It seems to me that people have an idea that justification is a negative thing. To some extent, I can agree–many times people feel the need to justify themselves because of someone that is actively seeking to shame them for their behavior…and in this case, justification is a negative thing. But ultimately, (positive) justification is simply the act of demonstrating (seeking to demonstrate) that something is reasonable*. Sometimes, demonstrating that something is reasonable (or even vital) is a good thing (or even a necessary one).
A few days ago, I came across this post in my blog reader. At first glance, I agreed with most of it (although, having had friend killed by a drunk driver, and having grown up with an alcoholic father, I had a slight problem with the wording of number 13). But. (Because there wouldn’t be a blog post without the but.) Upon further reflection on the idea of justification over all, I have to say the idea of not having to justify one’s self ever, at all, to anyone, is a mistaken one that comes from a place of some pretty intense privilege. I’d like to add that I am not saying that the blog post in question is advocating this, but rather that the blog post was the impetus for this line of thought. Unfortunately, the idea of not needing to justify one’s anything seems a bit prevalent in today’s society in general, and in our Pagan communities online and off in particular. And I sort of think that’s bullshit.
There are things that we do have to justify in life.
I can’t help but think that I would have loved that post when I was 23 and single and childless and financially answerable only to myself. Because…for that brief moment, it was true. But. I have commitments. I have responsibilities. I live as part of a family and a community and a society in which my actions impact other people. I do not live in a vacuum. There is no such thing as living without justification when one has commitments and responsibilities.
Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have to justify everything to everyone. But in the real world, coming from a place of pragmatism, we do sometimes actually owe people reasonable explanations for things.
All of us have to justify our actions to someone (even if that is ourselves). It does matter how much you drink, it does matter what food you eat, it does matter what clothing you wear. I’m not saying this to shame anyone that drinks like a sailor in port after 6 months at sea, likes ice cream, has to shop at Wal-mart. I’m just saying that every action has a consequence–for example, shopping at Wal-mart props up unfair and unethical work and manufacturing processes (but when kid needs shoes for school, and your budget is tight, it might be the only option you have). It may not be fair that it matters, but “fair” is an entirely different discussion.
What we do affects the others around us in direct and indirect ways.
Look, when it comes to beliefs, the only person we need to justify them to is ourselves–but if we are taking that inward thing and putting it out there in word or deed, we better be able to justify its effects upon others in a way that they welcome (or at least respect).
Seeing as this is a Pagan Blog Project post, you might be wondering what exactly does all that have to do with being Pagan?
Ooh! Glad you asked!!
1.) I don’t have to justify my beliefs to you or anyone.
2) You don’t have to justify your beliefs to me or anyone.
3) I don’t have to justify those of my practices that only affect myself and those I have a commitment to and a responsibility for to anyone but them.
4) You don’t have to justify those of your practices that only affect yourself and those you have a commitment to and a responsibility for to anyone but them.
Justifying your words or your deeds isn’t about apologizing for them (although it can be in some cases). (Positive) Justification is not about seeking approval for one’s actions (although it may be reasonable to do so in some cases, depending on whom they affect). Justification is also not about making excuses for your decisions. Instead, it should be about helping something make sense to someone that doesn’t understand where you are coming from or why you have made a particular choice as well as a claiming of responsibility that includes an acknowledgement of how one impacts others around them.
*An alternate definition of justify is “to prove that one is right”, but that isn’t the particular nuance I’m talking about right now–that is more in line with the “shaming” idea.
May the blessings of the earth be upon you,
A sheltering cave to bring you to birth and securely hold you,
The fertile soil to nourish you,
The green grass to lay soft under you.
Sadness of Gaia by Josephine Wall, used with permission
If Water is the element of flow, Earth is the element of deep stillness and slumbering power. The element of caverns and fertile fields, of sandy shores and granite peaks. Earth is the embodiment of Nature–every rock and every tree, the living landscape of life and the recycling of itself in death and in the grave.
