‘Danu’

‘The Queen Moon Is On Her Throne’
by Averil Burleig (1883 – 1945 British)

The name Tuatha Dé Danaan translates to ‘the folk of the goddess Danu’ or ‘tribe of the gods’. There are a lot of interpretations of the name / word Danu, such as earth, or skill, or mother, or some combinations of the like. Also there are additional associations, such as fertility, and water, and magic. In any case, Danu is the goddess mother that the Tuatha Dé Danaan revered, and called themselves after.

The card Danu is about recognizing and meditating on Danu as one of the primary manifestations of Goddess, of a certain time and place with the Tuatha Dé Danaan, and in essence, the mother goddess of fairies. Danu is the distillation of earth and water, of growth and fertility, of craft and magic, embodied as a goddess. This is similar to the elemental nature of fairies, how they are part and place of their environment, such as dryads being part of a tree or forest, a nymph of the waters they inhabit, or gnomes as of the earth. So is Danu, both a goddess figure, an embodiment of spirit and life, but also of earth, air, water and fire… along with magic and skill and growth and fertility too.