This is the 7th production of water’s journey through winter filmed in central Massachusetts. I started filming in the 2014 and I have witnessed the dramatic changes in the winters since that time. All the documentaries have been a prayer of praise to water as I add my poetry and music over the various scenes. This last one I did in the voice of water itself. Water to me is a being and teacher. My life has changed because of witnessing water going through its ongoing transformation. For me it is the clearest vehicle through which divinity expresses itself. My prayer is that these movies make it to the cities where people do not experience water going through its changes and miss out on getting the messages from nature when this is most critical on the planet right now. The movies are long enough to get an immersion of this experience. We get the same benefits as if we are in the presence of water itself. These images bring healing, calm, peace, awe intimacy, wonder, and even excitement.
.
.
When Water Sings her Murmuring Dance, Mother’s Face Begins to Blush Again
.
.
To view this trailer click on the image. To watch the full feature movie by renting or buying a download go to https://vimeo.com/ondemand/watersings
.
This healing meditative documentary instills a deeper appreciation for the elemental world and brings us into an intimate relationship to water as we become privy to its exuberant life. For 7 years Katja Esser has been following water throughout the various winter seasons as water expresses itself through form. This documentary is the second one of a prayer of praise to water as Katja focuses on water in how it expresses itself through the growing season. This is the time when water has dropped out of form to now be of service to expand life. Through the art of observation, we learn the lessons of water that give us clues into the evolution of our own lives. As nature, with her infinite chorus, calls us into her intimate life, this production brings the poetry and the human singing voice into the mix to feed the life around us. Our gratitude and appreciation appease the nature spirits that keep this world alive. This is one form of reciprocity in which we fully participate into the act of creation.
Water has this amazing capacity to heal, to restore, and to calm. In its presence we find peace. Mirror neurons in our brain allow us to have the same experience as if we were actually in nature. The seasons are timeless, while the images were gathered in 2017 the documentary got edited and completed in 2022.
.
.
When Water Tempers Nature, Mother’s Hair Turns Silvery White – trailer
This is the 6th video in which Katja has been following water’s journey through winter. Each winter has been uniquely different, the ice in the river has become thinner each year, and this particular video dramatically exemplifies the shift in climate. The season starts of with a heavy snowfall on Dec 3 and ended with a frost on June first. There were a total of 6 ice storms in this winter, hardly no snow in January and February as it was very mild. The big snow storms happened in March and then we had several snow storms in a row in May. It created a lot of magical footage that could not fit in one video. The intent of the video is to bring attention to our diminishing winters and create footage of a magical world that most people are not even aware of that it exist. The second intent is to praise water that shapes our world and honor its blossoming when it comes into form. It is all about having a relationship and intimacy with this magical being that has so much to teach us.
.
.
What do we empower with our thoughts, feelings, words and actions? – trailer
.
.
To view the trailer click on the image.
.
What do we empower with our thoughts, feelings, words and actions?
.
.
To view the full feature movie click on the image.
.
This is an essay in which I used my art work to illustrate the narrative. I used my drawings, paintings, masks, communal ceremonial sculptures, photography, and improvisational singing to bring my body of work together in this video. I also used the photography of other people where i did not have images for. It has become a historical piece as well as it applies to life in general. It consists out of three parts that first addresses the confusion between feelings and what we express. The second part looks more in depth to what we create through our language, and the third part is moving towards what we envision.
.
.
Oh Katja, This film was so beautiful, moving, vulnerable . . . providing so many important and insightful teachings, lessons learned, and guidance on so many levels.
Images of your early art were so visceral and reminded me of some of my cathartic drawings. So glad they appeared throughout.
Your pure singing voice in the background was haunting and at times reminded me of the sound quality of the Bulgarian Women’s Choir.
The sounds and images of nature were a needed reminder of where we live. The human protests and speaking what we want, not what we don’t want . . .
so much there to absorb, and yes I’ll watch it again.
Just wanted you to know my first impressions.
What a tremendous Spirit you are! Your constant strength to bring your vision of what humanity needs onto this planet through your art, creations, images, ceremony, stories – are inspiring and inspired.
WELL DONE STAR SISTER! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED even though still in progress! Rev. Tonia Pinheiro www.wakeupworks.org
.
.
Weaving Mother’s Crystal Necklace part 1
.
.
To view trailer click on the image. If you want to leave comments to help me promote the sales of my video you can click here that gets you to the Video on Demand page where you can also see the trailer and download the movie by purchasing it.
.
