Some thoughts on Nymphs and Dryads and “Nature Spirits”
I hate the term “Nature Spirit.” As I wrote elsewhere,:
Nature isn’t just a collection of biosystems outside of your house; it’s a process in which entities participate. Nature is an “exchange of goods and services” via a network of nodes and connections. Saying “Escape to Nature” is meaningless. It’s like telling an octopus to “Escape to the Sea,” or a bear to “Escape to the Forest.” It’s like telling a variable to “Escape to an Algorithm.” You don’t need a tent or hiking boots or a long drive to the “middle of nowhere” to experience Nature; the fact is, you can’t NOT experience Nature.
Calling a spirit a “Nature spirit” implies that it exists in a realm separate from ours and it’s based on a history of colonialism (inasmuch as “nature” is something western “civilization” feels it can colonize/conquer). In fact, these entities dwell all around us at all times, regardless of where we’re located.
Diving into ancient Mediterranean spirituality from an ancestral/animist perspective has been eye-opening, and has led me to prefer the word “daimon” to describe these entities. It seems strange to say it, but the more I experience it, the more I can’t help but compare it to East Asian animist/shamanic traditions like Shinto or Mu-ism. The concept of the “daimon” is incredibly similar to that of “kami,” since it can apply to any entity from the Olympian deities all the way down to a Hamadryad inhabiting a single tree.
There are still substantial differences; this isn’t an invitation to appropriate cultural traditions that aren’t one’s own. “Daimon” does have more specific meaning within different Greek and Hellenistic cultures, and there are nuances. However, anyone interested in exploring/working with modern manifestations of the entities discussed in Mediterranean myth cycles would be well-served by looking at attitudes in Shinto-influenced popular culture (movies like “Spirited Away,” for example).
When it comes to “Greek” myth, pop culture tends to focus on the 12 Olympian daimones (Zeus and his fam) or Hercules, but to someone who embraces Mediterranean animism, the world is filled with spirits, and most of those spirits manifested in myth and folklore as “Nymphs.”
They dwell in rivers, streams, springs, fountains (Naiads and Hydriads), and the Ocean (Oceanids). There are star Nymphs, wind Nymphs, Nymphs associated with specific villages or cities, oracular Nymphs, and Dryads (probably the most well-known). There are also the Anthousai for flowers, Meliae for ash trees (said to be the original progenitors of humanity), the Melissae for bees. Nymphs can represent entire landscapes like meadows, glens, orchards, and groves.
Here’s a list of just the Dryads known as “Hamadryads,” and the trees/plants with which they’re associated:
Karya (walnut or hazelnut)
Balanos (oak)
Kraneia (dogwood)
Morea (mulberry)
Aigeiros (black poplar)
Ptelea (elm)
Ampelos (vines, especially Vitis)
Syke/Sykea (fig)
Someone working with any of these plants could leave offerings to the Hamadryad in question, but had to take great care not to harm them; damaging or destroying a Hamadryad’s tree means killing the Nymph who lives therein, and came with social and metaphysical consequences.
Not every Nymph is known by name, of course; most are likely the kind of invisible nameless spirit found in animist traditions from around the world. They can choose to tell you their name, but tend to act anonymously underneath the bower or beneath the layer of leaves or between the feathers of a bird’s wing. Nymphs can also kidnap humans, seduce them, make deals with them with questionable consequences. If this sounds familiar, it should; they’re basically Fae.
A word concerning Nymphs and gender: they were considered universally female-presenting in Mediterranean cultures. There were also male-presenting daimones like Satyrs and Tritones, but I prefer to think of all of these entities as a class as existing on a gender spectrum. Coming from the perspective of a plant person, it’s worth noting that some plants are pollinators, some are fruit producers, and many of the angiosperms of the world are biologically “self-pollinating.”
Given that this is the case, those interested in Mediterranean animism might consider identifying daimones (and the plants they live with) as they present themselves. A pollen producing tree might have a “male presenting” daimon where as a fruit-producing tree in the same species might present as a “female.” Conversely, daimones of self-pollinating plants are genderfluid and can present in whichever way they choose.
These are only some initial probings into the nature of daimones and Nymphs. Working with these entities— the same ones I’ve always worked with but contextualized the way my thousand-year-old ancestors may have done— is exciting! I’m looking forward to sharing more of this approach with you, and of course would love to hear your thoughts too!