Cellach and Muiredach are our first "Divine Twins", presenting an uncommonly clear dichotomy of the "Peaceable" and "Martial" aspects of this complex, important deity-type.

Finally, I get to introduce one of my favourite deities - the Divine Twin. I have a lot of Opinions™ on the Divine Twin; I argue this Deity Type encompasses not only the likes of Aengus, Pryderi/Peredur, Odysseus & Diomedes, and Freyr (as Taliesin's Map models them), but also Greek Ares, Gawain, Irish Cúchulainn, 80% of Hindu Vishnu, and 50% of Norse Loki. He's also the god of Epic: The Musical. This will only be the first issue on the subject; I intend to make these identifications and relationships clear with time.

Fortunately for everyone concerned: Cellach of Killala's "Life" is hands-down the most readable Saint's Life I know of. It's a narrative tale - a bit waffley, but very readable. I recommend it. The only trouble is the missing ending..

This story is officially only about one Saint: Cellach of Killala. His non-clerical brother Muiredach just happens to have half the story. Though, there is also a saint Muiredach of Killala (ostensibly not the same guy, mmhmm), so clearly this location is associated with both Twins.

In today's "Patterns" I overview Bealtaine (better known outside Gaeldom as "Beltane"), the Gaelic Festival to mark the start of Summertime, but also the most high-stakes, uncertain time of year. It also seems to be when the Mórrígan is celebrated..for some reason.

No, Not Those Divine Twins

Mythological Twins come in two flavours in conventional Proto-Indo-European reconstructive thought; the "Cosmogonic Twins" and the "Divine Twins". I mostly agree with Taliesin's Map on the subject of the "Cosmogonic Twins", that the model is problematic or erroneous..but that's not the subject for today.

No, today's issue is about the Divine Twins. They have a fairly confident basic reconstruction based on confident matches across distant mythologies, and based on this foundation many more hypothetical matches have been made. Some of these are probably very safe guesses, like matching the Dioscuri. Others are, from my point of view, wildly off the mark; like Welsh Manawydan and Brân.

In the safest, most conservative reconstruction, the twins are nearly identical and act in unison. But as I see it, this is really only how this god is presented at their most basic. These "Twins" (really sides of one essence) can also appear as a pair of very distinct brothers, and even their brotherhood can be less literal; blood brothers, fosters, etc.

At their more defined and individuated, the twins can appear as "Peaceable Trickster" and "Honourable Warrior" archetypes, and they can frequently be presented as antagonist or demon or apocalypse-crisis forms, becoming the "Dishonourable Corruptor" or the "Chaotic Monster". A few "floating archetypes" figure: the Voyager, the Favourite Son Slain By His Brothers, etc. And there is also flow between these archetypes; you can get tricksy warriors, or heroes with monstrous traits. The simplified identical-dyad model can miss out on all of this.

Rising & Falling Stars

The inner-planets of the solar system are strongly associated in myth with the "Children of the Sky Father": the Dawn Goddess sometimes being associated with Venus, and his Sons being associated with Mercury, Mars, and probably also Venus at times. Two of these are inside of Earth's orbit, and so they cannot be present throughout the night - yet are quickly "vanquished" by the brightness of the sun, too.

Appearing at morning, they rise quickly from the horizon but disappear in the bluing sky. At evening, they appear early but no two can remain - only Mars, if that. Their brightnesses, colours, and speeds vary: Mercury dim but fast, Mars sometimes brash and faintly red. They never stay together for long. They are often found singly, and sometimes in opposite - some in the morning, the other(s) in the evening. As to Mercury and Venus, nothing else behaves like them, save perhaps an ominous comet rounding the sun inside of Earth's orbit.

This might help explain why these gods' myths often feature stories of how they are divided, or how they battle the gods of the sky or visit the underworld, how they are punished for their hubris or how they have to follow long, episodic journeys to return to their rightful homes. Think the separation of the twin Dioscuri, or the homeward journey of Máel Dún, Rama, or Odysseus. A whole category of myths concerns the young gods challenging their elders for a place or for dominance in the godly society. Only Mars can approach Jupiter for long at all, and rarely if ever (visibly) the Sun. The others are limneal, playing roles between pantheons of daytime-sky, nighttime-sky, earth, and water; realms that need these prime-mediators to interact.

Twins, Brothers, or just Close Friends

I don't have word-count or time to explain the entirety of the Divine Twin mythos as I see it: it's huge. And to make things more confusing, it draws from a pool of mythemes shared with a few other gods - there's a lot of overlap.

