World Water Day: How to build a sacred relationship today and beyond
World Water Day takes place on 22 March each year, providing a clear focal point to celebrate, and show our gratitude for, the many gifts this sacred element continues to give us.
An important aim of Sacred Earth Activism (SEA) is to help reawaken our ancient and sacred relationship with the waters. One way of doing so is to connect with them, as our ancestors once did, through ceremony and sacred practice. In this way, we demonstrate that we hold the streams, rivers and oceans in the highest respect and acknowledge them as living beings that are vital to all life.
Honouring the sacred wells and rivers
One SEA member who regularly honours the spirits of her local wells and rivers is Annabel Hollis. This is her story:
“My year-long commitment to visit wells around the UK at the time of the full moon each month began on the Celtic festival of Imbolc in February 2021. Having had several dreams of wells over the years and being afraid to be close to them, visiting ‘real’ wells to face this fear felt appropriate.
“Most of these visits saw Stroud in Gloucestershire act as the central point, but on travelling north at the full moon, I would also visit places on route. At the centre of the quest was a calling to connect more deeply with water, both “out there” but also within myself.
“I intuited that the fear I was being asked to face through visiting these wells was one of unknown depths within my own being, which included accessing greater depths of feeling. Given that our bodies are over 70% water, such a profound resonance should come as no real surprise.
“I used the wonderful book ‘Holy Wells in Britain: A Guide’ by Janet Bord to help me. In this context, holy wells refer to those that have been used for healing and are often associated with a saint or ‘holy’ person.
“Each well was invariably located in a special spot in nature, in someone’s garden or in a church yard. There was always a sense of connecting back in time with the ancestors of the land, which added to the depth of connection and belonging I felt while engaged in this practice.
“During the year, I felt drawn to visit the wells on my own. I always took along a mini ritual kit, consisting of a lantern, flower petals as an offering to the water, seeds as an offering to the land, and prayer flags to place in nearby trees.
“Each place inspired a different improvised ritual. But at heart, it was about honouring water in all its forms and praying that we might collectively take good care of it, planet Earth herself and all of life.
Being open to the magic of water
“Synchronicities and magic frequently occurred at the wells. On one occasion, I met a woman who was on the same eco-poetry mentoring programme as myself at St Anthony’s well in the Forest of Dean. She lives in Frome and I live in Stroud, so both of us were well away from home.
“The whole well-visiting experience felt deeply devotional in a way I had not anticipated, and my love affair with water continues. Since those days, I have chosen to bring together women from the local community to join me in my monthly full moon water visitations.
“I no longer just visit holy wells but have found several special local water spots, including points along the River Frome and its tributaries. It is a particularly beautiful river, very clear and full of vitality - apart from when we have a very dry spell. We have also visited Woodchester Lake and the spring close by.
“No qualifications are required to take part - just an openness to be with, and honour, the water. Co-creation is invited from whoever turns up (there are 21 people on our WhatsApp group) and involves a range of activities: creating a simple altar or mandala with natural materials (from the place itself), which includes special symbols and flowers; inviting in the four directions; smudging each other with sage; sharing stories, poems, songs or personal reflections with a connection to water.
“Sometimes people bring along a musical instrument, often a drum. In the most recent gathering, we had just honoured the divine feminine and masculine when a man appeared out of the blue at the spring where the ritual was being performed. We invited him to sit with us, which he did, respectfully.
“Being with water in this way is a deeply nourishing experience to everyone involved. The subtle realm of feeling can all too easily be drowned out by mental chatter and outside distractions of all kinds.
“But being alongside natural, flowing water is a beautiful reminder of nature’s eternal, unconditional giving. It is also a wonderful way to let the world go and return to our natural state and rhythms because it shows us how to flow with life and around obstacles rather than get snagged up in them. To show respect, I also bring a bin bag with me to remove any rubbish from the spot.
“So I encourage everyone reading this to find some way of regularly honouring water. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Follow your own creative spirit and intuition and, above all, enjoy this very pleasurable activity.
“As the weather warms up, I hope to honour the waters further by becoming immersed in them. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I was born in the famous spa town of Harrogate and now live close to three other renowned spa towns: Bath, Malvern and Cheltenham. Or maybe there is just something in the water.”
Developing your relationship with water
In our wider work at SEA, meanwhile, we have not only held events, such as UK-wide ‘Back to Source’ ceremonies for World Rivers Day and ‘Feast of Flow’ cultural evenings to show how much we honour and appreciate this sacred element. We have also provided a forum for important change-makers, such as Dr Shelley Ostroff (below), co-initiator of the Global Alliance for a World Water Law, and Paul Powlesland, founder of Lawyers for Nature, to discuss how this respect and reverence may be embedded into our legal structures.
We hope you will find some of these ideas useful as you continue to develop and build your own sacred relationship with water, not just on World Water Day today but also beyond.