Monaghan Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore
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Tegid Voel (Tegid Foel, Tegyd Foël) Welsh
god. This obscure god or GIANT was the consort
of the great HAG goddess, CERIDWEN; little else is
known of him, although the LAKE where the pair
made their home (now Lake Bala) bore his name.
teinm laeda (tienm laído) Irish ritual. The
ancient Irish form of DIVINATION called teinm
laeda seems to have been what is today called
psychometry—finding information from objects
by touching or holding them. A verse or incan-
tation may have first been recited, and the DRUID
employing this technique may have touched the
object in question with a wand of HAZEL or other
magical TREE.
Legend suggests that direct transmission of
information was also possible: Holding a bone,
the BARD Moén mac Etnae was able to discover
not only that it was the skull of a DOG, but also
the name of the deceased pet. Sometimes this
form of divination is associated with chewing the
thumb, as the hero FIONN MAC CUMHAILL did in
order to prophesy. The teinm laeda was prohib-
ited by ST. PATRICK, as was the better-known
trance method called IMBAS FOROSNAI, apparently
because both required a SACRIFICE or prayer to a
pagan god or goddess.
Telgesinus Welsh hero. In one Welsh text,
this name is given for the great BARD, TALIESIN,
who instructed the magician MERLIN in the
secret ways of the universe.
Telo Continental Celtic goddess. This name,
found on inscriptions to the HEALING spirit of
the SPRING at Toulon in the French region of the
Dordogne, is believed to name a goddess,
although Telo may have been a god.
Teltown Irish mythological site. On a farm in
Co. Meath, near the River Blackwater, a large,
long HILLFORT rises from a pasture. Nondescript
as it may be today, it was in ancient times one of
the most renowned sites in the land, for it was
there that the king of royal TARA presided over
the annual games in honor of the goddess
TAILTIU, who gave her name to the hillfort and,
even today, to the townland that surrounds it.
The games were part of the harvest assembly
called the Óenach Tailten, held on the Celtic
feast of LUGHNASA, the feast was named for
Tailtiu’s foster son, the god LUGH, who estab-
lished the games and the assembly in her honor
when Tailtiu died of exhaustion after clearing
Ireland’s central pasturelands.
Teltown was not only a site of games and trad-
ing; it was also the location for the so-called
Teltown marriages, trial marriages contracted at a
mound across the road from the main center of
activity. At this spot, long known as the Crockans,
stood a wooden door pierced by a hole through
which young couples held hands while plighting
their troth. If the match did not prove successful
within a year and a day, the pair could return to
the Crockans and undo the union.
Games at Teltown continued through
medieval times, and the assembly, was held until
the 19th century. Such continuity may have an
even longer history, for one of the earthworks at
Teltown, the so-called Rath Dubh (“black rath”)
may be built above a PASSAGE GRAVE; the site
may have been selected because it was already
sacred to the pre-Celtic people.
Source: Raftery, Brian. Pagan Celtic Ireland: The
Enigma of the Irish Iron Age. London: Thames
and Hudson, 1994, p. 82.
Temair (Temuir) See TARA.
temple Ritual structure. The Celts did not
erect buildings for worship as did their con-
querors, the Romans. They preferred to gather
outdoors in NEMETONS or sacred woods, where
SACRIFICES and offerings were made; on hill-
tops like UISNEACH and TARA, where great FIRES
were lit on festival days; and at holy WELLS
where such ceremonies as INAUGURATION
might be performed.
444 Tegid Voel
There is, however, some archaeological evi-
dence of buildings that are variously called tem-
ples or castles, which may have been used for
assemblies that included religious ritual. At the
first century B.C.E. British site called MAIDEN CAS-
TLE in Dorset, evidence of a circular building has
been found; since the circle had cosmological sig-
nificance to the Celts, this round building is inter-
preted as having a religious purpose. Similarly,
the remains of circular buildings have been found
in Ireland at EMAIN MACHA and DÚN Ailinne. At
Emain Macha there are indications of a central
post which may have represented the central
TREE in a grove. Despite such occasional finds,
there is no clear evidence that Celtic people were
generally in the habit of protecting themselves
from the powers of nature as they worshiped.
