The Goddess Kelle, also known as Kelly

Ahhhh, a strong good Irish name, it is! And what a background! From The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets: Kelle (var. Kelly) Irish-druidic priest-name, derived from pre-Christian holy harlots of the Goddess Kelle, Kale, or Kali. Irish writings described the divine harlot Mary Magdalene as a kelle.(1) The medieval term Kele-De was considered somewhat mysterious, translated "Bridge of God" if a woman, "Servant of God" if a man.(2) These translations were inaccurate. Kele-De meant literally the spirit of the Goddess Kele, evidently identical with the Goddess Kali of the original Indo-European Celts. Votaries of the Goddess Kele stressed the search for inward perfection through meditation, yogic style.(3) Her gods assumed the lotus positin like eastern yogis. Her primitive Grail hereo, Peredur, experienced her as the "most beautiful woman in the world," represented by the three colors of the Divine Prakriti, still known as the Gunas, standing for her powers of creation, preservation, and destruction.(4) The mythical "St. Kilda" seems to have been another version of the Goddess Kele, dwelling on a remote rocky islet once identified with the western paradise of the dead. St Kilda's Isle still exists, but the origin of its name has been forgotten. The ubiquitous Irish word kill, a cell or cave, once meant a shrine of Kele, whose holy men called themselves Culdees, Colidees, Cele-De, Keledio, etc. Some where described in Christian histories as monks, though they wre obviously married.(5) Kildare ws a major shrine of the Goddess Kilda-Kele, or Brigit, identified with the virgin Mary after Christian monks appropriated the site. But the guardianship of the sacred fire at Kildare had long been a perogative of priestesses; the shrine ws forbidden to men.(6) Confusion of Kilda-Kele-Brigit with Mary was not too far-fethed, as they had been aspects of the same Goddess for thousands of years in India as Kali-Mari or Kel-Mari, the Pot Goddess who made human forms out of clay.(7) (See Kali Ma). Notes: (1) Malvern, 117. (2) Joyce, 352. (3) de Paor, 72. (4) Goodrich, 63-66, Avalon, 328. (5) Brewster, 130-31. (6) Briffault 2, 540. (7) Briffault 1, 474.