Birch Bark Scribbles

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About updated June 2025

He was known in many lands with stories of fate, skills, sovereignty, and greatness. In Ireland, he was called Lugh Lámfada, in Wales, he was Lleu Llaw Gyffes, and in continental Europe, he was praised as Lugus or the plural Lugoves.

In this post, I'm going to explore and analyze some ideas about the domains of this marvelous god(s).

Oaths and Destiny

Destiny and the power of words are big topics in the stories of Lugh and Lleu where we can find narratives such as the god's destiny being prophesied before birth, him speaking in a magical crane-like stance, him reciting the names of future kings, him being repeatedly cursed by his mother, him being healed by magical incantations, and so on.

Reading those stories made me think about the concept of destiny, and one of the main opinions that I ended up with is that instead of trying to explicitly and easily prophesy our fates, we can just let ourselves be guided by our hearts and intuitions trusting and hoping that we are aligned with the true purpose of our lives; To me, this is a big part of Lugus' domain, he's intimately connected to Tonceton (destiny), he sees our potential and the most outstanding possible outcomes in our fates, he knows what we must do in our lifetimes to reach said outcomes even if we have to go through adversities to do so, and when we finally reap the rewards of our efforts, he’ll be there and celebrate with us in glory and pride.

The etymology of his name is still debated, but one theory connects it to oaths or vows, concepts that many people take for granted nowadays, but in the past, the act of speaking oaths was sacred and not something to be taken lightly. Since I resonate with that sentiment, I’ve come to understand that when someone makes an oath, they're getting in touch with the power of Tonceton, they become shapers of fate, to some extent; declaring to themselves, to the gods, and to everyone who listens that their words will become a reality and that they will do everything in their power to make that happen. Lugus, as the ruler and guardian of oaths, hallows our words and allows us to wield their sacred power; therefore, we must always be rational and realistic when we speak them, because if we deliberately break them, we will bring dishonor upon ourselves, thereby dishonoring him, the gods, and the people who witnessed us making the oath.

Excellence in Every Skill

Skillfulness is one of the most characteristic aspects of Lugh and Lleu, their brilliant minds and "skilled hand" excel not only in the arts, but also in other domains like healing, battle, magic, and others; in addition, one inscription in Hispania was dedicated to the Lugoves by a guild of shoemakers, people whose profession depended on the mastery of their craft. But, it's clear in the mythology that the god isn't born with his skills, even if he's destined to have them, instead, we see him being fostered by various other gods who, in all likelihood, taught him most of what he knew and mastered later on; that's not to say that he wasn't innovative, frankly, it's hard to imagine a god who's "skilled in all the arts" not being an inventor and innovator, but it's good to mention that, according to the stories, his domain can encompass not only the possession of skills, but also the learning and mastering processes from which they result.

Eminence is rooted in various concepts, one of them being talent, and Lugus, in my opinion, is a true exemplar of this; he embodies mastery, guiding and blessing us from the beginning of the learning process, through the constant and dedicated practice, to the rewarding state of skillfulness; though, it's important to note that learning, practicing, and mastering are permanent actions, since there's always something new to learn, unless you're Lugus, who, in my view, has already mastered every skill that is, or ever was, or ever will be.

I acknowledge the fact that every art, field and discipline can have its own patron gods, and when I fall under any of those patronages I like to praise them accordingly, after all, Lugh learned from other gods too; but looking at the bigger picture, and thinking about the role of my passions and skills in my personal development, I come to understand Lugus' domain more clearly: He's the god of skillfulness because he's the god of greatness and eminence, he links those concepts in our lives, helping us develop our skills so that we become the best version of ourselves and live the life that we’re destined to live.

One and Many

There are some references in Irish literature to the belief that Lugh was the lone survivor of triplets; furthermore, inscriptions in Hispania and Gaul mention the Lugoves (or other variants with different spellings) more than the singular form. This triplism or multiplicity has been interpreted in various ways: some think it represents the multiplicity of skills or the multifaceted nature of Lugus, some see it as a way to amplify his power, others have connected it to Georges Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis, just to name a few. Any of those ideas can make sense in my view; I like to think that Lugus is a multi-spirited god, which not only intensifies his power but also makes him able to relate and adapt to any role. I praise and call upon him for guidance, inspiration and blessings in relation to my own personal path and destiny, to reach a level of personal fulfillment in connection with my ideals and passions; but I understand that "personal fulfillment" can look very different for each person, and that's where I think the multiplicity of the Lugoves can be contextualized, praising them makes me think in a more general way and consider the concept of excellence not only in itself, but also its diversity of forms.

