Cultural Teachings & Traditional Healing
Water (The Four Elements)
Water and ice connects us, sustains us, and gives us new life. Many Indigenous ceremonies involve water. These ceremonies include water walks, water ceremonies, sweat lodges, and fasts. Water sustains us, flows between us, within us, and replenishes us. Water comes in many forms, and all are needed for the health of Mother Earth and for our health. Water can shape and transform the land and gives us the great gifts of the rivers, lakes, ice, and oceans. Water is the home of many living things that contribute to the health and well-being of everything not in the water.
They say women are water carriers because we all have the 90 percent water in our body. For a woman, they carry life for nine months in their womb. And we are all born in the water. We come from the water. When you go and pray and take care of yourself and re-cleanse yourself, you go in that womb to pray in there. You’re safe in there, just like you were safe in your mother’s womb.
— Martina Fisher, an Anishinaabe grandmother from Bloodvein First Nation in Manitoba
I Connect with Water When…
Type as many ways as you can think of to connect with water.
