My recent reflections have led me to contemplate the messages I received about 2008. The strongest message was that we were in a time of openings. I feel, like the Rebirth of the Hawk, that we no longer wear blinkers - the hood is off. We know what it is like to live in captivity of the heart and soul - going against the flow of nature. We know now that it is time for change, to take off the shackles of pollution, of unconscious living - of disconnection from our natures. With the recovery of this awareness our wings are free - to fly and soar and know the clouds, the mists, the forests, the oceans. There is no going back.

Solstice is, for me, the turning of the year. Julian Lennon was quoted recently on the Whale Dreamers website saying that “Indigenous wisdom has never been more relevant for humanity than now.” I think there is a growing awareness of this and something I am very proud of is my own indigenous wisdom - the wisdom of the Irish and Scottish people, the Gaels.

What is incredible to me is the fact that in some parts of Ireland there is still an authentic continuous living tradition stretching back as far as anyone can remember. This tradition is known as Sean Nós, which translates as the Old Ways. You can read more about it my article, Sean Nós.

Such a tradition is a rare and endangered thing in the west. Something that we must regard as precious and nurture back to a full bodied expression of our life here on Earth. In west Ireland we have holy sites that predate the Egyptian pyramids. We have evidence of monastic type culture, especially on our islands off the west coast, that predate Christianity. Many of these sites of pilgrimage - on the islands, the mountains and elsewhere in the country, are still living places of pilgrimage and worship. The veneration of water has been an integral part of Irish culture since time immemorial. We have thousands of holy wells that are still venerated - not just on the odd occasion but constantly - many, such as Tobernalt in Sligo are visited daily as a place of prayer and healing. They are living places of pilgrimage and solace for the soul.

The ancient faith of Ireland and Scotland is alive and continues to flourish.
The spirituality of the people is a celebration of their life - that is expressed through song, dance, music, story telling, poetry and prayer. In fact, they are prayers and healing practices.
Traditionally, the Irish and Scottish people understand that music and poetry are languages of the soul, that the story teller, the seanachie, carries the wisdom of old, and that within these ways are bound the essence of our culture, our mystical lore and the understanding that we are in everything.

The Irish in the west have that secret - or if they don’t, it is at their finger tips. For in traditional areas of Ireland, especially the Gaelteacht areas ( Irish speaking as the first language ), this living tradition of the Sean Nós thrives. This ancient tradition that expresses the individual and the collective spirit - and how we flow with the rest of nature. The constant expression of the Sean Nós has kept the feeling of the spirit of the place and people alive - their aboriginality survives - in some ways it thrives and it is incredible to experience and assist others to experience an authentic continual, traditional culture that is western.
That is my greatest grief when I leave - aside from the glorious landscape - which is like living in a painting, the feeling of the loss of real community, and the connection to the land and the past, is huge. Leaving Ireland this November - gosh it was hard - all the dark half traditions were cranking up - the Sean Nós dancing lessons and the Irish speaking classes were beginning along with the gatherings in people’s homes. The sean nós performances, such as the awesome Cunningham Family performance which dazzled us in Clifden with song, dance, all manner of traditional instruments and story telling. The best part of all was the audience. The building rocked for the entire performance. In true traditional style everyone clapped and stamped their feet and called out encouragement and affirmations of the brilliance of it all. “Good Man, Good Woman, God be with Ye!”

The pull of my other home here in Australia was mighty powerful though with the bright days, early sunrises, the time of the most southerly path of sun and the work of organising the veggie patch, the joy of the late golden light. My home since I was 5, the landscape and spirit of place is awesome. The feeling of freedom and expansion is irreplaceable. It is so relaxed, so abundant. I always feel torn between the two worlds and my wish for western culture that is outside of their traditions is that we develop real community in that deep and enduring sense. I have come to realise that this is part of my story, and my work, to have both these worlds and part of my vision is to foster real community that draws from all our wonderful and diverse traditions. Living in both worlds has given me authenticity in my understanding of our traditions including the cycle of the seasons and our place in that. The sense of how things evolved through the nature of things, the light half and the dark half. And this has been assisted greatly by growing up in a country that has taught me great irreverence towards all things conservative, too many rules and anything oppressive. My rebel archetype and sense of individuality has been able to flourish.

