Danu of the Flowing Waters

Description

Danu, in Celtic traditions is a mother goddess or female principle, who was honoured under various names from eastern Europe to Ireland. The mythology that surrounded her can sometimes be contradictory and confused, but the main consensus is she is an ancient deity with shared aspects of the sovereign mother and flowing waters, and is still revered by Neo Pagans in Europe today, especially in Celtic Brittany and Ireland.  

For the the Irish Celts she is the mother goddess Danu and the ancestor from which all Tuatha Dé Danann claimed descent. She is associated with various landmarks and river courses throughout Ireland but despite her importance to Irish mythology, Danu largely remains a mystery.

In Brittany she remains the mother goddess of fertility and abundance, giving blessings to those who honour her, and is often represented as a Triple Goddess. 

In Hindi beliefs she is the Primordial Goddess and also connected to flowing waters, rivers and represents the great mother. She is mentioned in the Rigveda to be the mother of the eponymous race known as the Danavas. 

The word Danu is encountered in many Indo-European languages where the word it means “to flow.” Danu may be a loanword from the ancient Scythian language, in which it meant “river.” It is a word for “rain” or “liquid”, dānu is compared to Avestan dānu, “river”, and further to river names like Don, Danube, Dnieper, etc. There is also a Danu river in Nepal. So I thought it fitting it was her I met on the banks of the River, she the very spirit of flowing waters and queen mother of us all.

This is the third water spirit pieces for the year and was inspired by a river in France and painted for a fellow pagan and friend who was in need of healing along with his river. It has taken me all summer to complete and came with me on my various travels through that season. The piece is about the healing power of flowing water, as we let it wash over and through us we are cleansed inside and out.

I had several epiphany moments while doing this piece but I won’t describe them all in detail as that would be way too much, but give an idea of my journey by sharing a bit from each vision and the last vision I will share in full as it was truly epic and profound. 

I started as a bit of snow melt off a glacier, pure, clear, cold and fast! I travelled many miles as water, tumbling over river bed pebbles, winding in and out of tree roots and river weeds until I came to the slow lazy winding river water of the lowlands. 

Here I was a fish, small and darting between rocks, constantly hiding from predators, always eyes warily on the sparkling surface…Then I was a king fisher perched on a branch over the water, flashing my colours as I dive for dinner, delight of wings and water up most on my mind… then I was a frog sheltering under the shade of the ferns and foxgloves, singing my song in the evening light of a long summer’s day… 

Then I was a fish again, this time bigger around the size of a trout, but the water has turned murky, there is a constant buzzing sound in the water, I look up and instead of sunlight dancing on ripples, a myriad of lights greet me, some flashes of white and red, blinking lights and steady glow throughout the night, no rest, no reprieve. The water feels like sludge and my gills don’t work well. Everything I try to eat is bad and sometimes not even food. Here the water burns my body and slides across my scales like an oil slick. Here I am lost and at some point felt I would die in this nasty brown world, but as I surge to the surface in an attempt to escape I become a quick spurt of water, which becomes a waterfall and as I crash back onto rocks I enter a glade where the water and I am calm again. 

I am me perched on an island in the middle of the river, the water is cool, clear and holds all the colours of the rainbow. This is where I met Danu, standing in the middle of the river with cascades of golden rainbow water pouring from her hands, she is the great mother and I feel immense comfort and love all around, a calm peace which comes with divine balance. She is there to let the water flow through her, cleansing and purifying it. She is the great spirit of life and despite our destructive and polluting ways she still embraces her wayward children as she does all living things. I feel welcomed and loved, in this place of peace and beauty. I embrace this rare gift of being in the presence of pure spirit, and deeply thankful for it. I know I am finite, a mortal who will fade and pass into forgotten histories, but she will prevail and with her I will continue to be part of this great flowing life force.

The last meditation on this journey ended in the sea and I have written this one in detail for those who still have the will to read. 

The last mediation   

This morning coming into the dark moon phase I sat in my sacred space and opened myself up to the energies flowing through and within this reality. Dark moon is a liminal time for me, when the dark becomes visceral and enfolds me as I seek knowledge hidden in the shadows. If I get the timing right and have the space this is when I go on my most intense journeys.

