Earth Spirit Walks

06/11/2020

Hey tomorrow
You're not so far away
Mother freedom
We'll know you well someday.

Remembering the freedom of our walkabout in the south Australian outback way back in 2015.

16/10/2020

Baba Credo Mutwa, Africa’s preeminent wisdom keeper was initiated in 1937 at the place he called “Inzalo ye Langa”, Birthplace of the Sun.

Controversially named “Adam’s Calendar” and said to be the oldest megalithic site on the planet, this working calendar site is a must see for visitors to my home province Mpumalanga in South Africa.

What you’re seeing are the two main calendar stones. The shadow of the larger stone situated due west casts a shadow on the stone in front of it, aligned from summer solstice to winter solstice across the width of the stone.

It’s a magical site on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the Barberton Valley. Have you been there?

12/10/2020

There is much, much more than meets the eye when it comes to Australia’s forgotten history, and I experienced this first hand on a visit in 2014 to the inexplicable site of the Gosford Glyphs on the Central Coast of New South Wales - one hour north of Sydney.

Well hidden in a beautiful yet unremarkable Australian bush setting, overlooking the scenic Brisbane Waters and not far from the small town of Kariong, you will find a cluster of approximately three hundred Egyptian hieroglyphs carved on two parallel sandstone rock panels, and a third a short distance away. This sight is so out of place, literally the last thing you expect to see as you descend into a narrow space between two imposing walls - that it begs the question; ‘Did the ancient Egyptians journey to Australia?’

My first visit to this extraordinary site was guided by Australian father and son research team Steve and Evan Strong, and I found myself among several other international researchers, local Elders and fellow truth seekers as we walked the long track toward the site, clapping our hands to alert the spirits of the land of our presence. In honour of local tradition, we also ‘smoked’ ourselves in the aromatic fumes of dry eucalyptus leaves and said a small prayer in honour of the ancestral lineage of the place.

My first impression as we neared the site was a tangible and sudden hush, as if the atmosphere had densified somehow, and a feeling of anticipation as we approached the overarching presence of a gigantic Angophora Cosata, affectionately known as the ‘Grandmother Tree’.

Finally, one by one we clambered down into the crevice between the two walls, and upon regaining our composure, looked wide eyed with wonder at the sight before our eyes…

So what is the story written on the walls?

Link in the Bio to follow my column on Sacred Sites.

24/09/2020

The land is more than just the dusty earth on which we stand.

From time immemorial certain spaces have had a powerful attraction for millions of people around the world. Legends and age-old stories tell of extraordinary experiences people have had while visiting these sites, which are said to have the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind and bring balance to an environment out of harmony.

But what is a sacred site?

Depending on who you ask, a sacred site may be associated with a cathedral, mosque or synagogue, or, a waterfall, mountain, lake or forest. To the Western ear, ‘sacred’ may be synonymous with sacrosanct or inviobly holy, and associated with an actual geographical location. To indigenous cultures, everything has spirit and everything is deeply interconnected. Their spaces are considered to be spiritually alive, of cultural value or even actual representations of creation itself.

There is a deeply spiritual tribe in the Limpopo province of South Africa called the VhaVenda, who are desperately trying to protect the area long believed to be associated with rain making which includes Lake Fundudzi, the Thathe Vondo Forest, Mashovhela Rock Pool and Phiphidi Waterfall.

Central to countless legends, sacred Lake Fundudzi is one of the few true inland lakes in South Africa. Said to be created by a landslide 20 000 years ago, Fundudzi is filled by the Godoni and Mutale rivers. Mysteriously, with no obvious outlet, it never overflows. 

Until recently it was not advised for tourists to visit the lake, which is still somewhat difficult to find, and there is a curious method of approaching the lake. When a visitor first saw the lake they were expected to pay the proper respect by turning their back to it and then bending down to look at it upside down through their spread legs. This is a salute known as the ‘ukodola’.

In another time the area around the Phiphidi Waterfall was a ‘zwifho’, a sacred space. Only a few select members from a lineage of healers in the Ramunangi clan of the VhaVenda were allowed to meet there to perform rites to summon and give thanks for the rains.

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16/07/2020

Probably one of the best things we can do for ourselves these days is cultivate a sense of deep trust in the flow of life.

As difficult as it is right now, focussing on the beauty, I believe, will get us through.

25/01/2020

"There is no writing to tell the saga of the Aboriginal people, just stories, songs, ceremony and myths, stored in heads and in the landscape, but especially in the landscape. In the beginning, Australia, like any new land, was perceptually a vast featureless plain. Upon this all the features were created in the Dreaming by the ancestors. Aborigines have a direct affinity with these features. Each place has it's name, a story related to it's genesis and to the current relationship which the people must have with it. These relationships are the rules of life, the law."

Allan Fox - Forward of Flinders Ranges Dreaming by Dorothy Turnbridge.

20/01/2020

For one whose spirit name is Earth Walker the ‘Land of Dreaming’ holds much appeal. And I have been called more than once to cross the Indian Ocean from my motherland in Africa to pay homage to our sister continent of Australia. It is always a gift to drink in the vast beauty of this land, to connect with the ancient ancestry which resonates in the open spaces, to feel home away from home. That being said, however, this particular tour carried me far beyond even my expectations into a sense of reverence I have rarely felt before, for the assimilated wisdom of ‘Belonging’ that I acquired from the people we met and the sites we were shown.

Outback south Australia, In the vicinity of Red Gorge, is one such place, full of magic in the Land of Dreaming... and one of the destinations on our Journey coming in June 2020.

19/01/2020

The outback of south Australia is gorgeous, particularly in the colder months.

Somewhere in the

19/01/2020