I've been writing on my blog Aquapoetics about the way in which this form of aquatic bodywork might be used to give us access to our unconscious, experience altered states of consciousness, and maybe even heal the wounds that lie in the shadow-land of our body-minds.
My own journey into shadow-land or the underworld has been greatly assisted by my partner Joe Landwehr who practices astrology with the intent of helping people reclaim the poetry of their souls, making the gifts inherent in each unique natal chart known so that they can be lived more fully.
One of the planetary strengths I have a need to reclaim in my own life is that of Mars (which lies in the sign Leo in my first house of individuation but which I have consistently denied clear expression). How does Mars (a fiery planet) work positively with water?
We can find some interesting clues in mythology that relate to the value of becoming vulnerable enough to free our feelings and bring to consciousness our suffering in order to recover our strength. Here's one example from Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas, The Inner Planets: Building Blocks of Personal Reality, Weiser, 1993, Mars: pp. 181-4.
Liz Greene says that the hero who to her best epitomizes Martial nature is Herakles. One of his tests is to kill the Hydra which might be seen as an image of human hatred, lack of forgiveness, and emotional poison - a Plutonian creature perhaps. She makes it clear that we each have within us both Hydra and Hero. We need Mars to cope with this evil in ourselves as well as in the world outside.
Herakles gets the Hydra out of a dark cave (the unconscious) by shooting at it with flaming arrows (effective provocation and insight into the enemy's motives). But when he attacks one of it's nine snake heads with his club, it sprouts nine more: overt aggression will likely increase aggression in the opponent. Finally, Herakles gets down on his knees (humility) and lifts the Hydra up into the sunlight (consciousness), which kills it.
Another of the twelve Martial training tasks Herakles faces is to clean some stables which appear impossibly full of dung (our outgrown past). He is eventually inspired to re-channel a powerful river so that its water flows through the stables in a mighty torrent, and washes it clean of all the stinky excrement. Liz Greene writes: This image, might be describing a rechanneling of emotional energy (water), a release of feelings which can wash away all the dross in one enormous flood.
She continues: Therapeutic work, particularly the cathartic kind, often involves this process: emotions which have been moving into other channels are redirected toward oneself and the anguish of one's own situation, and the realizations effect an outburst of feeling which can change many old, entrenched patterns of behaviour. This too is Martial, for the emotions involved are usually unexpressed anger and outrage, and a sudden realisation of what one has been putting up with for far too long.
Herakles gets the Hydra out of a dark cave (the unconscious) by shooting at it with flaming arrows (effective provocation and insight into the enemy's motives). But when he attacks one of it's nine snake heads with his club, it sprouts nine more: overt aggression will likely increase aggression in the opponent. Finally, Herakles gets down on his knees (humility) and lifts the Hydra up into the sunlight (consciousness), which kills it.
Another of the twelve Martial training tasks Herakles faces is to clean some stables which appear impossibly full of dung (our outgrown past). He is eventually inspired to re-channel a powerful river so that its water flows through the stables in a mighty torrent, and washes it clean of all the stinky excrement. Liz Greene writes: This image, might be describing a rechanneling of emotional energy (water), a release of feelings which can wash away all the dross in one enormous flood.
She continues: Therapeutic work, particularly the cathartic kind, often involves this process: emotions which have been moving into other channels are redirected toward oneself and the anguish of one's own situation, and the realizations effect an outburst of feeling which can change many old, entrenched patterns of behaviour. This too is Martial, for the emotions involved are usually unexpressed anger and outrage, and a sudden realisation of what one has been putting up with for far too long.
