Gods And Goddesses: Artio

Artio is an obscure Celtic/Gaulish bear goddess whom can take on the form of a bear. Other names for her are Dea Artio and Andarta. Her name comes from the Gaulish word for bear. Some think that Artio may be a more general goddess of the wilderness and wild creatures.

A sculpture found near Bern in Switzerland is thought to be depicting Artio, featuring a large bear facing a seated woman. The bear has a small tree behind it and the woman seeming to be holding a fruit. It is often thought that the woman thought to be Artio may be feeding the bear. The sculpture holds an inscription which reads “Deae Artioni Licinia Sabinilla”, translating to “To the Goddess Artio from Licinia Sabinilla”.

Gods And Goddesses: Sirona

Sirona is a Gual fertility goddess whose name means “star” and is associated with the sky. She is the goddess of hot springs and healing and also associated with the healing god known as Grannus. Other spellings and names of this goddess include, Serona, Sarona, Dirona and Sthirona. What is known about her is from inscriptions found across Europe in several countries including Germna, France, Austria, Romania, Switzerland and Italy.

 She is depicted wearing a diadem on her head, a dog on her head and a snake writhing around an arm reaching for a bowl containing three eggs. Sirona is also the mother of Borvo.