Discover Top Posts Tagged with #multiple goddess tag

In the material provided for the OBOD Druid grade course, there was a picture of the Genii Cucullati, three hooded figures representing a tr

"South of Munich, where the green foothills of the Bavarian Alps start to rise against the massive granite wall of the Alps, there is a little valley with a river running through it. It is called Mühltal (Mill Valley). The stream is lined with unusual steep hills covered with dense beech forest. The area is especially known for its Celtic remains, including a well preserved Viereckschanze and several hill grave cemeteries. It is remarkably rich with natural wells.

Branching off sideways from the valley, there is a small road leading to the tiny hamlet of Leutstetten. It has only a few houses, a horse breeding farm and a castle owned by Bavaria’s former royal family, the Wittelsbach dynasty. At the village entrance there is a chapel standing in the middle of a small cemetery.

After entering the chapel the visitor notices an image of three women on the right wall. The image is from 1620 CE. According to local lore, it depicts three noble virgins who never married and gave all their money to church as a donation in order to enable the building of the chapel. The chapel was built and the image of the three women, who are known today as ‘the three sacred virgins’, was put inside in rememberance of their noble deed. Their names are inscribed as ‘AINPET, GBERPET, FIRPET’. Since there is a castle adjacent, one could think of three unmarried noblewomen devoting their lives to god and their money to the church, hoping for a good afterlife in paradise.

But there is something wrong with the chapel’s foundation legend. Local historians have checked it and found not a single piece of evidence confirming its truth. The three virgins were apparently neither born nor did they die. And in the church registers, which have survived into our times safe and sound, the donation at Leutstetten does not shine up.

And this makes very good sense! Because Ainpet, Gberpet and Firpet never lived as humans. Nor are they Christian saints. They are pagan goddesses, deeply rooted in the pre-Christian European past. Pagan goddesses in a Catholic church?

Well, this is a long story!

In Bavaria, the three women in the chapel are mostly known as Ainbeth, Borbeth and Wilbeth. Since their names all end with ‚ beth‘, they are usually called ‚die drei Bethen’ (the three Bethen). They also appear as,

Aubet, Cubet and Quere

Ainbet, Gwerbet and Wilbet

Embede, Warbede and Wilbede

Ambede, Borbede and Wilbede

Ainpet, Gberpet and Firpet

‘Beten’ in modern German means ‘to pray’. Probably the act of worshipping the Bethen was so important and widespread that their name left its mark on the word for praying to them. Firpet or Firbet, the name of the third woman on the Leutstetten image, in modern German sounds pretty much like ‘Fürbitte’ (intercession).

The Bethen were venerated especially in the presence of trees, wells and stones. This finds its expression in the terms ‘Bethelbäume'(Bethen trees),’Bethenbrunnen’ (Bethen wells) and ‘Bethensteine’ (Bethen stones). As we know, worship at wells, in forest groves and near unusual stones was a widespread feature in Celtic and Germanic religion, so we can safely assume that the Bethen cult has pre-Christian roots."