[Vilturj] if I could go back in time, you know I wouldn't change a thing.

[moonvoice]

I survived the heat yesterday.

This a time of year where it's almost impossible to recharge your energy in Perth, because the land holds onto it with all its might, and will even try and suck it back from you in the form of sweats, salts and invisible vampiric negotiations that end up with all parties drained.

Everything dies, is dying, or is struggling to live. Even the native plants, not all of them thrive in levels of heat this high, especially with the ground water tables being depleted like they have been.

The spirits in our local bushland do not come to life during the Summer. No, most of them hibernate, like animals elsewhere might during Winter. The greater, reptilian gods and spirits come to life, certainly, but the others go back into the ground and rocks and wait for cooler times. Sleeping through the worst of the heat. Reaching energy tendrils out over the coast to caress the rain clouds and remember the kiss of it on their sandy flesh.

When a thunderstorm rocks close by, we all awaken, and we reach up and out and suck that energy down into our bodies and forms. The consequences of that is that sometimes too much comes down and obliterates a tree, or person, or landscape with lightning. But the sacrifices are worth it. The energy is needed. This time, is also a storm time, when we wait impatiently and sleepily for weather events that present charged energy; because there is so little in the drying, dying land.

We live and die every year. We grow our leaves and branches, and then drop and shed them as the Summer comes each year. Sometimes one of us might drop too many leaves and branches, and the heat does us in. We can't all withstand a bushfire. We can't all withstand a Summer's scathing breath. But we are stuck in this cycle and so we are a part of it. We dance with it, more slowly than usual, with sleepy eyes, burning in the heat.

On the air if you raise your nose in the middle of the day, you can smell the young eucalyptus leaves burning, even as the air is hot with the chlorophyll of the older ones. And if you walk the land, you can smell the firey decay of flesh, the participation of maggots dancing over the bodies of young birds that dehydrated too soon.

As our energy lays dormant, we watch, with tired eyes, those spirits that do okay during this weather. The great 'mythological' serpents that rise and slither over the landscape, leaving a feeling of hunger and wisdom in their wake. The greater beings that hug the granite outcrops, rise up and out, reaching hundreds of arms into the sky and the ground, pulling minerals to themselves, protecting their physical bodies. And of course, the ubidjidup who discovered me when I was a child, racing across the landscape in their night time incarnations of black spirit-bodies and gaping black eyes, who delighted in the thrill of the run through night skies.

The ubidjidup (these do not come from a specific 'culture' to my knowledge, and are rather something I have experienced through childhood... and who, belatedly, I learnt others experienced too) seem to be specific to certain landscapes, and they are greatly inhibited by roads and civilisation. They can jump roads if needed, but the greater the civilisation, the smaller they are, as though the pockets of bushland remaining are just not enough to sustain them.

I feel them in Koondoola, small and restricted but still there. They race and run and delight, and during the day they sink like tears back into the sand and wait again for another night where they can run for the sheer joy of running. Racing the winds, caring not at all for people or even other animals. They are union with the night sky and the stars, they are the joy of the wind (hot or cold) in your hair and whistling in your ears.

They have let me run and race with them. And sometimes I am transported from my dreams, to the Koondoola landscape, to run with them. There is a fierceness about them of the kind which makes you grateful that they have no interest in people. Not enough sentience to care for revenging that which has taken their size and land away.

And now I feel the moisture on my skin, the humidity that comes with cloud cover and no storms. My spirit reaches up with the spirits of the land to pull at available energy.

But we - together - are aware that it is simply the drying and dying time. Some of us will make it, and some of us will not.

Those of us who do will live to see the jewel beetles again, we will walk with the conostylis and the menzies banksia, and we will celebrate with the calls of the pied butcherbird and the gentler, knowing spirit of the blackpaws (brush wallaby).

In the meantime our spirits will sleep, and wait.

Comments

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

That was beautiful.

The term for summer hibernation is aestivate and I wish I could do it. :-)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Ahhh aestivate, I was trying to think of what it was, thank you. :D

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

No problem, least I could do after being moved by such an evocative piece of writing!

