Keynote: Transition, emotions at play, decomposition, new growth and birth.

Marshlands, wetlands, bogs and swamps are all shallow bodies of water with encroaching plant life. These wetlands are the most productive ecosystems. The distinguishing feature in a wetland, marsh or swamp is that the water is shallow and still. The wetlands are valuable to all the surrounding environments. they absorb flood waters, capture surface pollutants and protect ground water. Many plants and animals depend on wetlands. Water birds feed there. Muskrats live there and many animals so if your plant or animal totem lives in a wetland, marsh or swamp than visiting and meditating at the swamp will be beneficial.

The wetland is a step in natures evolutionary process. First you start with the wetland. Than it turns into a meadow from there it turns into the woods and last becomes a thick forest. All of these stages are beneficial to the planet. People always try to drain these wetlands calling it progress. Then when the floods come, people loose their property, buildings and so on to the flood. Sometimes people have died in a flash flood. Nature has processes that keep things running and in balance. People are always disrupting this balance and evolutionary process by destroying what took nature a long time to create.

Wetlands and marshes are places of life, death and rebirth. Marshes are places of decomposition Decomposition is the breaking down of the old so that new life can grow in its place. This is similar to when the snake sheds its skin for its new stage. If your plant or animal lives in the marshland than the same alchemical process that is present in the marsh is also present in your life. Something is dying and decomposing and a new thing is being born. Wetlands are places of transition and change.

The wetlands are doorways to the underworld. The marshlands help trigger our truest essence. It pulls out of us that which got lost, forgotten or buried The swamp starts an initiation process. The wetland and marsh gives opportunity to cross new lands, initiation and change. This can be a fearful process but faith is also necessary. Because the swamp means you are dealing with the underworld gods (archangels) you will get your initiation and knowledge from "Terrible Brother" or the Sith. Underworld also symbolically deals with God's (the Force) judgment side. Due to the scary nature of swamps, especially at night, you will be facing your fears, inner demons and so on.

There is danger in some swamplands to humans, for example in the southern United States some swamps have quicksand. In the swamp you experience things in a real way, the waters of the emotions are experienced The swamp offers a very Tantric approach but in this very Tantric approach is the offer of detachment from all these roiling emotions. Because of the abundance of plants, swamps, wetlands and marshes are places of rebirth and regeneration. Algae which is at the bottom of the food chain, lives in wetlands. If there is the right amount of algae, than you have a healthy wetland environment for birth, death cycle to happen. On the other hand, if there is too much algae due to pollution than it chokes all the oxygen out of the water, killing all the fish than you have a destroyed swamp and this swamp can not perform its necessary function to the environment. How healthy your swamp is, is how healthy your transformation is. There is good physical, spiritual and emotional reasons to save swamps, wetlands and other natural places on earth. The earth plays a vital role, even if people refuse to admit it. The health of the earth is the health of its inhabitants including people. If the air is so polluted and noxious than many people will suddenly get asthma. Animals will too, but they can't just go to the doctor and get Advil. Other more serious things can come from bad air. Same is true for bad water and so on.

Cattails grow in many wetlands and they have 250,000 seeds, an incredible number to spread their seed. This is not the only method the cattail spreads itself. They also have roots that run under the mud similar to how the grass has runners to spread. So the cattail goes out of its way to make sure that many will make it. Some will not make it, but the cattail with its many seeds and alternate root choices has upped its chances to make many cattails. The lesson here is to have many projects going in many different ways of getting that project done such that many will make it. Not all but many.

If you want transitions, initiation and the magic and mystery of the underworld to be revealed, a visit to a wetland, swamp or marsh will benefit you. Meditation on the swamp will speed up transitions in your life. This could trigger nightmares, but in this case these nightmares are beneficial because they trigger in our unconscious mind the things that need to decompose in our life. Here this nightmare is a teacher and an instructor, not just empty boo. This is a Palpatine approach, but is well worth it because fears will be overcome. Conquering your own fears is beneficial because if you are no longer afraid than you can not be manipulated

Swamp:

Marsh:

Bog: