Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

LUGH

Irish Celtic god associated with skills who was probably a late-comer to the Pantheon. By repute Lugh was adept in the use of a massive spear and a sling, both of which possessed invincible Magick properties. One of the epithets of Lugh is lamjhada meaning 'of the long arm'.

The main festival in his honour is Lughnasadh on August 1 in the Northen Hemisphere (February 1 in the Southern Hemisphere), which is unusual in that it was a wholly agrarian Celtic festival among people otherwise used to celebrating dates based on the earlier -pastoral calendar. He may have superseded a pastoral god named Trograin since an alternative name for the I August festival was Bron Trograin, the 'Rage of Trograin'.

It was believed that Lugh possessed the power of shape-changing and one of the possible translations of his name is 'lynx'.

Lugh seems to have been adopted as a deity in various places in Romano-Celtic Britain and Europe hence place names such as Luguvalium [Carlisle] and Lugudunum [Lyons].

In Wicca, the name persists only through the Sabbat of Lughnasadh.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc