Bath House Mosaic by
Carol Abel

Crystal Caves

Through the crystal caves of the deep ocean
Demeter comes to greet me. Her voice whistles like a flute
As she calls across the water.

``Swim with me, dive in,
Trust your spirit
To the sea.”

But I hesitate – the water is so deep,
The rock pool falls away into a shaft
Of midnight blue. I cling to the edge,
My feet stick to the rocks.

``Hold on to me, dive in,
Trust your spirit
To the sea.”

I loosen my hold on the rocks, splash about,
And then she is under me, her laughter
Breaking like spun glass
On the cave’s crystal walls.

``Swim with me, float free, Trust your spirit
To the sea.”

We ride the waves, through a tunnel
From the cave, where the jade green sea
Ripples like a silk road
In the morning sun.

``Swim with me, have courage, Trust your spirit
To the sea.”

I sense below me the endless deeps,
Yet for the first time I know no fear.
We crest the breaking waves And leap into the salt fresh air.

``Swim with me, be a child again,
Trust your spirit To the Sea.”

I am flying – I am flying over the sea,
The endless deeps hold no fear for me,
I am flying on dolphin wings,
A song pours from my heart.

``Swim with me, dive in,
Trust your Spirit
To the sea.”

by Gail Kavanagh

Draw of the Deep

The draw of the deep,
forgotten memories
of a place once known,
now not.
The watery chalice
brings new life,
a power of itself.
Wonderful it is to swim down,
to the secret place
beneath the sea -
among the dolphins.
To know it again,
among the pearls
and coral blue.

by Monika Roleff

Pain Gone by Fran Sbrocchi

Soak in warm water
twisted fingers
freed at last

Bathing with the Duwamish Ferry Women

After a visit to the Isle of Ancestors some travellers wiled away some time relaxing in the bath-house. Karen Roberts and Gail Kavanagh wrote lively accounts of their experience in the bath house.

Bath House Alchemy

Gwen Myer, the official Alchemist of the Amazon Queen is offering a wonderful range of exclusive products with fascinating names like le Enchanteur's Tension Tamer Massage Oil and Duwamish Bay Sugar Scrub

December 9 2005

Madame Eclectica's Invitation

Madame Eclectica is overjoyed to invite travelers to a special engagement. Her good friends the dolphins have arranged a visit--don't ask--the logistics were a nightmare!

Folk here at the bath house have prepared a special brine bath for our dolphin guests and tired travelers.

Relax in the buoyant blue waters and commune with your dolphin companion. If your mind is open, your dolphin campanion may invite you to interact...many bathers have received special messages, insights, or wisdom from their dolphin guides.

Madame herself continues to ponder the wisdom imparted to her by Badrayah, a lovely bottlenose.

Everyone is invited to partake of this experience and share their impressions with the other guests at the bath house.

To set the scene Madame Eclectica has written a beautiful braided story about her experience with Dolphins and Water

Dolphin Dreams
by Vi Jones

Slicing through the water like a sharpened knife.
My legs clasped around your smooth and graceful belly, arms forward of your dorsal fin.
Lovers in these restless waters,
moving together in perfect unison.
We feel the power of the ocean,
I feel the power of you.

I am naked as are you, as nature intended us to be.
You are suited to spend your life
forever swimming these salty seas.
We break the surface in a shower of sunlit jewels
and soar into an arc of perfect symmetry,
Then, like an arrow,
we slice the surface with barely a ripple to mark our passage.
You dive and I'm with you.
You crest and I am there.
We are lovers rising,
aiming for the sun,
but returning as you must to inner space.

We skim the surface,
playful now
as we speed toward the shore,
where you gently lay me down
on a warm and sandy beach.
"Don't go," I cry
as you swiftly swim away.
"I want to stay with you forever,
be your mate, share your aquatic realm.
But, you are gone and I'm left
tethered to the land,
but hoping,
always hoping,
that someday you will return
to take me with you,
to live forever
in your changing,
restless palace of the deep."

Fill up your tub, and add some bath salts and favorite essential oils for cleansing. Also, fill a small pitcher with a combination of the water salt and oil.

Do not get in yet Say: "I perform this act of cleansing in water where all life began." Step into the bath. Once seated, take the bowl or pitcher in your hands.

Imagine a white, healing light surrounding and infusing the water within. Say: “As the cleansing waters pour over me I am cleansed in body and spirit. All unwanted feelings of shame, anger, guilt, and fear are now washed away."

Pour the water over your head, imagining that as you pour you see a brown, mucky substance washed away from you. As this muck hits the water see it transformed into clear blue water.

When you feel the time is right, allow the water to go down the drain. Say: "As the water disappears, never to be seen again, so too have my unwanted feelings. As the dirt was transformed to clear water so have my feelings been transformed. Blessings to the old ones for this work performed. " Step out of the tub.

Caravanserai Bath House

What a watery glory it all was. To be steamed, scrubbed, rinsed and scented according to medieval Cairo's public bath-house ritual was to be cleansed like nowhere else on earth - or at least no where outside the the former boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. Much of this ritual has long evaporated with the vanishing bath houses called hammans in Arabic.

Five hundred years ago, in the days of the ruling Mamluks, there were more than 300 hammams in Cairo "one for every day of the year." These were spread throughout the districts of what was one of the world's largest cities.

European travellers coming to Egypt in those times were inevitably amazed at the prediliction of people for washing - some saw it as an obsession, for in Europe too much washing was frowned upon. But Egyptians were river people, and this old habit was as old as Egypt itself. Edward Lane noted in his classic Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians: Bathing is one of the greatest luxuries enjoyed by people of Egypt. The inhabitants of the villages of this country and those who cannot afford the trifling expense incurred in the public baths, often bathe in the Nile.

Enjoy an authentic, Arabian, ritual session at an ancient bath house.