Technique: Water as Emotional Release
When you get into a bath or submerge yourself in the sea, focus on letting go and releasing that which no longer serves you. The Ocean Goddess can help us release unwanted emotions, pent-up rage, melancholia, and disappointment. Visualize these emotions (usually felt around your chest, neck, and hip areas) moving out through your limbs and flowing into the water to be cleansed and purified, or even letting your tears, like tiny particles of experience, hit the surface to be carried away.
Technique: Water as Physical Release
Sometimes we store our emotions in our bodies, which are approximately 60% water. In yoga, hip openers like happy baby pose, pigeon pose, and lizard pose help release physical tension, and you may also find yourself releasing intense emotion at the same time, especially unprocessed grief and sadness. You may be surprised to find yourself in tears after doing these poses for several minutes for this reason.
Technique: Pray Near a Natural Body of Water
As I write in my book, “A spell is a prayer, a prayer is a spell. A prayer is a petition to the universe. To pray is to seek the wisdom of the Creator and the Great Goddess, to start a conversation with the Divine. A prayer can also be a conversation with your higher self or a petition to the spirit world for assistance. Through prayer, we open up a channel, a direct current, to the higher energies around us.” And if you listen for a response, the answers will always come. Sometimes it’ll seem like they’re coming from deep inside you, from your higher self, or from the spirit world (your ancestors, deities, guides). But trust that they’ll always come.
Technique: Practice Earth Stewardship
Don’t bring plastics or non-biodegradable products to sacred sites—everywhere on Earth is sacred—and leave them around as trash. It’s a sure way to anger the spirits, plus it’s outright bad kinship. We can and should all try to do better, in the little and big ways we can. As with any spiritual practice (and any other attempt at being a good citizen), if you bring objects to water sites, especially if they didn’t come from that specific place, take them back with you. While everyone’s spiritual practices are different, use your best judgment, trust your instinct and gut, and pay attention to the signs. You’ll know what’s right at the moment. Do what thou wilt, but harm none.
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