In considering the energies of the Equinox and the environmental conditions active in our world, the Festival team wanted to explore how resources inherent in the world and in our own loving intention can offer a blessing in ways that can help strengthen and support the life of Gaia.
Through our interest in making our festival celebrations relevant to these times, we co-created a practice for this Equinox season from our conversations together. We share both conversation and practice here in the hope that you will join us in the Commons Equinox Festival online on the 24th of September at 1pm PT or that you will try the practice yourself at home during this Equinox season and beyond. We welcome your blessing partnership!
–Freya, Linda, Ara, and Lucinda.
Our Conversation begins with Linda and Freya
Linda: On this Equinox–as Australia seems to be moving again into another El Nino period–it is already dry and unseasonably warm here and I see the United States and Canada fighting fires and hurricanes storms. I am looking to find Balance within myself so that I can bring the blessing of Presence to our precious world.
Australia, where I live, is the driest inhabited continent in the world. 70 percent is either arid or semi-arid. Drought, bush fires, and floods have been a constant occurrence on this ancient land. Learning to live in balance with these two extremes is essential for the survival of its people, its creatures, and its plant life.
I have always tried to conserve our precious water, especially after experiencing a long drought in 2009 when we had to live with severe water restrictions. I became so conscious of the fragility of this element, how the bush and my own garden were so parched, the air hot and dry, the fire element so dominant. Then, how quickly it all changed when it began to rain, and we were suddenly in flood conditions.
Freya: I am touched by the connection to land and water you speak about here, Linda. I can remember the water restrictions put in place in the past in California, where I was living at the time. Please say more about your experiences
Linda: These cycles reflect what I experience within me. The fire/solar element represents what I am passionate about–what drives me–and the water/lunar element brings perspective to my emotions and helps me to find equilibrium and inner calm. When I look at how I balance these elements of fire and water within me, I touch a sacred relationship in life that brings me to reflect on the relationship the First Nation’s people of Australia have always had with water. I have traveled many times to central Australia to attend Aboriginal desert ceremonies. They were gatherings to celebrate and to honor Aboriginal women and their connection to their sacred lands and rituals.
We would sit in the desert and watch and participate in their dances and ceremonies. Sometimes, they would take us to their own lands, further inland in the middle of the desert, to places that were very remote and pulsating with energy. They would take us to their water holes–underwater springs. The knowledge of the locations of the springs has been passed down from mothers to daughters. Their ancestors passed this knowledge through the Dreamtime and by the ancient routes called the Songlines.
I remember one water hole where the setting was so beautiful, and the colors of desert, sky, and water so complementary. I felt at one with the landscape–a sense of peace, joy, and balance, almost a remembrance of being there before. I often return to this magical place in meditation to connect and feel at one with my landscape.
Freya: Could you say more about Dreamtime and Songlines?
Linda: For thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have navigated their way across the lands and seas of Australia using paths called Songlines or Dreaming tracks. A Songline is based around the creator beings and their formation of the land and waters during the Dreamtime (creation of the earth). It explains the landmarks, rock formations, watering holes, rivers, sky and sea. Clan groups could demonstrate their knowledge of place in the songs and dances passed down from generation to generation, in turn creating dreaming tracks for people to travel vast distances, highlighting their deep connection to land and sea. The Songlines are maintained through ceremony and record important knowledge encoded as memory texts–such as places to find water, food, and shelter.
Let me share one of the many Dreamtime Aboriginal Creation stories that relate to water, the story of Tiddalik.
Tiddalik, the largest frog ever known, awoke one morning with a huge thirst. He started to drink and drink until there was no fresh water left in the world. Soon, creatures everywhere were dying and trees were wilting because of lack of moisture.
All the animals pondered about their terrible plight until a wise old wombat suggested that if Tiddalik could be made to laugh, then maybe all the water would flow out of his mouth. This was a good idea, and the animals agreed.
