Water Witch

A lifetime attachment to water

Happy Cancer Season from this Scorpio Stellium! We are in, what I would arguably say, is the most watery season, at least for me. Cancer Season is a season where I see visible and noticeable cycles within myself. It is a time when I fully indulge and enter the watery depths of emotion. Water Is Life. Water is also incredibly regulating to me and always has been. I want to share with you a bit of my watery path, including a book recommendation.

While this is not a high quality picture by any means, it is one of my favorites because it was when, as an adult, I really connected back to the water baby of my childhood. Baths were everything for me when I was a kid. In fact, when I had to start taking showers, I cried. I still don’t like showers. They physically hurt me on bad anxiety or sensory days.

Baths on the other hand? Amazing! Regulating! Relaxing! At my dad’s house, we only had a bathtub. We did not have a shower. (Weird I know, but as this newsletter grows, you will learn just how unconventional the state of my housing was.) I was often left alone for 5-10 hours at his house while he worked on the farm. I would make myself half a loaf of toast, bring a book (which I never read because I didn’t like reading), and put myself in the bathtub and just sit and eat and play. I was like ages 8-12. I had nothing else to do, and I knew I wasn’t allowed to watch the trash tv that was on midday.

My love of baths has been reinvigorated in the last 7 years or so. I am very careful about what I put in my baths due to health issues. I don’t put salts, oils, anything like that. I will put in a few flowers or plants and call it good. I will regularly set up an altar however in lieu of having items in the water with me.

My time in a tub is one of true and pure sensory and emotional regulation. It is a time for me. It is not a time to worry about lesson plans, taking out the trash, what we want to eat for dinner, etc. It is a time for me to read without the distractions of additional stimuli, to meditate without being extra fidgety, or to just let the water truly reset my nervous system. The water healing is real and powerful. Not only have I always had access to bathtubs, I have always had access to natural water sources.

I live in The Willamette Valley. The Willamette River cuts the city in half. Johnson Creek and Crystals Springs run through the SE part of the city where I grew up. In this photo, you can see where these two bodies of water meet to form just Johnson Creek. I grew up playing in both the creek and the spring. I would lie down on my bridge (a plank of wood that was truly unstable) on my tummy and “fish” like a bear. I was just pulling out whatever plants I could reach. I lost more than one pair of shoes in that spring much to my parents’ irritation. When I reach back to do inner child healing, I am put there under the protection of the willow tree and the healing, cooling waters of the creek.

Last year, I took myself back to this point where the creek and spring meet. I reconnected with it. I felt true healing. I felt the processing of emotion, and I felt a large part of my body find peace. I cleansed myself, my crystals, and I brought my little hiking bear Alder to play with because it did my inner child good.

Here’s what I have noticed about Cancer Season. It is when I crave time by the water most. It is when I am asking for weekly trips to the coast to be with the purifying waters of the ocean. It is when I am ready to have a lake day and actually get in the lake and feel the serenity. It is when I am ready to step into the river and let it wash away the school year from top to bottom, wash away the stress, the grief, and the betrayals. Am I dirtier than when I went in? Yes, usually. Spiritually? I am a new girl.

I have been reading Water Witchcraft by Annwyn Avalon. It is very much a reference text, but I am devouring it. I love it! I think what I am loving most is the confirmation of my own feelings with my connection to water. Also, I don’t mind learning about the different ways to use water within my practice. I have been super excited about my rose water. It turns out that what I made then was a hydrosol. I am planning to make all sorts of hydrosols! You can read about my misadventures with Doug Fir Hydrosol here.

Using hydrosols to cleanse, protect, enchant is something that I am very interested in. I can’t wait to make more. Next on the list are cedar (my love of cedar dates back to 5th grade) and lavender because they are currently what I have. How do you use or want to use water in your practice?

When Cancer Season has me in the throes of emotion and depression, which is does most days, I seek the comfort of water. I seek the beauty, the movement, the purity of water. Not much feels as good as waterfall spray on a hot day, or looking at the world from behind a veil of water in the protection of a cave. Imagining the crushing force over me, not to crush but to get out every last iota of stagnancy.

I also have a deck I always use in during this cycle the Ethereal Visions Tarot. For some reason it gives me all of the Cancerian vibes. There is a card in it called The Well. It reminds me of Thor’s Well on the coast along with Devil’s Punch Bowl, which is one of my favorite destinations.

Wading in a river or lake feeling the rush of water beneath my feet, releasing all of the energy my feet have picked up and stored, feeling fresh and alive after… and sometimes ready for a post-water adventure coma. Water is amazing at the healing and the purifying. I have found that I am often ready for a nap after any form of water work. It gets into the tiny nooks and crannies of the soul, doing hard and deep work. Putting on a Lune Innate video after is a quick way for me to fall into a deep and healing sleep.

My hiking buddy and I call these seasonal falls “trickle trickles.” I have found the by far my favorite way to connect with calm and fairies. They are moving. They are not stagnant, but they also are not fast or crushing. They have a soft and gentle way of holding you and holding space. This is generally the waters that I collect from to use in my baths or put as offerings on my altars. Now that I’ve learned about offering the water back to its source if you are keeping it in a jar and not using it, I think I will try that though many of these spots I only visit once a year or so.

I am just going to leave you with some of my favorite water photos. Most hikes that I do involve water of some sort. The only times they don’t are when we are going for a view (but around here if there’s a view, there’s a body of water within that view) or for the wildflowers. Wildflower season is the only thing that gets me through the long, cold, dark winters.

In case you missed it, I have some new divination spreads up on IG. You can find them below. With so many planets in retrograde, I am also finding this Cancer Season to be a great time to get deep with the divination and reflection.

Wishing you well this week! May your life offer what you need in this moment.

With love,

Aventurine ✨