We’re living through unprecedented times. If you feel stuck, depressed, anxious, or confused, you’re not alone! We might not be able to make big, fast changes in the current deterioration of society, but cultivating flow, adaptability, & emotional depth is possible, even in these difficult times. Confusion is not a state unfamiliar to our unconscious; this is where our dreams come from, where our desires emerge from, where our imagination originates. The symbolism of the water element can help us make deep meaning right now.
Carl Jung referred to the unconscious as “The Sea Of The Unconscious,” inviting us to link the vastness of the unknown within us to the element of water; deep, ever changing, liminal, shape shifting. Working with archetypes can help us understand ourselves, understand each other, and understand what’s happening in the world around us. Archetypes speak in a symbolic language – the language of the unconscious – expressing through the individual and the culture, the personal and the collective.
Water as an archetype calls us into our depths, inspiring us to be fluid, to adapt as we move up and down the winding road of life, to learn to rise and fall with life’s waves, to take new forms, to dissolve old ones, and to patiently transform the shape of our surroundings.
What does it mean to live with emotional depth and move through life like water?
Understanding the Symbolism of the Water Element – the Archetype of Flow
Universal symbolism of water in Myth & Archetype
Water is the source of life. Researchers think that water appeared on earth soon after the planet was formed, as early as 4.4 billion years ago. Life on Earth appeared about 3.9 billion years ago, and some scientists believe it began before. Water is our ancient origin.
Life begins in the waters of the womb, in the fluids of sperm and egg, in the liquidity of the fertilizing process, in the fertile soil that needs moisture for the seeds within it to germinate.
Our body, like the body of the planet, is made of about 60-70% water. We are made of water. Water is our mother.
Human understanding that water is life, granted this powerful element a place of honor in stories and art all throughout history, all over the planet. The power of liquidity was revered. Water was worshiped and also feared. The symbolism of water in mythology is rich, ancient, and runs deep in our unconscious.
Before the Vedic people (the Indo-Aryan tribe) arrived in India, around 2000-1500 BCE, South Indian culture was saturated with the presence of a great goddess whose name was Amman. She was the monsoon rains, the flooded rice paddys, the humidity in the air, the moist earth, and the power of life itself. She was also the disease and dangers that come from standing water. She was death that comes with life. She was love. She was loss. She was the all encompassing power of a goddess who is The Mother.
The Vedic people brought to the sub-continent their own gods, some of which were water gods, such as Varuna, whose dominion was the ocean, the rivers, and the rain. Others were liquid oriented, such as Soma, who was the elixir of the gods, the milky nectar of the moon, the medicinal, magic brew of the priests, and so much more.
Later, when the Vedic people and the Dravidian people mixed, and the vedic deities commingled with the Dravidian ones, new goddesses and gods were born. Viśnu appeared sleeping on his serpent, Sesha, floating on the ocean of milk, the ocean of consciousness. Amman is most likely the origin of the Hindu goddess Kali, who is as frightening as she is loving, terrifying as she is nurturing, dangerous as she is protective.
Kali is dark, fierce, and primordial. She is the primal energy of life’s beginning, end, and reformulation. She is the darkness of the cosmos, the ferocity of storms, ocean turbulence, and the intensity of the big bang. She is the source of life, the source of light, which comes from the darkness that envelopes the universe. She is the vastness of the unconscious, the mysteries of the unseen, the tomb which is the womb, the underworld and the world within.
The Hindu world has many deities associated with water.
The river Ganga is also a goddess known as a great mother, a lover, a cleansing, holy power, whose origin is in the Himalayan peaks, AKA the heavens. She has the power to restore life. And as a river she is believed by Hindus to release a soul from the cycles of death and rebirth (Samsara).
Sarasvati, whose name in Sanskrit means; The Flow Of The Self, is the Hindu goddess of creativity, the fluency of language, of eloquence and poetry, of art, of knowledge, and of wisdom. She flows into you like a river of inspiration, generating and articulating ideas. She enlivens your mind the way that water fertilizes soil. She is the colorful palate of the imagination.
