Redbard

Open Relationship guide, poet, story teller, Spiral Practitioner

[danny-redbard-blog]

"We're gonna have to bring the van next time." Bear laughs as we arrive an hour early for men's group. Into Preece house we carry boxing gear for men to express their anger; an iron cauldron full of gum-leaves to smudge the men with smoke from this land; multiple flutes; a medicine drum; a white board; my main talking stick. This is a casual Tuesday night for us. These are the tools I carry in my car for work. Brooke White Lion says to me at the beginning, "Keep it sharp. Let's do some work the old-school way. No breathwork tonight." What he's saying is, "Don't let the men carry on in their check-ins. Be brief. Model being brief, keep everyone to the point, the emotion, not the story." We all sit down. There's even two new men, thus, we have to context things a bit different. An elder arrives late so I take men into breathwork as Bear smudges him in. We're already off the beaten track we'd set out. The last man to check-in has pent up anger. I throw the boxing gloves at him instead of moving to the accountability round. His emotion was present. It was relevant. We trust in the circle's spirit. We're far away from the set path now. The drum is beating deep & rhythmic as our man is punching the bag with all of his ferocity. Men are screaming at him to keep hitting it. "Belt him, brother!" We get primal here so we don't lose control in the outside world. Brooke asks the man who he's hitting. The man drops to his knees, crying, the drum beat stops. Silence; then the weeping of a strong man is the only sound. "My step-father used to belt my mum all the time. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't help her. I felt so powerless." Part of that man still feels like a powerless little boy. He goes on a journey to visit that little boy & love him until he remembers he's not responsible for keeping everyone safe. That he is powerful. That he's worthy of love. By the end of the night, the brothers are elated. We've expressed suppressed emotions that we bottled for years. A man who'd never been to a men's circle said, "I've never felt anything like this before. I'll be back next week." Bear says, "Ohh, it's just a normal Tuesday night." #MensWork #EmotionalExpression #TheWork (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDxkH2WHbbO/?igshid=yd4uufl2ns93

[danny-redbard-blog]

Continued yarn with Aunty Sue. Learning the importance of clearing our shit. Emotionally & literally. Part 2 of 2. Remember to listen to the aunties. Every story has pearls of wisdom dotted throughout. Being open to hearing the lessons in stories is how humans have passed down the insights for tens of thousands of years. #ListenToTheAunties #PhysicalBody #EmotionalClearing #EmotionalExpression #EmotionalHealing #Lessons #Gratitude #RootChakra @bottomsupcolonics (at Bottoms Up Colonics - Gold Coast) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDvJ_JOnSLW/?igshid=1qfwngaqbro65

[danny-redbard-blog]

Do you allow yourself to experience peace? Or, is your shadow-self subconsciously addicted to chaos, conflict & crisis? Was peace modelled to you as a child? Was your family peaceful? Or did conflict, chaos & crisis get mixed up with what 'love looks like,' for you? #Peace #TheSpiral #SpiralPractitioner #Conflict #Chaos #Crisis #EmotionalClearing #EmotionCoach #MentalHealth (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDs1b4ZnG4H/?igshid=1706enl7nos1w

[danny-redbard-blog]

"Do you know any songs?" Aunty asks "What?" I ask, stunned at the question. "From your lineage? You're Scottish & Koori & Scandinavian. What are the songs from your lineage?" "Well, no," I say, quite taken aback. "See, this is the trouble. There was a massive loss at some point in Europe, they lost the old-ways. All the ancient lineages were either killed, separated, or not allowed to practice & sing their customs to the next generation. Now, those people that have it in their blood are feeling it & remembering their lineage. But they don't know where to turn. But the knowing is coming back if they take the time to go within." I sit quietly with myself, connecting to my inner knowing. Knowing that lore comes from within. The same way when we're in a dream, we know the rules, what to do & what not to do. That's lore. The customs of the realm we're in. It's a different realm when we're asleep, but it's not as different as we may think. We connect to our spiritual plane there. It's harder to connect to that plane when in the physical realm. Physical is full of matter. Solid. Heavy. It carries the weight of the emotional body, & thus many layers to process before being in full connection to the lore of the land. Some people are better at it than others. This is why it's helpful in this realm, to have elders let us know what the lore is of the space we're in. They've lived it, felt it, & been taught by those before them. Aunties words, "Take a moment," are repeating in my mind. I flick the oven off, the roast veggies are crisp, I've done a 4 part dinner, standard. Set it out. Crisp. I'm satisfied with a job well done. I'm thinking of words to say before we eat, then think to ask Aunty for a prayer. She's been singing such amazing songs. Connecting us to such an ancient past. Sharing stories from places all over the world. "Aunty, would you bless the food before we eat?" I ask quietly. The energy softens. People put their hands above their food to take the time. "Sure," she says... "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! Let's eat!" People are smiling & eating. "What?" She says. "I'm hungry!" (at Mudgeeraba, Queensland, Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDavtjUn_vt/?igshid=1ms9xti8eab45

