Where the Sea Meets the Soul

Above the waves, below the surface

“The Great Wave” by Katsushika Hokusai

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop." ~ Rumi

Dear Reader,

It's a quiet morning on the beach, where the salty breeze mingles with the gentle lapping of waves as they kiss the shore. I sit cross-legged on the cool sand, grains shifting beneath my fingers, my notebook and pen waiting beside me.

As I gaze into the endless horizon today, I feel drawn to explore where the sea meets the soul – above the waves, below the surface. Their rhythm echoes within me, a symphony of water and wonder – a blending of surface and silence, calling me home.

This is another short story for my mosaic memoir: a sea of moments, ebbing and flowing, revealing currents of reflection and mystery – the pull of memory, whispers of the soul and my search for belonging.

Where the Sea Meets the Soul

The sea has always held me – steady and tender – like a mother’s hand guiding her child. From the moment I first stood on her shore, something took root – as though the waves themselves had been waiting for me. At eighteen, led by that unseen hand, I left everything I knew behind and moved to an old fishing town on the south coast, in search of an anchor I didn’t yet have a name for.

The pull of the sea – the invitation to pause, to listen – has always felt like a promise of something greater. Perhaps it’s no surprise, as astrologically, I’m a water sign, intricately tied to the element that carries so many of my words and worlds. The waves whisper my name, mirroring the depths I seek in life.

Forty four years ago, I walked to the pier at sunrise – a moment forever etched in memory. The sky was streaked with pale gold, the tide rolling in and out with a rhythm older than time. As the salt-laden breeze tangled in my hair, I felt something strange, deep, undeniable – a sense of belonging. It wasn’t just the water’s vast beauty – it was the pull, the invitation to listen, as though the sea was offering to share her secrets with me.

As a child, I would often lose myself in a photograph of my mother at the beach – barefoot in the sand, her dark hair wild with the wind. She was smiling, radiant, carefree – a version I never knew yet longed to understand. Caught mid-laugh with the waves, her joy felt inseparable from the water’s embrace. I didn’t realise then just how deeply that image had settled within me.

Over time, the sea became my teacher, my anchor, my refuge. She mirrored my struggles in her storms and reminded me of peace in her stillness. She taught resilience – not through force, but through movement – urging me to trust life’s natural ebb and flow. More than a muse, she was alive – her heartbeat echoing through waves, where tides met depths.

Living on the coast gave me perspective. Her endless expanse stretched beyond what my eyes could see, reminding me that life, like the sea, is unpredictable and infinite. Her vastness humbles me still, yet today I feel anything but small – expanded in her embrace, shaped by tides, deepened by her lessons.

If the sea above is the physical world, the living waters below are the soul – boundless, luminous, eternal. Beckoning with quiet stillness, they invite inward reflection – a dive into hidden layers where clarity resides, truths emerge, understanding unfurls.

One summer evening, during a solitary swim, I first felt their pull. Far beyond the shallows, where the water cooled and the light dimmed, I paused to float. Silence pressed against me, the weight of the water holding me like a secret – gentle, unwavering, timeless. In that calm, the living waters called – an invitation to dive deeper, not just physically but spiritually.

Suspended in salt and silence, I surrendered to her embrace. The water cradled my body, as the depths breathed with knowing, waiting for me to understand. In exploring them, I’ve discovered a realm shaped by motion, stillness and the universal language of dreams, poetry and archetypes – guiding lights illuminating the soul’s shadows.

Through the mysteries of the sea and the layers of the soul, I’ve come to recognise a delicate interplay – light and shadow, depth and surface, offering truths shaped by patience and reflection.

The living waters carry the stories of generations. I imagine my ancestors, the Sea Peoples, trusting the tides to guide them, their courage forged in turbulent waves and the unpredictable course of life – much like my own. Their odysseys echo within, shaping my inner explorations. Like the sea, the soul is vast, unfathomable - offering beauty and challenge in its depths. Shadows hold clarity; silence, understanding.

What draws me most to the living waters is their stillness. For even when the surface churns with storms, the soul’s silence meets the sea’s rhythms – untouched. Like any depths, diving into the soul takes courage – to face the buried and embrace the unknown.

Within the soul, I find connection – not just to myself but to something eternal. The living waters remind me that life’s journey moves both outward and inward, physical and metaphysical.

Together, the sea and soul create harmony – a unity of ‘as above, so below,’ a reflection of the infinite ‘within and without’. The sea connects me to the world, the soul to eternity.

In the depths, I found my soul – the anchor I had long sought, quietly guiding me home.

Yours in words, Deborah

If my words strike a chord and you feel inspired to dive deeper into my poetry or explore my essays on Jungian thought, I invite you to visit: The Liberated Sheep