I have thought a lot about the idea of new year and what it means - for most in the west it is a holiday and time of consuming copious amounts of food and drink. Many people from my culture believe that the new year is at Samhain - which is the doorway to the dark half of the year. I am not even sure about this. There is no mention in any of our old stories in Scotland or Ireland that indicate this, though it has some merit in that it is the celebration of the ancestors, the time when the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest. It is the time of the gathering of the souls of those who have died in recent months, to be ushered to the mystical isles of the western sea.
What I understand is that there are 2 halves - the dark half and the light half.
These doorways, honoured with celebrations of life and the cycles, usher us towards the solstices. Both these doorways are known times of magical occurrences - another indication of their power and importance. In the northern hemisphere the dark half begins at the end of October ( Samhain ) and the light half begins at the start of May ( Bealtaine ) - well that’s these days - but I am quite sure, as with any of our festivals, these celebrations would have been perceived by the signs of nature - the snow beginning to thaw, the first primroses and snowdrops appearing, or the bracken and bog browning off, the ice creeping into the wind, etc.
The solstices are a different matter though - they are the shortest and longest days of the year, period. Our ancestors observed them very carefully, indicating their importance, as these moments indicate the turning of the tide of time. Here in the southern hemisphere we are approaching summer solstice. The time of awakening, of dancing in the light, fertility, growing our crops and celebrating our abundance. ( Traditionally in Ireland it was also the signal to move the livestock to the high pastures on the mountain sides and live in the summer dwellings - the boolies ). In the northern hemisphere it is the deepening of the inner time, opening within - to the deep work of the radiant dark, one’s inner story and preparing the new vision for birth into the light half and the outer world. The time of the Ceildhe and sharing in the “ceildhe house;” your house tonight, mine tomorrow - and all who came would share their way - music, song, dance, story. Here’s a link of some great ceildhe performances.

The solstices were so important to our ancestors that they had many sacred places that were aligned, most particularly, to the mid winter sun - either sunrise or sunset. The day that the tide of light changed from deepening into the dark, to gradually moving back to the light was also the signal that the deepest part of the cold was yet to come, although the bright is returning. These places are so well designed that one can tell that winter solstice is approaching by the way that the light strikes certain rocks or aspects of the passages, such as Newgrange for example. This means that no matter how overcast the days might be leading up to the solstice, as soon as there is any sunlight, it highlights where we are in time and how many days there are to the solstice.

However we measure time, we now find ourselves deepening in to an era of enormous change. Many of the guises of this change are causing fear, but really they are the greatest opportunity that we face. Opportunity to find balance, peace and harmony. Opportunity to be more. To bring our passions more fully into our world. So what are you passionate about? And what are you doing about it? I invite you to spend some time asking your heart what you are passionate about and what - or how - you would manifest this into the world. I challenge you to dare to dream your dream and if you believe in new years resolutions then put it out there as your intention for 2009 - a pivotal time for humanity and the beginning of restoration of our harmonious place on Earth. The new president elect of the US, Obama, is a clear signal that we are entering a time of great opportunity, so take those dreams in hand and prepare to create them in the world.
For me the solstices are the great turning points of the year. Here in the southern hemisphere we are dancing in the light, growing our summer crops, enjoying the long evenings and the joy of relating with the outer world, feeling expanded and embracing the sense of growth and expression of our story. In the northern hemisphere there is delight and opportunity with the deepening time of the dreaming, the going within, finishing with old patterns that no longer serve us, telling your story freeing you up to gestate the new one in preparation for the light half.

We need our stories and our mythologies - in fact we also need new mythologies for our changing world - without myths we will become as Deepak Chopra says, “more sterile and bereft of meaning and soul.” Knowing our story puts us back into the narrative of our people - of a continuous living tradition - whatever that will come to mean in future times. Having a vision will carry us forward in a positive way and enable us to live fully and consciously in the world.

So what is your story? What are you passionate about and are you endeavouring to honour your passionate heart and bring your story and vision into the world?

“....Over here!
Can’t you see where the memories are kept bright?
Tripping on the water like a laughing girl.
Time in her eyes is spawning past life,
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled,
Holding all the love that waits for you here.
Catch us now for I am your future
A kiss on the wind and we’ll make the land
Come over here to where When lingers,
Waiting in this empty world,
Waiting for Then, when the lifespray cools
For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave,
And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools.
We are of the going water and the gone.
We are of water in the holy land of water
And all that’s to come runs in
With the thrust on the strand.”
The Jig of Life, Kate Bush.

A major change has occurred in the human story this year as more than 50% of Earth’s population now live in cities.

Image courtesy of NASA.

Earth Hour is a project which was initiated in Sydney, Australia in March 2007. It is about simple changes collectively making a difference to global warming. By turning out the lights for one hour Sydney residents and businesses made an enormous statement about the greatest contributer to global warming - coal fired electricity. This action created a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. Consider the difference you can make by turning out lights that are not in use, or not necessary - from businesses turning out the lights when their offices are empty to households switching appliances off rather than leaving them on standby.

Earth Hour was conceived by WWF Australia which is part of the WWF International Network, the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organisation.  Their mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with the rest of nature.

