Hello, I am unsure of where else to ask this, but I was just curious if it was normal for a deity to appear to you as something other than what they are normally depicted as? I have been very drawn to this motherly deity/spirit that appears to me as a dragon but for some reason I keep thinking this dragon is the irish goddess Danu? There just seems to be a connection there but I am not entirely sure if that even makes sense. Im still trying to figure it out. Any thoughts?
I’m not personally familiar with the goddess you mention, so I can’t give you any specific information, but it is completely possible that a deity or spirit or any non-physical presence to appear as something different to their normal depiction. This is probably less common for certain entities than it is for others, but I’m pretty confident that all non-physical beings have the potential to appear in different forms due to their non-physical nature.
Deities often appear to have more set or established forms, but if you look into most mythologies, you’re likely to find at least one tale where a deity assumes a different form for some purpose or another. Non-physical entities also have a habit of using their form to convey messages or meaning - so they might appear, for instance, as a dragon in order to show/ tell you something. These visual metaphors are often tailored to you personally, so you’ll have to think about how what you’re being shown relates to you and your life, as well as general symbolic meanings.
In Kemetism, for example, visual symbolism is everywhere. Even the images of the deities themselves are meant to be more metaphorical than a concrete image of what they look like. Each colour, animal, item and hieroglyphic symbol tells you something about the deity, and the functions they embody.
Hopefully you can relate some of this rambling to your situation. My main point is: non-physical entities CAN appear in different forms, and often when they do this, it is to ‘talk’ to you through images rather than words. It can take some time and thought to decode what they mean, but thankfully they are usually very patient with us (and will often try different methods if we don’t get the message the first time around.)
Whether or not Danu ever existed as a contemporary to the other Tuatha Dé is debated. Danu as she’s commonly known is a recent figure, although that doesn’t mean she isn’t a goddess now or that she isn’t a continuation of an older deity under a different name (or a mistaken reference to Anu/Anand, depending on your theory). This means that any associations people have for her are UPG or SPG (shared personal gnosis). I haven’t heard of any dragon associations for her or for any other Irish deities. Experiences vary and I have no personal ones of her, but I tend to hear Danu described as having a more ‘primordial’ or elemental kind of feel, a less anthropomorphized presence, as though you’re addressing the deep dark of the earth rather than a more individualized deity. YMMV, though.
In regards to the visual symbolism that Smudge describes, evidence (and lack thereof) suggests that the Irish didn’t really portray their gods in idols and statues the way cultures like the Greeks and Romans did/still do; most physical description comes from scant surviving oral tradition and from literary tradition, which is unreliable for its own reasons. Understanding why a motherly type of deity, Danu or not, would appear as a dragon to you could be valuable in understanding what her intent and identity are.
Here’s my tag on her, the PSG’s tag for her, and the PSG’s tag for dragons.