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 section I 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. ^_^