Cailleach

  Goddess cold and blue; She, the bringer of darkness and ice The word Cailleach itself came to the Gaelic language during the dark ages, based on the Latin root ‘pallium’, meaning ‘a veil’. ‘Cailleach’ as a word has evolved over time and its meaning is now commonly accepted as ‘Old Wife’, but its literal translation is  ‘Veiled One’. Cailleach is the Scottish goddess of winter, who is said to manifest as a shadowy crone swathed in a shroud of gray, her shoulders draped with a plaid of muted earth tones. Her visage, ghostly and pallid, bears the chilling hues of the grave. Her hair is long and white, glistening with frost’s embrace. A single eye is set in the center of her forehead, marking her as one who peers through the veil of this world and the next. In some sources she is depicted as riding across the land on the back of a grey wolf rather than walking. Many stories describe the Cailleach as wearing an apron or as having a creel strapped to her back while carrying a wooden staff