A human being’s Earth is her body. From Earth comes solidity, stability, and commitment. We call Earth our home, both the home of all life that is Mother Earth, and the house or apartment we live in. By extension, Earth is hearth and family and all those qualities that make us feel “at home.” To be an earthy person is to be pragmatic, realistic, and tactile. Good Earth qualities in a person make her “the salt of the earth,” but an excess of negative Earth qualities make her a “stick-in-the-mud.” Earth is that deep, solid, immobile place, both in the negative sense of stubborn and in the positive sense of patient. The Witches’ Pyramid describes this quality in the attribute “To Be Silent.”
Deborah Lipp
Scientifically Speaking:
Earth (unlike water) is a bit of a complicated element…when it comes to “earth” from a scientific perspective. It can refer to the planet in its entirety (either as a geological phenomenon or a ecological one), or it can refer to the solid stuff we walk on, known collectively as rocks and/or dirt.
Rocks: A rock is any naturally occurring mass of mineral matter. All rocks fall into one of three broad categories that are based on the formation of the individual rock type. Rocks are made (and destroyed) in a cycle known (how’s this for complex naming systems?) as the Rock Cycle (lol). The first type of rock, igneous rock, is made when molten rock cools and hardens, and includes granite, obsidian, basalt and pumice. The second sort of rock is sedimentary rock, which is formed by the layering of deposited pieces of igneous, metamorphic and other sedimentary rock, as well as dead animals and plants, which make fossils. Common types of sedimentary rock include sandstone, shale, limestone, coal and gypsum. The third type of rock is metamorphic rock, which forms when sedimentary rock or igneous rock is heated or pressurized, and includes marble, slate and quartzite.
Dirt: Soil forms the outermost layer of our earth. It is composed of minerals (45%), organic matter (5%), water (25%), and air (25%). Soil is formed by a combination of geological, chemical, and biological processes–geology determines the rock type and mineral composition while chemical weathering, erosion and organisms such as fungi, lichen and plants (roots) break up rock to help form soil. Developed soil forms layers called “horizons”, which make a cross-section of soil look a bit like a layer cake. All soils have at least one horizon, but most have 3 or 4. While the soil profile of any given location varies, the most common profile is the O-A-B-C-R profile, which is an abbreviation for the progression of horizons (Organic, A horizon–hummus, B horizon–subsoil, C horizon, Bedrock). The different compositions of soil form various soil types, which are globally sorted into 12 orders. In the United States alone, there are at least 70,000 soil types (though different countries have difference criteria and terminology for soil types and profiles).
World Map of the 12 Soil Orders
Etymologically Speaking…
In this worldview, the elements that made up existence were categorized quite broadly as the Classical elements of Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. Our term ‘Earth’, consequently, is derived from a much older word which meant simply ‘the ground’, or ‘the opposite of the sea’–much the way the word ‘earth’ can be used today. These early words for earth, in turn, are references to the Norse goddess Jörð, mother to Thor.
Traditional Correspondences: Star Signs: Tarus, Virgo, Capricorn Direction: North Gender: female Other Correspondences: cattle, pigs, goats, salt, money, winter, fruit, pregnancy, midnight, milk, preservation, fertility, stillness, pentacles (Tarot), caves, fields, bears, bulls, rabbits, lions, stones/rocks/crystals, sand/dirt/soil, seeds and grains, cabbage, potatoes and root vegetables, coins, pentacle, gnomes, goblins, root chakra, the grave Magical Associations: fertility magic, prosperity rituals, money spells, home protections and blessing, crop/garden blessings, grounding rituals and meditations, rituals and spells for jobs or business success, dying/rebirth rituals, death rituals Colors: Brown, Black, Greens Deities: Geb(♂) , Gaia(♀), Emesh(♂), Enten(♂), Hou Tu(♂), Cybele(♀), Magna Mater(♀), Veles(♂), Asase Ya(♀), Asintma(♀), Daikoku-ten(♂), Ninhursag(♀), Beira(♀), Dhara(♂), Coatlicue, Erecura(♀), Proserpina(♀), Enki(♂), Persephone(♀), Demeter(♀), Diti(♀), Pachamama(♀), Ida(♀), Jörð(♀), Sif(♀), Ki(♀), Ops(♀), Prithvi(♀), Liluri(♀), Tu Di Gong(♂), Mat Zemlya(♀), Zemyna(♀), Voltumna(♂),
Getting to Know Earth: After water, earth is probably the element I feel closest to. Earth is what stabilizes and grounds us when we walk upon it. It holds our energy when we need release, and recharges us when we are replete. But not everyone is an earthy type, and even the earthiest of us can get to know Earth a little bit better.
