Water
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Written by Brooke Gibson & Athena Hope
Henry David Thoreau was quoted to have said, “Water is the only drink for a wise man.” All life forms on Earth depend on water, to one degree or another, to flourish. Without water, a human will die in approximately five to seven days. From a physical perspective, our bones and muscles shape us, but flowing throughout it all, is water. Our bodies are around seventy-five percent water; therefore, it is critical to have a good relationship with the water that is so prevalent and imperative in our lives. Drinking an appropriate amount of water is an inexpensive way to prevent disease, give you energy, and just make you feel better.
Let us take a few moments to remember and honor our connection to this sacred liquid, sustainer of life on this planet. Feel how much of your own body is made up of water, how your blood is akin to water, carrying needed nutrients to all parts of the body, flowing where its needed... flowing gently, everywhere, through all parts of your being. Feel how watery your eyes are, how moist, and your mouth, feel your saliva as akin to the element water. Remember how good it feels to your body and spirit to splash into a cool river or lake on a hot day, refreshing and renewing your energy. Remember, too, the sound of water, as it flows in a raging river stream or trickles down the hillside as a waterfall. Remember water as it falls from the sky above as rain, giving life to all growing things.
Water is sacred. Yet it is so familiar, so necessary and used so frequently, sometimes we forget to honor it as we take it into our bodies. It has been shown that water is receptive to the energies that are put into it. As one of the four elements that make up our beings and the earth, water has been revered by cultures worldwide since the beginning of human existence.
Properties Of Water
Like oxygen, water is essential to our survival. Water carries nutrients, disposes of waste, and is cooling, cleansing, and purifying. Dr. Alexis Carrell, a Nobel Prize winner, says, "The cell is immortal. It is merely the fluid in which it floats that degenerates. Renew this fluid at regular intervals, give the cells what they require for nutrition, and as far as we know, the pulsation of life can go on forever." In Healing With Whole foods (2002), author Paul Pitchford says, “Every type of water has a unique quality, rain water tastes lighter; well water is more mineralized; river, lake, and spring water each bear qualities encountered in their journey…water can have a greater or lesser intrinsic energy (qi) just as we do.” Water, by nature, is especially absorbent. This means it absorbs positive and negative physical materials like minerals and toxins as well as positive and negative energies like love and fear.
Water Intake
Unfortunately, many people have exchanged water for modern, more flavorful drinks in their daily lives. Combine that with the poor quality of water due to generations of pollution in the world today and it is simply appalling. An overwhelming majority of the American population is chronically dehydrated. This lack of quality drinking water could be part of a weakened thirst mechanism, whereby the body does not send the thirst signal to the brain to register until you are already dehydrated. Once dehydrated, you have a decrease in blood volume and an increase in the sodium content of the blood. Therefore, it is extremely important to have a continuous intake of water even if you do not feel thirsty. If a people are in ill health, for any reason, it would be a good idea to first ask themselves if they are drinking adequate amounts of water. Healers should be especially aware of the importance of drinking plenty of good quality water. Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, in his book, Water And Salt: Your Healers Within (2003), tells us: "Chronic pains of the body which cannot easily be explained as injury or infection, should first and foremost be interpreted as signals of chronic water shortage in the area where the pain is registered. These pain signals should first be considered and excluded as primary indicators for dehydration of the body before any other complicated procedures are forced on the patient." Simply drinking more water can help with a number of things people might otherwise take drugs for. Such as: arthritis, asthma, rheumatism, chronic fatigue syndrome, sleep disorders, addiction, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, migraine (and other headaches), diabetes, hypoglycemia, heartburn, constipation, fatigue, kidney stones, colitis, premenstrual syndrome, hot flashes, morning sickness, osteoporosis, and muscle pain, etc. Water can even help slow the aging process. It can be very helpful for losing weight. In fact, our thirst mechanism is often so weak it is mistaken for hunger and even mild dehydration will slow the metabolism as much as three percent. Our brain, making up only two percent of our body weight, gets fifteen to twenty percent of our body’s blood supply, so dehydration will affect our cognitive ability. Drinking too little water is the number one cause of daytime fatigue. Drinking sufficient amounts of water can also exponentially decrease the risk of many cancers. Whether or not a person drinks an adequate amount of water can play a very significant role in healing and can mean the difference in recovery.
It is typically suggested to drink at least eight, eight-ounce glasses of water a day. However, your body requirement depends on several variables. Tea, coffee, alcohol, and soda, although they are liquids, will actually dehydrate you, so you should drink two glasses of water for every glass of these water-zapping beverages you consume. Think of what you drink as pouring water through a sponge. If you pour glasses of soda pop or coffee through a sponge, it will get dirtier and stickier with every glass. To get rid of this buildup you must cleanse it with water. Every glass of water you pour through it will make it increasingly clean and pure. Another thing to consider is the activity level of a person. A person that does physical labor or exercises a great deal requires more water than a person that is less active. Vegetarians do not need as much water as someone who eats meat; a person who eats many fruits and vegetables will get some of their water requirements through the food they eat. People that eat saltier foods should drink more water. The climate a person lives in is another factor. People living in drier climates should drink more water than people in cooler, damper climates. In addition, as we age, our water reserve gets lower, and we should drink more water to compensate. This has the desirable side effect of slowing the aging process.
Types Of Water
Tap Water: This is the most common type of water that the general population drinks on a day to day basis. According to Prescription For Nutritional Healing (1997), tap water is obtained from surface water (water that has run off from ponds, brooks, streams, rivers, and lakes, and is collected in reservoirs) or ground water (water that has filtered through the ground to the water table and is extracted by means of a well). Tap water that comes from public sources is generally recycled numerous times and treated with a slew of chemicals to make it drinkable. Municipal water sources are required to maintain standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA defines pure water as “bacteriologically safe” and requires public water sources to send you an annual assessment of water quality. Even so, one third of community water sources have been cited for not meeting the safety standards. Contaminants are common in tap water. In 1998 there was a study that identified over 2100 contaminants in tap water in the United States. They can include: radon, fluoride, iron, lead, copper, arsenic, asbestos, cyanides, herbicides, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Community water sources then add chlorine, carbon, lime phosphates, soda ash, and aluminum sulfate to kill bacteria, adjust pH levels, and reduce cloudiness. The 15% of Americans that use private wells should also be cautious because there is no regulation on wells at all. Private wells are commonly near farms that use chemical fertilizers which can leak into the ground water. One chemical that is commonly added to water to kill bacteria is chlorine. The human body is not meant to ingest chlorine. Chlorine destroys vitamin E in the body and causes vascular disease. It also destroys flora, which is necessary in digestion. Long-time swimmers in pools containing chlorine are more prone to skin cancer. Once chlorine is out of the tap it will quickly evaporate, so a good idea is to leave it in an open container for thirty minutes. However, chlorine can combine with organic materials in water to form chloroform, which is cancer forming, and chloroform does not evaporate. In 1979 Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) replaced lead in gasoline to increase octane content. This was done with the idea that it would reduce the smog and carbon monoxide released into the air by lead. The bad news is that MTBE ends up in drinking water, especially where gas-powered recreational watercraft are permitted. It only takes twelve ounces of MTBE to contaminate thirteen million gallons of drinking water. MTBE, it is found to cause cancer in rats, and is clearly not meant to be ingested. The EPA has considered making MTBE testing mandatory but has not yet to date. A very common additive to drinking water that is probably the most misperceived is fluoride. Half of the cities in the United States add fluoride to drinking water and some states actually require it. Most Americans believe that this is good for us, that it strengthens our teeth and bones. It is true that calcium fluoride is excellent for decay prevention, but it is not calcium fluoride that is added to the water we drink. It is sodium fluoride, a combination that is not found in nature, and is toxic to the human body. Sodium fluoride is a toxic by-product of the aluminum industry, and sodium flouride used to be very expensive to dispose of until cities began adding it to drinking water supplies.
Bottled Water: While the Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of the quality of our tap water, it is The Food and Drug Administration that is in charge of the quality of bottled water. Recently, with the modern popularity of the convenience of bottled water, the FDA has implemented specific requirements for terms you will find on labels of bottled water. There are eight defined terms; any others are simply marketing techniques to give the impression of superior water. An important factor in choosing bottled water is that most bottled water comes in plastic bottles, and usually you don’t know how long the water has been there or whether or not it was stored in a cooled environment or not. This is important because particles of plastic over time and especially in heat will discharge into the water. An investigative report showed that many prominent bottled water companies were simply using filtered tap water and that the water did not come from some exotic location at all. Therefore, looking into a bottled water company is certainly worthwhile if you want high-quality clean water.
Artesian or Artesian Well: This means water is drawn from a well where water is brought to the surface by natural flow or force.
Bottled: Bottled water is water with no additional ingredients with the exception of optional anti-microbial agents (if so, it must be identified on the label.) If bottled water comes from a municipal source it must disclose that information on the label. Close to a quarter of bottled water sold actually comes from the same water supplies that some communities have coming from their taps.
Deionized or Demineralized: When you see this on a label, it means the adding or taking away of electrons has neutralized the electric charge of a molecule of water. This removes nitrates and the minerals calcium and magnesium and cadmium, and barium, lead, mercury and some forms of radium, which are heavy metals.
