Having come to realize that I ring best with the Celtic pantheon I've been researching.
I know Cernunnos is my patron god but I've run into trouble with choosing a goddess as he has no defined consort.
So I searched around and I think Danu best fits me best. She however has a consort Bile (Strange name)
How do I preform the sacred marriage between the god and the goddess using my patrons names at Beltane when they weren't actually together at any point?
Am I being crazy?
Re: Working: Celtic Pantheon By: Lark Moderator / Adept
Post # 3 Sep 17, 2013
No, you're not crazy. You're asking good questions and thinking about what you're doing.
This is one of the problems that one encounters when mixing pantheons. Although both Cernunnos and Danu are Celtic, remember that the Celts were not a single nation-state. They were a tribal people. Cernunnos was Gaulish while Danu came from Ireland. They are about as far different as Greek and Germanic in terms of being from a particular pantheon.
That being said, Danu's consort (Bile') (pronounsed bee lay was reputed to be the God of Death and also of Life. This is similar to the role filled by Cernunnos in Gaulish myths. So one could make a case for them being the same Deity if that made things easier for you.
How were you planning on re-enacting the Sacred Marriage when you are working as a Solitary?
There are also a number of other factors worth pointing out about the goddess Danu, her consort is often associated to be Bile however to the best of my knowledge and throughout all any original sources I've read this appears to have been made only by association. Danu is reported to have a consort in the form of an oak that she nourished with her waters and birthed the Dagda however Bile is not actually named as such and has just been inferred by the description. It's also worth noting that he is not the sole consort as Danu also bore children sired by her son the Dagda and Dian Cecht.
Whilst Bile is often quoted as being Danu's consort she only bore between one to three children with him (Celtic lore can be confusing and many deities are reported to have a number of parents, hence I can’t give a specific number) where as she bore at least three with Dian Cecht and five with the Dagda. Thus personally I often believe the notion of Danu's “consort” to be a little over exaggerated by many authors.
Now personally I've never seen Bile being associated directly with Cernunnos however I have seen him associated with the British Celtic deity Belatucadros who has in turn been associated with and even been suspected to be Cernunnos thus as Lark say’s there’s definitely a case there to argue that they may be one and the same. Ultimately Celtic lore is full of “patch jobs” simply where we've had to infer things to fill in the gaps in the relatively few records that we have access to. This isn't to say that you can muddle up all the myths however you choose but there is definitely room for interpretation and negotiation on some elements such as this.
Unfortunately I can't help you with the sacred marriage as I don’t know much about it myself however I can hopefully help with Celtic lore as that's much more up my alley but hopefully some of that can at least help you make some decisions.
