- Cheree Stokes
Connecting with Land
Updated: Apr 18, 2020
This morning I went for a drive out to the bush paddock with G
I know this area around here is old ... basically all of Australia is … and I was expecting lots of trees and rocks
But nothing for what I found there ...

There was obviously an old volcano around here and it spewed out some fantastic rocks in its time eh
I started taking photos … I LOVE rocks … especially BIG ones and I was not disappointed
Then we went further in to what could be the start of a creek and it was like walking back in time

The rocks were amazing
Majestic
Awe inspiring

And as I walked up through them I was overflowing with emotion
It came right from my guts eh
As soon as I touched the ground and started to walk along the creek bed I started to feel this feeling deep in my guts … very hard to explain to someone who hasn’t felt it … I asked G if he felt anything?
He said not really … once we were in the rocks he said he felt in awe of the rocks but what I felt was so much more than that!
When he picked up a different rock to look at it…it was like it hurt me to have it moved?!

I just knew it was wrong to move them from here
And yet I have taken rocks I loved from other places?
Here it just felt completely wrong though
As I walked on this ground I knew it was special
A place where people walked in the beginning
I saw them sitting on the creek bank
laughing
I felt them walking around the rocks
I saw children playing and running
I have never felt this way about a place before!
I felt connected to the people who had walked here
By the time I got up to here …

… I found the tears just flowed
I just wanted to hold the rocks and FEEL
It was like there was a vibration coming from deep in the earth
I could see myself sitting on the ground and soaking in the very essence of the air I was breathing
I could feel myself there painting

I felt accepted there so I don’t believe it was a sacred area
but I felt it was a special place
where the people travelled through stopping to spend time and relax
I hated to leave
And as we drove away I felt a release in my guts
The feeling was less strong now once we crossed out into the clear areas
So I now know there is a boundary in there
I can’t wait to go back
And paint
I know with all my soul
that any painting I do there
will be spiritual on a whole new level to what my work has been eh
I sit here now writing this and feeling just so humbled and so grateful to have experienced what I did this morning
I am so blessed!
Cheree Stokes – 15/02/2019
#arttherapy #happiness #themeaningoflife #over50s #aboriginalart #aboriginal #ancestralland #spiritualland #feelingthepast #spiritualfeelings #connectingwiththeancestors