[gishkishenh.livejournal.com]

It's amazing to see the intent of the universe in action. Even though the drastic difference in our climates, the demand for a hibernation at this time is still there. Yours form the heat, ours from the cold.

And still, there are those of us who live, endure, and sometimes thrive in these conditions. The every prominent balance that exists- the exception to the rules are always there. The Porcupine, the Wolverine, The Lynx, the Cougar, the Mink, the Owl, the Wolf, and the Fox... a constant reminder that there are those who are out and about. Half in the spirit realm, half in this plain- they are walking the earth with purpose- to prove their loyalty and determination to their causes regardless of their conditions. We cannot see them, but their swift presence is felt as they pass by to their next destination.

While everyone else is sleepy, I'm up. When everyone rejoices at spring and summer, I fall asleep inside. This dormant season is when I work the most. When I'm up the most.

I am reminded of a lesson I once learned. "Behave as if the person said 'love'." This was told to me when someone told me that they hated something fiercely. It's the same emotion. Love and hate- what people consider "opposites" are actually the same emotion. It is the third- the mid ground- the indifference and apathy- that is the opposite to them both.
I suppose that it's a reminder again that your land, and mine- are actually sharing the demand for the retirement in this season. It's the Spring and the Autumn that are so very different from the current seasons.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yours form the heat, ours from the cold.

We do get animals here that 'hibernate' (sort of) during the cold, like our multiple snakes and reptiles. But otherwise shutting down during the heat seems very sensible.

I get the most work done in Winter here, even while other 'people' start to slow down, I work more in sync with the land and the flowering.

In Western Australia, the Aboriginal peoples (down here especially) do not recognise 4 seasons. Our climate is far too 'mediterranean' to have a strict Summer / Autumn / Winter / Spring. Down here, they recognise 6 seasons instead, of approximately 2 months each.

In the North West they believe in 6, but the locals believe only in two, the 'dry' and the 'wet.'

Currently, in this area, we are in the season of Birak, which finishes at the end of January. Hot days, controlled burning (and out of control burning), a good time to catch pigeons and quails, and the candle banksia is flowering while the menzies banksia takes a break - but provides some tasty nectar.

The Nyungah of Perth (as opposed to the Nyungah of other areas, and other Aboriginal peoples in general) are fascinating. Unlike other Aboriginal groups, they were in the minority in that they did not circumcise their children. They also had strong matrilineal moieties (though it depends on where you were. Other Nyungah say further South or North had patrilineal moieties).

It's much cooler today actually. Only 32C, so still warm, but not too bad.

[gishkishenh.livejournal.com]

Up here, the Moieties are strictly/nearly all matrilineal. In fact, it's just the opposite for us- the Patrilineal Moieties are in the minority. Yes the devision of labor tended to be more that the men could and were able to do everything, while it was Taboo for women to partake in certain day-to-day tings [like hunting]. But again, there were exceptions to the rule.

Mind if i ask- what was the belief behind the circumcision?

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Actually, I couldn't answer that really, because it's men's knowledge, and not women's.

I'm sure there are books out there that explain it, and there is one I have wanted which talks about men's secrets... but I have no right to that knowledge and so my wanting it doesn't... mean I'll get it. *sigh*

I believe, however, the actual use of circumcision was an initiatory rite into manhood. :)

So interesting about matrilineal moieties being the majority where you are! :D

[shimmerhawk.livejournal.com]

Sounds kind of like northern Minnesota in the winter. Everything is dormant and frozen, and it's too cold for thunderstorms or any sort of renewing energy. I prefer the heat to the cold, at least the sort of extreme cold we have here. But then again, I haven't really experienced the kind of heat you describe for any substantial period of time.

Thanks for sharing, these entries are always great to read.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*nods* we don't get extreme cold here at all. I've never seen snow, and only light frosts, so it's equally hard for me to imagine that level of cold. :)

*hugs* Thank you for reading!