This journey took me to the darkest depths where light comes from within… I began sitting in the roots of a tree, and this tree was living by a river with its feet dipping into the water from the bank… As I sat at the base of the tree the roots began to dissolve and the waters started to rise, my body began to feel light, buoyed by the water which was neither hot nor cold, it was like warm sap water, or living blood, comforting… 

Then as the water reached my neck it began to become choppy, the temperature dropped and I could smell the brine. I opened my eyes and I was in the middle of a vast ocean, no land anywhere to be seen. A dark star encrusted sky above and below was cold black water, indicating I was treading water above the deepest part of the ocean… then the waters started to envelope me fully, I had to fight a bit of panic as I went under. I was just about to be consumed by it when a truly beautiful being came to me, she held my arms and I felt the panic fade. On either side of me were two other humanoid beings. All three surrounded me, their luminescent hair, like fine tentacles, trailing around me, brushing gently across my skin, bringing me balance and calm… 

Then we began to dive, into the blackest of black, the heaviness of the water sliding by, becoming denser and denser… I screamed the whole way down and couldn’t see past my terror until a glimmer flickered below. I became aware of huge bulky shadows all around us and as I focused through the ever lightening gloom I could see the eyes of giants watching me with curiosity as they dived with me. So many sperm whales all clicking and clacking at each other, I could feel the water ripple with the force of their chatter. 

As the blue, green light became stronger I looked to my feet as they settled onto what seemed like a mountainside of luminescent grass, except when I looked closer they were more like arms of a sea anemone, each tendril attaching to me, anchoring me to the underwater mountainside. 

Where I stood if I looked down or up, or all around blackness greeted me. I was on an island of light amongst an endless black, cold void of nothing. Again the panic began to rise, but she whispered to me she was still here and for me to let go and feel… 

I’m not sure how long I stood facing the terrifying void when I felt the water around me shift, and like the high winds of our land mountains I was buffeted by the swirling currents, this is when I discovered the anemone suckers where not there to keep me trapped but to hold on to me, stopping me from toppling off into the black… as the water stilled around me I looked up from my legs straight into the biggest eye I have ever seen, it was almost as big as me and the body attached to it went on and on as it swam away into the gloom, the body passed and the tentacles began, swirling and twisting, until finally the ends, briefly wrapping around me as they slid past. 

In that moment I felt many beings swimming in the depths, their giant shadows coming close and then disappearing again into the gloom… their songs becoming discernible as they went about the task of living, as I peered into the gloom I opened myself up wider, sharpening each sense, trying to make out the cadences, to read the currents, to visualise the hidden landscape… as I did this a huge wave of the deepest sorrow engulf me, and I cried out on my glowing mountain side, my tears instantly becoming part of the waters around me, I opened my water filled mouth and lungs, and joined their song, I said sorry in all the ways I knew how to… I knew it was us which caused this sorrow, I knew what the matriarchs of the pods were telling me. The song they were singing, was the same as the Banshees, a lament, a farewell to the world we know now, a song to honour the days of dying.

As we all sang on the edge of the mountain the old ones of the deep rose and surrounded us, me the goddess and the water elementals. Then the  song shifted from sorrow to an all encompassing feeling of being loved and cherished. I felt embraced and forgiven for being the agent of change this time round, and of the joy of life in what ever form it has been, is now, or will become… 

Then I was rising as well, my legs released and the water swirled around me and I knew the sperm wales were rising with us, the black turned into murk, and I began to see with my eyes what I had been feeling and hearing. All around were the wales, below me were disappearing tentacles and blackness, above I could see stars glinting through the gloom… Then everything sped up and with a huge spurt I was launched from the black waters onto the back of a giant seagull, I nestled down into its feathers, my arms wrapped around it’s chest as the wind whistled past me. We flew over the black seas, coasting across the crest of foaming waves and past the rocky cliffs of home. My seagull friend deposited me on a stoney beach  enshrouded by sea mists, where I sat looking out at the Atlantic ocean, renewed and refocused on my purpose in this life. 

I am a chronicler of our natural world and the worlds beyond. I faithfully record what I see and feel, I retell in painting after painting my deep love for all the life energies around us, whether physical or spiritual. Hopefully through my work others will feel it too, as the more we love something, the more we value it and the more we will take care of it. This is the lesson I learned from the old ones of the deep and on my journey with the goddess Danu of the flowing waters. Honour the dying, celebrate the living, forgive and be forgiven.

Blessed Be