The Source

Description

The Source –  spirit of the river Dart

This painting is one of three paintings dedicated to the spirits of rivers. As many other pagan animists I believe everything in our world has a spirit, an energy and in rivers it is often at the source of a river you can find the spirit. This painting is the spirit of the Dart river here in the West Country and as is often the case for me the spirit comes in the form of a dragon. The female appearing from the granite rock is the goddess holding space between spirit and matter, she is the conduit from which the energy can flow, she feeds the spirit of the river so that the waters are cleansed and clear as it travels from source to sea and back again. Beginning high on the moor, it tumbles down granite rocks, rushing past sedge grass and cracked willow, winding through the dark wooded valleys to finally flow into the deep waters of the Atlantic. It mingles and merges then rises from the waves to join the tempests in the sky, to fall again on the high moor to return to the source again.

Hopefully in some small way my paintings will help folk remember how vitally important our river systems are, value and take care of them as in less than a decade many of our great rivers will dry up, especially in the summer, while others are already choked by rubbish and pollution which appears will be getting worse over time not better. So whenever you are by your local river, canal or waterway, give thanks for its flow and think how you could help it flow stronger and cleaner. If you some rubbish please pick it up and take it away, volunteer with your local wildlife trust to clear river banks, and if you are in the UK I recommend ‘Surfers Against Sewage’. I will leave the link here for anyone interested in supporting campaigns against water pollution. 

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