Invisible friends
holiday in Sydney, cultivating compassion with G.R.A.C.E., spirit portraits, year of the dragon
This month we spent a week in Sydney for the first time since 2022. It is always such a boost to my well-being to be in the city of my birth. My whole body relaxes into the bright colours, the bedrock of sandstone and the lush, humid environment of Gadigal and Kuringai country (Sydney and Gosford).
We stayed right in the centre of the city overlooking Hyde Park and were woken early in the mornings by blue skies and lulled to sleep in the evenings by the flying foxes flowing past our window.
A highlight was visiting my 95 year old Nanna, and watching her play a piano duet with my daughter. She told us stories about how she learned piano with her mum, (my great grandma Agnes May) and gave us her original dance hall sheet music from the 1890s, Charge of the Light Brigade.
A tangible connection across five generations!
Sydney 2024: The Reptile Park, Botanic Gardens, piano with Nanna, melting in the humidity, the button shop, harbour views
There has been some family heartache lately, so I was nervous about this trip. All week I reminded myself of the G.R.A.C.E. practice - a model to cultivate more compassion in your interactions with others.
I was nowhere near perfect, struggling with knowing what action to take, but it helped me to stay grounded and remember my intention to listen with curiousity and an open heart.
I was thrilled by the serendipity of finding a Georgiana Houghton exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. I already knew a little about her work but seeing the delicate paintings in person was so moving.
Georgiana Houghton (1814–84) did not create her astonishing works alone: her hand was guided by the spirits she called her ‘invisible friends’ – long-dead artists, family, friends and angels – who, through her, created the intricate, swirling, mesmeric watercolour drawings.
I felt such a kinship with her when I read that her earliest works were spirit portraits for the birth of each new baby in her life… I also make collage ‘spirit portraits’ for the birth of my doula babies!
I often have a sense of invisible energies around me, especially in the living world. It is comforting to think that these are potential invisible friends. And to remember that we can be in reciprocal relationship with them.
Inspiration
This version of Both Sides Now from the movie CODA (this contains spoilers if you haven’t seen it)
Keeping the fire burning - black disabled futures and NAIDOC week
Lucinda Riley’s The Seven Sisters books (thanks to my mother-in-law Loes)
It is a new moon and the Lunar New Year this weekend. Wishing you a fresh beginning and good luck and prosperity in the year of the dragon. Perhaps you will encounter a dragon parade?
Much love,
Emily