Due to the low sound level the movie is appreciated best with headset or speakers. Also see it on a bigger screen so you see the detail of what truly goes on in the water crystals. A lot of things I did not see with my naked eye till I saw it on my big screen and another world opened up, it is infinite.
.
This is the 5th in the series of winter videos I have created. This is the winter of 2018-19 in which I got so much amazing footage that I am breaking it up in two separate movies. The first part is of the growing stillness and the unique circumstances when there was no snow in January 2019 that created this crystal clear ice. I went back to the same vernal pool everyday sometimes twice a day to see the changes. I could not sleep from excitement as I saw the magic unfold. I had to sit with this footage and give it all I had to offer to match its beauty. Make sure you get beyond the trailer and watch the full feature of 55 min. to experience the awe, wonder, and teachings of this amazing element of water. Allow yourself to relax into its healing, soothing properties, and feel inner peace. Allow yourself to see with new eyes and enter into this secret world that fleetingly passes. Please, leave your comments so the movie gets out in the world and help me promote this work. Thank you for taking your time.
.
.
.
Such a beautiful creation of images, sounds, voice, poetry, music! Thank you for your love and its expression on behalf of nature and the elementals. The beauty and sounds touched my heart. Love you Katja Esser! Rev. Tonia P.
.
Your exquisitely intimate, patient, contemplative, and steady way of seeing has created spectacular images—revealing silent and sacred mysteries. Your words and singing are a prayer of thanksgiving and wonder. What a wonderful gift to us all! Rich & Antra B
.
Exquisite Katja !! Your words your images, sounds filled my senses. The character of water as a Being or organized army of Beings in love with Being made my heart and soul smile. JaneE
.
…i could sense vividly the wonderful earthen smell of those frozen woods enhanced by these thrilling images of the natural ice crystals and formations in the woods on my screen, captured by you in their most remarkable splendor. Also, i enjoyed the soundtrack and the music, finding it centered and tuned to the universal (something i adore as a musician), which was very easy and satisfying to resonate with. Your efforts and sensitivities are so evident in each frame of this thoughtful offering that it was very much a pleasure to experience this (your) valuable art. Thank you again so much for your efforts, vision and especially for the labor and dedication required to create and provide this gift to the world. What a wonderful thing you do! BRAVO ! ! ! William J
.
Weaving Mother’s Crystal Necklace part II
.
.
To view trailer click on the image. If you want to leave comments to help me promote the sales of my video you can click here that gets you to the Video on Demand page where you can also see the trailer and download the movie by purchasing it.
.
Due to the low sound level the movie is appreciated best with headset or speakers. Also see it on a bigger screen so you see the detail of what truly goes on in the water crystals. A lot of things I did not see with my naked eye till I saw it on my big screen and another world opened up, it is infinite.
.
This is the journey of water from February throughout March of 2019. As part one was about the increasing stillness and the incredible clear ice, part two is more about the changes as temperatures rise and fall creating more disturbance, movement, and drama. Please, leave your comments so the movie gets out in the world and help me promote this work. Thank you for taking your time.
.
.
.
Within Mother’s Tattered Skirt, Water Quietly Expands the Light
.
.
This is the 4th video in the Winter video series and spans the Winter of 2016-2017, which was a snowy winter. We see familiar scenes in a totally different expression. Again the use of a headset or speakers is recommended as well as seeing it on a bigger screen. As long isolating winters and stress cause dis-ease these water winter scenes bring a new appreciation for winter as well as calm, peace, and healing.
.
To view the beautiful HD version of this movie you can host a viewing near you with Katja Esser if you are in New England. Otherwise you can see the whole production at your own leisure and support the artist by buying a download. Click the button below and it leads you to the Vimeo page where you can rent or buy it through a secure check out.
.
.
.
Splendor – Singing the Tumbling Waters towards it Destiny
.
.
This polyphonic improvisational piece of music I sang and mixed is part of an ongoing series of songs and water videos that I create with an intention to keep our waters alive through praise.
.
Looking Through a Magical Kaleidoscope of a Vernal Pool
.
.
We journey into the fleeting encounters suspended within water’s crystal skin as the ice thickens and the play of light illuminates a world below. The images are accompanied by words and improvisational music.
.
When Nature Dreams, Water begins to Blossom (trailer)
.
.
To view trailer click on the image.
.
We witness water’s return to form as its elegant dance morphs into a solid pure world. Water’s bold stance holds the gateway to the world of the dead while its incredible love bestows crystalline blossoms on the withered skeletal remains of a once lush world in a desire to make this world whole again. Most of the year water lives distilled and hidden through the bodies of others, to give shape and expression to every living being. Once winter arrives water becomes visible and celebrates its expression through form and reveals the imprints of its story and mythology through its own body.