Sovereignty and Renown

In mythology, we see Lugh being highly admired and respected for his beauty, wisdom, leadership, strength, and skills. These traits, and many more, convinced the other gods that he was the king that they needed, and the savior that they were waiting for to free them from tyranny, moreover, there's also the story where he recites the names of all the future kings of Ireland while the goddess of sovereignty pours ale in the name of each ruler; Lleu is likewise described as having all the good traits of a well-respected ruler; but it's clear that their rulership is not based on personal greed, but rather they represent the kind of rulership where the community AND the land are the main priorities.

I already touched lightly upon the subject of eminence, which I think is one of the most fundamental aspects of Lugus' domain, but it's worth mentioning that I'm not talking about a selfish kind of eminence, it's not about self-centered fame; it's about reputation and personal excellence that exists in a wider context, and it's supported by passion, truth, fairness, and good deeds. Lugus helps us find our most authentic selves; he gives us the guidance and the means that we need to reach our highest potential and achieve personal greatness that serves not only our hearts and spirits, but also the people and the world around us.

Concluding remarks

Lugus is a god of many blessings: he teaches us the power of words and the sacredness of oaths, he ignites our passions and skills, he gives us eminence and reputation, but overall, he helps us fulfill our truest destinies.

In the stories, he was the ultimate hero, and if you welcome him into your life, he'll help you become the hero of your own story.

Some sources to check out

https://www.academia.edu/7242277/Further_to_tongu_do_dia_toinges_mo_thuath_Mi_a_dyngaf_dynged_it_and_c

http://www.deomercurio.be/en/mercurio.html#:~:text=Mercury%20and%20Lugus,we%20know%3A%20Mercury.

https://nouiogalatis.org/2025/11/26/a-reflection-on-lugus-ogmios-and-ianolaba-in-bng/

https://www.maryjones.us/jce/lugh.html

Suleuiâs

The Suleuiâs are divine figures who seem to have been fairly popular in ancient Gaulish religion, at least in the Gallo-Roman era, which is where the evidence of their worship comes from, though I don’t think it’s far-fetched to believe that their popularity predates the arrival of Roman influence.

Academic research

Noémie Beck and Viducus Brigantici did great academic analyses on the subject of the Suleviae, but for this post I’ll just list some of the main points:

Their name is thought to be translated as ‘Those who steer or lead well’, ‘good guides’ or ‘good rulers’

They were connected and sometimes combined with the Matres/Matronae

They were given Roman epithets such as Junones and Domesticae

Their name was also found in the singular form on inscriptions as Suleuiâ (who was once identified with the goddess Minerva)

They were associated with specific people (individuals or groups) as well as places (like the home or even the mountains)

Personal Thoughts

I see the Suleuiâs, in terms of their nature, as being similar to the Hellenic Daimones, a sort of middle point between goddesses and spirits. The Materês brought us into existence, they’re responsible for every birth as well as our destinies (I’ll talk more about them in the future), and in my mind, they’re the ones who attach the Suleuiâs to every individual: superior beings who are, at the same time, extensions of ourselves. They guide us as we navigate the destinies that the mother goddesses shape for us; they intimately know us, our past, our present and our future fates; they know the true purpose of our lives and they support us so that we fulfill said purpose, giving us counsel, protection, and guidance.

I associate them with the concept of the ‘higher mind’, which is the one responsible for our instincts and our dreams, but it’s also the part of our minds that connects to transcendent divinity.

So, I see the Suleuiâs as the ones behind our gut feelings, our sudden moments of unexplained wisdom, but also as the bridge between us and the divine, guiding us to the gods when we seek or call upon them as well as guiding them to us when they approach us. The Gods are powerful, and in my opinion, never completely intelligible, embodying things beyond our comprehension, so when we connect to them in meditation or ritual, or even when we’re just thinking about them, that almost ineffable greatness comes to us and it’s shaped and contextualized by our minds so that we reach at least some level of understanding, and that shaping part is, to me, the domain of our Suleuiâs.

They know us, they know what we’re feeling, they know what we’re thinking, they know what we’re living, they care for us, they support us, they’re always with us, I’d even say that they’re a part of us… transcendent and divine.

