Masaru Emoto &
The Healing Power of Water

© By JENNIFER HOSKINS

Some of my most wonderful places on this earth repeatedly lead me to water. The crashing waves of the oceanfront and the smell of seawater vapour in the air bring back the happy, internal songs of my surfing youth. Looking across a great expanse of water brings to mind the small nature of the self compared to the enormity of what supports us all. Water. The Chinese have a Proverb: “When you drink the water, remember the spring.”

     To me, there’s nothing more visually magical than watching the sun set on the water when viewed from the western oceanfront. The light itself eventually merges with the water, dripping gold and oranges into the life giving water. The combined palate of sky and water mingle until the orb of life, our sun, dips into the well of life, our ocean, leaving behind the beautiful remembrance of today. Immediately, that glory becomes the promise of tomorrow. There’s nothing more peaceful than a placid lake reflecting a forested mountain behind it.
     Water is something that is taken for granted in industrialised nations. A high quality of living includes good water. It comes out of the tap without end. It is not the same in every place. In some Third World countries it is more precious than gold.
     It is the giver and sustainer of life and it can also be destructive. For some it is a threat in the form of rising sea levels or tsunamis. Floods, surge tides and mudslides are a few of the devastating effects of water in its most destructive state. But water is essential to life and we would not be here without it.
     As a powerful force of nature, it is seen everywhere. As a solvent, cleanser, comforter and restorative it is beyond peer. Liquid remedies depend upon water to carry their active ingredients. H2O has a threefold nature. It can be liquid, gas or solid as water, steam or ice. It is the ultimate shape shifting material. Now in the 21st century we find that water also keeps a record of everything it encounters and can change itself precisely to the needs of the individual.
     The researches and books by Dr. Masaru Emoto have brought a new appreciation of water to the world. His wonderful books on the essential properties of water are something completely new.
     After many books about how we can affect water and how water can effect us, Dr. Emoto now brings us a new book, The Healing Power of Water, that contains chapters by scientists, healers, mystics and philosophers. All of the works have been informed and ignited by the researches carried out on water by Dr. Emoto.
     It is now fourteen years since he started experimenting with water crystals and how human, speech, sound, vision, intent and feeling can change the crystalline structure. The results were amazing and have resonated around the world ever since. The consequences for the individual imbibing the thus treated water include healing, empowerment and gratitude. The consequences for the water are purification and enrichment.
     Now it has become more accepted, even in the scientific world, that the combination of thought, feeling and emotion can effect changes in the state of matter. It all begins within us. Dr. Emoto has pointed out the path in a beautiful and loving way. His pictures are stunning in the extreme and can produce strong reactions in viewers. Around the world there are people now making the changes for themselves and expressing gratitude, love and respect toward water, other people, animal life, the environment and the whole planetary existence. It is about time.
     This new book, The Healing Power Of Water (Hay House, 2007), is divided into three sections: Scientific Perspectives; Health and Healing Perspectives; and Spiritual and Mythological Perspectives. There are twenty articles that cover a whole range of knowledge, research and metaphysics. It is a feast for all readers who want to know more about water and our interaction with it.
     There is an inspiring Foreword by Louise Hay that expresses perfectly the revolution that Dr. Emoto has created for the holistic community. Dr. Emoto himself provides a thought-provoking Introduction and a further brief introduction to each section. The writing styles of the papers are as varied as are the authors. They range from the didactic and very scientific, to the passionate and speculative. All are accessible and there is something for all tastes and knowledge levels.
     Part one contains five articles that express the new scientific attitude toward experimentation. These include psychoenergetic science, homeopathy and the structure of water, as well as imprinting, dowsing, and memory of water. The fourth article was my personal pick of this section. It shows how water is quite the ‘liquid tape recorder’, and how water can be re-energised by an implosion technique through a created vortex, by succussion (to shake a solution vigorously) in order to imprint a homeopathic remedy vibrationally. By gradual dilution it means that even though there is not one molecule of the original remedy left in the solution, it is still actively therapeutic.
     The final article in this section is beautiful and scientifically acceptable even to mainstream material science. It shows how and why snowflakes are unique and always hexagonal. It is a review of Johannes Kepler’s original speculation on the form and structure of snowflakes with all the math that is necessary to understand. His 1611 paper De Nive Sexangula is verifiable by modern methods. In 1931 American scientist W. A. Bentley produced a book Snow Crystals (reprinted by Dover, 1962) with 2,453 pictures of snow crystals captured in the wild in the winters of Vermont! The article reproduces 28 of these. They are inspiring. Some bear surprising similarity to Dr. Emoto’s ice crystals.
     Part two looks at the almost miraculous properties of water that have been revealed in recent years. Most of the authors here acknowledge the deep interaction between our thoughts and the molecular properties of our cells. There is an abundance of case studies from noted healers. Dr. Petra Bracht likens the human body to a very large city with all transport provided by water, blood and other body fluids. The disposal of waste also relies on water. If there is not enough water, it creates a problem of goods not arriving or departing properly and in an orderly fashion. In other words – disease. This is a wonderful allegory and bears much consideration. This would be a fruitful visualisation exercise for healing those clogged parts of the body. If internal visualisation is not your thing, colonic irrigation may be the answer!
