Danu
       the gentle mother

         

Danu is also known as Danann, the Irish Dana, the Greek Dione, the Welsh Donn, and Anu. She is also called Mother of Gods, Great Mother, and Moon Goddess. Her name means teacher and wisdom.

It is also said that Danu is the power that is the land, never to be overcome by mortals. Her power is in the imagination of those who see magick in the twilight mist between the worlds.

Her powerful presence can aide you in achieving anything you desire, especially motherhood, fertility, healing of children, and magick, and anything creative.

Mother of the gods, she was patron Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann, the 4th  wave of colonies that arrived in Ireland, prior to the Sons of Mil, centuries before Christianity. The Tuatha De Danann (the people of the goddess Danu) became the gods and goddesses of the Sons of Mil, after they were driven "underground." The Tuatha De Danann became known as the faery, and were said to inhabit the Sidhe. The Sidhe (shee) is a magickal place beneath the large mounds in Ireland. Danu is not only the Faery Queen, She is also goddess of Water, and Her name appears all across Europe :
Danube River, Denmark, & the Don River.

In the beginning, it is said that She watered the first Oak tree from the heavens, and granted life to the Earth.  From that tree fell two acorns, which grew to be Dagda and Brighid.

A swan is symbolic of Her, representing purity of the female, and gracefulness of motherhood. The Hawthorne is Her tree, and She is especially honored at Beltane.

 Today there seems to be a resurgence in the belief of the faery, the legacy of the Earth Mother, and the Goddess Danu. If one has the spirit and mind to believe, She can show us that magick does exist. 

In county Kerry, Ireland, there is the "paps of Anu," connecting Danu to the land in a very ancient way, our ancestors worshipped the land in the form of the Gentle Mother. Danu is our Earth Mother. It is She we draw our strength from, it is she that keeps us grounded and centered, it is She that nurtures us, and it is She that we honor and worship on Sabbats.