Water: Heart of the Seekers:

From the most ancient days of the human race one of the most awe-inspiring parts of the world in which man lives is that of the ocean. The great sweeping waves that cover most of the planet, the mysterious depths that hide the greatest mysteries of the world ; from the cold gray stretches of the mighty Atlantic ocean to the soft, warm blue expanses of the tranquil south Pacific to the frigid, frozen and desolate Arctic ocean, the seas have inspired poets to write some of the greatest verses ever penned by humanity:

"Roll on! Thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll!

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;

Man mars the earth with ruin,

His control ends with the watery shore..."

The majesty of the oceans , however, is not the sole source of beauty supplied by the water of our planet. Great rivers carve their way across our world giving rise to divinity and controlling the distribution and quality of life. Egypt has the mighty Nile, Rome the Tiber and London the Thames. Great lakes, some as large as seas, dot the dry land of the continents. Rain plummets down upon the land bearing the gift of life and great glaciers carve and shape the very rock of our world and spawn the mighty icebergs that drift in the oceans.

The physical element we think of when we hear the word 'water' is not, of course, the same thing as the psycho-spiritual element of the same name. Rather, physical water is the closest natural thing in the world in nature and substance to the quality expressed as elemental water by esotericists, and therefore in order to understand this psychic element a little we shall begin by examining the physical namesake of the element.

Of the four physical elements, only Air rivals Water as the most obviousl y important factor in the physiology of living things, both plant and animal. The human body is composed of over eighty percent water, its presence apparent in blood, cytoplasm, saliva and all other fluids in our bodies as well as our organs. Plants require a large amount of water in order to maintain photosynthesis (the chemical equation for photosynthesis shows this clearly: 6CO2} +6H2O + Energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2), and all living things give it off as vapor in respiration and/or sweat and members of the animal kingdom excrete it in the form of urine.

Even though we usually relate to water in its liquid state, it surrounds us in the form of vapor in the air. This vapor forms clouds which not only release rain to fall upon the soil of our world but also serve as environmental regulators by increasing the ability of our world to reflect solar and cosmic radiation that otherwise could eliminate life on Earth. Water also supports life by remaining in a frozen state in the polar ice caps. If the water stored in these caps were released in a liquid state the level of the oceans worldwide would rise by a hundred meters or more. London, Halifax, Los Angeles and every other coastal city in the world would be submerged and the dry land mass of the planet would be greatly reduced.

Physical water also relates to the other three elements more fundamentally than any other. Water requires the influence of heat from elemental fire in order to evaporate (becoming airy in nature) in order to form clouds and rain. It wears down and erodes elemental earth more readily than any other element and therefore shapes the world like no other force.

From an evolutionary standpoint (for those who accept the theories of Darwin), water is of fundamental and indisputable importance. It is in the ancient oceans of the world that evolutionary theory states that the first amino acids formed and ultimately the first primitive life-forms. These eventually evolved into more advanced organisms, always within the protective womb of the seas. Interestingly enough, a developing human embryo possesses gills through most of its gestation, certainly a distant genetic memory of our ancient ancestors' aquatic existence. Even today the oceans are referred to as our mother in a great deal of writing, both among the scientific and speculative communities as well as the writings of the enviromentalists. Chalk it up to intuition, I guess.

The water cycle itself is a miracle of planetary precision. The heat of the sun agitates and empowers molecules of water and causes them to assume a gaseous state, forming the afore mentioned clouds. The winds sweep across the surface of the Earth carrying these clouds and their precious cargo of moisture to the far corners of the globe where eventually the increased volume of the water in clouds results in precipitation in various forms, including rain, snow and hail.

As a final note on the nature of physical water, do not forget that a molecule of water, a liquid, is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, and therefore water could be considered a distaff cousin of air.

