The Northern winds blow with a chilling swiftness, heralding visions of Winter Goddesses with their crystalline and sparkling snowflake crowns. 

There are many Goddesses associated with the Wintry months, but one stands out to me above all others, the Scottish Goddess of Magick.Nicneven. Her name in Scottish Gaelic is spelled Neachneohain and means “daughter of the divine”. Though more often thought to be a Crone Goddess of Samhain, her image mystifies us with its diversity. Sometimes she is portrayed as a dark and somber Goddess who wears a long gray mantle, and others as a gossamer image floating almost invisibly, within a framework of snowy whiteness. Thus, Nicneven’s complex persona becomes a mesmerizing enigma. She is also associated with water spirits and the God Neptune, but also becomes the Goddess who illuminates the way for traveling spirits when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. 

In Scottish folklore she is the Queen of the Faeries. Could Nicneven have been a faerie, or was she perhaps a Goddess who had the power to transform water into rocks and the sea into dry land? Many differing tales abound about this most captivating deity. 

Her myth seems to also have been shaped by a unique real-life story. There are a few scholars who believe that Nicneven was a real woman who was condemned to death for Witchcraft. Does mythology begin with reality? Perhaps we will never really know, except that the various stories about the Goddess Nicneven never cease to fascinate. 

I see Nicneven as a Goddess of multifaceted Magick whose mythology intertwines with the great Greek Goddess Hecate, who also shares a number of similarly imposing personas. As a Mother Witch Hecate guides us at the crossroads of life with her fire lite torches and her powerful dogs, in her role as protector. Her image is sometimes that of an ugly Crone or at other times in total contrast with that of a lovely captivating woman. 

There is one tale about Hecate that is even more obscure than stories about her sister Nicneven. In this myth Hecate is thought to be the mother of Angels and the cosmic world soul. Above all she is still a Winter Goddess because she sometimes accompanies Persephone on her journey to the underworld during the bleak winter months. 

I am always interested in discovering the myths of less well-known Goddesses and one that definitely fits that claim is the Slavic Goddess of Death and Winter, Morana. She represents the cycle of life death and rebirth and was the unwelcome harbinger of the harsh winter. It is said that the Goddess Moran had an ancient cult. As a sacred offering her followers would drown an effigy of her image into a river around the time of the Ostara/Spring Equinox. This offering was made to ask Morana to end the harsh and unrelenting Slavic winters. Though not a popular Goddess because of her association with death. Nonetheless, she did herald the end of one season that so often brought famine and freezing cold to the beginning of another that would ultimately bring warmth and lush abundance. Even today in towns in Central and Eastern Europe her followers still honor her in winter processions carrying her effigy. Once again like her sister Goddesses her images range from dark daunting figures to those of a lovely woman with a crown of ice surrounded by the cool blues and whites of winter. 

The Winter Goddesses help us to celebrate the mystery of the dormant earth and the hibernation of her many creatures. It is also time for us to go inward and embrace the Hermit within each of us as we discover and awaken our keen intuition and psychic abilities. 

References: 

https://otherworldlyoracle.com/ winter-gods-goddesses 

https://occult-world.com/nicnevin/ 

The Wicca Book of Days, by Selena Eilidh Ash 

My tried-and-true Winter spells:

Have snowball fight to release life’s frustrations and celebrate afterward with hot chocolate or warm cider. 

Freeze negative and gossipy energies. Write your protective intentions on a piece of paper and drop it in the bottom of a small plastic cup. Fill the cup with water and cover securely with aluminum foil…put it in your freezer to freeze away the toxic vibes.