March 2020 - colleen keating

Hildegard’s Encouragement in a time of a Pandemic

Hildegard always encouraged:

Live simply

Live in the moment

Live in beauty

Her way of healing, – individuals, groups, the world is going to the cause of the problem and working towards healing the cause, compared with today’s medical model of treating only the symptoms not working towards the healing the problem.

This is like putting a blanket on a fire to smother the symptoms with out putting out the actually spark of fire.

The golden guidelines from Hildegard:

Viriditas literally “greenness,” a word meaning vitality, fecundity, lushness, verdure, or growth. For us today in isolation and social distancing draw energy from nature’s life force.

This can be found by sitting in a park or observing a tree or listening to the birds. one friend took 53 photos from her window and it was fulll of colour and movement. Just be present to what you see. and the delight of nature is there for you.

Healthy and balanced nutrition found from food’s healing powers

3 Regenerate strained nerves with healthy sleep, exercise and good food.

4. Find a harmonious balance in your day. Make a routine – stretching, walking, drinking plenty of water, doing what ever activity possible.

5 Be vigilant . Wipe down delivered shopping. Wash fruit and vegetables.

6 When stress arises:

(a) name it, face it

(b) accept it

(d) Let time pass

(e) Remember no feeling is final

(adapted from Healthy Hildegard.)

Hildegard always writes and speaks about the interconnectivity of all things

we are interrelated and interdependent on all things and it is only when we bow down to that and become stewarts of our earth will we be healed. Thank you Hildegard.

Olive Pink Botanic Garden: A research visit.

colleen General, Olive Pink Botanic Garden March 28, 2020March 28, 2020alice springs, Annie Meyers Hill, Barry Bucholtz, birds, Fran Kilgariff, Ian Coleman, John Blakeman, Olive Pink Botanic garden, Peter Latz, Todd River

Our inland journey to do some research on the Australian pioneer Olive Pink was done in early March before the Pandemic had been declared. We were aware of the virus but flying inland seemed very innocent. By the end of the week flying back to Sydney, it was not innocent – we felt on tender hooks to get home. How things can change in one week.

However in that week of pandemic-innocence we had very rewarding visit with Brekky at the Bean Cafe in the garden with the wallabies and birds and then each day the walks. Later in the day visiting other channels of research. We stayed in the Mecure Motel by the Todd River and behind the Gardens

Olive Pink Botanic Garden, Alice Springs

The Garden

Today we treasure a globally unique arid zone botanic garden and continues to work towards Miss Pinks vision:

. . .forty-nine acres of ground on which to preserve and grow native trees, shrubs and flowers – as a ‘soul-feeding antidote to the restless rush and materialism of what ‘modern living’ entails for so many in this isolated town. from Fran Kilgariff

Nestled in the valley of Annie Meyers Hill and bordered by the Todd River is where you will find the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. Its close proximity to the CBD of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, allows visitors and locals alike convenient access to the 16 hectare Garden including the 6 hectares of arid zone plantings in the valley floor and the native vegetation of the encircling hills.

Founded in 1956 by Miss Olive Muriel Pink (1884-1975), the Garden was originally gazetted as the Australian Arid Regions Native Flora Reserve with Miss Pink as the Honorary Curator. Prior to this Miss Pink had studied the anthropology of both the Arrernte and Walpiri people and was a great agitator and advocatefor Aboriginal rights, which lead to her insisting that Aboriginal gardeners receive employment conditions under the award. Jampitjimpa Yannarilyi (Johnny) was one of the Aboriginal gardeners whom Miss Pink held in high esteem and was employed in the Garden from 1960 for a period of 12 years.,

From the time of Miss Pink’s death in 1975 until 1985, like minded people rallied to keep Olive’s Mission alive. Local gardeners, water-conservationist John Blakeman, orthonologist Barry Bucholtz and many towns folk with many developments to preserve the garden as viable. The garden and the Bean Cafe and were opened to the public in 1985as the Olive Pink Flora Reserve, and in 1996 it was renamed to more accurately reflect its purpose as the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. A voluntary seven person Board of Trustees manages the Garden. They draw on experience and expertise in commerce, science, law and tourism and are responsible to the NT Minister for Local Government. On my recent visit I met the present curator Ian Coleman. I had an immediate rapport with Ian as he spoke of his understanding of Olive Pink’s vision and understanding for the park. He has the sensibility of a spirituality and a philosophy of the story of the land on which the garden stands.

Some aspiring and educational walks wander through the park.
1. An historical walk called the Olive Pink Walk,
2. the Mulga Woodland walk,
3 the Mallee Walk
4 The Arrernte Trail and the marvellous challenging for us (no longer spritely) called 5. the Annie Meyers Hill walk .

