Saint Ailbhe of Emly is a form of the God Ailbhe: a bringer of warmth and bounteous food, and a patron of harmony. Ailbhe seems to represent the beneficence of Fire: probably representing the Sun as the Celestial Fire. Like Fire, Ailbhe's also dangerous, in their way - and this is expressed in their incarnations as some of the world's most famous epic characters.

This issue is very late, because I entered into writing it with a false pre-conception, detailed below. Reading the Life of Ailbhe stumped me! As you'll see, my research brought me on quite a journey through various mythologies and epics. This one's a dense issue, I'm afraid.

NB: This god has a very ambiguous gender. They also routinely appear as female characters: this issue deals with masculine forms of the Archetype, but I plan to do Ailbhe's female roles, too. Even the male forms are often gender-nonconforming: So, I'll be using gender-neutral pronouns for Ailbhe the God.

Ailbhe, not Ailill

I began researching St.Ailbhe expecting that he was going to be a form of Ailill, a very recurrent character in Irish mythology.

Ailill is a Combat-Averse Trickster, resembling Cellach & Aenghus, but usually neutral-to-negative in portrayal. I think that some mythic characters tend to grow corrupt as their ending draws near (c.f. Lugh, Cúchulainn, Fionn M.C.), so I figured Ailill might be 'corrupt Aengus'. Ailill Aulomm (the most demonic Ailill) is even named Aengus, before his corrupting rape and murder of Áine.

Ailill also clearly aligns to Loki, and Loki's trickster nature darkens over time, too. Loki is clearly also a Fire God, unlike Aengus or Ailill.. but I wrote this off as an unusual fusion of two distinct gods.

Instead, I've come to realise that Loki's Fiery Trickster nature is very much a correct form of his archetype. The reason this hasn't been clear before is that they're intimately tied to several other archetypes. In fact, they seem to belong to a unified 'Higher Nature' - and within this union, they swap mythemes and attributes so freely that it becomes hard to see who's who.

Ailbhe, then, appears to represent this higher nature.. at least, during the daytime. Because part of Ailbhe and his lower expressions indicates that he's the Sun.

But isn't Lugh the Sun? Didn't you say Áed & Brighid were the Sun?

Shh, shh! I mean, ok - yes?

It's probably truer to say that Lugh's the King of Daytime, like Zeus. I think Áed/Manannán may be worldly expressions of Ailbhe. Brighid's..Brighid. Sun gods are a mess in every mythology.

Isn't Ailill A Demon?

J.Dolan of Taliesin's Map has previously modelled Ailill as a 'Demon of the Dark Age', alongside Norse Loki, Hindu Kali (not the goddess) and Duryodhana, and Greek Hector.

Given my early ideas about Ailill and Loki as mirrors of the Aengus-types, the 'Peaceable Trickster Son' archetype, this never sat well with me. But I can't deny that Dolan's correct about the parallels of Ailill and Loki and Kali.

But if Loki were merely a force of end-times, he'd simply not have saved the Aesir, repeatedly. Loki is one of the Aesir (yes), and he's on their side.. until he isn't. Ailills, too, are generally not presented as entirely apocalyptic - even the worst of them, Ailill Aulom, ends an 'epoch' by triggering a chain of events that destroy his own dynasty and kingdom.

I think 'Demon of the Dark Age' only truly matches Kali. But I believe that's due to a splitting-off of the harmful aspects from an originally dual-natured god, or from a pair or triple of gods understood to share an underlying nature. It seems to me that the main other side of Kali (besides fire-god Agni) is Vishnu, who contains the positive parallels to Aengus, as well as other dual-natured characters like Cúchulainn and Prometheus. Indeed, the Vishnu Purana even describes Kali's family tree as "the terrific forms of Vishnú" (h/t to Shane Gooding commenting on Dolan's videos).

Observe how, even as antagonists, they're members of the Godly Society. Loki is as much an Aesir (Norse God) as Óðinn. Kali is sibling to core Hindu gods. These aren't 'anti-gods' like Giants, Jotunn, Rakshasas, or Fomhoire. They must a core theological role.

It would be really helpful if we could see the 'higher nature' that connects the positive and negative forms of these deities. As it turns out, St.Ailbhe is just right! Let's get to know him a little.

(Underlined: traits or mythemes that I think cleave to this god; these may be inverted in negative forms of the god. When they repeat in other comparisons, I'll italicise for emphasis)

'Saint' Ailbhe

Ailbhe's mother conceives secretly by "Olc Náis" (1) in the court of a king, Crónán. Olc flees, and Crónán orders the baby exposed.

