Labyrinth Retreat

Today I went to Rachum (womb in Hebrew) for the Labyrinth Retreat. It was amazing because I walked it with the intention of doing just what my body wanted me to do. I had a blue scarf with me that Ive owned for about 5 years but never actually worn. Today that scarf made a ripper of a debut. During my walking and prayer ,which took over an hour, I held the scarf up to the wind and let it flutter and twist and turn. Its over a meter long and at times I wrapped it over my head. I busted moves I never thought Id do in front of strangers and it was so liberating. I was so tired after I had to have a sleep. I slept on a couch and put the scarf over my face, so people couldn't see me sleeping. When I woke up I went over to the composting toilet and was quite happily sitting there with the door open enjoying the sight of the green rolling hills, when another lady walked in. I said I'm just enjoying a blissful one right now... she back stepped and started laughing. Ah, it all good health self esteem building stuff.

As I was driving there my ancestors were on my mind. My convict grandmother Sarah (15) and son of a convict Abraham(21) had eloped to Yass (close to where the labyrinth is located) from Sydney and were married in the Yass church there in the mid 1800s. They then kept going west until they ended up on South Australia. It took them so long that dear little Sarah had a baby in the back of the dray on the journey with only an indigenous woman to help. She went on to have another 7 living children. Talk about tough. Sarah died in her 90s and Abraham in his 80s. My great uncle made a joke about them eloping. He said "what did Abraham say when the minister asked him will he take Sarah as his lawful wedded wife"? YASS!!! He always cracks himself up laughing at that one....

When I arrived at Rachum I asked who the traditional owners of the land were. No one knew but the lady who was taking the retreat was open about my question and then did a little ceremony to acknowledge them, which surprised me and made me respect her more. I'm going to find out for her.