The last few months have been wet. The end of winter and coming of spring changed little as winter was milder than usual, and spring cooler. But both have seen much rain, from days of drenchers to intermittent showers. The barn lots have been a mess of muck, that sucking mud that holds your boots tight. Muddy horses stand with heads down, backs against whichever way the wind blows the cold rain in, when they don’t choose to be under the shedrow. Because of course they want to be out munching that delicious new grass. Damp hens look for places during daylight hours to get out of the worst of it and still find those earthworms that wash up from the saturated earth. Wet dog smell permeates the house.
Not a fan of long periods of cool, cloudy, and damp, this season has been an opportunity to open the senses wide and acknowledge the blessings of water. Beyond the mesmerising rhythm of ocean, majestic waterfall, or rocky river, we love water. It shifts something in us. Baptised this year by the constant, yet essential cleansing stream from the sky, I remember farmers pray for rain all summer. I recall how often our recreation is interwined with water. Animals live nearby a creek, lake, or river because it creates an environment for them to thrive. Humans feel called to be near it as it nourishes our spirit selves with its energy. We drink it for health and to quench our thirst. We shower and bathe our bodies. In religions we may dance for it, cleanse our souls in it, or christen a baby with it. We swim through it, delighting in the rush around our body. We travel down or across it, for pleasure of being “on/in the water.” And we are largely made of water ourselves, after all.
As an element, water, dwells in the west on the compass, the place of feeling and emotion. Always in motion, water is known by an understanding of transition, of “flow.” In the tarot deck, water, symbolized by cups, looks at feelings beneath the surface, and all emotions moving and shifting through our lives. Water has depth, carrying the deep unconscious below, and yet, light reflects light off it. When calm, it can be a mirror. Water is transformative, as it shapes to its container, and is ever changing. Restorative to our body and spirit, water adds beauty and meaning to our daily lives. I think about words often. River rhymes with giver, and ocean with emotion. That seems right. Without water and connection to feelings we would lead parched lives. Salty tears fall from our eyes in times of grief and sadness, when we are joyous, or touched by deep feelings of love and caring.
The balance on our blue planet is precarious in these modern times. Humankind has lost its way of being stewards of our precious resources, or even to acknowledge their importance. Years ago government created The Clean Air and Clean Water acts, but most recovery and protection work has been done by small (sometimes larger) groups of committed citizens. We dam the wild rivers. We send our waste into our water sources. Decisions are made with no thought of damage to the blood of the earth. The correlation between the wellbeing of our physical bodies and our spiritual selves is enormous, but neglected. Like air, water is life. And water is sacred. Without it, we can not live. Without emotional connection and awareness of our feelings, we do not feel alive. We are separated, isolated from ourselves, and others. This is an illness. Water as an elemental force, can show us the wayback to ourselves.
Tonight I stand under a new moon sky, listening to the spring peepers calling out loudly their chorus of thanksgiving for the water. So I welcome this season of falling rain, and the glory of green that inevitably follows. I welcome the sponge of soft earth, grey clouds, and hours spent in the house or barn, or just reading in bed. I listen to the sounds on the roof. I see its power in the swollen streams and creeks. I claim my connection to water, to my deepest feeling spirit, to change and growth. May we all be blessed by water, and may we honor it.