The idea of Earth Hour has spread rapidly and this year 26 international Earth Hour flagship cities and 370 supporting cities participated in Earth Hour - literally millions of people joined together and turned their lights off to raise awareness about the issue of global warming. In Canberra, Australia’s capitol, 73% of the population participated resulting in an 11.4% drop in electricity consumption. This alone represents a reduction of 36 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

A special time for those living in cities - during this one hour you’ll actually see the night sky filled with stars instead of the orange haze of light pollution.

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and GLOBE and Earth Hour have synchronised. Earth Hour coincides with the last night of the GLOBE project on the 28th March 2009 at 8.30pm. Take part - observe the night sky following the steps set out by GLOBE to observe certain easily seen stars and see the difference for yourself as the lights go out for Earth Hour. To get an idea of what happens follow this link and see the 2008 Earth Hour pictures from around the world.

Below is the guide for GLOBE 2009, 16th - 28th March.

Five Easy Star-Hunting Steps:

1) Find your latitude and longitude.

2) Find Orion by going outside an hour after sunset
(about 7-10pm local time).

3) Match your nighttime sky to one of our magnitude charts.

4) Report your observation.

Compare your observation to thousands around the world.

This worldwide project was initiated in 2006. There is a growing community which contributes to this project, observing our night sky, focusing on Orion. Orion’s Belt, here in Australia affectionately known as the Saucepan, is visible all around the world and is one sure constellation that we all know from childhood. 

To me there is nothing more magical, or mystical, than the night sky. In all the countries I have visited, none have a more spectacular sky than here where I live in Australia which, as a result, has made me appreciate it even more. There is a scientific reason for this ( link to last journal entry ) but there is also another reason - brought home to me by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth - there is so much light pollution in the highly populated areas of the world that we are literally blocking our view of the oldest contact we have have with the rest of creation. The dark velvety night sky and the diamonds that fill it. My clearest moments of connection come when I lay outside on the cliff tops, watching and merging with the stars - they seem to rise out of the horizon - from where Antarctica lays due south,over the Southern Ocean, and arc up above and around me in a spectacular circular embrace. Best of all is when we get the southern lights - Aurora Australis and the northern lights, Aurora Borealis in the northern hemisphere. These lights have had major influence in creation stories everywhere not least with my ancestors in the Highlands of Scotland - who believed that the northern lights were the first daughters of creation. These lights shine through from the Dreamtime bringing the life force through to the earthly plane.

Join GLOBE for email updates and learn more about this inspiring project that draws from people of all ages and all walks of life from all around the world!

GLOBE at Night 2009 will occur in the latter half of March. It will be one of several star - hunting efforts connected to the “dark skies awareness” cornerstone program of the International year of Astronomy ( IYA ) 2009.

Information about the emerging global plans for the IYA 2009 is available at astronomy2009.org. “The classic GLOBE at Night program directs students, families, and the general public how to observe and record the number of stars visible in the constellation Orion, as seen from different locations. Observers report their results online by comparing their view of Orion with a set of template images on the program’s Web site, which shows the number of stars in the constellation for a range of visibilities from bright skies to very dark.”

GLOBE at Night is a collaboration between The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, Boulder, CO; the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ; Centro de Apoyo a la Didactica de la Astronomia (CADIAS) in Chile; Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI); and the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA).

There has been a lot of rain and our valley is beginning to flood, the water birds are flocking in and the sense of peace is profound. Adjusting to being home has mostly been around the light. It is so pronounced at this time of the year - the darkness and the light. I am normally away from home until sometime in mid July when it isn’t quite so extreme. This year for many reasons I decided to come home in time for winter solstice. It is one of my favourite times - although I did have to tear myself away from Connemara. It is also beautiful there right now - the long days - light until 11pm and the short intense nights - that, at this time of the year are full of music, dancing, gathering. For Susan and I it was a deeply satisfying time of felting, cups of tea and slow walks through the bogs and glens, the rugged coast and mountain peaks, and most of all enjoying the spectacular late golden light. In all, continuing our pleasure and sense of connection with the land after a deeply satisfying time with the May pilgrims.

Here at home I find myself plunged into the mysterious radiant dark of mid winter. Mid winter in the the south of Australia, poised on the edge of the Southern Ocean and the Dreamtime. Wow! The night sky here is phenomenal. I often mention the brilliance of the night sky in the southern hemisphere and there is a scientific explanation - which I want to share with you. “The axis or the ‘wheel’ of our galaxy can be taken to cut the celestial sphere at the North and South Galactic Poles ( just as the Earth’s axis cuts it at the North and South Celestial Poles ). The NGP lies in Coma Berenices, the SGP in Sculptor. The sun and its planets lie slightly above the plane of the Milky Way, so we see more stars ( and more bright stars ) looking south than looking north. That is one reason why the skies of the Southern Hemisphere are so brilliant!“ (David Ellyard & Wil Tirion, The Southern Sky Guide: 24 ).

