Anna and I just performed the Waters of the World ceremony as part of a Peace ritual at the Parliament. A fuller report follows, but here is the text of the ceremony and the list of sacred waters.
Blessed Be,
Don Frew
National Interfaith Representative
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Waters of the World Ceremony
Me: “In some traditions, water represents the life force; in others it symbolizes the Divine Spirit. We ourselves are 98% water. If two people from warring nations come together, they may be in conflict. But if they pour water from their homelands into a bowl... One water does not try to be higher than the other – they find a common level. One water does not try to stay separate from the other and keep only to its side of the bowl – they mix together and become one. And so, the mixing of waters has come to symbolize our desire for peace and unity.
These waters [lifting the bowl] have been mixed and added to in ceremonies of the United Nations, the United Religions Initiative, the Parliament of the World's Religions, and the Goldin Institute for International Partnership and Peace. They come from 148 sacred water sources in 44 countries on all 7 continents and from the Seven Seas, and they have been mingled as a blessing for all beings of the Earth, in the hope that we may live in peace. We won’t read the whole list here – it will be available later – but we’ll name just a few...
Anna: “These waters come from… [representative short list] . Nothing we do can make these waters sacred – they ARE sacred. May your hearts be blessed by the touch of these sacred waters.”
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The Waters of the World -- List of Waters
These waters, collected from 148 sacred water sources in 44 countries on all seven continents and from the Seven Seas, have been mingled as a blessing for all beings of the Earth, in the hope that we may live in peace. The Waters of the World have been part of ceremonies at: the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, San Francisco CA, June 1995; Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) MerryMeet, Saratoga CA, August 1997; United Religions Initiative (URI) Global Summit, Stanford CA, June 1999; Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR), Cape Town, South Africa, December 1999; Earth Day, Berkeley CA, 2002; URI Global Council Meeting, City of 10,000 Buddhas CA, May 2004; Montserrat Assembly, PWR, Barcelona, Spain, 2004; Goldin Institute for International Partnership and Peace, Taipei, Taiwan, 2004; URI Latin America Regional Meeting, Ayacucho, Peru, 2004; URI Global Council meeting, Seoul, Korea, 2005; North American Interfaith Network NAINConnect, Las Vegas NV, 2005; CoG MerryMeet, Ft. Lauderdale FL, 2006; URI LA Regional Meeting, Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil, 2008; URI Global Council & Board Reunion, San Francisco CA, June 2009; CoG MerryMeet, Palmdale CA, 2009; Initiativa Indigena Global meeting, Cusco, Peru, 2009; PWR, Melbourne, Australia, 2009.
ANTARCTICA
ARGENTINA
AUSTRALIA
* Phagen Bay
* an Aboriginal sacred spring in the Outback
BALI
* the Sacred River
BELGIUM
* Brussels
* Goldenpont, Antwerp
BRAZIL
* the Amazon River
* Foz do Iguacu
* Lake Parana
CANADA
* Brokenhead River, Manitoba
* Edmonton
* Montreal
* Vancouver
CHINA
* Heavenly Lake, Urumqi
* Yellow River
* Shanghai
COLUMBIA
* stream in the Andes Mts., Guasco
EGYPT
* Kom el-Shogafa, Alexandria
* Sacred Lake, Temple of Amon, Karnak
* Nile River, Aswan
* the Red Sea
