The Cailleach is the Scottish triple goddess who can be identified as a creatress, nurturer, and a bringer of death. She was the great primordial Mother Goddess of Scotland. Originally Scotland was called Caledonia, or "land given by Caillech". With her hammer she could change the landscape and command the weather. Her name might be related to the Hindu Goddess Kali. In her dark aspect she was depicted as an old hag with a bear’s teeth and boar’s tusks. She was known as a shapeshifter and great sorceress. Some stories also connect Bride/Brigid as the maiden aspect of the Cailleach. In these legends, it is told how on January 31st, the Eve of Bride, the Cailleach retreats to the Isle of Youth, in whose woods lie the miraculous Well of Youth. There, at the glimmer of dawn, she drinks the water, and having renewed her youth, the Cailleach emerges as Bride, the fair Goddess, known today as St. Bride. (3) She has the ability to transform from a Hag into a beautiful maiden at will (4)

She is also the Death Goddess, who lets die what is no longer needed, while she collects the seeds for the next season. (5) She is most often depicted as a blue-faced wise woman, representing cold, darkness and death. In the winter months she rides through the air on the back of a wolf, bringing freezing cold, blizzards and ice. In her guise as Storm Goddess she is usually known as Cailleach Bheur. She carried a magical staff, which froze the ground with every tap. (2) Her sacred trees were the holly and the gorse bush, under which she traditionally threw her staff before turning to stone. (2) She is said to have one eye that represents seeing beyond duality and recognizing the unity of all things. (5) She was also called "Woman of Stones", referring to the many stone circles throughout Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. She is said to walk about carrying stones in a basket, occasionally dropping them, thus creating islands and stone circles. (1) Cairns and mountains are said to have been created from stones dropped from Her apron as She wandered the Land.

She appears in a village as a weak old woman looking for farm help. She makes a deal with many young, healthy men that they will be paid only if they can outwork her. Judging from her frail appearance, this seems an easy task. However, the men soon found out that she was no frail old woman, and many men went to their deaths from exhaustion trying to outwork her. (4)

She appears in tales describing a knight being approached by an old hag for love, and when he accepts, she transforms into a beautiful maiden. (4) By kissing or mating with the Dark One, he understands the mysteries of life and.death as two sides of the same coin, and so will be able to draw upon the wisdom of the Otherworld. Embracing the Dark Goddess as an act of sacrifice for the greater good is also the theme of the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Lady Ragnell, where the handsome Gawain promises to marry a “loathly lady” in order to save King Arthur’s life. The court is filled with horror at what Gawain must do, so evil and hideous is his future bride, but when he kisses her on their wedding night she turns into a lovely young maiden of unsurpassed beauty. Initiation through the Dark Goddess occurs in many Celtic tales where an individual is transformed through contact with her. (7)

With her power to transform from hag to maiden, she had seven periods of youth. Her mates died of old age, while she had eternal life. Of these mates, her primary one was acclaimed to have been Lugh, Celtic Sun God. (6)