Water poured on the groundBreadFlowersThe names of the dead spokenCare for the land
Invocation Approach
Tone
Plain and generous
Address
ÉriuLady of the IslandThe Land
Relationship
The land that names its people and is named by them
Warning
She is not a metaphor and does not come when the land is harmed in her name
Resonance
Those who live on the land those who keep place names
Symbols
Green hillOakStoneThe island
Mythology Summary
Ériu is the eponymous goddess of Ireland: in Lebor Gabála and the Milesian landing tale (Tochomlod mac Miled) she and her sisters Banba and Fótla meet the Sons of Míl at Inber Scéne, and each asks that the island be called after her, with Ériu's name prevailing and Éire deriving from it. She is one of the sovereignty figures of that pseudo-history, and in some genealogies she is the wife of Mac Gréine of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The name and the island are the same word, which is the whole of her myth.
Modern Practice
Honoured at prominent hills, stones and boundary places, and in Irish-language and place-name work; the offering is usually water or milk poured on the ground and a name spoken. Modern Irish paganism treats her as the land itself rather than as a patron of a skill.