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In ancient Rome, today is the feast day of Neptulia, set aside to honor Neptune, God of the seas and fresh water. The mythology of Neptune is somewhat a mystery, much like most of the deep sea remains to us. His early association with the Greek God Poseidon muddies the waters, so to speak. One aspect that differs in some detail is the more romanticized mythology of Neptune's ardent pursuit of his undersea queen, Salacia, a beautiful sea nymph.

Salacia was in great awe of her high ranking suitor, and being desirous of preserving her virginity, she played the shy coquet, managing to glide out of Neptune’s sight and hide in the vast waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Neptune, not one to give up so easily, sent a dolphin in search of the fair nymph to persuade her to come back and reign with him as queen. Upon her agreement to marriage, Neptune was so pleased that he awarded the dolphin a place in heaven; he reigns there still as the constellation Delphinus.

Salacia is the personification of the calm and sunlit waters of the ocean. The etymology of her name links her to the vast, open waters of the salt seas (Latin Sal, meaning salt) and is often translated to mean sensational. As Salachia she is also known as the Goddess of springs—especially those of highly mineralized waters. By either name, whether Goddess of salt or sweetwater seas—or mineral springs, Salacia embodies the female water element.

It does not surprise me that my muse would bring Salacia to me near the day that honors her husband, and by their consort, herself. I have long had a deep affinity to water in large body, but of late I have forged a deeper connection for the element in the embodiment of natural springs. All under the watchful gaze Salacia, queen of the sea and water.

The first half of my life was spent living within stone’s throw of the Lake Superior shore. It is a freshwater sea of mythical proportion. By surface area alone, Lake Superior is the largest body of fresh water in the world. Measured by volume it falls to third largest in the world—but still largest in North America.

Lake Superior was sacred to the indigenous tribes who peopled its shores. They called it Gichigami (Gitche Gummee in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem). A bountiful, life giving source offering up the treasure and prosperity of the seas, the lake is an embodiment of the Great Mother Spirit and the watery, feminine element. Certainly this impressive body of water is within the realm of Salacia and her king of the deep.

Lake Superior is fed by over 200 rivers, one being the Boise Brule. In the rich, boggy land just thirty miles south of the lake and less than a mile from my present home, the headwaters of the Brule (which runs north) and the St. Croix River (which runs south) come together. Natural springs are bountiful in the surrounding hardwood forest; plant life bursts forth here in a plethora of species and variety.

This abundant growth has kept me quite busy these past weeks of high summer, up at dawn collecting the blooms of flowers, shrubs and trees to infuse their energies into bowls of spring water in the making of flower essences.

The balancing and healing energies of flower essences were first discovered by Dr. Edward Bach more than 80 years ago and there is much research and a long history of case studies to endorse the effectiveness of the vibrational remedies. What I have found in these past weeks of working with the water and flowers, is a sense of balance and fruition, a consummation in equal portion of the energies of all four elements; earth energy in the blossoms (the highest form of the plant), infused by the fire element of the sun into the cooler element of water.  The air is present in the oxygen of the water, of course, but is also the ever present element all around us. I know no other way to explain my sense of its role in this process than to say if feels like the maestro conducting the symphony.

All well and good, but then why the manifestation of Salacia, Goddess of the seas and water? On a much deeper level I have sensed that the efficacy of the flower remedies all comes down to the mystery of the water. Normally an element in need of a vessel to contain it, in the process of making vibrational essences, the water is transformed into the vessel itself--holding, as it does, the energy of the flower.

And so in working with the blossoms and the water, I have found yet another aspect of the Goddess within in all the fluidity of her magic.