“One does not discover new lands without consenting to
lose sight of the shore for a very long time”
Andre Gide
Tag Archive: waters edge
“One does not discover new lands without consenting to
the sea and sky are moody
much like me…
I came here for perspective
I came here to be free
the wild gives you scale
it is true that I am small
but also interconnectedness
the horizon paints it all
in the system that includes all things
I have a part to play
it is enough to be and do this,
today, and every day.
Talitha Fraser
the valley is in shadow
and the water here
runs silver like liquid mercury
a shining wealth
this flowing, life giving
life force commuting the very stones to its course
there is much that can be learned from water
diamonds, starlight pouring from the moss
catching and releasing in the same moment
paying forward what is received
shining in the shadows
hope unlooked for
Talitha Fraser
you, dear child
you exert so much energy
trying to be something other than
how you were made.
Rest. Rest in Me and know
that you are loved, you are
a delight to me and I am
proud of you – just as you are.
Come to me those who are weary
and heavy laden and I will give
you a real rest.
Rest. Rest in Me and know
that you are loved, there is no
one else you need to prove yourself
to or meet the expectations of,
there is no ‘right’ way or ‘normal’.
Each person must walk their own path
and I made each of you unique
– though your path may travel along
aside another’s, it may not, or may
not always and it is not given to
you to know the Way… I know
the Way. I AM the Way, and I am
with you always.
Rest. Rest here awhile with Me.
We can go on when you are ready.
Talitha Fraser
the suns warmth
a benediction on my skin
the birds sing
Amazing Grace to You
the breeze stirs
lifting my spirit with it
and I know, all at once,
why-I-am
cloud cover moves in
chilling
but it would be too intense
to remain in Your presence always
You are a lot to take in
it is better this way
in pieces
to appreciate and savour You
to be converted to grace
again and again
in discovery – a joy, in acceptance – hope
rebirth in eucalypt spice and… <repeat> the sun’s warmth…
Talitha Fraser
black front
enters from the south
invading blue-white sky
a deep inhalation of raw wind
outlines the ribcage with pain
as it scourges clean
all in its path
Talitha Fraser
342 PACIFICA 19 (OCTOBER 2006)
Vignette, Janet Turpie- Johnstone
Growing up by the wild seas of our Southern Ocean. Deep green waters, that are both terrifying and beautiful, in one. Deep green waters that disappear over an unseeing horizon. Local yet universal. Familiar yet strange. Portland was and is my “home”. A place of pain and of joy. On every return home, is to revisit all the pangs of childhood and adolescence. It is like a rehearsal for some play, going over the old so as to know the new. Experiencing it all again and again, feeling the sting of the salt of old wounds, weaving them into the fresh, making life vital and real in the now. How easy it is to just respond as habit teaches, I know this, I have been here before. Habit is part of the mix, but it is not the whole and each habit needs to be refreshed so as not to become the whole. Stale and hard, salted out of life, or fresh sprinkled lightly with some zest, is the offering I make. On looking back I look inwards, and find that the secret journey is the real one. The one from inside, the one from where I know I am alive, where I transform the habits into reality. Where I call to this world, “I am that I am”. There is no need for any other explanation, I just know that I am. How Biblical, but how cheeky. There the familiar and the strange, coming together in the story of one woman’s life.
Think it’s a pretty important part of the journey to re-visit where you came from and reflect on how far you’ve come, this first ‘home’ can act as a bit of a lodestone drawing us back to the roots of our identity and the formational experiences that led us to become who we are.
Some reflections on “Terra Nullius”
What does it mean to be ‘somebody’? There is an irony in the indigenous people here believing the colonisers to be ghosts and the colonisers ‘not being able to see’ the natives. To take what is there, then take more than what you need is to create imbalance between people, the Spirit and the land. A synergy lost. Disease. Dis-ease. Can we truly be comfortable living here with the history of this land? Settlement. What does it mean to be settled? Maybe in the same way the land was ‘nobodies’ it was ‘anybodies’ – like the ocean, like clouds… if you love something you have to let it go. How much is there to be gained in letting go of control/ownership of the land? There is a quote on the wall at the Jewish museum which says “if you do not have land, but have memory of land, then you can make a map”. The land is something carried in the heads and hearts of the indiginous people – how are they allowed to live out what is in their heads and hearts? Hospitality in this land is not reciprocal, we need to make space to receive what they want to give us – not prescribed expectations.
Staff conference day – 1 July
itellyouarise 