The Archetypal Origins Of Norse And Celtic Sea Deities
Long before the chemical composition of water was discovered, ancient cultures recognized it as the elixir of life, protected and ruled over by powerful deities. Only in the late 19th century chemist Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) became the first scientist to correctly describe the composition of water, after mixing hydrogen and oxygen to create an explosion (oxyhydrogen effect). This experiment was set up after the scientific enlightenment fell in with the ancient knowledge that ‘water is life’ and that all life on earth depend on the nutritious liquid, including all of human civilization. While recognized as essential to survival, ironically, the influence of water on public health and the development of sustainable agricultural settlements, has created a conundrum humankind faces today: how to source and preserve water for human consumption and agricultural purposes, and how to manage the waste humans produce after consuming it.
Ancient cultures valued water: Bushmen drinking precious water preserved in an ostrich egg (Image: DVL2/ CC BY-SA 3.0)
With water accepted globally as the number one fuel for all life, it is no wonder then that the histories, mythologies and folklore of seafaring ancient cultures are drenched with a variety of water deities who emerged from, guarded and ruled the fates of people working and traveling on the rivers, seas and oceans. Most famously, Poseidon was the Olympian god of the sea, also associated with floods, droughts, earthquakes and horses, and his personality lived on in his Roman equivalent, Neptune. However, in other ancient cultures there were many lesser-known aquatic deities whose domains were the Norse and Celtic seas, resonating with the gods of ancient India.
