WALKING TO THE BEAT OF MY HEART. We slept last night near a mine site. It's drone at first sounded like a very large truck approaching. The same sound has continued all night, without changing pitch or volume. It fills this quiet land with the persistant and relentless sound of a loud drone. There is no rhythm, no variation in pitch. It is monstrous; disturbing the surrounding land for miles. The earth itself now eminates this same persistant drone as our modern lifestyle merges together to form this cacophony of an unbroken roar that extends into space. We are desensitized through the process of vibrationally being bombarded by this relentless sound and vibration that energizes the modern world. One has to go a long way away from it to actually hear it. Or maybe not...maybe there is no need for the proof, there is enough indigestion in the pudding. As adults, our right brain does not like allowing in information that we can' t do anything with. Our thinking brain is so limited that it blocks the potential that we are. Our ability to love and feel can supersede this flaw. We can remember that Eve was framed and humanity was tricked out of our garden. We just need to acknowledge, without the attachment to what that acknowledging might mean, that this noise, this pollution and barage on country and stars, on indigenous peoples, is immoral and unsustainable. When we collectively accept this, God, Power, choose your own name; can transform the sickness into unimaginable possibilities. So under this dark and star spangled morning with a heavy plume of smoke just released by the mine curling above our camp, I sign off with peace in my heart and a cacophony in my head!

This is myself and the children just before we got on the bus.

THE CHILDREN. Like all children, mine are so different, such individuals. Evita, our eldest daughter has found the song in her feet and allows herself to not give up when offered but to push on through, finding beauty along the way to metamorphe the experience. When we apply love to our intent to facilitate change, we overcome all obstacles. Love is the spirit of life and connects us with our joy. Our eldest son has found many ways to avoid the plodding miles and has been supported by a very positive male role model in this idea. I have finally reached a place where I have no criticism of this view. When I tried to tackle it head on I have been met with resistance that has left my son with a certain weight about his spirit. I asked spirit for guidance and have had several unexpected conversations. On the sunset of that day, yesterday, a full blood Native American dressed down the group with a reflection about us needing more discipline, especially with regard to the children. Our positive male role model hastily asked me to consider that this man has masocistic tendencies, that I must not take this personally. (He as a friend has recognised that my weakness as a mother has been my "toughness", which he could see is not working for Lachlan.) Today I had to drive the food truck and with all the logistics, all the kids went in different directions. Evita walked the whole twenty- five kilometres without me there! Lachlan was my right hand man in the truck. As it occurred to me that a certain letting go of my ideals, mixed with the intent to foster a love for this walking, would work better for the spirits of all my children, we passed an eagle eye level and he looked into my soul in that brief moment. I shared this understanding directly with Lachlan's spirit, without words and last night he went to sleep with a real lightness and joy. His last words were about what this trip means to him as an initiation into his teenage years. Christopher has a more choleric disposition than our melocholic older boy and out here this serves him well. He rides or walks, whatever is required. He has a learned behaviour of sulking when things don' t go his way and but so far we have only seen this aspect once this trip. He loves the country. He has an immediate connection with the land. He is closely connected to his indigenous spirit. Shanti has really enjoyed the whole experience, although she has some social inhibitions around speaking to adults so living with a group of thirty adults and seventeen children has had challenges for her. The walking is difficult for her five year old body and sensibilities. She wants to walk slowly, look at flowers and make earth art. This is not possible when walking twenty odd kilometres in the heat of this country. So I tow a cart that she gets in and out of. I encourage her to walk and then come up with games and distractions to help her keep pace. On good days she walks miles. So we continue walking together...

THE LIGHT STANDS OUT IN THE DARKNESS. The stars shine, the fire light flickers, the solar lights glimmer; this mobile phone stuns and shocks my sensibilities as does the near by mine at Agnew with it's persistant hum. Night crickets sing songs to each other but the busy noise from five kilometres away echoes the light of this phone, casting out the magic; dampening the sensitivity that living out in the desert has carved in me. We become desensitized by our modern amenities and appliances. Nature allows us to recalibrate, to become sensitive again. Like a new born baby I hear and see the sounds and sights of these technologies. THEY ARE SO LOUD.

The miles are gathering momentum under our feet as the blisters make way to tougher skin and the aching muscles relax their tension. We are walking as a community, already close, forged by our united intent and our collective effort to exist out here together. Each day we have a circle and volunteers put their hand up for meal duties or striking camp or setting up camp. Then we hit the road and begin the steps that take us, one at a time, the next twenty-odd kilometres. Last night we slept at a sacred site on the range that connects Ularu with the foothills of Perth. The night sky sparkled crystal clear as myself and my four children lay down and looked up at them until our eyes closed. We sleep in sleeping bags in the inner linings of our two small tents and have the most spectacular views. We have over two hundred kilometres to go to the next town and we have so far walked over one hundred and fifty. A lady from Wiluna who had done some of the walk came back last night with boxes of oranges she had picked yesterday for us. She was received with great delight. Small and simple things are great delights out here. Also the desert has such pure energy, such powerful forces surround us that our every action, every thought gets a response. Our baggage is getting processed. These children of ours are florishing but they have woken and it is time to pack up ready for a new day.

