Water Medicine

WOW!!! I was just sitting here typing and saw something in the sky from my window in front of me here in my home office. I could not believe my eyes! It was a Great Blue Heron soaring gracefully.

That's a first! I've seen them down by the water but only once been surprised by a visit, and that was on Thunder Mountain when my friend, my daughter and I were on our way to a very special lake up on the mountain. The heron was right in our path, confirming for me that it was good medicine, the ceremony we were about to do.

Today though, seeing that blue heron brings me back into the studio last night, with percussionist Derek Thorne and bass player Dennis Mohammed. Derek was using a beautiful set of congas. I asked him what the hide was on top and he said probably steer for one of them. But then he pointed to the other, and he said it was from a Water Buffalo.

If you know me personally, or you've come to a performance or workshop of mine, you'll know that water is very important to me. I have a song "Water From the Sky" that brings rain for healing, that I channeled instantly as I stood in the pouring rain on purpose to heal my headache just before I left for Thunder Mountain. I have another water song called "Crystal Clear" that will be on my next album and it also came instantly when I was performing at a spiritual gathering.

I always talk about being thankful for your water, how that feeling of gratitude can actually change the physical properties of the water, and even create healing water.

Well, last night when Derek was drumming his heart out on those congas, I felt tears of gratitude welling up in my eyes at the thought of having water medicine - that water buffalo spirit - on this album. And now this blue heron shows up. What are the odds that I'd be sitting here at my desk at the exact time that waterbird flew over my rooftop?

Nothing is a coincidence. And I can see a crystalline thread weaving together several occurrences, a sudden spontaneous chain of insights this afternoon that I felt driven to share with you here.

It also brings me back to think about how as soon as I left the studio yesterday to get us lunch, it began to rain and continued even as the sun shone the entire way to my destination. And that lead me to think about how we've had perhaps the most rain and thunder ever in a summer here in Toronto.

Do you see? Ever since I started to work on this CD after a5 month hiatus, I've been surrounded by water medicine. In the Anishnabe (Ojibwe) culture, the elders are always saying that water is the first medicine. During childbirth, the water comes first. At our full moon ceremonies, water is honoured.

We know water is a direct representation of the divine feminine principle. Water is about receptivity, flowing emotion, movement and giving birth. It's about finding clarity, being refreshed with new energy, allowing yourself to receive the blessings you give birth to - not just babies, but new desires, creations, manifesfations.

Right now I'm feeling overwhelming gratitude for the medicine of water, and I'm realizing that this CD called Medicine Song that I'm working on is going to be overflowing with water medicine. Even the location of the studio... right down by the waterfront. What a blessing.

Another insight occurs to me. Of course we would need more rain, more snow, more water right now. Mother Earth is in a healing and cleansing time. Water naturally moves energy. And we all need to be drinking more water as a result of these new energies flowing into and around our Mother Earth.

So this is what that great blue heron reminds me of today, and as I type this, I can see we are indeed going to get more water again today, as blue-grey clouds move together above me and the dance of the maple leaves shifts and changes every few moments.

Do you know what I'm going to say next?

Drink some water... but before you do, please feel gratitude in your heart and offer that gratitude to your water. And guess what? It has just started to rain.

Peace, Love & Light,
Brenda

Brenda MacIntyre, Medicine Song Woman
416.519.SONG (7664)
www.BrendaMacIntyre.com

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Native Singer/Drummer | Artist| Healer | Speaker
:: Nominee, Best Hand Drum CD, Aboriginal People's Choice Awards 2007
:: 2007 Aboriginal Businesswoman of the Year
:: #1 Canadian Artist in Neo Soul, MySpace.com
:: Author of the forthcoming book "Medicine Song"