Golden Cup Greeting Card

The Goddesses of the Tuath Dé, (the magical, mythical race known as the Sidhe, the Bright and Shining Ones, the Ever-Living Ones, or the Faery folk) still live on in the myths and legends of ancient Ireland, in the energy of her sacred landscape and in the places of power where these Goddesses once lived.  Ireland herself is named after the Goddess Ériu, an archetypal earth goddess, mother goddess, fertility goddess and sovereignty goddess.  Ériu married the High King in an inauguration ceremony at the Royal Site of Uisneach, bestowing upon him the right to rule.  This is echoed in tales of other sovereignty goddesses, Brigid, Maeve, Áine, and Macha.

Goddesses were often depicted as three in one, either three sisters like Ériu, Banba and Fodhla, or the three Morrigu, The Morrigan, Badb and Macha, or even three aspects of the same goddess: maiden, mother and crone.  They presided over every aspect of life and death, from the fiery goddesses of death and battle, to the nurturing goddesses of healing such as Áirmid, Goddess of Herbs.