Tephi Irish heroine. This obscure figure
appears in the place-poetry called the DINDSHEN-
CHAS as one of the early builders of the ramparts
at the royal hill of TARA. She was an Egyptian
pharaoh’s daughter, a fierce warrior who was car-
ried away by Camson, an otherwise unknown
champion. At Tara, Tephi used her staff and her
brooch to trace the outlines of the great earthen
walls that were called, after her, the Rampart of
Tephi. She died in Ireland and was buried else-
where, possibly in Spain. The story may be a
reflection of the building of the capital of ULSTER
by MACHA, who similarly traced out its raths with
the pin of her brooch; alternatively, the story of
Tephi may have inspired that of Macha.
Tethba Irish goddess or heroine. This little-
known goddess was said to have given her secret
name to the lands she most loved, now parts of
Co. Westmeath in the Irish midlands. Such sto-
ries are typically told of the goddess of the land’s
SOVEREIGNTY, the consort of the king.
Tethra Irish hero. This obscure divinity is
called the FAIRY king of the OTHERWORLD.
Nothing is known of him except that he was a
member of the magical race called the TUATHA
DÉ DANANN, who were banished from the sur-
face world by the conquering MILESIANS after
losing the second battle of MAG TUIRED.
Teutates (Toutatis, Totatis, Teutate) Conti-
nental Celtic god. This god’s name appears to
mean “ruler of the people,” from the Celtic
word for “tribe,” which suggests an ancestral
god. Dedications to Teutates are most com-
monly found in Gaul, occasionally in Britain,
never in Ireland; he is sometimes connected to,
or considered an alternative form of, the god
COCIDIUS, while the Romans believed he was
similar to their warrior god MARS and to their
god of commerce, MERCURY. The Roman author
Lucan said that Teutates was honored by HUMAN
SACRIFICE, with the victims offered to him being
drowned on SAMHAIN, the feast of winter’s start
on November 1.
Teyrnon Welsh hero. In the story of RHIAN-
NON and her son PRYDERI, this is the name of
Pryderi’s foster father, who unwittingly saved the
boy from being devoured by a monster. Seeing a
huge claw descend from the heavens on BELTANE
night, aiming at a newborn foal, he rushed to its
defense. Slashing at the claw, Teyrnon caused it
to drop its burden: the stolen child, which
Teyrnon and his wife brought up as their own.
Them (They, Them Folk, Themselves) See
NAMES FOR THE FAIRIES.
thinness Cosmological concept. The Celts
believed that reality was not all the same every-
where. While common reality was opaque and
solid, there were also “thin places” where the
OTHERWORLD was near. These included FAIRY
TREES that grew alone in the center of a rocky
field; BOGS where people could be lost and
drowned; and ISLANDS that appear remote or
close according to atmospheric conditions. There
were also “thin times” in the year, turning points
at which Otherworld forces could penetrate to
thinness 445
our world, or dwellers here could happen into
that world. Although each day had a thin time at
twilight, there were two days every year when
time grew so thin that the two worlds collided:
the two Celtic feasts of BELTANE on May 1 and
SAMHAIN on November 1. The idea of thinness in
time and place may be connected to the belief in
SHAPE-SHIFTING, the ability to transform one’s
body into that of an animal, a plant, or even a fog.
Thirteen Treasures of Britain British
folkloric motif. Just as Ireland had four great
treasures brought from the OTHERWORLD and
signifying the SOVEREIGNTY of the land, so
British lore names 13 objects of Otherworldly
origin that reside in this world to betoken the
rightful ruler. The great king ARTHUR brought
them back from the Otherworld kingdom of
ANNWN. The treasures are: the sword of RHYD-
DERECH, which would burst into flame when
born by a rightful king; the bottomless hamper
of Gwyddno; the mead-dispensing horn of BRÂN
THE BLESSED; an impressively speedy chariot; a
HORSE-attracting halter; a knife that replenished
the food it carved; a CAULDRON that would not
boil food for cowards; a whetstone that sharp-
ened only the weapons of the brave; a coat that
only fit the noblest warriors; a crock and a dish
that served whatever the hungry desired; a self-
playing chessboard; and the mantle of invisibility.
thistle Symbolic plant. This prickly plant with
a soft purple blossom symbolizes Scotland; it was
believed to show the location of buried treasure
and of forgotten graveyards.
Thiten See MORGAN.
