January 6 & 7.. oops a day ahead of myself.. I thought it was Dromana, but we are in the Dandenongs..oh and an art challenge if you are interested..

the next few days we spent in the Dandenong area. Dandenong itself was a big disappointment. It was an industrial town and I started to get a little melancholy.. it was then I realized that I was taking on the energies of the people who lived there.. so all I could do was protect myself and give thanks that I didn't live there... but when we went riding up into the ranges the whole energy changed. It was gorgeous from the magick shop in Belgrave to the tea-shop in Emerald but specially magickal was William Ricketts sanctuary... acres of pure creative magick. All created by a man who I believe could be a mentor in spirit. I felt his presence as i walked...
I knew a kindred spirit had led me here when the first thing I layed eyes on was this:

He was a man who knew his purpose in life and set out to achieve it, an eccentric, a white Australian. a man who travelled the world, met with yogis and lived among the aboriginals.. treating them as brothers and being accepted as one of them. He was an artist. A sculptor. A philosopher... a very talented man, using stone and wood to create marvellous statues and then donating the whole area to the Victorian government so that future generations could enjoy.

I wanted to cry with gratitude as i entered the sanctuary, not having even known about it until an hour before, I realised that I had been led here.

there was a little bark hut theatre where they showed a movie on William Ricketts himself. His words seeped into my soul..... next to the theatre was a Sacred space where he had placed this statue.

the mountain ash trees took my breath away. They welcomed me. I felt surrounded with pure love. I felt their souls, their spirits enveloping me in protection. It was then that I knew that the Mountain Ash is my totem tree. The mountain ash is actually a species of eucalypt. Stately, tall trees. The world's tallest flowering plant. Beautiful bark. Divine, ancient aura. want to know more? Mountain Ash
I felt his presence as i walked around at the sanctuary. Or was it my imagination? But when I am on the right spiritual path, I get short of breath, very excited inside. But I am always scared of this slipping through my fingers, of 'not getting it'. I need to learn patience. to have faith. to believe that all will be revealed when I am ready. Because it will... each time I came across a carving or statue I was well, speechless...from the Earth Mother:

to the Aboriginal angel

and into the grotto.

Where I stood in reverence, in prayer, in meditation for this gorgeous sacred space. in thanks for my belonging....

well that is it for those two days.. I hope it wasn't too long and I hope my trip and reflections are not boring you.. but as I write here, I also copy it into my Soul Art Journal.. trying to journal my blog this year, so it is not lost to cyber space.

now to the challenge. I read about a daily challenge on Krissie's blog this weeks list at Winterwood ... MistyMawn (Misty Mawn), suggests some little tasks to do each day and I have decided to have a go...

Wednesday we had to take a photo and alter it.. I took a photo of a rose that is blooming in my garden. The Queen Elizabeth rose, a favourite of my dads.... and I played around with it on my photo editor and came up with this:

.. I have also started a page in my journal, using the rose but it is not quite finished..will show when it is done. Hope you have fun with this challenge, I find it gives me focus.

next time we will certainly be off to Heronswood at Dromana and across the sea!