WATERS OF ENERGY

[Miguel Sague Jr]

This wonderful blog was contributed by my Taino brother Edgar Kunuk in our Beike network and I felt inspired to share it here.

Taino Ti

 

THE SACRED WATERS

Water is a primordial element which underlays creation myths and stories around the world. The Egyptian Heliopolitan creation story recounts that the sun-god Atum (Re) reposed in the primordial ocean (Nun). In Assyro-Babylonian mythology, first the gods and subsequently all beings arose from the fusion of salt water (Tiamat) and sweet water (Apsu). The holy books of the Hindus explain that all the inhabitants of the earth emerged from the primordial sea. At the beginning of the Judeo-Christian story of creation, the spirit of God is described as stirring above the waters, and a few lines later, God creates a firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters (Genesis 1:1-6). In the Koran are the words We have created every living thing from water.

Water divinities of various kinds appear in the mythologies of many cultures. And not surprisingly, the world abounds in sacred springs, rivers, and lakes. Even within the Judeo-Christian tradition, which generally avoids the veneration of the various phenomena of Nature, there are numerous examples of sacred springs or wells, and rivers. In most cases, the spring or river has acquired sacredness through connection with a significant or miraculous event. The water of the River Jordan is sacred because Jesus Christ was baptized in it by Saint John the Baptist. The spring at Lourdes is sacred because of its healing properties in connection with the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette. In some cases, such as the holy well at Chartres, or the Chalice Well at Glastonbury were probably already sacred in pagan times.

While sacred in their own right, sacred springs also draw attention to the sacredness of water itself, reminding the Christian, for example, that water is a symbol of grace (and as such is used for baptism). Water is also one of the four elements possessing fundamental characteristics. In the Canticle of the Sun, St. Francis of Assisi praises God for water: Praised be Thou, O Lord, for sister water, who is very useful, humble, precious, and chaste. In many cultures, water appears as a reflection or an image of the soul. In Japan, water prefigures the purity and pliant simplicity of life. It can be both calm and animated, and the Japanese may contemplate the unruffled surface of a temple pond or make pilgrimages to waterfalls. The lotus-stream of the Buddha or Boddhisattva rises up from the waters of the soul, in the same way the spirit, illumined by knowledge, frees itself from passive existence.

In India, the sacred River Ganges embodies for Hindus the water of life. Bathing in the Ganges frees the bather from sin, the outward purification serving as symbolic support of inward purification. The source of the Ganges lies in the Himalayas, the mountains of the Gods, and descends to the plains of India as if from Heaven.

 

In our own tradition Deminan and his three brothers knocked down the gourd that created the seas,

In an other Taino creation story a Great Pumkin ( not affiliated with Charlie Brown ) it rolls down the mountain, crashes on a rock, and splits wide open; the sea with all its creatures spills out.

One of my elders Onnes who is an environmental activists and 

(nephew of reknown grandmother Unis Bowman of the Penobscot tribe )said that when water first rushes from the mountains it is pure ,but as it flows downward it is gradually contaminated by regions though which it passes,for all the refuse produced by man's activities eventually end up in the streams and rivers of the world .By the time it reaches the sea the water is saturated with impurities,before long the rays of Bonael transform the sea water to vapours ,and it makes its way back to the heaven purifed until it falls back to the earthmother in the form of rain,And the cycle begins once again.It is akind to our own life cycle.like drops of water the soul comes down to earth  pure ,each in a set of circumstances.each one fallows path picking up impurities as we learn and toil then worn and tried by our labours we return to the earth ,pehaps to return again .The shamanic process help us to remove some of the impurities to help light our load .

                                                          T.I.E.

   TRADITION = water as part living wisdom ,our ancestor understood that water flows not only on surface but also be beneath. One of the ways I have received great teachings from my own  family elders (sometimes unknowning to them) is to ask them to teach you something ,if they say like what, you say something spiritual,no matter what spiritual tradition they fallow, there Taino soul will compel them to teach you something .listen to the teaching ,but really be aware  the metaphorical concepts of what their sharing. Thank them with loving kindness.

 

 

   INSPIRATION = Take the metaphorical concepts meditation on them Better yet journey to understand each concept on seperate journeys or multiple journeys on one concept .

  

   EDUCATION = reseach the metaphorical concepts in native literature first in amazonia because our Arawak and Carib cousins still have a living languages with new words like TV, cell phone ,credit rating, so concepts should be found. Look at the basket of teaching you have received and work with them .

ba rai  Kunuk Ceiba