Honoring River Spirits

For me, it was really just.. actually being in it. Every summer I would go down the river with friends. It's quite shallow at some parts, a LOT of rocks, and some rapids (which can be potentially hazardous - my fiance fell off his innertube and when he tried to come up for air, smacked his head against a rock from the current, luckily not too hard.. fucking scariest day of my life, since I can't swim and couldn't do anything but watch).

But it's never been terrible to me. In fact, it's only been pleasant. I've gone down that river more than a few times (without a life jacket) and somehow I've never had my innertube flipped, never permanently lost my flipflops (I've lost one on a couple occasions, but they always found their way back to me), never had the rapids splash so much water at me that I panicked. That river has killed - but it's not often. I think the last time was maybe 4 years or so ago.

And those times, I had not approached the river as a spirit. Just as a body of water that very well could kill me. But I was always respectful with it. Never left trash, always got in my friends' faces if they tried to leave trash, did my best to keep it as it was before I arrived.

I could talk about river Goddesses and spirits all day. I grew up near two different creeks, both of which I became very attached to as sort of my own secret refuge. My grandmother took me as a child to the Platte, the major river system into which my creeks drained, several times a year just to play on the sandbars or watch the migrating birds. So She was a presence I grew up with, that I feel I always knew.

When I joined ADF back in 2012, it really got me thinking about consciously relating to the spirits around me that I had previously only recognized at the edges of my mind. It was then that I started actually approaching the river as a Goddess, composing prayers and songs, leaving offerings at familiar places where I had first connected with Her. I'm lucky enough now to live across the street from a tributary, so I try to leave an offering once a week.

One question I'm interested in from those of you who work with rivers and their tributaries: do you consider the small creeks and streams the same, separate, or a sort of in-between overlap from the larger river they flow into? This is something I've been considering for quite a while, and would love to hear other opinions on the matter.

I've tried connecting with some river spirits but I don't feel like there's much connection. The Platte is super-accessible around Denver. I'm about 20 miles south of the city and there's a path along the Platte from here all the way into town and I have no idea how far north or south it goes, so getting to the river is really easy. Especially since there's parks all up and down the path too. So there's plenty of opportunity for me to go down and say hi and leave offerings. But since I never remember to bring something for an offering, I usually just end up picking up trash I see.

I have not tried to make any contact with spirits of any kind, but I have a relationship with two rivers in particular: Shenandoah and Rapidan.

The Shenandoah is a river I've known practically my whole life. Used to canoe and kayak down it's currents all the time and I actually lived on it's banks for a few years. It's a relatively calm river and I've always felt welcome whenever I was on it. Kind of like a second home to me.

Rapidan is a smaller river that is a tributary of the Rappahannock (which I find to be beautiful, but wild and a tad aggressive if you're not careful). We used to go up into the mountains near it's source every year and the land up there has been very dear to me. Both the land and the river are very calming to me. Peaceful. I feel like there's an ancient wisdom up there.

I wonder if the spirits of those rivers have the personalities that I believe them to have. Will have to see.