Hi dear ones,
Brenton here.
I'll be your guide for this inner journey into deep waters,
But I want to set the scene for our experience before we begin.
So,
I'll give you just a little backstory as you begin to sink into a comfy position.
Move and adjust in whatever ways let you feel a sense of calm flow,
Of ease,
Of allowing this moment to just unfold.
No matter your perspective,
Whether it comes from climate change,
Or technology,
Or astrology,
We've entered a cycle of fire on the planet.
In a firehorse year,
Like 2026,
The water energy is kind of exhausted or trapped.
It's like trying to pour a cup of water onto a forest fire.
It just evaporates before it even hits the ground.
So,
If you're experiencing burnout or volatility,
It's not just you.
What that means for us now is that we must sustain or bring that consistency of earth to the practices that cultivate internal water.
Things like rest,
Slowness,
Hydration,
Healing,
Flow,
Nurturing love.
And we have to make these qualities like accessible resources inside.
But this is also a time to harness and wield creative fire,
Which means that this is the time to bring about change,
Especially as it relates to midwifing and birthing a connected,
Aware,
Matriarchal society.
There's a tremendous amount of light that's being shined into dark places,
Places where secrets have been kept and buried.
So today,
We'll draw upon the light and fire that's available,
For going into dark places through an elemental journey into myth and story.
These elements exist in our consciousness as much as they do in our bodies and in the world around us.
As such,
They sustain a dynamic balance in both seen and unseen ways.
So let's attune to the elements for a moment to help you center and prepare for this deeper experience.
Even if you've already settled into position,
We'll begin with just a little movement that follows your own intuitive direction.
The invitation here is a gentle stretch,
Or twist,
Or bend.
Something that helps you release anything that might linger from before this practice,
Or anything that might have entered since you began.
Just noticing these little embedded hooks attached to lines of attention.
Things that pull us from presence.
And then let yourself move in ways that release them.
You might shake your hands or arms,
Gently rub or massage your neck and face and head.
Engage your breath to help you release a little deeper into the now.
All the while,
Remembering to attune to the ways that you're grounding a little deeper into this moment.
Into this arrived sense of presence,
That's earth energy.
And let yourself root into it as you connect with your feet,
Your seat,
Your sacrum,
As your movements begin to slow and still.
And if you haven't done so and it feels safe,
You can let your eyes close now.
And now bring your attention to your breathing,
Bringing your full awareness to the inhale and the exhale.
Actually feel the ways that the air element interacts with your body.
Feeling that sensation of movement as air enters and leaves your nostrils.
And notice the ways this movement of air creates space inside the body on the inhale as the diaphragm expands.
Space on the exhale and the mind as you empty.
Consciously let yourself breathe out tension that remains,
Anything you notice,
Releasing it into the space.
Now for a moment,
Let your awareness contract to that triangle shape of your nose,
Condensing to your nostrils and to that gentle movement of air as you breathe in and breathe out.
Notice the sensation of coolness as you breathe in through your nose and the warmth that replaces it as you breathe out.
Breathing in cool,
Breathing out warm.
This balance of water and fire occurs everywhere there's life and it's embedded within us as much as it is the earth itself.
And so we open the sacred space for practice under the light and protection of our guides and ancestors.
As we open the doorway to the plane of water,
We ask for the guardians of water to accept us as students and guide us into places of embodied resource and wisdom.
May the spirits of the oceans,
Rivers,
Rains,
Lakes,
Glaciers,
Snows,
Waterfalls,
And the moon herself,
Lend their insight and protection.
And may our practice be dedicated to the liberation of all beings everywhere.
So let's begin to draw upon water as a resource by breathing like water for a moment.
