Irish independent musician Gavin Dunne, aka Miracle of Sound, recently put out a song dedicated to the Goddess Sirona.
About the song, he wrote for the comments section:
While he did say that it's "not a religious or anti-religious song", I as a polytheist can't help but hear it as a direct invocation of the Goddess Herself, whom I'd never heard of before. I decided to do a bit of research into where She was worshiped, and who She was.
Like most pre-Christian Celtic Gods, there's just about squat about her on Wikipedia, but what there is is pretty interesting: Sirona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The distribution of inscriptions of Her is given in the following map:
I can't help but notice that She seems to have been worshiped in areas beyond the Celtic-speaking world, with a focus in Eastern Gaul but a bit of a bleed into southwestern Germania.
The Wikipedia page largely cites books that, based on their titles, seem to be in French (only one in English), and thus I can't double-check them. Other statements lack citations altogether. What it does indicate, however, is that pretty much all the surviving inscriptions of Her are Celto-Roman, as She's often depicted with "Apollo". However, these seem to be imposing of Apollo to Celtic Gods, Grannus and Borvo, who apparently share the same qualities: healing and spring waters. This tells me that She's almost certainly pre-Roman. The fact that She's attested in regions so close to, and even a bit into, Germania tells me that She may have had an unattested equivalent among the Germanic-speaking Tribes.
Basically what I'm saying is this: I think I have a new Goddess to add to my personal circle. ^_^
About the song, he wrote for the comments section:
For those asking about the song's meaning. It has two meanings!
1. It's about personal healing through music with the goddess as a metaphor (The theme of the whole album is healing/catharsis through art)
2. Sirona was a Celtic goddess of healing & rebirth on the European continent. But Ireland 'never found' Sirona herself, she only made it as far as Gaul. Therefore in the song we still have a hole in our heart that we as a nation have never truly recovered or 'healed' from. Hence my call to 'Come and heal us too' in the middle sectionI imagined her singing watery, fluid songs to the ancient celts to bring them health & rebirth.
EDIT: No, it's neither a religious nor anti-religious song, I just liked the mythical character
While he did say that it's "not a religious or anti-religious song", I as a polytheist can't help but hear it as a direct invocation of the Goddess Herself, whom I'd never heard of before. I decided to do a bit of research into where She was worshiped, and who She was.
Like most pre-Christian Celtic Gods, there's just about squat about her on Wikipedia, but what there is is pretty interesting: Sirona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The distribution of inscriptions of Her is given in the following map:
I can't help but notice that She seems to have been worshiped in areas beyond the Celtic-speaking world, with a focus in Eastern Gaul but a bit of a bleed into southwestern Germania.
The Wikipedia page largely cites books that, based on their titles, seem to be in French (only one in English), and thus I can't double-check them. Other statements lack citations altogether. What it does indicate, however, is that pretty much all the surviving inscriptions of Her are Celto-Roman, as She's often depicted with "Apollo". However, these seem to be imposing of Apollo to Celtic Gods, Grannus and Borvo, who apparently share the same qualities: healing and spring waters. This tells me that She's almost certainly pre-Roman. The fact that She's attested in regions so close to, and even a bit into, Germania tells me that She may have had an unattested equivalent among the Germanic-speaking Tribes.
Basically what I'm saying is this: I think I have a new Goddess to add to my personal circle. ^_^