Here in the Otways the stars are vivid, with the Southern Cross still high in the south west, but beginning to descend while in the north east a new bright star has risen, Altair in the sign of Aquila the Eagle. The Southern Triangle is about to cross the meridan and, in all, 6 zodiac signs span the the sky to the north west where Leo is setting. The north is full with Bootes the Herdsman, and the heroes Hercules and Ophiuchus and the south west is crowded with the constellations Vela, Puppis and Carina, and Canopis near the horizon.

Summer solstice is a celebration of creative fire, it is the time of the feminine, of music and poetry. It is also the time when the seed of darkness is born as we slowly begin to move toward the inner time - of the radiant dark - the time of gestation and rebirth. Winter solstice is when the light is born anew once more from the womb of Earth’s darkness. Ceremonies to welcome back the light date from the dawn of humanity. An important festival where people celebrated both divine love and human love and wrapped in this, the possibilities for the new year ahead. Winter Solstice has been celebrated since time immemorial. Brú na Boinne ( Newgrange ) in Eastern Ireland is older than the pyramids and is one of many Irish sites aligned to the midwinter. Brú na Boine is linked to the midwinter sunrise. As the sun rises rays enter the lintel above the entrance and light the passage all the way into the centre. Interestingly, the lintel is carved with a repetitive dagaz symbol. Dagaz is the rune of bright sunlight, of enlightenment and the crown chakra. This Hollow Hill was inherited by Oengus and his love, Caer, the swan goddess. There is a theory that Brú na Boinne is built in the image of the swan system, Cygnet,of which Caer is heiress (Ref: Mysticireland ).

These stories and mysteries are part of winter time for me. Winter is the going within time, the story telling time and the time of gestation. I delight in my home in the Otways as it does have the four seasons and I love to hunker down in the long nights with a blazing fire, my writing or a good book. I love to watch the storying of the land and right now it is about the first wattles bursting into bloom, showering the vibrant green of the land with their golden blossoms.  In Connemara the midsummer story this year was, for me, the most incredible season of bog cotton I have ever witnessed. And in the bog cotton I found an incredible sense of the gentleness and yet the powerful life force of the bog. Here, amongst the wattles, the bulbs planted by the early European settlers are beginning to show their heads, splashing the landscape with ribbons of colour - from wild iris to daffodils and tulips - as our seasons, even here in the south, are warmer than northern Europe and so the bulbs flower in winter rather than spring and summer. It is the time of the whales visiting our coast, of giant surf - yesterday was a 20 foot swell, and of setting intention for the year ahead. My dream for the coming year is to see growth of community - where we consciously foster a sense of support and interest for those around us. Of course our world has changed and we can’t live the way our ancestors did but I genuinely believe that we have to begin to develop ways of living in community and supporting each other in order to help create sustainable and harmonious lifestyles on our planet.

You can read more about the importance of community as our future in the journal entry on Vandana Shiva and in my recent article, Sean Nós.

This journal entry is my experience of the lecture and I have tried to be true to Vandana’s voice. I believe she raises vitally important issues that we must address. The content of the lecture emphasised the importance of community as the way through these issues. The importance and power of community is one of the corner stones of my work. I also believe that it is the way into a positive future.

Kyoto is a environmental hoax

During the one hour lecture I felt as though I traversed lifetimes of awareness. Not only did I gain more incredible and terrifying insights into the state of the world, but also several myths were smashed. The main one I wish to take the time to mention here. With the election of the new Australia Government last year the Prime Minister immediately fulfilled his promise of ratifying the Kyoto summit. Many Australians, including me, sighed with relief. Imagine my horror as I sat and listened to Vandana outline why Kyoto is a environmental hoax, a committee put together by the polluters to allow them not only to continue polluting, but to in fact be able to pollute more.

CFC trading has created a trillion dollar industry and the rights to pollute are based on rights to buy the air. “As a result of these polluters the air no longer belongs to the commons but has been enclosed,” Vandana told us. In effect it is “owned” by these corporations who now have permission through the legacy of carbon trading to increase their pollution massively as long as they reduced by some small percentage at the same time. “All they have to do is buy emissions rights.”
And, she added, America is even worse as although they haven’t ratified Kyoto they have gone off on their own and created their own private deals with carbon emission trading and are among the worst offenders of all.

“A 25 percent increase has taken place in emissions while countries have made an agreement to reduce by 5 percent.”

She explained how we are being fooled into thinking that we have more time with the greenhouse effects as the information is being manipulated. We have been told the damage of a 2 degree rise in global temperature but, she says, we are gearing toward 6 degrees because nothing is being done and so we are advancing more rapidly. She went on to outline how the big corporations shape Kyoto and what they want to make of it. “This is enclosure of the air,” she stated, and “at the heart of Kyoto is emissions trading.”

