August 6 Earth Affinity Workshop

I described in an earlier post my very positive experience of participating in a two hour workshop with Emma Brindal from Earth Affinity.  This August workshop (see below) will be a full day event, allowing time for more activities and far greater depth.  Emma will also be working with a co-facilitator.  I will be attending and I can highly recommend this work to you as a means of honouring and exploring your commitment to the natural communities of the living world.

So come along and let us find our power together... to feel our heart's calling and act decisively!

(Workshop fees includes contribution to AFFECT Australia  - working for the self-determination of the Alyawarr people of the NT)

Welcome to "Wild Places"

Welcome all,

This blog is about siding with Life and delighting in the blessings of Nature both within and around us. It is about defending Life, exploring and befriending it, and letting it teach us who we are. It is about opening to the pain and joy of being alive in this moment, when so much is lost and under threat, and there is so much great work to be done together.

I'm Anifail, a Druid living in Brisbane.  This blog is about Druidry as I see it, which means more than just revering the Earth.  It means learning from and cooperating with our non-human neighbours to create and receive abundance, and it means taking personally the destruction of natural communities, and responding appropriately to stop it.  Because my own Druid path includes these practical and political dimensions, my work on this blog will reflect that.  Besides, an Earth-based spirituality without a basis in practical ecology is a bit like a gaseous atmosphere set loose from the planet that moors it: nebulous and of no use to anyone.  

Further, it is my view that a failure to engage in politics, either by decision or by default, is in fact a political stance of a particular kind with real consequences.  It is a vote for business as usual.  In our time, that means injustice, racism, clear-cutting of forests and climate chaos.  Druids owe the Earth greater loyalty than saying a prayer as she falls to the bulldozers.  We need to understand what's happening, assess all the available options and then engage in whatever level of action we are comfortable with plus one.  So that is where I am coming from.

One of the challenges with Brisbane Druidry is to find a Druid path that is relevant to the local conditions and culture.  Another challenge is to connect with fellow travellers.  I am a member of two Druid orders, AODA and OBOD.  Of these, so far only OBOD has an organised presence in Australia.  The Melbourne Grove is well established and there are members in many parts of the country.  

Then there is the Grove of the Southern Cross.  This is an online forum for Australian Druids of all stripes, but it is part of The Druid Network (TDN), and you have to join TDN first to take part.  TDN, however, provides a world of resources and services for their small annual membership fee.

Please say hello and share your thoughts in the comments or by email, and check out some of the Druidry and Druid-relevant links I've shared.  I hope that these contacts, as well as my own shared experiences, will help you connect with kindred souls as well sources of blessing and inspiration as you find your own path. 

Yours beneath the twisted Tallowwood,

Anifail

What do we know?

"We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

What do we know?  It can be a difficult question to ask, and a painful question to answer honestly, because  our comfortable lives depend so much on not knowing, or rather on not paying attention to our existing knowledge.  The Ogham few "Phagos" and its associated tree, the Beech, speak to this question:

Phagos - a few of learning and guidance

Work put off, things left unsaid and unexamined personal issues are things we usual ignore or avoid, rather than being simply unknown to us.  Like repressed memories, they wait, sometimes quietly, sometimes not, for the moment when we are ready to say "I know this", and to take appropriate action. In some instances the avoided knowledge carries perilous consequences, and not always only for the individual.

Fagus - the Beech Tree

We know, for example, that climate chaos (or "global weirding", to suggest another interesting label) is being caused by the burning of fossil fuels.  The obvious course of action for people concerned about the suffering caused by this phenomenon is to stop the burning of fossil fuels.  And yet nearly without exception we focus not on what we know, but on any scheme or theory that can serve as a distraction or a barrier to truth.  Lies such as the usefulness of clean coal, carbon trading and household recycling as serious responses to increasing climate chaos serve this purpose.  Derrick Jensen explains:

"In order for us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other, and especially to ourselves. It’s not necessary that the lies be particularly believable, but merely that they be erected as barriers to truth. These barriers to truth are necessary because without them many deplorable acts acts would become impossibilities. Truth must at all costs be avoided."  (A Language Older Than Words)

Knowledge of our benefitting from environmental destruction and of our failure to stop it needs to be owned up to urgently.  Sometimes, though, we can reasonably avoid some of our knowledge for at least part of our lives.  We know that we all have to experience death.  The fact that our society largely avoids addressing this knowledge in meaningful ways does nothing to change it.  The horror felt by many individuals at the thought of ceasing to exist does not constitute a constructive response to mortality; quite the opposite in fact.  The industrial technologies and practices designed to insulate us from the reality of death turn it into an isolating and unwholesome process.  Embalming fluids poison those who would come after our end to make further life of our remains.  Some coffins are even buried sealed in concrete bunkers, cutting the dead off from the community of life altogether, at least for a time, and causing a lot of damage to it in the process.


