Water
May 25, 2008
This is the second post in a series on the Elements. The Previous post on Earth, may be found here. I recommend that you read that one first, before reading this one.
First I’d like to remark that if you identify well with astrology or tarot, you’ll find that these discussions on the elements corresponds well with what you can learn from these two archetypal teachings. Thank you for the reminder of this Sorrow. *smiles*
Now, water is pretty obvious in many ways. Obviously its about flow. Its pretty obvious that temperature plays a huge part in its existence too, being formless in hot temperatures, even gaseous and that in cold temps its solid. What do you suppose this means really in terms of personality? You may surmise that the fire element, or the heart, is intrinsic to the status of water’s form. A part of the work of water, therefore is to master that fire element in their lives…
Water is colorless. To some that might mean that it has no color of its own, but the truth is its more like a prism, carrying all colors. It is only the presence of other elements which makes one color more visible within it. So let us say then, that a basic quality of the water element is that it acts like a mirror, a prism or a magnifying glass. That’s the metaphor, the way that plays out in real time is that water beings tend toward being people pleasers. They tend toward being healers, social workers and spiritual guides because they are able to see deeply into people, to be empathic and compassionate and to identify strongly with another person, giving them an essential understanding into the nature of other people, places, and situations. This is both difficult and healing for all concerned. It is possible to loose oneself in others if the person with a watery personality does not focus on honing his or her will.
Water obviously doesn’t have much form except what’s around it. It naturally takes up space. This factor of being a large presence and filling up a room with their personality is often irritating to people. Yet most water beings are just acting according to their nature. Its not a territorial act for most of us. Its simply touching. Touching is the often the same as understanding to people with a watery nature and there’s a natural curiosity in us. We wish to learn all there is to know. We are naturally receptive unless stirred deeply or inspired and set on a course which naturally gains momentum with emotion and will behind it. When that happens a water being is a nearly unstoppable force.
The I Ching talks about ‘gentle penetrating force’. A water being comes by this patient wearing away of stubbornness, denial and foibles in others utterly naturally. They can see the shape of things. They can see that implacable will in someone they love and just chooses to live around it…wearing away the shape of things until its less sharp and more according to their own watery view of things. Eventually people just naturally get along well with water beings because its comfortable and easier to. And because we are usually quite pleasant, sensitive souls.
Water beings take on the temperature of what’s around them. Remember temperature is the heart stuff. Its about love and passion. So when I say we take on the temperature of others, I mean to say that we take on the heart matters of others as our own. This can mean that we can easily loose sight of the heart of things for ourselves; loose sight of what’s deeply important to ourselves in the face of what’s important to those we love. We almost have live with a constant will invoking mantra to hold our focus because others can distract us with little or no effort at all. We must learn to balance this need to form our own container for our flowing nature out of our own will with the absolute equal need to have something outside ourselves to push against.
By pushing against, I mean, someone who will meet our emotional intensity, someone who will challenge our ideas, feelings, heart, intellect, creativity. We need a muse for life, in other words. Its just our nature. So its a walking a fine wire through life. It forces us to be in constant vigilance about being in balance. If we get lazy, we loose our structure nearly immediately.
We do better within an environment that provides a natural structure for us to push against. Not for rebellion but for that muse to stay focused…yet it has to be a structure with flow to it because the one thing that’s simply true about water is that if we don’t experience constant change, we become stagnant. Stagnant people are grouchy, resentful, irritable, moody, depressed, lonely…any of that sound familiar to those reading who have watery personalities?
Generally emotions remain a challenge the whole life for water beings. Just the nature of the beast. Gotta deal with it.
It is also necessary to discover the sources of joy and happiness in one’s life. Because sooner or later, life will apply heat (an emotional challenge of some kind) and you’ll start to boil away in the tension of dealing with it a life circumstance. If you don’t source something deep and profound, you’ll disappear into the battle with the situation life tossed you and you won’t be able to deal with it well. You’ll feel overwhelmed and exhausted….really not much use to anyone.
For most water beings those sources may be found in air…that is to say the soul or spirituality and those activities that take them to their heart and soul, such as art and music takes me to my heart. For you that might be gardening or motorcycling.
