Fascinating research on our Lord Crom has led me to a theory I have about him
and his true place in the Celtic Pantheon:
FROM JANET AND STEWART FERRAR, "The God of the Witches" which explores Pagan
mythological concepts of the God image:
The Supreme King of the Irish Gods, was called "The Dagda" which in Irish Gaelic,
means "The Good God," he also has the titles Eochaid Ollathair (Father of All) and
Ruad Rofhessa (Red One of Perfect Knowledge). In other words, he is best known by
his title and not his true name.
He is the unquestionable king and father figure of the Tuatha Da Dannan, full of
strength, wisdom, sexual potency; terrible in battle, a god of fertility and abundance,
and a skilled musician to boot. Yet there is something paradoxical and ambivalent about
him. He seems to have inspired both respect and mockery. He is portrayed as gross and
fat-bellied and dressed like a peasant.
The Tuatha Da Dannan (the people of the Mother Goddess Dana) are the last-but-one
occupiers of Ireland in the mythological cycle. They defeated their predeccors the
giant Fomors and were in turn defeated by the Sons of Mil (the ancient Gaels),
whereupon they retreated under the armistace agreement, into the sidh-mounds or
hollow hills, leaving the earth's surface to the Irish. They still live there,
a magickal people, the aristocracy of the sidhe or fairy folk.
The Good God played a leading part in the defeat of the Fomors at the Second Battle
of Magh Tuiredt; and the other end of the Tuatha's reign. He was a formidable warrior.
His club was so huge that it took nine ordinary men to life it, and when it dragged
along the ground it created a furrow like the boundary between provinces. With one
end he could slay nine men at a time, yet with the other he could restore them to
life. He was thus an archtyple God of death and rebirth....
They write about Crom himself later: note the similarities to "The Dagda".
Crom Cruaich - "Bowed One of the Mound," Irish; also known as Cenn Cruaich, "The Lord of
the Mound" or Crom Dubh, "The Black Bowed One." An ancient sacrificial God (God of death
and rebirth) who is particularly associated with Lughnassad, or late July, early August.
The last Sunday in July is still called, "Domhnach Crom Dubh" (Crom's Sunday)....
From "The Celtic Tradition" by Caitlinn Matthews,
The Good God - The Dagda of the Tuatha de Danaan is described as the supreme King, and
his name is explained so, "for it was he performed miracles and saw to the weather and
the harvest." The Dagda says to all the other gods, "All that you promise to do, I shall
do myself alone." ...This inclusiveness of skills derives from the fact that he was a god
of druidry, "for it is he that had perfection of heathen science."
The Dagda is famous for his feats. It is he who survives the superhuman tests imposed on
him by the enemy Fomorians. He is made to eat up a porridge made of fourscore gallons of
milk, goats, sheep and pigs, and succeeds in returning to his people, though his belly is
so distended he can scarcely stagger away, nor will his tunic cover his backside.
This element of comic vulgarity is a recurrant feature in the myths concerning the
Good God. He seems to stem from a very early set of native myths, apart from his great
knowledge and all inclusive prowess, he is very unique.
From "Ancient Irish Tales," TP Cross and HP Croker:
A description of the Good God: "I saw a large-eyed, large-thighed, noble great, immensely
tall man, with a splendid grey garment about him; with seven short, black, equally grey
cloakets around him; shorter was each upper one, longer each lower. On either side of him
were nine men. In his hand was a terrible iron staff, on which were a rough end and a
smooth end. His play and amusement consisted in laying the rough end on the heads of the
nine, whom he would kill in the space of a moment. Then with the smooth end, he would
reanimate them...."
I still want to get more information about Crom, but I have a strong hunch that this
God of Mounds, of the Underworld, of Rebirth and the Earth, may very well have been,
one and the same with "The Good God!"
- GreenHag
(Cromic High Priestess)