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Nature Spirits
of the water

Water spirits are as varied as water itself—one moment calm, the next turbulent, always moving, inhabiting deep and still lakes, fast-flowing rivers, cascading waterfalls, and tumultuous oceans.

Though you may not get to know water essences or spirits individually, apart from one or two in places you regularly visit or those with local legends, you can easily connect with their powers because they are linked so strongly with human emotions.

Water-Spirit Magical Associations

Archetypal elemental spirit: Undines, who originated in the Aegean Sea; they live in coral caves under the ocean, on the shores of lakes or banks of rivers or on marshlands in other lands. Undines shimmer with all the colours of water in sunlight and are so insubstantial they can rarely be seen with the physical eye, except as rainbows dancing on the waters.

Water spirits ruler: Niksa, Nicksa, Nixsa, or Neksa who rises from the sea translucent, rainbow-coloured, riding a giant sea horse or in a pearly or sea-green chariot pulled by white sea horses. Niksa has long flowing hair, knotted with shells and a swirling cloak in all the colours of the sea, edged with pearls. She loves pearls above all other gems. Her voice may be soft and melodious like the mermaids she rules or terrible as the stormy sea. She lives in deep coral caves far beneath the sea. Niksa is attended by the oceanides, the beautiful sea-nymph daughters of Oceanus, Lord of the Sea.

Favourite time of day: sunset and twilight

Favourite season: autumn

Energy: passive and moving

Character: the integrator and peacemaker

Elemental tool: chalice

Water-spirit ritual substance: water

Favourite colours: blue or silver

Psychic gifts they offer: healing, telepathy, and scrying

Polarity: Goddess

Water-spirit energy-raising: rattles, prayer, and meditation

Deities: Moon and love deities, sea, sacred well and water gods and goddesses, goddesses of initiation and the mystery religions

Archangel: Gabriel Archangel of the Moon, clothed in silver or dark blue with a mantle of stars and a crescent moon for his halo, a golden horn, and white lily, alternatively with a lantern in his right hand and with a mirror made of jasper in his left.

Water-spirit crystals: apatite, aquamarine, calcite, coral, enhydro quartz, fluorite, jade, moonstone, mother of pearl, opal, opal aura, pearl, selenite, and tourmaline

Water-spirit animals and birds: All fish, especially salmon, beavers, crabs, crocodiles and alligators, dolphins, ducks, frogs, herons, otters, platypus, sea horses, seals, starfish, swans and all water birds, whales

Water-spirit fragrances: apple blossom, apricot, coconut, eucalyptus, feverfew, heather, hyacinth, jasmine, lemon, lemon balm, lilac, lily, myrrh, orchid, passion flower, peach, strawberry, sweet pea, thyme, valerian, vanilla, and violet

Ailments and body parts especially healed by water spirits: Womb and genitals, hormones and glands, hands, all bodily fluids, tear ducts, emotions

Sense: sixth sense

Positive qualities/strengths offered by water spirits: ability to merge and interconnect with nature, beauty, compassion, empathy, fertility, forgiveness, inner harmony, gradual growth, harmonising with the cycles of the seasons, the moon and the life cycle, love, peacemaking, purity, sympathy for others, unconscious wisdom

Less desirable qualities: excesses in many areas of life, instability, lack of motivation, manipulation, possessiveness, and sentimentality

Water-spirit places: Aquariums, estuaries, flood plains, lakes, marshlands, oceans and the sea, pools and ponds, rivers and tidal rivers, sacred wells and springs, streams, waterfalls, water parks, and whirlpools

Materials for attracting water spirits: silver, copper, crystal spheres, dark and misty mirrors, fish in tanks or sea creature and dolphin images, inks, kelp (seaweed), milk, nets or webs of any kind, oils, reflections in water, saltwater, sea shells, scrying bowls, silver bells on cords, silver foil, steam, tides, water features, and wine

Astrological signs: Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio

Planets: Neptune, the Moon, and Pluto

Empowerment to call the power of the water spirits: “May what is no longer needed in my life flow away on the ebb tide and love and peace return on the flow.”

