Animal lore explains the saying that children can be ‘licked into shape’. It was once believed that bear cubs were born formless and were literally licked into shape by their mother. Shakespeare knew of the belief, for in Henry VI the crippled Duke of Gloucester is...
Folklore
Bee
In early traditions bees were believed to have originated in paradise and were known as “little servants of Gods”. In Celtic lore bees have a secret wisdom derived from the Otherworld. It was considered bad luck to kill one. In Wales a bee buzzing around a...
Crow
‘Crow’ really means a family of closely related carrion-eating birds including the rook, raven, and carrion crow. One of the Goddess’s archaic forms, the crone Coronis, was a ‘crow’ who was transformed into the virgin mother of the...
Cuckoo
Cuckoos were thought to bring fine weather, although in Yorkshire it was said to be a sign of rain if they called repeatedly. They also brought good luck or bad luck, depending on what the hearer was doing on hearing the first call of the season. In Wales, it was...
Curlew
Sailors dreaded the melancholy cry of a curlew, for they believed that it was a warning from a drowned friend. In parts of Scotland the bird is called a whaup, and it is associated with a long beaked goblin who carries of evil doers at night.
Dog
The dog or hound has ever been a faithful servant of humanity and this is reflected in British myth and folklore where the dog is frequently one of the helping animals of the hero’s search. Arthur’s Cabal is one such dog, and Fionn’s Bran and Sceolan...
Birds
Birds serve throughout the entire Celtic tradition as symbols of divinity and as messengers and servants of the gods. There was a Celtic belief in malevolent otherworld flocks of birds, which came to bring harm and destruction to villagers in closely regulated season,...
Blackbird
The blackbird has ever been one of Britain’s most melodious songsters and this is doubtless why the Birds of Rhiannon are said to be three blackbirds: they sing on the branch of the everlasting otherworldly tree which grows in the centre of the earthly paradise....
Boar
Brahan Seer. The wild boar, once commonly hunted throughout the British Isles is now only to be found in remote areas of Europe. The ferocity and cunning of the animal made him a dangerous quarry, yet the art and literature of Celtic peoples attest to his importance...
Bull
Originally the lunar symbol of the Great Mother with the horns representing the Crescent Moon, the bull later came to represent the Sun Gods. However, it was often still connected with a Moon Goddess such as Cybele or Attis.