The animals gathered by Tiddalik’s resting place and tried for a long time to make him laugh, but it was in vain. The kookaburra told his funniest story. The kangaroo jousted over the emu and the lizard waddled up and down on two legs, making his stomach stick out. But Tiddalik was not amused.
Then, when the animals were in despair, Nabunum the eel who was driven from his favorite creek by the trough drought slid up to the unresponsive frog and began to dance. As the dance got faster, Nabunum wriggled and twisted himself into all sorts of knots and shapes–to the amusement of Tiddalik. Tiddalik’s eyes lit up and he burst out laughing. As he laughed, the water gushed out from his mouth and flowed to replenish the lakes, swamps, and rivers again.
Freya: What a delightful story! It makes me laugh too! What stands out for me in this story, which relates to current times, is that it shows a way to step back from the pressure of solving the many issues we are experiencing in our lives right now. We can draw upon the freeing and connecting energy of laughter and create a new frame to meet polarizing forces around us. It seems so obvious, but maybe not so easy.
In this story, the animals couldn't force or logic Tiddalik into releasing the water, but Nabunum was willing to step out of his norms, let go of control, and twist into odd shapes. The resulting laughter because of this “foolishness” opened up and released the nourishing water that was so needed. What a creative, not-to-be-expected ending! It is a gift to step out of control, let go, and bring a lighter spirit of being to an issue.
It is also a spherical resolution because laughter holds the possibility to touch and transform all involved. Using humor brings in perspective and lightness of spirit. It is not control but joy, laughter, and delight that opens us up to the energies of balance–freedom in oneself to move in many different directions and the possibility of new relationships in the world.
The Conversation develops as Ara and Lucinda join in with thoughts about the Gifts of Laughter and Water
Ara: Laughter involves breath and breath brings you into the present moment. You have to breathe to laugh. You can’t keep fighting with someone when you laugh together.
Perhaps one way out of this environmental mess is to come into the present moment with the spirit of shared laughter. When we are present, we can make a difference.
Lucinda: Water can be a natural equalizing force and an agent of balance, so I am glad that we are exploring the element of water at this Equinox time. The flow of water is a connecting force as well, bringing seemingly separate things together so easily. Our human bodies are made up of roughly 60% water or more, and when we are dehydrated, we need the healing agent of water to bring us back into balance. I love linking the healing force of laughter with water, as Linda’s story offers us. The practice we came up with is a wonderful way to weave water and laughter together as agents of healing and balance for our world.
The Practice
Capture some water in a cup or bowl. It can be water that is pure and clean from a local stream, tap water from your faucet, or even water local to you that is polluted in some way and needs cleansing and renewal. Hold the container in both hands in front of you.
Now, begin to laugh. Perhaps at first, it will feel silly, but keep going! Like Nabunum the eel, let go into the moment and allow laughter to carry you deeper until you reach a belly laugh, and the whole of you is laughing. Let your laughter be a gift and blessing to the water you hold. Let it open you to joy and delight, a moment of shared blessing with the life of the world.
The balance of water and the lightness of laughter are an interwoven Songline highlighting the trail we can walk through these turbulent times.
In honoring the power of stories in our lives and how storytelling is a wonderful way to celebrate our Equinox festival, we also invite you to bring forward stories of the power of water in your life, stories of bodies of water you love and care for, and also stories of the power of joy and laughter to transform and heal.
The Conversation continues with you and our Festival Celebration
Linda’s Australian Dreamtime story can be a parable for each of us and a source of inspiration to work with laughter and water as our allies and agents of healing, balance, and blessing.
We invite you to join us with your own contributions and attention to the energies of water, laughter, and balance in this Equinox season. Take up our practice as described above or choose other actions natural to you that can help to bless and extend the balancing energies of the Equinox into our world and lives. We will invite laughter to serve as an ally through this practice in our shared festival time online. However, if you feel drawn to add other balancing and blessing energies to strengthen the energies of this season, please do!
And consider joining us online on September 24th at 1pm PST as a part of our Festival Celebration in the Commons.