White flowersMilkBreadA grief named aloudThe refusal of a bad bargain
Invocation Approach
Tone
Sorrowful and clear
Address
DeirdreDeirdre of the SorrowsDerdriu
Relationship
The woman whose beauty was made into a trap
Warning
Her story is one of the Three Sorrows and it does not have a rescue in it
Resonance
The grieving those who were traded for peace
Symbols
The black ravenThe rockThe veilThe standing stone
Mythology Summary
Deirdre is the heroine of Longes mac nUislenn, 'The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu', one of the Three Sorrows of Storytelling: a druid prophesies at her birth that she will be beautiful and bring ruin, Conchobar has her raised in seclusion to marry her, and she instead chooses Naoise. When the couple and the sons of Uisliu return under Conchobar's safe-conduct they are betrayed and killed, and Deirdre dies — of grief in some accounts, by her own hand against a rock in the saga's own ending. The story is a critique of kingship as much as a tragedy of love.
Modern Practice
Deirdre is called by the grieving and by those who were traded away for peace. The practice is to name the grief and refuse the bargain, and to let the story be a lament rather than a lesson.