There are Bird groves specialising in bird feeding trees, many seats to sit and enjoy the peace and educational nodes with very informative coloured and modern stories. Education is a key element of the Garden’s ethos with information available about the evolution of Australia’s arid zone flora, the traditional use of plants by Aborigines and local history in the graphic displays housed in in shelter nodes along the tracks.

Another valuable treasure is Peter Latz a renowned Central Australian botanist and garden volanteer. as he says at the end of an article he wrote,

Decades of dedicated work by Olive Pink, Jampiijinpa (Johnny) and other staff as well as countless volunteers has gone into producing this globally unique treasure -trove of bio-diversity and store of potential foods and medicinal cures

The Botanical Garden Newsletter for botanical gardens of Australia and New Zealand. No. 3 July 2002

The Blakeman Shelter

Livistona palms at the Garden waterhole

The Blakeman Shelter

Livistona palms at the Garden waterhole

The Garden

Nestled in the valley of Annie Meyers Hill and bordered by the Todd River is where you will find the Olive Pink Botanic Garden. Its close proximity to the CBD of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, allows visitors and locals alike convenient access to the 16 hectare Garden including the 6 hectares of arid zone plantings in the valley floor and the native vegetation of the encircling hills.

Founded in 1956 by Miss Olive Muriel Pink (1884-1975), the Garden was originally gazetted as the Australian Arid Regions Native Flora Reserve with Miss Pink as the Honorary Curator.

Book Review: Hildegard of Bingen: A poetic journey by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Hildegard of Bingen March 21, 2020Amazon Books, Beatriz Copello, Book Review, Ginninderra Press, Hildegard of Bingen A Poetic Journey, review, Society of Women Writers NSW, Women's Ink

Hildegard of Bingen by Colleen Keating is, as the author subtitled A Poetic Journey based on the life of the saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179).

BOOK REVIEW Women’s Ink Magazine www.womenwritersnsw.org

Hildegard of Bingen – A Poetic Journey

COLLEEN KEATING

Ginninderra Press

ISBN 978 1 76041 766 6

Reviewed by BEATRIZ COPELLO

For those who do not know about this saint’s life, let me tell you she was an incredible and fascinating woman who lived in the Middle Ages in Germany. She lived an intense life dedicated not only to religion but also to science, art, music, politics and philosophy. Hildegard founded two monasteries and maintained active correspondence with kings, emperors and popes. During all her life this mystic had visions which she attributed to divine inspiration.

In the forward of Hildegard of Bingen, Keating says she fell in love with Hildegard when she read a book lent to her by a friend. That love is evident in each page, in each poem, in each line. Through Keating’s poetry we get to know Hildegard, her life unrolls like a magic carpet. Poem by poem the reader finds out about her dreams, hopes, aspirations as well as her frustrations.

Keatings’s poems come alive with sensory experience, her words are confident in range and depth and they are utterly clear and articulate. The poet could have been a witness in Hildegard’s life, she knows her, she breathes her, she has a familial intimacy with the philosopher. The author undertook a journey into the mediaeval world, the poems are factual and the events meticulously researched. They contain very vivid descriptions, we can see in our mind’s eye what Hildegard saw, like in

‘Arrival’

Disibodenberg, high in the forest
sprawls in the clouds.
The last mile steeply uphill
Secluded.

A white butterfly dips and lifts.
Hildegard’s gaze follows it up
catches the glint of the sun
on the first stone wall.

Stoic buildings unfold
cloistered around a cobbled garth.
Their Benedictine monastery.

A monk in cinctured black robe
walks from signposted infirmary.
From beneath his blinkered cowl
he extends a welcome.
They dismount
Jutta falls on her knees in gratitude.

In Hildegard’s life the days pass coloured by monotony and sainthood and as the days pass so is her strong and determined personality developed. Poem by poem the reader becomes wrapped in a mantle of words, words that tell us of revelations, mysticism, determination and sainthood. Keating puts herself in Hildegard’s shoes and cleverly she is able to recreate the angst, the bravery and the defiance of this incredible woman. We enter her abode, her orchard, we get to know the sisters and her godly visions. We hear two strong voices Hildegard’s and Keating’s the poet. Writing is a labour of love, the writer not only poured her love for Hildegard in the poems but also her skills and knowledge.

Intuition, growth, earthiness, inner strength, passion, justice, wisdom, art are all words that describe what emerges from Keating’s poetry. What a great way to learn through reading poetry! The poet has not spared any detail about the life of Hildegard neither has she left out information about her sources. This fascinating book contains an Epilogue, a Chronology, a Glossary, Notes and a Bibliography. In the final notes Keating says: ‘A Poetic Journey seeks a middle ground between an accurate scholarly presentation of Hildegard and a personal interpretation of her story.’

I believe the writer has achieved her purpose offering us the opportunity to get to know a mediaeval feminist of extraordinary creativity. Colleen Keating has created a masterpiece.

