Water, Consciousness and the Sacred Feminine

Why does the Women’s Path to Enlightenment and the New Dream Foundation put so much emphasis on water?

Water is sacred; water is life.
—Unknown Lakota lodge pourer

Let’s consider the relationship between the words for “water” and “mother,” as we explore water and the sacred feminine. The word for mother in French is “mer,” and for sea is “mere”. In Spanish, mother is “madre” and sea is “mar”. In Hebrew, mother is “Ima” (ee-ma) and the letter for water is “mem.”

According to Richard Seidman in the “Oracle of Kabbalah,” the application of the letter “mem” is to “express compassion.” He explains to us:

   This Mother letter, Mem, embodies the mothering quality of
   compassion. The word for “womb,” rechem, is the root of
   rachamim, “mercy” or “compassion.” The Torah describes
   Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that were revealed to Moses on Mount
   Sinai. Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Aleph Beit. In many
   cultures thirteen is a number of woman’s power, as there are thirteen
   lunar and menstrual cycles in a solar year. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy include
kindness, generosity, tolerance, awareness, patience, compassion, and love.

   According to the Sefer Yetzirah, the seminal text of Hebrew letter
   mysticism, there are three Mother letters in the Aleph Beit, each of
   which represents a foundational element. Aleph stands for air.
   Shin represents fire. Mem is the letter of water. The Hebrew
   word for water, mayim, begins and ends with Mem….Mem represents
   the flowing, fluid rhythm of life.

Further, he reminds us about the power of water through the reflection of a Lakota water pourer in a sweat lodge, who said, “Water is sacred, water is life.”

My dear friend Sandra Watt, PhD reminded me some years ago (as many of you may have read in other sources) that 70-75% of the human body is made up of water. And that same percentage comprises how much water makes up Mother Earth.

We began our lives enveloped in the watery safety of our mothers’ wombs. From time to time, many of us find need to spiritually return to the womb, where all of our feelings and experiences can be held in love, much as some of you might have experienced in a sweat lodge, a soul retrieval or other sacred space.

We purify ourselves, and Mother Earth, when we give ourselves permission to feel—to loosen our tears of sorrow and joy. If we do not express our tears, we become hardened inside. If we do not find healing through our sorrow, we drown ourselves in emotion.

In the Women’s Path to Enlightenment we are reminded to bless both the water of the planet and the water within ourselves. We know as we consciously engage the sacred nature of the water that if we did one thing to make significant change on the planet today, we would continue to honor and bless the life force of water.

Can you imagine anything we need more in the world right now than compassion? Can you imagine the effects on this planet if each one of us honored the sacred nature of water and the life that it gives us? Can you imagine how interconnected water’s life force is to the Sacred Feminine? Can you imagine how much more satisfying life in the world will be as we integrate our Sacred Feminine nature with our Sacred Masculine in the ways we choose to live?

If we look at the great circle of life, we nearly lost touch with the Sacred Feminine ability to hold ourselves, and others, in deep compassion. We almost forgot the healing power of tears. We almost destroyed our Mother Earth, as though she is a thing, rather than another sentient being who shares her life force with us. We have nearly ruined the available fresh water on the planet. We almost completely denied the power of our fluid, intuitive natures. We almost abandoned the mystical side of human nature. Almost……

But not quite. Some of us remembered. Some of us stepped out of denial and drank more deeply from the well.

In large part, the Foundation was created to support us in finding our balance with our own Sacred Feminine and Masculine. This is why so many of our ceremonies honor water. This is why we have chosen a service project in which we provide safe, pure drinking water to children and their families—because we do believe that water is life. By honoring the sacred nature of water within us and on the planet, we are calling ourselves into a peaceful and powerful state of inner balance, where the deeper meanings of mother and water take us into the heart of the Divine Mystery itself.

For ideas about ways to honor the sacred nature of water on World Water Day, visit Namaste News here at the Forums.