All our relations - Earth Pathways Diary Article

In memory of Muriel Ward and Una Bundy

I was very inspired when I saw my teacher thumbing through her copy of the Earth Pathways Diary 2011. It looked like an expensive gleaming jewel enticing me to look inside. To anyone who was the slightest bit arty, creative or perhaps someone with just a mere whiff of earth connection would be immediately captivated by its pages. I managed to catch a glimpse of the title and web address and from that point I was smitten!

I heard that someone somewhere had found the last ever copy of the Earth Pathways Diary for 2011. It was being auctioned and I wanted it. So I put in a bid. Of course I wanted to look inside and feast on the art work and words that adorned its pages. I also saw this as an opportunity to support a fantastic charity in memory of my grandmother Muriel Ward. Muriel passed away in November 2010 very sadly with dementia. She was 94 years old.

My grandmothers were like chalk and cheese, ying and yang. Una, or Granty, was my Dad’s mother, the granny that everyone would like. She was warm, cuddly, caring, she told us stories and saw us regularly. Muriel was my Mum’s mother who was the exact opposite. She was strict, scary, wooden and cold. Apparently she was not the most loving and nurturing mother either. She didn’t enjoy seeing us and we grew up knowing her favourite catch phrase, “Children should be seen and not heard!” However we were blessed with seeing both sets of grandparents. As we developed and flourished we built the relationships we needed with each of them.

On my own journey of self discovery I am beginning to understand that we choose our parents for a reason before we are conceived and then once born into this world we suffer spiritual amnesia and forget! There are things that we know we need to learn from our mothers and fathers and of course grandparents. As we learn and grown we learn exactly what we need from our close and not so close family members. 

I decided that I wanted to celebrate Muriel’s stern, vigorous and healthy life before she was diagnosed with dementia. She and my grandfather took pride in their garden and allotment which we used to visit while growing up. To be honest the happiest time we had were probably at Christmas doing little gymnastic displays in their lounge or in the garden playing croquet in the summer. So I wanted to place my winning bid as a donation to the Earth Pathways Diary as it is a fantastic celebration of creative life inspiring the earthy enterprise of nurturing and loving new life with the Seed Fund.

Every quarter I meet up with a Women’s Group. We are ladies of all ages from 8 to 60 who celebrate the beauty of the feminine and Grandmother Moon. In January we were invited to think about ‘Walking Grandmother’s Path’ and what that means to us. We all took it in turn telling stories and recalled memories of our grandmothers and mothers. We spoke about what they gave us, through example and through personal experiences with them. Here are a couple of story by my mum, Barbara, Muriel’s daughter. She is telling these story to my son Sam, aged 10, for his home work project.

IMPERFECT STORM

Once a week your great aunts, Dee and Rosie, and I had a bath! Yes, only once a week. I don't remember how old we were, perhaps about 6 and 8. We used to play with plastic cups and model boats and make harbours and waterfalls with our legs. It was fun.

And then one evening we decided to start a storm for the model boats, sliding together up and down in the bath, creating first little waves and then bigger waves and finally tsunami waves. The boats were tossing about. Some were sinking. Some were even disappearing over the side of the bath.

We were laughing so much, we didn't notice the sudden arrival of your Great Grandma with a face like thunder. She was very, very angry. Water from our storm had been sloshing over the top of the bath and gradually dripping down into the kitchen below. What a mess! We were all slapped and sent to bed without any supper. The next day we saw a big wet mark on the ceiling in the kitchen.

HOW NOT TO RIDE A BIKE

Behind our house in Sutton Common Road was a park, where I used to play when I was your age. Sometimes I would meet friends near the bowling green to race our bikes. The path to the bowling green was up a steep slope and ideal as a track to race down.

One afternoon during the summer holidays we were racing our bikes and I swapped mine with a friend. What a fool I was! Three or four of us lined up at the start and, when someone shouted Go!, off we raced. But I had problems. The saddle was too high! And the pedals were too far away! And the path was too steep! And the bike had a life of its own!

Faster and faster I went, trying desperately to steer. I was soon in the lead but couldn't stop. At the end of the path was a wire fence and the car park. I was in big trouble. The only solution was to dive into the bushes at the side of the path.

The bike won the race, but I disappeared! Eventually, I crawled out covered in leaves, thorns, bruises and blood dripping from both knees. Great Grandma was very, very angry yet again!

Through the stories of our Women’s Group emerged a pattern that perhaps is common with all women - that we have within us a deep well of strength and perseverance that sees us through all hardship and difficulties.

My name is Jess Bundy. I’m a funny Mummy and busy professional working Mum. I am studying Cross Cultural and Rainbow Shamanism and am proud to be a Munay-ki graduate and Steward of the Earth. Along my personal healing journey I recognise that whether we like our relations or not we are related to all things. I would like to remember all our relations in these turbulent and shifting times by saying this prayer:

Mitakuye Oyasin (All our relations)

I honor you in this circle of life with me today.

I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer....

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.

To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.

To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live.

We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny.

One, not more important than the other.

One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below.

All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.