Thomas the Rhymer (Thomas Rymour,
Thomas of Ercildoune, True Thomas) British
hero. The most renowned visitor to FAIRYLAND
was the historical 13th-century poet, Thomas
Learmont, of Ercildoune on the Scottish-English
border. He attracted the attentions of a lustful
FAIRY LOVER, who stole him away (see FAIRY KID-
NAPPING) and held him a happy captive for seven
years. When it appeared he might be taken away
by the DEVIL to pay off an old debt of his mis-
tress’s, however, the fairy queen relinquished
Thomas to the human world. She gave him an
ambiguous gift: prophecy, without the ability to
lie, which caused Thomas no end of trouble
when he returned to earth. Some versions of his
story say that, at the end of his life, he returned
to fairyland, where he is seen by other visitors,
attentively at the side of his happy mistress.
thorn Symbolic plant. One of the most power-
ful and magical plants known in Celtic lands is
the thorn tree (variably species Prunus and
Crageaeus). The blackthorn (Prunus) blooms each
spring near the BELTANE festival on May 1; beside
its sweet white flowers are sharp, pin-like thorns
that can easily puncture flesh. The thorns limit
the usefulness of this tree, except as a CATTLE
hedge, but its magical use is significant, for the
tree protected humans against the FAIRY people.
It was hedged about with precautions to keep it
from losing that power; it was especially impor-
tant not to cut the trees on May 11 or November
11, for the trees would take vengeance against
the woodsman. The related whitethorn was sim-
ilarly a protective plant, but its wood had to be
kept out of doors, for fairies had extrasensory
awareness of its presence indoors and would
haunt the house where it was kept.
Hawthorns too bloom in spring, when their
pink blossoms are among the season’s most
extravagant. Bathing in the dew from hawthorn
blossoms on Beltane assured the seeker of per-
petual beauty. The tree was angry if cut, and
sometimes frightening animals emerged from an
injured hawthorn, chasing or injuring the wood-
cutter. Those who cut down thorns were espe-
cially prone to FAIRY STROKE, the paralysis that
struck when a fairy touched one’s flesh, however
gently. When the thorn appeared in a group of
THREE with an ASH and an OAK tree, that was
taken as a certain sign of fairy activity in the area.
446 Thirteen Treasures of Britain
Sources: Briggs, Katherine M. The Folklore of the
Cotswolds. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1974, p.
120; Spence, Lewis. The Minor Traditions of
British Mythology. New York: Benjamin Blom,
Inc., 1972, p. 108.
three Cosmological concept. The Celts, both
continental and insular, saw three as a significant
and powerful number; only FIVE appears more
often in mythological or ritual contexts. The
number itself was considered sacred, and any-
thing that appeared in three parts (see SHAM-
ROCK) represented this religious value. In Wales
a series of short poems called the TRIADS
encodes much mythological material; in Ireland
we find stories showing kings and heroes suffer-
ing the THREEFOLD DEATH.
Many Celtic divinities appear in triplicate, as
do the DEAE MATRES or MOTHER GODDESSES of
Gaul and the supernatural triple-horned BULL of
Britain. Triplicity seems, in many cases, a way of
intensifying the power of a figure. Although
goddesses are most often tripled (see MÓRRÍGAN,
MACHA, BRIGIT), gods are occasionally elevated
into a trinity; the continental god LUGOS appears
to be a tripled form of the god LUGH, and three-
headed figures have been found, although they
are not clearly male or female. In addition to
emphasizing a figure’s importance, the number
three has been described as indicating a com-
plete cycle: past, present, and future; mother,
father, and child.
The sanctity of the number three may have
represented, or been represented by, a threefold
division of social functions: the sacred, the warlike,
and the fertile. Each person in society had a place
according to the function he or she performed;
thus BARDS and DRUIDS may have been granted
more power than warriors and kings; goddesses of
SOVEREIGNTY would presumably have symbolized
the third function, as well as farmers and others
who created the abundance that society enjoyed.
Support for such an argument is found in tales
such as that of CESAIR, who arrived in Ireland with
only three men to serve her 50 women—a story
that incorporates the other most significant num-
ber, five, in expanded form.
Sources: Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 187; Green,
Miranda. Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious
Art. London: Routledge, 1989, p. 169; Powell,
T. G. E. The Celts. London: Thames and
Hudson, 1980, pp. 154 ff.
threefold death Celtic ritual. Although the
question of whether the Celts practiced HUMAN
SACRIFICE is not settled, there are evidences in
Irish myth of a kind of sacrificial death with
three parts—often stabbing, burning, and
drowning. (Another version of the threefold
death probably involved strangling, cutting, and
drowning.) At times, the various forms of execu-
tion were parceled out among the gods; thus
among the continental Celts, those sacrificed to
the thunder god TARANIS were burnt, those
offered to the ancestral god TEUTATES were
drowned, while those who went to the TREE god
ESUS were hanged.
