Today, it came to me to engage in shamanic dancing to the didgeridoo in order to feel into the Heart of Australia for the purpose of offering healing. For some reason, with all the awful things happening all over the planet, and certainly much closer to home, it puzzled me that this holocaust was what called me out to take action — to use my shamanic practice directly for the healing of the earth. I suppose I’d imagined Australia as still being whole, still mostly untouched by the unrelenting, murderous acts of humans against the planet. Writing that, I know how absurd it is to have thought that, but sometimes we don’t get to know what we really think until something as extreme as this happens. By virtue of its size, and how much of it is uninhabited by humans, I thought Australia was still safe and ecologically healthy — as though it too is not at the affect of the destruction of the rainforest a hemisphere away.

I FEEL the destruction of habitat and of the non-human peoples — I feel as though I’ve been crying for days over the loss. It is incomprehensible and yet not. I am offended by the catastrophe being measured in terms of the loss of human life and human habitat which is miniscule in comparison to the losses incurred by the other beings who won’t be blogging about it.

The Dance
I don’t often respond to the didgeridoo. Most music causes my body to want to move, but something about the digiridoo just doesn’t impact me that way. It can sound a bit like a dentist drill to me which, typically, doesn’t evoke dancing from me. It seemed to me that if I were to pump this music straight into my ears, via my iPod, I might make a direct connection to the heart, mind and soul of the First People of Australia who created the instrument and the music it makes; that I might come to connect to the lifeforce of that place, as represented by its indegenous sounds. In this way, through them, I hoped to offer up my grief over what has been lost, and my prayers, hopes, and healing energy for all that must change in order for the planet to be saved.

And so I danced. I moved through the grief part quickly, as though there really wasn’t time to grieve but only to acknowledge the enormity of the loss and the responsibility of the species that caused it; the acknowledgement that I am one of them; that I pay taxes and drive cars and am part of the problem. From there, I was taken by a feeling of Love and Protection that I can only describe as ferocious. I danced big and strong, offering up my heart and soul, my creativity, my willingness, my Love and the healing abilities with which I’ve been gifted, for the purpose of transforming this catastrophe. The sweat began pouring, along with the tears. I felt received, I felt that I’d done something to make a difference. It cannot be too late.

I will keep dancing. ROCK ON!!