Vi Waln: Water remains an essential component of Lakota life

The following is the opinion of Vi Waln, Lakota Country Times Columnist. For more news and opinion, subscribe to the Lakota Country Times today. All content © Lakota Country Times.


Vi Waln

Sicangu Scribe
By Vi Waln
Lakota Country Times Columnist

Many human beings do not understand the sacredness of Water. It is the only element on Earth that can exist as liquid, solid, or vapor. Modern society has conditioned us to take our water for granted. You probably don’t give much thought to the water coming out of your tap. The only time you notice your water is when something happens to stop the flow.

Yet, there would be no life without water. Water is essential in Lakota ceremony. Water is medicine. The Lakota people who sun dance or hanbleceya understand how painful life is without water. As human beings, we should never take our water for granted.

We can heal ourselves with water. When water is transformed into medicine, it will have a healing effect on our bodies. The late Dr. Masaru Emoto was a Japanese Scientist who researched how the power of healing prayers and positive thought can change the molecular structure of water.

Consequently, I remember attending a ceremony several years ago where a man shared a vision he once had about water. “Heal the water and everything else will follow,” he said.


The Rosebud Mni Wiconi, or Rosebud Sioux Rural Water System, brings water to the reservation in South Dakota. Mni Wiconi means "water is life" in the Lakota language. Photo from DOWL

Here on the Rosebud Reservation, a majority of our water is piped in from the Missouri River. Are you sending a less than positive thought to your water? All water is sacred. We should not think the river water is of inferior quality. Our prayers and thoughts affect all our water, whether it is inside of us or coming through pipes from the aquifer or the river. Think about it.

Leonardo de Vinci said “Water is the driving force of all nature.” I recommend you watch the amazing documentary “Water: The Great Mystery.” This video might change the way you view your water. Changing our thoughts and attitudes towards our precious water will make the difference between life and death.

The work of several scientists across the globe was compiled to produce this documentary film about water. They present the concept that water has memory. Water is imprinted with the energy from human emotions.

“We pollute water spiritually, and this happens on a huge scale,” Alois Gruber, an Austrian Researcher said. “The water adopts all of the hatred, all of the malice, the stress, the water is almost dead by the time it enters our body. Understanding the mysteries of water is critical to our survival. Examine water as you have never seen it before.”

I believe prayer is crucial to good water and health.

“The vibrational frequency of prayer in any language uttered in any religion is 8 hertz, which corresponds to the frequency of the oscillations of the Earth’s magnetic field,” Gruber continued. “Therefore, a prayer pronounced with love creates a harmonic structure in water that is an ingredient in absolutely all foods.”

The late Dr. Masaru Emoto studied water for many years. He provided proof of what the Lakota people have known all along: human thoughts can change the molecular structure of water. Our prayer over water transforms it into medicine. He is famous for his work in determining how human thought and different genres of music can dramatically change the molecular structure of water.

One experiment he conducted involved three glass beakers containing about a cupful of rice covered with water. For one month he said to one of the rice filled beakers “thank you.” The second beaker of rice was told “you’re an idiot” while the third container of rice was totally ignored. The rice which was thanked every day was fermenting after a month and smelled good. The rice that was told every day “you’re an idiot” turned black. The rice which was neglected turned green with rot.

Dr. Emoto stated this “experiment was an important lesson, especially with regard to how we treat children. We should take care of them, give them attention and converse with them. Indifference does the greatest harm. Numerous experiments aimed at finding the word that cleanses water most powerfully have shown it is not just one word but a combination of two: Love and Gratitude.”

Dr. Vlail Kaznacheyev, a Russian scientist, also spoke about water in the video. He said “with holy water, when it’s poured over sick animals or a dying plant, they revive. Those are the facts.”

Water transformed through prayer is found in most Lakota ceremonies. The water of life is also found in the water buckets and drums used in our Native American Church. I have often wondered what the late Dr. Emoto would have found in the molecular structure of Water after it had been prayed over in a Lakota or Native American Church ceremony.

Water is our first medicine. Professionals in the medical field have often been astounded when a Lakota person makes a complete recovery after receiving medicine at ceremony. Many want to know what was in the medicine which brought the cure. They are often surprised when they learn the medicine was Water.

You will feel better and your health will improve when you learn how to have faith in your personal prayers. All it takes is the offering of a simple prayer to transform your water. Please make it a daily practice to gift your Water with a heartfelt prayer of love and gratitude. Express your gratitude with a prayer of love over your water each and every time you use or drink it.

There can be no life without water. Always give love and gratitude to your water.

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