But there are two key traits that are commonplace to this god-type: Youth, and a Role as a Brother or Son. They're often defined by their position as sons or youths, relative to other gods, and they may also restore youth to others. Further, they usually have at least one close brotherhood relationship; literal or figurative. In fact, they can appear to be "everybody's son/brother"; I think that's key.

However, to that last point; this also makes them awkward to line-up genealogically, because nearly anyone could be their parent.. though it's usually a higher-aspect (e.g. Mars), or monarch-archetype (Lugh, Zeus). Curiously, the Warrior "Twin" can also simply arise from Earth, or from his Mother without a Father, like Mars or Typhon..

I've alluded before that I view one of the key Irish reflexes as being Aonghus - that's based on Taliesin's Map's work. But the other twin diverges from TM's model: Cúchulainn, hound of Ulster. These seem an odd pairing, but consider their social roles and arcs:

• Both are ambiguously "everybody's son" - literally due to ambiguous parentage, and figuratively because they're fostered by so many.
• Both have an arc where they must use their respective methods (guile or violence) to earn a role in the Sacred Feast of the Gods: Aengus by becoming lord of a Sidh mound and becoming a peer, and Cúchulainn by becoming defender of the sacred feasting hall after killing the previous one.
• Both continue to be defined by their youth, handsomeness, and virility, becoming ambivalent matchmakers or marriage-challengers: Aengus for Étaín & Midir or Diarmuid & Gráinne, and Cúchulainn for Fand & Manannán or Lugaid & Derbforgill.
• Both are very close to the Thunderer of their arc: An Dagda for Aengus, Fergus (seemingly An Dagda's incarnation) for Cúchulainn.
• Both are very close to the Fionn-type of their arc: for Aengus, Fionn mac Cumhaill comes over for dinner a lot (1); for Cúchulainn, this is foster-brother Conall Cernach.

Where they differ is in their approach and aspect: Aengus is a "Peaceable Trickster", using guile to achieve his ends, but he's proactive and helps others to solve problems. Whereas, Cúchulainn the "Honourable Warrior" solves nearly every problem with violence, but is very reactive and often requires cajoling to get things done.

In today's issue we're looking at Saint Cellach, and his brother Muiredach / Cúchongeilt, and we'll get to see aspects of both archetypes in action.

Sons of Eoghan - The Summary

Let's start with their father: Eoghan is a fierce Connaught king who's at war with Ulster and making it look easy. He defeats them at a great battle, but he's mortally wounded. Dying slowly, he has time to give clear instructions: of his two sons, Muiredach's too young, so they must go make Cellach be the next king.

Cellach is a monk at Clonmacnoise, under Cíarán. Eoghan's people cajole Cellach into quitting his monastic life to become king. He gives in, but Cíarán curses him for leaving, and declares that he'll die violently for breaking his vows.

Cellach is king for a while, but when rival Connaught king, Guaire (possibly originally Aillil (2)) betrays him at peace-talks and kills many of his people, he spooks and returns to monastic life under Cíarán, while his younger brother Muiredach becomes king. Cellach remains cursed to die violently, but quickly becomes a Bishop (which might just be hagiography-speak for "high god"). However, after a socially awkward encounter with Guaire he flees to an island somewhere and decides to be a hermit (relatable). His brother comes to him regularly for advice.

Guaire convinces Cellach's 4 monk-companions to murder him; easily, perhaps because of the curse. They drag him out into the wilds and trap him in a hollow tree. The next morning, they pull him out and slay him in a really interesting scene that appears very sacrifice-coded. Then they go off to become rich and idle under Guaire's patronage. Muiredach comes seeking Cellach, realises he's been abducted, and follows the trail.

But somehow to get to Cellach, he has to pass a martial test that seems curiously very like Sétanta vs. the hound of Culann, and he takes on a new name: Cúchongeilt. When he finds his brother's mutilated remains, he struggles to find somewhere to bury him, ultimately does with divine assistance, and then Swears Revenge! Only to wander off and not bother. He ends up idle at the King of Tara's residence.

His new wife there, Aífe, chides him for being a coward, so he Swears Revenge! and actually does it this time. He heads back to his own land, finds a friendly swineherd that helps him sneak into the tower of the four men who killed Cellach, and then has them killed in a scene of ultraviolence. He takes back the kingship of his part of Connaught, and engages in drawn out war with Guaire, seeming to have the upper hand.

