Some 4000 years ago there appeared upon the green lands of Ireland a mysterious civilisation who was known as the 'Tuatha De Danam' a tribe belonging to the ancient Celts who worshipped the goddess 'Danu' the same river goddess we find within the ancient Vedas of India.

 

'Tuatha De Danam' whose name means the people ( tuatha ) of goddess danu ( danam ) brought with them four legendary treasures which are known as the 'Dagdas cauldron' the 'spear of Lugh' the 'sword light of Nuada' and the 'stone of destiny'.

 

The stone of destiny ( as pictured above ) sits upon the hill of Tara within the County of Meath where it has, for thousands of years, up until 500 AD, coronated the kings of Ireland as it acts as an oracle, a speaking stone whose celestial voice determines the fate of the would be King.

 

 

'Danu' is a river goddess of the Celts and she is a river goddess of the Vedas and throughout the folklore of the ancient and Celtic lands of Ireland she is considered to be the mother of all the Irish gods and within Wales they honour her as the goddess 'Don' the names 'Don' and 'Danu' being one and the same.

 

'Danu' is also known by the name of 'Anu' and within the County of Kerry we find two mountains which are named after her as in the 'Paps of Anu' and in her book 'The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Mythology' the author Patricia Monaghan writes "most significantly we find an Irish divine race thought to represent the god of the Celts called the 'Tuatha De Danam' the people of goddess Danu" and the author Valerie Estelle Frankel also writes.

 

"It is believed the Celts started with the concept of a mother Goddess named Danu ( meaning water from heaven ). The name of the Danube river is derived from Danu and evidence shows that Celtic civilisation evolved at the headwaters of the Danube river around this time. Water was venerated as the source of life, personified by Danu. Numerous rivers in Europe bear her name, such as the Don rivers of England, France, Scotland, and Russia. The Irish called themselves the 'Tuatha De Danann' the people of the Goddess Danu".

 

 

'Danu' is a word from the language of Sanskrit whose meaning is she who gives ( da ) waters ( nu ) the 'Na' the 'Ni' and the 'Nu' are roots which are very much related to 'water' its also seen within the Egyptian tradition as 'Nu' whose meaning is the 'primal waters' and you also see it within Latin as 'nubs' whose meaning is 'cloud'.

 

Vedic tradition describes the goddess Danu as the daughter of Daksa and the wife of Kashyapa Muni and its worth noting the similarity between 'Dagda' ( her celtic father ) and 'Daksa' especially when we consider the phonetic similarity between the 'G' and 'K' which are both gutturals.

 

As the daughter of Daksa she was also the sister of Sati who is the wife of Siva, and for those billion plus souls who follow the ancient Vedic tradition this 'stone of destiny' is recognised as a 'Siva lingam' especially considering its connection to Danu, Sati and Siva.

 

 

As a goddess of the ancient Celtic civilisation 'Danu' was known by many names such as 'Anu' 'Ani' and 'Annis' to name just a few and a goddess who was seen as the protector of wizards, goddess of rivers, waters, wells, magic and wisdom as holy wells, sacred lakes and shrines were named after her.

 

As the shadows of time spread throughout the green lands of Ireland a new religion suddenly appeared by the name of Christianity and everything was turned into a witch, a demon or the devil as Danu became a hideous child eating demon of the wells.

 

They would either destroy the wells or rededicate them to 'St Anne' the mother of the virgin Mary and so it was that 'Annis' the goddess of green Ireland suddenly became 'Black Annis' as the Christians in their rampant ignorance transformed a river goddess into a witch.

 

 

The spirit of Danu may also be seen within the legend of Arthur as she appears as the lady of the lake whose famous arm holds the sword of excalibur and proclaims Arthur as King and of course the lady of the lake is a mother goddess similar to Danu who appears through the purifying medium of water.

 

Arthur is eventually defeated by 'time' and upon his death the sword of excalibur is returned to the lady of the lake who gave birth to the King in the form of a magical sword and as Arthur passes through the cycles of life he again returns to his mother in the symbol of the sword.

 

With the passing away of Arthur, the King of Camelot, his body is returned to the island of Avalon in the care of Guinevere, Morgan Le Fey and the lady of the lake, a triad of goddesses which may all be expansions of the one goddess 'Danu' the goddess of the waters.

 

 

 

Throughout the lands of Europe the goddess can be seen within its longest river 'Danube' as it appears in the Black Forest of Donau in Germany and then journeys throughout Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and onwards into the Black Sea.

 

Within the lands of Aberdeen, Lancashire and Yorkshire she appears as the rivers 'Don' and within Russia she also appears as one of its biggest rivers known once again as the 'Don' as it flows across the lands of the bear for some 2000 kilometres.

 

She appears throughout Eastern Europe as the river 'Dnieper' and the 'Dniester' and so we find that two of the four major rivers of Europe, the 'Dnieper' and the 'Danube' are named after this ancient goddess of the waters who was worshipped by the ancient Celts of Europe as well as the Vedic Brahmans of India.

 

Ancients revered the element of 'water' for its power to make things grow and its power to wash away impurities both physical and spiritual and nowhere is this seen more than throughout the lands of India whose tradition holds the rivers such as 'Ganga' 'Yamuna' and 'Sarasvati' as sacred and worshipful.

 

Upon the island of Bali their tradition is known as 'agama tirtha' meaning the sacred knowledge ( agama ) of holy water ( tirtha ) and here they build their temples upon springs and their irrigation system is a network of temples where the water journeys across sacred monuments such as the Siva lingams.

 

The central temple which connects thousands of other temples throughout Bali is the beautiful 'Pura Ulul Danu Bratan' ( pictured above ) built upon Lake Braton its name declares to the people of Bali that 'the goddess Danu is in charge of this lake'.