Give Your Ills to Mama

Through out ancient human history, the ocean has housed our deities. The eldest of cultures has it as our mother or the blood of our mother (we find this in science as the evolutionary theory that all life began in the sea). It eventually went from our mother to powerful gods to demons to a conduit for the mighty dead. As humans we have always had a deep fascination and love for the sea even as modern societies forgot the spiritual connections. The Surfrider Foundation is great for recognizing our origins in the ocean by calling her Mom still during their fund raising events like “Music for Our Mother Ocean.” It was one of the reasons why I got into supporting them to be honest. If you revere the ocean, or water, as our mother still and return to her when you have a problem then you can release your pains to her just like you would a human mother.

Water has several meanings depending on who you speak to and what era you look at. I tend to work from a shamanistic perspective as well as a bit of a Sumerian since my main deity is from there, so those will be what I'm speaking on. If you know Asian, Germanic, etc. then your mileage may vary.

In general, water is emotion (all encompassing), depth, understanding, renewal, cleansing, and healing. It is the blood of Ama-Tiamat that spilled out of her when the Earth and Heavens formed from her body. It is a conduit to the honoured ancestors; allowing us to speak to them more easily. As children of the ocean, water is apart a major of us as we are mostly saline, salt water. It is a soft, yet powerful force that is capable of withering away the strongest mountain and disintegrating an iron fortress. Nothing stands up to water over time whether it is a subtle degrade over aeon or in seconds under a tidal wave.

When you feel like you are out of balance, the beach is a great place to realign yourself naturally. This is especially true if you are at the ocean since the ocean contains enzymes and minerals our bodies need to heal, there are even beneficial parasites that can be gotten (and harmful ones too). We absorb the enzymes and minerals through the skin so really all you need to do is spend some time in the water for you to gain (There are some skin healers that utilize saline water and ocean enzymes to rapid heal your piercings and injuries). Yes in many areas you may have to be mindful of pollution levels, so make sure to factor that in before going on with this. I had this while growing up on Lake Erie, it was frequently too toxic to be in and we had to boil tap water sometimes. Envision this: the rocks and crystals are the Earth's bones, the sand/soil her flesh, the wind coming off the sea is her breath, the water is her blood, the micro-organisms are much like our micro-organisms. When we go to the beach to sit on a boulder, dig our feet into the sand, breathe in the air, and allow the water to wash over us it is like melding with her, our mother (whatever you know her by, I call her Ama-Tiamat like where my dna lineage began 50k years ago). We can lose ourselves and allow for our bodies to naturally harmonize with the energies around us and her body. We energetically begin to balance; even begin to absorb the minerals and maybe a few micro-organisms. This is an attunement that does not take meditation (just the peace of surrender), but meditation will enhance the effects.

The rest of this piece will be about various basic water meditations that you can make a ritual out of. I tend to do these coupled with my druatch rune work or prayers to Ama-Tiamat, but they can be done to any water deity or to the water itself for a more atheist perspective.

Ocean Works

Ebbs and Tides of Your Emotions :

Stand in or before the ocean. See the water recede as the waves form and watch the waves come in. If you can sit long enough, watch the tide go out (this must be done when the tide is higher and will be low tide later in the day). Create a link between the water and the emotions that you wish to siphon out. Say, or think, “As the tide of the ocean ebbs and flows, so do my emotions. I release these out to the sea so they may go out with the tide and be lost to the abyss. The ocean can be chaotic and calm itself, so can I. I release all that is causing me pain right now into the water. I fill the space left within me with the serenity of the calmed sea at night.” Sit still and feel yourself attuning to everything around you, the pain leaving and going out into the abyss, and then taking in the serenity. Do this until you feel at ease.

Give Your Pain to Mom :

Very similar to the above, you release what is ailing you to the ocean. This helps most by being in the water. I am adapting this from a healing ritual that is done to Ama-Tiamat. Insert your motherly ocean deity where I put [mom].

Go into the ocean as deep as you feel comfortable to meditate. You can float anchored, sit or lay on a rock and let the water hit you, sit in the sand and let it hit you, chill in a kayak; whatever is comfortable for a few hours. See yourself sink into the ocean depths. The light is getting smaller until all is dark. Call to [mom], feel her ancient matriarchal energy. Extend the proper greeting, love, respect, and petition her for the healing you need (physical, emotional, life, etc.). Spend time listening to what she has to offer for advice or what she's asking for payment if that's a request. Feel her embrace you in her [appendage of choice] and the energy pass through you, pulling out [what you asked for]. See yourself raise out of the water until you are hovering above the ocean, it is night now. Your body is dripping out a dark viscus ooze, this is what you asked to be removed. As the [ills] are removed your body becomes lighter, you see yourself begin to glow a radiant golden light from your core. You raise further in the sky as you are purified and the light becomes stronger. You are engulfed in a golden fire. You are becoming a like a sun and illuminating the beach like daytime. When you feel energized and healed; you return to yourself and lower back into your starting point. Thank [mom] and come out of trance.

// You can adapt this one for other water sources, using the local water deity, a water elemental, or the water itself by removing the “mother” aspect. Just have it cleanse you. I'm not sure how powerful that would be as I've used it in dedication for Ama-Tiamat and my husband uses a version for Yemaya when we go to the ocean for a purge.

Other Water Sources

Pending you cannot get to the ocean you can attune yourself to the local water spirits or to water deity that corresponds to the body of water you're going to. Like for a river you'd use Oshun or like for me an offshoot of water dragons who reside in rivers. For storms my path has dragons for that or you might want to have a chat with Oya or Chaac. The important part is to know who you are petitioning and making sure to connect with the spirits of the area you are going to for healing (any work really). For the connecting to the land, you may want to petition them a few times before you go to the water for healing so they are ok with you being there and even befriend you. There are various ways you can do this like offering sweet tobacco with prayer of respect and petition (a Native thing, I'm sure there are ways to honour the land spirits for other cultures).

You can use the above healing meditations with variations to fit where you are. If you are at a river then see the emotions being washed down stream instead of drawn out with the tide. The lake you can go out and do the second one with a lake deity or local spirit there. You can even sit in meditation to bring an ancestor to you to aid in the ritual. 

For the urban practitioner who cannot access natural water there are some surprising things you can do which can help but you have to watch out for the tap water situations in many of the cities. They are often worse than the natural water sources for pollution and toxins. Here are couple tips past the ritual baths I'm sure have been found already via Google:

• Stand in the shower and repeat, “as the water washes the dirt from my skin, it takes the emotional crud of the day with it.” Then stand in a meditation seeing your emotions clearing, aura brightening, energetic body cleansing, etc. I don't suggest doing this for too much longer than your normal shower as a lot of places are in major drought situations. We do want to be conscious of our water usage. //could even be done while washing your hands.
• Sit with your feet or whole body in salt water (dead sea salt, epsom salt, etc) and channel your emotions you want to discard into the water. Then discard the water into the grass or a struggling tree as grey water, minding the droughts. They will ground out your emotions through taking the charged water into their roots and be thankful for your water offering.   

Ultimately

It is less about who and more about how. The most important take away is that you utilize water's conduit property and healing ability to help heal your emotions and body.