Samhain, the astronomical moment of liminality, is drawing closer. Although Halloween will be celebrated on the 31st of October, the anciently acknowledged changing of the seasonal year will not occur until November 6th. This is the last of the 4 cross-quarter days and the mid-point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice.
For others, Samhain represents a period of time and pathway into the dark half of the year. Many astronomical calendar functions have been preserved within the construction of ancient monuments and stone circles.
These attributes demonstrate stellar,solar and lunar alignments at the culmination points of the year. We will then witness the arrival of the Cailleach and, depending on how well prepared we are, she will either be a welcome visitor or a force to reveal our lack of attention to the darkness ahead.
The Cailleach is the ruler of the winter and the wilds until she gradually gives way to the Brigid and Spring.
At least, that’s one version. The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas examines other similar and older parallels. What you very quickly begin to realise when researching the Cailleach is that she has many incarnations and as many names as interpretations.
Some of these are simply down to evolving cultural traditions but there are deeper layers and older masks to be removed before understanding the ancient roots of this sometimes intimidating Goddess. The Cailleach is equated with the ‘Hag’ aspect of various Goddesses extending from the Gaelic cultures into deeper antiquity. While Neo-Pagans, in particular, often acknowledge a triple Goddess consisting of the maiden, mother and crone, there are older mythological and spiritual traditions which incorporate a triple deity outside of this more recent template.
Examples of Mother Goddesses who are associated with the ‘Hag’ and ‘wise-woman’ include Hecate, Hera, Minerva, Kali (The Destroyer) and Nana. There are also fragments of what appear to be more obscure Goddesses sometimes glimpsed through shared motifs and folk stories hiding within the Cailleach archetype.
The Cailleach is the winter Goddess. Her voice is the wind across mountain crags as well as the barely heard tremble of new frost forming in the most desolate and wild places. It is here in the stripped and bare landscapes that her words are most easily heard. Her voice, though, is not mournful or sad, but instead is more attuned to poignancy and introspection. She is the archetype of the inner self and the one who reveals to us the result of all we have gathered and become. This, more than any other reason is perhaps why she is so respected and feared: she is in many ways our own self-created destination. (C.) David Halpin.