But FIRST: On MOTHERHOOD AND THE OCEAN
Have you ever noticed that the ocean is strikingly similar to the waters of a mother’s womb? Not all have tasted the saltiness of their babe’s amniotic fluid - the water world within which they lived amphibiously before being delivered to land - but I have, and it tastes exactly the same as the sea.
Can you connect to what it was like to exist in the salty waters of your mother’s womb? Can you taste the ocean, and at once feel your beginning? To travel even further back in time, contemplate, for a moment, how the first life-forms of this planet originated in the sea. Can you feel the truth of this in your body? How incredible that this magic ‘pocean,’ so to speak, is what facilitated your growth into a beautiful, birth-giving, postpartum-expanding human being, capable of creating and ushering forth life itself. Pocean, when spelled as such, is definitive of the essence of this magic, for living as one with nature is the primary element of the potion at hand.
Returning to the vast oceanic womb of Mother Earth as children, as adults, as mothers, is akin to returning to that liminal space between living a life inside the body of another, and living a life of your own. The waves of labor force us to emerge on land, just as the waves of the ocean will carry you back to the shore. Sometimes the waves feel impossible to overcome, but those who live outside of fear will quickly learn to surrender to the power of the ocean, and trust that once the energy of the pummeling waves has passed, she will encourage you to rise to the surface to breathe life into your lungs.
This is not to say the ocean cannot be destructive. Just like mothers, she can both create and destroy. She is capable of powers that remain unimaginable until you naively cross her by assuming you are stronger than she is, or that you could outsmart her with ease. Mothers are similarly capable of the unimaginable, and thus you would be wise to tread lightly on our shores. With a healthy respect for our power and wisdom, humanity will find joy and comfort in our presence, and will benefit from our deep wells of inner knowing.
There is magic within salty waters, be it sea or womb, for water is life. As humans, we are meant to enjoy these waters, to grow within them, to be one with them. We are meant to always sense a deep belonging to them. For mothers, the ocean can remind them of what it means to be small, and serve as a reminder of the magic of their womb. Staring far into the horizon, where the sun kisses the sea, can allow for moments of pause in the company of all five elements. Earth, fire, water, air, ether. All are present on the shores of the sea. Immerse yourself in them and feel the importance of your existence. You are of the sea. You are wild and powerful, just like the sea. Remember this as you mother. You too can create waves and life; you too are majestic and vast; you too are beautiful and wise.