by Lorien Cadier
Our ancestors lived in what is described by Richard Rohr as “a naturally enchanted universe”, which they honoured and took responsibility for in an act of co-creation to ensure their own continuity and that of the world they lived in. Nature was not considered by them to be a separate entity, they and all that existed in land, sea and sky were connected and therefore sacred.
Water was considered a guardian of health, in that it hydrated, cleansed and provided fish and plants to eat. Rain was valued for watering crops and for being the medium in which food was cooked. Certain springs were believed to have healing properties.
The element of water was so deeply embedded in our ancestors’ consciousness that they imbued it with spiritual qualities. We know this from the stories handed down through the ages with wells, springs, and rivers associated with deities or forces of nature.
In the 17th century, poet Michael Drayton wrote the Poly-Olbion, a poetic journey through the landscape, history, traditions and customs of England and Wales based on the oral traditions and ancient writings he had gathered. William Hole engraved the work’s frontispiece and maps relating to several counties, in which various locations and rivers were depicted with their own muses and goddesses.
The Poly-Olbion maps shows the Goddess Sabrina linked to the River Severn. Rivers, such as the Braint, Brent, Brit, Bride and Brue associated with Brigid or Brige. The rivers Dee, Mersey and Ribble linked to Belissama; the Don to Danu and the Itchen to Ancasta.
The River Medlock connected to Mam or Mamma; the Thames to Belinus, or Isis at the river Cherwell and Njord Tamesis at the Tidal Thames. The Tamar associated with Tamara; the Wear to Condatis, and the Wharfe to Verbeia.
The North Sea, meanwhile, tied to Nehelennia, while wells and springs are often dedicated to the Roman Goddess Coventina or the Celtic Goddess Brige and Sulis (her Celtic names) or Minerva (her Roman name), as is the case at the thermal springs in the city of Bath.
This deep spiritual connection with the waterscape was celebrated through ritual practice. At Flag Fen near Peterborough a huge causeway was built across the wetlands and ritual offerings were deposited into the water. These included valuable items, such as swords, spearheads, gold earrings, tiny pins and brooches. There is evidence that such items were intentionally destroyed before being offered up in a kind of ‘killing’ to put them beyond further use. For instance, daggers have been discovered that were broken in half and placed on top of each other.
Such activity suggests ritual placement may have occurred when people made requests or in thanks when their prayers were answered. Offerings were also likely to have been made to protect the waters or complete a pilgrimage, with many objects coming from much further afield than Flag Fen. Ritual goods including the Battersea Shield and a large quantity of weapons predating the Roman invasion, have been found in the River Thames. Because the Battersea Shield’s bronze sheet is considered too thin to be effective in battle and shows no signs of damage, it is thought to have been cast into the river as a votive offering.
As to identifying which freshwater sites were considered the most sacred, we can look to ancestral building activity and settlement. For example. the Blick Mead spring near present-day Stonehenge, which never freezes and contains an algae which grows on the local flint in spring that turns a vivid magenta colour may have been considered to have magical properties. This together with the abundance of animals attracted to the clean water provided abundant hunting grounds and sustenance for the builders of this sacred landscape and site of ancestral return.
Honouring sources of water to protect and ensure their flow even remains with us today in the tradition of dressing wells or tossing coins into wishing wells or fountains for good luck.
Although our ancestors may traditionally have viewed the nation’s rivers as sacred, honoured and protected them, our activities today mean these vital waterways have never been in more need of our help.
As environmental activist George Monbiot’s demonstrated in his recent documentary ‘Rivercide’, UK livestock farms and privatised water firms are filling the country’s river arteries with pollution to a devastating extent.
There has been increasing concern over pollution of the UK’s rivers and coastlines in recent years, including a previous Unearthed investigation that found over 300,000 hours of sewage spills hit England and Wales’ most protected habitats in 2023. The sheer volume of sewage and run-off entering the system has resulted in the EEA ranking England 26th out of 33 European countries (Wales 21st, Northern Ireland 26th and Scotland 32nd) in terms of coastal bathing water quality. From citizen testing in 2024 only 25% of the UK’s rivers are currently in a good ecological state.
However, the fact that a mere 3% of England’s inland waterways are accessible to the public – the equivalent of only 1,400 out of a total of 42,700 miles – means it is only possible to guess at the true scale of the problem.
But what can we do to help deepen our respect and heal our all-too-often broken relationship with nature in all its forms?
There are practical solutions supported by sacred actions to connect with the power of the earth and water for guidance and protection. Engage in ritual ceremonies, name, honour, sing, dance, walk, make music and poetry, clean, bathe (if safe to do so!) and teach our children about our waterways.
Water is life! Become a water protector!
Because as US commentator Van Jones so aptly put it: “It’s in that convergence of spiritual people becoming active and active people becoming spiritual that the hope of humanity (and the natural environment) now rests.”