     In another article Dr. Darren Weissman outlines his LifeLine Technique and acknowledges Dr. Emoto’s research as a catalyst for the development of this holistic healing method using infinite love and gratitude. Sid Lonegren’s short chapter on dowsing shows that flow is an important notion related to understanding water. Experienced dowsers are able to gauge the flow of primary water sources. This is a recurring theme with most of the articles. What is best for us is moving water. It is best for the water too. Several of the authors point out that humans need to keep moving in order to keep the water that makes up most of our cells moving and vital. Hence, exercise is good.
     In Part three are eleven articles on the spiritual and mythological aspects of water. The language may be different to the scientific articles, but the message is the same. Water does have the power to heal, transform and enable people to move more easily through their lives. Christianity baptises with the ‘living waters’, Judaism purifies through mikvahs (ritual baths), Hindus enable healing & purifying through bathing in the Ganges. Early societies revered their water sources, especially primary water that bubbles from the earth in the form of springs. Around these sources now-forgotten ancestors created places known as holy wells.
     Starhawk asserts that in the 21st century humans must learn to protect, heal and respect water sources and make access to good water a human right. This could be enacted by local communities.
     Dr. Jose Luis Stevens examines the Spirit of Water in the World of Shamanism. He uses three cultures to illustrate that the same themes on the nature of water runs through them all. There are many accompanying pictures of stunning beauty. There are interesting parallels to what Western cultures are just now re-learning. Water is the giver of life, it is sacred, it is alive, it heals, purifies and transforms, it can be used to transport other energies or materials, disrespect to water has consequences, and it has memory.
     Terri Winding looks at water lore and ritual in world mythology. It occurred to me the difficulty in choosing what to leave out in such a huge subject. But many of the most enduring myths and rituals are covered here. From the creation myths through goddesses and nature spirits, ritual washing, flood mythology, regeneration through water, sacred wells, water sprites, to the role of water in today’s world.
     Dr. Emoto has plenty to share with us today on the role of water. Respect, love and gratitude are the keystones, everything else follows.
     At this point I have to address the one feature of expressing gratitude and respect for the environment that I find somewhat disquieting. Having been brought up in a staid culture, talking to oneself or rocks, trees and water has always been a sign of lunacy, or at the very least instability of mind. I am still reticent to talk to my world aloud when others are present. I am sure some other readers share my feelings on this. It can be gradually overcome, I feel sure. To look at the other side of the coin, people walking down the street with a mobile phone glued to an ear and chattering away is quite strange too.
     Metaphysician Doreen Virtue contributes an excellent survey of healing wells and springs associated with female goddesses and saints. She asserts that humans need to connect with the Divine Mother through water when in need of comfort and healing. That definitely explains the allure of a hot bath.
     Two other sacred wells are discussed in further articles. The Chalice Well at Glastonbury in Somerset, UK and the Dreaming Pool in Bath are addressed in detail. Certain places on the planet seem to have extraordinary energies associated with them and the water sources reflect this. Glastonbury has echoes of King Arthur and Avalon as well as possible Atlantean influences, and the Chalice Well may be the most sacred in Europe. As a centre of druidic and pre-Christian spirituality, it still attracts pilgrims and tourists today.
     The curative hot springs of Bath have also attracted people seeking a cure since ancient times up to the late 20th century when the waters were, sadly, discovered to be polluted. When a leader of the protest movement to re-open the Baths began having dreams in 1979, interesting things began to happen and are still happening today. You can read about it in Richard Beaumont’s gripping article.
     Any discussion of polluted water cannot omit that great sacred river of rivers, the Ganges. It has probably been more exploited than any other sacred waterway and its state of pollution is hazardous to human and animal health. Still the pilgrims roll up to engage in a sacred rite. Many may be damaged by it. Perhaps some are cured; it is hard to gauge. Elizabeth Puttick’s pertinent article is both dismaying and heartening.
     Sound therapist Sayama has gifted us a beautiful chapter on water, the moon and the sounds of the planets. He equates the element of water with the colour blue. He makes correspondences between the elements and sound healing. The use of Tibetan singing bowls is emphasised and Sayama uses them to imprint fluids of all kinds.
     Maril Crabtree offers genuine and very modern rituals for celebrating the sacred gift of water. All are based on love, respect and gratitude, as you would expect.
     Throughout this whole book, the message is the same. For our world and those living in it to go along well, love, respect and gratitude are basic necessities. Without those we cannot move. We need to take the lessons that water offers to us.
     Dr. Emoto has inspired many people on our planet. He has opened our eyes to the nature of water, not just its wetness, but its capacity to heal, transform and inform. Just visualising water will bring a rare sense of calm and restoration. We can help polluted water in both practical and non-local ways. Dr. Emoto has shown us how.
     We all must drink from the water. We must. It is part of our hierarchy of absolute physical needs. We are the caretakers of our water. This essential book will ensure that you always remember the spring.
     It is now truly up to us. 

The above article appears in
New Dawn No. 106 (Jan-Feb 2008)

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