I'm over the moon to say that the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter 'koala dolls' were chosen by their new keepers within 24 hours! Thank you Cherie and Lori all the way in British Columbia your money will be donated in full to the koalas. I can't wait to tell Colleen Wood and her staff of volunteers how quickly they sold and how quickly we will get those funds to the koalas that need it. Colleen is one of the most knowledgeable people on koala care and preservation in the world and she runs Southern Ash without any government funding or assistance. Anything you can contribute to help these gorgeous creatures stay healthy and WILD is always gratefully received. Here are some photos from the last trip Tony and I made to see these wee cuties - really looking forward to receiving some koala love again soon.
KOALA: Koala is a marsupial that lives high up in the gumtrees and is native to only Australia. The koala teaches us about the importance of rest and sleep. It's medicine is of the Dreamer. It comes to us when we need to take time out of 'busyness' and relax. If the Koala has been making itself known to you through dreaming and meditation it may be because there has been too much worrying, which can make the mind race in circles and lead to exhaustion. Let the Koala show you how to step back from your worries and just BE. Not all problems can be solved through the mind, some of our greatest breatkthroughs in difficult situations come through our Dreaming. Koala would urge you to rest - can you make time for a nap today or even better, embrace in a long, deep period of sleep.
Be Wild!
Tony
These photographs were taken last year at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Victoria an incredible volunteer animal shelter run by Colleen Wood and her amazing team who work without any funding or assistance from the government. Colleen is the leading expert on koala care and welfare in Australia and she would be so grateful for any assistance and donations you can spare to help care for these beautiful animals that are unfortunately in so much danger due to expanding urban environments and man-created diseases. Did you know that you can sponsor one of these gorgeous creatures for just $40?! Colleen's aim is to help as many koalas come to full healing and be returned again to the wild. You can find out more about the work of Southern Ash at their website and on their Facebook page.
As many of you know, the koala is a sacred animal to Tony and I and we thank everyone who has helped us raise money for these beautiful creatures in the past. This little sweetie is Amanda a recently orphaned baby koala who is being cared for by the amazing Colleen Woods and her team of volunteers at The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter. Amanda is available for immediate sponsorship - just $40 a year and 100% of every donation goes to the koala and it's care. We have visited Colleen many times over the years and we are always awed by her courage, determination and her huge heart that keeps giving despite facing some really horrible realities about the challenges koalas are dealing with in our modern world.
Tony and I will be visiting Colleen very soon to take up funds raised through donation at our drumming circle. If you would like to give a donation we will gladly take your assistance up to the Shelter. We have been told that they have named a koala Sacred Familiar! So you can be a vital part of this koala's care if you feel called. You can also contact the Southern Ash Shelter at: southernash@live.com.au to find out how to sponsor Amanda or the many other koalas that arrive daily into Colleen's care. Colleen's intention and aim is to give the koalas a safe sanctuary to heal and recover so that they can be returned to the wild again.
The koala is a beautiful and unique Australian animal and they really need help from the us, the new humane guardians of the land. Every dollar truly counts so if you can give, please get in touch,
The wonderful Colleen Wood and her volunteers at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter do such an amazing job without any government assistance at all. And they have just launched the easiest way possible for you to help support the hundreds of koalas they have saved along with other orphaned and injured wildlife. The new initiative is: 'Give 10 for a Ted' - become a loyal follower and help out one of the beautiful koalas needing assistance for just $10.