In Ireland several texts refer to the threefold
death: MUIRCERTACH MAC ERC was wounded,
then as he tried to escape his burning house, he
fell and drowned in a vat of wine; the failed king
CONAIRE similarly was wounded, stricken with an
unquenchable thirst, then burned alive. A body
found in Britain’s Lindow
BOG (see LINDOW
MAN
) showed that the victim, who had a noose
around his neck, had his throat slashed before
being drowned in the bogwater. If, as some
argue, the Celts believed in REINCARNATION, the
ritual offering of a human life to attain a commu-
nity good, such as relief from plague or famine,
might have been seen as a noble way to die.
Three Sorrows of Ireland Irish mythologi-
cal tales. The three stories known by this name
are among the most poignant in Irish mythology.
They include the tale of DEIRDRE of the Sorrows
and her lover NOÍSIU, as well as his brothers, the
SONS OF UISNEACH; the slaughtered SONS OF
Three Sorrows of Ireland 447
TUIREANN; and the heroic girl FIONNUALA and
her brothers, the CHILDREN OF LIR.
Three Splendid Women Welsh heroines.
Three women of king ARTHUR’s court were known
in the Welsh TRIADS as the Three Splendid
Women. They were the faithful and challenging
ENID, the model wife; the helpful TEGAU
EURFRON; and the obscure but beautiful DYFR.
Tiddy Mun British folkloric figure. Those
who made their living from the now-drained
fens of England had a complex folklore that is
now regrettably mostly lost. Among the spirits
they believed lived in the watery fens was Tiddy
Mun (apparently, “tidy man”), a gentle white-
haired soul who protected those who cared for
the land. When the fen waters rose in stormy
weather, the fen people would pray for his inter-
vention: “Tiddy Mun! Tiddy Mun! you without
a name, walking lame, harm none, Tiddy Mun,
harm none, harm none.” With the draining of
the fens to expand agricultural land, Tiddy
Mun’s special habitat was lost, and he has not
been recently seen.
Tigernmas (Tiernmas) Irish hero. A quasi-
historical king of TARA, Tigernmas was a devotee
of the cruel god
CROM CRUACH; he also brought
GOLD-smelting to Ireland, thus establishing one
of its most important ancient industries.
time Cosmological concept. The concept of
time is not standard throughout the world; each
culture’s calendar reveals its values and philoso-
phy. To the Celts, each day began at sundown of
what we would consider the previous day, and
just as NIGHT preceded day, so winter preceded
spring, with the beginning of the year marked at
the feast of SAMHAIN on November 1. The year
appears to have been divided, not into four sea-
sons, but into the two seasons of summer and
winter; each of those seasons, however, was fur-
ther divided into two, a beginning and an end-
ing. A similar division has been found in some
ancient sources that suggests that each month
was divided into two equal parts.
The year’s 12 lunar months alternated
between 29 and 30 days. To reconcile this 354-
day calendar with that of the sun, a 13th month
was added every 2
1
/
2
years; at the end of two such
cycles—that is, every five years—the 13th month
was an occasion of celebration and sacrifice. Six
such five-year units, or 30 years, composed
something that Pliny calls an “age,” which may
have meant a generation. Time was linked to
history, which was important to the Celts, who
invested effort in memorizing long genealogies,
but there was also the OTHERWORLD, where time
and space were radically different from those in
our world and where the gods and FAIRIES lived.
Source: Brunaux, Jean Louis. The Celtic Gauls:
Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries. London: Seaby,
1988, pp. 45–48.
Tine Ghealáin (Jack-o-Lantern, Jack of the
Lantern) Irish folkloric figure. What is called
in other lands the will-o’-the-wisp, a light seen
over bogs at night, was said in Ireland to be a
lantern carried by a dead gambler doomed to
wander forever because, although his soul was
too stained to enter heaven, he had won his way
out of hell by beating the
DEVIL at cards. His
name was applied to the hollowed-out turnips
(in the New World, pumpkins) used at
SAMHAIN,
when the veils between the worlds were thin.
Tintagal Cornish mythological site. A
Norman castle on a steep headland overlooking
the Irish Sea, Tintagal is often described as the
site of king ARTHUR’s conception by his father,
UTHER PENDRAGON, upon his mother IGRAINE,
although there are other contenders to places
that contact for the same identification. The
castle dates to the 12th century, but there is
evidence of occupation at the site some seven
centuries earlier; even earlier, the territory was
known in the ancient world for its exports of tin.