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

I've never seen snow either. I prefer the kind of cold we get in the depths of winter to summer heat- even the nights in Bendigo where the temperature dropped to or just below 0 I cope with better than 30+ degree days (or really hot nights). I'm so happy I can spend summers in Geelong rather than Bendigo, which often has high 30s degrees.

And we had rain and storms the week before Christmas, yayness!

[dibeartach.livejournal.com]

You understand that landscape so well. I was completely unable not only to communicate with it, but to tolerate it at all. I'm an intense water-creature recently, and the lack in WA hurts me.
What I did feel was a surface, animalistic vibration of a myriad of unseen consciences flickering against me - the unfamiliar were all that penetrated. The heat and dryness scattered my senses and in my uncle's house, there was not even one moment of silence to meditate, plus I couldn't go outside.
It's a strange, arid land. It seems odd it is only five hours away by sky, and last night in the Mountains, I was curled around my cat under my quilt, socks on, with an electric blanket on! I lost the constant cold in my fingers and toes in WA, and realized just how much of a water thing I am.
I still want to visit Koondoola one day. Perhaps in the cold seasons - just not at the mercy of my family's accomodation. Also Margeret River would be nice to see.

xoxox

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yes I think you would like Margaret River, and the neighbouring areas of Dunsborough, Yallingup etc. They have a more forest type pull, and are generally cooler all year round than anywhere else in WA.

I was completely unable not only to communicate with it, but to tolerate it at all.

It took a stupidly long time for me to connect, and before then I actually didn't like bushland. Thought it was all ugly. I think the land already had its hooks in me, but I had absolutely no interest in working with it. I wanted the karri forest, or nothing. That was my only compromise, and otherwise I spent most of my time looking into Celtic tree lore, and then researching Russian trees and seeing how they fit into the Ogam etc. So... yeah. I think about 2-3 years of solid bushwalking before my dislike, went to reserve, went to grudging understanding, went to all out 'oh my god, I think I get it.'

I wonder if that's why *so many* young people find it easy just to leave here without a second thought and never come back.

I need to make me some bushwalking / Australian land icons I think.

[dibeartach.livejournal.com]

It's strange, because when I was younger, I was completely natural with the Australian land. I flowed with it as effortlessly as the wind, and there wasn't any distinction in my mind between my nature and the land spirit. That just changed as I got older, and older influences began to pull at me.
Strange.

xoxox

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

This is why you can't just take the Wiccan Sabbats by way of Great Britain and transpose them just anywhere. Better to create cyclical holidays based on your own territory.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I dumped Wiccan Sabbats (bar the Solstices and Equinoxes) a long time ago, and while I still have a place in my heart for Samhain and Beltane, it is mainly because of the memories I made while celebrating them.

I even dumped the Vilturj festivals (Villere, Luflijka and Lesere) about a year and a half ago because they just didn't 'fit' appropriately.

Since then, I've been forging my own way. :)

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

*nods* I got a great essay for the cultural appropriation anthology on why the Sabbats don't match Australia, New Zealand and so forth, and how the schedule should properly (at least where the author is) be shifted over by about nine months, not just a flip-over.

[makhsihed.livejournal.com]

Beautifully written, and you paint a detailed, vivid picture... your observation of the land is intense.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. *hugs*
I have some photos to put up soon as well. I ended up going yesterday.

[halyn.livejournal.com]

I feel bad not reading this, but my attention span is about thiiiis long right now, and I feel guilty not being able to give it that kind of attention since I suspect it's great.

But I did want to say that the picture in that icon is amazing. Wow. What a great eye. You could fall right into it. What kind of bird is that?

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my 'animal' side (alongside Fishing cat), that is the Australian raven, or Corvus coronoides, which has a distinctive white eye. It's also my personal totem.

The common raven is my familial totem, but otherwise it's that distinctive, beautiful, heavyset, *loud* bird which is 'me' all over. :)

[sun-huntress.livejournal.com]

...reading that took my breath away.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you.