New Directions

Well, not that new. More like a new emphasis.

The strength of polytheism, or one of the strengths, is that as one's focus changes, one can adapt one's practices.  We learn, we grow, we change, we revisit...it's not so much a path like a free way, but a rambly walk through the woods.  I am reminded of this....

Not enough doubling back, though.

Anyway, recently I've become kind of intrigued by a couple of things. First, I've become more enamored of making the path of the Sun a focal point of my liturgical cycle. The Equinox and Solstice multi-day devotionals are the most obvious example of those, but I also have downloaded an app to the phone that tells me when sunrise and sunset are. I've gotten pretty good at predicting sunrise time, but a little less so of sunset.  Still, it's interesting to go "Isn't it about sunrise?" only to hear the alarm sound a few moments later.

More on that later.... What I've been more interested in, from a research perspective anyway, is honoring the spirits of our local waterways.  It's a common trope in mythology.  Rivers, due to their nature as sustainers of life. Obviously sources of water for us, and also for the animals we once hunted to survive. We've fished in their depths and used them for travel and trade with other people. It's no doubt that prehistoric animists gave them names and associated them with various spirits, be those spirits gods (Danu from the Danube, Boann of the Boyne, Sequanna of the Seine) or demigods (Naiads in Greek mythology, specifically the Potamides). A real quick look shows a LOT of variation...There's some consistency though in that rivers spirits are seen as female. The Potamides were the daughters of the Potamoi, river gods, for example.  As with all mythology, the deeper you look, the more there is to find, and the more things aren't as certain as they seem...

I could get far off into the weeds analyzing the hows and whys of all that, or I could cut to the chase. I somewhat casually wandered into the concept of getting to know THE spirits of the major waterways in my land. This seems a distinctly Druidy thing to do, for reasons that will take us into ANOTHER set of archeological and historical weeds about things, so again, let's just accept that as the basis and move on (This is already going to be a hella-long post.)  While we don't actually have a thousand lakes, we are still a fairly watery state.



In trying to narrow things down a bit more, I decided to focus on mostly my neck of the woods, which is just Franklin County. (Still looking for a decent map.)  Even that is pretty overwhelming, so I began with just our two rivers, the Scioto and Olentangy.  At the store, we were going to do a Beltainne rite, and I didn't want to (for many reasons...again, another tangent for later) do the usual 'great rite' symbolism. Instead, I got waters from both of those rivers, and the mingled them and poured them back out to the ground to support the fertility of the land.  In doing so, I felt I should give names to those spirits, and thus looked into what those terms meant to the early indigenous tribes that once lived her.  So I learned that Scioto derives from the Wyandot word for Deer, and that Olentangy means "river of the red face paint" in Delaware.  So I ventured old names were as good as any, and in what I see as Fine I-E tradition, used those names to bring together the energies of Deer Father and Red Clay Woman.

Now, if you are familiar with the natural history of Ohio, you will at once know that the Olentangy was not the right name. Olentangy was the name of a different river, which was instead named Big Darby Creek.  Per Wikipedia  'It was originally called keenhongsheconsepung, a Delaware word literally translated as "sharp tool river", based on the shale found along its shores. Early settlers to the region translated this into "Whetstone River".' 

Oops.  Also, in working with these spirits, off and on, not with any true regularity, I began to feel that they were more feminine in nature, as in the Irish mythology.  I then gradually came to call the spirit of the Scioto "Deer Mother," and then added Big Darby Creek as "Red Clay Woman."  Olentangy has since become "Stone Sharpener." 

I also have three creeks in the immediate vicinity of my home:  Blacklick Creek, Alum Creek, and Big Walnut Creek.  Finding names has proven more difficulty. For now, Blacklick and Alum are Mineral Sisters (as their natural histories are about the mineral deposits) and Big Walnut is either "Nut Bearer" or "Deer Nourisher."  There are a few links to other names which could provide clues for finding what could be more satisfying (to me) names, so it's still a work in progress.

The beginnings of an interesting tale are forming as well, a way to mythologize the watershed.  The Mineral Sisters join with the Deer Nourisher.  Stone Sharpener walks with Deer Mother, until they meet the three, and then are joined by Red Clay Woman.   Deer Mother leads them down to the Beautiful One (Ohio River), and then they all go to meet Grandma Muddy (the Mississippi). 

I am not sure what to do with this tale yet, but the naming of these land (specifically river) spirits has already been a wonderful journey in and of itself.  I look forward to adding more Potamides to my practice.