Under a waning moon. We are with the aunties of this country; the elders are here with their bon- fire of light. They talk and their words grab our souls and shake 'em up. Tears and laughter rush out together until there is no difference. They talk about this land as if it is their child, they talk about their children as if they are their grand parents; they talk of love without the in between words. They are real and we are honoured to be here with them on their land.

Fw: Earth time

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX™

-----Original message-----
<

Staying grounded is the trick...especially since things today have come together like magic.  The weaving of all the last minute things has been nothing less than pure magic, laced with poetry.  I am left with the quickening feeling that comes with being in tune.  Now that I finally trust that this trip is coming together, it is.     Thankyou to our Steiner school community for the gifts and thoughtful additions for our trip. Blessings on Kardi for organising it;.  Love and gratitude, Kristi

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX™

Earth to Kristi

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX™

walk away from apologising for myself

"You don't have to apologize for being alive Kristi",my Dad would say;I always thought he exaggerated, but he was onto something big. We women collectively operate out of guilt. Our culture is steeped in mother guilt. The advertisers know this; it's their oil field.
I happen to have a bad case of it. That is my personal story and if I start off in the past I will not make inroads to the freedom I sense beyond all that head talk.
Yesterday I realised that what I had said about my marriage did not have a sense of gratitude about it. Guilt is completely eliminated when we feel grateful. When we are immersed in the joy of being a mother there can be no feeling bad. Guilt has its roots in time. When we are fully present and in the now, it cannot exist. Gratitude plants us in reality, in the now.
Last night I missed an exciting game of spotlight in the dark with my kids and three others; seven wonderful beings wanting me to share their excitemment. Instead, overwhelmed with the feeling that I had written something that was not fair to John, who works long and hard in not the best conditions, without his family, I wanted to set the record straight.
Now I have woken with a knowing, this mother guilt is a driving force of the modrrn world and I carry my share of it but from now on I am dropping that hot potato and picking up instead the lighter and more joyful load of gratitude.
P.S. it is interesting that the game last night ended with my daughter Evie seeing something spooky. What comes first the mother spooked and trying to change the past or the children suddenly feeling abandoned and scared?

Walk my talk

It is easy walking and talking on a computer, with a nice fire by my side. We are about to embark on the journey of a life time and with this trusty gadget, I hope to capture and record what happens, how it all unfolds. We are walking from Wiluna to Perth over ten weeks, a total
of 1250 kilometres. The walk is organised by Footprints for Peace; it's aim is to 'Walk away from uranium mining'.
My entire mothering has been about living with minimal resources so that I could learn and teach with my children how to live sustainably on the Earth. We lived for two years in a mud hut without electricity or running water. We then moved to a community and lived in similar conditions but now we had a long walk to get to our shack. At this point I should add that this way of living has sustained me deeply, given us many skills and understandings, and strengths. But Providence, God, did not fill my husband with the same understanding and for him these years of living outside of the system have been fruitless and frustrating. This is where my story of strength and connection with Spirit falls down. Our marriage has not fortified me or my husband.
Never the less he now works away and is making the money he always wanted to. The relevance is that much of my work has been unsupported and in the dark, so to speak. I have never let go of the light but the thing about mothers is we need support.
So now while I tackle the enormous packing challenge my body has been falling apart.
My tooth got pulled out the other day and now with an infection in my mouth all the messages come to one thing; looking after myself starting with what goes in it and what comes out of it, is critical to the rest of my reality. Good morning.

Thanks Zoe

My teacher comes complete with a cubby baby and a wonderful family which all adds depth to this process of communicating earthmother business.

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX™

Starting blog

This is it! I have known all my life that I would write a book and here I am writing a blog instead; sounds like something you would do on the toilet!
The wonders of technology; first, adults talking to themselves on "hands free phones" and now adults saying baby words with such seriousness. " Yes, I have started a a blog..."
Blog, bog, book, whatever, I'm coming out of my closet blogging.
I have been an Earth Mother long before I ever heard it coined as a term.  It happened with my pregnancy and just before that as a new consciousness swept my life up into a transformation that left my immediate family wondering what had happened to me.  At our wedding my father's speech included that he hoped John and marriage would "shake some sense into me". He did not know that I had promised my life to the quest for women's business, children, families and peace.  Fire walking was my initiation that awakened the tribal spirit in me.  There would be surrender and trust as my only foundations as I set myself adrift from the world of money; intentionally living without it. I worked when big bills came in.  Guided to pursue Indigenous Mind; the chords the first peoples played on eternity's strings, their ways of living can never be forgotten. They lie within us all in our DNA.