Ground Water: This is water that comes from the water table underground. It must be under pressure of at least equal to atmospheric pressure. Ground water must not come in contact with surface water and has to be pumped mechanically for bottling.
Mineral Water: No minerals may be added to water labeled Mineral Water. This is water with naturally occurring minerals of at least 250 parts per million TDS (total dissolved solids). It must originate from a geologically and physically protected underground water source or spring that has been tapped either at the spring or though a borehole. The mineral content will vary depending on the source if the mineral content is below 500 parts per million TDS it may be labeled “low mineral content.” If it is over 1500 parts per million it can be labeled “high mineral content.” Most mineral waters are carbonated.
Natural Spring Water: This is water that comes from an underground formation where the water flows naturally to the surface of the earth at a spring. Spring water does not have to be collected at the spring, it can be drawn through a borehole, but a spring must be present to use the term “spring water.” Spring water must not have the mineral content altered, but it can be otherwise treated or filtered.
Sparkling Water: Sparkling water has the same amount of carbon dioxide that it had at the water source. A label may say “Naturally Sparkling Water,” which means it gets its carbonation from the source or it may say “Carbonated Natural Water,” which means it had the same amount of CO2 found at the source added later. In “Carbonated Natural Water,” nothing else is altered so it is still termed “Natural.” Sparkling water can have sweeteners added, so be sure to read the label; soda water, seltzer water and tonic water are not bottled waters.
Steam-Distilled Water: The same as a home distiller, steam-distilled water is vaporized and then the vapor is collected as pure water. This is the most un-adulterated water possible on the market, next to ground water.
Water Filtration
Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, directed the people of Greece to boil and strain water before drinking it. Nature filters water through rocks and soil, which absorbs bacteria and replaces it with minerals. This is, of course, the best filtration method providing there is no pollution present. As for modern tap water, it is increasingly important to filter it to remove the contaminants and added chemicals. The following are some common methods of filtering water. None of the methods, however, will remove all pollutants, so it is best to use more than one method.
Activated Carbon Filters: Activated carbon filters work by absorbing impurities. They are inexpensive and easy to use, usually an attachment to your tap or a filtration pitcher. Carbon will pick up most wastes that are not water-soluble. The downfall is that activated carbon does not remove nitrates, nitrites, or sodium fluoride. It is important to replace activated carbon filters regularly. A dirty carbon filter is worse than no filter at all. Some manufacturers state that the filter must be used with chlorinated water in order to help reduce bacterial and fungal growth. Some carbon filters contain silver or other metals to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth. However, the metal leaches into the water to some degree. This is not desirable. Another downfall with carbon filters according to Dr. Lawrence Wilson is that in order for it to work, water must pass slowly over the carbon. If it passes quickly, toxins will not be absorbed nearly as well by the carbon. In most carbon filtering systems, the water passes through the carbon much too rapidly to be really effective. (http://www.drlwilson.com/Articles/water.htm)
A related type of filter is called a carbon block. It consists of activated charcoal that has been compressed at high pressure. It is far more dense than simple carbon. The advantage of the carbon block is the water is exposed to more carbon. Also, the tightly compressed carbon can trap larger particles, including some heavy metals. As a filtering material, it is far superior to simple carbon. Problems with the carbon block are similar to those of regular carbon filters. It can become easily contaminated with fungi and bacteria. There is no simple test to tell if your filter has become contaminated or how efficiently it is filtering the water. For these reasons, I consider carbon filters definitely second best, although better than nothing if changed frequently. Distillation
Distillers bring water to boil, causing it to steam and leave any contaminants behind. The pure steam is collected and then condensed to form pure, unpolluted H20. Distilled water is water in its purest form, with no minerals, impurities, or contaminants. It is the nature of steam-distilled water to leach inorganic materials and minerals that have been rejected by the cells. Therefore, it is excellent for detoxification. However, the lack of minerals in distilled water is not good for you on a consistent basis. For instance, fish cannot live in distilled water. Drinking excessive distilled water can leach necessary minerals from the body. Another problem with distillers is that most municipal water sources contain hydrocarbons, which have a lower boiling point than water, so they end up in the final-product. Some distillation systems come with a final stage carbon filter, which eliminates this problem. Gabriel Counsens, M.D., suggests in Spiritual Nutrition (2005) to re-mineralize and spiritually charge distilled water through a process that includes putting crystals and high quality, mineralized salt in the water, charging it with moonlight, blessing it, and swirling it to create vortexes of energy.
Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a recent alternative to distillation; it sends force-pressurized water through a contamination-rejecting membrane and then sends uncontaminated water to a holding tank. This method does a good job removing most toxins, gasses, and minerals and is getting price-competitive with carbon filters. A downside of this method is that for every gallon of purified water, you get several gallons of waste water. Also, the meter that tests the integrity of the membrane is not exact. Water purified through reverse osmosis can vary in its purity. Another problem with reverse osmosis is the longevity of the plastics used in the membrane. The polycarbonate plastics degrade slowly in the landfills. Filled with toxic substances, they represent a source of long-term pollution. Extremely high-temperature incineration, which is gaining in popularity, is a much better form of disposal of the membranes.
If these filtration devices are unavailable to you, an alternative would be to bring your water to a rolling boil for 3-5 minutes. The problem with this is that it will concentrate any lead present in the water and you will have, of course, to cool the water afterward. Another way people sometimes treat water is to use a water softening system. This is typically a whole-house system that takes hard water that is high in calcium and magnesium (the “hardness” of water varies across the country, some water is naturally soft) and passes it through a system that exchanges “hard” calcium and magnesium ions for “soft” sodium or potassium ions. The reason people use a system like this is because hard water leaves filmy residue on shower, pipes, clothes, hair, etc. so soft water makes skin and hair feel healthier and it eliminates or reduces hard water stains. Soft water is not necessarily better for ingestion and can in fact be unsafe as it can dissolve plumbing, which releases toxins. Lead pipes may be present in older buildings. Also plastic galvanized pipes contain cadmium (a toxic heavy metal). Even newer copper pipes can contain dangerous levels of copper, iron, zinc, and arsenic. Potassium-based water softeners are dangerous to people with kidney failure that are supposed to reduce potassium intake and they should not use potassium-based water softeners.
Blessings For Water
There are many ways to bless water. If you do not presently bless your water, I encourage you to experiment with your own intuition for blessings. This section will give you one blessing to try if you like, or for inspiration on formulating another blessing of your own. This blessing is given to us from Kwan Yin and the Ascended Masters as channeled by Marjorie Musacchio. (www.mykwanyin.com) Using your own hands to bless the water, sense the energy that is coming down through the crown, into the heart, out through the hands and into the water. The following words can be said out loud or silently.
“With these hands, with this heart
and with the pure intention of God,
this water is now blessed
removing and transmuting all impurities
and returning them to the Light forever,
Peace”
Using your own hands to bless the water, sense the energy that is coming down through the crown, into the heart, out through the hands and into the water. Hold it for a little while as though you would hold a baby. It can be ended in what anyone likes to use in their own religion, whether it is Amen, Om, So Be It, Namasté, or whatever they choose. This water can be used, and it will bless any amount of water you add it to. You can take this water and disperse it. 1 ounce of this water in approximately 7, 8 or 9 ounces will be plenty. This could become a magnificent healing force. Take some blessed water and pour it into a river, lake or ocean near you and help to heal the planet.
Healing Waters Of The World
The phenomenon of healing waters, (waters that heal disease, bring vitality and refreshment, ease pains, and so forth), has been found throughout the world. Below are a few examples from http://www.share-international.org.
Mexico
One of the earliest reports came from Tlacote, Mexico, a small village 150 miles north of Mexico City. There in 1991, on a chicken ranch belonging to Jesus Chahin Simon, his dog, Lucas, was cured of wounds after drinking from a well. Chahin tested the water with great success on his ranch workers and farm animals, then decided to make it available to everyone, free of charge.
Though the number of visitors has now declined, four or five years ago as many as 10,000 people a day often lined up at his gate, some in wheel chairs or walkers, patiently waiting their turn. Chahin has kept well-documented medical records of diabetes, high blood pressure, glaucoma, arthritis and many other ailments being cured. In addition, the water has increased the productivity of the ranch. Plants and trees bear extra crops, an unusual occurrence for an area with a cool climate.
Germany
In 1992, Mrs. Theo Tommes of Nordenau, Germany was investigating an abandoned slate mine, seeking a place to store wine for the family hotel business. When she entered the cave she was amazed to see it was illumined by a brilliant white light. Also she saw small crosses of light within the glow. Experts were invited to study the phenomenon, and they not only recorded a high level of energy in the cave, but noticed in addition a spring with remarkably pure water. Two German labs analyzed the water and found it to be 8 percent lighter than ordinary water. Numerous visitors who have used the water claim to have experienced healings and cures. Now busloads of pilgrims arrive daily. A German reporter with the Bild, Guido Brandenburg, tested the water for himself. "After five minutes my fingertips vibrated," he said. "I felt as if an electric current flowed through me." India
Also in 1992 came a report from Nadana, a small village in India, about 90 miles north of New Delhi. There, water began to spontaneously gush from a deserted well. Local villagers who bathed in the water said they were cured of various skin diseases. In a short time the news spread throughout the area, bringing a constant stream of visitors, sometimes 20,000 a day. Most people using the water claimed physical benefits; a five-year-old polio victim was reportedly cured.