Here's a message from Colleen:
Good Afternoon Team Koala... Southern Ash is launching the “Give 10 for a Ted” initiative. Via our social media outlets we will pick a monthly date and each month announce to our loyal followers that it’s time to “Give 10 for a Ted”. By 10, we of course mean $10 donations. You can make a donation for one month, every three months, or every single month if you prefer. It’s not a direct debit system so it’s entirely up to the generosity of our supporters. This money will be used for the daily operations of the shelter such as milk supplements, transport for sick animals, vet bills, medications and medical supplies. Direct debits can be made to: Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter Public Fund • BSB: 033 128 • Account #: 186132 So Team Koala.... Its time to GIVE 10 FOR A TED! :)
Here is a link to the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter Facebook page - it's so easy and very needed. A big koala hug for you all today xx
Koala: The koala has come in this week with it's message about relaxation. Koala is one of my totems and has taught me about the importance of relaxing and just taking it easy. This message is reminding us to set aside time to do nothing and let the world go by for a change. The koala helps us to de-stress as stress can often be a major cause of illness. How much time are you giving to stressing about the tiny details of your day? Is your mind racing constantly? Are you taking time for yourself? What is it that relaxes you the most and can you make time to do this more? The irony is we are more productive when we are relaxed. So make time to embrace the energy of the koala today and let go, relax and be. The Koala.
Be Wild!
Tony
These are the beautiful koalas at The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter - you can sponsor a koala for just $40 and they need our love and help. Here is a link to sponsor a koala.
On Monday Tony and I travelled up to Mount Baw Baw to visit the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter and deliver the generous donations you all contributed at our Koala Meditation night. Colleen and the koalas thank you! Tony and I fell in love with them all over again and Tony now has a koala named after him! You can have a look at the incredible work Colleen Woods and her volunteers do helping to rescue, heal and release these beautiful koalas back into the wild at her website: www.samthekoala.com.au. Or you can jump over and say hi on their Facebook page: Unfortunately these beautiful creatures are now more in danger than ever before, every little bit really does help - sponsoring a koala costs just $40. And there's nothing better than koala love!
The Three Bears
Tony and Molly who climbed up Tony's leg for a cuddle - Tony definitely has the touch
Molly cuddles
The enchanted pool where the platypus live - the energy here was magical
I woke up this morning and saw this image over on the site of the woman of wonder that is Sister Wolf and I thought how apt it was for the energy of the Dark Moon at the moment. It is a particularly heavy Dark Moon tonight and tomorrow as we are processing the changes and experiences of our lives since the nineties - the era of Neptune in Aquarius. For some of us the last week has felt like a very lonely time, I saw an image of debris being washed up on the shore just then - as if the arrival of Neptune into Pisces earlier this month was a 'moving in time' and we are realising only now that this new energy is making us aware of old furniture and clothing in our 'house' that doesn't fit the new us. There may be relationships that we are seeing with new eyes & employment that feels so old and far away from who we are right now. I have heard from many clients who are experiencing changes in their workplaces that are out of their control - much like the 'dark night of the soul' this is the Dark Moon before the illuminating light of the New Moon in Pisces on Wednesday (9.35am). This New Moon is also conjunct Neptune making it even more magical and flowing - a truly incredible and quite possibly the most powerful New Moon of 2012. So whenever there is a build up to such an important time, we will feel this even more deeply than usual.
Goddess of the Western Isles by Iain Lowe
So in these next 2 days we cannot fight the release and really why would we want to? The Dark Moon is a time to rest, reflect without thinking to much - to open ourselves to feeling the loss of the old before we make way for the new. We are letting go of the old structures, work and relationships that have helped us so much in the last 2 decades and we need to release them as they will become prisons that our heart needs to move beyond in this new era of spiritual awaking. We are being called to be more connected to the voice of our own Spirit and to the voice of the land, our Mother Earth. In this time I will sit with the energy of An Cailleach - the Crone Grandmother of the Celtic Otherworld. This archetype is strong and sometimes fierce - she has no time for wasting - she helps us as we sit at the crossroads of our life. The crossroads are where we are right now, a liminal space of transformation right at the point of stepping out of the old and before we have taken a step into the new. This is a time to talk with our ancestors, our wise relations to ask for guidance and then to listen to our own hearts to find the direction our new path is taking.