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ”
~ Michael Pollan
Play in the garden: if you don’t have a garden, volunteer at one or plant some plants in pots.
Try out the art of rangoli–I once read something I have never forgotten the idea of (though I don’t remember the place, and its paraphrased because the exact wording is long forgotten, lol): “our feet are sacred because they are the place where our bodies are always engaging with Earth” and discussed the use of art such as rangoli (which has the added earth connection of its primary medium being sand or flour) or even the use of rugs and floor cloths as a way to more consciously think about how our feet meet the Earth.
Go for a hike in the woods, walk along a trail in the park, or just sit under a tree
Learn a bit about earth science or geology–from plate tectonics to types of rocks, learn about the mechanics and the physical properties of the Earth and of earth and how they work. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but Amazon has a free earth science high school textbook for the Kindle; and there are a number of field guides available on rocks and minerals at the library or book store.
Make a sand castle, jump in a mud puddle or dig for earthworms
Pick up trash at a local park or vacant lot, better yet, re-purpose the trash you collect into art (even plastic starts out as part of the earth)
Sleep outside, just you and a sleeping bag or blanket …either as a nap, or all night long. I don’t recommend directly in the grass though…getting to know the earth is one thing, getting to know chiggers is something else.
Alternative/Adapted Correspondences & Earth in Ritual:
In my post about water, I wrote that I believe that witchcraft is about being able to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and to act as a force of change. The witchcraft I practice is an extension of geography and ecology and self…and that means that sometimes traditional correspondences get modified…and sometimes they don’t. My correspondences for Earth mostly match that of the traditional correspondence of Earth with winter and the North, as well as other traditional correspondences. In terms of deity, I tend to associate Earth as Gaia, but I also recognize deities such as Demeter and Persephone, as well as deities such Pomona and Floralia, as being connected with the earth. I also consider money to be a fantastic symbol for earth, as earth’s associations have to do with fertility and growth and abundance and prosperity (while this has been an association that I have seen bother some, historically, salt itself was used as currency). And something else (a bit random) that many people don’t think about–plastics are part of the earth element…they are manufactured from oil (which is really fossil goop) in the ground.
We can draw upon the energies of earth and of the Earth to energize ourselves and our rituals. While earth energy can be used in any ritual, it is more suited to some types of magic and/or ritual than others. Earth as an element works very well as a key component of spells and rituals for prosperity and fertility, in life-cycle rituals, and in grounding in ritual and meditation. In cooking magic, earth can be represented by milk, salt, potatoes and carrots, cabbage, grains, etc. These foods often make good offerings to the Earth itself or to the elemental energies or spirits of earth or of the land (with the exception of salt, which isn’t usually good for the soil). Tobacco is also often considered an acceptable offering in North America (since it was used by many Native American tribes) for land spirits.
Serving Earth: There are a number of threats facing soil specifically and land in general. Among these are soil erosion, deforestation, soil contamination, habitat fragmentation, urban sprawl, invasive plants and animals, desertification, solid waste pollution, wetland loss (drainage), suburban expansion and loss of farmland, and loss of biodiversity. All of these problems though, boil down to issues of land use.
Land use is one of the most striking manifestations of humans’ presence and physical impact on the planet. More fundamentally, humans have altered the global patterns and prevalence of species and ecosystems. Several recent studies confirm that human-dominated ecosystems now cover more of earth’s land surface than do natural or “wild” ecosystems. According to one estimate, more than 75 percent of the earth’s ice-free land shows evidence of alteration from human residence and activity, with less than a quarter remaining as wildland…
…Changes in land use can affect the distribution and type of land cover (such as forests, cropland and urbanized areas), the ability of ecosystems to provide valuable services that support life, and even elevation and terrain.
Support tree planting efforts locally and globally, to help prevent desertification.
Get involved with local ecological restoration efforts! Nearly every community has them, and often they need help.