Their main purpose is to guide us to our truest potential, but I’ll stop here before I get too Neoplatonic 😆

How I connect to my Suleuiâs

As I mentioned above, to me, my Suleuiâs are always with me and they’re an important part of my connection to the gods, to divinity, and to my own self and my destiny. I try to acknowledge them every time I get one of those gut feeling or aha! moments, when I have a dream or a vision that seems to be meaningful, also when I’m thinking about my goals, my future or my life in general.

Here are some religious practices that I dedicate to them:

They are praised in every ‘formal’ ritual I do

I have a symbolic hearth where I try to do a simple ritual every morning, and my Suleuiâs are the ones I primarily pray to, alongside the Deuoi as a collective

Every month, when the first light of the moon is seen in the sky (time of the Hellenic Noumenia), I hold a ritual centered on the home and hearth and, again, my Suleuiâs are the ones I primarily pray to as well as other gods with domestic associations

I do a monthly divination reading with them (in the same ritual mentioned above)

This line, in combination with the vision of Brigantia's firelight within the hilltop fort, is a kind of achievement I've been striving for in one way or another my whole life. There's no way my home can keep depression out. I'm just not that good. But finding and protecting a light to hold against the horrors of the world is What I Want To Do.

Flame of life,

Mistress of the Fire,

Brigantine,

I call to you.

I lift my hands in praise,

and lower my head in reverance.

Your fire blazes inside my breast like an eternal light,

guiding my soul to it’s next destination.

Guide my steps,

light my life,

This is such a big question, lol. If you have any questions about particular gods, I’ll be happy to share my upg on them! I’ll stick to generalities for the moment… (UPG ALERT)

The Gaulish gods in general feel similar to both the Gaelic and Roman gods, perhaps more the former than the latter. They’re not patronage- or objective-based like Hellenic and Roman deities are; sure, they may have patronages, and most if not all do, but their patronages are accessories to their persona, not the meat of them. They feel… older (?) than most other pantheons I’ve brushed up against, maybe a little closer to Proto-Indo-European divinities, which, you know, YMMV. Closer to the earth, in general, like they grew up from the land as opposed to sitting on a throne on high. Definitely imminent. I believe that the Gaulish gods, among other gods, are more than just a humanoid depiction, an idol, but also manifest as feelings, as mystical phenomena, as emotions, as “airs” and memories and artwork. And I also fully believe that they could walk among us, if they so chose, in human form or otherwise–I simply don’t think that they would choose to do so. The point is that they are imminent and potent and very closely tied to their worshippers–as opposed to being preoccupied predominantly with general tasks; Taranis may preside over thunder and storms, yes, but he is also concerned with how these things affect us, affect “the tribe” (as it were, which is a whole other thing, and I’ll be happy to explain that too if you like). They are not impartial, they are not flawless, they are not omnipotent, but to individuals and groups they give their attention to they are imminent.

The specific gods that I have more than simply “brushed up against” are… far fewer than the general bunch. Cernunnos, Cathubodua, Epona, Sirona (and maybe Grannus?), Nantosuelta, Belenos, Taranis… and maybe Gobannos and Ogmios. But I don’t know.

Cernunnos is the dirt and loam and moss in the wooded clearing, the bones lying white and bleached in the underdirt, the hand on the shoulder, gentle and subtle. Cathubodua is street violence, a girl in a hoodie and spiked heels, a pistol with a pearl grip held by a hand draped in gold rings, a rush of crows as they fly across the highway overhead, darkening the sky. Epona is a girl with bright eyes and quick hands, a car speeding along after midnight, a spirit highway, a thousand voices rising beneath the waxing moon, a carousel where you get off at a different place you got on. Sirona is a river, a great river, flowing across the sky and pouring down onto the earth like a serpent going home, vast and unknowable and so close to touch. Nantosuelta is a great body, earth and water and fire, from which grows the wheat and the corn and the beans, and the worms and the deer and the opossums low to the ground, and the trees digging in their roots. Belenos is a bright light, enormous, unknowable, incredibly divine, progenitor and father and brother and child, virulent life stretching across the earth in a musical note both too low and too high to hear. Taranis is a protector, a soldier, a thunderstorm late in the summer night interrupting the songs of crickets, feeling safe in your home as the rain slams patterns on your windows, running across the sidewalk with a spear in one hand and a fist with the other, feet pounding the ground.

So… that’s an excerpt, I guess?