Guaire eventually sues for peace with his daughter's hand in marriage, and then tricks Cúchongeilt into visiting his fort by leveraging the guarantees of Cúchongeilt's new wife and Cíarán of Clonmacnoise. The next bits are missing from the story, but are summarised: after Cíarán leaves, Guaire assassinates Cúchongeilt, but is subsequently ruined by the curses of saints Cíarán and Brendan for his betrayal.

Accessing the Sacred Centre

Both brothers act out their own versions of the "accessing the sacred place/company of the gods" myth that I alluded to above. This is the means for the "Young God" to access the society of the higher gods, through the metaphor of the Godly Feast or through access to the Ritual Space or Sacrificial Rite.

The Peaceable twin usually accesses this space using trickery and sponsorship: Aengus gains Brú na Bóinne with help from either An Dagda or Manannán, depending on the version, and verbal trickery. Cellach re-enters Clonmacnoise sneakily, with assistance of the other monks, and is re-admitted. The Peaceable Twin's role is either to become the equal of the other gods, as Aengus does, or to become a priest of the sacred space, as Freyr and the Ashvins do. In either case, the Doumézilian "First Function": King/Priest.

The Warrior twin seems instead to access the space as its new guardian (3): Rather than a Priest, this Twin fights to defeat the previous guardian, and takes its place - elevating them from youthful ignominy to the Warrior caste, the Doumézilian "Second Function". Sétanta kills the hound ("Cú") of Culann, and becomes its replacement "Cúchulainn". Just so, Muiredach faces a lake-monster that is guarding something:

The way that he took now was by the spot where the Congheilt dwelt, between loch Cuilinn and loch Con. To guard which Congheilt a raging beast opposed them, [..] killing nine of his people.

Who or what is the Congheilt? We don't know. But the raging beast is guarding them/it. Note "Loch Cuilinn", similar to the divine smith Cúchulainn takes his name from.. Anyway, after his comrade Conall chides him for cowardice, Muiredach kills the beast and gains his new name, Cúchongeilt. As if, like Cúchulainn, he has replaced the previous guardian of sacred space that he's just slain.. Also, note again that the Warrior seems to need encouragement or even shaming to act.

The God of the Sacrifice and Sacrificial Space

It's interesting that this challenge happens to Muiredach before he can find his brother's body, when Cellach's murderers were easily able to drag him out here before killing him; no monster got in their way. It's like the beast is guarding Cellach's Remains, in a way.

Cellach died in a strangely ritualistic, sacrificial scene, and his body becomes corrupting and kills any animals that eat of it. Muiredach finds it hard to bury him; he's refused the first place they try, and they need divine assistance to find a suitable place.

Perhaps Cellach has become a sacrifice, but because it was done evilly it's now profane, wrong. To even approach this sacred/profane space and sacrificial product, Muiredach must first be tested and take on a sacral role; but when he goes to bury Cellach he has trouble finding a place that his profaned body will be accepted. The sacrifice has been raised from the mundane, but is unacceptable to the divine: it's in limbo.

Taliesin's map explores this under his model of the "Vishnu Type", where this god can become the embodied sacrifice, but if killed wrongly or while in demonic form/role, their body can become poisonous. This is why the Aesir will not kill Fenrir; they're worried his blood will corrupt Asgard. There's a whole thing in Vedic/Hindu religion where an improper or profaned sacrifice can be dangerous, even to gods who try to consume it. Cellach's body does become corrupting, and the earth seems to be rejecting him, complicating his burial (4).

The Warrior Who Wanders, the Cathartic Murderer

The Twins may have an arc that's fully local to one place, or alternately can have what I call a "voyaging" arc, where they experience an episodic journey from place to place. It's often triggered by exile, and their return is frequently punctuated by ultraviolence.

Cúchongeilt goes on a fairly brief "voyage" arc; he goes to one place seeking burial for his brother, and shortly thereafter he goes to live at Tara and marries the king's daughter, Aífe (5). She chides him for cowardice after a while for not avenging Cellach, and he leaves her to go and do just that (never to return; she's abandoned (6)).

On arriving back in his lands, he meets a swineherd who offers his full support; giving him and his men pigs to eat, and helping him sneak into the fort in disguise. Finding his enemies in a drunk stupor, he has the swineherd bring his men in. They kill everyone, bring out the four killers of Cellach, string them up, and dismember them. I want to emphasise that, while beheading is common in Irish myth, punitive dismemberment is nearly absent - this is stand-out violence.