Ailbhe, left on a stone, is rescued by a Wolf who nurses him (giving him cryptic identity with a dog), then a herdsman, who gives him in foster to some "Britons". Palladius teaches him (2). He later travels to the mainland.

He begins a pattern of forging coexistence between wild animals and mankind. There's a myth of providing Horses, both to a King and also as prey for wild animals. He performs a miracle that brings down Solar heat from the Sun to people stricken by a terrible cold (cf. Sosruko, Cúchulainn). In fact, the heat turns the ground beneath to ash (nb: like a fire).

He visits "Bishop Hilary", and afterward he visits and upstages the current Pope (an episodic voyage). While chilling with the pontiffs, Ailbhe performs feats of harvesting, including one that shows again an association with Solar Heat. Several times, he makes it rain abundant food, including apples. The greatest of these occurs at the Feast of Peter & Paul, one of the (later) celebrations of Midsummer in Ireland, falling in the Dog Days of Summer. This time is a time of risk and want: the stores are thin, the crop isn't ready and could yet suffer disease.

Ailbhe leaves after becoming a Bishop. Angels ordain him; the Pope's afraid his hand will fall off if he lays it on Ailbhe's head (he's probably right: this God regularly removes hands from Solar Kings.. like fire?).

Someone gives him poisoned wine, but he pours out only the poison, which becomes a snake that bites the perpetrator (who he then revives).

Returning to Ireland, Ailbhe joins other Pre-Patrick Saints (Primordial Gods), even elected their leader, until he yields to Patrick. He has a special friendship with Déaglán, the Saint of The Dagda (friend of the Wind/Thunder God).

He gives livestock (sheep) to Brigit when she complains of having none.

Someone visits him meditating, and faints, intoxicated by his breath.

Another time, Ailbhe gives sanctuary to a Wolf, possibly his 'nurse'. He declares alliance to wolves because of their kindness to him.

Eventually, he boards a mysterious otherworld boat, returning later with a magical fruited (palm) branch, which is eventually returned to angels. It's implied he learns of his fate - and soon after he dies.

Ailbhe as Shadow-Cormac

Ailbhe starts out eerily close to Cormac mac Airt, which was a surprise. A transitory father, a paternal relative named "Olc", a prompt handoff to Wolves, returning to support a woman who has no sheep.. it's all very Cormac.

Cormac also gets a magic fruit branch from a seaborne character, Manannán - whose intoxicating apple-branch is given in a trick-trade that costs Cormac his family..it ends well, and Cormac keeps the branch 'til his death. Ailbhe just boards a boat and emerges with a Christianised near-eastern version.

Ailbhe's not Cormac, for all this. But Cormac and Ailbhe have brothers who might cryptically suggest one another: respectively, 'Alister' and 'Colmán'. Ailbhe being an illegitimate or lost rival-heir actually aligns well to figures I'll compare below. But this all makes me suspect Fire/Sun Trickster god Manannán is essentially the same as Ailbhe.

The Breath..

I find the "breath that intoxicates" very interesting. One of the curses upon Ailill Aulomm is that his breath becomes fetid. Yet Ailbhe's breath is sweet, intoxicating. Sacred smoke, perhaps.

I would interpret this as positive vs. inverted/demonic forms: Ailbhe's breath is intoxicating, Ailill's fulsome.

Other negative forms, such as Kali, are associated with the negative intoxication of drugs, gambling, greed, and lust. But intoxication is also sometimes sacred. It would make sense for a God of Intoxication to share this bivalent nature. And who's wife to Ailill mac Máta? Medb: whose name literally means "Intoxicating One" and who uses temptation to get her way!

Note the way that the soporific branch is used by Cormac; to avoid problems. He loses his family seemingly in consequence, as if it's a symbol of negative intoxication. But he keeps it after his lesson, indicating that intoxication has noble purpose also.

The Trickster of the Marches

Ailbhe's regulation of wild animals and association with apples and agriculture resembles another Solar Trickster, Cían.

One of the related deity parallels I'll explore below is Mars, who (prior to syncretism with Greece) may have been a much broader Vishnu-style deity covering the Peaceable Son (as Mars Quirinus) and also the Wildling Sage (as Mars Silvanus).

The Mirror-Moon

A Trickster of 'Vegetation' and 'Sacred Intoxication' also connects to Midir/Bréanainn, the Gaelic parallel to Soma/Dionysus - Moon gods of the Drink of Immortality. Indeed, Ailbhe, like Bréanainn, even visits the Land of Promise (as several others do).

The ophidian traits of Ailbhe/Ailill (and co.) suggest another key symbol of immortality: the snake. Loki is also connected to the Immortality-Apples of Iðunn, both losing and rescuing them.

