Urban Grimoire: Water Magic

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that, despite being unconvinced by astrology, I am a fire sign, namely Aries. 'You are so an Aries,' tends to be the response when I tell people I am one, & I do have all the characteristics of an Aries, for good or bad. I have therefore fallen into the practise of water magic over the past few years, as a counterbalance to my own natural impetuousness.
Yet it would be to misunderstand the relationships between the elements, to think that fire & water are mere opposites that balance & cancel each other out. There is in fact a profound relationship between them: it's more water, as the 'heavier' element, that cancels fire out - fire has the power radically to transform water, if the proportions are right.
Don't get me wrong, if I get to feeling a bit too fiery, I'm the first to use water to put out my flames. I also use it to wash away things. But I sometimes use my fire to make water boil! Frequently I'll do these magics with literal water rather than visualisation alone. However it is important not to forget the power of water - I think water tends to be underestimated. Connect it with the emotions, for example, & its potential for destruction becomes immediately apparent! It can carry ships. It can destroy rocks...water has such a destructive side, which is also (literally) undammable when it is unleashed.
Living in the Venice of Great Britain the obvious body of water to use would be one of the canals locally, & so I often have. What the canal 'means' is moving things around & the support of essential systems of commerce & livelihood. At least in theory: in reality canals are imbued with some often fairly desperate emotions generated by people living in some crushing circumstances. They have been used by people wanting to 'get rid' of all sorts of things, & their towpaths have been used for all sorts of shady things, from drug dealing to sexual liaisons of all sorts. Canals are therefore to my mind, exactly the sort of liminal place that forms a 'hedge', a dividing line & crossing point in reality, where one thing becomes another. In fact I have found canals to be an incredibly useful tool in some transformative magic: drop a bit of paper with your problem written on it into the canal, & if the circumstances are favourable it will vanish completely. Do a divination & observe for omens first, though, because canals also have a habit of washing up things that people have only *tried* to get rid of!
Given the Hedge theme of this blog, I shall of course make this post specific to my own hedge: it's a blog not a textbook, & I expect the intelligent reader of my pearls of wisdom to take them & adapt them to their own hedge, rather than start a Hound of Hecate tradition of witchcraft. Can you imagine what an initiation in that tradition would involve? - probably having your ankles bitten by a jack russell terrier & an oath to cut boath your own hands off with an axe if you break your oaths!
Anyway, Birmingham is better known for its canals that for the river that runs through it, the River Rea: in fact many explorers of the city cross over it repeatedly without knowing it's there or else think it's a drain:
'It is now culverted for much of its course through Birmingham, during which it passes through the Pebble Mill area and Cannon Hill Park. The medieval hamlet of Birmingham was built on a crossing on the Rea in what is now Digbeth. Many of the street names in the area refer to the river or its mills. These include Rea Street, Floodgate Street, River Street and Duddeston Mill Road. There are proposals to include a riverside walk and new bridge over the Rea at Digbeth's Custard Factory media and arts complex (now complete). There are also proposals for the river to be uncovered at the Warwick Bar area of Digbeth.' (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Rea)
The picture illustrating this post is one I took from the bridge mentioned in the wikipedia entry: that is actually one of the best places to see the river in the city, you get closer to is & feel closer to it. The bridge is actually under a railway bridge behind the Custard Factory. There are also places where it is visible in Bradford Street & Cheapside, although the walls are there higher.
The magical significance of the river Rea of course is deeper than any mere water magic spell: the river is the reason for the city, & is its original lifeblood. The centre of Birmingham has moved up the hill but its fons et origo remains the river. Our ancestors placed great importance on waterways: I deliberately chose that Latin phrase, because the river is quite literally the origin of the city, its creator, its God.
Neither must the power of the river be underestimated: every body of water in the world is in some way connected to every other body of water, & so the river can not only create our life it can bring anything to us, or take anything away. At the moment, for example, it is assisting the journey of a friend somewhat nervous about travelling in a foreign country, who is coming to see the Hound in the second city. Her journey will be eased by the water that picked her up on the other side of the world, & I just know she's going to be one of those people who arrive at New Street, think 'Birmingham's a dive', & come to love it, because that's what the city spirit of Birmingham does to people.
So next time you cross or pass a body of water, stop & have a chat with it to make an enduring witching relationship with it. Not only is it a great magical skill, but it's simply good manners to be polite to our elders.
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