Wild Thistles - Tuatha de Dannan

The Ever-Living Ones

by Peter Berresford Ellis

IT WAS THE time of primal chaos; a time when the Earth was new and undefined. Arid deserts and black bubbling volcanoes, covered by swirling clouds of gases, scarred the grim visage of the newborn world. It was, as yet, the time of the great void.

Then into that oblivion, from the dull, dark heavens, there came a trickle of water. First one drop, then another and another, until finally there gushed a mighty torrent down upon the earth. The divine waters from heaven flooded downwards and soaked the arid dirt, cooled the volcanoes which turned into grey, granite mountains, and life began to spring forth across the Earth. The dark, redden skies, grew light and blue.

From the darkened soil there grew a tree, tall and strong. Danu, the divine watres from heaven, nurtured and cherished this great tree which became the sacred oak named Bi'le. Of the conjugation of Danu and Bi'le there dropped two giant acorns. The first acorn was male. From it sprang The Daghda, 'The Good God.' The second seed was female. From it emerged Brigantu, or Brigid, 'The Exalted One.' And the Daghda and Brigid gazed upon one another in wonder for it was their task to wrest order from the primal chaos and to people the Earth with the children of Danu, the Mother Goddess, whose divine waters had given them life.

So there, by the divine waters of Danu, from where those waters rose and flooded through the now fertile green valleys of the Earth, eastwards towards a distant sea, The Daghda and Brigid settled. And they called the great course of eastward rushing water after the Mother Goddess, which is Danuvius, whose children still know it as the mighty Danube. And four great, bright cities they built there on its broad banks in which the Children of Danu would live and thrive.

The four cities were Falias, Gorias, Finias and Murias.

The Daghda became their father, thus humankind call him 'Father of the Gods.' And Brigid became the wise-one, exalted in learning and much did she imbibe from the mighty Danu and from Bile, the sacred oak. She was hailed as the mother of healing, of craftsmanship and of poetry; indeed; she excelled in all-knowledge. She showed her children that true wisdom was only to be garnered from the feet of Danu, the Mother Goddess, and so onlt to be found at the water's edge. Those who gathered such knowledge, also paid deference to Bile, the sacred oak. Because they were not allowed to speak his holy name, they called the oak draoi and those learned in such knowledge were said to possess oak (dru) knowledge (vid) and thus were known as Druids.

The knowledge of the Children of Danu grew and each of their four great cities prospered. In Falias they held a sacred stone called the Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny, which, when a righteous ruler set foot on it, would shout with joy; in Gorias, where Urias of the noble nature dwelt, they held a mighty sword called the 'Retaliator', fashioned before the time of the gods themselves, and which Urias presented to Lugh Lamhfada, who became the greatest warrior of the gods; in Finias, they held a magic spear, called 'The Red Javelin', which once cast, would find its enemy no matter where he hid; and in Murias they held the 'Cauldron of Plenty' from which The Daghda could be feed entire nations and it still would not be emptied.

For many aeons, the Children of Danu grew and prospered in their beautiful cities.

Then, one day, The Daghda, Father of the Gods, and Brigid, the Exalted One, called their children to them.

'You have tarried here long enough. The Earth needs to be peopled and needs your wisdom to advise and direct them so that they may live lives of virtue and merit. Our Mother, Danu, has directed you to move towards the place where the bright sun vanishes in the evening.'

'Why should we go there?' demanded Nuada, the favourite son of the Daghda.

'Because it is your destiny', replied Brigid.

'And you Nuada, shall lead your brothers and sisiters, and their children, and the land that you shall come to will be called Inisfail, the Island of Destiny. There you shall abide until your destiny is fulfilled.'

'If it is our destiny,' said another of the Daghda's sons, named Ogma, ' then we shall accept it.'

Ogma was the most handsome of the Children of Danu. From his long curly hair, the rays of the sun shone and he was called Ogma grain-aineacg, of the Sunny Countenance. To him fell the gift of honeyed words, of poetry and languages, and he, it was, who devised how man could write in a form of calligraphy which was named after him as Ogham.

Brigid smiled at her eager children.

'I am allowed to give you one word of warning. When you reach Inisfail you will find another people who will claim the Island of Destiny as their own. This people are the Children of Domnu, who is the sister of our mother Danu. But beware, for Domnu is not as Danu. For each sister is the inverse of the other, as winter is to summer.'

'Then,' Nuada said, 'should we not take something to defend ourselves with, less the Children of Domnu fight for the possession of Inisfail?'

The Daghda gazed at them kindly and replied: 'You may take the four great treasures of the cities of Falias, Gorias, Finias and Murias.'

And the Children of Danu took the treasures and they went to the mountains overlooking the headwaters of the Danuvius, the divine waters from heaven, and ascended in a great cloud which bore them westwards to Inisfail, the Island of Destiny.

And among them were three beautiful young sisters who were the wives of the sons of Ogma. Their names were Banba, Fotla and Eire and each sister nurtured an ambition that this land of Inisfail would one day be named after her...

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Tuatha de Dannan
Wild Thistles