The goddess Lakśmi is the Hindu goddess of abundance and fertility and the sustaining power of life. She is not known as a water deity necessarily, but you cannot separate her from the liquidity of life. While she is often portrayed with a waterfall of coins pouring out of her hands, she is also often accompanied with elephants that spray her and her environment with water. In a famous story she re-emerges out of the milky ocean churned by the gods and the demons who try to retrieve the nectar of immortality. Lakśmi is life’s goodness, the milk that sustains life, the nourishment that comes from the breast of the mother, and from the well watered soil.
Cows are sacred in India because they are seen as The Mother. Their life-giving liquid flows from their breast, becoming the source of nourishment that can become a large variety of things, feeding many creatures.
(you might find this essay about the symbolism of The Cow interesting)
Water creates connection. It carries important substances in the body. It carries messages in bottles. It carries people from one place to another. It carries the possibility of life between two bodies. Water also marks the space between one place and another. Water is a boundary.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and the storms. He was ferocious, turbulent, and destructive, and also protective, boon giving, and maker of fresh water springs.
In the Greek Underworld, the River Styx flowed and served as a boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty and bounty, is born of the waves. Botticelli painted her emerging from the shell of the sea. She is known for her sexy, sensual fluidity, moving like flowing streams, like hot steam, like a refreshing, delicious drink made of ripe, juicy fruit and sweet cream. Aphrodite’s garden is lush and alluring, filled with fruit trees and fresh herbs and grape vines and tasty wine, with feasts and flowers, roses and their arousing scent.
Water is often said to take the shape of its container. It’s true, it does, but it also changes the form of its container over time. Water is patience. It has been here on the planet for a long time, and it knows in the depth of it, that it changes EVERYTHING. It’s not in a hurry. It plays the long game.
Ancient cultures everywhere saw water as sacred. The spiritual meaning of the water element has always been interwoven with life itself.
It’s no wonder that the myth of the Holy Grail serves in its sacred vessel the secret of the water element meaning – the meaning of life itself – the liquidity of sensuality and sexuality, the receptive and generative power of the womb, the life giving power of water, the irresistible power of the feminine (as an energy).
Fairytales, Folklore, and Myths emerged from wells and springs, covering England, Scotland, and Ireland with sacred liquidity filled with the magical, mystical, and emotional symbolism of water.
In ancient Mesopotamian myths, goddess Tiamat was the depth of the abyss, primordial and powerful, whose son divided her form, separating her body into water and sky. Later, Hebrew mythology/religion retold the story, establishing their God as the one who made the world from the primordial messy soup in the abyss. The Hebrew word Tehom means Abyss. The word Tehom and the name Tiamat are etymologically related.
Psychological & Emotional Qualities of the Water Element
Water knows how to move around obstacles. It carves pathways through stones. It builds its force as it moves. It finds its way. Water teaches us to adapt, not to give up, to change, not to disappear, to find a way to move, no matter how stuck we think we are. Water shows us how to cultivate flow and adaptability in life, how cultivating resilience through softness is not only possible, but it’s needed. Especially right now.
The current culture leans into superficiality, away from deep listening, but so many of us crave the lush gardens of Aphrodite, not just because it’s a sexy sanctuary, not just because it’s beautiful and we’re attracted to its intoxicating scents. We are pulled toward it because we are tired of chasing life and we want to enjoy it, and we know that in order to enjoy it, truly and deeply, we need to slow down, smell the roses, and drink the elixir of pleasure. We know that this softening will allow for our emotional depth and intuition to grow.
The depth of the unconscious mind can be explored when we let imagery, symbols, and archetypes weave the rich tapestry of who we are as an individual and as a collective. The culture, the history, the stories, and the places we travel through, shape who we are. But we, like water that knows how to move patiently, change the story of who we are and where we are.
