The word 'journey' has become popular in the names of health and spiritual practices. You are invited on a 'sacred journey' or a 'healing journey' which may or may not involve outward travels but will always involve inner explorations. Mythological quests, shamanic journeys, spiritual pilgrimages have all taken the traveler into unfamiliar territory in search of meaning or healing.
My own voyage of discovery began as a healing journey over a decade ago and became a spiritual path. Along the way, I met the hidden beings and honored gods and goddesses who showed me that magic and mystery are just as valuable as sense and science. Whenever I can, I love to guide others into the underwater world of expanded consciousness. My wish is to ensure the safety of my charges but never to take away the excitement of making their own discoveries.
My ride began with a jolt: my father died and suddenly nothing familiar made sense anymore. As an antidote to this 'failure' of medical science, I began to study alternative healing practices. Soon I was a wounded healer, learning to do for others what I most needed myself; luckily, I recognized this and kept searching. I have always been one who when she comes to a fork in the road chooses the tangled track over the well-worn way.
Setting out from the safety of the English Cotswolds, I began with outward journeys. Walking in the hills outside Jerusalem, I could feel the presence of the ancient god. Looking out over the wide open plains of Africa, I could sense the great creator. The wild and spirited landscapes of both these places expanded my vision. But I felt like a rootless gypsy who no longer knew where she belonged.
A few years later, following another unexpected turn in a winding road, I found myself at Harbin Hot Springs in northern California, where I met fellow water lovers and an unusual form of aquatic bodywork called Watsu. These were magical meetings infused with the healing spirits of the indigenous peoples who once lived beside the flowing waters in that forested valley. I immersed myself in the study of water as a healing medium.
Soon water began to percolate into the dry and rocky places of my life sending me on a quest for the meaning of this essential element. When scientists look for life on other planets, they first look for water. Water was present at the beginning of our existence, indeed it made life on Earth possible. Perhaps this is why it is central to so many myths of creation and destruction, such as the biblical Noah's Ark.
Armenian poet Diana Der-Hovanessian wrote: 'The secret of life is water; The world will end in flood'. I prefer to think of it as offering a new beginning. A return to a nature-based and perhaps more nurturing way of life.
The maidens who, according to the Grail legend, once guarded the sacred springs of the underworld and refreshed passers-by with the waters, are waiting to be restored to their posts. Aphrodite, as representative for beauty and hope, longs to rise again from the waves. But first there are some tears of grief and loss to be shed from the murky places in our hearts.
The Sumerian goddess Inanna had a vase in place of a heart, from which flowed miraculous water. Goddess of Compassion, Quanyin, who sits beside my favorite pool at Harbin Hot Springs, is also frequently depicted with a water-filled vessel. My old home town, Bath (England), was once the healing sanctuary of the Celtic goddess Sulis. When I work in the water, I like to take the name Sulis as a reminder that it is not me but the goddess who endows hope and healing.
Water is often linked in mythology to the unconscious, to the feminine or yin nature, and to gentle but persistent power. This has inspired me to combine aquatic bodywork, dreamwork and storytelling to explore the myths we all live by. In this way maybe we can begin to heal the rift between body and soul, between humans and nature, between men and women.
Back in 2002, my quest brought me to the Missouri Ozarks where, together with my then-partner, I began creating a small retreat in nature, centered around our aquatic bodywork practice. I called this naturally watery place - a creek runs through it and many springs feed the fertile land - Aquaest Retreat.
In the fabled quest, for the Holy Grail, the hero/ine - the one who is eventually to Free the Waters - has to discover the meeting place between worlds (conscious and unconscious) and to re-establish the precious links with nature. This is the quest I wanted to offer visitors to that secluded woodland and water-bound setting. It was just as much my own quest.
I thought of the Titan Muse, Mnemosyne, as the guardian of the pool I used for aquatic bodywork. Visionary Ivan Illich wrote that in her 'clear waters, the residues of lived-out lives float like the specks of fine sand at the bottom of a bubbling spring. Thus a mortal who has been blessed by the gods can approach this well and listen to the Muses sing in their several voices what is, what was, and what will be. Under the protection of Mnemosyne, he may recollect the residues that have sunk into her bosom by drinking from her waters. When he returns from his journey, from his dream or vision, he can tell what he has drawn from this source' (H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness, p. 30-31).
I find that if people are willing to surrender to the water and bear witness to the feelings and images that arise for them, then the answers to their problems will come to them. There may be a physical unwinding, an emotional releasing, or a spiritual epiphany. Whatever cleansing is needed will wash over them, if they are willing to go with the flow.
My aquatic bodywork practice focuses on encouraging each person's unique process of self-discovery to unfold like a journey. Through the portal of the warm-water pool I visualize myself guiding my charge into the underwater world. Outwardly, it appears that I am floating a person in warm water while gently massaging and mobilizing their body. With eyes closed, ears immersed, skin lapped in warmth and body buoyed up supportively, physical tensions and psychological concerns slowly surface and begin to dissolve.
Since the body is the vehicle by which humans travel, I start by addressing its needs. But once the body has been relaxed and reassured, the true journey begins. It is the experience that unfolds below the 'surface' that I am most interested in. As a kind of 'water shamanist' I endeavor to map the territory for a water journeyer on their inward adventure. I encourage people to dive down deep and retrieve the sunken treasures for themselves.
Unfortunately, the above retreat and partnership came to an end in 2007. However, I have gone on to develop an approach that is even more orientated towards the creative inspiration that can come from this practice, this way of experiencing oneself as boundless. I call this Aquapoetics. I know that I belong in the water, in the deep places of the soul.
Like Seal Woman in Clarissa Pinkola-Estes story, I have retrieved my soulskin and returned to the ocean of wildness and wonder (Women Who Run with the Wolves, chapter 9). Actually, I think my motif animal may be more like the river otter - a playful and private creature who makes her home on many of the Ozark waterways. Others have found fellowship amongst the dolphins who are also playful and sensitive creatures.
Ms Pinkola-Estes writes: 'We have learned that we are like amphibians: We can live on land but not forever, not without trips to the water and to home.' She is talking about our soul lives which are most easily accessed through water. And Jung said that when the spirit becomes heavy it turns to water; that the way of the soul leads to water. Perhaps all the best journeys take us to watery places, whether ocean, lake, mountain spring, or warm-water pool.
This blog describes an adventure, my adventure, inspired by water. But I hope to include the inspirations of others also. So, if you have a favorite water experience that brought you closer to the water mysteries, please do comment below or on any posting that inspires you. For more privacy, email me directly, and I will respond as soon as I can.
Image: The above painting is by J.M. Turner, whose works I used to go and gaze at in the Tate Gallery when I lived in London for a while - sheer watery grandeur, mystery, and always the journey into the unknown.
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