Water Blessings

Of the 4 elements, water is probably the most important and the one we most take for granted.

Water covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface, and scientists are now discovering that a large reserve of water may

Watery world

exist near the center of the Earth. (Scientists Find Evidence of Massive Water Reserve Near Earth’s Center). Human beings are about 70% water, and while we can go several weeks theoretically without eating and survive, we would only survive a matter of days if we went without water.

But t things are even more connected than this. Seawater and blood are very similar in composition, though seawater is slightly more concentrated. They are so similar that diluted seawater has been used in emergency situations as a substitute for blood, and a sea creature could quite happily survive swimming around in a tank of blood.

We are water creatures, we just carry our sea inside our bodies instead of swimming around in it.

Consider now the work of Masaru Emoto whose incredible photographs of water crystals show the effect negative and positive experiences can have on water.

Images from Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto.

If as Emoto showed negative and positive experiences could have such an effect on the waters of the Earth, what effect are those same negative and positive experiences having on the water within our bodies?

I also can’t think about water without considering science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, whose book “Stranger in a Strange Land” gave us the word, ‘grok’ and was the basis of the now international neo-Pagan Church of All Worlds.

Rather than go through everything about this book I would like to tell you, I’ll just refer you to the wikipedia entry on the subject.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about water recently as I do on my Soul Midwife coursework. The current module I am looking at teaches how to do anointing and blessings using blessed, or holy, water combined with essential oils. As part of that work, I have been looking for natural water sources which can be found near where I live. I’ve found wells and springs which I never knew existed, and tantalising hints of wells which many have existed at some point in the past. England abounds with place names indicating the presence of natural water sources – Royal Tunbridge Wells and Well Hill in Kent, and Ladywell in Lewisham, to name but 3 in this area. The mineral-rich waters of Tunbridge Wells and the more famous Bath in Somerset were reputed to have curative powers and people would travel for miles to bath and drink it for this reason. I have also learned that there was once a well with a high mineral content thought to have curative powers in Bromley behind the Old Bishop’s Palace. This is where the local civic centre is located. A pond still sits in that area, and I want to get up there one day next week to see if the well still exists.

(The waters of Bath may have curative powers, but I speak from personal experience when I tell you it tastes absolutely vile!)

Creating Holy Water

This is a simple ceremony I use for creating holy water which can be used in ritual and for blessings.

You will need a small cup of water from a natural source preferably but water from the tap can work in a pinch and a small dish of unprocessed sea salt. Look for a salt which has been sun-dried in open-air salt pans.

You will also need your ritual knife, or use your finger if you don’t have or aren’t able to use a ritual knife.

Place the bowl of water in front of you and hold the ritual knife above it. Take a few focusing breaths, then dip the tip of the knife into the water.

“Spirits of water, creatures of the West, I cast out from you all fears, all hatred, and all doubts. In the names of Herne and Brigid so mote it be!”

You can, of course, replace the Gods called upon with your own, and it may be that you are called to cast out completely different things – I find that I hardly ever cast out the same things each time. As you cast out each thing, pull the knife tip from the water and give it a good shake to your side.

Now, you need to imbue the water with those characteristics you wish it to contain. Again, this is hardly ever the same thing each time. With each item, place the tip of the knife blade into the water.

“Spirits of water, creatures of the west, I will you with hope, with acceptance, and with joy. In the names of Herne and Brigid so mote it be.”

Now take the dish of salt and place it in front of you. While water needs to have negativities removed, natural seat salt generally doesn’t so I skip the first step. Dip the tip of the blade into the salt with each addition (3 times).

“Spirits of Earth, creatures of the North, I fill you with hope, with understanding, and with joy. In the names of Herne and Brigid so mote it be.”

Now, take the dish of salt up in your dominant hand and hold the knife in your non-dominant hand. (This serves to make you more aware of what you are doing as you will need to focus more on your hand movements.)

Dip the knife tip 3 times in the salt and place a small amount of the salt in the water each time while saying:

As the man joins a woman to create a child, As the salt joins the water to create an ocean. So we would all join with the Universe to become one. So mote it be.

This water can now be used to do blessings or for ritual work.

Add a few drops of an appropriate essential oil for specific work, for instance you could add a few drops of rosemary to do a blessing on your school books, as a way of helping you to remember what you have learned.

Thursday Talking Point