Direction:

West

Season:
Fall

Time of Day:
Twilight

Tarot Suit:
Cups

Magickal Tool:
Cauldron, Chalice, Cup

Sabbats:
Litha, Yule

Moon Phase:
Full

Gender:
Female

Creatures:
Fish, Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, Otters, Beavers, Seals, Walrus Starfish, Anemones, Shellfish, Abalone, Sea Snails, Crabs, Lobsters, Scorpions, Sea Horses, Barnacles, Sea Urchins, Sand Dollars, One-Celled Organisms, Seagulls, Ducks, Swans, Herons, Albatross, Puffins, Cormorants, Alligators, Crocodiles, Eels, Water Snakes, Frogs, Leeches, Water Dragons, Mermaids, The Archangel associated with Water and the West is Gabriel. Some sources see this angel as masculine, others feminine; in general, angels are considered beyond gender. S/he rules birth, death, and transformation. S/he is the angel of mercy and justice in balance. S/he is considered the angel of the Moon, and guardian of women's cycles and childbirth. S/he can be seen with a cup or a horn, and is usually dressed in blue with orange highlights.

Colors:
Blues - all shades, Gray, Sea Green, Silver, White

Herb/Essence:
Adam & Eve Root, African Violet, Aloe, Apple, Apricot, Arnica, Ash, Aster, Avocado, Balm of Gilead, Banana, Birch, Blackberry, Bladderwrack, Bleeding Heart, Blue Flag, Buchu, Burdock, Cabbage, Calamus, Carnelia, Camphor, Caper, Cardamon, Cascara Sagrada, Catnip, Chamomile, Cherry, Chickweed, Cleavers, Club Moss, Coconut, Coltsfoot, Columbine, Comfrey, Cuckoo-flower, Cucumber, Cyclamen, Daffodil, Daisy, Datura, Dittany of Crete, Dodder, Dulse, Elder, Elm, Eryngo, Eucalyptus, Euphorbia, Feverfew, Foxglove, Gardenia, Golden Seal, Gourd, Grape, Groundsel, Heather, Hellebore, Hemlock, Hemp, Henbane, Hibiscus, Huckleberry, Hyacinth, Irish Moss, Jasmine, Kava Kava, Lady's Slipper, Larkspur, Lemon, Lemon Balm, Lettuce, Licorice, Lilac, Lily, Lobelia, Lotus, Love See, Lucky Hand, Maidenhair, Marshmallow, Mesquite, Mimosa, Moonwort, Morning Glory, Myrrh, Myrtle, Orchid, Orris, Pansy, Papaya, Passion Flower, Peach, Pear, Periwinkle, Persimmon, Plum, Plumeria, Poplar, Poppy, Purslane, Ragwort, Raspberry, Reed, Rose, Saffon, Sandalwood, Scullcap, Seaweed, Skunk Cabbage, Solomon's Seal, Spearmint, Spikenard, Strawberry, Sugar Cane, Sweetpea, Tamarind, Tamarisk, Thyme, Tomato, Tonka, Trillium, Valerian, Vanilla, Violet, Water Lily, Watercress, Willow, Wintergreen, Wood Aloe, Yarrow, Yew

Zodiac Sign:
Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio

Elemental Being:
Undine

Sense:
Taste

Stone(s):
Amethyst, Aquamarine, Blue Agate, Blue Calcite, Blue Tourmaline, Chrysocolla, Green Tourmaline, Jade, Lapis Lazuli, Moonstone, Pearl, Pink Calcite,, Pink Tourmaline, Pearl, Quartz, Sapphire, Selenite, Sodalite, Suglite

Symbols:
Cup, Dolphin, Dugong, Fish, Frog, Hare, Mother-of-Pearl, Otter, Sea Salt, Seagull, Seal, Seashell, Shellfish, Shells, Turtle, Water, Whale