[danny-redbard-blog]

Todays Bear & Dan adventures. There's a bunch of small islands between the Gold Coast & Stradbroke Island. Our mate, Dave, (everyone needs a Dave in their life) - also known as Wild Dolphin, lives permanently on boats/on the small uninhabited islands. I was alone on a beach with wallabies bouncing around, with the sky-scrapers of Surfers Paradise in the distance. I thought, I know people that dream of having an island... This is much more accessible than people's dreams tend to think. Exploring South Straddie, there's a run-down Aboriginal cultural centre at Cauran Cove that we explored, & read dreaming stories from the local Noonuccal mob (from the islands) & Kombumerri mob (from the mainland). There's a midden - a place for discarding food scraps to one area. It was so big from so many thousands of years of pippy shells stacked up that the midden was a hill with trees growing on top of it. This island has been inhabited & lived upon peacefully for over 20,000 years. It's held parties of mainlanders & islanders for so long that there a hills of shells & bones. Again, I remind us humans that conservative efforts won't even allow the pyramids if Egypt to be dated past 5000 years, (don't get me started on this), yet the country we live upon has a living culture that science & archaeology date back sometimes up to 50,000 years. There's a transmission of peace that lives in this country, that's not even hidden, we just need to choose to open our eyes to see it. Sacred Bora-rings where the elders used to sit & watch the corroborees & dances... That are still carved into the ground, within eyeshot of modern skyscrapers. Are you looking for what's around? I was singing into trees that I estimate to be over 300 years old. When was the last time you saw a tree that was here before colonisation? Remember trees can easily live to hundreds of years old. Are you looking for them? Are you sitting with the ancient trees & feeling what history they have seen? Or are we planting hedges, & building walls to shut out the ancient past we live upon? We choose the lens we see the world through. ❤️🌹💛🌹🖤 (at South Stradbroke Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDNUuhlHd8t/?igshid=8h9tn2st3g57

[danny-redbard-blog]

Are you all as excited as I am? I pray you are. I pray you feel the sanctity of the old ways vibrating from deep within you. What an honour it is to be taught the old ceremonial ways by the Aunties connected to the lineages. And right before Aunty Ivy crosses the waters to spread her magic in other lands! This Saturday. 3pm --> 6pm. At the 'Bear & Dan cottage' in Mudgeeraba, we'll be in elemental ceremony. At dinner last night, my curious self asks Ivy what she'll be transmitting. ⭕️ "It'll be a fruit salad style, hearty exchange of unconditional love." She laughs. I look at her, still curious. "Water purification. Protection & nurturing Fire. Breath, Air & Wind ceremony. Then movement with Mother Earth. We're going to massage her with our feet." When Aunty speaks, sometimes it's so final, & so certain, that I have nothing to say at the end. It's like it's so simple & so true, that it ends with a hammer drop. Boom. That is final. Reach out if you're curious. We're taking a $55 donation for Ivy for her time, space & energy. (Anyone far away that would like to donate for her to travel around to speak & teach, ask for the link). Also, bring a plate of food to share. Plant based please. As Aunty says, "This is the year of doing no harm." Appreciating & valuing all of you readers & curious folk, from my heart to yours. 🌺 (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC-QPtfnsmY/?igshid=12xxly6guyizt

[danny-redbard-blog]

My eyelids close, Like a curtain coming down on stage at the end of a performance, it’s over for a moment. I imagine encores & applause as I pause. But this life isn’t that simple. It can be relentless. I rub my eyes, sparks fly, backstage, behind the scenes, absent of screens, No one else sees this scene, Only me. In this sound & light cacophony. Patterns & vibrations seen, Felt, The scene Melts. I'm comfortable & uncomfortable, A paradox. Can I be it all? ‘Am I not it All!?’ I shout to the abyss. It stares back at me, as I’ve stared at it long enough. Been staring at the mirror my whole life. ‘Am I not an expression of the spirit that connects us all?’ I ask softly. Surely if one single spirit created it all… There was a time when that spirit was alone… We were alone… I was alone… As the only being in the universe… Before individual consciousness, there was the single consciousness. Just 1. Solitary, Sovereign. Lonely? How long did I wait all alone… A single standing stone. In the meadow, Overgrown, An ancient crone, Everything known... A lonely moan. Of boredom. All of this creation, All of these galaxies, All of this beauty & potential, & no one to experience it. How long did I wait before I split myself into multiple lives? Individuals that could experience the universe, Child-like, Curious, innocent, disconnected from all-knowing. But still behind their eyes, they witness the ever-glowing, Of the galactic patterns, As above so below. How long did I wait while alone? How restless did I become? Did my restlessness instill in them? "Quick, look at everything I made!" I say. They're confused & looking for a way, To behave, Curious, impatient, strong willed, entitled. They certainly behave like they created it all. They seem to run before they crawl. (Continued in comments). (at Murwillumbah, New South Wales) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2-qJ-HZ6q/?igshid=1ipsrnfh9sz0d