The boundary of the River Styx, the creativity of Sarasvati, the dark unconscious power of Kali, the protective ferocity of Poseidon, the spirits that emerge with the waters of the springs, and the many deities, characters, and energies of water from around the world, all teach us how embracing emotional fluidity is how we can continue to move between states, phases, moods, and periods. There’s nothing static when it comes to the water archetype. It keeps showing us how to not get stuck. The ability to shapeshift like water, to be more than one thing, shows us the way into our emotional depth.
The Element Of Water In Everyday Life
Signs You’re Disconnected from the water Element’s Depth
We all feel stuck sometimes, like life is not flowing. Sometimes it’s our career, other times our relationships. We may be emotionally stuck, physically tight, closed minded at times. We may be suppressing our emotions, or feeling overwhelmed by them. Feeling rigid, or even being rigid without noticing that we are is part of the human experience.
We want change but we resist it. We want to hold on to things, but they change. Resistance to change is natural, and so is our desire for it.
This historical period makes many of us feel suffocated. We see the oppression of fascism growing. We’re not quite sure what to do.
Cultivating the Water Archetype Within
As the world around us changes so drastically, it’s not always easy to know when to resist and how to resist. There are shifts in the culture where surrender is not a great option, where rising and flooding and pushing is a more appropriate response. But embracing adaptability is key. We might need to learn how to create boundaries that are more like water, resist with that patient force that builds through movement and plays the long game. We may need to learn how to shapeshift, the way that water does; from ice to fluid to steam. Learn how to rain down, how to flow like a river, how to harden like ice when needed, how to move around obstacles, how to reshape a stone and turn its hard edges to a smooth, soft, rounded form.
There is a link between the water archetype and emotional healing. Inviting softness in relationships, in work, and in creativity can support our well being, and the well being of others. We become more connected, less rigid, more receptive, less stuck, more open. The softness of water, the way it receives you, the creative, generative power of water, are important for our strength. Cultivating resilience through softness is something many ancient cultures, particularly Eastern ones, have practiced. Daoism, Buddhism, and Yoga, all include some versions of moving like water meditation and philosophy.
The element of water is deeply rooted in the source of life. Water as an archetype evokes the archetype of the mother. Giving and receiving love, care, and nurturing are ways to invoke water as a The Mother.
Practices like journaling, meditation, dancing, contemplative walks in nature, and spending time near bodies of water, can help us cultivate fluidity and embody the water element.
Embodying the Water Element Through Movement & Breath
Why Embodying the Symbolism of the Water Element Matters
Archetypes aren’t just ideas – they live in the body, they show up in our lives, in our relationships, in our own personality. They appear in the culture, in our community, in the collective. Embodying the water element in a conscious way is one of the keys to embracing emotional fluidity, and developing flow and adaptability in life.
Moving like water is a reclamation of softness as strength, and a reconnecting with flow and intuition, with gentleness as power, with creativity and inspiration.
Check out this Substack piece I wrote as part of my Monday Muse Medicine, exploring water as Muse, and the invitation to receive it through the complexity of life. And Subscribe to my Sunstack for more regular inspiration.
Yoga & Fluid Practices for the Water Element
Yoga can be a deep and meaningful life long journey of cultivating fluidity. It includes breath and flow practices. Yoga inspired by the element of water teaches us to feel our breath as the tide. Flowing sequences are an expression of water’s adaptability.
Yoga doesn’t necessarily teach us how to embody the water archetype directly, but it informs our body of its fluid nature, guiding us through water inspired movement even as we hold poses for a long time, because the focus on the breath teaches us about change, about movement, about waves.
Try this 20 minute yoga for fluidity practice, teaching how to embody the water archetype, and inviting fluidity and receptivity into the body and into our lives.
Closing Reflection on the Water Element (with Journal Prompts)
Contemplate and/or journal about water in your life:
- Where in your life can you invite more fluidity and depth?
- How can connecting with the element of water in daily life be helpful for you and more than you?
- What areas of your life do you need more flow and more adaptability?
Try this practice and please comment here or on the video on YouTube to share your experience and your reflection.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope it inspired you in some ways, and moved you deeper into a process of making this period more meaningful.
XOXO
Hagar