When I awoke, I wondered whether I should book a seat on the next flight to Ecuador. Instead, I began learning about indigenous peoples’ struggles for water. I learned that 1.2 billion people do not have safe drinking water, while the average American uses 110 gallons of water a day, and that privatization of water in South Africa led to an outbreak of cholera in a black township deprived of clean water.

A transformative experience for me was seeing the amazing photographs of frozen water by Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto. (For a sample of Emoto’s images, see his website, www.hado.net.) He discovered that pure spring water, when frozen, forms exquisite crystals, whereas polluted water or chlorinated tap water does not. Distilled water forms a very basic 6-sided structure. When a negative message such as “I hate you” or “You fool” is taped to a vial of distilled water, it looks like polluted water. When the distilled water receives the message “Thank you,” it forms crystals as exquisite as that of the purest spring! Water from the Fujiwara Dam had a disturbed, non-crystalline appearance; but after the water was prayed over, it formed beautiful crystals. Even more amazing, water which was exposed to a microwave oven, a computer, or a cell phone would not crystallize; but, if the water was previously thanked and blessed, it seemed to acquire “immunity” to the electromagnetic radiation, and was still able to crystallize. How alive water is, acting as a mirror of our consciousness! The Institute for HeartMath Research in California has shown that feelings of love and appreciation alter the heart’s rhythms in a way that positively affects the immune system, while anger and frustration depress the immune system.

Last October, I attended the “Earth Spirit Rising” conference, with Thomas Berry, Brooke Medicine Eagle, and Miriam McGillis. Having taken many of her workshops, I’ve always loved how Brooke leads groups to create ceremonies together. On the second day there was an “Open Space” workshop. Anyone who has passion for a subject can gather a group who would like to discuss it. When I announced a meeting on “Water as Sacred,” I was overjoyed to hear Brooke say, “I’ll go to that!” As I shared the book of Emoto’s photographs (The Message from Water), I could see from people’s faces how profoundly those images affected them. Then Brooke, with her lively enthusiasm, led the group outside to a small creek, where we all blessed and thanked and sang to the water. The spontaneous co-creation of this simple ceremony was definitely the high point of the gathering for me!

Out of that initial meeting, a little group formed in Asheville with the mission of sharing our view of water as sacred. We put together a brief slideshow with images of local waterfalls; people from all over the world honoring water in various spiritual traditions; the growing scarcity; and a series of Emoto’s images showing how water responds to our thoughts and intentions. The debut of our five-person collaboration came on an icy February Sunday at Jubilee. We were thrilled with the positive response! One of our group members made little tags with the words “Thank You” on one side and the Chinese character for love on the other, which we gave out. I‘ve affixed one of them to my favorite water-bottle, where it reminds me to give thanks for every sip.

Recently, our group held a ceremony of gratitude for the Swannanoa River. We listened quietly to the river’s sound, spoke our appreciation and sang songs. It was truly a group creation, with everyone sharing their gratitude to the water. To symbolize the oneness of all the water on the Earth, we poured water from our local creeks into the Swannanoa.

Living at Earthaven Ecovillage has changed my relationship with water dramatically. No water is used for flushing our composting toilets. Blessed with fourteen springs, we drink spring water without chlorine. We also catch water off our roofs for many uses: watering gardens, storage for fire safety, or ponds. Recently we started monitoring the health of Earthaven’s creeks, measuring pH and temperature, and identifying the macroinvertebrates we catch with nets-- the larvae of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies—good indicators of stream health. From my home, I can hear the sound of Rosy Branch Creek rushing by, and I love to sit near it. One day, looking at the vigorous stream flowing between two moss-covered stones, I felt that I was seeing the flow of life force through the body of a goddess. Indeed, water is the life blood of Gaia.

The way that water responds to our gratitude, even after all the ways we North Americans have abused it, has touched me deeply. In the middle of the night I awoke recently thinking, “Love and gratitude are the key, that is all we need for healing.” Truly the water has been teaching me!

Water, you are precious!
Pure water a blessing greater than all else.
Clean water, direct from the Source:
Snowmelt, and liquid glacier!
Swirling, bubbling water
Filled with life force energy.
Life force flowing through the body of the Goddess,
Life blood of Gaia.

Great teacher of letting go,
With playful abandon coursing downward,
No clinging to the banks.
Swiftly moving current,
Most beautiful to my eye,
Most musical to my ear.

Water, you refresh my mind,
My brain-- mostly water.
You refresh my spirit.
You purify my blood and give me tears,
Cleanse my liver and kidneys.

O beautiful mystery of water,
We know not what you really are.
Are you the tears of the sky?
Shape-shifter, you are rumbling raincloud,
Earth-exhalation of mist hanging softly,
Subtle fingers of fog in the mountains;
Gentle, still, and reflective lakes,
Tidalwave and riverflood like Kali the destroyer.
Snow, so graceful and lovely,
Whose weight can topple trees.

You carry blessings in your molecules.
Your crystalline form of six-sided symmetry
Evidence of the order and intelligence of all things alive!

Humble water, giving selflessly and freely,
Nurturing thirsty plants and animals,
So wasted, abused and poisoned by the human tribe,
Yet so responsive, even now, to our love and gratitude!