The Love of Cuda

Plinth which names Cuda and Cuculatti, Corinium Museum

Since first writing this article my research has continued and this blog has been read so many times that I am updating it here with more information and photos.

Cuda of the Cotswolds - our local face of the Mother Goddess who embraces us with the wisdom of the Divine Feminine. Cuda our local Iron Age Mother Goddess whispers to us across the ages of a time when our ancestors venerated the spirit of place and gave thanks for the abundance of these beautiful Cotswold valleys. In the form of the seated Mother with apples in her lap she personifies the generous and abundant spirit of the land. Three Genii Cuculatti - hooded nature spirits who attend her - lead us into veneration, guardianship, care and love for our mother earth through the portal of Cuda. When we open our hearts and make offerings at places of emergence she responds with beauty.

(Pictured above: 3 Cuculatti - hooded nature spirits, Corinium museum)

Cuda first spoke to me at an exhibition in 2018 in Lansdowne Gallery curated by local artist Patricia Brien where she exhibited her frieze depicting Cuda and the Cucullati. At this time I also read 'The Tribe of Witches' by Stephen J Yeates, an archaeologist who writes about Cuda as a Goddess worshipped by the Dobunni tribe here in the Cotswolds.

The name Cuda comes from the plinth pictured at the top and was first discovered in 1951 when it was dug up in a field near Daglingworth. The inscription, as shown in the picture, is not visible to the naked eye. I asked Yeates about this and he informed me that the inscription was revealed by Raking Light in 1951 and was then checked in 1966 by Alcock. The inscription has been accepted in RIB (Roman Inscriptions of Britain) 129 where Professor Toynbee interprets the seated figure as a Mother Goddess and the standing figures as a triad of genii cuculatti.

In addition I asked Miranda Aldhouse-Green about this, and she told me that the inscription is also published in Martin Henig's book Roman Sculpture from the Cotswolds Region vol 1 Fasc 7 OUP/BA pp34-35 cat no 102.

Several years ago, inspired by this discovery I went to a local nature spot and took an offering of flowers with Cuda in mind. As I was entering the valley a circular rainbow seemed to envelope the whole valley and offer welcome. The air was very still as I lit a candle and sat for a while by the waterfall and meditated upon Cuda. I then offered the flowers to the water and when I turned back, despite the stillness of the air, the candle had gone out by itself - this felt very auspicious! Then some time later I took Patricia and we both sat together by the waterfall. This time there was a steady breeze and our candle remained alight. After a while we made our offering to the water and then turned back to blow out the candle but it would not go out so we decided to leave it burning a while longer. Eventually it felt right to blow out the candle and this time it went out easily. The breeze had been sculpting the wax and the moment we blew out the candle, the wax sculpture parted from it: the sculpture looks rather like one of the hooded Cuculatti! This felt like a profound synchronicity and affirmation about what can happen when we connect with nature in an open-hearted way.

(Pictured above: Cuculatti shaped by wax and wind and intention)

And so it is with joy, relief and excitement that I am discovering the land of my birth anew through the filter of Shamanic perception and local discoveries about the old ways of this landscape and our ancestors who once lived here. I am grateful to Patricia for introducing me to Cuda, and especially to Yeates and Aldhouse-Green, whose books offer new ways of seeing this ancient landscape...and most of all I am grateful to Goddess who responds and guides us when we call from our hearts. The research I have undertaken thus far - both learning from nature and reading academic texts - is underpinned by the shift in perception which takes place with Shamanic training. The discovery of Cuda and the Cuculatti, our local face of Goddess, is a profound experience of the sacred feminine and insight into how our ancestors venerated and offered gratitude to Mother Earth. In my work I reference our deep history to gain some insights about our ancestors and how they venerated the earth and how this flows through time from prehistory and can be interpreted in the present day.

(Pictured above: seated Mother Goddess with apples in her lap, Corinium Museum)

I went to the waterfall every week and laid flowers and tuned in for a couple of years after this discovery and then one day on a day when I was in a process of deep grief and in need of solace I came to this beautiful place of flowing water and was overawed to see her reveal herself. Here was Cuda, a seated mother Goddess shaped from sticks, stone and water. I cannot describe the profound sense of homecoming, love and gratitude which this being sculpted by nature evoked.

Seated Mother Goddess as she appeared one day at the Heavens Waterfall after many visits and offerings to the spirits of place there

For the next year and a bit I continued to visit every week and dress her with flowers and leaves, the colours changing with the seasons, until she was washed away by water, dogs, children playing. Every week I would approach wondering if she would still be there, and was delighted each time to find her there in situ

For more information on my discoveries of Cuda here is a short film