Ace of Cups/Five of Pentacles reversed. Today will be filled with the potential for me to tap into feelings and to hear my Inner Voice. Because my focus is inner, what little physical world trials may present themselves will have little effect.

My Thoth card is the Princess of Cups. I will be very connected to my Inner Voice today, and to my senses; the experiences will be serene and pleasant.

My Legacy card is the Two of Swords. Like the Four of Swords, this card tells of a truce but it also seems to indicate that I will choose to balance the opposites and shut out distractions, rather than having the truce imposed upon me.

These last days have been incredible for me; I don’t know if it is the daily Reiki or the fact that we are just coming out of the dark phase of the lunar month and are still in the dark phase of the solar year, or a combination of both, but everything seems to be filled with subtle meaning.

As promised, part one of the information I compiled regarding the element of Water is below. Tomorrow I will post regarding The Gaia Hypothesis.

Water can be found on Earth in three states: liquid, solid (ice), and water vapor (invisible). Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, mostly in oceans and other large water bodies as well as glaciers, polar ice caps and rivers, lakes and ponds, below ground in aquifers, and in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation; a small amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products. The collective mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet is called the hydrosphere; Earth's hydrosphere is 1,360,000,000 km3 (326,000,000 mi3).

Water is a tasteless, odorless liquid at standard temperature and pressure. Both water and ice are actually a very light blue, although they appear colorless in small quantities; water vapor is essentially invisible as a gas. The transparent nature of water allows aquatic plants to live within the water because sunlight (except for some UV light) can reach them.

The water cycle (known scientifically as the hydrologic cycle, or evapotranspiration) is the continuous exchange of water within the hydrosphere, between the atmosphere, soil water, surface water, groundwater, and plants, through evaporation into air; precipitation from air and falling to earth or ocean; runoff usually reaching the sea. Water is a polar molecule with an electrical dipole moment; interactions between the dipoles causes the “skin” at the interface of water with air or other substances, which in turn allows water to adhere to other materials and causes the many special properties of water, such as capillary action (the tendency of water to move up a narrow tube against the force of gravity, which is relied upon by all vascular plants, such as trees).

Water is important in many geological processes. Groundwater affects patterns of faulting in rocks, and water in the mantle produces volcanoes at subduction zones. Water and ice are important in both chemical and physical weathering processes, and are also responsible for a large amount of sediment transport, which forms many types of sedimentary rocks. Runoff shapes the environment, creating river valleys and deltas which provide rich soil and level ground for the establishment of population centers. Collected groundwater flows back to the surface in springs, or more spectacularly in hot springs and geysers. Condensed water in the air may also refract sunlight to produce rainbows.

The boiling point of water is dependent on barometric pressure; water boils quickly at high elevations, but deep in the ocean near geothermal vents can reach temperatures of hundreds of degrees and remain liquid. The maximum density of water occurs before it freezes, which results in an unusual phenomenon: water's solid form, ice, floats upon water. The physical properties of sea water differ from fresh water; it freezes at a lower temperature (about -1.9C) and its density increases with decreasing temperature to the freezing point, instead of reaching maximum density at a temperature above freezing.

Water is formed when hydrogen or hydrogen-containing compounds burn or react with oxygen or oxygen-containing compounds. Water is not a fuel, it is an end-product of the combustion of hydrogen; in other words, Fire creates Water! Both the gram (the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to a cube of one hundredth of a meter, and to the temperature of the melting ice) and the Celsius and Kelvin temperature scales are calculated using water. Water has been detected in interstellar clouds within our galaxy, and probably exists in abundance in other galaxies because its components (hydrogen and oxygen) are among the most abundant elements in the universe. Water is present in some form on Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and on many moons of these and other planets (Jupiter’s Europa the first to come to mind), including our own moon.

Water is often referred to as the universal solvent. All the major components in cells (proteins, DNA and polysaccharides) are also dissolved in water. The ability of water to make solutions and emulsions is used for washing, and many industrial processes rely on reactions using chemicals dissolved in water, suspension of solids in water slurries, or using water to dissolve and extract substances. Water and steam are used as heat transfer fluids in heat exchange systems due to their availability and high heat capacity, both as a coolant and for heating. In almost all electric power stations, water is the coolant, which vaporizes and drives steam turbines to drive generators. Humans use water for exercise and recreational purposes; many find the sound and appearance of flowing water to be calming, and fountains and other water features in public or private decorations. Some keep fish and other life in aquariums or ponds for show, fun, and companionship.

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