The idea of Dana can be described as the physical land itself, spirits of the Earth, or the enlivening force behind all things. My own personal view of Dana is that she is all three things at once, which through this combination, creates the overall concept of Dana for me. Part of my reason for seeing Dana as a combination is, being raised a Christian with God as human form just never made sense to me, and it is this concept that I am now moving away from. The concept of Dana as combination of the physical Earth, spirit, and consciousness then, allows me to view this idea as simply the divinity of life, and in this way I can more easily identify with Dana as a divine principle.
Dana as planet Earth is attractive to me because she can be seen as a motherly figure and as having given birth to all things of the Earth. In this way, she is mother nature, which is how I had previously viewed the divine. Dana as the spirits of the Earth is a natural fit in this view because each of her “children” are specific forces or inhabitants that are nurtured and protected by the mother. Dana as the enlivening force is harmony and the energy of life and of everything we come into contact with. Said another way, I believe we can look at this concept as all-encompassing; a need to have all three elements of physical being, a multitude of various occupants of that being working together for a common good, and an aspect of non-physical essences and energies feeding off of the occupants of that being to provide a psychological balance to all of nature no matter who or what you are.
The idea that Dana is characterized by a quality of tending fits very well within this concept. As a mother, one tends her children in all areas of being, making sure all needs are met including physical, social, psychological, and emotional. The physical section includes necessities for survival such as food, water, and protection from the elements. Dana as Earth Mother takes care in making sure all of her children have access to these things in the form of lakes and rivers to quench thirst, other plants, animals, and microscopic creatures for food, and a semblance of shelter from the elements, whether the life form must seek this out on its own or whether it is incorporated into its being. The social aspect of tending is important as well. Many of life’s creatures need others to survive, as in the example of hunting for food with like creatures and sharing benefits within a group, or the less obvious form such as symbiotic creatures and their need to live off of or in close proximity with, another life form for various reasons. The emotional comes into play because this equates to either love or simple reproductive needs and the carrying on of each type of inhabitant. The psychological is important because being in a healthy frame of mind is the key to functioning in life: Without this ability we would be incapable of using the other aspects of basic needs, and Dana as tender of her children provides all of these concepts within each of us.
I think the first step in opening up to the idea of Dana as a way of being tended is to consciously recognize that one needs to be mothered in all aspects of life and also at varying times no matter how old or young we are. As inhabitants of the Earth, we need to rely on others for survival just as we need to rely on the Earth in the form of natural survival resources. Dana as mother provides all the tools necessary for our nurturing. Sometimes these elements are relatively easy to obtain, and other times we are simply given the blueprints to discover resources or concepts for ourselves, but I believe that we are never alone in this world; the tools we need are out there, we just have to know where to look and how to recognize these gifts when we discover them.
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