This week’s free association comes down to from the Moon to the Sea.
The Sea is intrinsically diverse and contradictory – given that its waters may be peaceful or aggressive depending on the context.
As you know the sea in certain traditions is linked to the bearer of all life. In Greek Mythology for instance, Oceanus – or Okeanos – the Titan God, ruled over the great earth-encircling river Okeanos, the font of all the earth’s fresh-water: including rivers, wells, springs and rain-clouds. Okeanos was also the god who regulated the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies which were believed to emerge and descend into his watery realm at the ends of the earth. Okeanos’ wife was Tethys, the nurse, who was probably thought to distribute his water to the earth via subterranean caverns.
But the Sea can also be depicted as a dangerous environment. Carl Jung for instance stated that in dreams, the sea represents the unknown region of your psychic sphere, where many dangers stay hidden.
Now, you take the floor : what do you associate with the Sea?
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I associate the sea with LOVE.
For many people love is associated with some positive feelings, like tenderness, inspiration, entrancement, etc., but this is not love actually, these are just emotions… Notion of love is much deeper… Feelings and emotions can be matched with waves in the sea, and love with sea itself. If the surface of the sea is still, it doesn’t mean that the sea has dried… And derivatives of Love may be not only “positive” feelings, but also “negative”, like fear, jealousy, fury, etc.
I love the Sea!!! It nourishes me, it gives me life!!! The Sea makes me feel connected to the rest of the world!!!
Makes me feel calm, in awe, makes me appreciate the ski in a diferent way, I love the sound of the crashing of the waves, the seaguls flying in their own patterns, coming down for food or to have a walk maybe!
The sea also remind me of the Goddess!!!
Like you said it can be dangerous, the Sea demands respect!
I love it yet I am afraid of it. Curious to know more about it but afraid it will drown me.
I always dream about it. The sea in my dreams always represents my real emotion and sometimes even emotion that I have yet to come into term with.
The sea is a mysterious creature.
I associate the Sea with one’s Emotions. It can be calm and peaceful, but it can also be treacherous the next minute. Just like our roller coaster of emotions — we can be happy or melancholic, excited or lethargic, peaceful or troublesome.
The normal temperament of the sea depends on its surroundings — the moon, the wind or an island in the midst. But unexpected occurences like an earthquake or a typhoon, would set off its violent character. Likewise, our emotions are very much affected by the people, things and the events happening around us. And strong emotions are usually triggered by the unexpected.
The waves reveal the sea’s emotions. Our eyes reveal ours.
With the sea I associate Patience… because if it has a rock or an obstacle in front of it, he will find it’s way, surround it or little by little desintegrating the rock. The sea is the wisest in how to flow with what life puts in front of us.
My english is not very good so i will write in french…
La mer est source de vie, bien quel puise être calme ou déchainé, le doux son de celle-ci est ci réconfortant… Elle symbolise le mystère, la beauté, l’inconnue et même la peur… Rien de mieux que pouvoir nager dans celle-ci et sentir toute ses caresses…
Genx
a vast manifestion of the water element in Nature
a mirror of our emotional body or the water element in us
adventure
unlimitedness
beyond manmade frontieres
beauty
a natural force
a natural source of life
renewal
cleansing
a part of nature I love and am nurtured by
sea is like life..some years ago I was in the sea, an hour inside from the beach, there was medusas everywhere and 2 of them bit me, there was also a stream which was pulling me .For the first time in my life i felt i can die..I felt that the sea is also scary, big and powerful..I felt so small there..
but sea is also calmness..love, joy…I can watch it all my life and it will never bored me.
2 days ago I was just lying in the sea…and felt happy and calm for the first time from years maybe…I was just lying there..and there were people around..strangers, but I didn’t feel alone..it was hot and sunny, I didn’t move at all…just lying there..I felt small again in the hands of the sea…I felt like I’ve let the sea to do whatever it wants..I was under it’s control…but in fact I could control it by myself.. it was so good..I felt like a part of it..like a fish..like a shell…like water…
Sea is really like life..if you know how to live it..you can be calm and happy…like it’s the one and only possible thing..you can see it dangerous and scary, but you can see it like happiness and love…because we are all part of it..and this is beautiful..
sea is like life…it’s everywhere where your look can reach..you know that somewhere it ended but u can’t really realize it .The good thing is that when you finally go out of it..life doesn’t end..there is the ground , the air and all the beautiful endless world in front of you , with all the people and love inside :)
p.s:sorry for my bad english
…The sea is life itself…always moving, every day different, but equally surprising and beautiful…
The sea seems to be very inspiring so I can’t help adding another association of mine: THE AMBER.
