Trickster, clown, keeper of the gates, ferryman, shaman, magician, illusionist, lord of apples, lord of the otherworld, veracious, cunning, sly, wise, and lord of the in between gray places.

Manannan Mac Lir is one of the more popular celtic dieties. He is spoken of through out many mythical cycles. He is son of the mystical god Lir, ruler of Time and Deep Space which little is written about. Manannan appears around Ireland in many different shapes and guises. He is said to have transmigrated through many people includeing as Culain the Smith, Fionn MacCumhal and Mongan, who was taken away to Manannan's Land of Promise when he was just three nights old. He was also the foster-father of the great warrior Lugh. He wrapped the young child in his vast cloak and took him away in his boat to his Oth erworld lands beyond the sea.

Manannan Mac Lir is best known as wearing gray and being at shores and seas. The waters of mystiscm are forever linked with Manannan, as he holds the barriers of worlds and the gates to the otherworld. Often he is depicted as riding a chariot pulled by two white mares, across the waters. Or as a ferryman tolling a small boat across the waters to pick up some weary traveller not searching for land but something greater.

As a great Magician of his people the Tuatha De Danaans, he is keeper of many magical treasures. He possessed a sword, Fragarach (The Answerer) which no armour could resist and which was entrusted to Lugh, and a breastplate that no weapon could pierce. He wore a cloak that could change into any colour. It was this cloak that he shook between his Sidhe wife Fand and her mortal lover Cuchulain, to prevent them from ever meeting again. Thus Manannan's cloak, like the mist with which he is associated, signifies the veil between the worlds. The most interesting and saught after of all his magical treasures is the crane skin bag, made from the skin of Aoife. At first glance it appears to contain a strange collection of items, such as 'the bones of Assal's pig', the belt and smith-hook of Gobhniu, the helmet of the King of Lochlan, and so on. Yet on deeper reflection we may realise the hidden meanings of the contents. The crane is the sacred bird of Manannan and the crane-skin bag is given in turn to Lugh, then Cumhal MacTredhorn and t hen to Fionn MacCumhal.

Among the Tuatha De Danaans Manannan commands a very high status. After their defeat by the Milesians, it was Manannan who gave to the De Danaans the power of invisibility. Another testament to his powers as a magician as to his connection with the gray ed,fogged in obscurity place of this world. He found retreats for them in the hollow hills and put hidden walls about them so that no mortals could find them, easily at least. He also gave to the De Danaans the 'Feast of Age'. No-one ever grew old at thi s feast, infact they became immortal. The pigs that were kept by Manannan and killed for the feast became whole again the next day.