TM has argued that Odysseus and Diomedes are reflexes of the Divine Twins - Odysseus' return is marked by trickery and disguise, and then spectacularly cathartic ultraviolence against his guests, a shocking sin. A god even has to turn up and say "let this one slide". And that, for a mostly "Peaceable" twin.

Odysseus' most direct parallel in Irish myth, Máel Dúin, goes on a voyage seeking revenge, but it ends with him forgiving his enemies - possibly it used to be violent, like Odysseus and Cúchongeilt. Though, the ending of the exile/voyaging arc of Rama (A Vishnu incarnation with other Odysseus parallels) isn't gratuitously violent as far as I'm aware.

Anonymous Proxy Trickster

The dynamic of Cúchongeilt's swineherd-assisted re-entry to the fort also smacks of a low-budget Trojan Horse - a small group sneak in in disguise, then permit in the larger force that enables the conquest.

In fact, the Swineherd looks overall suspicious - he's just there, in the right place and time, to play the role of tricksy Odysseus. Cúchongeilt, more akin to Diomedes, would be unlikely to pull off the "Trojan Horse" trick by himself: he's the Honourable Warrior archetype.

It's as if Cellach's still with us, somehow. If we look at it like that, then it's interesting that this pseudo-Cellach is a swineherd - pigs being associated with another peaceable twin, Aengus.

The Dream Interpreter

A final note on the fate of Cellach and his murder: Taliesin's Map had a video some weeks ago about the "Joseph" myth of the Bible, and the "Trita" myth(s) of the Irano-Indian branch. See also, the fate of Palamedes.

I believe that the fate of Cellach is a related myth. He's a beloved "Young Son" archetype who's thrown in a "pit" (hollow tree) by his "Brothers", who plan to kill him on the morrow. He has visionary dreams that he interprets, to understand his fate. His killers are curiously accompanied by animals, and so on.

But, Cellach, like Palamedes, dies, whereas Joseph/Trita do not.. though Trita does end up directly in the company of the gods from the well where he's abandoned.. so perhaps there's an angle here where this murdered priest/ritual-expert leverages his own sacrifice to glitch his way into heaven? Maybe Cellach is the God of the "Any% Speedrun", then.

Oh and Fionn was there too

Worth pointing out that, among all the other parallels between Cúchongeilt and Cúchulainn, one of Cúchongeilt's closest friends is a guy called Conall. When Cellach dies, Muiredach announces that the only two who could bring him joy now are Gealgéis (his future wife) and Conall. Clearly they're very close.

Conall is a name of the Fionn-type, from what I can see - I'm planning an issue for Conall around May 20th, we'll go into it.

We also saw in the issue for Berach (a Fionn-type) how, when he's faced with a threat to his "sacred space", a different character with a suspicious name comes to defend it: Concennan, who addresses the threat with immediate, excessive violence.

Wrap-Up

Cellach is often though to mean "Church-Frequenter" ("Churchy"?) but according to Ó'Corráin & Maguire's "Irish Names" it probably means "Bright Headed". Muiredach means something like "King"; the prefix "Muir" looks to me like it could mean "Great" or "Sea". Neither name is in much usage as a given name, but Cellach as a family name is "Ó Cellaigh" or "Kelly", and Muiredach may be behind some forms of "Murray".

Cellach and Muiredach are associated with Killala, and his hermitage (near which he was murdered) was on an island in Loch Conn in Co. Mayo. There's also a Cellach in Glendalough and Armagh, but in both cases he's 'supporting cast', unlike Killala.

At the scene of Cellach's death, there are a number of animals named as awaiting a taste of him: A "Scallcrow" (Scald-crow?), a Raven, a Kite, a Fox, and a Wolf. A Wren is also mentioned as coming to "betray" him somehow. These animals probably, in my view, represented the gods turning up to the sacrifice (and dying of its profanity). There's also the Swineherd, of course: Aengus has clear associations with swine, and this swineherd might be a pseudo-Cellach, bringing that association forward after his death.

As to Cúchongeilt.. well, the clue is in the name. As with many other possible Warrior Twins, he is associated with the Hound, the Dog of War.