[danny-redbard-blog]

Physical processes can become emotional processes. Emotions built up, pushed down, get stored as physical matter. If we want to clear our emotional shit, we have to clear our physical shit. If we want to clear our physical shit, we must also clear our emotional shit. #Colonic #ClearYourShit #HundredDollarPooCrew #BottomsUp #PhysicalBody #EmotionalBody #EnergeticBody #MentalBody #SpiritualBody (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCo_CxfH64K/?igshid=hwcbf1a43fxt

[danny-redbard-blog]

How to commit to loving someone more than they love themselves. Can I love a person when they're at their worst? Can I love myself when I'm at my worst? #Love #Crew #Commitment #Brotherhood #Sisterhood #TheWork #Circle (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCnNVscnwha/?igshid=qr6i2mxayu3u

[danny-redbard-blog]

G'day, crew. Just remembering that we live on a land with the oldest living culture on the planet. I know a lot of us are craving to jump on planes & go travelling when all this is over, but again, I ask what are the lessons during this time of retraction? Do I truly know the sacred lands in my own backyard? Last year I went out to the oldest man-made structures on the planet. Walls & catchers built into the river at Brewarrina, western NSW. Shallow storage pools for fish to be eaten later. Deep river pockets walled off to store fish for when the river goes down when the season turns. 200 years ago when Europeans first came across it they asked the local mob, "Who built this?" They said, "It was built back in the dreaming. Baiami stepped on the land & they were created." It's about 900kms from here... But only a couple of hours from where my aunties live. Archeologists say it's over 50,000 years old. Ualari is the local mob, but our mob, Gamilaroi, were also one of the many that used to come to celebrate & eat here. Koamu, Morowari, Kula, & Weilwan were mobs that all celebrated at the different seasons. Imagine how many generations were between 50,000 years ago & 200 years ago. Realise the immensity of what we're not being taught about. 8 mobs used to eat & celebrate abundantly in the same place. I'm done with the rhetoric of 'struggling hunter-gatherer,' bullshit in our history books. There was a thriving civilisation that knew how to live in harmony with neighbours for over 50,000 years here. Ularu is great, sure. Go visit. But each state, each region, each mob has sacred places that if you ask politely & tread lightly, will re-shape the way you see this land. Enlightenment & connection to spirit doesn't just happen in the jungle in Peru. (This image was taken when they cleared many of the walls & pools to get a ferry line through there from Sydney. They're still worth visiting). Only 3% of Australias's population is Koori. Remember the stories. Listen & tell the yarns with respect. And as the aunties say, "Tread lightly." @yarnaustralia (at Brewarrina, New South Wales) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCkImt8Hdqc/?igshid=13qv09wj86ndx

[danny-redbard-blog]

Bear & I introducing the spirits of our masks. All 'evil spirits' are just good spirits that are in their shadow. Can we love them until they're love again? Like we're committed to with our partners. I did an entity clear for a friend the other week, who felt he had an evil spirit attached to him, that travelled back with him from a vase he got in Turkey. Brooke Lucas asks, "What happened in Turkey?" The man acknowledges that he was there with his wife, that he's been underboundaried & people pleasing for far too long. To cut this short, the entity was eventually seen as a gift, a catalyst to stop being so under-boundaried with his partner. When he began not living in fear of the entity & viewing it with love. The shadow side of him that he was avoiding looking at, was finally accepted. There's no reason to live in fear of anything. #Spirit #Masks #Entity #Shadow #Bear #TheMasksWeWear (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCZg1G9nXlP/?igshid=1he57m1wyy23m

[danny-redbard-blog]