Use water-spirit magick for: astral travel; changing bad luck to good luck; friendship; healing using the powers of nature and especially from sacred water sources; love; peaceful or psychic dreams; purification rites; relationships; safe travel by sea; the mending of quarrels; to bring protection to those far away; and water, sea, and moon magic. It is also potent for cleansing sea, lake, and river pollution; campaigns for fresh water to parts of the world where there is none; fighting floods; world health initiatives; and care of whales, dolphins, seals, and all endangered sea creatures.

Discovering the Spirits of the Seas

Undines

These are the representative spirits of all waters, not just the sea, though they are primarily sea spirits.

Undines are small, beautiful water sprites that often resemble sea horses when in the ocean. Sometimes they ride on the waves and appear as pearly foam. They also dance around rock pools at low tide or in salt marshes. In marshes they may wear green glass beads.

Because they are the most insubstantial of the water spirits they are usually perceived (even by clairvoyants) only as distant rainbows on the waters, even on dark days, though children see them clearly.

Some Greek islanders claim kinship from the saltwater undines. Though undines are primarily spirits of the Aegean Sea, they are found in different forms in other lands, especially in warmer waters worldwide. They care for all the sea creatures, water plants, and coral.

Freshwater undines are even smaller and sleep beneath water lilies. They have wings, but unlike faeries that they resemble, they only live in plants and flowers close to water or near estuaries.

In some European folklore, undines are considered wandering spirits of lovelorn women whose tears salt the oceans.

Undine Magick

Undines grant wishes of all kinds and bring spontaneity, love, joy, fertility, overcoming betrayal, and offering reconciliation in love because they themselves suffered loss. They bring blessings on babies, children, and families, family loyalty, and safe long-distance travel. They also enhance psychic powers.

Nereides

They are the less-benign form of the undines and are the daughters of Doris, an Oceanid sea nymph and the sea god Nereus, the original Old Man of the Sea. They are originally descended from the oceanides, the 3,000 daughters of Oceanus, the ocean, and Tethhys the sea goddess.

Nereides are found throughout the Mediterranean regions of Greece and parts of eastern Europe, but especially love the Aegean ocean and the bays around Crete.1 However, as with undines, you can work with their energies anywhere in warmer waters.

Though Pliny, the first-century Roman naturalist and philosopher, described the nereides as covered in scales, generally they are pictured as being beautiful with wonderful singing voices, shell headdresses, and riding hippocampi (horse-shaped dolphins). Each nereid rules over a body of water.

The nereides are said to drive mad or strike blind any man who perceives them under a full moon. They do not have souls and live twice as long as a tortoise. They envy human mothers their immortal souls and kidnap mortal infants, raising them in coral caves. Still, they can be benign, bless children, and protect sea travelers if given offerings. Thetis, the firstborn nereid, was the mother of the hero Achilles and is the spirit of calm seas.

They can venture on land wearing a white shawl, which if stolen gives the mortal who takes it power over them. In this way, they could be forced into marriage, but would escape, leaving husband and children once they regained the shawl. They also shape-shift as swans; in this form, their lovely but hypnotic voices may be heard, calling through the mist.

Nereides Magick

In their most benign aspects, the nereides bring freedom from pain, addiction, depression, and restrictions; provide protection for those traveling by sea or overseas; bring blessings on family life; lend power for reinventing oneself; and enhance musical gifts.

Smaller, faster-moving sea spirits like the undines and nereides are best for swift-moving matters or petitions, short-term blessings, and for hastening anything that is stagnant or slow. They are also useful in changing prevailing attitudes and situations to bring personal transformation in lifestyle and perspective.

Merpeople

Human in appearance from the waist up, mermaids have long, golden hair and beautiful faces and fish- or porpoise-like body in place of the legs. Mermen are less attractive and benign and cause storms if annoyed or jealous of sailors who are attracted to their women.

Sailors have brought back tales of beautiful sea women with lovely voices, from all parts of the world and in all ages, telling how mermaids especially have saved drowning sailors and guided ships away from rocks.

Mermaids have, according to myth, married mortal men, usually through trickery on the part of the human who steals one of their possessions like their pearl mirror or comb as they sit sunning themselves on the rocks. This object binds them to dry land until the mermaid can retrieve it.