Compost your kitchen and yard waste, rather than sending it into the waste stream.
Reduce, reuse and recycle. Try to avoid falling into the “planned obsolescence” trap that companies have set up for you by thinking you just *have to have* X product. Check out the Story of Stuff.
Know about where your stuff comes from and try to buy it as close to home as possible (plus it creates jobs here), and with natural materials whenever possible (for example, cotton not Lycra)
Pick up trash when you are out and about, at the park, walking down the street, etc.
So…today is International Pagan Coming Out Day…and once again, its not really a big deal for me. I’ve never been “in the broom closet” and I’ve never felt the need to hide my theological opinion (honestly, it has never occurred to me to do so, from my first reading of Drawing Down the Moon at 13…)
And that isn’t because I live in some hippie paradise.
I was raised in the Midwest in a Christian family, in a town where there’s a church on just about every block and I now live in Pat Robertson’s backyard, where proselytizing is the second most popular activity after football. I was in the military and openly Pagan for six years…and was still promoted, several times (and I even swapped duty for holidays on occasion). My medical records say that I’m Pagan, my VA record says that I’m Pagan, and if someone asks my religion, I’ll happily tell them that I’m Pagan.
Realistically though, most people that I encounter on a daily basis as I carry out my day probably have no clue that I’m Pagan (unless they happen to overhear my daughter singing “The Goddess Loves Me” while skipping down the street instead of the more conventional Jesus version). To paraphrase Mrs. B’s “out” story from a while back, its not like I walk around introducing myself as “Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m Pagan!” I don’t wear a t-shirt and my path isn’t one for which a pentacle is representative. If someone asks what church I go to (far more common that asking “what religion are you?”), I tell them I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, because its true (and 99% of the time, they don’t actually care and are just making conversation). If someone tells me Merry Christmas, I don’t jump down their throat, I just say thank you, because I’m more than happy to have a great December 25th even if I don’t celebrate it as a religious observance. I don’t go out of my way to “act” Pagan, because there isn’t any such thing–Pagan is just a term that acts as a descriptor for a huge number of my religious beliefs. Honestly, I find the idea of making my religion a production to something akin to an inappropriate PDA, which is why I try not to bring up religion in places where it doesn’t belong–like the workplace or the line at the grocery store (which can be hard for me, since I find it so very fascinating).
Really though, I’ve just found that (even in Pat and Jerry’s home turf), most normal people really *don’t* care what religion you are. Some normal people might want to know out of curiosity, or for an intellectual discussion (exceedingly rare), or they might want to know for the purposes of figuring out what kind of holiday card to sent you, but most people really don’t care about your business that much anyhow. And the people that *do* care, are the ones that would hate you anyway. Because you’re white or because you’re not white, because you have long hair or short hair, because you’re fat or skinny, because you are too liberal or not liberal enough, or because you are gay or old or loud or wear white after Labor Day or are too sarcastic or something. Because haters hate. The dishonest ones just do it in the name of religion.
I’m not saying that the fear of things like having one’s children taken away over their religion is unrealistic or that losing one’s job for being found out as a Pagan doesn’t happen. It does happen–it hasn’t happened to me personally, but I do know people whose Paganism has become an issue in divorce cases or that have been ostracized socially or in the workplace. I may not have lost my job or had my kids taken away, but I still think about those things (I also happen to have faith that while the wheels of justice and karma work slowly, they do usually work)…and I’ve still experienced the little ignorant disrespects. Discrimination and bigotry happen. I can understand why some might fear the idea of coming out publicly as a Pagan. Being harassed for thinking and living outside the box hurts and its damaging down to the soul.
For me, it comes down to one thing–I’d rather be hurt than hide.
And I’ve been lucky to find that in taking the chance (though “taking a chance” never occurred to me at the time), its not that big of a deal.
We currently have a thread on Pagan Forum about the use of devotionals as a personal practice, which is how/why I was inspired to write this thread on my own devotional practice, which is loosely based on the Catholic Lectio Divina.
