The Deities in Context
This page shows my personal understanding of the gods that are part of my practice. There are many others. I recommend taking a look at the resources page and reading some of the links and books recommended there for Gaulish religion, praying and researching, and forming your own opinions. My opinions are good for me, and I certainly think them valid, but may not be right for all worshipers! And of course nothing I say is absolute truth; I am just an independent researcher. These are the gods that I worship in my practice, but Gaul has hundreds of deities, so don't stop with this list.
As with all things, take what I say with salt, and keep checking back, as I will update and edit this page regularly.
As with all things, take what I say with salt, and keep checking back, as I will update and edit this page regularly.
The Gods
Arduinna - "Wooded Height". Woodland goddess; hunter; associated especially with heavily forested mountains and the Ardennes in particular (which once covered half of the entirety of Gaul); shown riding a boar. Assimilated with Diana.
Artio - "Bear". Bear goddess; associated with fertility, especially with apples and perhaps orchards; either a goddess of the wild who is a bear or a goddess who mediates with the wild from a position of cultivation. Personal theories: Possibly a guardian figure; perhaps also concerned with the upholding of order (see PIE Religion).
Belenos - "Bright/Shining". Possibly an original sky deity, with solar connections; a god of the druids; one of the first to have temples. My personal theory about Belenos places him as a divine ancestor of all the gods, a sort of original sky-father, who was then killed and partitioned by his children as an act of creation. Assimilated with Apollo.
Boruo - "Boiler". God of the spring; possibly a keeper of divine knowledge and wisdom, keeper of the well of wisdom; boiler of the cauldron. Assimilated with Apollo and Mars.
Brigandu - "Elevated/High". Hearth and dawn goddess; strongly associated with the home and hearthfire; a giver of inspiration; a smith, healer, and poet; powerful muse and giver of vision; receiver of song. Assimilated with Victory and Minerva.
Cathubodua - "Battle-Crow". Goddess of war, death, and battlefrenzy; possible psychopomp. Assimilated with Victory.
Cernunnos - "Antlered/Horned One". Pastoral deity, famous for his antlers; associated with animal fertility and animal husbandry, pastoralism, and the natural world as it interacts with the settled world. Arbiter between chaos and order, life and death, civilized and wild. Assimilated with Mercury.
Epona - "Horse Goddess". A goddess of sovereignty; protector of horses, mules, and donkeys; possible protector of children; potential psychopomp aspect; may also be connected to prosperity and grain. Assimilated with Ops and Iuno.
Epounou - "The Horse Twins"; individually Deuononos and Deuomogontimaros "The Godly" and "Great Godly Might/Effectiveness" Twin gods; born from or live in the sea; possibly envisioned as horses; protectors of sailors (possibly as guiding stars); ensurers of agricultural fertility; possible good luck deities. It is possible that one was mortal and the other gave half his mortality for the other. Assimilated with The Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
Esus - "Lord" or "Frenzy". Most famous for his association with Taruos Trigaranus. A god of order; possibly a healer or an overseer of order; associated with trees; possible slayer of the divine bull and therefore the divine sacrificer. Personal theories: ties to prophecy, healing, and cosmic order. Assimilated with Mercury.
Grannus - "Bearded" "Grain" or "Sun". Solar deity; famed for healing; associated with hot springs; may have grain and harvest associations, particularly to barley. Assimilated with Apollo.
Gobannos - "Smith" (root "Fire-maker" or "Skilled"). The smith of the gods; may be a divine hospitaler; a world traveler; possibly also a sorcerer; brews the drink of the gods. Assimilated with Vulcan and Mars.
Lugus - "Lightning/Shining" or "Oath". The creator of all arts, and the master of all of them; god of strategy; sovereign chieftain; god of magic and prophecy. Also assimilated with Mercury.
Maponos - "Youth/Son". Youthful god of music, poetry, and youthfulness; hunter deity; possible solar and vegetative associations; certainly a god of love and sexuality. Assimilated with Apollo.
Matres - "Mothers". Female ancestor deities appearing in threes; may have ties to weaving and fate; preside over water and springs, associated with fertility. Additionally, this category can include any river goddess who is a tutelary deity of a tribal area, but since each river and spring has its own goddess, I will leave this as a general category. Assimilated with Fons and possibly the Moirae.
Moccus - "Pig". Either a divine herdsman or a divine hospitaler; possible otherworld and psychopomp connotations. Assimilated with Mercury.
Nantosuelta - "Winding River" or "Sunwarmed Valley". Domestic or agricultural goddess associated with the earth, rivers, prosperity, and domestic and natural fertility; shown with a small house and followed by ravens; possible otherworld connections; possible crafting connections. Unknown assimilation, possibly the genii locii.
Nemetona - "Sacred Grove". Goddess who personifies the sacred grove; possibly also identified with plant life and seasonal change. Assimilated with Victory.