Mermaids live for three hundred years. However, in the most famous mermaid story of all time by Hans Christian Andersen it was the mermaid who was rejected by the mortal.2 If you go to Copenhagen you will see the Little Mermaid statue in the harbour at Langelinie. It was erected in 1913 in memory of Andersen, Denmark’s most famous writer, and has become a symbol of Denmark.

Do Mermaids Actually Exist?

A strange story comes from Germany that suggests they may, though I have not been able to date it more precisely than the late 1800s. A man named Brauhard, who was a sailor, returned home to his native Lautenberg with a mermaid wife. He built her a huge tub of water in the house so she could still swim when she wanted. But local people became very angry and the mermaid was mysteriously poisoned. Brauhard was grief-stricken, for he loved his beautiful mermaid so much. According to folklore he used the money given by her mer father to help the local poor. It is told that this wealth started the Brauhard Fund, which even today exists for the benefit of local people in need. Of course, Brauhard could have acquired the wealth by trading, but many do believe the story.3

Merpeople Magick

Mermen and especially mermaids bring love and fertility, find what is lost, provide safety in travel, improve likelihood of wishes coming true, bring good luck (especially in gaining unexpected treasures), enhance the developing of artistic and musical talents, allow the overcoming of jealousy or possessiveness in love, and fulfil seemingly impossible dreams.

Selkies

These seal men and women live around the shores of Scotland, Ireland, and North America and as far north as southern Scandinavia.

Selkies are great shape-shifters. They often assume mortal form on land and sometimes marry a human husband or wife, but eventually return to their own world. Seal men would come ashore, take off their sealskins and settle in a house with a wife and have a child. Of course they were excellent fishermen, especially by night when they would put on their sealskins and dive into the water. But they would stay with their wives for only a year and a day and after that would return to the sea.

If their wives needed them, the women would set a candle in a sea-facing window or take a lantern down to the shore and call their loves who would return for a while.

Selkie women are said to be less powerful. Like mermaids, they could be held against their will if the mortal husband locked away or hid the sealskin without which they could not return to the waters. The following is a typical story from the Scottish Hebrides.4

A fisherman of the McCodrum clan saw seven beautiful selkie sisters dancing on the shore. Nearby on rocks were seven sealskins. By stealing one of the skins he was able to capture a selkie who lived with him in her mortal form. They had one or two children, depending on the version. As years went by, she lost her beauty. Her skin flaked and she became so exhausted she could hardly move. So she searched for her sealskin, for she knew only by returning to the water could she survive. At last the selkie discovered her sealskin, locked in a cupboard, wrapped herself in it and returned to the waves.

In some versions of the myth, her only son finds the skin, restores it to his mother and dives into the waves with her and meets his grandfather. Though he returns to live with his father, the boy often sits on the rocks and his mother sings to him.

The clan, it is said, was thereafter called McCodrum of the Seals and they are gifted with the second sight of the faery people and reputed to be as at home on the water as on land.

Selkie Magick

Use selkie magick for healing and the restoration of health and energy, establishing or regaining your unique identity, overcoming relationship difficulties and gentle partings, success in dance and sports (particularly those related to water), for family loyalty, and reuniting lost or estranged family members.

Mermaids and selkies can be invoked for longer-term wishes, commitments, and plans and for overcoming major obstacles to allow life and love to flow again.

Working with the Changing Moods of the Sea Spirits

Many sea spirits or sprites are not as clearly identifiable as those I have described and are the guardians of the specific shores you visit.

The sea has her moods like the weather, as well as ebbs and flows of high, low, and slack tides. These directly reflect and are reflected in moods of the sea people. A tide table will identify the relevant tide you need.

Talking with the Sea Spirits

Seeking the Blessings of the Sea Spirits

A Shell Wish Spell for Restoring What Is Lost

This is a very effective spell for calling a lover from overseas whether apart because of career or estrangement; for any reconciliation in love with a partner or for family unity; also for the restoration of what is owed or rightfully yours and for regaining money after a loss.

There are many spells where a symbol is enclosed in two halves of a shell tied together or a single half shell to carry your wishes on the tide. This spell utilises a single, round half shell.

You will need:

An open half shell that is hollow, preferably found on the shore before the spell. Take one with you in case you cannot find one.

A very small, perfectly round, white stone, also preferably found on the shore before the spell.

