The Holiness of Water

March 19, 2014

Water surrounds us in so many ways -- the gurgling of streams and rivers, the magnificent healing sounds of the oceans, the thoughts generated by our meditation on its beauty, the ever changing clouds, the liquid in our eyes and our blood, the misty fog, the raging flood, the pristine snow on the mountain, the vortex swirling in our drains-the list is endless.

St. Olan's Well
near to Athnanangle Bridge,
Mount Rivers and Athabatteen, Cork, Ireland
© Copyright Hywel Williams
and licensed for reuse
under this Creative Commons Licence

Water touches us many times everyday—it is the mystery on which all life depends. We humans depend on water-physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

In ancient cultures including the Celtic culture water was regarded as a living sacred entity.

Looking back into the distant past as far as our awareness reaches, we find water was the object of human veneration, a veneration amounting to religious worship. Every great culture felt water to be connected with the loftiest gods. It was considered holy, an element not to be tampered with in its purity. Theodor Schwenk

The healing property of water was revered in all ancient cultures. In Ireland, for example, there are healing holy wells in every parish in the country. These wells are pre-Christian in origin. All over our world to this day water is venerated for its healing –in Lourdes, in the Ganges, in Native American rituals.

Recent scientific studies tell us that water may be present throughout our universe in one form or another. Where there is water there is life. Every year science is making new discoveries about the presence of water throughout our solar system and beyond.

Is it not of great significance that the world of stars permeates all movements of water, that water infuses all earthly life with the events of the cosmos, that all life processes are through water intimately connected with the course of the stars? ....Thus water becomes an image of the stream of time. Theodor Schwenk

The first cellular life on Earth stirred in our oceans. Water which has no-life characteristics of itself forms the basis of all life’s various manifestations. Water embraces every living entity. It is a universal element shared by all. It is the primal mother of all that lives.

Today water is in crisis. Humans have disrespected and sullied this life giving primal mystery. If we are to solve the water crisis we need to urgently rediscover the spiritual nature of water’s wonder, to re-awaken to its holiness, its energy and its beauty.

Suggested Resources
Books
The Holy Order of Water: Healing Earth’s Waters and Ourselves by William E. Marks
Sensitive Chaos: The Creation of Flowing Forms on Water and Air by Theodor Schwenk
Messages from Water and the Universe by Dr. Masaru Emoto.
The Hidden Messages in Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto
Videos
Colorado River - America's Most Endangered River 2013 (03:35)
How wolves change rivers (04:33)