Since this is my primary element, I relate to this element the most. i have the most insightful things to say about it, but you can see that I am able to speak of each of the elements as a result of dealing with my own, because I must find a way to accommodate them all in my life and master something of each in order to bring balance into my life.
The water elements is the element of intellect. The thing to know about this is that thinking leads to feeling. These are not passions. Passions are things of the heart and of the fire element. Passions cannot be just changed. You cannot change your mind about a passion and make it go away. However you can change your mind about an idea, an attitude, a perception, a course of action, you can let go of denial about the facts of something and suddenly whatever emotions you had about something will just change. Quick as a flash. This is how you can tell the difference between an emotion and a passion and which element you are dealing with in your life. Knowing that will tell you what spiritual practices are appropriate to dealing with it. Thinking issues call for mindfulness and purification of the thoughts that bind you. This calls for training yourself to think a certain way; thus emotions correspond. This is what I meant earlier by working with the will. You must train your mind to be disciplined and implacable about its course of action….else the watery nature of your emotions and the tendency to flow into distraction will drain your momentum from achieving your goals. The bane of my existence that last.
A note of great worth…The Native people believe that steam is the breath of life…
It is true.
Yup. I am deliberately going to let that one remain a mystery. This is a thing to understand on your own.
Water Meditations:
Mindfulness meditation is a very important one. All of life should be lived mindfully in fact. This element demands that one lives in the now moment, else there will not be balance, yet also maintain a sense of goals. There is a Witness perspective which grows as a result of mindfulness practice. This Witness may also become the Guide, the Conscience and the Will. If you think about it, low temperature, or lack of emotion about something enables a person to stand strong once a decision is made. This low temperature thing really means detachment. That is, to take the attachment to thoughts, outcomes and expectations out of things you have no control over. Those things we can’t control are outside ourselves. We only have control of our thoughts, actions and emotions. We can, if we choose, let the Will become solid, that is, lower the temperature or detach… and so provide a container to lifestyle and goals…but one must remember that too much will prevents a fire from burning because it becomes too cold. By this I mean that we all need passion in our lives. We need purpose and brilliant inspiration and deep love. These things are just as necessary as is detachment. It really is all about balance.
The Elements Breaths are really useful to water beings. They keep things from getting stagnant and help us balance our other elements. Though I am not emphasizing this with lots of language. It is one of the most crucial practices you can take up.
Explore different kinds of natural water features. A waterfall, rapids, a slow moving river, a rivulet from rain, a thundershower, puddles…just be with water and know that this is the experience that is most precious in our lives. Water is only slightly less essential than air in order to sustain our lives. we can live about three minutes without air, but only about three days without water. Glory in the water and make relationships with it. Keep it clean. Conserve it. Do what you can to protect the water in your community.
Experiment with water in relationship with other elements. Add temperature to your study. Watch water caress stones in a stream and pick things up and float them along. Watch it come to a boil in a pot and then become a soup. Watch it freeze to an icecube and then thaw in your glass and know the impermanence of thought and its emotion… Think about these experiences in relationship to the people in your life. How do you effect them? How do they effect you? How can you work with this interplay more effectively for all concerned….taking into account the basic nature of each?
Water Rituals:
Take a bath or go to a sauna or a hot tub and revel in what you experience very mindfully. Make a beautiful experience of it. Add scent to the experience, candle perhaps.
You can also do a very simple ritual of transformation with a cup of water. However, you need to learn some magical skills first so study a book called Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain and also Spiral Dance by Starhawk to learn these skills. In fact, Spiral Dance has directions for this transformation ritual. All you need to is choose a liquid you are willing to drink and fill a cup. In ritual, its always nice to have good atmosphere, so get some candles lit and find a really beautiful cup for this. Fill the chalice, and then sit and imagine all the things that are bothering you…breathe it into the cup, as each thing comes up for you, just keep using the breath to drop it into the cup until you’ve emptied yourself. Once you’ve completed the letting go phase, lift the cup above your head and visualize it being filled with Divine white light and envision the light transforming the energy of what you released that’s in the cup into something beautiful, joyful and nourishing. Fill the chalice yourself with deep gratitude and pure love for all the blessings you receive each day. When both you and the Divine have transformed that liquid into a sacrament, drink it down and let its energy spread to every cell of your being.
The next post will be on the topic of Fire.
Here a few links that might be fun to contemplate if you like the I Ching:
