Today, to honor  Gaia, our Greek goddess of Earth, our mother of all life, I was drawn again to the abundance of water around and about our property. I wanted to send gratitude to a goddess of water as well and learned, while pondering my day, that there are 270 goddesses of water (or 3,000 according to Hesiod, an ancient Greek myth writer) and that Tethys is the goddess of fresh water. Tonight as darkness descends, I give thanks to Tethys for our everlasting springs.

I chose to visit and bless three prominent springs, where water miraculously bubbles forth, eons after eons, to nourish and sustain us and the land around us. My sister Nancy, was gracious enough to join me and helped find the first spring we blessed that we think of as “Alan’s Spring” as our brother contemplated building a house near this spring on the far reaches of the property. We sat in silence and in song, lighting a candle and smudging the spring with gratitude and honoring its existence through so many years.

We then walked to the second spring, close to our house and one where I hoped that one of my offspring might someday choose to dwell. I often ski or snowshoe by this spring in the wintertime noticing that even in the depth of winter, it melts the snow and is visible when I pass. We gave thanks again and meditated on this miracle while sharing songs, laughter and stories of my recent trip to see my offspring.

The third spring is the spring that feeds our 250 gallon cistern in our 1835 farm house. I am tremendously grateful for this source of fresh clean water and cherish its presence in our lives. Nancy played and sang along with a lovely song called “Down to the Well” by Sarina Partridge, which is beautiful and we blessed this spring with deep gratitude and humility.

Though this reflection is somewhat lengthy, I wanted to also share my endeavor this afternoon to rescue and release small fingerling trout who have swum upstream only to end up in a very small unsustainable body of water below a dam. I was able to patiently catch over 25 trout and release them into our 2.5 acre pond where they will be much happier, and more likely to survive the otter and heron who would eagerly gobble them up. The cycle of life continues.

Lastly, I have to give thanks to my grandmother, Thelma, who instilled in me a deep appreciation for water and to never take a single drop of water for granted. Thank you, Nan-o.