We're going to breathe in through the nose and then breathe out like the sound of rain in a long shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Breathe in,
Breathe out,
One more time,
Breathe in,
Breathe out,
On the next exhale we'll breathe like the ocean,
Inhale again,
Constricting the back of your throat,
Opening your mouth in fogging glass,
Breathe out,
Breathing in,
Breathing out like the ocean,
Now let your breathing be normal and begin to attune to the water inside of your body,
Notice the moisture in your mouth or maybe the need for it,
Notice the moisture in your eyes,
Maybe other places there's slight perspiration,
Now sink a little deeper and perceive the liquid in your blood,
The fluid in your kidneys,
Your bladder,
The solutions in your cells,
This is all water that was once outside of you,
So begin to feel into those waters outside of your body,
Touch into the natural waters nearby,
Whether they're rivers,
Lakes,
Oceans,
Creeks,
Even the rain,
See if you can let yourself feel into winter,
That season of water,
The cold darkness,
The contraction energy of ice,
The silence of snow,
Letting your own waters become still now as you let yourself begin to drift,
Feeling yourself flowing down,
Down into the story,
Down and back into the story of humans as a northern people,
Humans who live lives deeply in touch with the ice,
With the snow,
The ocean,
With the darkness both in the skies and under the waters,
See if you can remember that among these Arctic peoples lived a beautiful young woman named Sedna,
Sedna was proud some say,
Perhaps others saw her for who she was,
Independent,
Wise beyond her years,
Not in need of a man to bring her security or completion as was the custom,
While other daughters married for furs or meat,
Sedna rejected every suitor,
Her father an old hunter grew weary,
The winter is coming he warned and we have no one to provide,
One day the mysterious hunter appeared,
He wore a shimmering cloak of dark feathers and his eyes were like polished obsidian,
Black,
Dark,
Eyes like ocean depths,
He promised Sedna a life of luxury and a land where the sun never set,
A land of eternal light and warmth,
Entranced she followed him across the freezing waves,
Their journey ended at a jagged cliff,
As the hunter removed his cloak his form twisted and grew,
He was no man but a storm petrel,
A spirit bird in disguise as a human,
Sedna's palace was but a nest of stinking fish skins,
Sharp rocks,
The warmth and light and safety she was promised were carried away with her sorrows across an arctic blowing wind,
A year passed in this cold isolated darkness,
Sedna's father filled with regret paddled his kayak to the bird spirits island,
He found Sedna and fled with her while the petrel was away,
But the bird spirit returned,
Saw his prize was gone and beat his massive wings against the ocean,
Soon a colossal storm arose,
The waves threatened to swallow the kayak and the father gripped by a primal icy fear,
Believed the sea demanded a sacrifice in order to be stilled,
And so he cast his daughter overboard,
Sedna clung to the side of the boat her fingers white against the wood,
In his madness and fear the father took his bone knife and struck,
First the joints of her fingers fell and as they touched the water they transformed into seals,
Next her second knuckles fell,
These became the walruses,
Finally her thumbs were severed and these grew into the great whales,
With nothing left to hold on Sedna began to sink,
But she did not drown she merely descended,
So begin to feel yourself descend,
To go down with Sedna,
As you sink through the blue black water,
You're passing through the layers of the unseen,
You're passing the islands of hidden greed,
The underwater caves where the world's most painful truths have been weighed down,
Hidden and buried at sea,
And as you descend with Sedna and as the light around you begins to fade,
As the pressure of deep water increases,
Remember,
Remember the fire horse that waits in your heart,
In your belly like a sun,
So let this inner light begin to shine as you descend now,
Bringing light,
Bringing illumination to these deep dark waters,
And in this cold silent blue of the underworld,
Watch as Sedna becomes the mistress of all life,
She became the source of the bounty that keeps the people alive far above,
And yet when the people on the surface break the promises of sustainability,
Of love,
Of compassion,
Sedna's long black hair becomes tangled and filled with the grime of human sin,
Because she has no fingers given to the life around her,
She cannot brush it,
And so Sedna grows angry and the animals hide within her knotted tangles joining her in her wrath,
And so imagine that you sit before this great ocean mother now,
And before you do anything else,
I invite you to just breathe with her here,
Breathe with her as you open your heart and listen,
Sedna,
What would you have us hear?
We come to listen,
And begin to let that balanced sense of fire in your heart,
In your belly,
In your core,
Gently radiate outward,
Offering this light and warmth to the mother that gently soothes the knots and tangles in her hair,
And offering your own nurturing touch that joins the soothing light,
And as you feel the knots release and her hair return to silky smooth black strands that flow freely in the waters around,
Offer your loving kindness to the ocean,
To the waters,
To the divine mother there and everywhere in and around us,
Let it come from your heart,
Thank you mother,
And now like Venus who dips below the horizon to traverse the dark,
Let yourself begin to rise once again,
Slowly like morning light that gently permeates space,
Feel yourself rise through the dark,
Moving through depths into water increasingly bright,
And though we leave Sedna,
Notice the ways that her embrace remains,
Feeling her touch,
Her influence even as you rise,
And perhaps you begin to notice the other guides and beings around you,
And the whales,
And seals,
And walruses,
And turtles,
And otters,
And fish,
And more,
Each of these an extension of the great mother,
Each of these an extension of us,
And let them accompany you as you rise through Sedna's embrace,
And watching the water become brighter and clearer as you finally break the surface once again,
Back into the warmth,
The light of the sun,
And breathing in,
And breathing out,
Now let yourself leave the arctic once again,
And letting that ocean current become a river,
A river that flows back to now,
Back to here,
And back to presence,
And gently returning you,
And as you step out of the water,
And step back into your individuality,
Step back into this relational field that we share,
And feel that sense of rooted earth once again,
Beneath your feet,
Beneath your seat,
And when you feel a sense of center,
Breathe in,
And open your eyes,
And gratitude,
And humility,
And we offer our thanks to the guides,
Ancestors,
Beings,
And guardians who walk with us today,
May you forever remain allies on this plane and beyond,
And as you came in power,
May you go in peace,
So be it,
Thank you,
Gratitude,