A small piece of gold (such as an earring or coin) or a tiny sea crystal like aquamarine, ocean or orbicular jasper, or coral as your offering.

Timings:

Just before high tide. You can use any flowing water if you cannot go to the shore, but call the sea spirits and they will hear no matter how far away; they exist on the astral or spirit plane that is without boundaries. Put just a tiny taste of salt on your tongue if you are casting your spell in non tidal waters. If the need is urgent, use a large glass bowl of water to which you have added three pinches of salt and swirled the bowl around nine times in each direction.

The spell:

The Water Sprites of the Fresh Waters

The term water sprite is also applied to smaller, sometimes shape-shifting fresh water spirits. Water sprites are the spirits of waterfalls, rivers, and lakes and are numerous throughout the world. Some of these nature essences are welcoming to humans, but others can be unpredictable or dangerous, reflecting the hazards of the deep or fast-flowing waters that they rule. Parents in different lands may in times past exaggerated the ugly frightening aspects of water spirits of dangerous places to warn off their children and many of these frightening creatures acquired names and legends.

Water Nymphs or Naiads

Naiads are specifically nymphs of rivers, springs, and fountains who live in caves near or in water or under the surface of rivers, though the term is frequently used as a general term for all water nymphs.5

Naiads, according to Greek legend, were beings spiritually placed between the gods and mortals. They were the daughters of the river gods who feasted on ambrosia, a divine honey. They are believed to endow water with healing properties and so many floral offerings have been made to them at river crossings or sources of rivers.

Streams, springs, and rivers everywhere have similar water spirits who care for animals and the purity of the water source. Oreads are the mountain spring dwellers. Both kinds of nymph die if the water source dries up.

Even benign water spirits can be ambivalent; research any local legends to find out any prohibitions they may impose on communication. For example, while those mortals born on a Saturday are permitted to watch naiads dancing, it is considered dangerous for others to approach them especially in full moonlight (their favourite time for revels).

Waterfall Spirits

Fossegrim

Fossegrim are quicksilver Norwegian and Swedish waterfall sprites, which are most usually seen in the foam in pools, at the base of waterfalls or in the waterfall pool. They also protect fjords and large inlets. They are invariably kind and guard those who come near the waterfall, especially animals and children.6

Fossegrim are described as beautiful blond boys or maidens whose feet disappear in the foam. They gently cleanse any doubts, fears, or pointless situations and remove pain and sickness. Should you be able to safely access the area behind a small waterfall, you may actually see fossegrim or similar water spirits in the foam, wherever you are in the world. Throw small crystals into the waterfall and ask the Fossegrim for the release you seek.

Fossegrim Music

Famed for their mesmeric voices and melodies that merge with the sounds of the waterfall, fossegrim are exquisite harpists and according to myth have taught many famous human harpists throughout time.

At twilight, go to connect with these gentle harmonies and healing songs that will bring good luck, harmony, joy, love both for a significant other and self-love, better health, musical abilities, or happiness to those who hear them.

After any Fossegrim encounter, you will not be able to recall their songs, except in sleep when you may dream of floating on a boat along a river; in the morning, however, you will feel healed of stress and ready to make real progress in the waking world.

Working with Friendly Water Sprites

Water sprites of all kinds are often seen as ripples within flowing water or rising as rainbow bubbles, especially at dusk and dawn in spring and autumn. Natural thermal pools (such as Mataranka thermal pools, the Bitter and Rainbow Springs south of Katherine in the Northern Territory of Australia, or the healing and fertility hot springs at Alama de Granada in southern Spain) are also potent water-spirit sites.

If you splash the sparkling water on you or, where possible, paddle, float, swim, or sail, you will discover that everything in your life begins to flow quite naturally before long. What you need flows in and what you no longer want flows away. Children who play supervised in or near natural bodies of fresh water as opposed to chlorinated swimming pools become joyful and far less hyperactive and irritable.

Lake Spirits

Every lake has its guardian whose name is often a variation of the lake name itself.

Some lakes in Christian times were given the title of Holy Lake, in memory of the attempts by local monks or priests to banish the lake spirits who were unfairly blamed for drowning and the lack of fish. According to local legend, Holy Lake near the village of Neuhoff, Germany, not far from the Elbe River in the district of Wolmirstedt, was the home of Brother Nixel, a not-so-friendly water spirit common in Germany. Burkhard, the Archbishop of Magdeburg between 1295 and 1304 CE, blessed the lake and proclaimed he had cast out all the heathen spirits (he added a few banished ghosts for good measure). Of course, the local people continued to offer tributes to the water sprites and the clergy blamed the inevitable occasional drowning on human sin.

The Lady of the Lake

Sometimes there may be a single lake lady, sometimes served by eight water women of slightly lesser rank.

The Lady of the Lake is invariably dressed in white. She walks upon the water on misty days and lives in a glass or crystal palace beneath the lake. Most famous is the glass palace of Viviane, the French Lady of the Lake who became the lover of Merlin the magician who advised King Arthur. According to myth, Merlin built her a palace of glass beneath a lake in the forest of Broceliande near Rennes in Brittany and taught her all he knew of magic. You can see the palace beneath the lake if you gaze into the still waters on a sunlit day, for the lake is like glass. (There is a King Arthur Museum nearby.7)

Ladies of the Lake

In Wales, there are many lake women who live with their fathers and brothers beneath the deep Welsh lakes set among the mountains. The most famous are the gwragedd annwyn, golden-haired female Welsh water faeries, living in palaces beneath the lakes of the Black Mountains. They are the same size as humans and are kind to children, those without money, and to mothers. These lake maidens have on occasions taken human husbands, though they rarely stay with them. Some local families living close to the lake still claim lake women heritage. One may act as a queen.

The most famous is the Lady of the Lake of Llyn y Fan Fach. She is reputedly the faery ancestor of an unbroken line of Welsh healers and physicians, and unusually, this faery legend can be dated. Around 1230 CE, records tell that a young farmer saw three beautiful women dancing on the shore.

The loveliest lake maiden agreed to be his wife, and her father, the king of faery, came from under the lake to bring a dowry of faery cattle. However, he imposed a number of conditions on his daughter. One was that she should never be touched with iron, another that she should not be made to go to church, and if her husband struck her three times she and her dowry would return to the lake.

The couple had three sons, but the farmer broke his bargain, hit her and forced her to go to church, so she and her cattle returned to the lake. However she did come back to teach her sons knowledge of herbs and healing. They became the Physicians of Myddfai, healers to the Welsh kings. When they died, they left a medical treatise, copies of which exist today in Cardiff Castle museum.8 The small, sturdy, brown cattle that thrive in the mountainous landscape of Wales are said to be descended from faery cattle, given as dowry with the lake women.

The Tylwyth Teg is the more generalised name for lake women in different parts of Wales. Their name means the “fair family” and they are also known as Bendith y Mamau, “Mothers’ Blessing.”

Lake Lady Rituals

All over the world, lakes have been found with offerings of gold, metal cups, bronze drinking horns, coins, and statues of water deities, some dating back thousands of years. Lake ladies expect offerings that are emotionally precious to you, whether a small piece of gold jewelry, a water crystal such as fluorite, a tiny crystal angel, a soapstone animal, or a wooden statue.

Less Amiable Water Spirits

In deep, dark pools or treacherous stretches of river, myth tells us that malevolent spirits were believed to reside. It was dangerous to bathe in these places, not only because of the malicious spirit, but in practical terms because of hidden currents or sudden depth change.

Though some bad-tempered water spirits were given a generic name like nokken in Sweden or nixes in Germany, others developed individual personalities and legends of their origin.

In northern England lives Jenny Greenteeth.9 Her hair is said to be the green plants floating on water. She was originally associated with the Ribble River in Lancashire, specifically the stepping stones near Brungerley. Here every seven years she was said to snatch a child and drag her under the water, a warning to be careful of the fast-flowing river and the slippery stones.

Jenny’s fame spread, and I have even found an account of Jenny on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England at a theme park called Blackgang Chine (the park is set on a ley line). Here was a beautiful green-clad water maiden who would seduce unwary young men and then turn into a hideous hag and drag them to her watery home, as well as drowning children. In more suspicious times, the fey were unfairly blamed for disappearances, drowning, and abductions that were either accidents or human malice.

