After receiving and naming her healing doll, LFIRE received inspiration to create a healing doll for me. My doll was to be a Water Spirit doll. LFIRE cut out the doll pattern from the fabric and gathered the ribbon, pearls, threads, and the rhinestone heart-jewel and sent them to me with instructions for me to sew and name the Water Spirit doll.

Water Spirit Doll pieces and photo by LFIRE(c)2012 

I received the Water Spirit doll from LFIRE on Tuesday 12-18-2012 and knew I had to finish her before the 12-21-2012; I worked on her from 12:30 P.M that day to 12:30 A.M. early the morning of 12-19-2012—twelve hours straight without eating, just drinking water. I had no realization of how much time had elapsed until she was completed.

Water Spirit Doll and photo by mayah ©2012

After her creation, I introduced my Water Spirit doll to my Water Spirit altar and there she stayed for the night. I asked her to send me a dream with her name in it, to no avail. I sat with the Water Spirit doll on my lap during meditations during the eve of the Winter Solstice on 12-20-2012 and asked her name; I was able to get that her name was to start with an “A” but was not able to go any further. Just today she sat on my lap as I searched the Internet for inspiration for the feminine names of water or water goddesses. Coming upon a website that listed feminine names for water from countries all over the world, I was struck by these two Persian names: 

Anahita "Goddess of water" and Ardvisura "Brilliant waters, angel of the Sacred Waters" http://hasani.net.phtemp.com/water.html

The latter name really intrigued me, as Mandaza Kandemwa, traditional Shona Elder and healer from Zimbabwe, who initiated me into the Tradition of the Water Spirits, told me that the Water Spirit would be called an "Angelic Being" using Western spiritual terminology. 

I knew that one of the Persian names was what I sought, but could not decide between them. Then I came upon another website that gave this wonderful description of the names:  “Ardvisura is short for Aredvi Sura Anahita, a compound name that came to be applied to the spiritual guardian of the waters, i.e. the natural bodies of water.” The attributes associated with this name are:  fertility, healing, and wisdom.

Aredvi is the name of a famed river in ancient Zoroastrian history. 

Sura means powerful, mighty, and strong.

Anahita means purification and is used as an epithet of Aredvi-Sura.  (I had to look up the word “epithet’: any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality)

Further, “the spring Aredvi Sura Anahita from which all rivers flow down to the earth, is celebrated…as life-increasing, who makes prosperity for all countries. Anahita runs powerfully down to the sea …and all its shores are boiling over when she plunges foaming down; she, Aredvi Sura, who has a thousand gulfs and a thousand outlets.”   http://zoroastrianheritage.blogspot.com/2010/07/aredvi-sura-anahita-aban.html 

From the description given above, Aredvi Sura Anahita embodies all of the waters of the earth: flowing,  life-affirming, purifying, and abundant, from fresh water to ocean water.

Additionally, LFIRE told me that water is also associated with the feminine qualities of magic, intuition, knowing, and psychic connection. 

In the tradition of the Dagara of West Africa, as taught by Malidoma and Sobonfu Some', community water rituals are conducted to relieve accumulated feelings of grief and so make room for healing, purification, reconciliation, and making peace with one's life challenges. Water rituals are also associated with prosperity, the focus to live one's life purpose, and blessings of peace and protection ("The Healing Wisdom of Africa," Malidoma Some', 1998).

I decided to name this Water Spirit doll, gifted to me by LFIRE, Ardvisura, knowing that this name is short for Aredvi Sura Anahita and contains all of the feminine attributes of water that I wish to embody for myself:  creativity, healing, wisdom, power, strength, spiritual purification, prosperity, magic, intuition, knowing, psychic connection, life-affirming flow, peace making and reconciliation, making peace with my life’s challenges and living my life’s purpose.   

As soon as I finish posting this blog, I’m going to give Ardvisura a naming ceremony, on this day of the Winter Solstice, 12-21-2012!   

 Related Blog:

**See LFIRE’s Original Blog:  “Healing Doll: I recently received a surprise present from an art friend.  It is a healing doll and I was given the task of finding her name.”  http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=2013934  

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