This documentary shows the dramatic force and the incredible beauty of water moving in and out of solidity as film maker Katja Esser praises, through improvisational song, poetry, and images, the intimate and untamed nature of water during the winter of 2017 in Central Massachusetts. To keep this world alive we have to connect with it, feed it, and court it.
.
Due to the low sound level the movie is appreciated best with headset or speakers.
.
To view the beautiful HD version of this movie you can host a viewing near you with Katja Esser if you are in New England. Otherwise you can see the whole production at your own leisure and support the artist by buying a download. Click the button below and it leads you to the Vimeo page where you can rent or buy it through a secure check out.
.
.
.
‘Praise to the Life-Giving Nectar of the Mother’ – part 3 (trailer)
.
.
To view trailer click on the image.
.
In ‘Praise to the life-giving nectar of the Mother’ we enter into the peaceful yet dramatic quietude of nature as we follow the intimate, mystical, and eloquent story of water through the seasons. In the full 53 min. documentary we experience the peaceful healing symphony of nature with all its raw beauty as we open to the invitation to connect and let this wondrous world wash over us. This film is set up as a praise to the holiness of water to feed it and keep it alive. The movie brings a blend of nature’s chorus with the human voice as film maker and artist Katja Esser uses her poetry and improvisational singing in response to the unfolding scenes to personalize and deepen the relationship to what feeds us.
.
.
To view the beautiful HD version of this movie you can host a viewing near you with Katja Esser if you are in New England. Otherwise you can see the whole production at your own leisure and support the artist by buying a download. Click the button below and it leads you to the Vimeo page where you can rent or buy it through a secure check out.
.
Comments
.
The quality and composition of the kaleidoscopic images is just so stunningly beautiful and fantastic. I just think that this is an extraordinary good video. Stephanie S
.
As you watch this sound becomes more and more evident. First it is just the water. It becomes that symphony orchestra, different instrument chiming in, then the birds and frogs add that choral note and then the timpani came in with that thunderstorm and I was just totally blown away. That was so spectacular. Thank you. Brian M
.
I could sit here for another hour, it is so nurturing. I feel different, I feel it is actually been healing. It changed my organism. It is a very profound thing to sit here with people and watch the simplicity of nature. Thank you, so mesmerizing. The singing, words, and forms of water in our familiar settings inspired me. Lisa B
.
.
‘The Ice Remembered’ a short film
.
.
In a changing climate the formation of ice may become a rare occurrence. In this third year of filming ice, the film maker allows the ice to tell its story of its dance with the elements. It is like a photographic print of nature when we glance at water holding its form. The magnificence of the formations illicit a response to meet it with eloquence through song and word that builds a relationship to this wild untamed force that touches all of life. Click on image to access the movie.
.
Comments
.
I just spent almost twenty minutes meditating and being moved by your video, Ice Remembered. I felt like I was given a sacred gift and I thanked your soul, heart, spirit, and Mother-Father God for the creativity expressed through you. I thank you, deeply, for sharing your authentic beauty with all. Melissa P
.
‘Flow’ a music video
.
.
Due to the low sound level this recording can only be fully heard through speakers or a headset
.
This polyphonic improvisational composition is my way to bring my praise to water. We have been bestowed with creative abilities to continuously feed and praise the soul and spirit within all expressions of the Divine body to keep creation alive and cheer on its evolution. The words in the songs come from the same source as where the music comes from.
.
‘Praise to the Life-giving Nectar of the Mother’ part 1-2 trailer
.
.
Due to the low sound level this recording can only be fully heard through speakers or a headset
.
Praise to the life-giving Nectar of the Mother’ is a prayer of love to water as it moves through the various stages from winter into spring. This heartfelt prayer consists out of poems and improvisational songs in response to the unfolding scenes that draws the audience into an intimate, magical, and sometimes haunting world of water. This video is about having a vibrant relationship to the living world in which we live and our role in it to keep this world alive. Water’s elegant language elicits an eloquent response to meet its greatness and feed its holiness.
.
You can see the whole production at your own leisure and support the artist by buying a download. Click the button and it leads you to the Vimeo page where you can buy it through a secure check out.
.
.
‘It is exciting to realize that another has known such secret splendor and heard the soul song’ – Gail
.
Wow….I watched it twice and sent it on to people on FB and by email too…..hope the word gets out as to her gifts. – Deb
.
Incredible visuals Katja, and what a labor of love your whole effort is!
Good for you! – Sanford
.
