Nwywre Island - Main Hall

(pron. VOO-EE-vrah)
Druidic name for the invisible force that governed both life and the material universe: Nwywre, symbolized by the serpent, which is a universal symbol already familiar to us from the statues of the Pharaohs, who were believed to represent the divinity on earth. According to Moreau, Nwywre 'was the creative power of the physical world'. Nothing happened without it. It was the cosmic fluid, the ether, the light and the great creative and divine Principle that linked Heaven and Earth. Its union with the other elements created life, movement and spirit. A Gallic bard sang that it is smaller than the smallest and bigger than worlds because it is subtleness and power itself. For the Druids, Nwywre was the thread mysterious linking the human world to the divine world.

If you are English speaking, spell it like "weevrae", stress on "ee" - if you are German speaking, spell it like Wuivrä, stress on "ui".) Vouivre derives from the ancient Gaulic word "nwywre", which means snake, especially "viper". The ancient Gaulic goddess comes as a woman accompanied by vipers, which can even swim, or as viper herself, changing into the shape of a dragon without or with wings.
Legends, especially Alsatian ones, tell us, that VOUIVRE lives as a bright white snake under elder trees and hazelnut bushes. She is guardian of treasures and guide to the Otherworld. People worship her or fear her. She has a small crown, sometimes made from a rubin-red magic stone and silver (symbol for the blood of menstruation and moon cycles), sometimes from gold and diamond in all colours of the rainbow (symbol of the Otherworld, colours of the Fairies' bridges to the Otherworld). Even today people believe in the country, that you get ill and unhappy, if you destroy an elder tree.

Her Shapes Naked woman of divine beauty with a crown made from herbs or silver / gold and gems. She lives more in the water than on earth, is the guardian of sacred sources, wells and lakes and has power about all snakes. She calls the snakes by whistling. She seduces men, but terribly punishes them, if they want to steel her crown. If men come in friendship or love, she gives them treasures and happiness. There's a wonderful French film "La Vouivre" telling such a love story playing in the French region "Auvergne". White snake with a crown from silver and rubin red gems (called "Karfunkel") living under elder or hazelnut trees. Snake with a crown of gold and diamonds, which are glittering in all colours of the rainbow, guarding a big treasure under the tree. Enormous big snake living subterranean in caverns, galleries and water veins. When she comes to the surface of earth, she metamorphoses into a dragon. Under the earth she has parallels to the chtonic goddess Tiamat.
Dragon without wings, mostly having only two legs (speciality of Celtic dragons), which are similar to legs of a big bird. This dragon is connected to sun symbols as eyes, circles or shields.

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