448 Three Splendid Women
Near the castle itself is what appears to be an
INAUGURATION STONE: a small depression in the
rock called King Arthur’s Footprint.
Tir fo Thuinn (Tir-fa-Tonn, Land Under
Wave) Irish mythological site. One of the
many names given to the OTHERWORLD or
FAIRYLAND, Land Under Wave refers to the tra-
dition that LAKES and the ocean hide the route
between this world and the other. Stories of
cities beneath lakes or on the ocean bed, and of
MERMAIDS and MERMEN who live there, are com-
mon in all coastal Celtic lands.
Tir na mBan (Tir na Ban) Irish mythologi-
cal site. The Land of Women, one of many
names given to the Irish OTHERWORLD, seems to
have applied specifically to mysterious floating
ISLANDS where FAIRY QUEENS like NIAMH of the
Golden Hair reign. Such islands were famous, or
notorious, for the FAIRY KIDNAPPINGS that were
launched from their shores.
Tir na nOg (Tir Na n-og) Irish mythological
site The Land of Youth was one of the many
names given to the OTHERWORLD, often con-
fused or conflated with FAIRYLAND, because the
ancient gods called the TUATHA DÉ DANANN were
banished from this world and turned into
FAIRIES.
The name derives from the fact that no one ever
grows old in the Otherworld; instead its inhabi-
tants lead a charmed life, dancing and loving, eat-
ing from the endlessly fruiting trees and never
having to face death. Local legend around the
enchanted
LOUGH GUR claims that the entrance
to Tir na nOg is beneath the LAKE’s waters.
Tir Tairngiri Irish mythic location. The
Land of Promise was the domain of the beauti-
ful NIAMH, a FAIRY QUEEN who chose her lovers
from the human sphere and employed FAIRY KID-
NAPPING as a means of courtship. As daughter of
the ocean god MANANNÁN MAC LIR, Niamh lived
on a magical ISLAND that, like other areas in
FAIRYLAND, was ideal in all ways: perfect weather,
endlessly fruiting trees, beautiful people.
Titania British folkloric figure. In
Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, this
name is given to the FAIRY QUEEN. While the
name itself is not Celtic, deriving from a title of
the Roman goddess DIANA, the conception of
FAIRYLAND as ruled by such a regent is typical of
British folklore.
Tlachtga Irish mythological site and goddess
or heroine. Less known than the nearby hill of
TARA, Tlachtga nonetheless has deep mytholog-
ical significance as the site of the great ÓENACH
or assembly of SAMHAIN, the festival of winter’s
arrival on November 1. Now known as the Hill
of Ward and located near Athboy in Co. Meath,
Tlachtga is the site of impressive earthworks
from the Celtic period. Its significance lasted
into historical times, for in 1168, the high king
Rory O’Connor called together an island-wide
assembly there.
Tlachtga rises near the western edge of
Ireland’s central plain, called BREGA in early
texts, now covering most of Co. Meath. Like
other significant mountains in the midlands,
Tlachtga is not tall or striking, but its summit
offers a vista of almost half of Ireland. The
mythic hills of Tara,
SLANE, and LOUGHCREW are
visible on a clear day. A large series of earth-
works forming a circular
HILLFORT were likely
topped with wooden palisades to form a protec-
tive wall. Four large banks fan out from the cir-
cle, forming a shape similar to the Rath of the
Synods on Tara. Nearby are several WELLS, one
of which has the unusual name of DRUID’s Well;
it may be the source of the water known from an
ancient poem as one of the appropriate offerings
to the king at Tara.
Although not much attention has been paid
to Tlachtga by scholars and archaeologists, it
held considerable significance in ancient times.
Its curious name includes the word for “earth” in
modern Irish, tlacht, from which some have pro-
Tlachtga 449
posed a lost goddess of that name; the second
syllable appears to mean “ray” or “spear” (see
GÁE BULGA). Some ancient texts claim that the
hill got its name from a WITCH, daughter of
the magician MOG RUITH. In a confusing tale,
she is said to have traveled to Italy to study
with the great magician Simon Magus, from
whom she learned to make a flying wheel or
ROTH RAMACH, with which she was able to sail
back to Ireland. Somehow, the THREE sons of
Simon Magus tracked her there and raped her
on the hill that bears her name. There too she
died, in labor with the three sons of the three
brothers, and there she is buried. Like the par-
allel figure of TAILTIU, Tlachtga was honored
with a festival organized in her memory by the
god LUGH.