I have “interacted” with Lugus, on his given holiday, and I felt he was… the young king, the keen eyes, maybe even a magician, all of which are appropriate according to the interpretation of his name as meaning “god of oaths.” And that’s the predominant thing that stands out, I think. He also seems like… the cosmic principle of oathing and promises, a force in the… wyrd, I guess… imminent and running through the threads in the tapestry of society, both formed and formative. I don’t have overmuch experience with him, though.

One thing at a time. I have been, and probably will continue, to circle around The Deity Question for some time. It took nothing less than every tool I had to claw my way free of christianity. But some of those tools are turning out to not be healthy longterm companions, and I've found myself tripping over skepticism as I try to take my next solid steps forward. Grief got in the way for a long time. Starting to breathe past that now. I grew up hearing from all the credible adults in my life that anything other than the handful globally dominant religions disparaged as "woo". Agnostics were characterized as pitiable for their inability to commit, atheists disparaged as godless, hateful people, and universalists openly mocked for not understanding the exclusive truth of Jesus. Pagans were characterized as deluded and childish. And the other globally dominant religions were, of course, just tragically incorrect. Highly convenient, isn't it, that christianity was left as the only safe place left to stand? I grew up believing that "all other ground is sinking sand", so is it any wonder than I never went exploring beyond the one small rock? I truly believed it had a monopoly on safety, moral goodness, and truth, and that belief kept me locked away. Just like it was supposed to.

So when I finally grew to the point that I could no longer repress my doubts, I was terrified. Not of hell (consciously), but rather of being Wrong. Having incorrect beliefs. The conviction that there was a singular truth of the universe and the world beyond human sight and reason, still dogs me. In order to fight past that fear, I had to turn to skepticism. Useful as a wicked sharp pocketknife, it cut me out of bind after bind, and help me step far enough away from christianity to get perspective on how well it had been crafted to control me.

Over the last four years I've tried repeatedly to approach a god or goddess with tentative overtures, only to second-guess myself and them until I ended up such an anxious mess I had to step away again, with apologies. I told myself that any deity worth forming a relationship with would be willing, and would in fact prefer, that I wait until I knew what I wanted and was ready for it.

Because that was the first shock when I started taking baby steps forward: I discovered that had no idea what I truly wanted. I didn't want an all-consuming devotion, I knew that. I knew I wanted a friend and a guiding light. I knew I didn't want to feel hopeless indebted and undeserving. I almost didn't dare admit I wanted to feel respected in my own right. What would it look like, to approach a god without self-abasement?

Three years ago I asked @sagescented for a reading in 2022 to help give me a sense of who, so to speak, might be in the neighborhood. That did prove helpful to guiding my inquiries-- I was near burnout and exhaustion as my Dad's health worsened, there were details close to home I was missing, and the general characterization of the spirits in my orbit gave me some good direction. I wasn't ready.

But then Dad died, and it was killing me to pursue, or pretend to pursue, or to connect with, or worst of all to pretend to be connecting with a spirit his Episcopal little heart would never have gone along with in life. I just couldn't do it. I wasn't ready then either.

A few kind spirits have helped me along here or there, and I don't feel numb so often these days. I'm a hell of a lot more willing to look my own desires in the eye because I finally understood that I will not survive in any sense worth the word if I can't own up to the contents of my own heart. I have a little button on my purse that says "A is for Apostate" and I take it to my little rural general store and my workplace without blinking. My pain is mine and my freedom is mine, and God fucking damn it, I earned both.

I think I finally might have the audacity to set aside not just indoctrination but also enough of my internal skepticism to reach out towards what- and who- I actually want. Because my meager span of years on this rock deserves nothing less than for me to try to become the most me that I can manage. Now those claims come with a big might and a big maybe, and I've got nothing to show for my words, but I'm hopeful.

"As the Seven of Coins (Pentacles) is my personal Stop Card when it is the first card in a multiple card reading, no interpretation will be made of the other cards today. You’re on your own. Do something that makes you happy but be willing to accept the consequences of your actions."

The Dust II Onyx tarot deck is Courtney Alexander’s homage to her Black heritage and to the Black matriarchs and leaders of her communities. The deck is also a love offering to the LGBTQIA+ community and is presented as a tool for every person within the African diaspora to feel a connection to without prejudice. The Dust II Onyx, A Melanated Tarot Deck, is ©Courtney Alexander.

“What Does The Deck Say” is a weekday series of 3 card pulls from a cartomancy deck. No context or query is given to frame what the cards say as the posts are reading samples and not personal instruction. The result is sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, and usually surprising. All readers are invited to leave a comment about what they perceive in the random spread as each person will interact with the cards in their own way.