Druids, Bards & Witches

Mug Ruith

 

Name: Mug Ruith Roith Mog Ruith Ruth Mogh Ruth Mog Roith Mogh Ruith

 

Title: Devotee of the Wheel

 

Properties: God of the Seasons (yearly cycle)

 

Profession: Arch Druid Sun God

 

Race: Fir Bolg

 

Father: Cethern (God of the Otherworld) or Fergus Fal (in some accounts)

 

Mother: Cacht 

 

Grandmother: Catmend

 

Consorts: Dron (mother of Tlachta) Der-Droighen (Mother of Buan and Fercorp)

 

Sons: Buan : Fercorp

 

Daughter: Tlachta

 

Associated Kings: Cormac Mac Art

 

Associated Deities:  Ana Lugh Lamhfada 

 

Associated Sites: Tlachta, Co. Meath Inis Dairbre (Valencia Island, Co. Kerry) Mag Féne, North County Cork

Mug Ruith is a famous  druid of ancient Ireland.  His father was Cethern and he had a famous daughter called Tlachta who was a sorceress.  Some writers believe that Mug Ruith was an early sun God and his daughter Tlachta a fertility goddess.  In medieval times there were many tales which linked Mug Ruith to the magician Simon Magus.  In one of these tales they create a flying machine together called roth ramach (rowing wheel) which was  sighted flying over Tlaghta, Co. Meath.  He is always outspoken against the encroaching christian religion and a staunch supporter of Paganism.

He is described as either one-eyed, or blind in the tales and he can dry up the lakes with his breath or raise storms.  The chieftain Fiachu Muillethan gave him a large tract of land in north Cork as a reward for helping him defeat Cormac Mac Art in the siege of Knocklong.

The mediaeval legend tells how one of his eyes was lost in Alps becoming a 'snow-calf' or mound, the other eye was destroyed while trying to stop the course of the sun for two days.  He is able to fly and spy upon his enemies.  His magical equipment includes his 'encennach' - bird head-dress and his 'roth ramach' (rowing wheel) which are the tools he uses to fly through the sky. 

sources: The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom - Caitlin and John Matthews, Element Books 1994.

The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology - James Mac Killop, Oxford University Press 1998.

Stories Myths & Legends associated with Mug Ruith

Summary of Siege of Knocklong

 

Roscanna of Mug Ruith

 

Forbais Dromma Damgaire/The Siege of Knocklong

 

The Story of Tlachta

 

top

horizontal rule

© Shee-Eire.com: