Rituals for Honoring the Element of Water
Embodied Reverence for the Living World
The Power of Water
Soaking in the hot springs with friends, we relax into a giddy revelry and whisper the secrets we didn’t know we had, gossip about our own souls, and shout sudden epiphanies into the loud streams of piped in water. In the river, after a long day where my energy is fervent and scattered, I hold to an ancient stone smoothed by years of currents and let the flow wash over me, dispersing the wild particles of my being and cleansing me fully. In the sea, I move with the rhythm of the waves, anticipating their crest and crash, my body softens and I cry into the saltwater merging into the infinite unchartered belly of the oceanic Earth
Water has the power to calm our nerves, open our hearts and cleanse our souls. When we drink water it hydrates cells, regulates temperature, and supports our organs. Water helps our heart pump more easily. Water helps our body function, balance and detoxify. Over half our body consists of water and this aqueous environment is the medium through which nearly all our biochemical reactions occur. We can easily conclude that the element of water has a powerful effect on us—body, mind and soul.
Masaru Emoto’s Water Experiments
Masaru Emoto was a Japanese author who photographed ice crystals formed from water, comparing water that had been exposed to positive and negative words, music, and intentions. He noticed when looking at the photographed ice crystals under a microscope that loving words produced symmetric, aesthetically pleasing crystals, while hateful phrases produced irregular or displeasing formations. His experiments suggest that human consciousness can influence the structure of water.
Because humans are mostly water, Emoto believed that the water we drink and the water in our bodies is continuously responding to our thoughts, words, and environment, shaping our inner state of being. So negative thoughts and environments create discordant energy while positive thoughts create health and spiritual wellness.
In his book, The Hidden Messages in Water, Emoto wrote that since humans emerged and evolved from the seas, “The memory of life arrived on this earth carried by the soul of water. From this memory, life awoke, the human being emerged.” He also believed that water records information and, while circulating throughout the earth, distributes that information. He writes, “In the process of falling to the earth, seeping into the ground, and then emerging, water obtains information from various minerals and becomes wise.”
Though mainstream science doesn’t support Emoto’s claims, treating water as a living carrier of information is resonant throughout many religions and earth-based cultures.
Water Across Cultures and Religions
Indigenous cultures across the globe use water ceremonies —including sweat lodges, water walks, offerings, and ocean immersions—as a pipeline between humans and the spirit realm, often acknowledging water as a being that hears and remembers. Many Native American nations have creation stories that begin in water. Mní wičhóni or “Water is life” is a phrase in the Lakota language that became a central chant at Standing Rock protests and carries the spiritual understanding that water is the Earth’s blood and the community’s lifeline, not just a resource for extraction.
At the start of the Jewish bible Genesis 1:2 says, “Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Water exists before all else in a state of depth and mystery with a divine essence suspended above ready to begin creation as if concocting a great stew of life in a dark subterranean cauldron. Perhaps this is why rituals like the Jewish mikvah and Christian baptism use water as a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Water conducts the transition from one spiritual state to another.
The Qur’an states “We made from water every living thing,” (Surah Al-Anbiya 21:30) agreeing with the bible that water is the fundamental substrate of life. Daily ablutions treat water as a purifier of both body and consciousness before engaging with divinity. Hindus wash their karma away and send their prayers off into the current of the holy Ganges River, a living goddess
Water Rituals
By creating our own water rituals, we can connect with this life-giving element and all the gifts it has to offer us for spiritual wellbeing. We can reciprocate gifts to this loving element by honoring it through small acts of everyday service and awareness. Below are 8 universal ways in which you can connect and form a relationship with the element of water through drinking, bathing, cleansing and more.
