As a veiled Crone, with one eye & pale blue/grey skin, The Cailleach or twilight hag, has been feared & revered across Celtic cultures for over 3000 years. Depicted as a giant with a bow-legged stride -She leaps across mountains & valleys with a power to shape & transform the landscape, rocks falling from Her gathered apron.
The Cailleach is said to be responsible for raising mountains & creating the ancient burial cairns & barrow mounds. She is a Goddess of the Underworld, associated with the ancestors & the realms of death & rebirth. The Cailleach is connected to the bean sidhe (Banshee), the wild women of the Faeries, She oversees the faerie mounds & entrances to the realm of the Fey. You will also find Her near sacred standing stones, the “bones of the earth”. Her companion the Owl is associated with death, the underworld, magic, & the ability to see spirits. She is said to be a shapeshifter, & can transform into a giant bird - "the night hag", "cailleach-oidhche", which is old Gaelic for "owl".
As a Goddess of transformation & death, She oversees the culling of the old, & lets die all that is no longer needed. And also with the passing of the Winter months, the Cailleach finds & guards the seeds for the coming re-birth of Spring.