* St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai
ENGLAND
* Bath
* Coventina’s Well, Carrawburgh
* spring inside the Nymphaeum at Carrawburgh
* the Chalice Well, Glastonbury
* the White Spring, Glastonbury
* London
ETHIOPIA
FINLAND
* Lake Pyhajarvi, Hamina
FRANCE
* Cathar castle of Puilarens
* Joan of Arc’s well
* Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Rennes-le-Chateau
* the Holy Spring, Lourdes
GERMANY
* Bonn
* Main River
* source of the Rhine River
GREECE
* Eleusis
* the Kastalian Spring, Delphi
ICELAND
* Reykjavik
INDIA
* Bombay
* the Ganges River
* the Golden Temple
* Kerala
* Mt. Abu
IRAN
* Tehran
IRELAND
* Brigid’s Well, Kildare
ISRAEL
* the Jordan River
ITALY
* Cefalu, Sicily
* River Styx, Baia
* Mondello, Sicily
JAPAN
* the sacred well, Ise Shrine
KENYA
* Mt. Kenya
KOREA
* Han River, Seoul
* Kum Ho River
MALAWI
* Lake Nyasa
MEXICO
* Gulf of Mexico
* Rio Grande
MOZAMBIQUE
NEPAL
* the Sun Khosi River, Himalayas
NEW ZEALAND
* Te Ika a Maui
PAKISTAN
* Lahore
PERU
* Ayacucho
* Machu Picchu
* Pisac
THE PHILIPPINES
* Santa Lucia Falls
* La Mesa reservoir, Manila
PORTUGAL
* the Holy Spring, Fatima
RUSSIA
* the Volga River
SCOTLAND
* Glenlivit Spring
* Loch Ness, below Urquhart Castle
* Loch Shiel, Glenfinnan
* nameless sacred well
* Penecuik
* St. Fergus’ Well
* St. Columba’s Well, Invermoriston
* burn on Ben Nevis, Glennevis
* Well of the Dead, Culloden Moor
SOUTH AFRICA
* Cape of Good Hope
* Robben Island
SPAIN
* Barcelona
* Cova de St. Ignacio, Manresa
* Montserrat, Spain
TAHITI
* Bora Bora
TAIWAN
* Taipei
* Wu Sheng Monastery
TIBET
* Yarlung River
TRINIDAD
TURKEY
* Ayios Archangelos / Keslik Monastery, Cappadoccia
* Catalhuyuk
* the Euphrates River, Birecik
* springs of Apollo, Daphne
* fountain, Mevlanna (Rumi) shrine, Konya
* Hekate’s Spring, Lagina (Turgut)
* Meke Golu crater lake, Karapinar
* spring at the House of Mary, Ephesus
* travertine terraces, Hieropolis / Pamukkale
* Asclepion, Pergamum
* spring in the Cave of Abraham, Şanliurfa
* spring at Sogmatar Harabesi, Yagmurlu
* Temple of Zeus, Stratonikeia
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
* the Mendenhall Glacier AK
* Hassayampa River Wishing Well, Wickenburg AZ
* Pacific Ocean, Strands Beach, Dana Point CA
* Pacific Ocean, Sonoma Coast, CA
* Bad Water, Death Valley CA
* City of 10,000 Buddhas CA
* an electrical storm, Berkeley CA
* the American River CA
* Rainbow Ranch Creek, Calistoga CA
* Radical Mt. Spring, Greenfield Ranch CA
* Hsi Lai University, Los Angeles CA
* spring at the Presidio, San Francisco CA
* a desert oasis, Palmdale CA
* American River, Sacramento CA
* a woodland well, Soquel CA
* Atlantic Ocean, Palm Beach FL
* native spring, Sycamore FL
* rain from 3 hurricanes, West Palm Beach FL
* a sacred spring, Kona HI
* Hanalei Bay HI
* Keolahou, Mauna Kea HI
* Quabin Reservoir, MA
* melted snow, Flint MI
* Wirth Park Spring, Minneapolis MN
* sacred spring, Las Vegas NV
* las acequias, NM
* Cochiti Lake, NM
* well water, Silverdale NM
* Holy Spring, Sanctuario de Chimayo NM
* New York City NY
* Moriches Bay, Long Island NY
* rain water, North Carolina
* Great Smokey Mts. Asheville NC
* Pacific Ocean, Cape Blanco OR
* stream, McMurray PA
* Brandon Springs TX
* Mill Creek Canyon creek, Salt Lake City UT
* the Great Salt Lake UT
* Pah Tempe hot springs UT
* a forest spring VA
* Snoqualmie Falls WA
* the Rio Grande
* Wind Mountain
* Mississippi River
WALES
* St. Cynidr’s Well
* St. David’s Well
... and the Seven Seas
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