200,000 suicides

Vandana is currently engaged in 6 law suits with the Monsanto Corporation, the company who owns the intellectual property of many seeds and is one of the major GM producers in the world. Vandana’s story of their horrific work in South India is a diabolical illustration of their ethics. With the privatisation of seed - especially the cotton seed, the people had no choice but to buy them - such is the way with these intellectual property laws and the corrupt way they work. At the same time devastating poisons were introduced. This has ruined traditional farming there and dispirited farmers have been committing suicide at alarming rates. Known as the suicide belt, for the past 10 years on average, one farmer every 30 minutes drinks the pesticides that got them into debt. So far 200,000 farmers have died this way.

When Monsanto were trying to get a deeper foothold in Vandana’s area, she spoke with the Monsanto representative who said they intended to build another factory even if they had to use crow bars to get the farmers out of the way. Vandana gave a speech to the farmers and quoted the Monsanto representative. The outraged farmers took their own crowbars and farm tools and they tore down the nearby Monsanto factory. She summed up the evil of Monsanto and their intellectual property rights when she pointed out that Monsanto “ sees they have saved the farmers from being usurped by bees and have prevented plants from stealing the sunlight. They can spray everything green and kill everything except the plant they have genetically engineered, such as roundup ready soya, roundup ready wheat and roundup ready corn.” Monsanto and gm are a force to be reckoned with on a global scale, no less in their own back yard.   In Canada many farmers have been bankrupted as they have been sued by Monsanto when gm seeds have sprung up on their properties, the courts unsympathetic to whether seeds blew in on the wind, off the back of a truck or what. These farmers have been forced to destroy all their seed banks, even though many are several generations old and were brought to the Americas by immigrant European farmers. Beautiful, organic pure seeds. Destroyed for the sake of a big corporation seemingly hell bent on owning all seed. Vandana has established an organic gm free seed bank in her region of India which is constantly being added to and in the future may be one of the few sources of pure seed we have left. She also heads a committee which has gained the commitment of 43 European nations not to go GM. What a shame she hasn’t engaged the Victorian Government on this issue.

Power of community

Vandana was not finished at this point. There was more. She went on to discuss how the food web is being enclosed. She explained how the food market is artificially engineered when companies wish to make more profit. Furthermore, as a result we have achieved nutritionally empty food - chemically grown food where mass and dimension has replaced nourishment. This manner of food production gets rid of everything that is nutrition and it gets rid of relationship and connection of communication that naturally takes place in Earth’s growth and reproduction. We must, she emphasised, reclaim the growing of food. Every aspect of it belongs to the commons. Globalisation has transformed the commons into commodities. We can’t reclaim the the commons other than through community.

Industrialisation brought some of the first enclosures - for sheep and for textiles. The Highland clearances were to enclose the commons. Enclosures have eaten into the forest of the tribals. The enclosure of the commons, Vandana told us, is not just the land - or air, it is also the water. Take for example the $10 billion suite against the government of British Colombia for interfering with private trade of BC waters. The right of common people to what is our birthright is being taken from us - the land we live on and grow food on, the air we breath and the water we drink.

Her message was alarmingly clear. The building blocks of the modern world are pollution. Carbon emissions haven’t come down because they were never designed to come down. She emphasised that we must fight the privatisation of the commons and if we are to protect them we must prevent trade in pollution.

According to Vandana it is the loss of community that has allowed privatisation to take place and community has been lost in globalisation. Reclaiming our communities is the power that will reclaim our commons. We must revise our ideas about community rights and property. Community, she says, has a fluctuation but constancy of identity. The loss of the commons affects the lower 80 percent of communities. This is a fact that we have to come to terms with. This means most people in my community, all my family, all my friends and me.

The commons are the basis of our survival. Common law is what the commoners shape by the way they live. This is part of our being born on Earth. It is a natural right like trees have the right to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Now much has been shaped between state and market - but market is a set of relations through those who have an interest in it. State is the market and shapes the market. State can sell our air - to the polluters, it can buy and sell our water - as with the Los Angeles water supply. The food web is being enclosed by the states giving monopoly rights to big interests. Markets are then established between them and then they can increase the prices of food as they choose. Only the commons can’t be shaped - if we own them.

Life is richer where communities have been a building block of society. Privatisation and enclosures rob all people. To be excluded from air and water and food means you are pushed to extinction. Consider again the privatisation of seed. 200,000 Indian farmers have been driven to suicide after Monsanto privatised the cotton seeds, drinking the pesticide that got them into debt. These suicides still occur at a rate of one death every 30 minutes.