Musings from mopping day. Clean house, clean mind. Covert contracts with housemates. Eg, the subconscious thinks: "I'm doing this thing for the whe house therefore I deserve a reward. I should pay less rent, do less cooking, or I earnt that vegan chocolate brownie I stole from my housemate blah blah blah." How to do daily chores from a space of love, rather than covert contract, the search for validation or from masculine, 'Must get point A to point B, get it done.' Balanced living. This is how to live casually as love. #HouseMates #SpiritBear #Mopping #EverythingIsMeditative #Shadow #ShadowWork #CovertContracts https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYGLD2nyMv/?igshid=11w2lakrrp2b

[danny-redbard-blog]

I ask my Spirit Stories group who the voices in there head are. "Who's on your spiritual board of directors?" Is your father's voice still there saying, "Don't do that. Don't buy that thing. Don't be stupid. You should know better. Don't trust that person. People will only let you down." Or are your mentors on your board of directors, giving you encouragement & love for your choices? Know that these voices help us feel loved, or can help the shadows reinforce why we should be low, in shame, not shine, feel unworthy, feel powerless, feel like people will abandon us if we show up in our true state of power. #SelfBelief #Encouragement #LoveYourself #SelfTalk #SelfCare #TheWork (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCVLh3FnKfZ/?igshid=f93ntkemsayp

[danny-redbard-blog]

"There's a lot of hands on knees here, brothers." I laugh, as we're all sweaty & tired from hours of basketball. I especially appreciate seeing Cody struggle. 😂 I appreciate the fitness in this broad-shouldered warrior, & I also value being able to give a brother that I love, a level of banter & cheek. I start snapping pics while he's panting. "Aw, you got me while I wasn't flexing!" We laugh. On court, Codes goes after the ball like a bloody freight train. I'm not getting in the way of that train. He throws a ball so hard it breaks the backboard. I LOSE IT LAUGHING. Play on. I feel a shoulder to the back, Codes cops a finger to the eye & hits the concrete. I got headbutted in the chin so hard last week that I had a lump for a week. I loved it. As I take a hit, part of me, inside deep down says, "This is what I'm here for." I elbowed Ryan Schroter in the throat & he fell. I didn't even know what happened. I didn't apologise. I told him I love him & helped him up. Animals. I smile at Cody while he's blinded, knowing that this physicality is why he's here as well. That pain sucks in the moment, but it passes, leaving a fierce satisfaction. "Call your own fowls, brothers!" I hope you're all allowing those parts of you to flex that don't get air-time every day. Our inner-yogi finding time to meditate is important. Our inner-child finding time to play is important. Our inner-savage finding time to go animal is just as important. You may have an inner-business-person; inner-artist; inner-adventurer; an inner-woman; inner-man. I wish them all the satisfaction I feel of when getting headbutted on a basketball court. (at Burleigh Heads, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCS1UHNnNn6/?igshid=11kymyhv28uli

[danny-redbard-blog]

Emotions are just energy in motion. What happens when they get stuck? What is trauma & where's it live in the body? What was our first trauma? #Emoions #EmotionalDevelopment #EmotionalMedicine #Evolution #TheWork (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCSsg9hnZ8K/?igshid=3u9aupkzhf9a

[danny-redbard-blog]

"I have arch-angel Michael with me." My gut twists when I hear people say things like this. I know I should let go of the resistance to people speaking in this level of 'spiritual lingo' but it always makes my gut tense. Contradictions are an intrinsic part of this realm. Everything is both true on some levels, & not true on others. Osho taught me, 'Nothing can be 100% true unless it completely contradicts itself. A statement must proclaim one end of the spectrum & then the other, to be completely true.' So, any time I find myself with a belief that's CERTAIN, I make sure to view the other end of the spectrum where it's completely wrong. In saying that. I still like listening to the omens from the universe. When an animal appears to me over & over, I take it as a message from the spirit that connects all of our spirits. My spirit name is Cheeky Galah. I actually learnt that galah is a Gamilaroi word - gilarr. I didn't know that when I got that name. It makes it extra special to me. But I know that the kookaburra & cockatoos remind me to be playful & take life less seriously all the time too. Great totems. Spiders remind me to create & build. Tadpoles swim up to me in the lake & remind me that transformation can be drastic, & a massive ride. Reckon a tadpole knows it's going to one day be a land creature? Or do the legs suddenly freak it out? What animals appear to you, & what do you believe the message is with them? (at Artvo Robina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCH4IVlnBiK/?igshid=hbsqo8og500a

[danny-redbard-blog]

Victim consciousness. Part 2 of 2. With Brooke Lucas from @newway_life_solutions #Victim #Perpetrator #Rescuer #Consciousness #ShadowWork #Patterns #Evolution #EmotionalDevelopment (at Gold Coast, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCBKs7WHUYV/?igshid=1xmm4pqqaew9o