If you aren’t familiar with the term devotional, it describes a short, often daily, religious practice that is used to help an individual grow in their relationship with the Divine, which generally involves some sort of reading and/or prayer. If you are familiar with the term from a Christian standpoint, you may have seen or read a book or magazine which often takes a Bible verse, illustrates it with someone’s story or lesson, and ends with a prayer, which is called a devotional. Often Christian devotionals are oriented to a particular subset of Christians–either by denomination, or gender, or age, etc. (despite these books widely being referred to as a devotional, the use of them is only one type of devotional practice).
From a Pagan perspective, the purpose of devotional practice isn’t much different, though I think we have a lot more diversity when it comes to what we consider Divine. A polytheistic devotional practice, for example, might focus on particular individual deities or a particular pantheon, while a pantheist or even a naturalist might choose to focus something like the elements, the natural world or the universe-at-large. Since our views of Divinity are so varied, our individual devotionals are bound to be equally diverse. If you haven’t established a personal devotional practice, but are interested in the idea, a good Pagan introduction to the idea can be found here, and a good conversation on devotional prayers can be found here.
My devotional work follows the structure of the Lectio Divina (which means Divine Reading in Latin), though its (obviously) not about Jesus and its quite a bit less structured/more free form. The Catholic Lectio Divina dates back to the 6th century and was developed as a monastic practice by St. Benedict, while the format that exists today was established later (more info on its history). The Lectio Divina has four parts–Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio (which translates to reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation)…and really, the devotional structure found in contemporary (and generally non-denominational) devotionals is based in part on this form. A good walk through of the Lectio Divina from a Catholic perspective can be found here–its an excellent description of the process in general, if you can overlook the Christian bits.*
My version of the Lectio Divina goes something like this:
Lectio–Read/watch/listen. Using some piece of material that speaks from the Divine to you, intake the material from a non-judgemental perspective. Try not to assign meaning to the material, just soak in the message. The message might come from a reading, but it could also come form a song or a clip of video or a picture. The key here is to absorb every scrap of meaning you can wring from it, without judging it or formulating your own response to it (yet).
Meditato–Meditation on the message (or messages). How does it fit as an expression of Divinity, Humanity or the cosmos (or not)? How is Divinity speaking through this message? What does it mean in terms of a message from or about your gods? What does it mean in terms of how you go about your day, or how you live your life?
Oratio–Conventionally, this would be where one enters into a conversation with the Divine–otherwise known as prayer. Sometimes for this part I pray…but its more about a personal active expression of the message (it could be getting off your rear and dancing, singing, painting, writing, etc, or it could be the more conventional prayers) that is based on the message you received (which may or may not be true to the text itself).
Contemplatio–Resting with the gods in silence (however you see them), open meditation, etc, opening your mind and heart to their wonder (or the wonder of nature/the universe/etc), and re-centering yourself in the present.
The material I use for the Lectio portion is pretty varied. It includes everything from Bible verses (I’m a fan of Ecclesiastes 3 1-8), to the Homeric hymn to Gaia, to poetry the poem Mending Wall (by Robert Frost) to the excerpt of Mary Oliver I posted recently, to this song by Sara Thomsen, to each of the Unitarian Universalist 7 principles, to the picture at the top of the post, which is a picture of the Rose Window at Chartres Cathedral next to a cross section image of DNA often called the Rose Window. Anything that speaks to one’s inner self or offers divine inspiration is, at least in my opinion, fair game.
What about you? Do you have a daily practice (or at least a regularly occurring one)? What do you find inspiring on a soul level?
UPDATE: I just opened up another blog, which I *oh-so-creatively* titled Pagan Devotionals, specifically to post inspiring bits of this and that for anyone that is interested in starting their own devotional practice, whether it be reciting prayers or adorations or undertaking the Lectio Divina.
*Normally I wouldn’t have felt it necessary to point out that beneficial spiritual practices and beliefs can exist in other religions…even Christianity, and that we should keep an open mind to both the origins and intent of specific ideas as well as their modern interpretations. But then I read (mostly via Facebook and other blogs–so if you missed the debate, count yourself lucky) some recent debate over this particular blog post (which I thought was spot on), purely over what commenters thought the specific terminology meant (and I’m pretty sure most of them only read the title anyhow).