Metal:
Copper, Mercury, Silver

Goddesses:
Aphrodite, Isis, Mariamne, Mari, Tiamat

Gods:
Dylan, Ea, Llyr, Manannan, Osiris, Neptune, Poseidon

Magick:
Beauty, Childbearing and Rearing, Cleansing, Communicating with Ancestors, Compassion, Dreams, Emotion, Family, Fertility, Fog Magick, Forgiveness, Friends, Friendship, Happiness, Healing, Home..comfort and beauty, Ice Magick, Intuition, Letting go, Love, Lunar Things, Magnet Magick, Marriage, Meditation, Mirror Magick, Mysteries of Self, Partnerships, Peace, Pleasure, Psychic Acts, Psychic Awareness, Psychic Power, Purification, Reconcilliation, Sea Magick, Sensuality, Sexuality, Sleep, Snow Magick, Soothing, Sorrow, Stress Relief, Subconscious, Unconscious Mind, Water Magick, Womb

Psychological Qualities:
Balanced Water:
Compassion, Comprehension, Conscience, Devotion, Forgiveness, Receptivity, Tranquility
Imbalanced Water:
Apathy, Depression, Frigidity, Laziness, Indifference, Insolence, Instability
Things to do to help you feel connected with the Element of Water:
...Take a moment to picture in your mind some of the moods of water. Waves crashing on rocks, perhaps. Or a rivulet flowing downstream. Or the surface of a pond rippling out in concentric rings when disturbed by a rock. Let the images flow...fast or slow...and in each case take a moment to note how they make you feel. Some may fill you with awe, others may make you laugh. Some may lull you into a doze and others may chill you to fearful alert. Some may make you feel disgusted, slightly nauseous, and others stun you with their beauty. Some of these images and the feelings they spark may flick in and out quickly, others may catch and hold your attention. Many of them will call up memories, each with a similar emotional charge. Are the majority of these memories sparked by water joyful or otherwise? Just note what you observe...and let the waters flow on...
Water is the element generally associated with West in circle. It is the place where the sun sets...so a place associated with earned rest. It is, naturally enough, associated with dusk...that hazy time between true day and true night...between work and sleep. It is associated with middle age, that time when we have settled to enjoy some peace...in relationships, in constructive work, in the raising of our children. (...well, again, water isn't always peaceful!) And the shadowy in-between time, when light and shadow are so hard to distinguish is also a metaphor for another association of water...that of dreams, visions, and illusions. Just as, in dreams, the connections between scenes and events are murky and might not make sense...water can seep in unexpected ways through the ground or through walls. Just as mist can make both vision and hearing inaccurate...just as water can magnify anything seen through it... just as a watery surface can act as a mirror that distorts, so can our emotions render our perceptions inaccurate....and create illusion. And a classic way to scry for visions is to use a bowl of water.
....Imagine that you are out in a forest near dusk. You see a cottage on a hill in the distance, and start walking toward it. As the sky gets darker, the lines between the tree trunks and the shadows become harder to make out....and a mist begins to rise. You see the house before you...but soon the mist rises above the level of your eyes, and you can see little but the trunks of the trees a few feet in front of you...soon you have no idea if you have seen these trees before...or if you are even still going in the right direction. For a moment, you feel despair, and you wonder if you will be able to find any shelter at all for the night.... Take a moment to ground, to center, and to ask for guidance. As you do, a sense of peace comes over you...and you open your eyes to see the cottage shining on the hill before you. A voice whispers, "Use your heart." You aren't sure what this means, but you send out a line of energy from your heart to the cottage...and when the mist rises to obscure it again, you manage to maintain a sense of direction as long as you stay centered in your heart. See yourself pushing onward though the grayness and the treetrunks...until you eventually reach your destination....
Take a glass of water, and put three drops of food colouring into it. Watch how the food coloring swirls out in tendrils to mix with the water. See how things move in water. What starts as a discrete drop soon becomes a beautiful pattern of interlaced swirls. In a few minutes, the whole area will be coloured...with bits of colour moving into the bands that are still clear. After a couple of hours, the whole glass will be a uniform colour. This shows how anything placed in water will eventually come into contact with everything else in that body of water...
...Fill your bathtub with warm water, scent it with roses, jasmine, or ylang ylang, and sink into the water. Do this when it's dark, and have the lights turned off. Let the water surround you as much as possible. Be still. Feel the water ripple over you as it responds to the movements of your breathing. Hear your heartbeat. Ask the Mother to let you feel Her love...and open to receive it. Let yourself imagine that you are in Her womb...the dark, peaceful watery nourishment of Her cauldron where life begins... ...to complete the picture, roll over, so you are face down...and hum a lullaby into the water. Hear your voice resonate through the water, and imagine it is the Mother Herself singing her love to you. Breathe when you must...but keep singing and breathing and floating until you are surrounded and permeated by a sense of Her love...
