The Cailleach, also known as The Veiled One, or the Queen of Winter, she is the archetypal Crone Goddess, and there are many tales and legends that she has inspired. Said to originate from parts of Scotland, The Isle of Man, and parts of Ireland her name in Gaelic commonly means, Old Woman, or Hag. Considered to be neither good nor bad, she is often depicted as a pale or blue-faced old woman, with long white hair, sometimes blind in one eye, wearing a shawl. She carries a staff, or some say, a hammer, with which she strikes the Earth, and causes it to freeze. She is a shapeshifter and Goddess of the ancestors. Her time is from 1st November up until Imbolc, when it is believed by some that she washes her face in a stream, and turns into the maiden Goddess Brighid.
The Cailleach is said to be able to control the weather, change and shape the landscape, by hurling the boulders she carries in her apron to form the mountains and valleys. She can cause storms, and it is she who determines how long, and how harsh Winter is. It is said that if the weather is sunny at Imbolc, winter weather will last longer, because The Cailleach is able to gather more sticks and logs for her fire! She protects the wild creatures during Winter and is the patron of wolves. In Scotland she is known to be a deer herder. Ageless, and timeless lady, the Cailleach was also the Goddess of the grain, and the last sheath of wheat cut, was always dedicated to her to ensure a good harvest next year.
At Glen Lyon in Scotland, there is a surviving and tended shrine to her, Tigh nam Bodach, where a family of stones are brought outside in the spring, and returned inside for the winter.
To honour the Goddess, why not feed the birds in your garden, and build a small pile of stones as a little shrine to her? Think of her when it snows or when the ground freezes. It is said that at the end of Winter she throws down her staff under a Holly tree....and that is why nothing can ever grow underneath them!
By Moon Falcon
Artwork, "The Cailleach" by Linzifayart, Etsy.