May the blessings of water be upon you,
The soft sweet rain to wash you tenderly and nourish you,
A rushing river to carry you forward,
The vast depths of the sea to bring you wisdom.
Water is the element of flow*. Of ebb and tide, of stormy seas and gently meandering streams, of deep still pools and majestic rushing rivers, of awe-inspiring waterfalls and the splash of small children through puddles after rain or dew drops strung on a morning spider web like pearls. The magic of water is that it flows, that it shapes itself into the landscape and in turn–patiently over aeons or swiftly in an instant–reshapes the landscape. Water is the blood of the earth, soaking into the body of the earth, giving life (along with the kiss of the sun and the breath of the winds). But it can also be a wall of destruction, obliterating whatever (and whomever) is in its path.
*I completely and utterly swear that I did not steal this phrase from Diane Sylvan (at least not intentionally!)–I had 2/3 of this post written when I happened to unpack the boxes of books that Hubby brought home from the storage unit and discovered my copy of The Circle Within, and (thinking there was a bath/shower ritual in it that would be good to include) cracked it open, only to discover this very sentence in her opening description for Mabon and Samhain being holidays of water…lol!
Scientifically speaking*, water is a wonderfully simple molecule whose unique properties make life possible on our planet. Just three atoms–two of hydrogen and one oxygen, covalently bonded in such a way that it forms a ~105 degree angle**. And yet, it is this simplicity that allows water to float in solid form (ice) when nearly all other substances sink, to stick together (cohesion and surface tension) and to stick to other substances (adhesion) in a way that lets it travel though the vessels of plants and animals (capillary action), to dissolve more substances than any other liquid (universal solvent), and more–all which makes it part of the basic cycles and processes of life.
*For me, knowing the scientific particulars of something is just as important to its spiritual importance as understanding its classical symbolism and mythology in building new understandings, as well as new ideas of how to relate to it and how to use it. Plus I’m just a science geek
**Some estimates put the angle of the water molecule around 105 point something-or-other closer to 106 degrees. Considering I recently read an article on some new observations in the hydrogen bonding of water molecules that changes how they interact, all that really suggests to me is that we are still figuring stuff out!.
Traditional Correspondences: Gender association–feminine Colors–green, also oceanic colors Astrological signs–Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces Other symbolism–cup/chalice, undine (and other water spirits), Autumn, the cardinal direction of West Deities–actually Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive list of sea and river deities, though they left out La Sirene (a favorite of mine) among others, and overstate the connection of the deity to water in a few (cross-referencing is always a good idea, regardless of the source, but particularly with a wiki) Associations–death/rebirth/birth, pregnancy and childbirth, creation, creativity, divination, dreams, healing, emotions, release of emotion, weather, affection, body parts–body fluids, kidneys and bladder, brain, circulatory and lymph systems, breasts and female genitalia, and ears (along with air), peace, transformation/transition/change, chaos, cleansing (purification), blessing, compassion, empathy, the subconscious and unconscious, contracts, courage, fear (overcoming or confronting), and nourishment
The personal quality of Water is feeling. Emotion flows, following its own path, which may meander. Emotion runs deep, with mysteries not visible on the surface. Emotions can be like sunken treasure, hiding secrets at the bottom of the waters of memory or the subconscious. Emotionality and mood swings are, of course, associated with the moon, as are secrets-those things that are just barely visible, lit by moonlight and not exposed to the sun. In the Tarot, the Moon card is full of watery images, such as crustaceans crawling out of the water, and the card’s meaning is rooted in secrets, mysteries, and hidden knowledge. Water is female, and looks within.
Deborah Lipp, The Way of Four
Adapting correspondences:
If you are a regular reader of my blog, it comes of no surprise that I’ve made some changes, adaptations, etc to the conventional correspondences that fit my practice and beliefs better. I’m a big believer in witchcraft being an extension of one’s geography–to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and act as a force of change. As such, I work with water a bit differently. To start with, I have a body of water where I live…with its own personality, neither of which (the location or its energy) fit entirely with the traditional directional or seasonal associations (and I’m willing to bet that your local body of water doesn’t either). So they’ve been changed to fit where I live.
Here where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic, the energy of water is Eastward, and its season is the spring. The Bay works best for cleansing, blessing and transformative magic, and it is great for grounding energy and releasing magic, and not too bad at just about anything–even things that aren’t normally associated with water. With such proximity to the ocean (and the Bay, which is fed by many rivers and streams), deities that make themselves known aren’t bound to any particular pantheon, but rather like the tide, to the mood and season of the sea (and to particular places). As such, Thalassa, Sedna, Psamathe, Neptune and Salacia, La Sirene, and Acionne are the deities I’m the most familiar with.
Getting to Know Water:
Its been my experience that when someone prefers something over another (or feels they are better at it), it often means that the other can get forgotten. If water isn’t your “thing” (and even if it is), there are quite a few things to do to *grok* the essential energy of water in order to work it more effectively.
Go skinny dipping–Sure, just swim-suited swimming works too…but if you can find a place where you can swim sans clothing, its completely and utterly a different experience. Also, if you aren’t a swimmer, consider taking swimming lessons to increase your comfort level in the water.
Play in the rain–Without shoes, if possible and in a muddy puddle, if you can find one. If its not raining, sit by a stream or a waterfall–better yet, play in the stream and sit under the waterfall. If you feel silly, drag your kids along as an excuse–if you don’t have your own, borrow someone else’s kids (with their permission of course)!
Check our your faucets: take a shower, soak in the bath, drink a glass of water (mindfully!)…and if you have ever been somewhere that you can take your glass and dip it in a lake and drink without worrying about pollution or disease, count yourself lucky (one of my favorite places, ever).
Clean up a stream or your lake, beach, riverfront, etc.
Visit an aquarium…it could be your own, one of the giant tanks of native fish at a camping store, the pet store, or a dedicated aquarium, either way, veg out with the fishies!
Watch SharkWeek, or DisneyNature’s Oceans or (Chickadee’s favorite) Turtle: The Incredible Journey, or The Blue Planet series, etc (all of these are avaliable via Netflix, HuluPlus or Amazon, and if you check out PBS, Nature and Nova have free streaming of many of their programs–Nature’s Ocean Giants is available to watch until May 4). Seriously, how often does someone tell you to watch TV to be a better witch?!?!
Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap. (This is also the number 1 question on the Bioregional quiz discussed in Chas Clifton’s essay, Nature Religion for Real)
Water in Ritual:
Water rituals are healing, flowing and feminine. Any ritual involving women’s mysteries, childbirth, or gentle change are sympathetic to water. One delightful ritual I helped with had all the practitioners draw symbols of healing on the sidewalk with chalk, which an impending rainstorm carried away to the gods. Water is most often a loving element, though if you’ve ever been in a flash flood, you know it can rage. It represents the wide gamut of our emotions.
Diane Sylvan, The Circle Within
Ritual water works in two ways — it gives and it takes away. It gives health, wealth and wisdom because of its sacred origins or its blessed condition. It takes away evil, back luck or the spiritual grime of daily life by virtue of its purity or its simple cleansing properties.
One of the easiest ways to add the power of water into ritual is to start with a ritual most of us already do with water–bathing. Use water to not just wash away the physical grime, but to wash away stress, negativity, etc. Visualize the energy of water raining down onto and into your body, washing away (as Chickadee would say) “all the mad things and bad things and sad things” that you’ve seen or felt or thought towards yourself and towards others, as your psyche is rinsed clean. Diane Sylvan (whose descriptions of making the daily rituals a ritual ares more poetic) has a novel idea (in that I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere) that even brushing one’s teeth “can be a way of scrubbing away dishonesty, making room for you to speak the truth, or it can simple bring your attention to the words you say.”
Ivan Kupala Day, a traditional Ukrainian holiday is a day of water and fire (click the pic & follow the link, its pretty interesting!).
The same sort of cleansing can be done on a larger, more transformational, level in a ritual at a waterfall, shallow stream or at the beach. Focusing on ridding oneself of a bad habit, negativity, etc and then “refilling” one’s self with positive energy, better habits, etc can be easily done with any source of running water, but it is especially suited to the change of the tide. I’ve done this at the beach, one of the few times I worry about proper spell/ritual timing, where the outgoing tide is used to “pull” the unwanted out, and “push” the wanted in. This is a ritual that can also be done with just visualization, but (IMO) there is something about making the effort to go to a special place and do a ritual that makes rituals or spells meant to mark something life-changing, that gives them more power.