In fact, given the strong connections between the Solar Trickster and the Solar Warrior Son, I've come to believe that the Moon God and the Aengus-type Peaceable Trickster Son may be their nocturnal parallel. But that's another issue!

Let's examine that Solar Warrior/Trickster duo. These two are, it turns out, so closely connected that they draw from a shared pool of mythemes and traits. Without knowing this, they are very easily missed or confused.

Connections to the Warrior..

Ailbhe connects Agriculture, the Wilds, and Canines. Those traits sound like Mars!

Wolves are sacred to Mars, and his sons Romulus and Remus are nursed by a wolf. Mars is associated with Agriculture and also bears the epithet "Silvanus", matching Gaelic Cían/Coemgen.

Mars isn't outwardly 'fiery', but the demonic character Typhon certainly is - becoming a source of volcanic/chthonic heat when buried alive underground. Why mention Typhon? Because he and Mars (and Greek trickster fire-god Hephaestos) have the same mythic origin.

Mars is born to his mother without a father. Juno conceived him as revenge on Jupiter, who birthed Minerva without her. The parallel myth in Greece, meanwhile, is of Hera vengefully creating Hephaestos and Typhon (a destructive, fiery demon). For Typhon, a motif of being 'Earth-born' (3) can easily be aligned to Sosruko (below) and even Ailbhe. And I think that's no mistake - if we understand these three as deeply related archetypes.

Mars (as we now understand him) isn't a Trickster. He's primarily a warrior associated with battle. His Greek counterpart Ares is associated with the savagery of battle.

The Trickster parallel of Ares (Mars) would superficially seem to be Hermes (Mercury), but I contend that Hephaestos is the closer match. These two have a love-rivalry over Love/Dawn goddess Aphrodite in which Hephaestos invents the net to snare and expose the lovers Aphrodite and Ares to ridicule. Loki alludes to a parallel in Lokasenna, wherein Freyr and Freya are found in flagrente and laughed at by the Aesir. It's unclear if Loki did this, though Loki did invent the net..

Hephaestos binds Ares - in fact, Ares is bound or contained multiple times. J.Dolan connects this mytheme to Typhon and Cúchulainn, both of whom are bound/contained to control their rampages and in their final death/defeat myth. Typhon's binding brings subterranean heat and implied seismic activity (matching Loki).

Hephaestos also has weak legs. 'Below the waist' seems to be a weak spot for characters in this loose group: Achilles, Ferdiad, Sosruko as warriors, and Duryodhana, Hephaestos as tricksters.

Hephaestos undermines the marriage of Ares' daughter Harmonia, and her descendents, with a cursed gift, eventually leading to a dragon-slaying myth. Loki has a corresponding myth when he gives Hreidmar the cursed ring Andvaranaut, which triggers a dragon-slaying and subsequent cursing of descendents.

So, the above is all to say: Mars isn't our Lokean Trickster, Hephaestos is. But, there's huge overlap between the Solar/Fiery Warriors and Tricksters.

Syrdon & Sosruko

Syrdon is the shape-shifting antagonistic trickster of the Ossetian Demigods, the Narts. He's without a known father, and is thought to be a master of wild animals in some way. His dog leads others to his hideout (cryptic dog identity).

Warrior-Trickster Sosruko is born from a stone (like Ailbhe, Typhon), of uncertain paternity, and raised by Satana, the Nart all-mother. He tells her his food ought to be given to a guard-dog (cryptic dog identity) - she understands that he wants to be a guardian. As a boy he serves the Smith-God, and at a feast he wins agriculture and a right to hunt (wilds-regulation) from the gods, for mankind.

The Smith forges Sosruko to make him invulnerable, quenching him in Wolf's-Milk (invulnerability by immersion). But, his legs are left vulnerable. Sometimes, this is Syrdon's fault. Sosruko's also an Aengus-type Trickster. In fact, he's even the Fire-Thief, and his conflict with a One-Eyed Giant to win Fire closely resembles Odysseus and Cyclops.

Later, Syrdon encourages a sentient chariot-wheel to defeat Sosruko in a triple attempt defeat resembling the death of Cúchulainn, hitting his one weak spot. So, he's defeated by a solar symbol; Cúchulainn is killed by Solar-King Lugaid, and Typhon by Zeus.

Sosruko is buried alive underground. His bound passion brings the heat of spring/summer to the Earth - resembling Typhon/Loki.