Women’s Ink! Magazine www.womenwritersnsw.org March 2020 p19

The Launch of Desert Patterns by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Poetry March 20, 2020March 21, 2020alice springs, Book launch, Desert Patterns, Ginninderra Press, magpies, mallee, mulga, Olive Pink Botanic garden, Stephen Matthews

A launch or not a launch

The beautiful collection of poetry Desert Patterns is launched at a non-launch in a Desert Garden.

At the Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs, Central Australia, with an idea of ‘no clustering groups’ which is now coined ‘social distancing’ we launched Desert Patterns in a desert garden to wallabies, a wide variety of interested birds, skinks, the wonderful vegetation of this arid garden and to one very curious Euro ( a mountain wallaby who hopped down from Annie Meyers Hill to join the frey.

as I read ‘quiet stillness settles into our very soul’

and continued:

‘maybe it’s the way the light falls

throws its arms around the old familiar cliffs

brings them alive beckons come

come’

desert patterns

the landscape dreams
of caterpillars and rainbow serpents
composed
sculptured
moulded for aeons
wind water sand
carved chiseled hefted
hewn
from rock and clay
heave of ochre red
weave curve wave

desert patterns
draw us in

every escarpment every contour
named and known
as a mother knows its children
garments of beauty
that dress our earth
like whims of scarves

desert patterns
draw us in

the night sky dreams
of journeys emus echidnas
black spaces
compose
shimmer
imagination
reflects ancient stories

desert patterns
draw us in

desert garden 18/03/2020 ( written the day of the launch . Not in the poetry book)

already some have gathered under the umbrellas
conversations tête-à-tête over coffee
hushed murmurs like one makes in a cathedral
standing in the presence of awe-inspiring domes
and zig-zag shimmer
of coloured floors of lead-light reflection

here dreamy gold light catches the tips of ghost gums –
Namatjira’s signature –that breaks the silence from long ago
how arrogant in our colonising we had become
from rocky boulders rustic-red breaks in the hills
flames out in mica shine
wallabies laze in shady groves of Mulga.

magpies sing from spindly river gums
and one wallaby sits in red sand nearby
no doubt waiting for left over fare.

all morning the magpies watch me in the garden
their bodies wiry sleek and mottled
a good reminder of yin and yang
the balance that we always seek

I write in my journal sip my coffee
nibble on toasted fruit loaf with tiny strips of cherry
spread with whipped cinnamon butter.
Around us spinifex pigeons enjoy the company

I am startled by beauty wherever i look
and I wonder how proud Olive Pink would be
to see us all enjoying the peace of her long ago vision

Mother and joey sun set from Anzac Hill in Alice

Thanks to all our supporters, . Thanks to Ginninderra Press and to the magic of Inland Australia.

Viriditas and Hildegard

colleen Hildegard of Bingen March 1, 2020drought, Healthy Hildegard, hildegard of bingen, viriditas

Thanks to Healthy Hildegard for the photo and the idea to feature Viriditas.

Viriditas

After the rains
Hildegard tends the garden
knee deep
in wet grass,
up to her elbows in soil,
worms, snails
and ruff of leaf compost.

Marvels at the ramble
of a young squash vine,
a stray seed gone free.

Lingers in the fragrance
of chives and basil,
coriander, lavender and mint,
and the smell of parsley.

Savours their bouquet.
Being jubilant
with the flirt of white moths,
and the canticle of bird song
from an oak branch above.

Dwells on her knees
as if in prayer.

Hildegard stands
her hands on her lower back
stretches and arches
skywards.Wisping clouds
ruffle. Light whispers,

I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits
I am the rain coming from the dew
that causes the grasses to laugh
with the joy of life.

Fearful of her own mystery
she clams shut this Light
into the tight knot of her gut.

*Viriditas means “greenness” – vitality, lushness, verdure, fecundity, growth. It has its earliest connection to Hildegard von Bingen.

It seems a perfect expression of the living green captured by the soul as the light dances over grass and leaf life.

With the term Viriditas, Hildegard of Bingen meant to describe a fundamental force in nature and the cosmos that binds people with animals, minerals, and plants.

Viriditas, the power of nature

A greening power, as Hildegard described it, exists in all things and is the basis for all healing in people and of the earth.

This greening powere exists as a symbol of prosperity and vitality, with plants blooming, growing, germinating and bearing fruit.

We lose our greening power through apathy, monotony and stress in everyday life.

We lose our greening power when

However, we quickly restore and preserve it through prolonged time and movement in nature.

Spring explodes
like a paint box come to life
spilling across
the browned winter-wearylandscape.

In Australia we wait for regeneration after the unprecedented fires we have experienced . We observe the tiny moments of viriditas return.

I give thanks to all the wonderful people who are being proactive to save species that are threatened. eg the rare life of the green Corroboree Frog from the Snowy Mountains. My daughters who send hopeful photos of new life and promise me the trees will recover.

New life bursting into our lives.