Anu Earth Mother

Anu is the Great Mother of the ancestor Gods the Danaan.  An ancient figure, venerated under many names, she is often known as  Aine, or Danu.   She is the womb of life. As Aine, her name means "delight, pleasure, melody".  She is the spark and vitality of life, she is the seed of the sun in our veins. The Great Earth Mother is more ancient than the Godof the Celtic Druids.  She is the Mother whose breasts are the two hills called the Paps of Anu in Ireland.  Her hair is the wild waves, the golden corn. Her eyes are the shining stars, her belly the round tors, or earth barrows from which we are born.  Like the cat, the sow, the Owl, she eats her young if they are sick or dying.  She is the cycle of life, the turning of the seasons. In this design the four elements of life are represented: air (birds), fire, earth (tree) and water.

Original Design & Text by Jen Delyth © Anu Print

AWEN inspiration

Awen is Welsh for "poetic inspiration". A flowing essence, this spiritual illumination is known in Irish as the Imbas. Awen is the spark of life, creativity, wisdom, the living principle. Said to be the name by which the universe calls God inwardly. Awen is the breath of the God Dagda, who bestows this gift of power and knowledge to the Chief Bard of the Druids. Since the Barddas in the 19th century, Awen is symbolized as three rays, sometimes emanating from three small dots, symbolizing truth, the balance of life and existence. The Awen is said to represent the letters OIU, from which all others are obtained. Bards and poets greatly revere the mystical divine knowledge. According to the ancient Welsh tales of the Mabinogion, Bard Taliesin "Radiant Brow" receives Awen with gifts of knowledge, prophecy and poetry from Ceridwen's cauldron. 12th century poet Llywarch ap Llywelyn (c. 1173 1220) the "poet of the Pigs" says " The Lord God will give me the sweet Awen, as from the cauldron of Ceridwen"

Original Design & Text by Jen Delyth © 2008 © AWEN Print

BLODEUWEDD the OWL

OWL Print

Celtic Cross - Y Groes Geltaidd

CELTIC CROSS Print

Cerridwen - Great Green Hen

Ceridwen is the Great Mother Hen who gives birth to Taliesin the Great Poet. She is the Welsh Mother Goddess, associated with fertility and fecundity. She is the eater of corn (Taliesin was disguised as a pile of corn) - food of earth and sun ripened, transforming in her cauldron womb into new life. In many of the world’s cultures, the egg represented the original source of creation - the Cosmic Egg - from which the universe was originally born. The Great Green Hen is symbolic of hope and rebirth, her gift of eggs a magical source of life and growth.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths, of night and light and half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet. But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams beneath your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams...
Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven - William Butler Yeats 1865-1939

CERIDWEN hen Print