The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Recently I've gained an interest in the Celtic deity, Bel/Belenus. The thing is, little is known about him. I do know he was viewed is the god of the sun, light, water and healing and that the Romans equated him with Apollo. He also has strong connections with Beltaine.

I'm wondering if anyone on this board has had any dealings before with Bel/Belenus (however you want to spell it!), particularly on his personality. UPG is more than welcome.

Thank you for your reply. He seems like a great deity, one that is sadly overlooked. Of all the Celtic deities he is the only one I felt a connection with. I'm glad to know he is approachable and fatherly.

Are there any offerings he tends to like?

I'm wondering if anyone on this board has had any dealings before with Bel/Belenus (however you want to spell it!), particularly on his personality. UPG is more than welcome.

Grain of Salt warning: I'm not reconstructionist in any way, and my experiences and impressions of Belenos are colored by my (individual, localized, and eclectic) practice so I can't really speak to any of his pantheon associations or name etymology or things like that.

I would consider Belenos a patron, in that he gives me the resources I need to do what I do in my practice. He's not a constant or even frequent presence and I have a hard time anthropomorphizing him at all. I get the impression of a very diffuse force in the world, rather than a concentrated one, most of the time.

I've found him to be very caring and benevolent, the solar and healing associations definitely ring true for me. As for offerings, I've had good luck with a variety of things, including: cool water, flame, dairy products, homemade bread, tea (especially dragonwell) and beer--Blacklist's Or de Belgique is my absolute favorite. I've also dedicated creative works/learning new skills to him, and I wear a necklace of baltic amber chips most days as devotional jewelry.

Fair warning, don't go in with solar and water associations in mind. All celtic gods were associated with springs in some way or another, and the solar associations are only due to a misunderstanding of his syncretism with Apollo.

That said, he is a grandfatherly god associated with healing.

There were some previous posts on these forums connecting him with the underworld and the spirits of the dead, and though they were very UPG-y I do think that they make sense.

I remember seeing something on the Gaulish Polytheism facebook group about an article that promoted the etymology of "henbane god" rather than "bright" or "shining" and took that to associate him with warrior fury/altered states/Wild Hunt type things, so the cthonic angle could come from there? However I haven't been able to find this article on JSTOR and I only have public library access to journals so I haven't been able to read it for myself. Will try to find the name of it when I'm off work tonight.