Asked about the hope for the future, Vandana mentioned the chlorophyl molecule. What about nano technology someone asked? Nano technology, she stated, is outrageous, it means patenting of the chemical building blocks. She emphasised that we must think differently, we must turn everything around. We must imagine a world where there are communities and where there are the commons that we all share. And we must take action on what we think and believe and claim them back.

Reclaiming the Commons

To reclaim the commons in a globalised world we must be creative and we must have courage. Genuinely clean activities take place in small communities with traditional processes. While we can not go back to the past, there is much we can learn form indigenous communities and their respect for each other and for earth. We all benefit from community, from a sense of culture and place. This is something I have learnt from my many visits to Connemara in west Ireland. Here there is still a strong culture. There are many festivals and events that celebrate the local traditions and there is a sense of continuity. There are people who can tell you stories about the land that have been passed down to them through the generations, people know each other, wave to each other as they pass by on the road, stop and talk and live life at a slower pace, with a different purpose than many in the western culture who are driven by needs that are blown out of context of an ordinary life. Few grow their own food, let alone dig in the garden or take time for a walk at sunset. Few can tell you the traditions of their family, let alone the names of their great grandparents. Community supports us in a sense of who we are, where we come from and what we have to offer. Community embraces you in times of trouble, in times of sorrow and times of joy. In community our children don’t grow up feeling alone or overwhelmed by the world out there.

To my delight we were invited to a dinner with Vandana the next evening. She spoke at the dinner - there were a dozen of us there and we were invited to ask questions. I was burning to ask about the plight of the bees and the CCD epidemic. I held back though as there were many complex environmental and economic questions being discussed. I had my chance after dinner though when Wim and I strolled outside and joined Vandana for the sunset. I asked my question, “what do you think is happening to the bees?” She grew very thoughtful and told me, “I don’t know. We really don’t know enough about it. It is probably the excessive amount of electro magnetics in the air along with other factors such as the poisons and GM.” The bee article will be up on the website very soon.

Community has always been important to me. Now that importance is strengthened a hundred thousand fold.

Of course we were thrilled to have the opportunity to see Sinead perform and we knew it was going to be incredible. Together we drove for over 3 hours through some of the most intense rainstorms I have experienced to arrive in perfect time to park and catch our breath before the performance began. The atmosphere was electric.
However, at the same time there was an almost indescribable feeling of being at home. Of being in a place that was familiar – we could have been in west Ireland at a gathering. As we stood upstairs in the lounge area everyone in the crowd looked familiar. I kept expecting that I knew everyone. That I could say hello to any of the members of the audience and I would know them. I was enfolded in a feeling of deep peace and a sense of community.

The Palais is a wonderful old Melbourne venue and wrapped within its walls is the sense of Melbourne of long ago – when it was set to be the capitol of the southern hemisphere. A time when many Irish came to this land filled with hope of a freedom that they could not have at home. Sinéad has always embodied that Irish spirit of freedom for me. To see her perform has always been a dream. She was amazing. My friends and I were impregnated with a wonderful sense of connectedness and peacefulness.

The entire evening was a blissful dream that still hasn’t ended. Sinéad’s website has a You Tube recording of a song, We People (who are Darker than Blue), she performed with Republic of Loose when both artists were invited to perform together at Ireland’s Meteor Music awards in February.
We have been able to link this video recording to our site, so I invite you to sit back, press play and be inspired!

Live each day as if it were your last, learn as if you will live forever.
Ghandi

This year I have decided to focus my work in Ireland and Australia for the foreseeable future. I will however, continue to visit my regular communities, as well as some new ones, including south England in May this year, and offer special one day and/or evening events.  If you are drawn to work with me on deeper levels I encourage you wholeheartedly to join me in Ireland for one or more of the pilgrimages and retreats I am offering in West Ireland. A land that is still steeped in primal energy and ways of old, a land where people have lived, loved, danced, prayed and mourned, where they have walked and talked and sung the land, for over 6,000 years. A place where the landscape is a treasure trove of wonderous, personal, breathtaking sacred places. A mythical landscape where we will spend rich time out of time visioning and connecting with the possibilities that await us through our imagination and creative expression.

Our programs this year are designed to support you in transformational processes that will enhance your capacity for creative endeavour, tapping into creative potential and personal passion, strengthening and grounding you in the present moment and helping forge stronger connections to your dreamtime.

How wonderful that Susan Chandler is now my personal assistant and coordinator. She has lots of information to assist you and can help you with enquiries about programs, bookings, travel into and within Ireland.

2008 is a time of new beginnings.

“What can I do to make a difference? What can I do to find fulfillment?.”

