Gaulish Polytheism in the woods of Florida
Segomâros Widugeni is a well-known leader in Gaulish Polytheism, having been practicing for almost two decades, and in other related communities for more than 30 years. He is a comoderator of the Gaulish Polytheism Community on Facebook, as well. He has been active in the Celtic Reconstructionist group Imbas, and the Druid group Ar nDraiocht Fein. He is also the author, under the name Aedh Rua, of the book Celtic Flame, on Irish Polytheism. He hold two Master’s Degrees, in 20th Century German History and Library Science, and speaks two Celtic languages, one of them very rusty. He lives with his wife, who has her own careers, in the woods of rural Central Florida.
Here are a few invocations, in Gaulish and English, to enable you to call on the Dêuoi. To Cernunnos: Gediyins gwuyûmi Eti woxtlus wegyûmi Carnonon wediûmi Tigernon Caiti Dîclâwetos Cingi Dêwos Arelayetyo Marwon Eti detyo ulânon Yo dîclâwetis Cingon Dêwobo, anson gediyins Dêwobo beretyo. Prayers I pour out And words I weave Carnonos I invoke The Lord of the Wood The Opener of the Way The God Who Guides the Dead And gives prosperity That…
Driving west over the Whitehair Bridge, across the Saint John’s River, there is an abrupt transition from restaurants and marinas to deep forest. The trees are suddenly dense, the ground marshy, dotted with pools of water. Down there, a few feet north of the bridge, on the west bank, where the forest is deepest, there was once a town called Crow’s Bluff. It lasted from the 1870s to the 1930s. They finally took out the…
This is an outline for a possible reconstructed Gaulish ritual system, adapted to modern circumstances. The basic sources for this are Indo-European ritual, as reconstructed by Ceisiwr Serith and others, Greco-Roman sacrificial custom, modern Druid ritual, and the rituals of related cultures like the Germanic and Baltic peoples. In addition, it is influenced by what can be learned from the archaeological record. It is designed for one-person or small-group indoor rituals, and so is missing…
Nemeton was the Gaulish term for a sacred place, a sanctuary.1 The term is probably derived from: Nemos: Heaven, Sky2, though even the earliest Nemetâ have pits and other elements suggestive of Underworld connections. Elements of a Nemeton: Nemetâ were built over the course of many centuries, and so have diverse designs. One of the more common designs is the Belgic type of sanctuary, typified by such Nemetâ as Roquepertuse, Gournay, and Ribemont.3 Some of…
I. Talamonodêwoi: This term is again my own coinage, from “talamon”, meaning “ground, earth, soil”, and “dêwos”, meaning “deity, spirit”. The Talamonodêwoi, then, are the “Earth Deities”, another word for the Land Spirits. There are few actual examples attested, though there must have been more. A couple examples we do have are listed below: A. Dusioi: Destructive forest spirits rather similar to the Greco-Roman satyrs, the Dusioi caused damage to orchards and crops, and came…
The Matres are an important type of female local or tribal deity found across the Gaulish-speaking world. Their iconography is distinct, and so they must be treated as different from the other types of local Goddess. This iconography suggests that they had connections to fertility, plenty, and fate. Some modern Germanic Heathens treat them as related to the Germanic Idesa, deified female ancestors, and I think there may be something to this, though it doesn’t…
