellors to kings, illusionists and tricksters, fleet of foot, rescuers and equippers, hosts of feasts, and close to the Fionn-types. If the Germanic case was even half of that, a fusion or conflation is easily imagined.

One Last Connection

Having detailed the above international parallels, I can again suggest that Aengus/Moling has another incarnation in Mael Dúin, of the famous Eachtra/Voyage by boat. Compare the similar birth myths, the mission to claim a father's legacy, and the fact that, like Hermes, Theseus, Odysseus, and so on, Mael Dúin is among those in Irish myth who voyages to the afterlife. In fact, he has many mythemes in common with Odysseus, some quite cryptic and unlikely to be mere "borrows".

Wrap-Up

Neither "Tairchell" or "Moling" are names in use, and perhaps never were. Aengus, however, is. Squinting at Tairchell, it could be a fusion of an old word for "East" and "Cell", first part of "Cellach". Supposedly "Cellach" can be understood as "bright-head", so perhaps "Tairchell" is "Light of the East" - a Dawn-associating name for a possible god of the Morning Star?

† The variant "Dairchell" could be interpreted alternatively as "Light of Oak", which possibly does also have dawn associations, that I won't get into here.

† Curiously, "Cronan" is Moling's original name according to the life of Máedóc, which is very interesting by cross-comparison to Vamana, but also not something I'll go into here.

Moling is associated with several sites in Leinster, but of course Aengus is most closely known for Brú na Bóinne, figuratively the womb of his mother and feasting-place of the gods.

Birds are an old association of Aengus', and Moling doesn't entirely disappoint with his protective dove at his birth-scene. Pigs are also associated with Aengus, but with Moling we see two animals otherwise more associated with Cúchulainn: Dogs, and Horses.

Footnotes

1. The "Three Step" myth of Vamana, which ends on the King's head, has a much more clear parallel in another, very different Irish saint: Carthach the Younger AKA Mochuta, whose issue I decided to skip.
2. † From the Wikipedia article for Freyja: "Loki tells Freyja to be silent, calls her a malicious witch, and conjures a scenario where Freyja was once astride her brother when all of the gods, laughing, surprised the two."

Bibliography

• "The Birth of Moling and his Life", hosted on MaryJones.us. NB: Some minor OCR errors in the text.

Coming Up

• 17th June: Nectan of Hartland - Boann's husband Nechtan, God of the Well of Wisdom
• 21st June: Suibhne/Comhgan, Merlin, the Mad/Ecstatic Sage
• 6th July: Eithne, Goddess of Wisdom and Deep Waters, Mother of Heroes, Cosmic Dreamer.
• 24th July: Déclán: (One) Saintly form of An Dagda, the cosmic wind who reveals land from the ocean, kindler and supporter of Lugaid.