Unlock Your Inner Spirituality with the Magical Power of Water
Working with the Magical Power of Water
Water is one of the four elements along with earth, fire, and air. The correspondences
associated with this element are dusk, west, fall, taste, female, and moon energy.
Invoking the magical power of water causes an emotional awakening and spiritual
purification of your body, mind, and soul.
Invoke the power of water when working spells and rituals dealing with love,
friendship, healing, peace, divination, intuition, dream work and psychic awareness.
Learn how to unlock your inner spirituality using the magical power of water.
Water Personality Types and Animal Totems
My sign is Scorpio, which along with Pieces and Cancer, is one of the 3
water signs of the zodiac. I’ve been in South Florida for over 20 years and
live a short distance from the ocean. I have a dolphin tattoo on my right
shoulder, and a scorpion tattoo on my left ankle. There are many animal
totems you can include in your magical practices when working with the
water element including fish, sharks, whales, seals, toads, frogs, and turtles.
I am lucky to live by a small pond, home to a variety of aquatic life.
We also get the occasional visitor from JW Corbett Wildlife Management Area
as water moccasins, baby gators, and a particularly feisty otter that likes to
help himself to our pet koi. On any given day, I can choose to work with one
of these magnificent creatures as my own personal animal totem. I love living
next to a 60,000-acre wildlife refuge and working with the gifts of nature!
Water Colors, Gemstones and Symbols
Water manifests as a variety of colors including gray, green, blue and white.
Certain colors lend themselves to specific rituals. You can use food coloring
to change your water to any shade of the rainbow. Use dark blue for rituals
dealing with loyalty, success and expansion of occult powers. Light blue is
the perfect shade for inspiration, truth, harmony, inner peace and
communication. Silver is a great color for meditation and developing psychic
powers. Use white when working spells for purity, truth and spiritual awareness.
If using water isn’t an option simply substitute one of the many gemstones
associated with the water element. Water gemstones include aquamarine,
aventurine, blue topaz, chrysocolla, moonstone and opal. And don’t forget
the gifts from the sea including shells, coral and pearls, which are all
wonderful symbols of the water element.
A cup is a magical tool associated with water. The suit of cups in tarot cards
refers to relationships, emotions, feelings and connections. A reversed cup
card signals sorrow, melancholy, indifferent emotions, or an overemotional
state of mind.
Cups aren’t the only symbol used to portray this suit; chalices, cauldrons,
or goblets also symbolize the water element. Really any vessel that will
hold liquid, such as an abalone shell or small saucer, can be used as a
symbol for water.
Predict the Future with Water
Hydromancy, or water scrying, is a form of divination, or fortune-telling.
Water scrying predicts or interprets past, present and future events. Moving
or stationary bodies of water, such as wells, rivers, ponds and lakes are
used for hydromancy rituals.
A Tibetan singing bowl, or mortar and pestle set would make a perfect
scrying vessel, but any bowl or saucer will suffice. Fill your bowl with
water and gaze upon the surface. Use your fingers, a small branch, or
magic wand to trace circles in the water around the edge of the bowl.
Observe the motions of the water and record your interpretation of the
symbols you see, in a journal or small notebook, for predictions of what
may happen in the future.
Skipping rocks across a pond and interpreting the motions of the rippling
water is another form of water fortune-telling. A form of botanical
hydromancy is to throw a handful of leaves into a moving body of water
and interpret their patterns of movement upon the water.
Water Rituals and Water as Creator
Water is a very powerful force and sometimes, instead of creating life,
is a deadly taker of life. Whirlpools, water spouts, tempests, monsoons,
tidal waves and tsunamis are some of the most destructive forms of water.
Water is the perfect element to invoke when working rituals for fertility,
renewal, rebirth and transformation. Water has many magical curative
properties including the power to heal. According to legend particularly
potent waters, such as springs, wells and the fountain of youth, were
capable of bestowing the power of immortality to anyone that partook
of the waters. All you had to do, to enjoy the magical powers, was to
either bath in or drink the water from the fountain and enjoy eternal youth.
Wicca, and other pagan traditions, use water in a variety of ceremonies.
Magically blessed water is also called consecrated or holy water by
certain religions. Create your own magical water by mixing ½ teaspoon
of salt with 1 cup of water, or whatever quantity you need. Some people
feel that rainwater mixed with sea salt is more potent than tap water
mixed with iodized salt, but use whatever products you have on hand.
If you live near the beach, you could collect a bit of sea water, which is
naturally filled with salt.
Holy water banishes evil spirits and eliminates negative energy from
your magical workspace. Use your blessed water as a spiritual cleansing
before starting your ritual work.
