For many thousands of years, the people of Britain were animists and polytheists who believed the land was sacred, inspirited, alive with Gods and spirits. Prominent landforms, in particular rivers, were venerated as Deities.
Some of the Brythonic names of our river Deities were recorded by the Roman geographer, Ptolemy, in his Geography (2 CE). These include Sabrina (from sabra ‘boundary’) for the river Severn, Clota ‘the Pure One’ for the river Clyde, and Belisama ‘Most Shining One’ for the river Ribble. ‘Old Father Thames’ is a later folkloric name for the Thames, which might derive from Tamesis ‘river’.
Votive offerings of metalwork from the Bronze Age and stretching into the medieval period provide evidence for the veneration of river Deities. Famous examples include the Battersea Shield and Waterloo helmet from the river Thames and hundreds of Bronze Age swords and spears from the river Trent. Metalwork, such as a Bronze Age spearhead, has also been found in the river Ribble.
Up until the 19th century, people were directly dependent on rivers for drinking and washing water, food, and transport. Springs, flowing into streams, into rivers, provided clean, pure water for drinking. Clothes were taken to chosen watercourses (such as Swill Brook) to be washed. Fishing and fish garths provided an important source of food. With the land being wooded, or wet and boggy, it was far easier to travel by canoe.
Rivers and their Deities were perceived to be both nurturing and cleansing and dark and destructive. This is seen in Belisama’s veneration as a shining and mighty Goddess who is reputed to take a life every seven years. The river Dart is viewed to be even more dangerous, taking a life every year. “River of Dart, oh River of Dart, every year thou claimest a heart.” Some believe these folkloric sayings date back to human sacrifice and others that they reflect the dangers of accidents or the pull of suicide. Having lived near the Ribble most of my life, I have seen Her taking lives with increasing frequency.
River Deities might be seen as the ‘mothers’ or ‘fathers’ of Their watershed and Their tributaries as Their offspring. This is how I perceive Belisama and Her ‘daughters’ – rivers such as the Darwen and the Douglas and my local streams, such as Fish House Brook, Penwortham Brook and Mill Brook.
Over fifteen years ago, before I learnt Belisama’s name, I was called to walk the Ribble Way from the source, Ribble Head, to the estuary at Longton Marsh. Looking back, I feel this was a form of introduction. As I learnt more about Paganism, I began paying greater attention as I walked and cycled my local stretch from Riversway Docklands to Brockholes Nature Reserve, to meditate on Her banks, to pray to Her and make offerings of songs and poetry.
It was a while until She appeared to me in an anthropomorphic form as a shining and mighty Goddess. I find this is the case even now. Often I hear Her song. But she’s usually too busy being a river to make a visionary appearance.
Belisama gifted me a poem, an address to the city called ‘Proud of Preston’ written in her voice and this was made the Preston Guild Poem in 2012. I wondered if this meant She was destined to be my patron Goddess, that I was destined to be Belisama’s bard. But it turned out not. Vindos claimed me.
I have spent many an hour walking the Ribble, pausing, watching the wildlife. Herons standing patient, single-legged, each with their own territory. Cormorants shooting straight as bullets or standing like pirates on abandoned jetties. Flocks of black-headed gulls. Raucous herring gulls swooping to snatch up chips. Goosander diving. Widgeon whistling. Mute swans. Pink-footed geese and Bewick’s and whooper swans returning.
I am lucky enough to live on a tidal stretch of the Ribble where I can observe the tides moving both out and in. I’ve observed flooding on Avenham Park, the nearby fields, and Penwortham Holme and the building of the flood defences.
Paying attention as I walk and cycle is a continuing service to Belisama. I regularly provide a greater service to one of Her daughters, Fish House Brook, who flows through Greencroft Valley. She is named for the Fish House, near where she meets the Ribble, where many fish were once caught. Sadly, Her earlier name is unknown but perhaps it relates to silver fishes.
I litter pick the valley that She runs through. When I first started doing this, Her course was dammed with fallen branches filled with litter, including food waste, which was heaving with maggots and other leech-like things. Clearing this away was disgusting but worth the effort as She flowed free and clean again.
Unfortunately there have been issues with waste water being mis-piped into drain water that have led to Her pollution, but slowly, through collaboration with United Utilities, this has been improved and Her waters are clearer.
Now Greencroft Valley is better cared for and fewer people drop litter, we have decided to leave branches in Fish House Brook to ‘slow the flow’ as increased rain fall over the winter leads to higher risks of flooding.
This is the story of my relationship with Belisama and Her daughters. If you would like to get to know the Deity of your local river you could try a similar process. Firstly, find out the name of the main river of your watershed. It could be that research turns up the name of its Deity, or it can be derived from the etymology. For example, there are no ancient records for the river Lune, which first appears in the Domesday Book (1086), buts its etymology, from *lǭn ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’ is suggestive of a name such as ‘the Healthy One’.
Next, begin walking the river, or the tributaries that are nearest to you. Pay attention with both your outer and inner senses. Notice the speed and patterns of the water, their timbre, their sound, how they change in different weather. Get a sense of their language. How they speak to you. Get to know the wildlife, the distinguishing features, the calls of the birds, their life cycles. Take time to sit and meditate. Pray. Make offerings. Create and offer art. Where safe you could also remove litter from the river and its banks.
Nurture your relationship and you will be nurtured in turn as reciprocity is re-established, flowing from the source, through many bends, out to the estuary.
