Danu

Culture: Irish (Celtic)   Domain: Ancestral source of the Tuatha Dé Danann

Danu is understood as the ancestral mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("people of the goddess Danu"), though she appears directly in almost no surviving myths; her name is largely reconstructed from the tribe's own name and comparison with other Indo-European river-goddess figures, and modern devotion to her is built more on scholarly inference than surviving story.

Associations

Ancestral origin, deep lineage, rivers (by scholarly association), the source of a people.

Ways people honor her (modern)

• Research your own ancestry and honor it deliberately
• Approach her worship with honesty about how little direct source material exists
• Sit by moving water as a meditative practice
• Read modern scholarly discussion of her reconstructed nature, not only devotional material

Approach any deity with respect and do your own research. Practices vary widely between traditions, and modern devotional practice often goes beyond what survives in ancient sources.