Sources: Gilroy, John. Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival.
Glanmire, Co. Cork: Pikefield Publications,
2000; Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical
Dindshenchas. Royal Irish Academy, Todd
Lecture Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and
Co., Ltd., 1906–1924, Reprinted Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic
Studies, 1991, pp. 187–191; Raftery
, Brian.
Pagan Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Ir
on
Age. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994, p. 82.
tober See WELL.
tochmarc See WOOING.
togail See DESTRUCTION.
Toice Bhrean Irish folkloric figure. In some
legends from near the enchanted LOUGH GUR,
this is the name given to the FAIRY HOUSEKEEPER
who sits at the LAKE’s bottom, knitting endlessly.
The name means “slattern” or “lazybones” and
refers to the story that the lake was formed (like
LOUGH NEAGH) when the assigned guardian left
the lid off a sacred well, which overflowed to
form the lake. For her lack of attention, Toice
Bhrean was condemned to spend eternity at the
lake’s bottom, beneath a magical tree that grew
there. Only once every seven years did she see
daylight, when the lake’s waters evaporated for a
few moments.
toili Welsh folkloric figure. Sometimes at
night, a funeral seemed to pass through a village.
All the villagers were visible, passing slowly and
mournfully behind a casket, headed toward the
cemetery, but all those villagers were really
tucked safe in their homes, for the spectral pro-
cession was the toili or ghostly funeral. Those
with SECOND SIGHT could sometimes see them
passing in the daytime as well. The appearance
of the toili was invariably a premonition that
someone’s death was imminent. It was important
to turn aside if one saw the toili pass, for anyone
swept up in its parade would die.
Tommy Rawhead (Rawhead-and-Bloody-
Bones, Old Bloody Bones) British folkloric
figure. Informants in the last century differed as
to where this frightening BOGIE lived, some con-
tending that he was a water demon who haunted
BOGS and other somber places, while others
believed he lived under stairs and in unused cup-
boards. The creature was ugly beyond words,
seated on top of a pile of bones with blood drip-
ping out of his mouth.
Tom Thumb British folkloric figure.
Although the tale of a man the size of a man’s
thumb only dates to medieval times, the motif of
tiny people is consistent with Celtic FAIRY lore.
Tom’s adventures took him to the court of king
ARTHUR at CAMELOT, where he arrived in the
belly of a SALMON which was intended for the
king’s supper.
toot mounds British mythological site. Many
round hills that can be found in the English
countryside go by the common name of “toot
mounds,” presumably related to an Indo-
450 tober
European real word meaning “to stick out”
which evolved into such words as “tit” and
“teat.” Because of their breast shape, some of the
hills were topped by pre-Celtic people with
CAIRNS to form nipples, reinforcing the idea that
the earth was seen as a womanly, probably
maternal, body. The most famous such hills are
in Ireland and are known as the PAPS OF DANU.
Tor British mythological site. Near the small
town of GLASTONBURY in southwestern England,
a strange pyramidal hill rises. Called the Tor, it
was renowned as an entrance to the OTHER-
WORLD and as the home of the king of FAIRY-
LAND, called in Welsh GWYNN AP NUDD. The
Celtic saint Collen met the FAIRIES and their
king on the hilltop, where he saw a beautiful
palace filled with dancing figures. When asked
how he liked it, Collen threw holy water at the
palace, whereupon everything disappeared.
The Tor is connected with many Arthurian
legends, for some contend that Glastonbury was
none other than AVALON itself, the Isle of Apples
where the great LADY OF THE LAKE conducted
ARTHUR. On the hilltop stands a tower dedicated
to ST. MICHAEL, who although a Christian figure
may have been absorbed into an earlier god or
hero; upon the tower is carved BRIGIT milking a
COW, an image that is also found in other
Glastonbury sites. The tower stands near an
Iron Age settlement, showing that there has
been continuous habitation in the area for more
than 2,000 years.
Beneath the hill are two
WELLS. One, the
famous Chalice Well or Blood Spring, has waters
stained with iron so that they appear RED as blood.
The other, the White Spring, has no such color-
ing. The presence of TWIN wells with waters of
different colors would doubtless have drawn the
attention of ancient people to this powerful site.
A figure of this name appears in Arthurian
legend as a common-born man who desired to
become a knight of the ROUND TABLE and who,
after succeeding in that goal, was revealed to be
the illegitimate son of king PELLINORE.
