Water Maidens & the Holy Grail

'Waterfall, you cleanse me,

You heal white light and mend me,

You show me I'm better than this,

You show me I shine from within...'

Waterfall by Daligan

Waterfall Maiden - Lady of the Glen by Laura Daligan 2025

When I first visited St Nectan's Glen in September 2011, it was an initiatory experience shaping the trajectory of my life. I was a guest 'witchy' guide on a pilgrimage tour of the West Country of England and Ireland for a gorgeous group of Australians. The wonder we all experienced in those weeks has always stayed with me, catalysing my move to the West Country a couple of years later.

At that time, the waterfall lay hidden by woodlands and rock, a mystery revealed only at the last possible moment. The song of water is your guide as you walk around the wall of slate and moss to meet Her. And there your soul is revealed, reflected, amplified, and re-enchanted to the sacred wonder of water.

She is power and healing and a gateway to the Otherworld. Since that first encounter, I have visited Her countless times, holding rituals and ceremonies within Her waters in all seasons.

Above are some photos from my first visit in 2011 (check the orbs! Whatever you think of orbs, I think in this case it is pretty cool!). Below are a selection of pictures from visits and ceremonies over the years.

Inspired by my first visit, I painted this watercolour and ink in the winter of 2011:

Ladies of St Nectan's Glen - Laura Daligan 2011

Many years later, the same fae woman ignited my mind, and I wished to paint her once more. I didn't look back at the first painting until afterwards, when I realised I'd painted the same swirling tattoos down her pale arms.

Water Women and Well Maidens are woven into the mythology of the land. The Holy Grail has become known as the domain of questing Knights, chivalrous Heroes, and of course, Monty Python. But the grail itself is an ancient, ever-living feminine mystery; it is the sacred heart of the land and the overflowing nourishment of the soul. Water Women are conduits of Otherworldly wisdom, they offer weary travellers not only the sustenance of the body but the bright healing of the soul. Modern mythical scholars and artists such as Sharon Blackie and Yuri Leitch describes our environemental, social and spirutal landcapes as 'the wasteland' after the poem by T. S Elliot. By viewing the land as soul-less, we rip away at our own soul, our kindness and our own means of healing. What we deem as sacred, we protect at all costs; all else in this current climate falls into the wastelands of the soul.

So now this Water Woman, this Well Maiden and Grail Bearer holds out her cup of holy nourishment to you. She sees you, the light in your eyes, the kindness and hurt in your heart, she offers you a precious sip...

Will you take it?

'The purest heart of all

Resides in the waterfall'

Waterfall by Daligan

If you would like to view these paintings and many more, I am excited to be a part of the third Shadows of the Stones Exhibition in June, where I will be exhibiting with 3 other excellent artists and friends. If you are able to visit and receive some creative soul nourishment, we would love to see you!

If you would like to hear other ways that St Nectan's Glen has inspired and healed over the years, you are welcome to listen to my song 'Waterfall' which I recorded with the artist Chris Down under our project 'Daligan'

Have a magical end of May...