Remember the Water - Robert Berman 2

Photographing Water

The day after watching the many thousands of birds circling outside of my home, I was guided to go on a trip to the Havasupai Reservation. Havasupai means people of the blue green water. They are Native Americans living near the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I had been there for the first time seven months earlier and had the most amazing experience of my life. I experienced Spirit like never before and had mind blowing experiences that truly altered my reality. I write about this in my book "Sacred Water."

A few months after my first visit there, I had gone to see a movie called "What the Bleep Do We Know?" The movie features a Japanese man named Dr. Masaru Emoto who devotes much of his research to the study of water. Dr. Emoto's work demonstrates that water records information and that it can be changed by prayer and programming it with written words placed in front of it. In the movie, Ramtha speaks about how a camera is able to record more than what we see with our eyes, because it has no judgment. The mind will only see what it believes it can see. This movie is excellent and worth viewing a few times because of all the information offered in layers and various levels.

Since I had been to the Havasupai reservation before, and I knew how precious water is, on this trip I set my goals on shooting some photos of the water. What I wanted to accomplish was not to look for images in the water, but to allow Spirit to do its thing. So when I arrived, and just before I began shooting photos, I asked the spirit of the land to show up in the images if it wanted to communicate with me. I prayed and did some chanting for about twenty minutes, then began shooting.

I honestly was not aiming at anything in particular. In fact, many times I didn't even look at where I was shooting. I was just listening for the beep on the camera, letting me know that it was in focus and that I could then press the trigger to take the picture. One thing I did experience when shooting the photos was the feeling of being in between two worlds, as I had felt the first time I was there.

The name of HA'a

After shooting many photos I went back to the village and met up with several of the Native people. Since I believed they had probably never seen still images of water in a digital camera before, I began sharing the photos with them. After a few minutes, out of one of the buildings came a woman who walked straight up to me and asked me if I was the water inspector. I told her that I was not the water inspector, but that I did have a few photos of water and offered to show them to her. She must have seriously believed that since I was a white guy I might be the water inspector that the tribe was waiting for. The people that I was talking with and sharing the photo with thought this was all kind of strange and began to laugh.

Later in the day I met Florinda Uqualla, a woman who is one of the last remaining basket weavers of the tribe. Some of her work is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. We talked for a while. She introduced me to her husband and took me to see her art. After talking for a bit, she handed me a basket and just looked at me. She then asked me to take it to Sedona to see what I could get for it. She told me how she made it and how it had been in many ceremonies in the gathering to honor the women of the tribe. She said it was called "The Water Jug" and that it needed a special home. There was something in her eyes that was very mysterious as if she was looking deep inside my soul. I agreed to take the basket to Sedona with me when I left. Later on the trail, I passed the woman who had earlier asked me if I was the water inspector. She said "Hey, there's the water man." We spoke for a while, and she told me that she was the heart doctor for the tribe. We shared some kind words and went on our way.

In the afternoon, I was sitting in the village square, when I came across a young girl by the name of Brook. She walked up to me, looked directly into my eyes and asked me my name. I said, "Brook, my name is Robert." She said, "Are you still using that name? Why are you still using that name?" I looked at her with a smile and asked her what she thought my name should be. She smiled at me and said your name is "HA'a." I looked at her with a serious face as she looked at me with a serious face, and she said, "Yes, HA'a.." She then told me that HA'a means water in the language of the Havasupai. I thought it was a bit strange, but like most things on this day and the time before, my mind was having a party trying to figure it all out. I simply said, "Thank you, Brook."

Two days later I was sitting in the helicopter, flying back out of the reservation holding "The Water Jug" basket in my lap, with the given name of HA'a--Water. I felt as if I had just been ordained by the people of the blue green water.

The Images

After returning home from a magnificent journey to Havasupai, I sat at my computer getting ready to download the photo images. I connected my camera to the computer and pressed "Send." When I first saw the images, my mouth fell open in shock. They were the most amazing photographs I had ever seen in my entire life. I could not believe what I was looking at. I had to walk away to refresh my mind. I returned, and there they were, the same photos. I was confused at first. How could this be possible?

There is an image of a woman in the water. She is blowing water out of her mouth as if she is the giver of life. My mind was having a hard time comprehending. Could this really be real? Is this possible? I continued moving through my pictures. The next one was just as amazing. It shows the image of a man who looks like a Shaman or an image of Christ. He is as clear as can be. He looks like a cross between Jesus and a Native American with some ancient symbolism in what appears to be his hair, along with a pipe. He looks as if he is in ceremony, calling forth the people here on the land to come together ~~ to go back to the water, remembering the truth once again~~ that spirit and nature are one.. The other image, which is the clearest of them all, is a Water Being, not an image in the water but of the water itself. A living breathing entity, with a consciousness greater then the mind can comprehend. I call it "God of Water".

From December 2004, just before the Tsunami and with the many powerful experiences at Havasupai, my journey with exploring water began and has become my main focus. I have taken thousands of photos from many different places that display the most incredible images-- some way too sensitive to be placed on the web.

I welcome you to this site and hope that it may serve as a useful tool in your life. The book "Sacred Water" Is truly an amazing story. I say thank you to Great Spirit, for allowing me to be the vessel for brining forth this magical work. If I could sum it up in a one line sentence, this is what it would be.

"In each drop of water, lies a doorway to another universe"

After seeing the photo images and experiencing the most profound events on the reservation, I came to write the following words to better describe how I see Havasupai.

Havasupai

Havasupai is a land filled with a beauty that only heaven could possibly make.

It is like a Garden of Eden. A place between two worlds, the physical and the spiritual,

a place where Great Spirit awakens the inner child

and transforms those of us who listen and see with our hearts

into a place of stillness.

Here in this stillness of a place one can begin to telepathically talk with all life.

With the horses who teach us freedom,

the dragonflies who teach us to play

and to laugh like the children once did, once again.

The crickets, in their togetherness of singing a song,

offering to those of us who are pure in our hearts

a chance to sing along with them

and with the many colorful winged angels of flight, the birds,

who play in the day,

and a place where one can listen to the crickets' song in the night.

Here in the blue green waters of Havasupai we move like a dream

as it heals our bodies and soothes our souls.

Ancient waters flow from natural springs, from millions of years ago. The ice age, some say.

Here in the sacred land of Havasupai a doorway home awaits our return.

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