THE HEALING POWER OF WATER

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” - Loren Einsley

Water is magic, in a sense. It is literally life bringing, life sustaining, and -can be- life ending. Water is beauty, power, grace, flow, divinity, creation, destruction, patience, awesome, fearsome, the source of all life and the thing that sustains life as we know it here on earth. It is the key ingredient.

Because it is literally all of these awe-inspiring things, it is easy to associate it with the divine, and to see it as magical and otherworldly.

It’s even easier to associate it with divine mysticism when we realize that the oceans are still mostly a deep, unknown, mystery. Dip beneath the waves and your vision is changed, your hearing is changed, your air is gone, and gravity and light behave differently. It is about as close to another world as we earthlings can physically get.

It’s no small wonder then, that psychologically speaking, water is representative of the divine feminine- of chaos, creation, power, beauty, flow, and life. The parallels are so self-evident that they are universal. Every human on every corner of the earth at any point in time inherently understands the power, magic, and divinity of water.

Perhaps because of this universality (or perhaps they are too intrinsically linked to ever untangle which came first), psychologist Carl Jung identifies water as the collective universal subconscious. Water is the dream state. The unknown and unknowable, but beautiful alien realm. And that’s no wonder either, since whether we are daydreaming of a day at the beach, or fighting night terrors of floods in our basement, water is the stuff of dreams both wonderful and terrifying.

The subconscious is a place to sort out the things that we know but we don’t quite know we know, or don’t yet quite understand. Much like the process of making art, it is chaotic, mysterious, and when it’s wonderful, it flows magically.

For all of these reasons (plus my own personal divine Moana-like calling to the sea), I cannot think of a better realm in which to explore my work than in the flowing fantasy land of dreams, the subconscious, and the divine that is the underwater realm. A better marriage of subject matter and setting would be difficult even to dream up.

Lately I have become obsessed with researching ancient religions, endeavoring to rediscover the sacred feminine. I believe she has been lost in a centuries long game of historical telephone, and that the world is suffering for it. My hope is that by digging into the past, I can follow this thread wherever it leads and create the underwater artwork that it inspires.

For too long, the divine feminine has been silenced, crushed, and ashamed.

Femininity has been laid low, and the divinity within it forgotten for too long.

No longer.

If there is magic in this world, it is contained in water. Archetypally, women are water. We are divine chaos- the life giving, graceful, strong, flowing, persistent, nourishing force of the world. And it’s time for the waters to rise back up. To claim their rightful place in the world.

In this perfect marriage of subject and medium, I can do more of what I already do: create images that raise the divine feminine back up to its rightful place alongside the divine masculine, and tell a powerful story of harmony and balance. I plan to use that story to inspire and empower the world.

My challenge to you now is to find out how you can do the same. How can you use your divine femininity to connect with and empower the world? And if you have truly no idea where to start, start by just getting to the water. Any water. Dip your toes in; or your whole body. Close your eyes and feel it flow over you, cool and calm yet deeply powerful. Breathe deep and embody the smell of it and the sound of it. Reconnect with the life giving waters of divinity, and then just…. see what ideas she brings you. Let the inspiration rise from deep within you. And then go out into the world, sister, and rise.