How to Reconnect with the Water Element

Have you ever wondered how much you interact with the element of water? Or have you ever simply sat in silence with water to form a deeper connection with the element? In this week's article, I share a personal experience I had while reconnecting with water.

In today’s society, we interact with water countless times a day in our everyday lives without even giving it a second thought. While modern plumbing is a sanitary and life-changing marvel, it also takes us away from connecting with the element itself. I wanted to share a personal experience I had while reflecting on the power and balance of water.

A Feeling of Disconnect

How to Reconnect with the Water Element, a personal experience by Cardinal Meehan, writer for Flowing Essence.

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” -Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

I had lost touch with the elements and, more specifically, with water. I knew I needed to strengthen the bridge connecting the element with myself, but I wasn’t sure where to start. So, I called my good friend Amy. Amy basically told me that I needed to sit with the element like sitting with an old friend. During this time, I wasn’t to ask for any favors or make it about me in any way. It was a time to let water know that it was appreciated; a time to thank water for all it does for me. She came up with the suggestion of going to the beach for a day or simply filling a cup with water and mediate with it. Since I burn extremely easily (not to mention summer is the busiest time for beach-goers) and I felt like a single cup of water wasn’t enough, I asked her if filling my tub would work.

She told me that yes, filling the tub would work as long as I didn’t get in it. By getting in the tub, it was almost like silently asking for the water to clean me, which wouldn’t help my situation. She also said I should give water an offering. She mentioned salt. As I thought about offerings for Water, I Saw my herb garden and realized that I would be offering Water three things. I thanked Amy and hung up, ready to reconnect with Water.

The Reflection

Water is an essential element for all life on Earth.

Before I even drew the bath, I went out to my herb garden. I picked basil and mint according to my intuition. These were the biggest and greenest herbs I had. I then got my sea salt from my kitchen and headed to my bathroom.

I turned on the water and immediately put the basil in. I closed my eyes as the water continued to fill and Saw a mermaid, my vision of Water Spirit. She was standing in my bathtub and reached out her right hand. In her palm was a black stone. She was offering it to me. I told her that I would not accept it at this time because this reflection was for her and only her. She tried to offer me the stone again. Again, I refused. She smiled at me and lay down in my tub as it filled with water.

When I opened my eyes, the tub was about half full. I turned off the water and threw in the mint. Even after turning off the water, the leaves of the basil and mint continued to swirl around the water as if being pushed by an unseen hand playing in the water. After a few moments, I added the sea salt.

The only thing I asked of Water during this entire meditation was to accept these freely given offerings.

Once all three offerings were in the water, I sat down on the floor next to my bathtub and watched the leaves swirl around on top of the water. Instead of going into a meditative state, I simply sat and watched, doing my best to be present in the moment.

The Power of Water

Water is still a popular mode of travel for many places and cultures. Venice is one such place.

As I stared at the water in my tub, I began thinking about the Water element. About how much I (and everyone else) uses it everyday without so much as a thank you. I realized how absolutely powerful Water is.

Water is a life-giving element. With roughly 60% of the average adult human body, about 71% of our earth’s surface, and about 90% of plants all made up of water, this particular element is essential for creating and sustaining life.
Water is balanced. Water, in my opinion, is one of the most balanced elements. On the one hand, it can be peaceful, cleansing, and serene (such as a shower or gentle stream), while on the other hand it can be violent, destructive, and terrifying (in the case of a tsunami). In being able to master both ends of the spectrum, I believe water has found a perfect balance within itself.
Water is symbolic. In tarot cards, water is represented by the suit of cups, and represents emotions, intuition, imagination, and thinking with your heart rather than your head. Water is also symbolic of fertility since it is necessary for humans, plants, and animals to live.
Water is deep. While water is easily visible whether it’s a stream, lake, or ocean, it can also deceptively deep. There are parts of the ocean that mankind has yet to explore because of how deep it is. Plus, there are some incredibly interesting (some would say weird or scary) fish living in the deep sea.
Water is considered the “universal solvent.” This is due to the fact that water dissolves more substances than any other liquid.
Water is beautiful. Finally, consider the way water moves. Whether you’re watching a babbling brook or a violent sea storm, water moves unlike any other element. To me, it is incredibly beautiful, humbling, and intriguing to watch.

The Offerings

I began wondering why my intuition told me to choose basil, mint, and sea salt for offerings to Water. The sea salt, I understood immediately. It was salt that had been taken from Water, therefore, I was giving it back to Water.

The basil and mint, I hesitate to admit, took me a bit longer. Mostly because I was overthinking it. I was trying to think of the symbolism of basil and of mint and how that could relate to water. I came up with mint being a cooling and cleansing herb, but was coming up dry with basil. At this point, my Guide stepped in and essentially told me to stop thinking so hard.

At which point I realized that water gave life to both the basil and the mint. As soon as I acknowledged this, I started to see something very interesting.

Energy Absorption

Water is an incredibly powerful and balanced element.

As I watched the leaves (now slower in their swirling), I began to see a white light around each leaf. That white light was sinking into the water and being absorbed by it. From this, I formed the hypothesis that the water was absorbing the energy of the leaves, and the leaves were fine with it because they wanted to thank Water for helping them grow and thrive. Therefore, the leaves were both an offering to Water from themselves and also an offering from me.

I sat beside my bathtub for a full hour, watching the leaves and the water.

During that time, I reflected on how much I interact with water on a daily basis without giving it a second thought. I also thought about how, without it, we (most likely) wouldn’t even exist. But probably one of the most interesting things during this hour with water was how as I watched the leaves and their energy being absorbed, I could slowly see the white light around them turn into gray light and once it did that, the leaves began to shrink and start sinking. As the water absorbed the energy, the leaves essentially died. Which, at first made me sad and made me wonder if I should never have put the leaves in the water in the first place. I felt bad for the leaves. But then I got to thinking about the cycle of life.

The energy from those leaves was being absorbed by water. That, in turn, would give the water more energy to continue to help other plants grow and thrive. In essence, those leaves were giving up their energy to Water so that more plants would be able to grow.

It was an absolutely fascinating and profound reflection on water’s strength, power, adaptability, and generosity.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly have a new appreciation for water.

Do you connect with the water element? Have you ever simply sat with water and gained a new appreciation for it? Let me know! I’d love to hear your experiences!

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With Flowing Essence, you can receive a deeper insight into your personal meditations for enhanced understanding, clarity, and connection. These services are available over the phone or in person.

All photos in this blog are original and should be credited to

Cardinal Meehan, writer for Flowing Essence.

Just as a quick disclaimer, this is my own personal experience. Not all meditations or elemental connections are the same. Your experience may differ from what I or anyone else has experienced.