Moonlight Water Purification Ceremony
The moon influences all water bodies on the Earth. The monthly cycle
of the moon phases causes an ebb and flow of tides in oceans, seas and
large lakes. You can create magical water imbued with the energy of the
moon, and use it as your own special form of consecrated water. Use your
purified moon water to wash away any negative energy before casting a
circle for spell work.
Refer to an almanac to learn what phase the moon is in on any given day.
The full moon is a perfect time to work abundance spells while the waning
moon is better suited to banishing spells.
Add a bit of water to a small container such as a glass or ceramic bowl.
Place the bowl outdoors, in a sheltered place, so small animals such as
the neighbor’s cat can’t disturb it. Let the bowl of water soak up the rays
of the moonlight, either overnight, or at least for a few hours.
Recite the following charm while decanting your moon-purified water
into a clean container:
Beautiful mother moon,
We hope to see you soon,
Imbue our water with your silvery rays of light,
Shine down your energy and lend our spell some might
Fresh Water Direct From Nature
Some people think that moving water from streams, lakes and rivers
is more spiritually alive than tap water or water collected from a
non-moving source such as a pond, pool, or canal.
I remember collecting fresh mountain spring water when I was a pre-teen
and teen-ager living in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate NY. We never
worried about pre-treating the water before drinking it as we thought it was
pure and all-natural. These days, unfortunately, it is usually a health hazard
to drink untreated water.
Fresh water is not as safe as it once was. Stormwater runoff, sewage
discharge and contamination from fertilizers make much of our freshwater
supply unfit for human consumption. Common freshwater contaminants
include Giardia, E. coli, brain-eating amoeba and flesh-eating bacteria.
You must devise other means for obtaining safe drinking water. It’s okay
to collect water used for ritualistic purposes, and not for drinking, from
just about anywhere including a stream or lake. Treating water by boiling,
bleaching or iodine tables leaves a product that is bland, inert and
sometimes has a funny aftertaste. Using a filter, such as a ceramic
cartridge, to cleanse the water is about as close as you’ll get to the real thing.
If you think tap water is lacking in spiritual energy, try collecting your
own water the next time it rains. I like to collect rainwater as it falls
from the sky, but you need some sort of basic filtering system to strain
out any dirt and debris that is present. I used to have a large rain barrel
set up under a downspout gutter at my house. I took a large piece of
plastic window screening and placed it across the top of the barrel to
keep larger bits of debris from falling into the barrel.
There was a small spigot towards the bottom of the barrel for pouring
off the desired quantity of water into a watering can. My house plants
loved a drink of fresh rainwater. Prior to using the water for ritual work,
I strained it through cheesecloth to remove the finer bits of dirt and sand.
I also mixed the cleansed water with a bit of sea salt to create my personal
stash of blessed water. I think it’s time to set up a rain barrel at my new
house and start collecting the magical element of water!
This is extra content that wasn't included in the original article I wrote for Llewellyn’s 2016 Magical Almanac water magic section.
Water Spirits and Ocean Deities
There are many water spirits and deities associated with various cultures, and they don’t all have a friendly disposition. Mermaids, merfolk, undines, and naiads are just a few of the water spirits found in folklore and ancient literature. For example, who can forget the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian legend? Water gods include Neptune (Roman), Poseidon (Greek), Manannan mac Lir (Irish) and Vu-murt (Finnish).
Water goddesses include Anahita (Persian), Mamacocha (Peru), Tefnut (Egyptian) and Chalchihuitlicue (Aztec).
Sea Shell Charm
Dancing on high waves,
Treasures of the ocean,
Adrift on strands of seaweed,
Search the tide pool cave,
Find an abalone shell for me
Water Fun Facts
This element comes in many forms; ice is a solid, water is a liquid and vapor is a gas. Select the exact form you need for your next ritual or magical ceremony.
You can buy a water mister from home improvement and garden supply stores. These devices convert the water from a liquid state to a refreshing mist. While some people may argue the mist is not a true gas, cool water vapor is a safe substitute for hot steam created by boiling water.
Water Elemental Gardening
Water features are essential in Chinese Taoist and Japanese Zen gardens. Make your sanctuary a quiet place of relaxation that can be enjoyed by the entire neighborhood. Incorporate a number of items into your garden to make it more inviting to friends and family and attract the water spirits to your yard.
Benches and chairs urge your friends and neighbors to relax and enjoy the flora and fauna throughout your sanctuary. A birdbath, water fountain, or water mister are great features to use in your yard to welcome the water spirits and water nymphs into your garden.
Keep In Touch
I’d love to hear what other ways you like to incorporate water into your home and garden!
Peace, Love, and Light
The White Witch, AKA Lynn Smythe
Founder of Craft of the Wise, the Essential Survivalist, and the Creative Cottage
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