The Little Mermaid, Karel Kachyna, 1974
So for everyone who is feeling the rise of debris from the old life as it hits the shore, don't try to hold on, to cling to the past - let go, there is another path waiting after the birth of the New Moon, a path bright & glittering. What is your new path? What is your new commitment to your Spirit? This may come to you over the next 2 nights - a beautiful time for consulting oracles, the Tarot and meditation. If you feel called to deepen the connection to your spirit with the wise old crone An Cailleach, we will be journey with her on Wednesday, the New Moon night as she helps to strip away the debris, the old self before she rebuilds us again, breathing new life into the new self. In this ceremony we call Commitment to Self, held on the date of 22.2.2012 a powerful day in the Mayan Calendar called the Red Solar Serpent Day, a day of creating Harmony within ourselves directed by the balancing energy of the Number 2 we will feel the threshold of the New Path just in front of us and at the New Moon take a conscious step into it.
If you wish to join us please let me know - we are donating all proceeds from this powerful and magically charged evening to the beautiful koalas of the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter. Let's take that step into the future together.
And the song 'Anthem' by singer & poet Leonard Cohen that always helps me to let go... 'there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in'.
Meet our new 'children'! On Saturday Tony and I delivered the proceeds of the Spring Equinox Circle to the wonderful Colleen Wood and the koalas she rescues at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson, Gippsland. We feel so honoured to have been invited into Colleen's world as the shelter is not open to visitors to ensure that the koalas heal and retain their wild instincts so that Colleen and her volunteers can safely return them to the wild as soon as they are fit. On this visit we had the extra special treat of going into the 'joey rumpus room'!! There were about 4 orphaned joey (baby) koalas and as you can see from the photos, they were totally adorable - in fact so gorgeous they looked like toy teddy bears hanging in the trees!
Tony is seen here holding Becker a young joey of about 8 months who was found alone on a highway with scratches on his nose, presumed orphaned after his mother had been hit by a car. We also got to visit Cindy again who looked so much bigger and healthier than when we'd seen her 6 months ago that I didn't recognise her - what a compliment for Colleen's hard work. Cindy had a moment with me when she looked very deeply into my eyes and I heard the message: 'Don't forget us'. Our beautiful koalas are really under threat from so many human diseases and the encroachment of housing estates into their ancient trackways and habitats.
Koala joeys in their 'rumpus room'
So how do we do our small bit so we 'don't forget'? The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter really do the most incredible work and Colleen Wood is an expert in koala care - the shelter has just released an exciting new program to sponsor your own koala and Tony and I are the proud new sponsors or Becker and Cindy. If you'd like to become a sponsor it's very easy and only costs $40 a year - a little bit of money that will go a long way to help, and what a great Christmas gift! To sponsor your very own koala, please go to: www.samthekoala.com.au or pop in and have a chat on their Facebook page.
Cindy pulling me up for a chat on our last visit
Colleen and Alvin one of the koalas now back in the wild!
We'd love to see you in the circle at Spring Equinox to help us raise money for the gorgeous koalas at the Southern Ash Wildlife Fund. Please bring along a small bottle or jar to take home your very own healing water and a small strip of cloth or ribbon to create your 'clootie' (wish or prayer ribbon).
Here are some photos of the beautiful recipients of the $700 that was raised last month at the Winter Solstice Meditation circle. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Colleen Wood and her volunteers are doing amazing preservation work with koalas. If you'd like to help her to help more koalas (she does it all without any funding from the government) you can 'adopt' a wild koala during it's stay with Colleen and you will receive updates on how your koala is healing before receiving a photograph of your koala returning back to the wild once it is fit and healthy again - now that is special!
To find out more about this vital and important program and the work of Colleen Wood, please go to: www.samthekoala.com.au
Colleen and Alvin
Alvin the biggest koala we have ever seen (about 15kg) looking strong and healthy and very different from the state he arrived in.
Tony and Jacob who walked over to see what everyone was talking about and to get another cuddle