Cleansing and blessing rituals involving water are pretty universal, crossing cultures and religions, from Christian baptisms to ritual purity traditions in Judaism, and beyond. Water-based rituals aren’t just for the body and soul, but are great for cleansing items as well, and to cast away (biodegradable and environmentally friendly) spell components of spells that one wishes to deconstruct/deactivate. Blessed/holy water (tutorial in the links below) can be used to cleanse the home and to cleanse items. Other powerful water rituals include those for grieving (after all, grief is a sort of cleansing process), for fertility, and for growth (particularly in conjunction with earth), as well as rituals that invoke or involve water deities or spirits.
Ask not what your elements can do for you…after all, these posts are called SERVING the elements!
There are really two big threats to water–overuse and pollution. Both are problems in most places, but which problem is more of a problem can vary (like the recent drought in Texas) and both water conservation, to combat water overuse, and pollution prevention start with us.
Most home water use occurs out of doors (depending on where you live, anywhere from 30-70% of home water use goes to water the lawn and landscaping; estimates vary, but most suggest that only 30-50% of water used actually does what it is intended to). Indoors, the toilet is the biggest water user, followed by the shower/bathtub. For advice on how to conserve water in and around the home, check out your regional water authority–most of them offer their own advice for the area where you live.
Water pollution is a bit more complex of an issue, with multiple sources of pollution–storm water runoff, outdoor home water use (landscape/lawn watering is often accompanied by fertalizing, which mostly washes into the local watershed), chemical pollutants (indoor and outdoor), pet waste, plastics pollution (which I blogged about last fall), cigarette butts, and more. One of the biggest things that we can do to control our waste (and possible/probable) pollution is to control our purchases and to control how we dispose of them. Eschewing disposable items in favor of reusable ones, choosing renewable, recyclable or biodegradable materials over ones with an indefinite lifetime in the waste stream (increasing their chances of getting into the ocean), using environmentally friendly cleaners, and choosing native plant landscaping and reducing fertilizer and pesticide use are all ways to minimize pollution into our watersheds.
Other things we can do to protect our sources of water include supporting local conservation organizations with their efforts–our local organizations plant beach grasses in the sand dunes to protect the coast line for erosion, host an annual clean-up day of the Chesapeake Bay, plant sea grasses further inland as wildlife habitat, promote rain barrel use, provide oysters for people living along the shore to “plant”, etc. Even if you don’t live somewhere coastal, local organizations can often offer guidance on planting native species or creating rain gardens, or on local conservation initiatives.
None is as free as one born on the wave,
Born on the wave to the song of the sea;
None can be brave until they are free,
Free of all, but the call of the sea.
I am a (occasionally doting) wife, a damn proud momma of two adorable and brilliant children, a veteran of the United States Navy, part-time steampunk hausfrau, beach addict, (American) Civil War reenactor and Victorian natural history aficionado, a canoeing fanatic, returned student and semi-erratic blogger.
If you have found this blog, you have also figured out that we are a Pagan family. More aptly, I would describe my theological belief as a pragmatic sort of pantheism and my religion as Unitarian Universalist Pagan...or maybe as a Spiritual Bioregionalist that belongs of a UU congregation. I am a practicing witch and herbalist, mainly working with domestic and elemental magics. For the most part, my blog covers a bit of all of these things, with a bit of randomness tossed in from time to time.
I enjoy my family, swimming, being nerdy, the great outdoors, NCIS re-runs, chai tea--iced or hot, aerobics, trashy romance novels, baking bread, singing off key, surfing the internet and painting. I also like long walks on the beach and NPR's Science Friday. I love to read. I am passionate watershed ecology and local conservation efforts. But most of all...I'm just trying to take extravagant pleasure in the act of being alive.
Seeing as this is a Pagan Blog Project post, you might be wondering what exactly does all that have to do with being Pagan?