Torba See MURNA.
torc (torque) Celtic religious object. Through-
out the ancient Celtic lands, archaeologists have
found SPIRALS of coiled metal, often of GOLD and
often elaborately decorated. These torcs can be
massive or slender, and their use is made clear
from sculptures and bas-reliefs. They were worn
about the neck, with the opening facing to the
rear. However beautiful the workmanship, the
torcs do not seem to have been simply ornamen-
tal, for they are found around the necks of gods
and goddesses, as though indicating a divine
stature. Worn by humans, they may have had a
similar meaning—of religious dedication—or may
have been indications of high social rank. The
bodies of BOG PEOPLE are often found wearing
torcs, suggesting that they may have been HUMAN
SACRIFICES rather than criminal executions.
Torc Triath Irish mythological figure. The
king of BOARS, this figure is parallel to the Welsh
TWRCH TRWYTH; some texts say it was one of the
magical possessions of the goddess BRIGIT.
Torna Irish hero. A minor character in the
story of the great king of TARA, NIALL of the
Nine Hostages, Torna was a BARD who prophe-
sied a great future for the baby Niall and offered
assistance to his mother
CAIRENN.
totem Cosmological concept. This word is
used by scholars to refer to an animal (occasion-
ally, plant) believed to have been the ANCESTOR
or ancestral mother of a tribe. Because of this
ancient connection, the members of that tribe
were forbidden to kill or eat the flesh of their
onetime relative. Vestiges of such a belief system
are suggested by certain folk beliefs, such as the
supposed descent by some coastal Irish families
from SEAL women, and by mythological tales
such as that of the king CONAIRE, who was for-
bidden to kill birds because his mother was
descended from them.
totem 451
Toutiorix Continental Celtic god. Known
only from a single inscription, this god seems to
have been an ancestral god or personification of
the tribe, similar to TEUTATES. The Romans
identified Toutiorix with their healing god of the
sun, APOLLO.
transmigration of souls (metempsychosis)
Cosmological concept. Scholars do not agree on
whether the ancient Celts believed in REINCAR-
NATION, although there are some texts from
Roman times that appear to refer to such a
belief. Among those who do accept the idea,
most agree that humans were not necessarily
reborn as humans but rather experienced what is
called transmigration of souls, moving into the
bodies of various animals, birds, and even
insects. Irish mythology is filled with references
to such events, as when the fair ÉTAIN was
changed into a fly and impregnated her own
mother so that she could be reborn as a human;
the warring swineherds FRIUCH and RUCHT, who
were reborn as RAVENS and STAGS and BULLS;
and the great BARD TUAN MAC CAIRILL, who lived
as an EAGLE and a SALMON.
trash (guytrash) British folkloric figure. A
form of the SKRIKER, this evil being appeared
just before death as a shaggy DOG (trash) or a
COW (guytrash).
tree Cosmological concept. Trees were not, to
the Celts, merely large woody plants. They were
also religious symbols of the highest order. The
tree occupies many levels of reality, with its roots
hidden in the dark underground and its branches
reaching for the sky. For this reason, the tree
represented wisdom: In both Irish and Welsh,
the words for tree (fid and gwydd) and wisdom or
wise one (fios and gywddon) are related.
This sense of the sanctity of trees is recorded
by the earliest writers, for Tacitus describes the
dark groves of ANGLESEY, where the DRUID
orders made their last failed stand against the
invading Romans, while other classical writers
claimed that the Celtic NEMETONS or sacred
groves were horrific places where the trees were
stained with the blood of HUMAN SACRIFICE.
Whether this is true or represents anti-Celtic
propaganda, several sixth century B.C.E. sites in
Germany (at Goloring and Goldberg) seem to
indicate that shrines were built around a huge
central post, believed to represent a sacred tree.
The same building style was found in Ireland, at
the great capital of
ULSTER called EMAIN MACHA.
In addition, in some regions of Roman Gaul
have been found the tree-shaped JUPITER
columns, carved of stone but perhaps originally
made of wood.
Many tribal names on the Continent suggest
that people saw themselves as descended from
trees: Eburones from YEWS, Lemovices from
ELMS. Individual names, too, referred to trees, as
with Guidgen (“son of wood”) and Guerngen
(“son of alder”). In Irish mythology we find fig-
ures bearing tree names, like Mac Cuilen (“son
of holly”) and Mac Ibar (“son of yew”). All these
names suggest that the tree’s upright form was
seen as parallel to that of humans, so much so
that trees could establish human families.
