Hail Okeanos!

I remember the days, as a new initiate, spending time hearing you

at night until four or five in the morning.

No one told me that your power could (and did) keep a person awake,

even though the nearest ocean tide was well over a thousand miles away.

Your presence reminded me of travels in Vladivostok, where your smell and

your abundance surrounded me.

A child of the Atlantic, I knew you then, long before the call came.

You were alive for me at the Pacific, which has a feel of roughness that belies its name.

Eight years ago, your power curled around me nightly, reminding me that  the world, no matter how large, is small in comparison to what is beyond our immediate comprehension.

Each dip, each trip to see you in physical form was another opportunity

to savor, worship and revere the depths of emotion that flow within.

At times, it was too much and then, you would remind me that one day

some how,

I would understand the whispers and thoughts

without losing too much sleep.

I missed you so much and waited.

Then, five years ago, I saw you again, but it was not time. There was too much happening.  I tossed a coin or two into a fountain beneath a big statue in your honor. Through the cold marble, I just could hear your whisper…

After all, we are mostly water.

There is an emotional growth cycle for every witch with his or her gods. With you, it was absence and hearing the lure in the shells that surrounded me that forced growth and eventually called me home – to you.

Yesterday was the first time in a very long time that I felt the call luring me

to remain awake, to drown in the depths of Okeanos, the ocean-god of many gifts.

Now, it’s okay. I have the strength to know when the emotional flow from the Atlantic and the fierce waters of the Pacific need balance within and without.

I thank you for that and reaffirm my devotion and worship to you.

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Lady Tethys, Consort of Okeanos and Mother of Rivers,

I have called upon you as purifier, both in the past and at present.

You help to ease and wash

away the spiritual pain and burdens.

Water always has been a cleansing, renewing force.

To purify is to bring awareness to a situation.

It is not always pretty or neat or well-organized.

There is a flow, like liquid without a container.

As Dark Mother, when things need to come out,

you are a powerful force for change.

May your healing power, with the vastness

of the many bodies of water on this planet continue to

bless and heal those who call upon you.

Thank you for your guidance,

your presence in salt water, and the calm voice that

reminds all who care to listen of what is truly important:

discipline, devotion, and dedication.

We see water as emotion, wild, unrestrained and the opposite

of those three, yet the strength lies in knowing

when to be restrained and when to cut loose.

You help with that and I thank you.

Doxa Theion!

Agape