Woman of the Sea

Photo Credit: Yoshiyuki Iwase

The picture above is of a Traditional Ama Pearl Diver of Japan. These divers are women in Japan who practice a Sacred art/sport that has been practiced mostly by these women for 2000 years. They secure themselves to a line on a boat and they dive deep, deep into the ocean, without an oxygen tank, traditionally wearing only what she's wearing in this picture, and they collect shell fish to sell. They can hold their breath for two minutes and have a Sacred Practice of a special bubble/breath/low whistle sound release when they come back up, right before the surface. This breath release is known as "Isobue." These women live together in woman only communities by the sea.

Women, are these Ama Divers. We turn to the water to pray, to cleanse - we birth and carry our babies from water, sometimes in water. We secure our line (grounding) and we dive deep, deep into the dark and holy womb of the Sea of Life. These Ama Divers (Ama means in Japanese "Woman of the Sea)" are noted in Japan for their unique, sacred and ability for this job over men. They are able to outwardly, make I believe double or triple that of men divers. But inwardly, they are honored for their powerful inward, mystical nature as women, that is best suited for becoming one with the powerful, mystical nature of the sea.

In the modern age, our rope, our boat, our Women Tribe is constantly hidden from us, from the time they were stolen and burned in front of us. We don't even know we belong to each other and that we together are supposed to dive in a Sacred Practice, deep. When some of us manage to find/make our ropes and our boat, the male- centered intellectual society, many of the joined members women, begin to fill us with terror: "What if you drown?!" "This is old fashioned stuff, wait until you have an oxygen tank at least!" "You'll freeze to death naked!" "Women are are SO emotional and stupid, you're just stupid!" Then finally, "You're worthless, what makes you think you can do this? You're a woman."
Women in the West have tried to claim their power again, by buying oxygen tanks and suiting up; covering their bodies to "look the part." We try and go diving, but who owns the companies that sell the gear? Who makes the rules? Who wants to profit from our realm? I think you know.
We think we're empowered, but we don't even trust ourselves or the sea; deep inside we know how to swim and dive, One with it. Somewhere there is our Woman Tribe who still dives naked, with her rope and her boat, her mighty lungs and Isobue and her mystical, powerful nature, unique to women.
Fashion your ropes Mamas. Pray at the Sea. It's time to go diving…

Dancing in the Riptide

Breathing in the Undertow

Being in her body,

A tormented Soul

In need of death and rebirth,

This storm has stripped me

Of everything,

My only chance is to

Learn to swim in her

Tidal Belly

And die to all that

Would have me believe

That death is the end

And that I must pretend

To go on living,

Without my Soul

Who can

Dance in the Riptide

And breath in the Undertow

I'm not just mortal

This, I've always known

She pulls me out

And drags me under

As she whispers

In my ear

"The key to life

Is knowing when to die,

Stop building castles in the sky

That have no roots

So that if life chops you down

You disappear in mist

Leaving no legacy

Learn not to resist

All that you must know

When Dancing with the Riptide

And breathing in the Undertow

Anshin B Kelly