The spirit of this land doesn't see colour...........

I have been receiving emails and shows of support from all over the country in regards to my article about the healing journey I was blessed to be part of at Nowanup last year. People sharing wonderful stories of their connection to Aboriginal Culture here in Australia, the unity it has brought to them to be a part of its magick and to stand in this culture as their own.

It has really made me think about the energetics of what the Nyoongar people here in the South West call ‘Boodja’…..in the Western tongue Boodja means ‘land’…but in a deeper sense to the Nyoongar people it means ‘Mother Earth’ ….. There is a sense of life in the word Boodja. Almost like the concept of ‘a house’ as appose to ‘a home’ the latter is filled with love, with meaning and has a certain element of something sacred about it. Boodja….is home. Boodja is a thing that you love that has the ability to love you back and heal you when you feel lost…..Boodja is a living thing.

With that said and with the knowledge of the stories shared and my own personal experiences, I have to question if Boodja really see’s the colour or nationality of a person when they come into this world. Be you from an Aboriginal heritage or not, if you are born on to this Boodja, and raised around its animals, and trees, you have laid under its stars and wondered, or swam in its salt waters and sighed to the horizon….are we not all family upon the earth we dwell?....connected by this living thing that lives and breathes us all……

In my education of Aboriginal culture I learned so much about European invasion that I wanted to skin myself for my colour, I hated myself for the burden of what my ancestors had done to Aboriginal people and I can see so many of my Wadjela brothers and sisters wearing that same shame and turning from Aboriginal Culture in agony because the responsibility and the deep regret of our predecessors is just too much to bare – and as a result we become ‘the lost ones’ we lose our connection to the culture of this land and as a result we turn away from our connection to the blessed Boodja we are born on and we  lose out on learning about what really matters here……The celebration of the oldest and most amazing culture in the history of life on this planet. A culture that should be loved and protected by all Australians.

I have watched a great and well respected family friend of mine pull a crowd of 200 people with just the sound of his didgeridoo. Uncle James T Webb, the leader of the Wadumbah Indigenous Dance Group and one of Australia’s great Aboriginal people that shares his culture to all with such pride. He brings in ‘the lost ones’ ….the people that had no idea what they were missing until they sat down before the magickal performance of Aboriginal dance, they learn the stories, language and culture from these amazing dancers and within the journey they find a part of themselves that may have been hidden under the shame of their ancestors…..like I once did- they fly home filled with pride to finally feel that sense of BELONGING…..as an Australian, Aboriginal culture and history is YOUR culture and history. As much as there is a dark history for us to learn from I think the most important part of healing ourselves and the land comes from the balance of accepting the dark past and looking to the bright future.

www.wadumbah.com.au

You do not need permission to celebrate the greatness of Aboriginal Culture – but when a man like James Webb comes long and unknowingly gives that permission to people by openly sharing his passion with his shows it certainly helps the lost ones to begin the journey into culture and learn to connect to Boodja again, to lift the shame of what has happened and to grant the freedom to bask in what IS happening now and to show promise of what we can behold in the future of this country! To immerse yourself in the hundreds of thousands of ways to educate yourself on Aboriginal Australia – get out there and seek…..CELEBRATE…..LOVE…..it’s our home…..our people…..our family…….our Boodja…..<3 <3

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