I had an experience three weeks ago that I have been wondering about and would like to share. Here is what happened.....
My husband and I went camping, along with the kids, at his uncle's farm, next to the river. It was very beautiful and I felt at peace, there were many 300 year old cottonwood trees growing next to the river. Also many mosquitos! I felt some Kundalini activity and sensed that it was being stimulated by the environment, but did not say anything about it then.
That night my husband had a strange episode. After we lay down in the tent for a while he got up saying his head was killing him. He was pretty upset about it. He said it felt like something had exploded inside his brain, and asked me to try to lessen the pain by rubbing his neck. I was in an odd state also, I did not feel I could assist him because I was for some reason too tired to move. So, so tired all of a sudden I could not do anything! At the same time I sensed he was having a K episode and that I was not supposed to interfere. I told him for some reason I was too tired to move, and exasperated, he left the tent.
The next morning he told me what he had done. He drove about a mile to his grandfather's house to get tylenol. He could not get in, he knocked but his grandfather is very old and deaf, and he did not want to give the old man a heart attack by barging in during the night! So he left. But he said that while he was there, the headache subsided completely. Then, when he returned to the campsite, it came back. He spent some time moaning and groaning and huddling under one of those weird mylar emergency blankets, and then finally slept. When he told me this, I said, "I think the river is doing something to us." It seemed a bit odd to be saying this, but he didn't laugh.
Instead he told me some history of the river which I knew nothing about. He said it is a very spiritual river. It is from snow melt in the Rockies and the Tewa indians have many ceremonies about the river that they still perform. The river used to be the dividing line between the agriculturalists and the hunter-gatherers.
Later that day I went into the river for the first time. Initially I felt squeamish and cold, in mud up to my knees, and wanted to leave. But I walked out further into a nice sandy place, no mud, and the cold started to feel good. It was then that the river said my name.
I do not usually hear stuff. Well, I'll put it differently. Never before have I heard anything inside my head. I hear music a lot of the time, but only real music, a soundtrack. I am a musician and that was one way I learned songs, in my head, so that seems normal to me. I have seen lots of visions with my third eye, but I don't hear stuff.
It said "Jen". That's all it said. It was the most beautiful, harmonious voice I have ever heard. It was definitely masculine. I don't know why, but i knew it was the river talking. It had an amazing resonance, like an old bell or gong from a Zen monastery. Or like many voices together, but really only one. I fell in love with the river spirit then.
I keep going back, and i feel really good when I am there. The river hasn't said anything more to me. It is a powerful river with a strong current, and slippery rocks, but I feel it won't harm me. I don't know what this experience means, I feel that if i need to know, goddess will tell me. I guess that is why I am sharing it now, to open to anything that I could know about this!
I don't have any desire to deal with entities. I don't believe that's what this is....is it? Is the spirit of the river something different from an entity? This spirit does not feel harmful to me, it feels really good.....but nonetheless, if it is an entity of some sort then I see it as a distraction along my path and not something to pursue. Is it instead an elemental? Are elementals entities? Or is it none of those things, and just an expression of Goddess? Why does it know my name?
I experimented with releasing some karma into the river and to the trees along the river, and that felt good, and they felt willing to take it....but then wondered if i needed to be giving back something in exchange. Many questions!
Not an Elemental, those are vaster powers, but it is a relative, a river deva, and apparently one with a long and good relationship with people. It is a kind of Faerie, a nature spirit.
Nature spirits don't classify as entities, they are in their own category and interacting with them can be very beneficial or very aggravating. Sounds like you met a nice one. If you are concerned, ask your Guardian angel not to allow fey or Faerie beings near you unless meeting them serves your spiritual unfolding and highest good.
I did a workshop on communicating with Faeries in August. It was very successful, we were pulling them in from miles around and people were having interesting experiences... then I asked our Guardian angels to boot the ones that were not good for us, and it felt like 60-80% of them disappeared. A lot of faeries really don't like people at all... which is understandable... if you were a naiad whose stream became a sewer pipe how do you think you would feel about it, eh?
It is ok to give them karma, better to give it to Goddess though. If you want to thank them, give them love. Some also like snacks and libations (drink) (size doesn't matter, a crumb is as good as a loaf, especially if you have blessed it) but some devas get accustomed to certain behavior from people.
I suggest you talk to the natives. Tell them you heard the river call your name. When (if) they tell you what it means, listen with discernment.