The point is that the first sea that I visited as a child was the Baltic Sea. It remains my favourite despite being cold and not very friendly. I even learnt to pick up pieces of amber right out of the waves. In this respect I remembered two legends connected with this stone.
The first says that long ago there were two suns in the sky. One of them was so huge and heavy that it fell in the sea and split against the rocks. Since then the waves of the sea carry small pieces sun.
The other legend is about the goddess Yurate from the Lithuanian mythology. Yurate lived in an amber palace at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. And in a small village on the shore there lived a handsome young fisherman called Kastitis who would sing beautiful songs as he went into the sea in his boat. Yurate listened to his songs when he was casting his fishing net right above her amber palace, and fell in love with him. One day she told him about her love and took him to live with her in her wonderful palace. But their happiness did not last long. When Perkunas, the Supreme God, knew that Yurate, the goddess, loved a mortal man, he got infuriated and ordered to destroy her palace. He chained Yurate to the rocks to stay there forever, and told the waves to kill Kastitis. Since then Yurate cries for her lost love. Her tears turn into small pieces of amber, and the big pieces of amber that the sea brings ashore are the remnants of her beautiful palace.
This legend is very similar to the story of the Lake Titicaca.
It’s kind of hard to explain… I believe that human beings are related to natural elements and that mine is the water even if most of the people would plainly call me crazy.
Other than the usual fun you can have at the seaside, when I get into the sea, I feel like I’ve arrived home. It makes me feel safe, refreshed, relaxed and peaceful. And there is this position, when you float in the water on your back (without any devices) and parts of your body are inside the water, including your ears – it’s like a whole new dimension. You can hear the outside world only in the distance, and even if you know they’re really not that far away, it still feels amazing. Like, you’re there but you’re really not.
I don’t know. I just love the sea.
The sea is freshness, change, surprises… It’s kind and angry, blue and grey, calm and strormy… Just like the life, with good and bad periods changing each other. It loves people hugging them with its waves and eats them up sometimes, taking to the bottom.
Sea is much more than it can seem:)
my spirit
The one that easily came up in my mind was pearl or mother pearl. Then the second thought was death. I thought death instead of life simply because I cannot live in water. I also associate the see with something unstable or uncomfortable, which I could not find the perfect word. It seems the more I think of the sea, the more complicate it becomes…
The sea… dark and clear. Power, strenght… Constance, mistery, passion, love. Anger and serenity. Calm and frustration. Salty. A huge blue space… the reflection of the skies.
when it comes to meditation the sea can reflect your thoughts – when you start meditation the sea will be rough and have a lot of waves. when you look in the sea you can not really sea the sky as a clear picture since the motion of the sea disturbs the image it reflects. the more you practice meditation the clearer the picture of the sky gets. and when the thoughts calm down and maybe reach a point where they come to stop you can gat a clear picture of the sky, of the clouds of the birds flying around and of the sun since the sea will stop to wave around and just will be this calm and deep water.
The sea…the sea. The up and down of the waves sweeping in and out. The pull and the power. the floating, jumping up up up and the sinking down down down.
Being in the sea jumping in the waves reminds me of my recent journey through life. During the highs I am up with my face to the sun. Swept up and uplifted by each wave. When the big wave passes and I sink down to the deep trough, sometimes sputtering for air and trying to breathe. I am lower than low, sun and sky blocked out just waiting for another wave to come along and carry me up again to the sun. These have been the highs and lows of my life over the past 7 years. Thank you for giving me the forum to write about my view on this subject.
The Sea. I have never really seen the sea (except from what I have seen on TV). I would like to someday. So the sea, to me, is expectation.
The Sea is the cradle of Life, life poured forth from the oceans and is taken back just as easily. I believe our emotions and souls are connected to the living spirit of the ocean.
sea is seen as its worst possible disaster & the best mood setter ever
i see it as a disaster first then as a mood setter
in just few moment it could destroy anything & on the second moment its calm as a sleeping baby
for me sea is teacher teaching u about people that they can be as a violent as sea or as calm as sea
I have difficulty describing what the sea means to me. Though I understand the the principle and symbolism of water I have some trouble making myself open to the flow of its energy. As a small child I vividly remember learning to swim and I feel that I may have some deep trauma associated with the sea that is buried in time’s memory. I remember feeling the threat of unknown creatures and relentless currents. I watched the movie ‘Amistad’ in which illegal slave traders had slaves shackled to long chains with weights that were dumped overboard upon the threat of discovery. I felt the pain of those people in a very real way. I cannot say that I have ever experienced that kind of tragedy first hand, though I seem to feel lost when I contemplate the vast ocean. ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ also brought out deep fears, but it was a little off the mark as far as illuminating my own conflict. Perhaps the loss of a loved one to the great unknown may explain the void that I feel associated with the sea. This is not to say that I fear the sea. I enjoy swimming, snorkeling and diving, just that I feel a strange and particular void that I can’t really explain. It seems to call to me and taunt me with the same voice like children calling me to come play, but then laughing when I stop to contemplate whether this is a good idea. One day I will set out to discover the dark secret that the sea holds for me and with luck I will find the courage to meet the sobering truth without stumbling into another inexplicable tragedy. A shadow has many faces and few are fortunate enough to find the courage to square off with all of them. I have seen the darkness present in my ability to trust people. Now when I have come through the dark forest filled with voracious beings of unknown origin, only then will I have the strength to trek into the treacherous sea.
Wolf Hawk Serpent
With Love,
-E
para mi el mar es parte de mi espiritu y de mi alma es ese elemento que me da vida
…eu sou o oceano…desejo visitar todos os continentes…as vezes calmo e passivo…outras com fúria e turbulência…muitos me admiram…muitos me temem…alguns encontram em mim aventuras…outros encontram o amor e inspiração…e podem ainda encontrar decepções e dor…posso prover e ser generoso com alguns…e com um só gesto…prejudicar muitos…e assim como o oceano namora a lua…sem nunca possuí-la…assim namoramos a vida…
X
For me the sea as a child was sheer happiness. I love the look, the smell, the peace, the excitement and danger of it. I love to be enveloped by it. I love folklore tales of the sea and paintings of the sea. I love sea creatures. It is a formidable part of nature.
On the flip side as a child up until a young adult I always had dreams of standing at the shore and watching the waves swells grow until they became a tidal wave and I was stay still and hold my breath and hope to survive it. I always did. I do believe it represents emotion, cleansing of emotions.
Kathleen xxoo
For me the sea represents – everything ,our journey …emotions ,LOVE , it cleanses ,revitalizers ,gives us beauty ,smell of salt ,shells ,sandcastles ,treasure,discoveries, our own body of water ,catching waves ,riding them ,and of course snorkeling -diving into the earth ,rock pools ,star fish and of course there is the other side it brings our fears of sharks , sting rays and so forth ..I was once stung by a Box jelly fish ..when I was 13 ,this was deadly ,it parallelized me for a few weeks .Also the ocean is grounding ..brings balance and helps centers us .But I also think of Atlantis in regard to this all the time too.Also Mermaids ,Nemo and Charts -maps ,Navigating ,Light houses …messages in a bottle ,washed up items ..like seaweed,driftwood and we used to get Pippys when we where younger as well as worms ..Thats as much as I can think of for now ..Love and Light -Tania
Like the floating sea I drift in and out.
Sandy shores warm and inviting, drawing me in to enjoy the life giving waters and the serenity of its sound. At times storms toss the waves to and fro, some big, some small, such is the way of trial. And when the sun fades, the moon casts its reflection bringing me back to where I belong, alone with the silence only the sea can bring.
Like the sea, I belong to every one and no one at all.
I am blessed to have seen many shores, pulling me in leaving a lasting impression as I depart…who knows when I might be this way again, but like the sea in all its vastness I find love as it speaks to me and if you listen closely, it speaks also to you, it speaks to us all.
~Rain
En tiempos de la Oca,
en el Océano,
al Occidente
de Oc, de Europa, de Cantabria,
donde la cueva Oclusa vela,
Ocurre en el confín de Amaya,
que Apolo Occiduo el dios anhela,
en el Ocaso que nunca halla,
y en la Ocasión que el día quiso,
el carro del Sol Ocultar,
y tras de Isis el velo Occiso,
su eterno renacer Ocupar.
En tiempos de La Oca en el Océano son tiempos que nos lega el pasado y nos ofrece el presente. Tiempos hoy en los que La Oca flota, nada y vuela sobre el Océano de la vida. Tiempos ayer aquellos en los que la Oca sobrevivió cuando la gran isla en medio del Océano se hundió para luego renacer la vida cuando las aguas se retiraron. La relación con el sol, a quien Dios mandó dibujar el Arco en el cielo tras el Diluvio, hace que la Oca represente el nexo de unión con los tiempos de la fascinante cultura que hoy podemos contemplar en Altamira o El Castillo. La Oca sobrevive al Diluvio y se la asocia al sol. La Oca es símbolo de vida y protección. La cultura celta tenía a la Oca como un símbolo sagrado, era mensajera del Otro Mundo. En el antiguo Egipto, la Oca era un animal vinculado a nacimiento y muerte. Las ocas son las aves que vuelan entre el cielo y la tierra manteniendo un nexo de unión entre ambos. Para cofradías y hermandades medievales la pata de la oca era un símbolo hermético referente de la Tríada: como el Tridente de Poseidón – dios de la Atlántida – o el símbolo semejante de la Vieira, la Concha del Peregrino, del Camino de Santiago que precisamente atraviesa nuestros lares, el Camino de las Estrellas que sigue la ruta hacia tierras un dia emergidas. Siguiendo la dirección del camino de Santiago y prolongándolo en línea recta, éste llega a un punto al norte de las Azores. Bien puede suceder que el camino de Santiago, hacia el Oeste, se vea impulsado también por un recuerdo inconsciente de las tierras regidas por quien tenía como símbolo el tridente. En el Océano, en Occidente, en el país de Oc, la realeza adopta el símbolo de la flor de lys. Como el “Algiz” cuyos tres brazos alzados representan al hombre exultante, a la victoria. La Trinidad. La Divinidad.
http://www.laocaeneloceano.es
I associate the sea with human nature. Depending on life’s conditions sometimes calm, still and serene or conversely wild, playful or dangerous. I think the sea teaches us about our own nature and the contradictions we have to learn to live with. As a wise person once told me on the island of lindisfarne, “If you ever have a problem, for which you can find no solution, sit by the edge of the sea and contemplate its vastness and depth, and there you will find the solution”. Again a comparison to human nature as all answers can be found from within.
Sea is a place of many possibilities.I cannot forget E.A.Poe,with his “Message in a Bottle”,or from Colleridge”The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”.Those two writings tells lot about what might happen during a travell on sea.Also,is seen like a great womb,giving birth to Aphrodite,the beautiful godess.So,we arrive again to femininity,and to mistery.Maybe I take it too much in a Romantic way,but this just suits me.What about “Moby Dick”,the symbol of the ideal,of something that one cannot reach?Adventure are the key word,this I think.And,sure,Charon,are very familiar character,because with the risk and adventure,there is the possibility of death,of passing in the other realm.Buzzati Dino ,or G.G.Marques presented stories about Phantom Ships.
A Universe on Earth.
Samina looks at how at ease everyone feels with the sea and wonders if she watched too many episodes of Jaws when she was a child. She scribbles down her thoughts:
Fear. Unknown. Uncertainty. Danger. Beauty. Calling. Lost. Power. Deadly. Calm. Anger. Temper. Schizophrenic.
Oksana, I dont have a story as beautifully put as you do, but I also associate the sea with love… It would make sence that life is all about love, when you think that over 75% of the earth is covered in water. But, I also associate the sea with family, for the simple fact that, every time I go to the ocean, I think about the good times I spent with my family on vacations.
I just returned from a weeks visit to the beach as well. We had a full moon or nearly full all week with clear skies. The moon had come up like a ball of orange fire out of the water and as it rose into the sky turned white, it’s light relflecting off the water. You could see in detail the surface of the moon with the naked eye. I felt naked. I wanted to be naked, part of it. I felt like I was on the edge of the world, the edge of an abyss. It was if I could feel the earth spinning in space and could see that motion pulling the ocean to the shore as the wind blows past it. I wanted to dive in. Become lost in it, to become one with it and not fear it’s power. But I do fear the ocean. I respect it. I respect my healthy fear of it too. The ocean is life to me. Never ending creation. I wonder if a single droplet of water ever passes the same place twice? The sight and sound hypnotises. The constant movement, the changing sands. One day there are shells everywhere, the next there are none replaced with sand fleas that dissapper the folloing day and again replaced with dead jelly fish who’s stinging tenantals are gone. The ocean luls my soul, soothes it. The ocean frightens me with it’s vastness and depth. I cry out of happiness when I arrive at the water and cry to be seperated from it when it is time to go…
The Moon and Sea are very much interlinked for me.
Because whilst the moon reflects the sun, the sea/water reflects the moon and produces fluroscent creatures that “light up” when the waves crash.
It can be calming like the breath heard inside the womb, or in the next breath become a tempestuous destroyer.
Still waters run deep, so the energy it brings reasonates with my Soul.
I hope to live by the Sea.
sereias! Deusas e Deuses! homens corajosos – pescadores, navegadores, viajantes; Mundos desconhecidos! Lendas – Triangulo das bermudas, Atlantida; Realidades desconhecidas – fundo do Mar! Tesouros perdidos! Prazer! Viajar! Vida! Sal!
Courage, possibilities the unknown. The Thuatha de Dannans, Avalon, A senhora do lago, Viviane
I saw “Mamma mia” for the second time, absolutely amazing!!!
