Numbers played a very important part in Celtic mystical thinking. The number five represented the world - north, south, east, west and center. But the number three was paramount.
The
mystical
quality
of
three
was
reflected
in
the
three
tiers
of
the
universe
-
Heaven,
Earth
and
Otherworld,
or
sky,
earth
and
sea
-
and
the
three
types
of
being
who
inhabited
the
cosmos
-
mortals,
deities
and
the
dead.
Celtic
society
also
seems
to
have
had
three
main
strata:
warrior-aristocrats,
druids,
and
craftsmen,
a
broad
category
that
included
farmers
and
bards
(Celtic
poets,
composers
and
singers).
Also,
the
festival
of
Samhain,
a precursor
of
Halloween
(October
31-November
1)
was
a time
when
the
frontier
that
normally
separated
the
supernatural
and
natural
worlds
temporarily
disappeared,
was
celebrated
on
the "Three
Nights
of
Samhain".
Numerous Celtic deities possessed three manifestations, and images of such triple beings have been found all over the Celtic world. Among them are the Genii Cucullati ("Hooded Spirits"), fertility spirits which are depicted wearing long hooded capes. They are often found in the company of the triple mother goddess.
Celtic mother goddesses are very commonly shown in groups of three, which the Romans called Matres (Mothers) or Matronae (Matrons). Each of the figures in the triad represented a different aspect of the goddess, such as youth, maturity and old age, or birth, life and death. A trio of mother goddesses known as the Suleviae and associated with healing was worshipped as far apart as Hungary and Britain.
The triplication frequently implies great potency - very literally in the case of one statue of a Gaulish god. Identified with the Roman Mercury, who is depicted with three phalluses. Many images of three headed gods and animals also occur, and Gaulish depictions of triple-horned bulls have been discovered by the dozen in many parts of France.
One of the most important Celtic concepts was the trinity of king, sovereignty and the land. Sovereignty was often personified as a powerful female deity, such as Queen Maeve of Connacht who was probably a fertility goddess in origin. She is sometimes said to have been the lover of three times three kings.
In Celtic myths, unusual phenomena tend to come in three. The Mabinogion relates how, in the time of King Lludd, Britain suffered from three plagues, and the same work also refers to the "Three Happy Concealments", "Three Unhappy Disclosures" and the "Three Men Who Broke Their Hearts With Worrying".
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The
Early Celts:
Sacred Numbers
Part
Three of
a Series
by Elder
Bob Bassler