Hello and welcome to the next “Interview with a Water Priestess” This time we get to read about Katie McBrien! Katie has been part of the Water Witch and Sea Witch communities for many years. Here is what she is up to now!
Who are you and how do you practice?
Hello everyone my name is Katie McBrien, I am a shamanic Practitioner, Psychic, & Sea Priestess. I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I have been connected to water for as long as I can remember, first connecting with the places of water of my birth, I grew up in an area with a lot of underground water that comes up in various places around my town, natural springs. I grew up drinking well water from a spring that came up across the street from my grandparent’s house and became very close to that body of water. Also spending fall, winter, spring months at the shore in Avalon, Nj. I became very close to the ocean as well. I have taken Annwyn Avalon’s Water Magic course, which is fantastic by the way, and definitely helped me connect more deeply to water.
Right now I am a practicing Pa’qo (an Andean mystic/priest) and connecting deeply with Pachamama (the entire living cosmos) and the Ñust’a or Water Spirits that dwell in caves and underground springs, which takes me right back to where I began working closely with the water that flows under my hometown, where I still live.
What brought you to this sacred water path?
This path has always been intuitive to me, something that has come as naturally and effortlessly as breathing, but as a normal human
being I complicated things thinking because I didn’t have the proper training that I wasn’t “authentic”, I sought out training(s), and titles but as I progressed I “remembered” that all of this work is as deep in the core of who I am as my soul is. It is definitely a spirit lead path, and water to me is as intoxicating as falling in love. It calls to me and draws me close.
I am particularly drawn to the deepest darkest depths of the ocean, and the places where water comes bubbling up from the ground. When I was just a little girl I would go to my grandparent’s house to swim at their pool and spend quite a bit of time at the spring-fed pond across the street, at some point in my youth I began seeking out the connection to the spirits of the place naturally.
I remember one summer day, I was sitting on a little bridge that fed the pond and I gazed at the duckweed that covered the pond, then I saw it, the water began rising and falling … breathing… I held my breath thinking maybe it was me that was causing that, but it continued to ever so slightly rise and fall. I realized at that moment that everything was alive, there wasn’t a thing on this planet that didn’t have an animating spirit.
Throughout the rest of my youth, I would go to the pond and watch the ever-changing landscape, at one point they decided to dredge the pond because it was becoming a bog, and they cut back the foliage and drained the pond, I remember walking up and hearing, feeling, and sensing the change and fear of the place, animals, and spirits that resided there. I took a few moments to send love & healing and did a small ritual to bring healing. I will never forget that day. Since then I stopped denying my connection with
water and have embraced it! It set me off on my path of becoming Witch, and then finally a Shamanic Practitioner.
Do you have a Sacred Body of water you tend?
Right now I tend to do most of my work in the energetic realm because my life is so busy I find it hard to find time to go to my pond or the ocean (especially with covid!) that I work with water at my house, the water I drink, and connect deeply on the energetic realm, through shamanic journeying. While the ocean will always be my deepest soul connection I recognize that all water is connected and that I can still connect as deeply as if I am standing right there.
Can you tell us about the work you do now?
Shamanic journeying is a really powerful way of connecting to ourselves and the world around us, everything that happens must first take root in the energetic realm and Shamanic Practitioners need to be able to traverse these worlds at ease, it’s very similar to Magick work you need to shift your mind brain waves out of the everyday waking reality to the reality of “dreams.” My energetic “Power Place,” a technique taught by the amazing Shaman Linda Fitch, is near my favorite local body of water, and there I can be completely protected and determine if things (situations, people, places) are in alignment with my highest good. I can also meet with the spirits of the water that resides there. I can travel to any body of water or the deepest darkest depths of the ocean as well. Shamanic journeying truly expanded my ability to connect with water on a deep profound level.
As the world around us suffers I think it’s very important to take an energetic stance in protecting and providing energy to the places that need the most healing. In the shamanic work that I do we understand that there is no good or bad, there is just refined and dense energy. We can take that dense energy and transform it into refined energy through easy practices. Pachamama loves the dense energy, just like she takes what no longer serves us (food & yard waste, animal waste, death, etc) and turns it into new life. So when I find a body of water or anything that is out of balance I work on shifting that energy through either “eating it” or gifting it to Pachamama, from there I work on sending my most refined energy to the place and filling it up.
How do you feel about the current attack on water? Standing Rock? And Pollution in general?
I think we humans are incredibly selfish and self-centered. We think that just because something exists on the planet it is something that belongs to us. We are hurting our planet and future generations.
I live in an area that is an asbestos Superfund and the underground water table is polluted by the run-off of the naval airbase. So the air I breathe and the water I drink is killing me. I feel so deeply for the pain that we are causing Pachamama, but I recognize that just like a
child rebelling against their parents at some point we as humans are going to mature and realize that just because something is here doesn’t mean we are entitled to it and that we must care for it. At some point, in most humans, personal evolution’s they realize that their parents are meant to be honored and cared for I think we can hopefully get to that point where we stop killing our planet, which is leading to our death. The work that I do is energetic, I also contribute financially when I can. I am a big supporter of the company 4ocean which pulls plastic waste from the ocean turning it into beautiful bracelets. They run specials that help specific marine species.
Is there anything else that you might like to share with our readers?
I think it’s really interesting that the Q’ero believe we have “spiritual parents” a male spirit usually a mountain spirit called an: Itu, and a female water spirit or mother called a: Paqarina this is usually a large body of water. These are spirits that are closest to our actual birth, not conception. This is a really simplified explanation of Itu & Paqarina there’s a bit more to it, but I think that it’s a really interesting and comforting concept something that I have been working with for a while. Each one of us has a Paqarina that we can work with to help us deepen our connection to water.
While my practice with water has shifted over the years, my love for water hasn’t changed a bit. Water is the most powerful element, water connects me to my source, it’s how I find a connection to the divine, but it’s also how I find connection with others. Water helps me find my center, my true north if you will. As my life has changed and transformed I have seen the pivotal role water played for me from leading me to my Twinflame, which surprisingly enough we share that deep connection to the ocean and water, to helping me find my true spiritual path, Q’ero Shamanism.
You can find me online in a couple of places: my main website www.katiemcbrien.com, where I offer online Reiki & Energy Healing courses as well as information on my books “The Sea Priestess’s Book of Spells,” and my upcoming book about shamanic and energy healing practices for everyday life. I also have my Shamanic website which is: www.pathoftheshaman.com where I post about the Shamanic practices that I use myself. In the coming months, I am going to be creating and offering an in-depth course on healing ourselves and the planet through the healing practices of Inca Shamanism.
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