I couldn’t seat still; I wanted to dance, to fly, to dive into this blue, sparkling sea.
The sea…
the love, happiness and tears.
The essence of my dreams, of my being.
I could watch it a hundred times.
love
Agnieszka
the Sea is Life to me. there are a lot that is still unknown about the sea, and also an element of danger, but it is also vast, powerful, peaceful, amazing, and fluid. i like the idea of the sea a lot, and i wish our oceans are cleaner than they are.
the sea of love..
Water has always terrified me. The sea is a constant reminder of the individual’s mortality and insignificance. I much prefer a tree. A tree is effected by the elements as am I, while the sea IS an element. I can relate to a tree.
Funny, I just spent a week at the seashore on vacation and the book I read was The Valkyries. On one of our nightly beach walks I realized one reason I always feel so energized and happy at the beach is that when you stand at the shore’s edge, you are forced to expand your vision to the horizon. I look down much less frequently. At sea, or on the beach, that 15-foot circle around you is just less relevant, or takes up less attention. And it’s very fulfilling.
Agua, sal, grande, playa, marea, movimiento, barco,peces, sirenas, azul, espejo del cielo, nadar…
************************************************
Watter, salt, big, beach, tide, movement, ship, fishes, mermaids, blue( like colour), mirror of the sky, swim…
… Atlantis…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO_vFuzPJvc
love,
pontifex…
What a happy coincidence to read your post about the sea now!
As a musician, I’m currently working on new material for my next record. all of it’s songs have to do something with water.
Isn’t it strange that water surrounds us everywhere? It covers almost 70% of the world, it’s about 70% of your bodies, it’s even it the air we breathe…
For me, water, may it be the ocean, a river, or even a pond, stands for life itself. You have to learn to swim when you don’t want to drown.
Sometimes you’ll find a raft, you might get washed on someones shore, you can spend happy days with friends on the beach. But there will also be storms and waves bigger than your house. That’s when it starts to get really interesting :-)
I have some dificulties writing in english, so I’ll write in portuguese. I wope you can all forgive me.
O mar tem tanto significado e tantos significados para mim que é difícil escolher uma só palavra…
No entanto, a escolher, escolheria “Deus”, pela imensidão e grandiosidade, pelo Poder e pela Paz que manifesta, pela Vida que nele surgiu, e que nele habita, pela Beleza, pela fluídez, porque penetra na areia com respeito pela sua própria natureza, porque me acolhe, quando nele mergulho, sem, no entanto, me deixar “amolecer” na minha postura, obrigando-me sempre a um esforço, ora porque luto com as ondas, ora porque nado, ou mergulho furando uma onda, porque é simultaneamente, uma fonte de fascínio e de medo. Sempre que olho o mar, abrindo também os olhos da alma, encontro Deus.
Pat, Portugal
For me the sea is the world of the spirit. It is also Agape. It is the destination to which my river has journeyed. It is where life began, and it is the realm of the soul.
I don’t know much about metaphysics, but I feel the sea is the realm of the soul and the spirit.I think that reaching the sea symbolically in life is the chance for rebirth, as it is the universal womb from which we once came.
I think it is the primordial HOME we all belong to.
Who knows.
karen.
The sea is our deepest selves, our souls and our spirits
A mother
today I just posted about some things I associate with the sea, and I did not know you proposed this exercise here, when I saw you were following me I came here and found this post of yours, today I was speaking about mermaids, I also associate the sea with the place where life got started. this is why I love all sea goddesses, from Kuan Yin to Yemanya, they are our mothers of life. ;-)
thanks for you to have visited me today.
hugs and kisses
Ro
If I had been asked for any association with the sea some time ago, I would rather have agreed with Carlos or said something about the moon, the tides, etc. But now my only association is connected with my personal experience that I’ve had lately. So there were a few young women (including me) getting together for a chat. One of us is a psychologist and she suggested taking a test. “Imagine that you are in a desert,” – she said. – “There is no tree, no well, no people, just you and the sand and the sun. You are walking along this sand; you are tired; you are thirsty. Suddenly you see a high wall in the middle of the desert. You begin to climb it and it takes the rest of your energy. At last you are on top of it. You sit on top of the wall and there is endless sea in front of you. What would you do?”
I remember everybody shouting: “I’ll jump down and rush toward the water”, “I’ll swim away”, “I’d dive”… My answer was: to sit quietly first and contemplating the sea with gratitude and joy, and only then come up to it and enter the water.
The key to the test was: the sea is a symbol of love, and the way that we said we’d behave symbolized our attitude to love and our way of loving somebody.
So now I associate the sea with LOVE.
My life…
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