EarthSong Aboriginal Healing Pathways Foundation Community Launch

We have been incorporated for a year now so it was very good timing for us to have our first Communty launch.

Members of our Womens group presented the 7 Sisters Inma and the children from Kaurna Plains school danced. Naomi Hicks sang along with her children and nieces and sister and we were honoured to host several overseas guests including Grandmother Agnes Pilgrim of the 13 Grandmothers Council.

Grandmother Agnes is from the Takelma nation and has been traveling to different communities over the last few weeks.

Here are some of the photos from the day and if you are interested in learning more about what we are doing at EarthSong, please click on our facebook group here and join us:

The trip to Aortearoa (New Zealand) was a rather magical time!

 

 

 

 

My Niece Louise reminds me…

…that youth is passion and that anything is possible……

Louise reminds me of what a wonderful Mother my sister is and what a great man she chose in her husband Wayne… and how the arrival of Louise and her twin brother Ben moved our family to a whole new place of insight and love that is such a long way from the post-war life of our parents era…

…and what a wonderful ‘Nan’ and ‘Grandad’ our parents have become…

NAIDOC 2008 – Adelaide

Here are three gorgeous gals who caught up with one another during the NAIDOC march and Family day on the banks of the River Torrens.

Katrina Power, Pilwauk White and Jo Rigney…

Don’t worry… and Just Bead Happy!

I have recently introduced an ART of Change  program using beads that we hand roll from air drying clay to create an “empowerment necklace’ as mentioned in an earlier thread.

Meeting for between 2 to 4 hours a week participants shape their beads based on a Vision they hold for the future or as an expression of love / resolution / Spiritual strength / developing a stronger sense of Self and identity etc. 

Once the personal vision  beads are dry we paint them and give them life, colour and vibrancy. Das clay is FANtastic as a quick drying and very hardy medium that is not heavy once it has dried…
The rolling of the clay and shaping the beads is a very relaxing process that activates the alpha state (open eyed meditative) of optimum learning and relaxation.

The ‘bead happy’ project engages two significant aspects – process and completion, which are often difficult to attain for people who are living with marginalisation, violence, addiction, mental illness, trauma and poverty.

The talking circle format is a very relaxed, informal environment which is more culturally relevant for many of the participants from non-western /European backgrounds. This kind of environment does not have a ‘counsellor -client’ dynamic, it is a far more empowering model that moves beyond pain and issues to the place of connecting with personal power, natural talent and possibility.
The very state we knew as small children before the external world imprinted limitations upon us.
We celebrate “ME” and explore the potential we have to move beyond limitations and past patterns and programs….

Thankyou to the Women whose work is in the image below…although they remain anonymous in the photos, the very personal stories and amazing creativity that is expressed through the clay and the beading affirms to me how privileged I am to provide art based life coaching at the grass roots, community level where so many amazing people have extraordinary stories to share….

Shirley- Big Heart Big Smile

Relationships change and friendships come and go. Family is not always defined by those who swim in the same gene pool and although many years have passed since Shirley and I were in close and regular contact, when we get together those years melt into the ether…

Shirley has a big heart and has walked a big journey. She is a Woman who is never happier than when she is surrounded by family and friends and laughter.

Mandala

I made this Empowerment Mandala for our discussion on “Boundaries” in the women’s group…..

Each participant has a black and white copy as a way of ‘kick starting creativity and the use of symbols as an alternative to talk, talk, talk therapy……

Sorry Day- This is what Katrina Power and Carol Omer felt on the day…

A picture paints a thousand words and we all shared many tears and smiles and hugs on this historical, momentus day.   

“Sorry”…..and “Thankyou”…

The “Sorry” issue regarding the abuse of Human Rights in Australia against the Aboriginal nations since the invasion of traditional lands and subsequent occupation (”Colonisation”) is one of the most pressing issues in Australia today.

As the internet flooded with debate / support / opposition and a tsunami of ill informed opinions and the quick sand of racist stereotyping I was reminded of the words of my friend Katrina Power, a Nurrunga~Ngarindjerri~Kaurna woman who said “there hasn’t been first contact yet”, referring to how the original violence and oppression meant that true “contact” did not occur. Contact in the form of mutual respect, discussion, negotiation and partnership as should be expected when one lot of people arrive uninvited into the home of another.

So I decided to have a “Thankyou” Day in amongst the hoo ha and emotional politics of the announcement that the official Sorry will occur on February 13th 2008.

I was pleased that the ABC Opinions page featured my letter in its entirety.

…………………………………..

Thank You Day

Australia Day is Invasion Day for some.

Well, I am going to declare “Thankyou Day” for my Aboriginal friends and colleagues.

• Thankyou for caring for the land for so many thousands of years and demonstrating the importance of living in harmony with nature’s laws

• Thankyou to the Elders who are the custodians of the Dreaming Stories, the ‘genesis’ of this great land that contain so much that 21st century Australia needs to know about balance, harmony and respect

• Thankyou to the Women in the centre who do the night patrol and who work tirelessly to put things right

• Thankyou to young Aboriginal Australians like Tania Major who are called from a very young age to serve community over the interests of the individual self

• Thankyou to all of the Bringing Them Home counsellors who spend their whole working life assisting the Stolen Generation to find their family and to deal with the deep grief of loss and trauma

• Thankyou to the organisers of the State Aboriginal Sports Carnival – a significant sporting event that received no mainstream media coverage in 2007, in spite of being a rich pool of emerging talent that the major leagues draw from

• Thankyou to the sisterhood shown by the members of the Aboriginal women’s group who have endured the loss of two, young members in recent times, reflecting the reality of the impact of Aboriginal people dying many years sooner than others

• Thankyou to all of the Aboriginal people I have met who demonstrate time and again resilience and tenacity in the face of systemic racism, many exiled by farming and mining interest from their home country and sacred places.

I’m very sorry that most non-Aboriginal people have had few personal connections and even fewer role models and teachers from the Aboriginal community and may never know the depth of knowledge, wisdom and spirituality that defines traditional Aboriginal ways

.…………………………

…….…and a very special Thankyou Nungala , a survivor and cultural warrior of the Stolen Generation who is there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for family and community.

Thankyou sister for not only having the strength to heal but the courage to walk with others on their journey of grief, loss and recovery.Love You….. you inspirational Mimini~Goddess extraordinaire with fantastic hair!!

50 years of Marriage ~ Congratulations to my Parents

Our family celebrated the marriage of my parents 50 years ago.

I created a Mandala-table of our shared histories:

They listened attentively whilst we read them a light hearted 50 Years of Marriage Decree…

….and we presented Mum with her tiara, her wishing cloak and magic wand….

Dad received his viking hat and golden sword…

…they waltzed to Their Song- the 1957 hit… “Give me your Word”…and their embrace took us all back in time…
When Dad sang the words in his beautiful voice that everyone agrees is equal to Tom Jones…we blinked tears of gorgeousness and sentiment and clapped when Mum swept her velvet cloak over his head and kissed him …

When they blew out the candles on the chocolate Heart and Circle cakes that Sal made, our family cheered…because we know how Blessed we all are to be a part of such love….