issue 8: Mní wičhóni, Water is Life
She is mysterious and magical, powerful and paradoxical, she defies our understanding of what is possible, she has the power to heal and to harm, sustain and destroy life, smooth over jagged boulders or split them apart, raze or raise up whole communities and civilizations…
Water, in all she is capable of and in all she represents, is the very essence of life.
I refer to Water in the feminine because this is how I know her. To regard and relate to Water in this way acknowledges her beingness and expresses the qualities of her feminine essence which flows through all biological life regardless of gender. She is our first home, protector and sustainer of life throughout the term of our gestation. In this way, she is Mother to all. She is the lifeblood of Mother Earth and courses through all our Earthborn bodies in much the same way which makes her the Great Unifier among all humans along with a vastly diverse array of life forms we may refer to as “relatives” because of our common Mother.
From her integral role in all biological processes to her ability to heal (I personally experienced a miraculous healing in the sacred Taos Blue Lake “Ba Whyea” waters), communicate, “remember” and store information (Dr. Rustum Roy calls water “the world's most malleable computer”), Water seems to embody something far more mysterious and transcendent than we may ever know through our sciences alone. There is so much about Water that mystifies the logical mind and even challenges the laws of physics it would seem that Water, by her very nature, is much like the White Rabbit archetype inviting us to follow her into the Great Mystery beyond. As curious minds and open hearts dive deeper into the Great Mystery of Water and her role as the essence of Life itself, profound insights into the fuller nature of the phenomenal world we live in and ourselves as biological, emotional and spiritual beings are offered up from the abyss.
Mní wičhóni is a Lakota Sioux expression which literally translates to “Water is Life”. The phrase along with the fundamental ideas, principles and values behind it had become a unifying rally cry for a diverse community of water protectors and water rights defenders across tribal, national, political and cultural lines in the Standing Rock movement. While the fight over Water can divide, the fight for Water and those who depend upon her can be a most unifying force for community empowerment.
The Standing Rock* movement represents not only a coming together of fundamental values and concerns among a diverse peoples, it served also as a powerful demonstration of unification against a common threat. Many emboldened people across this continent and beyond chose to make the journey, put their lives on hold and even on the line to stand up to a fundamental threat to the fundamental rights of a people most had no personal ties to though felt bound to as fellow humans and called to defend.
What exactly is this common threat the people of Standing Rock peacefully though not passively faced down? This threat represents an all-too-long-enduring mentality in our world that has led to the destruction and degradation of many lands, communities, traditional cultures and human values everywhere. The insatiable monster that primarily serves the wants and agendas of the self and a few entitled individuals over the wellbeing of the collective is not just an isolated threat, of course. The very spirit of this threat is timeless and ever-looming, it relies on our passive complicity, our complacency, compassion fatigue and general ignorance—innocent or willful—to allow and support its aims. What the people of Standing Rock and what we all must join and stand firm in resisting is not just an isolated threat nor singular issue, but one that affects us all as the children of Water and will continue to do so until we say with our words and actions No more.
In this week’s issue I intend not only to convey the essence of Water—her intelligence, nurturing and healing capacities, her power to unite and transform…—I wish also to highlight the essence of the Standing Rock movement—what it stood for and against, how it was organized and executed, how it embraced diversity and confronted prejudice, how they navigated legalities and organized strategically…—as examples to appreciate, educate and emulate ourselves. By viewing both as teachers and receiving what both have to show us from a place of openness and respect, their wisdom may inform and support us here with our efforts in the Greater World in our defense of water rights and honoring of agreements.
On behalf of myself and Water, I hope you will accept the invitation to dive deep, discover the essence of what you most value and feel yourself emboldened to rise up in unification with others to defend and preserve that which we cherish and rely upon for life.
In Truth, Beauty and Goodness,
B. Monique
*Standing Rock is both the name of the movement and the name of the Lakota Sioux reservation. The lives and future lives of the people of Standing Rock were under threat and they, along with thousands more, responded by rising strong, firm and unified like a standing rock. Because I so appreciate the genius of Creator, I find this coincidence to be no accident. Along the same lines, I wonder often what the name of our own “Greater World” community is inviting us into here and in what ways we might rise to the occasion together?
Find the full issue 8: Mní wičhóni, Water is Life newsletter here.
