Witch of Water :: Purification of the Elements

Dark Goddess Tarot ~ Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Over on my IG account I've been pulling a card from the Dark Goddess Tarot each day for the collective, as a way to navigate the times we find ourselves in from the wisdom of the divine feminine in her warrior form. Becoming more aware of what nourishes the body and what detracts from it I asked about self-care and what that would look like today for those of us attuning to dark goddess wisdom. Today's Dark Goddess wisdom comes from Haya-Akitsu-Hine, Shinto Goddess of the Sea. She is the Witch of Water, Witches in this deck being the equivalent of Queens in a RWS deck.

Haya-Akitsu-Hine encourages us to "live our ethics and beliefs on a regular basis to walk the blessed way." In this way standing for truth and justice is its own blessing, she says, its own holiness, because it is alive with the sacred ground of your breath and body. She suggests that to see where power lies look beneath the form to its essence. When form dissolves energy remains to be reshaped and created anew. I have an image of dissolution when I read this, of crystals dissolving into liquid form.

Being a goddess of the sea, Haya-Akitsu-Hine's wisdom on a practical level means it's a day for the alchemy of salt and water. I'm reminded of Karen Blixen's truth that, 'The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears, or the sea.' Today I'll be heading to the ocean to immerse myself in its untamed energy--wind, sand, sky, saltwater, to receive her blessing with my own wilderness body.

If the ocean isn't available to you a bath with salt in the water or other cleansing herbs is a fine way to purify. The point is to immerse yourself in the salinity of the elemental moment, to give yourself over to saltwater and ask that the life-draining particles of shame, fear and negativity you carry be cleansed, dissolved and carried away. Before posting this I stood out in the pouring rain and blew the conch, sound being another way to purify atmosphere, it both calls and dispels. Life energy abounded as I felt the vitality of elemental energy streaming in through the sound of the conch, responding to its call. May your day be blessed with life-giving energy.

Sacred Conch ~ All being comes into form through sound.