FLOW, THE RIVER’S DAUGHTER: AN
ON-LINE FAERY TALE.
This is the story of a River Faery
named Flow. It is an exploration of the
natural mysteries of water, and the
natural history of water, it is an allegory about the spiritual properties of
water and the human/water connection, and it is a fantasy about the Spiritual
Awakening of Planet Earth and each of her children. I am writing it in installments and I will post it on my facebook page, www.facebook.com/Earthwalk.ways discussion pages and here as I go. Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more installments over time.
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Flow is as ancient as the cosmic
elements that express her, and as young
as new fallen rains. In spirit and in form she is quicksilver fluidity
and movement, shape-shifting with the landscape. At least that is her preferred expression,
although she also exists in condensed form as ice crystals and in expanded form
as steam and water vaper. Her ecstasy though is in the flow, is in feeling the forms she flows into, resonating
with them, as them, knowing them through her capacity as a medium, her ability
to absorb, her sensitivity and responsiveness to everything around her.
She shimmers in the rays of sun and
moon light. Sound resonates powerfully through her water body, and the bonds
between her hydrogen molecules create a special field of attraction capable of absorbing
what she contacts, allowing her to taste, to smell, to shape shift chemically
as well as in form. She loves the feel
of the solid objects that mold and channel her as she slides down hills and
fills depressions to overflowing to continue her descent again. Absorbing molecules of salt and other elements,
carrying sediments and life forms of all shapes and sizes, she dissolvs and
embraces whatever as she flows through, conforming herself, yielding, surrendering,
and yet more powerful than stone.
Flow is both water on the material level and the essence of water on the
spiritual level, the consciousness of water, or at least one individuated
aspect of water. Flow was/is a water
being, who identified with the streams and rivers and would differeniate
herself out of the whole, sometimes by lingering in a standing wave form or a
waterfall, sometimes like a mist above the lake, she lingers along the banks
and watches the creatures including the humans that come to her shores.
This story is about a time she lived
within and along the hydrological cycle of a very unique area of planet earth during this last geological age.
It was an interesting watershed created by the separation of two tectonic
plates. High snow covered peaks to the north fed the central waterway.
Over millennia the river carved its way north to south down through the
lowest areas of land on the planet ending up 1400 feet below sea level in the
saltiest body of water on earth, the Dead Sea.
The name Jordan comes from a word yar-dane
which means "descender." *1
From the high peaks of the Anti-Lebanon Moutains, water descends in numerous
rivulets and streams rushing almost in free fall, so steep is its descent to
the bottom of Mt Herman where it forms one river from two main branches about
10 miles above the swampy Lake Huleh. Leaving
Lake Huleh, already at sea level, the “descender” flows into Lake Galilee.
There are many underground aquifers
and rivers in the hills above the Jordan and springs and artesian wells feed
into Lake Galilee as well. From this lake, already 200 feet below sea
level, the "descender" slows down and makes lazy oxbow bends across a
wide fertile valley that blooms from these life-giving waters. Flowing twice
the distance between Galilee and the dead sea, it terminates at the Dead Sea.(*2)
1400 feet below sea level, and so briny that generally life is not supported by
these waters, hence the name the Dead
Sea. Water here doesn't flow back into
the ocean, except underground and through evaporation, returning to the ocean
as rain.
The waters of this watershed travel from snow
covered mountains, to the lowest place on land on earth. To Flow, it represented the navel of the
earth and she felt a deep fittingness and at-one-ment with this place, taking
pride in its uniqueness and reveling in its variety.
What an amazing place for a River Faery. Snow and ice covered peaks, a
bold dashing fall down the mountains, a marshy lake, underground streams,
artesian wells and springs, a great fresh water lake, a narrow winding river bringing
life’s blood to the desert valley, and finally the most salty and lowest body
of water on earth, the Dead Sea. This was the best place for a River
Faery to be. So much variety and possibility.
Footnotes:
*1 The River Jordan is derived from the
Hebrew word yar-dane, meaning "descender."
The "Descender" is a very appropriate name for the river because it
flows in a virtually perfect north-south line on a map from its source near
Mount Hermon (about 10 miles north of Lake Huleh) to it's terminus at the Dead
Sea, the lowest point of any lake on earth. The elevation of the river drops virtually 2,368 feet from
it's source to where the river flows into the great salt sea. The length of
it's meanders over the same two points measures approximately 318 kilometers,
over twice its direct distance. http://www.jesus8880.com/chapters/gematria/jordan-river.htm
Wikipedia article on the Dead Sea.
*2 The Dead Sea (Arabic: البحر الميت al-Bahr al-Mayyit[3] (help·info), Hebrew: יָם הַמֶּלַח, Yām
Ha-Melaḥ, "Sea of Salt"), also called the Salt Sea, is a salt
lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel
and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are
423 metres (1,388 ft) below sea
level,[2] the lowest elevation on the Earth's
surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, the
deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also one of
the world's saltiest bodies of water, with
33.7% salinity,
though Lake Assal (Djibouti), Garabogazköl
and some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica
(such as Don Juan Pond) have reported higher salinities.
It is 8.6 times more salty than the ocean.[4] This salinity makes for a harsh
environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is
67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide
at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan
Rift Valley, and its main tributary
is the Jordan River.
The sea is called "dead"
because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish
and aquatic plants, from living in it, though
minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.
In times of flood, the salt content
of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% salinity to 30% or lower. The Dead
Sea temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one
such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from
Hebrew
University found the Dead Sea to be teeming with a type of algae
called Dunaliella. The Dunaliella in turn
nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria,
whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the Dead Sea basin has been
dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers.
Many animal species live in the
mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see camels,
ibex,
hares,
hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird
species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.
The delta of the Jordan River was
formerly a veritable jungle of papyrus and palm trees. Flavius Josephus described Jericho
as "the most fertile spot in Judea". In Roman and Byzantine times, sugarcane,
henna,
and sycamore fig all
made the lower Jordan valley quite wealthy. One of the most valuable products
produced by Jericho was the sap of the balsam tree, which could be made into perfume.
However, by the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared.
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