What a rich and evocative piece Melinda! There's so much good stuff here, so many paths to follow and hints to chase up that I don't even know where to start!
Perhaps just one little note, in passing, to bring my own culture and legendarium to bear: in Ireland, holy wells, streams, lakes, rivers, and seas all had their Goddesses and Indwelling Spirits too; the most important perhaps being the Four Great Rivers, which came from the central and mystical Well of Segeais, overhung by the hazel-trees whose nuts gave prophetic powers, eaten by Salmon of Knowledge (plural) one of whom was caught and cooked by Fionn MacCumhail, granting him insight and vision. The River-Goddesses included Boann (the Boyne, in whose valley is Brú na Boinne, her redoubt: the famous Newgrange Passage Tomb) and Sionnan (the Shannon, Ireland's greatest river). You mention in The White Deer, I think, the Bean Níghe, the "Washer at the Ford", special case of the Bean Sídhe (Banshee), avatar of earlier Sovereignty Goddesses. Worth noting also is that the Goddess (and later Saint) Bríghid, shares with these Nymphs her association's with holy wells, healing, childbirth and abortion, inspiration, vision, and poetry. There are also any number of Faery Women and Animal Brides associated with bodies of water, from Fand, Faery Wife of Manannán Mac Lír, and Sea Goddess, to the Children of Lír, transformed into swans, and Caer Ibormeith, the Swan-maiden sought by Wandering Aenghus (son of Boann and the Dagda, incidentally...).
What a rich and evocative piece Melinda! There's so much good stuff here, so many paths to follow and hints to chase up that I don't even know where to start!
Perhaps just one little note, in passing, to bring my own culture and legendarium to bear: in Ireland, holy wells, streams, lakes, rivers, and seas all had their Goddesses and Indwelling Spirits too; the most important perhaps being the Four Great Rivers, which came from the central and mystical Well of Segeais, overhung by the hazel-trees whose nuts gave prophetic powers, eaten by Salmon of Knowledge (plural) one of whom was caught and cooked by Fionn MacCumhail, granting him insight and vision. The River-Goddesses included Boann (the Boyne, in whose valley is Brú na Boinne, her redoubt: the famous Newgrange Passage Tomb) and Sionnan (the Shannon, Ireland's greatest river). You mention in The White Deer, I think, the Bean Níghe, the "Washer at the Ford", special case of the Bean Sídhe (Banshee), avatar of earlier Sovereignty Goddesses. Worth noting also is that the Goddess (and later Saint) Bríghid, shares with these Nymphs her association's with holy wells, healing, childbirth and abortion, inspiration, vision, and poetry. There are also any number of Faery Women and Animal Brides associated with bodies of water, from Fand, Faery Wife of Manannán Mac Lír, and Sea Goddess, to the Children of Lír, transformed into swans, and Caer Ibormeith, the Swan-maiden sought by Wandering Aenghus (son of Boann and the Dagda, incidentally...).