Moving on to the mental, or psychic aspect of water, we find once again a natural factor within the human psyche that is of the nature of the element in question, water in this case. The emotions that drive us, our natural and instinctive impulses are free flo wing, sometimes violent and other times tranquil, just as the physical manifestation of water can be. Water is therefore a fitting physical symbol of the ever-shifting emotional landscapes within us. Our emotions colour and shape every thing we do. How ma ny of us can honestly say we haven't blown a situation by losing our tempers? Or alienated those around us in anger or depression? Emotions are not, however, wholly negative. Joy, love, wonder, awe, compassion and serenity are all positive emotions we deal with. In fact, the only astrological symbol that sits on the qabalistic Tree of Life and embraces all ten sephiroth is that of Venus, the sign of Love. The doctrine herein implied is that Love is the motivator of all things, from creation itself even unto death, since all forces and concepts in the Universe embodied in the Tree partake of it. This symbol also represents Woman, which in itself opens up a whole new can \lquote o mysteries. Our emotions are the driving force behind our magick. Just as the fiery Will fuels magick, so to do the emotions provide the desire or motivation to do it. Magick is effective when the Will is focused on one particular goal or ideal, and emotional frenzy is the correct state conductive to certain forms of the Art, especially invocation of the Gods.

Emotion serves not only as a magickal tool, but also has numerous other capacities and functions in life. Fear, for example, is a survival instinct that concerns itself with the continued existence of the organism, as any neophyte who has angered his or her HP or HPS can certainly attest to. Mastering fear is an important step for any follower of the Path, but the warnings provided by controlled fear can be valuable tips from the subconscious mind. Love (erotic love, from greek 'eros' of course, not brotherly love, from the greek 'agape') and lust on the other hand, in their most scholarly and clinical definition, are responsible for the propagation of the species.

Emotion is also a powerful tool to those who know how to manipulate it. Gerald Gardner, in one of his books on the Craft, relates an anecdote concerning witches who claimed to be able to manipulate his mood with rhythmic drumbeats. He was skeptical of this until they bound him to a chair and inspired in him such a rage that he struggled to get free in order to do some damage to the drummers. This shows us another manifestation of psychic water; music is ethereal and intangible, and therefore partakes of the nature of the Gods. We cannot touch it, yet it can lift, lower and alter our emotions faster than any other force we deal with. For some, a martial beat works wonders, for others, soft soothing melodies are the key. There are as many effects created by music in individuals as there are forms of music. For example, why would you think that the stereotype of a heavy-metal fan is an aggressive and angry teenage male? How many of those arrested for Satanism-related crime are proclaimed to be huge fans of Debussy rather than Ozzy Osbourne? Conversely , how often do romantic scenes in cutesy movies show the beautiful heroine sharing her first kiss with a strapping lad while Marilyn Manson screams about white trash in the background? Music, obviously, can be a powerful tool in daily life. Its applications in ritual are limitless. Rituals from an enormous number of traditions use driving music, including but not limited to the Native American, Voudun, Candomble, our own Craft and many other paths of a mystical nature.

The physical sense with which we relate to the element of Water is taste. By applying sensory input to all five physical senses in ritual, we focus our wills and unleash the inner senses. Taste is stimulated in ritual through the consecrated wine we drink from (surprise!) the altar tool of Water, the chalice, which represents the womb of the Goddess. This tool, which sums up the nature of elemental water in its psychic aspect, is a passive one, symbolic of the yoni. It is the counterpart to the active, male athame used in the Great Rite's symbolic form. Its shape suggests containment; it is a vessel of the distilled wisdom of the Goddess herself and is in fact a smaller version of the cauldron so common in tales of witches. The metal usually employed in the construction of the chalice is silver. It is not only the metal of the Goddess, but also of feminine polarity in general, as hazy as this distinction may be. Instructions given by ceremonial magicians for the consecration of the chalice vary, but a simple method given by Clifford Bias, a ceremonial magician, involves burning a little paper in it first, then extinguishing the flame with salt to represent earth . Next, water is poured in, dissolving the salt, and finally everything is poured out, leaving only air in the chalice. All this is accompanied by a great deal of pomp and the invocation of YHVH Elohim and Gabriel. I cannot attest to its effectiveness, as I have not personally consecrated a chalice in this manner, but Mr. Bias seems inordinately proud of himself for this little rite.