Loki & Baldr

Fiery Trickster Loki is one of the Aesir (the Norse Gods), and close to Óðinn and Thor. As "Lóðurr", he is one of the gods who shapes humanity, giving 'Blood and Goodly Hue'. As he turns against them, he causes the death of the invulnerable warrior, Baldr, and insults everyone (except wind/thunder god Thor) in Lokasenna.

Baldr has a warrior-name. His iconography is highly solar, like Cúchulainn. Because of a prophesy, his mother makes him (almost) invulnerable (c.f Achilles). When Loki learns of this, he exploits a blind dupe named Hoðr to shoot at the warrior's weakness, killing him. Ailill does the same to Fergus, though Fergus is a distinct Warrior archetype: the Wind/Thunderer.

Loki's children include a Wolf, a Serpent, and a Horse. His son Fenris is bound, and in so doing removes the Solar King Tyr's hand.

Loki is punished by being bound underground beneath a Hot Springs, he's tortured by venom from a Snake, and his struggles bring earthquakes.

So that's two Tricksters now who slay invulnerable heroes, hmm. But the Warrior/Demon is the subterranean heat sometimes, while the Trickster takes this role in others.

The Trickster doesn't always antagonise Warriors - in many epics there's a matching Solar Warrior allied with the Trickster, in opposition to the "main" Solar Warrior, with the two contrasting in nobility. Let's look at Paris & Hector of Troy, and Bres mac Elathan. Credit again to Taliesin's Map for many of these alignments.

Paris & Achilles

Paris is a prince who's exposed as a baby, then nursed by a bear and fostered by herdsmen. They feign his death with a dog's tongue, and in some versions his mother later becomes a dog. So, he's a son of a bitch. (Sorry! Sorry..)

He's beautiful, and the goddesses love him, especially Crypto-Dawn-Goddess Aphrodite. She sets him up with her incarnation, Helen (wife of Lugh-type Menelaus). By now, he's a Prince, so this brings war.

Achilles is a glory-seeking warrior fated to die young. His mother makes him (nearly) invincible, by immersion. He's impetuous and brings wanton violence and desecration. He has only one martial rival: Hector.

Hector (Paris' brother) is noble and peace loving but fights when he must. Hector yields to Wind-God Ajax, like Cúchulainn and Fergus or even Loki and Thor. Compare to the nobler, battle-reluctant Ferdiad, who has invincible skin except his anus: like Hector, his body is destroyed and he is greatly mourned.

Bres the Beautiful

Bres is the love-child of the Earth (Ériú) with a Solar god, Elatha. He later learns his heritage. He marries the Dawn Goddess Brighid.

Bres counsels peace with the Fir Bolg - he's peace loving. He later surrenders immediately to Lugh on two occasions, resembling Paris' avoiding combat with Meneleus. Oddly, prior to his kingship, he behaves with greater valour - as if he's a Warrior and Trickster composite, like Sosruko.

He's notably beautiful, having the favour of the godesses, who elect him king. His misrule creates want and discord, and his refusal to honour his word leads to war, as with Duryodhana (Kali) in the Mahabharata (evoking Paris' refusal to return Helen).

After the Tuatha Dé under Lugh win the war, Bres is spared in exchange for the secrets of Agriculture. Pardon, what? Since when is Agriculture his whole domain? This brings us back to Ailbhe, whose mythic payload is 30% food and agriculture.

Other Epics

Bres lacks a Warrior Son Counterpart, and the Tuatha Dé also lack a clear Warrior Son at this stage (if we rule out Lugh: he's the Solar King). We only have a compressed version now, of what is thought to have once been a rich tradition.

The Ulster Cycle, meanwhile, is a full epic - but features a number of switcheroos, and the explanation wouldn't fit in this issue. In brief, Ailill & Medb are together the Solar Tricksters, Ferdiad their Near-Invincible Nobler Warrior, Cúchulainn the psychotic, glory-obsessed, fated-to-die Solar Warrior who emits great heat, and Fergus the parallel of Ajax who yields to/from the enemy Warrior Son. Later, Ailill tricks a blind dupe into slaying Wind/Thunder character Fergus. In death, Cúchulainn removes the Solar King's hand.

Regarding the Mahabharata, I differ from Dolan in how I read Karna and Duryodhana. Dolan found that Karna has an identical birth myth to Bres - uncannily so. This suggests alignment with Paris. But Karna is mostly, thereafter, the Warrior type who craves glory, and his death myth matches Cúchulainn's - so Karna seems to match Hector. His comrade Duryodhana, meanwhile, has a jar-born motif kinda like an "Earth Born", is an incarnation of Kali, generally avoids combat, and prefers underhanded tricks.