Prayer to my beloved Swift River
.
.
This ‘Prayer to the beloved Swift River’ is the story of the various bodies of water flowing within walking distance from my home and filmed during the winter and spring of 2014. This is my first production in which I share the magical world of water as I observe its changes. It has become a teacher for life for me and has filled my winters with absolute joy.
.
As we stand on the threshold of our evolving evolution on Earth, moving through our journey to come into love with ourselves and the living world around us, my desire to create a vessel to awaken our ancient sacred connection to the infinite universe, has deepened. Being born in a water year, according to the Dagara People in Africa, water has been an important teacher throughout my life and I know that all we need to learn in life we possibly can learn from observing water as it interacts with the living world around it. The intention of this video is not just about showing water’s journey, it is about our relationship to it, our sacred participation with it, and our sacred responsibility to feed it and keep it alive. I am not assuming to improve on the perfection of nature, we have been gifted however with natural abilities to create and express beauty in service of the spirit world to bring us into balance with creation. In my praise of water I hope to inspire humanity back to the sacred nature of water and allow its dance to show the way to come into right relationship with all the elements that make up life. Through my music, my poems, and the images I invite you into a world of magic and freedom of expression that water fleetingly holds. As much as water is at our center many never even get to see or experience a stream through its dramatic changes. As climate change reduces the temperature variability between higher and lower latitudes, winters like we have had in the last two years will in the near future become rare. I feel I am archiving what soon may be no more and I like you to share in the experience how incredible our planet is.
.
The music is all improvisational. I am not actively playing the piano at the moment; I do not even own a keyboard. I had piano lessons throughout childhood and was not good at it. I never played again till 6 years ago when there was a keyboard in the house I lived then and one day not quite knowing what to do I put myself in front of the piano and for the first time improvised. Impressed I took my Minidisk recorder out and recorded myself and never played again since. It seemed a perfect fit for this video; it is not my debut for being a keyboard player though. I am working on a longer video from this winter and spring with entirely different and even more amazing images and music. It becomes a beautiful way to record my music in a sacred context.
.
.
‘WOW! This prayer to the Swift River is complete and absolute. I was especially struck by the music as it complements the visual imagery to perfection. Not until the end did I realize it was you playing! Bravo! The winter’s dragon and the faces and the animals I saw in the ice crystals were mesmerizing. TRUE poetry!!!!!’ – Carolyn
.
‘My heart expanded with so much gratitude!!!! It’s so exquisitely lovely. What a wonderful gift to the world!!!! This touched me very deeply!!!’ – Kari
.
‘My friend Katja Esser did this beautiful video. We use it almost every morning for meditation. Thankful for friends who see beauty like this and video it for those of us who weren’t there.’ ♥ Mandy
.
The Hidden Life of Trees
.
.
The Hidden Life of Trees was a collaboration that I did with Ricardo Frota and more can be seen about that on the main site. The motivation for this piece was when I read in the book ‘Secrets of the Soil’ that the birds were responsible for awakening nature as their songs opened up the stomata in the leaves so the leaves would be able to drink the dew in before the sun would burn it off. I realized that we had no idea how we affect the environment by just walking into it. I felt that this was what kids needed to learn in school and the idea was to make them excited about how amazing our planet is so that we want to steward her in a life sustaining way. Then I sat with the thought, can I make a costume that stops people in their tracks so we take a moment to become present and take in what there is to see. This elaborate costume, that took about 1 1/2 year to create, became the result. A big piece of the life of a tree takes place in the Earth and it became important to show what was going on in the soil. The two skirts are all applique, with a lot of detail sown in. Ants, a variety of other bugs, and creatures have been added to show what a tree sustains. Ricardo, a master musician and interpreter, has been the perfect match as he plays literally on trees. His elaborate sound sculpture made from found materials in nature and recycled objects became a forest of sorts. He did the interpretations of the fungus, the roots, and the insect world. This show is created for all ages above ten. For more info and images go to http://www.ritualexpressions.com/re/performance_002.asp.
The music is all improvisational. I am not actively playing the piano at the moment; I do not even own a keyboard. I had piano lessons throughout childhood and was not good at it. I never played again till 6 years ago when there was a keyboard in the house I lived then and one day not quite knowing what to do I put myself in front of the piano and for the first time improvised. Impressed I took my Minidisk recorder out and recorded myself and never played again since. It seemed a perfect fit for this video; it is not my debut for being a keyboard player though. I am working on a longer video from this winter and spring with entirely different and even more amazing images and music. It becomes a beautiful way to record my music in a sacred context.