In Qabalistic lore, three sephiroth are associated with water. The lowest one on the Tree of Life is Hod, the sphere of the intellect. Although this would naturally seem to be the sphere of Air, the intellect is attributed to this watery sphere and the emotions to the fiery sphere of Netzach to emphasize the Qabalistic doctrine stating that everything contains its own opposite. Diagonally across and up the Tree is the sephira Chesed, the seat of mercy, which is the watery sphere of the Benevolent King. This sphere represents the principle of anabolism, as it builds up and creates like a womb. Chesed receives its influence from the sephira immediately before it, Binah, the Supernal Mother. Binah is the sphere of mother goddesses, and is also referred to as Mara and the Great Sea, emphasizing the association of the ocean with life, but the eroding effects of water are not forgotten here. One of the titles of Binah is the Giver of Form, but once something has physical form, it becomes subject to Age and Fate, and therefore is doomed to ultimately perish, be it an amoeba, a man or a mountain. The very act of creation, of bestowing manifest existence , is to ultimately lay the stroke of Death upon the created. The spiritual experience of Binah is called The Vision of Sorrow, and this is not the sorrow of mundane day-to-day life's ups and downs, but is the sorrow of the Goddess who grants us life and allows us to die, though our suffering pains her, for she knows it is necessary. This rarefied sorrow lies not in the inability to act, but in the knowledge that in order to do the ultimate good for her children she must withhold her aid and allow their suffering, and therefore learning to take place. This is an emotional mystery, and qabalistically speaking, the scourge also could be placed here as a tool of purification-through-suffering, and all emotional mysteries partake of the nature of water.

We shall now further explore the nature of psychic water by examining, as in previous papers, the central ideas behind the three astrological signs associated with water, namely Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. The key phrase, representing the central idea, behind Cancer is ' I feel' . Cancers are usually very aware of their emotions, but at the same time can be overly-sensitive, and so bury them deep down inside. This leads to the potentially most emotional people hiding and avoiding their emotions, a problem of which I am only too aware within myself. The lesson here is that we must learn to feel, and be comfortable with our emotions to advance spiritually. The key phrase of Scorpio is 'I desire' . Desire is a fundamental piece of all emotion. If we are afraid, it is because we wish to avoid something unpleasant. We desire it. If we are in love, then we desire a person. Desire is the first step towards magick, for without desire, there is no reason for the Will to be brought into play. Without desire to share our bodies and minds with the Gods, that is toallow the macrocosm to flood the microcosm , invocation will fail. As Crowley wrote, 'You must inflame yourself with prayer' . The key phrase associated with the third watery sign, Pisces, is'I believe' . Once we know what we feel and what we desire we ultimately will know what it is we believe , that is, what we, individually believe. This is the core essence of being for Seekers. Our magick and our lives are shaped by what we believe, by what truths hold meaning to us. The Path we walk in an individual one, different for each person who walks it. As Crowley said in his Book of the Law, 'Every Man and Woman is a Star'. We each have our own appointed course to follow, and knowing what this course is finally gives us what we need to know; that is, who and what we ultimately know, or believe ourselves to be.

Symbols that represent Water vary according to tradition, but here follows a list of some of the more common ones in use in both modern Craft and Ceremonial traditions:

This down-ward pointing triangle is the Golden Dawn \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab emblem for elemental Water. It is interesting that it is also the symbol of the 1st Degree in our tradition. Since the chalice, tool of Water, symbolizes the womb of the Goddess, the newly initiated witch, still drenched in the magical 'amniotic fluid' of Her womb is properly represented by this symbol.

This silver crescent, called Apas, is the Hindu Tattwa representing the watery element. Its use is in meditation and the induction of appropriate visions of the element's qualities.

This symbol is obviously derived from the chalice symbolism associated with water. It could also be construed as being symbolic of the womb and yoni, which is also in keeping with watery symbolism. \

The astrological symbol of Scorpio is also the Kerubic emblem of water in the Golden Dawn tradition. The Hebrew letters that make up the name of the archangel of Water, Gabriel (Gimel, Beth, Resh, Yod, Lamed).

Appendix one continues the symbolism of water in ritual by listing some of the correspondences of elemental water.

Like each of the other three elements, Water can be subdivided into four sub-elements. Each of these has its own Tattwic symbol and nature. Earth of Water (or Privithi of Apas) symbolizes the aspect of water that is denser and stable, less fluidic than the other three aspects yet still is watery and fluidic in its essential spirit. The four sub-elements of water and their appropriate tattwas and the natural phenomena through which they manifest are listed below:

Fire of Water: Rain, springs (swift passionate attack)

Air of Water: Sea (steady force of putrefaction)

Water of Water: Pool (stagnant spiritualized reflection of Images)

Earth of Water: Ice (crystallized, inactive emotion)

Again, I have quoted a passage from 'Techniques of High Magic' by King and Skinner regarding the value of these sub-elements, and therefore will not repeat it again here superfluously. See my previous paper ' Air: The Light of the East' for the quote if you must.

In the Tarot deck, the element Water is naturally enough symbolized by Cups.

Finally, we come to the spiritual meaning of Water. Crowley has stated that an element finds its birth in its cardinal sign, its life in its fixed sign and its true spirit in its mutable sign. With elemental water we maintain the order of Cancer-Scorpio- Pisces as found in the Zodiac. The spiritual value of Water can then be found in analyzing the key phrases: 'I feel, I desire and I believe'. The spiritual development of the Seeker must involve the development of all four elemental forces within his or her own soul. Our voyage on the path of Water therefore begins with our primal and rudimentary emotions, when we are mere creatures of instinct, just like the crab that represents Cancer. As we grow we begin to desire. By this I do not mean that we desire food or water or companionship, but rather that we feel desire to walk the path. This is closely linked to the Will of kerubic Fire (Leo), but precedes it. Desire is the first step for the witch, who must feel the inner calling and who wants to explore it. The quality of curiosity so important to a witch stems from this need. Finally, we find that the ultimate spiritual value of Water lies in knowing what we need and seeking that, nothing more. Crowley was remarkable in this respect. He studied a myriad of spiritual and mystical traditions and distilled from them only the valuable parts, retaining none of the superstitions and chaff that accompanied them. This is the ultimate expression of Crowley's axiom 'Do What Thou Wilt' . He refers to performing one's True Will and nothing else. Completion of the course set forth for us by our True Will is what we need, and beyond this nothing is really important

Water is represented on the Tree of Life by the sephiroth Hod (emotions), Chesed (benevolence) and Binah (creation and birth), but the paths connecting the sephiroth of the Tree also reveal much of the importance of water in its spiritual aspect. The Path of Mem, connecting Geburah and Hod, and attributed to the Tarot Trump called The Hanged Man, is watery in nature and shows us the watery side of sacrifice, that is the love that must accompany sacrifice to make it valuable to the Seeker and the desire that truly transmutes force to form and form to force in a true act of sacrifice. So the scourge may also be attributed in part to water. The Path of Cheth, connecting Binah and Geburah and attributed to The Chariot , shows us that sacrifice and birth (in any sense of the word) is always accompanied by destruction and pain, for although these are Fiery in nature, water finds its harmonization and completion in its opposite just as all things do.

Ultimately, water truly teaches us how to enjoy life and revel in its mysteries. It shows how to marvel and weep of the beauty of the Great Gems of Divinity, Enlightenment and the very Path of the Seeker, the Jewel in the Lotus. Without it, we, as Seekers, are poorly armed and doomed to failure; this perhaps is the reason for the sorry state of this Dying World, the lack of compassion and joy in an analytical and logical world. Water, truly, in the words of the author of the Golden Dawn Neophyte ceremony, teaches us how to 'Quit the Night and Seek the Day!'

APPENDIX ONE: Correspondences of Water

Season: Autumn

Time: Dusk

Tool: Cup or chalice

Sense: Taste

Sephiroth: Hod (Heb: Glory), Chesed ( Mercy), Binah (Understanding)

Direction: West

Colour: Blue

Planet: Venus (or, qabalisically, Mercury) and Moon

Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Human Being: The Emotions

Polarity: Feminine

God Name: YHVH Elohim

Archangel: Gabriel (Gimel, beth, resh, yod, lamed)

Tetragrammaton: He

Mother Letter: Mem

Spirit: Undine

Wind: Zephryus

Stones: Pearl, moonstone, amber, snakestone

Herbs/Plants: Lotus, cactus, opium, unicellular plants

Animals: Crab, turtle, sphinx, scorpion, beetle, lobster, crayfish, wolf, all fish, dolphins and other cetaceans

Magical Weapons: The furnace, Pain of the Obligation, the Twilight of the Place, the Magic Mirror

Scents/Incenses: Onycha, Siamese Benzoin, Ambergis

Figures: Populus, Via, Rubeus, Laetitia

World: Briah (Creative)

Permutations: HYVH(f), HVYH(f), HH(f)YV, HH(f)VY

Alchemy: Salt

Pentagram: Lower left point

Metals: Silver, sometimes copper

Divinities: Khephra, Merti goddesses, Typhon, Apep, Kundalini, Vishnu (Matsya avatar), Mercury, Poseidon, Neptune, Amphirite, Manannan mac Llyr, Llyr, Sobek, Mara, Triton, Oceanus, Hapi, Arthur (as benevolent king), Viviane