Yet Duryodhana later becomes invulnerable above the waist, and nearly defeats Wind God Bhima, before being slain by him when Bhima exploits his weakness, as hinted by a Protagonist-Trickster - Krishna. This resembles an inverted form of the Ailill-(blind dupe)-Fergus pattern.

Interestingly, in some versions wind/thunder character Ajax slays Paris after being first fatally shot by him, which resembles how Fergus survives Ailill's proxy-spear long enough to throw a spear back at him (missing, sadly). So that would be 3 cases of the Trickster directly battling the Wind God and being killed or nearly killed in turn.

It's All Just Entertainment..

When they occur as a trio, one Warrior is often presented as savagely, destructively violent: e.g. Achilles, Cúchulainn.

The other, in contrast, appears more noble, sometimes Peace-Loving. This seems to undermine the idea that Cúchulainn/Achilles' excessive violence simply express bronze age ideals, because their glory-seeking violence and tendency to desecrate is played clearly against a sympathetic foil.

A Confused Trio, A Higher Order

By now I hope it's clear that these three archetypes, the two contrasting "Warrior Sons", and the "Fiery Trickster", freely swap myths around. Usually, gods only swap so freely when they share an underlying nature.

I think the contrast of the positive Ailbhe against his problematic tripled epic form reveals a lot. Ailbhe is:

• A bringer of abundance; alleviating want/lack (desire?)
• A leader, but willing to yield or step aside when appropriate
• A purifier of poison, a sacred intoxicant
• A Peacemaker of the 'Savage' Wilds and Civilisation
• Like orderly fire, giving heat freely, dangerous if mishandled but not malevolent

But in the epics, we seem to see the consequences of the harm done by his antitheses:

• Their covetousness and refusal to yield vs. the Lawful Sovereign creates war.
• Various Intoxicants motivate discord and wrongdoing on all sides; wrongful sex, drugs, gambling, glory-seeking.
• Chasing glory, they leave devastation and desecration in their wake.
• The "Civilised" or "Peace-Loving" warrior often dies in desecration - maybe representing the loss of honour in war.
• The buried fire brings earthquakes and chthonic heat, often in problematic form such as volcanoes.
• Usually, the outcome of these wars is tragic and unsettling; a pyrrhic victory at great moral and human cost.

And so, Ailbhe's nature appears to bring harmony.

The True Celtic Vishnu?

The broadest parallel I can see to a positive god who encompasses the above traits is, indeed, Vishnu. Vishnu's interventions are generally to restore harmony to a suffering world.

If we take Kali as the "Fearsome Vishnu", then with Vishnu we can see the outline of a god who encompasses positives and negatives of the Warrior and Trickster. One associated with bringing peace (by force if necessary), while trying to stay Civilised, Noble. When mankind falls short in some way in this balance, it brings discord, corruption.

Ailbhe finds expression in Cúchulainn, in Aengus, in Ailill, and possibly in Áed and Manannán. Many of thse are sons of the main Sky-god, An Dagda. And the friendship of Ailbhe and Déaglán (An Dagda), like that of Hector & Ajax, hints at some deeper connection there, too.

There's much more comparison to make: in the ways that Prometheus matches Fire-Thief Sosruko, but also Enki and Vishnu as a Deluge-Saviour. Or, the ways that Prometheus, Loki, and Enki are all trickster-gods who co-create Mankind.

Wrap-Up

Ailbhe is still a name in use for Boys (esp. as "Alby") and Girls, though moreso the latter.

Animals for Ailbhe include a bit of horses.. but much moreso it's Canids (like the Warrior) and Serpents (shared with Fionn). In Gaelic legend, the Serpent may be substituted by Fish, Eels, or possibly long-necked birds like Geese.

Time-periods to consider include the "Dog Days" of Summer and the corresponding star Sirius, also called the "Dog Star". Ailbhe's feast falls within these Dog Days. Sirius is AKA "Loki's Torch" and is poetically associated with Achilles in the Iliad.

Footnotes

1. Superficially meaning "Badness of Assembly", but "Olcan" has been speculated to be cognate with the name of fire-god "Vulcan"
2. Palladius is actually a historical missionary to Ireland, yet is almost never mentioned in the Hagiographies.
3. In some versions Gaia is Typhon's mother, in still others Hera incubates him in the earth. I've previously modelled Hera as a Cosmic-Water-Goddess, with links to Gaia).

Coming Up

• Sep 25: Fionn Bharra, a fairly clear Fionn-type among a cluster found in Britain and Brittanny.
• Oct 12: Diarmait, a face of the First Ancestor and God of Death, maybe prior to his demise.
• Oct 27: Abbán, a charmingly obvious form of the Waters-God Ler, therefore perhaps Nuada..

---