Goddess of Rock

Six

"So, what'd ya mean by you're all named after Celtic Deities?"

Looking up from their plates since they'd been chosen to have lunch with Bobby, the quartet of siblings were a bit surprised by the question directed at Hunter. Considering he'd been so quiet and reserved beyond hanging out with Jess and her friend, they'd Begun to think he'd completely forgotten about that. However, they weren't about to lie to him, so they decided to just explain their family history to him as much as they dared.

"Well, to start off, our mother's Irish and Pagan," Hunter answered. "We all share the same mother, but Blaze and Brooke're the only ones who share a father–for what I hope're obvious reasons."

"They're twins, so I should hope it's pretty obvious," the bassist chuckled.

"Going in-depth, though–my name's actually Cernunnos," he explained. "Cernunnos was the Celtic God of Virility, Fertility, Life, Animals, Forests, and the Underworld."

"Really, now?" Bobby asked. "Gotta admit, I've never really been into Mythology, so this is actually kinda fascinating."

"Mmm hmm," the younger man hummed as he nodded. "The Horned or Antlered God is born at the Winter Solstice, marries the Goddess at Beltane, and dies at the Summer Solstice. He alternates with the Goddess of the Moon in ruling over Life and Death, continuing the cycle of Death, Rebirth, and Reincarnation."

"Hmmm..." he hummed thoughtfully as he listened.

"Cernunnos symbolizes Element of Earth, Love, Fertility, Death, the virile male aspect, and the Dark half of the Year, while the two-fold aspect of the God Year with the Greenman or Jack o' the Green's his Light aspect–this takes on a similarity to the old Oak King and Holly King legend. And he leads the wild hunt at Samhain, hence the Day being best associated with the Dark Lord." Hunter paused before continuing.

"He was also a consort to the Mother Goddess–who'd be Anu–and the Ancient Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, or the Honored God. Ancient Celtic images show him seated in a Lotus position, nekkid, with antlers or horns on his head. Christians demonized this benevolent God for easy conversion, and this is where the image of the Christian devil comes from–which couldn't be further from facts, nor Truth, but alas is yet another tragedy of misdeed and bearing false witness, to quote a commandment."

The bassist couldn't help wincing slightly, if only 'cuz he'd been raised a Christian and still was one–even if he wasn't that kinda Christian.

"Animals that were sacred to him were the Bull, Ran, Stag, and horned Serpents. His variants were Cerowain, Cernenus, Herne the Hunter."

"Definitely pretty interesting," Bobby admitted. "Now I see why ya go by Hunter, though."

That was when they moved on to Brooke, whose name turned out to be Lyric Belisama as a play on a couple different things. Belisama was the Celtic Goddess of Lakes and Rivers, Fire, and Crafts and Light, which made her fairly similar to the Goddess the more Dominant ginger twin was named after. However, it gave homage to the fact that the girls'd their differences, that being that Brooke always seemed like the gentler, more shy twin–till somebody threatened those or what she held near and dear.

For Blaze, her name was actually Lyra Brighid, after both a Constellation involving Orpheus and another Celtic Goddess. The Goddess in question here really was Brighid, one of the Triple Goddesses of the Celtic Pantheon. She was the daughter of The Dagda, the All Father of the Tuatha D'Danann–who were essentially a race of Warrior Fae now–and one of the most Ancient people of Northern Europe.

Some say there were actually three Brighids–one was in charge of Poetry and Inspiration, one was in charge of Midwifery and Healing, and the last was in charge of Crafts and Smiths. Therein lay how these twins could be named after two different Goddesses, as similar as they were, and both their names bear the meaning lyre. However, Brighid prolly Began as only a Sun Goddess, 'cuz according to legend, she was born at Sunrise and a tower of Flame beamed from her head. That certainly fit the two of them being Natural gingers, even if the Goddess in question wasn't a ginger alongside them.