There is a strong sense that old patterns that have held us back no longer hold such sway over our choices and decisions. I have long believed that it is the choices we make that make a difference. Now on our planet we are facing consequences of past and present ongoing actions that have led to a world where all the boundaries have been pushed beyond limits, where we have to stop and take stock. Where we must make choices that will enable us to flourish as a part of nature rather than carrying on as though we are somehow separate to the rest of life here on planet Earth. I feel, in the face of this man made adversity, this destructiveness that we have tolerated, that there is great potential. That we have indeed just about scraped the bottom of the proverbial barrel and the only way to go is to be totally honest with ourselves about out creative potential. Now is the time to embrace and celebrate our light - our passion. The key lays within our hearts. It is the heart that matters and the heart will never lead you astray. So what does your heart whisper to you about your possibilities? What is it that stirs your imagination and fires your blood? Here within lies the answer to questions I am asked so often, “What can I do to make a difference? What can I do to find fulfillment?.”

It is vital that we flow with the energy that is available to us rather than becoming paralysed by fear about what might happen. If we focus on our creative gifts new pathways can open and unforeseen possibilities manifest. It is important to recognise illusions and how they play out in our lives, distracting us from our true passion. These all too often have become habit patterns that then project into our dreaming and we constantly recreate them in our now and in our future. If we remain open to outcome we will be available to new opportunities. Flexibility and healthy boundaries are also important here.

Fear and Faith

As this year is one of initiations and beginnings, there is the sense that these old ways/patterns no longer have the same power. They are no longer relevant. With this new clarity and perception we are entering a potent time of dreaming our future. A time where we can see more clearly what our priorities are and how we can express them in accordance with our beliefs. It is a time of owning our power, standing in our self belief and taking positive action. I believe that fear and faith are the 2 sides of the same coin. You can’t be in both fear and faith at the same time. You have to choose - so when you feel fear rising take a few breaths and consciously choose faith. Then magic can happen and when you make a choice, when you decide “this is what I am doing,” then the Universe can support you and you truly become a co creator. 2008 is a time to seek inspiration; take time to be creative and open your heart to what you are passionate about. And begin.

What is your story?

The programs I am offering in 2008 are about getting in touch with our own inner wild. Our instinct. The we can discover more about our sense of self, our sense of place and the power that we draw from our ancestors. This in turn supports us in the expression of our own creativity. Songlines of the Heart programs aim to evoke your imagination, challenge your old patterns and assist you in your relationship with your Dreamtime and in dreaming a new dream of your healthy and fulfilled future - not just for yourself, but the whole planet.
I recently heard the great writer Isabelle Allende saying that the only thing truer than truth is the story. So what is your story? Through this rich tapestry both, inherited and grown through personal experience, is an incredible wealth. It is knowing your story that will put you back in the narrative - an incredible dimension of continuity will open to you, flowing the abundance of instinctual wisdom and intuition, and you will more comfortably become the co creator of your own destiny.

Harmonising with your ancestral flow supports the strong sense of belief that defies the often dominating self critic. None of this is easy, like the old cliche, no pain, no gain. However, I believe that we are at a point in time where although we are working hard, there is a certain quiet power that is growing. This is the power of perception and discerning wisdom.

Walk the Beauty Way

This year our programs in Ireland are an opportunity for you to walk the Beauty Way. To unfold the feminine power of instinct and honour the qualities of feminine earth wisdom that must now prevail to create a harmony in our world - both inner and outer. For too long we have been bereft of this magical, mystical power that is ours by birthright. The birthright of being born of this earth. The fact is, we belong here. We are part of this Earth. Not separate.

Imagine if you will, a world where you can freely express your creative urge and be received. Where what you do is welcomed and there is no fear about the worth of what you are offering. Where you can truly express your hearts’ desire. A place where your creative passion is recognised and nourished, where it is encouraged. Walking the Beauty Way means for me to honour the good, the true and the beautiful in everything. It means following my hearts passion and learning the great discipline of marrying instinct with intention. Then we can truly co create.

In dancing your internal dance of life and embracing your inner wild - the wildness of your soul – you will discover a great longing. A yearning that is within each of us – to discover the secrets and mysteries of our individual lives, to find our unique way of belonging to this world, to uncover and express the never before seen treasure we were born to bring to our communities.

Pilgrimages nurture our innate yearning to explore the unknown, to merge with the mysteries. Our retreats and pilgrimages in Ireland will nourish your soul, fire your imagination and fuel your passion.

Canoes of lath and canvas (once hide), they are ancient in origin. In some areas along the west coast, including the Arans, the fishermen traditionally hunted the sun fish in their tiny boats. Sun fish are basking sharks – the second largest fish in the world, and they dwarf the little boats.

