Oct 14, 2017
Aine (pronounced AW-neh) was one of the very ancient and powerful Goddesses of sovereignty in Ireland. She was a fertility Goddess in that She had control and command over crops and animals and encouraged human love. One of the great Goddesses of ancient Ireland survives in modern times as the queen of the fairies of south Munster, the southwest corner of the island, who is said to haunt Knockainy Hill there. Originally Aine was a sun Goddess who assumed the form of Lair Derg (‘red mare’), the horse that none could outrun. Her special feast was Midsummer Night, when farmers carried torches of straw in procession around Knockainy and waved them over the cattle and the fields for protection and fruitfulness.
Two stories are told of Aine and here, from a variety of sources we lay them out for your enjoyment. In one, She was the daughter of an early Irish god [Egobail, foster son of Manannan mac Lir; while some versions say she was daughter or wife of Manannan mac Lir] and was infatuated with the semidivine hero Fionn. She had taken a geasa (magical vow) that She would never sleep with a man with gray hair, but Fionn was young with no silver streaking his bushy hair. One of Aine’s sisters, Miluchrach, was also interested in Fionn: She enchanted a lake and tempted Fionn to take a dip. When the hero emerged from the magic waters, his body was still youthful and strong, but his hair was stained gray. True to Her geasa, Aine thereafter scorned the hero.
In early tales She is associated with the semi-mythological King of Munster, Ailill Aulom, who is said to have ‘ravished’ Her, an affair ending in Áine biting off his ear – hence ‘Aulom’, meaning ‘one-eared’. By maiming him this way, Áine rendered him unfit to be King, thereby taking away the power of sovereignty. After the rape Áine swore vengeance on Ailill and eventually contrived his death. This story is about what happens when a ruler decides to rape the Land rather than enter into a marriage with Her. Áine knows the energies of a righteous vengeance quite intimately. She said: ‘I’ll have you been to me, to have done me violence and to have killed my father. To requite this I too will do you violence and by the time we are done I will leave you with no means of reprisal.‘ (*This is a warning about what the Land will eventually do to us all if we continue on the path of resource rape, and environmental poisoning that our current society follows. Áine will protect Herself.) The descendants of Aulom, the Eóganachta, claim Áine as an ancestor.
In another story, Gerald, the human Earl of Desmond, captured Aine while She was combing Her hair on the banks of Her sacred lake (thought to be based on the story of Ailill Aulom). Aine bore the first Earl Fitzgerald to the man, but made Gerald promise never to express surprise at the powers his son might develop. All went well for many years until one day when Gerald saw his son jump into and out of a bottle. He could not contain an exclamation of shock and the boy disappeared, flying away in the shape of a wild goose. Disappointed in Her human mate, Aine disappeared into Knockainy, where She is said to still live in a splendid castle. Thus the FitzGeralds also claim an association with Áine; despite the French-Norman origins of the clan, the FitzGeralds would become known for being ‘More Irish than the Irish themselves.’
She is credited for giving meadowsweet its delicate scent. Some also claim that She was a minor moon Goddess, or that Her identity may have later become merged with the Goddess Anu. She is also associated with the Morrigan (probably by means of Anu – as Anu is one of the Goddesses that makes up the trinity along with Badb and Macha to form the Morrigan; or perhaps the Lair Derg [‘red mare’] and Macha). The feast of Midsummer Night was held in her honor. In County Limerick, She is remembered in more recent times as Queen of the fairies.
Associations:
Pantheon: Celtic
Element: Air
Direction: Northwest
Planets: Sun, Moon
Festivals: Midsummer/Summer Solstice
Sacred Animals: Red mare, rabbit, swan
Colors: Red, gold, green, blue, and tan
Representations: Hay, straw, fire
Stones/Incense: Bloodstone, dragons blood, fairy dust
Herbs, Trees & Fungi:
Healing : Angelica, Balm, Blackberry, Cowslip, Elder, Fennel, Flax, Garlic, Goat’s Rue, Mugwort, Nettle, Oak
Fertility : Hawthorn, Mistletoe, Oak
Prosperity : Alfalfa, Ash, Elder
Protection: Agrimony, Angelica, Ash, Birch, Blackberry, Bladderwrack, Broom, Elder, Fennel, Flax, Holly, Lavender, Mallow, Mistletoe, Mugwort, Nettle, Oak
Aine’s themes are protection, healing, The Spark of Life, divination, luck, fertility, earth and the Moon. Her symbols are the Moon (lunar items), silver and white items and meadowsweet. This Celtic Goddess of the Moon shines on today’s celebrations, Her name meaning ‘bright’. Aine has strong connections with the land. Her blessing ensures fertile fields. She also gives luck to mortals and keeps us healthy.
Aine's Insense:
1/2 oz meadowsweet flowers and leaf (full bloom)
1/2 oz finely chopped pine needles
1/2 oz lemon verbena oil
Prayer to Aine:
Aine, goddess of love, fairy queen, as day passes into night and night passes into day, hear my prayer. Give me the courage to stay true to my heart. To birth that which I am called to do. Help me to know my gift, and share it with the world. In this I pray, thank you Aine!
Image: King Ailill Olom and Aine - Wikipedia (image by John Duncan.)
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