If you feel unusually negative vibes when near water, especially if your children are playing and you feel suddenly anxious though you have taken every precaution, you may be receiving a warning that all is not well. There may be unusual water conditions or weather approaching; perhaps a heavy rain has caused flooding, a drought has cast up rocks, or the water swell for sailing may suddenly deteriorate. Do not panic or leave immediately, but listen to the message or images that come into your mind from the spirit of the place and remain alert. If the place is unfamiliar, check with locals about quicksand or hidden currents.

Indigenous Fierce Water Creatures

In lands with strong indigenous cultures, such as Native American or Australian aboriginal cultures, there are often inherited legends of fearsome water beings from the original inhabitants of the land. From my own research, these scary creatures are most prevalent where powerful earth energies can be felt at the intersection of leys or at natural vortex points.

For example, the bokwus is a malevolent Native American male spirit found near rushing water, especially in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. His fierce, war-painted face may be glimpsed peering behind trees as he seeks to drown and capture their souls of unwary fishermen or hunters.

The Australian Bunyip

Aboriginals speak of fearsome booming bunyip monsters that inhabit swamps and waterholes. While I was traveling through Queensland with my friend Konnie, we encountered a bunyip statue larger than a human ten-minute drive from the peaceful town of Mulgidie. Over the years, tales have emerged from aboriginal people and drovers of bubbling, churning water in legendary bunyip holes and cattle disappearing in the depths as they drank.

Aboriginal elders say the bunyip waterhole is connected by vast underground caverns passing the Tellebang Mountain that stretch as far as the Ban Ban Springs. These springs are a sacred site to the aboriginals, associated with the dreamtime, the ever-present time of creation, marking where the creating Rainbow Serpent began his journey making waterholes and forming the landscape. He still protects the site. The waters are warm and though by the side of the main Burnett highway the Ban Ban springs are misty and mystical.

Accounts of this fearsome water spirit appear in indigenous accounts as well as in the 1850s in settler accounts. Descriptions from nineteenth-century newspaper reports include a doglike face, dark fur, a horselike tail, flippers, walrus-type tusks or horns, and even a duck bill. The Challicum bunyip, an outline image of a bunyip carved by Aboriginal people into the bank of Fiery Creek near Ararat, Victoria, was first recorded by the Australasian newspaper in 1851. A large number of bunyip sightings occurred between the 1840s and 1850s, particularly in the southeastern colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, as European colonization continued.10

The bunyip’s apparent usual method of killing its prey is by hugging it to death. However bunyips are not all bad news; they have also been said to guide fishermen to good spots and protect them from dangerous swamp creatures.

Bringing the Water Spirits into Our Homes

A water-spirit place can be set up anywhere in your home. Its spreading energies will benefit family and visitors alike and ensure abundance, peace, health, and positive emotions flow freely through your home. Centre it around a small water feature or a tank of goldfish. In Feng Shui, the water area is centred in the north of your home or the north of a room in which you relax.

Enclose the space with green trailing plants; tiny indoor lemon trees; and water crystals such as orbicular or ocean jasper, green jasper, pearls, green and purple fluorite, jade, and aquamarine.

Add water symbols such as a lucky Chinese toad with a coin in its mouth or a turtle to encourage prosperity, shells, and natural driftwood sculptures formed by the sea.

Have a glass bowl filled with water for offerings of tiny water crystals (a broken pearl necklace is ideal) you drop in when you or a family member ask for a particular blessing.

When you next visit a local water place, take offerings along in a little waterproof bag (you can fish them out with a net) and offer them to the local spirits.

In the next chapter, we will look at the fiercer spirits of nature.

Chapter 8 Sources

  1. http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Nereides.html
  2. Andersen, Hans C. The Little Mermaid. New York: Minedition, 2004.
  3. Eason, Cassandra. Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2007.
  4. http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/selkiefolk/
  5. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/naiads.html
  6. Whyte, Saga. Why the Naiads Dance. Helsinge, Denmark: Whyte Tracks, 2010.
  7. http://www.francemonthly.com/n/0106/index.php#article5
  8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2011/08/physicians_of_myddfai.html
  9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Greenteeth
  10. http://www.ourpacificocean.com/australia_bunyips_mythology/index1.htm

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