Aqua est Animus, Animus est Bonus (Water is life, life is good)
From this soulful connection with self we might then experience a more sacred connection with nature that could inspire us to support it's preservation and healing also. What if water were the medium?
Back at the start of this century, I set out on a quest for the wisdom of water that led me to establish a small spa-retreat that I called Aquaest, a combination of Aqua and Quest. The phrase is also Latin for 'water is' and for me 'water is ... everything'. That first spa-retreat is no longer but my quest continues.
During 2008, I have endeavored to reach out to people who share my interest in 'water consciousness for personal and planetary health'. I'm especially inspired by the concept of spa-retreat as a means for restoring soulful and sustainable ways of living.
To begin, I decided to create three interlinked and interrelated weblogs that each focused on my particular areas of interest (spa culture, aquatic bodywork, and creative expression respectively), and through which I could share my ideas, receive feedback, and maybe inspire cooperative ventures.
Just after the recent election of the new US president Barack Obama, Change.org proposed that members of this innovative social network put forward ideas for positive change in no more than 250 words, and vote on these to discover the best from around the country (US). I drafted mine but didn't have the audacity to post it.
As 2009 opens and I am considering how I'd like my work to develop during the coming year, it seems appropriate to share this summary of my 'dream for change' here. Below it, I will outline how the ancient healing tradition of Asclepius might inform, and be adapted to serve, our modern world to some benefit.
Why spa-retreat?
How does spa-retreat fit this ancient healing model? The word hospital has the same root as hospitality. Both mean being welcoming and generous to guests. Spa culture has it's roots in sacred healing traditions, just as retreat has been associated with spiritual seeking. Spa-retreat combines health and hosting.
Many people are dissatisfied with fundamental issues such as quality of life, the search for health and meaning, care of the planet and its residents, and the absence of the sacred in nearly everything we do. We need to envision a future that encompasses all these and is available to everyone.
Here is my dream for change:
The concept incorporates the idea of taking sabbaticals of at least three-months from everyday concerns in order to focus on one's own well-being and that of the planet. An inspiring model for this is the ancient Asclepian sanctuaries to which people went to seek healing from troubles of body, mind, and spirit.
Those returning from these retreats or sabbaticals would bring back with them insights and actions of value not only to themselves but to the whole (much as Native American vision quests are intended to do). These places of seeking-and-support would be free, and free of any doctrine.
Many people are attracted to the images of health and reinvigoration associated with spa-retreat. However, the underlying essential value and role of our physical and social environments is often overlooked. Spa - sanus per agua (health throught water) - should not be a luxury commodity.
Water as an indicator of health and also a tool for health, is central to the spa-retreat offering. Water, as a metaphor, provides many insights into human behavior and human potential, as the Taoists knew well. Water and humans need to be free and to have depth and clarity to thrive.
Early in our civilization we had a more holistic view of healing in which soul was at the center of treatment. Now, despite all the advances of modern medicine, many no longer have much faith in healers or the healing process.
People want to live long and well, but are increasingly unhappy with the prevailing impersonal and technological medical model. Where there is no faith, connection, and meaning to the healing process, our bodies may heal but something remains broken in our souls.
The body is the soul's metaphor. Doctors have estimated that as much 90% of illnesses have psychosomatic components. Medicating away the symptoms that are trying to tell us what is ailing us is not the answer. We can instead learn to listen deeply to the body as the living expression of the soul.
The soul speaks through the irrational, yet we live in a highly rationalistic age. We discount a wealth of human experience that can teach us who we are, what ails us, and lead us to greater healing and wisdom. We need health models that restore dignity and wholeness as being inseparable from health and wellbeing.
Cultures that placed high value on their dreams also placed high value on other non-rational activities that enriched the soul, restored the body and heart, made life worth living. We can study their ways, absorb their images, and apply to our own lives practices that were more spiritually oriented and often better integrated.
An Asclepian model of healing
The beliefs and methods associated with Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing, led directly to the development of both medicine and psychotherapy. Asclepius, preceded Hippocrates, and reigned over healing practice in the Mediterranean World for almost 2,000 years, from about 1300 BCE through 500 CE.
His father was said to be Apollo, the god of truth, medicine and music, while his mother was a mortal. He visited his supplicants through dreams and visions to bring them healing. Priest-physicians of Asclepius set up extensive and very successful holistic healing sanctuaries.
Out of this sacred medicine came scientific medicine as we know it, and for a while both were practiced in tandem. If scientific medicine did not help, afflicted people turned to the sacred. They would enter a special sanctuary called an Asclepion.
These were holistic healing centers, where those who were suffering received respite from the demands of ordinary life and were prepared for healing. The offerings included psychotherapy, massage, hydrotherapy, and nutrition and exercise programs.
Music, poetry, and theater were included, through which they could express and release some of their feelings. Beautiful art and nature surrounded them. They would stay for as long as they needed to recover from the world that had exhausted them.
A particular feature of these sanctuaries was a special practice called dream incubation. When signs, such a dream, indicated the time was right, the supplicants entered a sacred place called an abaton where they were put into what was called the sleep of the god, for as long as necessary.
Seeking a vision
The healing was always achieved by a process of setting out on a search for healing, arriving and restoring oneself in the sanctuary, then seeking a dream or vision in which the god of healing or his helpers came to you and directly healed you or else revealed the prescription you must follow to achieve healing.
These centers were operated on a what we would call a sliding scale. Everyone could partake of them. They were not run by the profit motive, but they were so successful that often those with wealth gave them generous gifts and they had enough to work with.
In this way, people were supported when they needed to retreat from the stresses and demands of the life that brought on their illness. They were put into conditions that led to an altered state of consciousness during which they would have an epiphany, literally a visit from a god in a dream or vision.
This kind of healing takes someone's entire life into account, and gives as much time and attention as is necessary to understand the meaning of their suffering. The methods used enable deep communion with self and others while recovering, and nurture a direct relationship with spirit as the means for healing.
What if we considered retreat in natural surroundings, immersion in beauty and art, intensive personal attention, valuing dreams, visions and encounters with spirit, as our birthright? From this connection with self we might experience a connection with nature that would inspire us to support it's preservation and healing also.
Holding this vision may bring us a visit from the god of healing himself with a clearer prescription for how to manifest it. If you are interested in joining with me to work for a revival of this Asclepian dream, please do get in touch and share your thoughts.
May 2009 be a year of positive change for all of us!
Related writings:
The age of dreaming has come
Asclepius: the god of spa
(Essential reading: The Practice of Dream Healing: Bringing Ancient Greek Mysteries into Modern Medicine by Edward Tick.)
