The Mystery Of The Oceans
Living in the element of water, fish symbolically represent the emotional level of life, the realm of the soul and the world of feelings. Water animal totems are as generously imbued with meaning as the sea itself. Water is a powerful symbol, a sign of cleansing, freedom and mobility. It represents the universal collective unconscious and all our souls floating in the vastness of the ocean of life.
Water animal totems can show us the way to reveal and identify our hidden thoughts or actions. When these creatures find their way into our lives they need to be honoured. If we pay attention, they will aid us in identifying our hidden motives that possibly are unhealthy for us. Even better, by observing and being open our water animal totems, we learn the ways of simpler, more positive paths of thought in our search for replacing the hidden negative ones.
Water creatures are invariably bright and playful and as totems they remind us that we too should by rights live with the same unbridled freedom they possess. If you have identified one of your animal totems to belong to the water element, you are in for a wonderful journey of learning more of the ways of the water creature. The symbolism of water has a universal undertone of purity and fertility. Symbolically, it is often viewed as the source of life itself. There is much evidence of this in many creation myths in which life emerges from the primordial waters.
As our physical bodies are made up of over seventy percent of water, many of these myths and allegories also relate to our own existence, i.e. the macrocosm mirroring the microcosm and vice versa. Further, we can incorporate symbolism of circulation, life, cohesion and birth by associating the creative waters of the Earth with the fluids found in the blood of our own bodies.
In Taoist tradition, water is considered an aspect of wisdom. The concept here is that water takes on the form in which it is held and moves in the path of least resistance. Here the symbolic meaning of water speaks of a higher wisdom to which we are all aspiring. The ancient Greeks understood water’s power of transition, as it changes from liquid, to solid, to vapour and back to water, an epitome for metamorphosis and philosophical recycling.
For the Native Americans water was considered a valuable commodity, particularly in the arid plains and western regions. They considered water to be a symbol of life, further evidence for the symbolisms of many creation myths. The ancient Egyptians valued it highly in their beloved and heavily relied upon Nile river. They perceived it as the very birth canal of their existence.
Symbolic water meanings are:
• Life
• Motion
• Renewal
• Blessing
• Intuition
• Reflection
• Subconscious
• Fertilisation
• Purification
• Transformation
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To my mind, nothing ever expressed better the longing and yearning for the freedom of the wide open sea, a symbolism of our soul’s true home, than the following poem:
My Friend, The Sea
I must go down to the seas again,
To the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way,
Where the wind’s like a whetted knife’
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
John Edward Masefield
1878 – 1967
Recommended Reading:
• ‘Navigating The Ocean Of Life’
• ‘The Sun In Pisces’
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Last but not least, the video below explores the beauty and wonder of God’s creation in one of the oceans of our world:
Dakuwaqa’s Garden
Underwater scenes from Fiji and Tonga
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The above is a chapter from ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp In Relationship Healing’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘Astrology As A Lifehelp In Relationship Healing’
