Water. . .

is essential for life
it is cleansing 
it is purifying.


Life first began in the oceans depths aeon's ago
just as a new life floats in the waters of the womb


Falling as rain, water nourishes the earth, the crops and plants and without it life dies.


Water is sacred. It is life-giving and blesses us every day. Water blesses a new life as the baby is cleansed after birth; as the baby is named and Christians are made new in the ritual of baptism. Many cultures have rituals and ceremonies centred on rivers that they hold sacred such as the river Ganges for Hindu in India. Despite the Ganges or 'Gangaji' or 'Ganga Maiya' (Mother Ganga) as it is called by Hindu, being extremely polluted, bathing in it's holy waters is considered cleansing and purify as well as bringing heavenly blessings to the bather. The river Jordan is likewise held as sacred because it is where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist


Water is associated with healing in many cultures and beliefs. In pagan times sacred springs or wells were often associated with a God or Goddess and worshipped as sacred places for healing or where wishes or prayers were made by believers. Later they were often called wishing wells. Thousands of pilgrims flock to Lourdes in France, where the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl, to be healed and across the centuries people visited spa towns such as Bath in England, Baden-Baden in Germany and even Te Aroha where I live, to bathe in the healing waters. 


I encourage you to come and 'take the waters' and enjoy the sheer luxury of soaking in the Te Aroha Spas - the perfect way to relax and ease those aching joints! Go to the spa website www.tearohapools.co.nz/ to find out more.

My Naming Bowl - made from clay from the earth,
with a crystal stone with paua shell from the ocean 

When I take a Naming ceremony (a secular christening) I use water from the sacred Mount Te Aroha and put it into a special bowl that I use into which I put the following herbs and flowers because of their meaning - sage for wisdom, lavender for healing, thyme for long life, rosemary for remembrance, heartease symbolising the sorrows of life and rose petals for joy.

I then dip my hand in the water and making a circle on the baby's/child's head saying these words -

Water is the source of life, it is cleansing and healing

as I make the circle of life on (Name) forehead 

I welcome her/him into her family circle

and into the Circle of Life, with Love and Blessings.

Little child of Love and Light, 

I hereby name you, (Given Names) with water that is 

as clear as your spirit and as pure as your heart. 

With this water of life I bless you 

and wish you a long, fulfilling and joyful life.

Easter-New Beginnings

Easter time is about hope and new beginnings in life and life cannot exist without water. May all the blessings of Easter be yours, now and always.

As I have mentioned before, I have a pretty large resource library of poetry and prose that I call on for my ceremony work and one of my favourite authors is the late philosopher-poet, John O'Donohue. John never fails to inspire and uplift me with his beautifully insightful words. 


His poem entitled 'In praise of water' from his book of blessings entitled 'Benedictus' seems the perfect way to bring today's blog to an end. Enjoy.

In Praise of Water (excerpt) -John O'Donohue from 'Benedictus' his Book of Blessings

Let us bless the grace of water:

The imagination of the primeval ocean
Where the first forms of life stirred
And emerged to dress the vacant earth
With warm quilts of color.

The courage of a river to continue belief
In the slow fall of ground,
Always falling farther
Toward the unseen ocean.

Let us bless the humility of water,
The buoyancy of water
The innocence of water,
Flowing forth, without thought
Of what awaits it.

Water: voice of grief,
Cry of love,
In the flowing tear.

Water: vehicle and idiom
Of all the inner voyaging
That keeps us alive.

Blessed by water,
Our first mother.

The Sacred waters Lake Taupo
Tthe "heart" of the North Island according to Māori legend