Noadatus - "Catcher". Coastal god of oceans and the sea; healer, hunter; most likely localized deity shared with Britain (as Nodens). Possibly an old king deposed by the new rulers. Possible wealth associations? Assimilated with Mars and Silvanus.
Ogmios - "Path/Conductor". The famous Gaulish Herakles; god of eloquence, creator of speech and writing; champion of the gods; striker of snakes and warder of evils; a binder of men; possible psychopomp and gatekeeper. Assimilated with Hercules.
Rosmerta - "Great Provider". Agricultural goddess of prosperity; perhaps tied to the harvest; possible further ties to divination and sovereignty. Assimilated with Hecate and possibly Ceres.
Sucellos - (Sucellus and Smith Gods) "Good Striker". Easily identified by his hammer; a giver of life and death; divine feast-keeper; vegetative fertility; brewer god; possible smith god; cthonic associations. It is widely accepted by Gaulish polytheists today that he is the creator of human beings: My personal theory on this is that he crafted us as a smith and breathed life into us with his bellows. Assimilated with Silvanus and perhaps Vulcan.
Sirona - "Star". Goddess of healing; associated with healing springs; fertility; serpents, in the sense that she can rid disease and turn back poison. Assimilated with Diana.
Taranis - "Thunderer". Storm and sky deity; associated with warfare and battle frenzy; lightning; uses the wheel as his symbol. An important myth of his seems to be killing a monstrous snake or giant at Midsummer. Assimilated with Iuppiter, especially Iuppiter Optimus Maximus.
Taruos Trigaranus - "Bull of Three Cranes". Divine bull accompanied by three cranes; tied to Esus and a tree of some kind; possibly a cosmogenic sacrifice.
Toutatis - "Father/God of the Tribe" Possible apotheozised hero; god of war and of the tribe. His name appears with the epithet Sinatis, which may hint at his mythology. Assimilated with Mars.
Artio - "Bear". Bear goddess; associated with fertility, especially with apples and perhaps orchards; either a goddess of the wild who is a bear or a goddess who mediates with the wild from a position of cultivation. Personal theories: Possibly a guardian figure; perhaps also concerned with the upholding of order (see PIE Religion).
Belenos - "Bright/Shining". Possibly an original sky deity, with solar connections; a god of the druids; one of the first to have temples. My personal theory about Belenos places him as a divine ancestor of all the gods, a sort of original sky-father, who was then killed and partitioned by his children as an act of creation. Assimilated with Apollo.
Boruo - "Boiler". God of the spring; possibly a keeper of divine knowledge and wisdom, keeper of the well of wisdom; boiler of the cauldron. Assimilated with Apollo and Mars.
Brigandu - "Elevated/High". Hearth and dawn goddess; strongly associated with the home and hearthfire; a giver of inspiration; a smith, healer, and poet; powerful muse and giver of vision; receiver of song. Assimilated with Victory and Minerva.
Cathubodua - "Battle-Crow". Goddess of war, death, and battlefrenzy; possible psychopomp. Assimilated with Victory.
Cernunnos - "Antlered/Horned One". Pastoral deity, famous for his antlers; associated with animal fertility and animal husbandry, pastoralism, and the natural world as it interacts with the settled world. Arbiter between chaos and order, life and death, civilized and wild. Assimilated with Mercury.
Epona - "Horse Goddess". A goddess of sovereignty; protector of horses, mules, and donkeys; possible protector of children; potential psychopomp aspect; may also be connected to prosperity and grain. Assimilated with Ops and Iuno.
Epounou - "The Horse Twins"; individually Deuononos and Deuomogontimaros "The Godly" and "Great Godly Might/Effectiveness" Twin gods; born from or live in the sea; possibly envisioned as horses; protectors of sailors (possibly as guiding stars); ensurers of agricultural fertility; possible good luck deities. It is possible that one was mortal and the other gave half his mortality for the other. Assimilated with The Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
Esus - "Lord" or "Frenzy". Most famous for his association with Taruos Trigaranus. A god of order; possibly a healer or an overseer of order; associated with trees; possible slayer of the divine bull and therefore the divine sacrificer. Personal theories: ties to prophecy, healing, and cosmic order. Assimilated with Mercury.
Grannus - "Bearded" "Grain" or "Sun". Solar deity; famed for healing; associated with hot springs; may have grain and harvest associations, particularly to barley. Assimilated with Apollo.
Gobannos - "Smith" (root "Fire-maker" or "Skilled"). The smith of the gods; may be a divine hospitaler; a world traveler; possibly also a sorcerer; brews the drink of the gods. Assimilated with Vulcan and Mars.
Lugus - "Lightning/Shining" or "Oath". The creator of all arts, and the master of all of them; god of strategy; sovereign chieftain; god of magic and prophecy. Also assimilated with Mercury.