Footnotes

1. In upcoming issues for Conall and Moling I'll be exploring how it's likely that Fionn mac Cumhaill was, in fact, a foster-brother and spiritual brother of Aengus' (as Conall is to Cúchulainn). In fact, I think this brotherhood of the Fionn and Aengus/Cú types is found in other mythologies, also.
2. King Guaire is incongruous here - he's better known for being a Remarkably Nice Guy. Ó hÓgáin argues that this is an anachronistic version of an original myth, where (according to the annals) it would have been King Aillil. That makes more sense; people named Aillil are frequently plot-drivingly naughty.
3. TM models things quite differently to me on this point: he models around a "Vishnu Type" based on some of the traits of the Hindu god of that name. In his model, the Vishnu Type is simultaneously the sacrifice itself, and also the guardian of the sacrificial space. I model that the latter trait is the Warrior Twin, and that either twin can become identified with the "Sacrifice" itself; as Cellach does in his story. To me, Vishnu clearly has "Peaceable" incarnations also: e.g. Krishna, who really resembles Aongus.
4. There are other ways a body might become so deeply wrong. Éber Donn, in some accounts, must be buried offshore because of a pestilence, or rejection of the Earth goddesses themselves. This like like being "cursed", subtly different from "profaned" - Cellach shares the latter with Cían; both killed in a way that resembles a profane ritual, then rejected by the earth.
5. Aife is also the name of a woman Cúchulann defeats and becomes lover to. I suspect this is a Mórrígan name, specifically of Badb, the war & prophesy goddess (Gaelic Athena). There is lots of circumstantial evidence, I think, to suggest that the War Goddess was a part-time consort of the Warrior Twin in many mythologies.
6. Brehon law did actually account for temporary marriages when people were living as guests for a time. Practical!

Bibliography

• Ó'Grady, Standish (1892) Silva Gadelica (I-XXXI). London : Williams and Norgate. On Archive.org (open on Cellach) here.
• The same Life of Cellach, but on MaryJones (NB: several OCR errors)

Coming Up

• 6th May: Inghean Bhuidhe & Cróbh Dearg, Munster Mórrígna
• 16th May: Brendan, or Midir, the Moon-Immortality God
• 22nd May: Conall Caol, another epithet of the Fionn-type
• 9th June: Colmcille, Irish Brahma, "Oak King" of Cosmic Summer

Patterns in Celtic Comparativism, #14: Bealtaine, Festival of Summer

Of Ireland's "classic" fire-festivals, Bealtaine is the one to mark the beginning of Summertime. It's known in the Anglosphere as "Beltane", but it's pronounced quite differently here in Ireland; to an English ear "Bealtaine" would sound like "Byowl-tin'ye".

Summertime is a very fraught season: the grain crops have to last the whole year, so a good Summer can mean a comfortable year, a poor one means hard times. This was a time when people praised those who had made their stockpiles last until this point, or back-bit about those who hadn't.

This was the time for transhumance; women and children moving to uplands with the cattle, cold hearths of the upland Booley cottages being readied (sometimes with great ritual care) for Summer. This was the point where cows' milk and sheeps' wool could begin to be harvested from the animals; the beginnings of abundance. But, your fields had to be tilled and your crops planted. To be late was a bad sign.

Bealtaine shares many Fire-Festival traditions with Midsummer's Eve, including communal hilltop fires. The Bealtaine bonfires were viewed as sacred - hearths might be relit from it, and in some areas, the fires of Bealtaine should only be lit by a "Need-Fire" after quenching all the other local fires.

But, at home, Bealtaine was deeply individualist and even hostile to society. Households should refuse all requests of even the most trivial nature; to give even an ember of coal for a pipe risked losing all your prosperity for the year ahead. Anyone acting suspiciously on your land might be, no, was, out to steal your luck. Malicious charms were shared; never to be used maliciously of course, but only to know what a neighbour might be doing..

This seems to fly against the general theory about Festivals - cathartic times when the barriers of society and individualism collapse.. perhaps with Bealtaine, the "catharsis" was from the rules of neighbourliness - of assuming the best of people, of biting your tongue, of the pressure to be giving and kind. At Bealtaine you could accuse even the most wretched beggar of being secretly a malefactor out to steal your prosperity. And perhaps this catharsis enabled those better behaviours in the coming year?

I mentioned a link to the Mórrígan: well, I don't know why yet, but it's there. I'll provide some background and speculation on that in the next issue, on the other Munster Mórrígna, Inghean Bhuidhe and Cróbh Dearg.