In the 1930s the Dublin museum consigned the islanders to make sets of clothing (Some of these are now on display at the Museum for Country Life in Co Mayo.). The islands were still living in part the old ways that had receded into the mists of the past in many other areas. The islands are part of the Gaeltacht area ( Irish speaking ) and have some wonderful old sites to visit.

There are 3 islands: Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Oirr. The names are Irish for Big, Middle and the South. They are located at the mouth of Galway Bay and can be reached by ferry departing from Rossaveal to Kilronan, the main village on Inis Mor. When you book your ticket, it should include the coach ride to the harbour. There are 2 ferry companies, Aran Island Ferries is one that runs a regular service each day. www.aranislandferries.com, island@aol.ie +353 91568903.

Kilronan, on Inis Mor (the biggest island) has an abundance of folk traditions and music. As in many areas of the west, Irish hard shoe – also known as step or set dancing, accompanied by traditional instruments, is enjoyed regularly on the island. Once upon a time these dances were enjoyed throughout the night at crossroads with neighbours dancing around a fire to music played by the musicians who turned up. Often these gatherings were for festivals and other special events – births, weddings, etc.
Kilronan is a perfect starting place to explore this island, or all three. You can rent a bike which is not only safe there but also inexpensive and scenic. There are also mini buses which meet the ferries. Driven by locals this is a great guided tour and a great way to hear the stories of the places you visit. For the romantic there are pony cart rides around the main streets with friendly local guides.

Tim Robinson, author of the wonderful “Stones of Aran”, writes of Inis Mor,
“… what captivated me in that long winter were the immensities in which this little place is wrapped: the processions of grey squalls that stride in from the Atlantic horizon, briefly lash us with hail and go sailing off toward the mainland trailing rainbows; the breakers that continue to arch up, foam and fall across the shoals for days after a storm has abated; the long wind rattled nights, untamed then by electricity below, wildly starry above.”

These islands have provided inhabitants from the Neolith, the Celt, and the Christian monks, to the fence making grazier of all ages, with one material only, stone. The record in stone of human presence on the islands covers nearly 4,000 years. (Tim Robinson, Stones of Aran: Labyrinth (Stones of Aran), pg 4). The huge stone cashels on the highlands of all three islands are the grandest and they date from around 100 – 200 AD. The two largest coastal forts, or duns ( both on the Atlantic cliffs of Inis Mor ), precede these by perhaps several hundred years, Duchathair ( Black Fort ) and Dun Aonghasa. They are amongst the most impressive prehistoric remains in Europe.

Going in to the west in Ireland is associated with going to the Otherworld. The west is the place of the ancestors and death, the Islands of the Otherworld lay off the west coast and, the entrance to the otherworld is not far beyond the western shores. Until the 16th century, the mythical island of Hy Brasil, the Island of the Blessed, was still marked on maps, and some folk claim they have seen an island off the seaward cliffs of Inis Mor, when the light of the setting sun is just right.

Inis Mor has an excellent visitors centre with a great introduction to the history and culture of the island. There are seven great forts on the islands and four are on Inis Mor. East of the village are the remains of an old monastery where there are also very early Celtic Christian remains and a holy well that would pre date these.

A formidable place, Dun Dubhchathair is built on the neck of a promontory undercut by the sea. The huge walls of the dun are terraced on three levels and inside are small circular beehive huts called clochans. The limestone here is black and foreboding enhancing the daunting, powerful atmosphere of the place.

Perched spectacularly on the edge of a 100 metre (300 foot) cliff that falls away into the North Atlantic, Dun Aonghasa, is enclosed by three concentric stone walls, each ending at the cliff edge. These walls create an impenetrable barrier facing inland, the inner most wall being approximately 20 foot thick and fifteen foot high. Between the 2nd and 3rd walls is a wide ring of stone pillars driven in at different angles to make any straight forward approach to the cashel walls impossible. They are dry stoned and terraced on the inside. Inside the inner fort, accessed through a deep archway, you are cut off from the rest of the island. There are a number of dwelling sites there and one which is preserved has round walls with a paved floor and stone hearth, with a stone trough nearby. Bone found close by has been dated at the bronze age and moulds for casting bronze have been found there indicating habitation during the bronze age era.
At the back of the inner sanctum is simply the clifftops. When you are standing there, on the edge of that cliff, take a deep, long look – you really are on the edge, at the most westerly seaboard in Europe.

The origins of these forts remain a mystery and what little we know indicates strong connections to the dreamtime of the ancestors. Dun Aonghasa, ( also spelt Aenghus, Aonghus ) is the Fort of Aongus. Aongus is the Irish God of Love and healer of souls. He married the Swan Goddess of sleep and dreaming, Caer – but that is another article!
For me the Arans are dreamy. When ever I have been there I have experienced a great sense of slipping in between the veils and touching the Dreamtime.