The next time you have a shower, imagine that with the water spraying down around you is a shower of sparkling white healing energy. Let it flow over your head and down your body...and let it flow through your body. Imagine that as this energy flows through you, though the matrix of water held together by the walls of your cells, it flows into each and every cell and cleanses emotional residues. Let it wash away any old feelings you have been carrying that no longer serve you.... ...you would know better than I what those might be...but an example might be that you could let go of any old fears you suffered as an infant that your mother or father might not love you...whatever the truth of these fears might have been, you are an adult; you made it, and you have formed your own life and opinions. And fear about having people accept you can only hold you back... ....whatever emotion you decide to cleanse, just let it wash away as the healing watery energy flows through you....and see it wash down the drain with the swirling water. Then pamper yourself with some rich skin cream or a hot drink by the fire as you dry off in your robe.... Of course, one of the more wonderful gifts of Water, which combines both its cleansing action and it's Love, is forgiveness. Cleanse the old resentments, fill those spaces up with love, and see how much better you feel.
....Some morning as you spend time with your altar at the beginning of the day, try this. Fill your chalice with clear water and let it sit on your altar while you meditate. Then choose intuitively a rune or tarot card ...or use some other divinatory device...asking for a message for the day. Take a moment to form an affirmation for the day based on how the card or device selected relates to the issues you are facing that day. Then lift the chalice, hold it in both hands, pull in the energy of the sky and the earth and let the energy run out your hands to charge the water with this affirmation. Drink the water down, imagining it entering all the cells in your body, carrying this affirmation into the water that fills your cells...
...Sometime near sunset, when the moon is waxing or full, take yourself to an ocean beach if that is possible, or to a lake or river. If it's warm enough and private enough, you might consider stripping down and bathing naked; if this isn't possible, consider at least taking your shoes off and putting your feet into the water. Think of someone you love whom you have a quarrel with. Take a few moments to review the quarrel, and really feel your anger and frustration. Then let this anger and frustration flow out your feet to whatever extent is possible, using your breath, perhaps with sounds or toning, to help it flow out. And then think of what you love about this person. Review all their good points and how much they have done for you. Focus on your heart as you breathe and let it open. Then allow yourself to see/feel/know that the energy of the Water is flowing up into your being. Feel it fill your legs...your pelvis...your abdomen...your chest...up to your shoulders and out your hands...and your head. Feel your heart in your chest, and feel it pump the loving energy of the water through you... And if it feels right, express in your own words that you are willing to see the other side of this quarrel, to try to understand the point of view of the other person involved. Not necessarily to accept it if it doesn't fit your own sense of truth, but to understand it and allow your loved one to have his/her own view. And allow the moonlight to shine into your being and speak to the energies of the waters flowing within you. Pull in the moonlight and let it shine in your being. And let a new level of love and understanding shine in you as well....
You might wish to make an altar in the western part of your living space to honour the Element of Water and the Undines. Drape it and decorate it in rich, watery blues and greens. Offer shells, feathers of waterbirds, and green watery stones. Have a chalice or bowl of water on this altar and change it daily. Welcome the Element and the Undines to make this their home. Then light the candles on this altar and drink its charged water when you explore your emotions in your journal, perform acts of love, work with your dreams, or work with psychic techniques.

Water Incense:
2 parts Benzoin
1 part Myrrh
1 part Sandalwood
1 part Rose petals
1 drop Ylang Ylang oil

Water Oil:
12 drops sweet pea
4 drops jasmine
7 drops camellia
4 drops lotus
2 drops sandalwood
1 drop myrrh

Invocation to the West and the Water Element:
Hail Guardian of the West, Element of Water
Hold this corner of my circle and let the Water flow into it.
Send to me the beautiful Undines to help in my healing work.
Bless me with the cleansing of the mountain streams,
The beauty of the waterfall,
The peace of the deep dreaming lakes,
The strength and mystery of the oceans,
The rejuvenative nourishment of the cauldron,
And the love of the Grail.
I feel you and welcome you.
Blessed Be.

Book of Shadows © 2001, Dana (Huntress of the Dark)