So much of our alternative culture and spirituality is aimed at seeking new ideas, new sources of guidance and wisdom, or rediscovering old sources.  But we do not need a new voice, or an old one, to tell us what we already know.  Perhaps, just as conservation and efficiency should come before installing renewable energy sources, we should look to what we already know for guidance before seeking additional information.  

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Follow this link for another beautiful photo of a Beech tree, which I wasn't able to include in this post.

For more on the political implications of this post, see "Expect Resistance"

Growing Roots - yoga and permaculture retreat at Wild Mountains

From the promotional materials:

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"Learn from the Forest as Our Teacher…

Share a nourishing weekend in beautiful mountain forests. Explore the elements of nature and implement these patterns through yoga/ chi kung/shiatsu movements and hands on permaculture gardening.

This seasonal workshop series explores interconnectedness, combining the planting and maintenance of a food forest with movement meditations, bush walking and time to breathe in the mountain air to integrate your experiences.

Bunya Halasz has worked as an ecologist, environmental scientist and Permaculture practitioner for the last 15 years. He is as an educator at Northey Street City Farm, a Yoga Instructor and a Shiatsu practitioner. Will Bulmer is an intern psychologist, yoga teacher, bodywork practitioner and deep ecology facilitator. He is passionate about practices that optimise health, wellbeing and connectedness with the natural world.

Wild Mountains Trust is an environmental education centre situated high in the pristine wilderness of the Border Ranges. Accommodation is in share cabins or camping with exhilarating mountain views. Delicious and nourishing meals are prepared according to macrobiotic principles."

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I'll write more later about these retreats, about Oki-do yoga and about Wild Mountains, but for now here are my thoughts having recently returned from "Growing Roots."

This retreat continues to evolve and has been offered 2-3 times per year for the last few years.  The facilitators are Bunya Halasz and Will Bulmer (see above).  It started as an impulse to begin bringing the mindfulness of practices like yoga and qigong into everyday activities, and so the retreat combines a wide range of activities into a holistic experience.  It was also an attempt to bridge the apparent divide between introspective healing, strengthening and energy work (such as yoga), and outward looking permaculture design activities.  Perhaps the way to bridge these two types of work is to remember, as Philip Carr-Gomm says in The Druid Way, that "nature isn't only outside us." So I could say simply that the retreat offered an opportunity to explore the natural world of forest, mountain, body and spirit.

But as with any really great workshop or retreat, the magic comes in large part from the efforts and intentions of all the amazing people who show up and participate openly.  Not just Will and Bunya as facilitators but Liz and Anaheke making delicious, enlivening biodynamic food, Peter weaving a group practice of musical awareness and of course Susan and Richard, the elders of Wild Mountains and our friendly hosts.  Then there were all the individual participants with their own gifts and stories to share and many with injuries other conditions to tend to.  Thank you to everyone.

Earth Healing Ceremony at Northey Street

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in an Earth Healing Ceremony at Northey Street City Farm.  This went ahead yesterday evening around sunset, with myself and five others gathering in the Healing Circle after work.

I was coming to this without much of an idea of what an Earth Healing Ceremony was, but I was keen to be there and experience it.  My friend who was organising it had some basic steps he wanted to carry out, the main one being that after gathering, each participant would set out on their own, with some small crystals, to walk the site of the farm.  These crystals were to be buried, with healing intention, in any particular locations where the need was felt.

So we met, talking and sharing a little food while waiting for everyone to arrive.  We also took turns stirring a small basin of water, alternating directions every now and then.  Later, each of us took some of this water with us to disperse along with our crystals, or as we saw fit.  The practice of stirring in one direction, which creates a pattern, and then changing direction, which breaks that pattern to create a new one, is something that one of us borrowed from biodynamics.  The alternation of order and chaos and the simple aeration of the water is supposed to have a charging effect.  In any case, it provided a focal point for our small circle, which was without a fire or altar.  I also enjoyed watching the slow swirling of the water, and also appreciated that the water I took with me on my private walk had been touched by us all while we had gathered our healing intentions.

