Water Archetype.

Water—the bridge between worlds.

"Water is the most perfect traveler because when it travels it becomes the path itself!"
– Rainer Maria Rilke

Hello, dear readers,

If you've been noticing the melting snow as spring arrives, then, like me, you may feel like melting into something new. While photographing the last snow in the mountains near my home this first weekend of March, I marveled at how water beautifully shifts between forms.

I must say this post came to me last minute, as I’m currently working on about five drafts, like every human who enjoys writing.

But when you go with the flow, just like water, you write whatever wants to come out. You write because it becomes a part of you, not just because you have a plan.

So, this is my unplanned post, but it’s inspired and prepared.

Water-the silent architect of our civilization.

We shape so much of our lives through water, and we grow in it during our first dive: the womb. The womb is like a deep, hidden place that holds our first memories.

Water, like emotion, is ever-changing—sometimes calm and soothing, other times turbulent and overwhelming.

“The womb is the primal, unconscious world of experience and holds the beginnings of every personal myth.” – Carl Jung

Perhaps we are so caught up in trends, cultural norms and society’s ideas of what deserves our attention that we forget to truly see what we are made of or how we experience life.

That, in itself, reveals something profound about ourselves: the story of who we’ve become, why we exist, and how water has always been central to our existence.

Water has shaped not just our biology, but our entire story as humans—through history, myth, and the very way we connect with the world.

Rivers, in their constant movement, brought us closer, enabling the exchange of culture and the rise of shared human progress.

“The fact that we are connected through space and time shows that life is a unitary phenomenon, no matter how we express that fact.
We are not one living organism, but we constitute a single ecosystem with many differentiated parts. I don’t see this as a contradiction, because parts and wholes are nestled in each other.”
-Lynn Margulis

Oceans opened the doors to exploration and trade, bridging worlds once divided.
Water is the foundation of life itself, governing our bodies—regulating temperature, enabling growth, and sustaining every cell.
It is through water that we thrive and stay alive.

Beyond its biological necessity, water has always been a profound symbol in mythology and culture.

It has represented both life and death, creation and destruction. It’s the force that both nurtures and humbles us, from the purifying rain to the overwhelming floods.

It is a mirror of our emotional world—fluid, deep, and ever-shifting.

Water is a constant force that touches our emotions at every stage of life.

We find poetry by a river’s edge, release our fears beneath a waterfall, feel reborn in the cold waters of the ocean, or feel small as we witness a mountain blanketed in perfect white snow. Some of our childhood memories are marked by beautiful snowflakes, amazing patterns, and playing with ice.

In our moments of greatest need, at least I do, turn to water—for healing, for reflection, for renewal, for feeling the wholeness.
Water holds the power to quiet the mind, cleanse the soul, and inspire the heart to go on.

"It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works — that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red?
It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it."
— Carl Sagan-"Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space" (Ballantine Books, 1997)

The origins of water.

A 2019 study suggests that the majority of Earth's water may have come from the same cataclysmic collision that created the Moon. Theia, an impacting planet, may have brought water with it when it collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, according to scientists who determined that a critical component of the Earth's mantle originated in the outer Solar System.

Comets and asteroids comprised of water ice transported these primordial molecules from the solar system's farthest regions to collide with the newly formed Earth. These extraterrestrial deliveries helped to replenish the water supply that had begun to flood Earth's rivers and oceans.

Earth’s cooling process released water vapor into the atmosphere as this vapor condensed, forming the rain that would nourish the planet. Over time, this water shaped the surface of the Earth, creating landscapes, and continuing in a constant cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Water was there, silently forming the planet as we know it, influencing not only the Earth’s geology but the very life that would emerge upon it.

Melting is a perfect example of how alchemy works when you allow yourself to be transformed. Copyright @katerina nedelcu

Water, in its many forms, defines who we are and how we experience life.

Water is an archetype—a repeating symbol that appears across history, cultures, and human storytelling-symbolizing creation, destruction, transformation, and the subconscious.

Through mythology, folklore water takes many forms: as deities, as sacred rivers, as primordial oceans, and as forces of both life and chaos.
These stories are not just memories of the past but reflections of how different civilizations experienced water according to their realities at the time.

Understanding that people have lived countless stories and created narratives about their reality helps you connect with past generations and appreciate their knowledge and observations—left behind as a gift for you to explore and learn from.

In doing so, you can grow, do better, and protect and pass on the wisdom of what existed before you arrived, while also adding your own mythology and stories to the ever-evolving culture.

I am always taking my time to see what is important to me. Copyright@katerina nedelcu

I would need many pages to write about the stories of each and every one of them, but I'll focus on a few, and you can explore further.

In Greek and Roman mythology, we have Poseidon or Neptune that rules the seas, a symbol both the life-giving and destructive aspects of water, while Oceanus and Tethys represent the primordial sacred waters.

The freshwater Naiads and sea-dwelling Nereids personify water’s nurturing qualities, whereas Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer symbolize its dangers.

In Mesopotamian tradition, Enki (Ea) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge, crafts, and creation that governs wisdom and the sweet waters of the Apsu, while Tiamat, a chaotic sea goddess, represents both creation and destruction.

Egyptian mythology tells of Nun, the formless waters of chaos, Hapi, the god of the Nile’s fertility.

In Norse myths, Ægir and his wife Rán embody the ocean’s dual nature—both generous and treacherous.

Hindu mythology reveres Varuna, the celestial ocean deity, and Ganga, the sacred river goddess, while the Churning of the Ocean myth highlights water’s role in transformation and immortality.

In Chinese tradition, Gonggong is a god of floods and chaos, Taoism sees water as a metaphor for adaptability and flow.

In Japanese mythology, Ryūjin, the dragon god, controls tides and storms, while the mischievous Kappa reflects water’s dual nature.

Deep waters are associated with hidden wisdom, intuition, and the subconscious, while their ever-changing forms—ice, liquid, and vapor—offer lessons in resilience and adaptability.

In Jungian psychology, water is a symbol of the unexplored—our instincts, desires, and fears.

I really enjoyed watching a TED Talk by a French free diver a few years ago, and it has stayed with me.

”In this breathtaking talk, world champion freediver Guillaume Néry takes us with him into the ocean's depths. Meter by meter, he explains the physical and emotional impact of water pressure, silence and holding your breath. His eloquent description of the underwater experience reveals the hidden poetry of freediving.”

It is the enormous, unknown depth, similar to the collective unconscious, which contains secrets and wisdom that we have yet to fully comprehend.

Water is mysterious, and according to the Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto who fascinated the world a few decades ago with his research, water is the "blueprint for our reality" and is shaped by our intentions.
In a way, we are unconsciously connected to water—we influence it, and it influences us in return, shaping us without our awareness.

copyright @katerina nedelcu

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Poetry of Water

In water, we see ourselves reflected—not as we appear to the world, but as we truly are—forever changing, forever flowing, forever part of something far greater than we can understand.

We are the waves, the currents, the rain, the mist.

In water, we find both creation and destruction, clarity and mystery, and we find that the essence of water is the essence of all life—fluid, eternal, and always connected to the great web of the universe.

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
– Rumi

“The past is all around us. Darwin’s biggest contribution was to show us that all individual organisms are connected through time. It doesn’t matter whether you compare kangaroos, bacteria, humans, or salamanders, we all have incredible chemical similarities…. [The pioneering Russian geochemist Vladimir] Vernadsky showed us that organisms are not only connected through time but also through space.

The carbon dioxide we exhale as a waste product becomes the life-giving force for a plant; in turn, the oxygen waste of a plant gives us life.

This exchange of gas is what the word spirit means. Spirituality is essentially the act of breathing.

But the connection doesn’t stop at the exchange of gases in the atmosphere.

We are also physically connected, and you can see evidence of this everywhere you look. Think of the protists that live in the hind-gut of the termite, or the fungi that live in the rootstock of trees and plants.

The birds that flitter from tree to tree transport fungi spores throughout the environment. Their droppings host a community of insects and microorganisms.

When rain falls on the droppings, spores are splashed back up on the tree, creating pockets for life to begin to grow again. This interdependence is an inexorable fact of life.”- Lynn Margulis

Experiencing life is a true gift.
And if you can’t yet see the magic, allow yourself to be guided (by water).

Thank you for being!
Don’t forget to drink water :).

You can support my work simply by being here.
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Thank you—whoever you are.
Ripples always travel farther than we know… or sometimes, they bring things closer.
I'm here to write and share. You’re welcome to read with no expectations.

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Resources:

Carl Sagan- Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Jonathan White- Talking on the Water: Conversations about Nature and Creativity