I am Cat Caracelo,M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, life coach and transformative artist from Petaluma, California, offering my work individually and in global teaching forums. This column is for those of you who have already made some cards & are ready to discover more depth your SoulCollage® journey.


The Language of Water

We know our sacred waters; we dwell within them and feel them from the inside out. The waters of our bodies touch the waters of this world, connecting form to form and flow to flow. Our tears, like dousing rods move us and help us to find our way through grief. We understand our lives in relationship to ebb and flow, feeling the rhythms of movement or lack thereof. The extremes challenge us as we touch the stagnant pools, parched places and find ourselves flooded with discomfort and fear. These inner landscapes inform us of what is happening, active, helping us to acknowledge what needs our conscious attention. Sometimes in the fury of life, we forget to see the quiet ripples and gentle flow.

We recognize the language of water in the sacred places that call us forth. From the deep cave grotto to the crashing, relentless flow of a torrential river, waters of all kinds guide us through life. Life waters of the womb bring us to birth and they continue to flow through our dreams and into our long life, carrying us back to source. These source waters find us in our art and life through symbols. They are embedded in our psyche, rivers of imagery that reflect all that we already know but have forgotten for a time.

As both element and symbol, Water guides us. It speaks to us of our primordial origin, and connects us to the physical and spiritual realms. Some of us hold a deep connection to the vast waters of oceans; others are called to the energies of clear mountain lakes and small tributary rivulets. For others deep pools and sacred springs, which are known to be conduits to the great mother's womb in cross-cultural myths, hold our souls connection.

Water deities in every culture watch over the waters of these places, and we find ourselves called to the water through goddess, naiad and guardian. Water as symbol, myth, lore and watery connection are both personal and universal. These waters flow through time and space, through the collective into our own psyche, bubbling up to the surface as archetypal qualities of reflection, flow, transformation, intuition and ritual blessing.

Water invites us to listen, to listen with our water bodies and align our breath with stillness so that we can hear the call of the waters. We listen through our emotions. As feelings flow we ride the waves of stormy seas and find our way into new territories.

Seeking our waters in art and life is an invitation to listen and respond. To hear the call of the river is to hear the call of our own deep inner waters. To feel the cool waters of a ritual bath, to anoint ourselves in the salty sea, is to connect to our source and to our own deep inner wisdom.

We listen and respond to the language of water through conscious connecting, in ritual, art-making and life-making.

• Find the waterscapes that are moving in your art and life.
  
• Create space for dipping in, getting wet, dancing in the rain.
  
• Find where you are you dry and thirsty for moisture.
  
• Seek silence in the sigh of the oceans ebb and flow.
• Find the stillpoint between breaths, and dive deep.
• Splash in puddles and play.
• Under midnight moonbeams soak in steaming hot springs.
• Find the waters that call to you.
• Create from this place of grace.

Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Depth Coach, SoulCollage® Facilitator and transformative artist guiding individuals and groups internationally. Cat is the author of Gathering Wholeness: The Art of Identifying and Exploring Parts of Self and has been working with SoulCollage® since 2007. Her dynamic Mythos Journey eCourse offerings combine thematic journeywork, and art-as-process to explore personal myth and conscious life design. Please visit Cat's website to find articles and information about coaching, classes and destination retreats.