ZefSide95

Hello I’m new/old.. I’m the Shaman-Australis groupie haha. Joined back in around 2000 because my husband was into ethnobotany and I just thought the people here were cool. I do have an interest in the whole scene (especially the “shaman” side) and people here are way more progressive/interesting than most. See you around

Vote #1 Australian of the Year because he’s a renaissaince man with the voice of an angel & is trying to help his friend with MS *still* without selling-out.

I was looking for it to post on an international forum to show them “hey look at us wankers” & it was nowhere to be found!! I had to post Chopper Read instead heh.

THEY’VE REMOVED IT!!

If you don’t remember these guys, they get worse than this. I’m obsessed with Paul McDermott again and he’s in his 50s now

Birds are definitely messengers.. I noticed them a lot after my brother died and a friend in Europe - whose dad died when she was younger - vividly remembers a whole flock doing something quite bizarre. Crow is Trickster I’ve only ever had them watch me from afar (they’re very very clever). Magpie is related to Crow though.. I was reading about this because Crow is one of the totem animals of the Aboriginal tribes/cultures in my area: “The various groups of Western Australia offer two versions of the same story about the Crow and the Magpie. The crow and the magpie are brothers, both born with pure white feathers. Both were vain and would argue as to which was the most beautiful. Perched in a tree, they began to argue and then fought. The people with the crow as their totem will tell you the brothers fell into a fire below, the Crow getting burnt all over, the Magpie only partly burnt. Those whom have the magpie as their totem will tell the story the same, but that the brothers fell into thick black mud, and the magpie only slightly stained his feathers, the crow covered in the mud. As for the crow, as in all Indigenous Australian totems, it is known for its cunning and intelligence, a trickster too, and old spirit with prescient knowledge or carrying old knowledge of many lifetimes (like reincarnation). Very powerful too, as in the totem itself is one of the ones with powerful natural magic, and depending on the language groups own mythology the holder of the totem will either carry great respect, or suspect.” (Wikipedia) I’m not sure at all about parrots. Crow/Magpie are of course Raven family, and some of my all-time favourite cards are Native American animals. I can send you pics of the chapter on Raven if you like

I remember CS! Funniest guy ever. He’s had a plant/seed/thing named after his.. anatomy?

a) I stared at them both like a moron. b) They are both set in a house! c) The guy in video 2 reminds me of..

It wouldn’t be Straya Day without Uncle Chopper!

HAHAHAHA!!

That spoon-playing is awesome!

Crikey.. I was seeing a Death Metal vocalist/drummer for a while. The vocals and music *are* pretty impressive. I used to get in trouble for saying “yeah.. but it just doesn’t sound very good!” That’s after hearing it for *hours* on end.

Epic speech is epic. I think I know this off by heart now

Cartman makes me laugh a bit too much I think! “Whaaaales”.

This isn’t very “chill” and I probably should read through the suicide/mental health thing.. I don’t mind if admin want to put it in there — I just have to write this and it’s hard. I’m on another forum which is mental health oriented — I get severe anxiety/panic.. I think we should start calling these things by their “real” names though. Fear. But 2018 has taken it to another level I think. It’s some sort of PTSD (which was originally shell-shock). So I’ll summarise the major things that happened: —June: Health scare and trip to hospital Emergency. Experience so bad I feel like I’d rather lie at home and die. —September: Police arrest over (very) minor drug use and possession. Ridiculously unfair and first police involvement since I was 16 (I’m 45). —November: House fire. This was so frightening I can’t write much. Meantime, my mother has become increasingly cold and when I mentioned suicidal thoughts she told me to “hurry up and make your will then.” My brother ODed on heroin in 2014. My dad is decent but lives in the city (1.5 hours away) and has his own — more “pleasant” life. There’s been other things but those are most tangible. The reason I decided to post here about this is I don’t want a psychiatrist/psychologist (been there too many times), I don’t want anti-depressants (been on and off SSRIs for 20 years).. I want ideas that suit how I feel about this thing — like my soul hurts Music has helped me a lot, for example. Poetry has helped. Things that are meaningful to me. But I’m open to anything other than the mainstream medical profession. Thanks

Yep, a big part of it is I already had very bad anxiety.. When I get really panicky I sometimes talk to myself as if I were an adult talking to a child, because essentially the fear is my inner-child thinking it’s literally going to die. It doesn’t help that my mother says things like “if you want to stay alive you will pack a bag and call the ambulance..” In other words “you will die if..” It feels like it’s embedded in the cells of my body now though, and I don’t know how to get it out. I can stop it being added to though by changing my environment. Re the “you are going to die” (the philosophical concept not mum’s neurosis!):

Thanks.. That sounds very much like Jungian psychology, which I love and have studied formally a bit. Yeah mine’s “undiagnosed” but a couple of doctors have said I seem traumatised. I like what George Carlin says here about terms like PTSD. Such a clever guy

I say just live your truth.. Find things that are meaningful to you, take things to the limit, go all the way

Yeah I mean if you can do things in moderation, all good, but alcoholism is rife in Oz. I can’t get it atm cos I’m on a phone, but I’ve got some info on alcohol written by a doctor whose life’s work is detox/rehab.. It’s one hell of a drug basically, in terms of the number of neurotransmitters it affects. Shamanic cultures were/are able to use things moderately and with respect. We tend not to.

I get a bit excited when I get an email about this!