![]() Ponds, seepage pools and even natural rock crevices or cavities in trees left by broken branches, where dew and rain collect, can be holy wells and recipients of votives. Containing the majority of the earth’s liquid surface fresh water, lakes are sometimes called “holy wells,” especially when spring-fed. 3 A holy well is most commonly a sacred but can be any natural source of fresh water that is a focus for ritual practice and engagement with the supernatural. Springs are, of course, places where groundwater issues at the earth’s surface. Taking a variety of physical forms around the world, such water sources are regularly called sacred springs or holy wells. ![]() Guarded by taboos, rites and supermundane forces, some fresh water sources are considered thresholds to otherworlds. People experienced, and then feared, the loss of their most precious resource. Water’s obvious necessity meant that it was not only venerated, but protected, and access to it was no doubt contested between groups as it is today. Water sources were likely the earliest sacred sites-the first places at which people sought access to the supernatural (before they did so at other topographic features considered holy around the globe such as mountains, trees, rocks and caves). The spread of Homo sapiens around the globe was arguably driven by the search for freshwater springs (Finlayson, 2014 Cuthbert et al., 2017). Our blue planet is a watery world only 2.5% of the earth’s water is fresh and almost 70% of that is locked in glaciers and ice caps-figures that stay relatively constant over time.1 In societies where reliance on indoor plumbing is now multiple generations deep, water’s actual scarcity makes little impression, but reverence for fresh water is likely as old as humanity. Fresh water is continuously recycled as sea water evaporates and condenses into clouds which carry rain and snow over the land. An adult human body consists of at least 60% water, the same water that has form to other living bodies over and over again through the eons. A simple covalent bonding of two hydrogen atoms with one oxygen atom, water is the solvent mediating all molecular processes of life, and its movement as liquid and ice has also shaped earth’s topography (Ball, 2001 Solomon, 2010:9). The earth’s most abundant molecule is Dihydrogen Oxide or H 20. Water existed before any form of life as we know it. It is a bittersweet moment that we did not get to see the pair evolve together, but Lilly passing away peacefully is the best way for a likeable character like her.Celeste Ray, “Holy Wells and Sacred Springs,” in Sacred Waters: A Cross-Cultural Compendium of Hallowed Springs and Holy Wells. Of course, she never wakes up, to which Tara desperately tries to wake her mother up while sobbing over her dead body. The most devastating moment is when Lilly goes for a nap while Tara is preparing dinner. To which Tara interrupts, “Mom, don’t talk like that”. I want you to go wherever makes you happy.” “When I’m gone, I don’t want you to think that you have to stay in Virgin River because you feel obligated to raise Chloe here. You can already tell that Tara does not want to talk about a future without her mother when Lilly says, ![]() It ends in tears for Tara in episode 8, as it marks the death of Lilly due to stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer and the duo spent their last day together taking the horses out. The show has perfectly developed their mother-daughter relationship so that we’d be sobbing our eyes out at the end of the season.
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