Before setting out, and while stirring the water, we all shared out ideas about Earth Healing, which proved to be diverse but with much in common.  We also sang a couple of simple songs about connecting with the Earth, and we passed a Mugwort smudge stick around the circle, silently purifying ourselves and the space.  We also spent a few minutes in meditation together.

By the time we headed off individually to bury our crystals it was getting dark.  I had never been to the farm after dark except on festival nights when there were hundreds of people around and lights and music.  It is a different place when animals rustle secretly across the ground and in the trees, and shadows darken.  I was also aware, as I performed my own part in this working, that some of these strange noises around me could have been other Earth Healers, scurrying about getting up to who knows what beneficial mischief.

My own experience focused on an area that was half lit - that is the large car park adjoining the farm.  In particular I was drawn to a large fig tree near the centre of this space, possibly because it was well lit.          After removing some plastic litter from around the tree, I got to know the tree a little.  It really is beautiful, especially the way some of the roots sit above ground in a swirling pattern.  Anyway,  I made my connection with tree and with the place, buried my crystals and dispersed my water.  In doing this, I received as much of a healing blessing as I could have hoped to have conferred upon the land.  I didn't expect to connect with a car park, but it became clear to me that the land was still there under the bitumen alive and waiting to emerge.  I encourage you to have a close look at the huge fig trees in this area, next time you are parking your car, shopping at the organic markets on Sunday mornings, or just passing through.  Look closely, and listen to what the trees might have to say about the place they live in, where they are rooted much more deeply than a thin layer of bitumen.

We gathered again in the Healing Circle and shared some of our experiences.  We also sang again, this time holding hands, and I felt that we had become closer to each other and to the land.

This was my first ceremony in the Healing Circle and I am so grateful for the space and for the companionship of all those present.  I'm very much looking forward to the bonfire and ceremony at the farm's Winter Solstice Festival, which will involve many, many more people.

Earth Affinity workshop at Tara convergence

"If we wish to stop the atrocities, we need merely to step away from the isolation.  There is a whole world waiting for us, ready to welcome us home." - Derrick Jensen

The "Rock the Gate" convergence, at Tara, was a festival to celebrate the achievements of the "Lock the Gate" campaign against coal seam gas mining in the Darling Downs, and to continue the struggle against this incredibly destructive industry.  This is a struggle to protect land by people who are deeply connected with that land, and it is a struggle to defend the integrity of water sources with which we should all be concerned.  I will write more about the convergence and the campaign later, but for now I just wanted to share my experience of a specific workshop I got to participate in.  This was the one run by Emma Brindal from Earth Affinity.

This workshop, billed by the convergence organisers as "Deep Ecology", was based on the work of Joanna Macy, often known as "The Work that Reconnects".  Also known as "Despair and Empowerment", these workshops encourage participants to fully experience their feelings of grief, fear, anger, etc, about the accelerating destruction of life that we face, either as activists or simply as concerned, connected humans.

Earth Affinity workshops are normally a full day or even longer, but this one was a two hour format.  While it was clear that more time would have been useful, I think Emma Brindal did an amazing job of offering the essence of this work in the time available.  Credit also goes to those who showed up and participated so fully in this healing and transformative process.

While I won't give a run-down of the activities in the workshop, I would like to share some of the general experiences I had while working one-on-one with partners and together with the whole group.  These included:

• Coming face to face with other people who care about the struggle to defend life.  Experiencing gratitude and solidarity
• Affirming joy and sharing feelings of concern about the future.  Discovering these feelings as markers of our origin in the web of life and our deep desire to defend and reweave that web
• Speaking on behalf of other beings involved in the struggle over land, water and coal seam gas.  Hearing a range of these beings speak from the heart about their perspective and concerns
• Thinking BIG about what could be achieved and how to get started
• Discovering other people who think and feel things I thought I was alone in thinking and feeling
• Taking my place in a wider process of transformation, The Great Turning

Come along to the full day workshop in Brisbane on August 6 (check the Earth Affinity site closer to the date for more details.)  This is very much an experiential group process, not a lecture.  Get ready to connect with your beautiful, loving, fellow humans and also to reaffirm and celebrate your connection with all other beings.  And in the mean time, go outside and let life in!

Brisbane Druidry Library

If you live in or near brisbane and are interested in Druidry, the environment, gardening, or the writings of Derrick Jensen, why not join the private library of Brisbane Druidry and borrow from this small but precious collection.  More books are being added all the time and the next feature will be a guide to finding Druidry books in public libraries in and around Brisbane.