Hearts Opened Healed and Connected

I have just returned from Uluru. Not from a tourist curiosity but from a depth and wonder of and from the Heart of Australia – ULURU. Before my trip my dear friend Cecily Orenstein prepared with a first nation elder that we could walk on the land and be in Uluru’s light and shadow. Words, language fail when I first saw Uluru, but tears welled and fell. My heart enlarged and my mind that resides in my heart soared. When you read my book Under The Boab Tree you will realise how significant an indigenous woman ~ Regina ~ was/is in my life. She gave me LOVE and kept death from me.

Cecily and I walked around Uluru, continuously marvelling at the majesty and the many faces, creatures we saw on and within the surface of Uluru.  With deep listening – Dadirri - we heard the heart of the land beating, crying and through this a gentleness and softness, we did not expect. Being in a desert can be harsh, unforgiving, and even dangerous if you are lost.  But we- I felt Uluru calling me, for my healing, the nations of all hues, beliefs, and ways. We are one nation of many cultures and need many ways to heal. We need inclusion, we need reparations and representation of all that live in Australia, not just the white often male power over the rest of us.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart:   https://reconciliationsa.org.au/document/uluru-statement-from-the-heart-explainer-video-atom-study-guide/

All we met ~ smiled, hugged, included, respected, saw, and met us. The blue sky and red sand is reflected in us, and we have come home with the essence and spirit from the Heart of Australia – Uluru.  I will never be the same again. I was fortunate to have Cecily as my witness, her insights, spirit and deep knowing on this journey.

Cecily and I did a ritual for our, the earth and the universes healing. The ritual was about regardless of our rage, anger, something must occur to recognise it, bless it, contain it, and release it. Choosing whether to be bitter or not. As women we can return to our instinctual nature instead of sinking into bitterness. We can be revivified, reborn. When we return to our inner, wild, conscious natures, we come back to life. For our healing and growth there needs to be a cleansing. According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with The Wolves – Descansos is the cleansing and resting places for the many deaths we experience both physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Estes further instructs.

To make Descansos means we look at our lives and mark where small deaths, and the big deaths have taken place. Once these deaths are remembered, marked, mourned in our lives from conception to our present moment we can then bless and engage in the four stages of forgiveness. They are: 1. To forgo – to leave it alone. 2. To forbear – to abstain from punishing. 3. To forget – to aver from memory, to refuse to dwell. 4. To forgive – to abandon the debt.

How do we know we have forgiven? We feel sorrow instead of rage. We have less left to say about it all. We understand the suffering. We prefer to be outside the milieu. We are not waiting nor wanting for anything. We are free to go. It may not be happily ever after, but there can be a fresh Once Upon A Time waiting for us from this time on.