Individual trees were honored into historical
times in Ireland. There, legend says that FIVE
great trees were especially magical: the Tree of
Ross, a yew that grew from a seed of a tree in the
biblical PARADISE, bore fruit without ceasing; the
Tree of Mugna, an OAK, produced 900 bushels of
acorns every year, as well as the same amount of
APPLES and nuts; the Tree of Tortu, an ASH, was
so huge that when it fell, it reached across the
island; the Tree of Dathi, named for a poet that
it killed as it fell; and the many-branched tree of
UISNEACH, which grew on the sacred mountain
in the center of the island. The trees were
planted by an otherwise unknown mythological
figure named Trefuilngig Tre-eochair, who car-
ried a branch from the land of the setting sun. As
he passed over Ireland, berries fell from the
branch, from which the five great trees all grew.
Medieval Irish law, called the BREHON laws
after the druidical judges who originally articu-
452 Toutiorix
lated them, treated trees like people by dividing
them into classes. There were seven noble trees,
for which fines or ÉRICS had to be paid if they
were cut down or injured; these were the oak,
HOLLY, HAZEL, apple, BIRCH, ALDER, and WILLOW.
Other trees had lesser value in the legal system.
These were the peasant trees (elm, hawthorn,
aspen, quicken), the shrubs (blackthorn, ELDER,
spindle, test-tree, honeysuckle, bird-cherry, and
white hazel), and the herbs (
GORSE, HEATHER,
broom, bog-myrtle, and rushes).
The most sacred tree was undoubtedly the
oak, which was honored by the druids, who also
believed in the magical potency of the MISTLE-
TOE that grows parasitically on that species. That
the Celts hung on to their sense of the sacredness
of trees long into Christian times can be detected
through the many and continued warnings by
Christian clerics and rulers against tree worship.
In the seventh century, the archbishop of
Canterbury pronounced that “no one shall go to
trees, or wells, or stones, or enclosures, or any-
where else except to God’s church, and there
make vows or release himself from them.” Were
people not using trees, along with holy WELLS
and ancient stones, as sites of prayer and petition,
there would have been no reason to inveigh
against the practice. Three hundred years later,
King Edgar felt compelled to “enjoin that every
priest to zealously promote Christianity and
totally extinguish every heathenism; and forbid
well-worshiping and necromancies, and divina-
tions, and worship with various trees and stones.”
In Ireland, COINS are still offered to sacred trees
(see BILE) at holy wells; the practice is discour-
aged—because metal pounded into the bark has
killed more than one sacred tree—but survives
nonetheless.
Sources: Clarke, David. Ghosts and Legends of the
Peak District. Norwich: Jarrold Publishing, n.d.,
p. 16; Green, Miranda. Symbol and Image in
Celtic Religious Art. London: Routledge, 1989,
p. 151; Hull, Eleanor. Folklore of the British Isles.
London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1928, pp.
118–135.
tree alphabet (Beth-Luis-Nuin) Cosmolog-
ical concept. The Celts arranged the most famil-
iar and valuable TREES of their lands into a series
that had mystical meaning and could be used for
DIVINATION. These formed the OGHAM alphabet,
each letter of which was named for a tree. The
ogham letters were drawn using a system of hor-
izontal and diagonal lines; the letters and sounds
these symbols stood for are represented below,
along with the tree that each letter was linked
with. The sound of each letter is the same as the
initial sound of the tree’s Irish name.
B Birch (beith)
L Rowan (luis)
F Alder (fearn)
S Willow (saille)
N Ash (nuin)
H Hawthorn (huathe)
D Oak (duir)
T Holly (tinne)
C Hazel (coll)
Q Apple (quert)
M Vine (muinn)
G Ivy (gort)
NG Broom/fern (ngetal)
STR Blackthorn (straif)
R Elder (ruis)
A Fir/pine (ailm)
O Gorse (onn)
U Heather (ur)
E Aspen (edhadh)
I Yew (ido)
EA Aspen (ebhadh)
OI Spindle (oir)
UI Honeysuckle (uileand)
IO Gooseberry (iphin)
AE Beech (phagos)
This alphabet has been the source of some
controversy, with some scholars dismissing its
importance, while others stress it. It was not
used as our alphabet is, as a means of transcrib-
ing literary works and other compositions for
later reading, but rather as a divinatory tool and
as a means of memorizing.
tree alphabet 453