I have decided to research Taranis, the Celtic Thunder God. I have looked at various books in my collection and several websites and found that although there is quite a lot available about him not all of it agrees! I will therefore have to trust my own interpretation with a little help from Taranis of course.
According to the Celtic Encyclopedia by Harry Mountain, Taranis was also known as Daran, Tannus, Taran, Tima and Torann. Hutton also associates him with the Anglo Saxon Thunor. The word “taran” still means “thunder” in modern Welsh and Breton. Throughout my research Taranis has been given many symbols, the most agreed upon is the Wheel and Lightening Bolt. Other symbols include the Hammer, Oak Club, the Spiral, the Dogs of Taranis, the Bull and surprisingly the humble Wren. I have only found one reference to this seemingly strange association, according to the Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm the wren's nest is supposed to be protected by lightening. If someone tries to interfere with the nest, steal the eggs or chicks they would return home to find it had been struck by lightning and their hands would shrivel up. The wren was therefore sacred to the thunder god Taranis who often inhabited oak trees. R.J Stewart in The Way of Merlin also associates Taranis, along with other lightening gods, with the oak tree perhaps because of its propensity to be struck by lightening.
Another description I have not found elsewhere portrays Taranis as a good-humoured god who thundered across the sky after drinking too much mead! Conversely he could also be a furious god who smote those he deemed needed punishment but he was generally seen as slow to anger. It quite surprised me to read the next part where the author mentioned that Taranis was commonly seen riding a chariot drawn by horses, the hooves of which would add to the thunder. In a semi meditation before reading this, I had envisaged Taranis as an older man with flaming red hair and beard riding a horse drawn chariot. The wheels of the chariot were sparking on their axles and the horses were providing the thunder. I think he was holding a hammer which at the same time was also a lightening bolt.
Taranis is generally seen as a Gaulish god of about the 6th century BCE, but Mountain thinks he may well have cropped up in Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. He believes that the Isle of Taransay gets its name from him. It is very likely that Taranis spread throughout Britain along the trade routes crossing the Celtic lands but Mountain suggests he could be linked to an older Pictish or Unetice god. Mountain also describes the sacrifices made in honour of Taranis as well as Teutates and Esus. He says that each god was offered a different kind of sacrifice and the tripple death of stabbing, burning and drowning (or strangulation) was dedicated to all of them and held special significance as it involved three of the four elements. Taranis, he says, was offered sacrifices which had been placed in wooden cages and then burned alive. It is true that some bog bodies discovered in Britain do seem to have been killed three times in a ritualistic manner.
I believe this view of Taranis, Teutates and Esus has come from the Roman writer Lucan who famously wrote: “...and those Gauls who propitiate with human sacrifices the merciless gods Teutas, Esus and Taranis - at whose alters the visitany shudders because they are as awe-inspiring as those of the Scythian Diana.” Lucan, Pharsalia I, 422-465.
According to Ronald Hutton, in his book The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, Roman authors were often misleading when it came to describing Celtic gods. Lucan only mentions Teutates, Esus and Taranis, implying that they are the most important Gaulish gods but he fails to mention any of the hundreds of other gods they worshipped. Despite their implied importance Taranis has only been found mentioned in seven inscriptions, Teutates wasn't a separate god, rather a title for any protective god of a tribe and Esus has only been found mentioned in one inscription. Hutton therefore concludes that Lucan's “famous passage may now be considered worse than useless.” (p156)
Along with other sources, Hutton is of the opinion that the Romans identified Taranis with their own thunder god Jupiter. This was apparently common, any sky god they came across was fair game for assimilation. There have been many representations of Jupiter in Britain holding a wheel, the Celts associated the wheel with the sky, either representing the rotating wheel of the stars or the sun and Taranis is almost always portrayed holding a wheel. It is therefore logical to assume that when Taranis was melded with Jupiter, Jupiter took on one of Taranis's sacred objects. However there is no conclusive evidence that the Romans dubbed him Jupiter-Taranis as they often did with other Celtic assimilations.
There were a couple of other details that I have not found elsewhere and am not sure what to think of them. One website states that Taranis is also known the Grey Goose of War and is the consort of Epona, the Grey Mare of Gaul. I've not come across him being associated with Epona anywhere else. This site also says that he is very fair with blue eyes, wild hair and beard and wears blue, grey and white tunics and a mantle. This may be from a meditation of course.
Now for the section where I delve into the purely speculative. I think I first heard the name Taranis when reading Asterix as a child, the name kind of resonated for me and settled in the back of my mind where it stayed, unregarded until the other night when we had a tremendous thunder storm at 2 o'clock in the morning. I had been wondering which god to research as part of lesson two and while watching the storm Taranis popped into my mind. I have always loved storms. My earliest memories of them are running with my Father too and from the shed at the end of the garden while my Mother watched in terror from the kitchen door. It was fantastic! The noise... the rain.. I remember the lightening was orange and the sky almost purple. Since childhood I have felt energised by storms. I love the way they humble the human race, I revel in how small I feel when the sky itself is being rent asunder by the sheer power of the storm. It's exhilarating! I see Taranis as being part of this joy, delighting in the noise and speed, the thrill of it all... letting loose... I think I shall enjoy getting to know Taranis.
References:
http://www.draeconin.com/welsh/database/gods.htm
http://www.advancenet.net/jscole/wren.htm
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/celtic-gods-and-goddesses.html
http://www.kernunnos.com/deities/Taranis.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/webofshadows/taranis.html
Celtic Encyclopedia, Harry Mountain
The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, Ronald Hutton, Blackwell, 2000
Celtic Traditions: Druids, Faeries, and Wiccan Rituals, Sirona Knight, Citadel Press, 2000
Illustrated Encyclopedia Classical Mythology, Arthur Cotterell, Hermes House, 2000
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