The Scent of Water

Collage: "Help is all around you."

“Hello, nice to see you….” she said with a warm smile and twinkling eyes peeking out from under a red baseball cap. “Are you ready to work?” We nod slowly; weary with the residue of a long day of travel. “Ok, good because we’re going to work. Let’s talk about hell. The stuck places of darkened dreams. . .”  

This was how Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes began the training that I recently attended called “Original Voice: Getting Unstuck—Journey Through Hell to the Hidden Heart.” Over the course of five days, roughly 100 people made a deep dive into “hell” with Dante’s famous work The Divine Comedy and Dr. Estes’ 30+ years as a Jungian Analyst as our formidable guides. Although Dante wrote in the 14th century, his work is applicable today as an archetypal story describing, in detail, the perilous journey and accompanying pitfalls that we are called into to recover the true Self. The classic story begins with Dante finding himself lost in mid-life. Who of us, that have been fortunate enough to make it this far in life, can’t identify with this feeling of being lost in some ways—if not entirely? The dreams that we once had for our lives have been replaced with another form of "reality" and we question who we are and what our life is really about anyway. This is a crucial threshold in our lives and if we choose to enter it consciously, we are offered an opportunity to become, as Dr. Estes says, Ser hermano—to become true human beings. 

Together we journeyed through Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell, taking pause inside each layer in order to carefully examine our own lives in relation to the particular form of hell described. We asked the hard questions of ourselves and spoke the answers to each other: How did I come to get stuck in this place? Why do I remain here? What will I do in order to move out of this place? This radical kind of truth telling begins to free the creative spirit within us so that we are able, again, to use our precious life force on behalf of the unique callings that each of our Souls came into this world promising to fulfill. The symptoms of being trapped in hell are many—fear, anger, violence toward ourselves or others, jealousy, shame, addiction, etc., while the result of making our way out of hell is single-purposed: to be free to create what is uniquely ours to create. 

For your own consideration this month, I will share with you the three most important aspects of Dante’s Divine Comedy that you can apply to your own life. These relate to the three main characters of the story: Dante, Virgil and Beatriz. I suggest reflecting in your journal on these questions:

• Dante represents the hero of the story and as I already mentioned, he admits that he is lost. We are all lost about something(s) in our lives. Where do you feel lost at the moment? Describe it in as much detail as you can.

• Virgil is Dante’s guide into the descent of hell. The wonderful thing about Virgil--and this inspires me endlessly--is that he is A POET. Virgil represents the aspect of ourselves that remembers our dreams and is able to see in a different way; this is the wise, knowing one. Where is your poet? What are your dreams?

• Beatriz, the one who called Dante into hell, represents the eternal sprit of Love. She is the Divine, all loving, all compassionate aspect. Also, interesting to consider, that it was LOVE that asked this difficult journey of him. It is the spirit of Love within each of us that asks us to create on its behalf. Where is this spirit of Love within you? Where is the impulse to help or heal in your life? What pain or tragedy moves you into action without thinking twice? Are you daring enough to follow the call?

While I am certain that I will have much more to share about this profound experience as I assimilate all that was transmitted directly into my own Soul, I'd like to offer a poem that I wrote upon returning home that represents, in one way, my personal journey.


Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,

Yet at the scent of water it will bud,
And put forth shoots like a plant.
~Job 14:8-9

The Scent of Water

What begins as a barely detectable thirst,
when ignored,
becomes the drought that sends us on our way.

The search for water, 
a taste of the life 
that lives just for us,
presses in on every side.

Narrowing vision,
thirst turns our pain
into a prayer.

We pass through the valley 
of hopes shattered
and dreams abandoned 

like dusty old towns 
gone extinct.

Pausing in the desolation
to honor the aborted ones,
the evicted innocence;
the dry bones of what never came to be.

Tears softening the cracked earth,
a stuttered cry for that 
which no longer lives.

Tracking truth--
traversing the desert of 
not-yet-ness.

Liminal wonderland of 
the unseen,
pre-formed, 
just a thought
passing on the wind.

Sweat forms. 
Moisture molecules
giving way
to the surface of things.

Just when I thought
it was over--
not another drop 
to be given,

She appears to me.

A mirage of beauty,
the definition of Grace,
I meet her in the middle
of my unknowing.

She says nothing 
but takes my hand
to lead me forward.

I give myself completely,
relieved to have such a 
magnificent companion guide.

At last we reach the end 
of the desert and she ushers me
to the edge of a mighty shore.

Silent, she makes her way into the sea~
for a moment she looks over her shoulder 
and smiles at me.

As I begin to reach for her
she disappears.

I bow down to the water
at my feet,
Her wordless command 
gave me all that I needed to know.

My tears, my sweat,
my hopes and dreams
washing over me
in a single billowing tide.

For the first time,
​I behold my true reflection.

I am born again
from the secret, 
living water.


How do we move through the stuck places of darkened dreams? The answer is two-fold to begin. First, ask for help from the benevolent forces of the seen and unseen worlds--supplicate, ask, pray, knock, seek. Second, take some kind of deliberate, intentional action. Move in any way that you are able--walk, run, crawl, jump, step. If you would like help in navigating the stuck places in your life and are seeking guidance in freeing your creative spirit, I would like to invite you to consider my unique 8 week coaching program called "The Courage to Create: Awakening to an Authentic Vision for Your Life." It is designed to walk you, step by step, through a transformational process that will lead you to discover what you have been called to create in your own life and offer the tools to support you on your journey. Please go to my "Services" page for more details.