Maponos - "Youth/Son". Youthful god of music, poetry, and youthfulness; hunter deity; possible solar and vegetative associations; certainly a god of love and sexuality. Assimilated with Apollo.
Matres - "Mothers". Female ancestor deities appearing in threes; may have ties to weaving and fate; preside over water and springs, associated with fertility. Additionally, this category can include any river goddess who is a tutelary deity of a tribal area, but since each river and spring has its own goddess, I will leave this as a general category. Assimilated with Fons and possibly the Moirae.
Moccus - "Pig". Either a divine herdsman or a divine hospitaler; possible otherworld and psychopomp connotations. Assimilated with Mercury.
Nantosuelta - "Winding River" or "Sunwarmed Valley". Domestic or agricultural goddess associated with the earth, rivers, prosperity, and domestic and natural fertility; shown with a small house and followed by ravens; possible otherworld connections; possible crafting connections. Unknown assimilation, possibly the genii locii.
Nemetona - "Sacred Grove". Goddess who personifies the sacred grove; possibly also identified with plant life and seasonal change. Assimilated with Victory.
Noadatus - "Catcher". Coastal god of oceans and the sea; healer, hunter; most likely localized deity shared with Britain (as Nodens). Possibly an old king deposed by the new rulers. Possible wealth associations? Assimilated with Mars and Silvanus.
Ogmios - "Path/Conductor". The famous Gaulish Herakles; god of eloquence, creator of speech and writing; champion of the gods; striker of snakes and warder of evils; a binder of men; possible psychopomp and gatekeeper. Assimilated with Hercules.
Rosmerta - "Great Provider". Agricultural goddess of prosperity; perhaps tied to the harvest; possible further ties to divination and sovereignty. Assimilated with Hecate and possibly Ceres.
Sucellos - (Sucellus and Smith Gods) "Good Striker". Easily identified by his hammer; a giver of life and death; divine feast-keeper; vegetative fertility; brewer god; possible smith god; cthonic associations. It is widely accepted by Gaulish polytheists today that he is the creator of human beings: My personal theory on this is that he crafted us as a smith and breathed life into us with his bellows. Assimilated with Silvanus and perhaps Vulcan.
Sirona - "Star". Goddess of healing; associated with healing springs; fertility; serpents, in the sense that she can rid disease and turn back poison. Assimilated with Diana.
Taranis - "Thunderer". Storm and sky deity; associated with warfare and battle frenzy; lightning; uses the wheel as his symbol. An important myth of his seems to be killing a monstrous snake or giant at Midsummer. Assimilated with Iuppiter, especially Iuppiter Optimus Maximus.
Taruos Trigaranus - "Bull of Three Cranes". Divine bull accompanied by three cranes; tied to Esus and a tree of some kind; possibly a cosmogenic sacrifice.
Toutatis - "Father/God of the Tribe" Possible apotheozised hero; god of war and of the tribe. His name appears with the epithet Sinatis, which may hint at his mythology. Assimilated with Mars.
The Not-Gods
Anderoi - "Ones Who Dwell Below". A catch-all term for the dwellers of the underworld, perhaps a word used for the ancestors in ritual contexts.
Dusioi - "Demon/Spirit". Nature spirits who seduce men and women into the forests, presumably to never return.
Eurises - "Dedicators". Mature adults, armed and bearded; perhaps a class of ancestors associated with chieftainship and martial lineage.
Garanoi - "Cranes". Appear with Taruos Trigaranus; perhaps otherworldly birds; possible shapeshifters. Nature spirits.
*Maponoi - "Youths". Name unattested but depicted on Nautes Pillar; potentially part of a divine warband that accompanies a martial deity such as Taranis or Toutatis.
Ram-Horned Serpent - Appears held by both Cernunnos and Sirona; possibly a shapeshifter and a chaotic, destructive aspect of the cthonic powers; otherwise a regenerative being.
Senants - "Fulfillers". Elder mortals; possible priestly function; perhaps a wisdom-based class of ancestors.
Dusioi - "Demon/Spirit". Nature spirits who seduce men and women into the forests, presumably to never return.
Eurises - "Dedicators". Mature adults, armed and bearded; perhaps a class of ancestors associated with chieftainship and martial lineage.
Garanoi - "Cranes". Appear with Taruos Trigaranus; perhaps otherworldly birds; possible shapeshifters. Nature spirits.
*Maponoi - "Youths". Name unattested but depicted on Nautes Pillar; potentially part of a divine warband that accompanies a martial deity such as Taranis or Toutatis.
Ram-Horned Serpent - Appears held by both Cernunnos and Sirona; possibly a shapeshifter and a chaotic, destructive aspect of the cthonic powers; otherwise a regenerative being.
Senants - "Fulfillers". Elder mortals; possible priestly function; perhaps a wisdom-based class of ancestors.