Dr Susan Jamieson, founder of Holistic Central Medical Practice and author of ‘Medical to Mystical’, explains the science behind her belief that we are ‘Beings of Light’ and further explains that with that knowledge, we can live an ‘empowered’ life.
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Watch the video of Dr. Sue interviewing an Aboriginal witch doctor here >>
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The stunning 300 million year old West MacDonnell Range
Alice Springs, in the centre of Australia, has a signpost in the centre of town pointing in different directions:
Rome 15,000 km,
Chicago 15,000 km,
Rio de Janeiro 15,000 km,
London 15,000 km.
Sipping my excellent Machiatto, I realised that I was in another world – far, far away from everything.
Originally a telegraph outpost to connect the Australian overland telegraph line, Alice is now a town of 28,000.
Everyone is friendly here and my taxi driver tells me that he came to Alice after his marriage broke up to ‘have a fresh start’, finding Alice to be full of similar people therefore friendlier than most towns.
We drive out towards the restaurant of which the town is most proud – a Vietnamese restaurant near the airport that grows it’s own organic vegetables.
Traffic is bad as this weekend is the annual Alice show and the utes snake up the motorway on their return from the seven o’clock firework display.
Red Ochre Pits. Red Ochre is used for its healing functions and also for ceremonial purposes
“Are you going to the camel cup?” he asks. Never a dull moment in Alice, these camel races are possible as in 1840 camels were imported from the Canaries, India and Pakistan to work in this desert. More than 12,000 Dromedaries were imported for transport and pulling purposes. When no longer needed with the advent of mechanised vehicles, their keepers, told to shoot them but too fond, let them loose in the 1920s. Large herds formed, up to one million! Now a good business is made out of exporting them to the Middle East. In Australia there are wild herds of pure breds, something now needed in the East! Similarly camel meat!
The down side is that a camel, able to happily carry half its body weight without drinking for a week, can drink 100 litres of water in an hour! Goodbye cattle’s water troughs!
These early camel trains were lead by Afghan cameliers, who imported an unusual yellow-green fruit. The bane of every farmer, these ‘paddy mellons’ looked like mangoes with the plague. These foul tasting fruit are very moist and used as both camel food and a source of water for the beasts. Unfortunately, growing prolifically on vines across the ground, they stifle other growth. Farmers spend many hours removing them by hand.
Dr. Sue looking Happy!
After the camel cup comes the ‘Henley on Tod ‘ – the Tod river being a normally dry sand basin of river bed sneaking though Alice. Traditionally an aboriginal camping ground and desert highway, occasionally, with heavy rains to the north, it will flash flood.
‘Yes’ this is the only boat race I’m the world that will he cancelled “If there’s water” said the taxi driver proudly. “What do you mean?”
“It’s Flintstone style! They run, carrying the boats. Singles, pairs – the lot!”
Last week, prior to walking into the desert with our aboriginal guide, we all went to the ‘beanie festival’. This was the most brilliant and incredibly creative show of multicolour woollen and felt hats. All wearing them in the desert for the rest of the week, the trekking group looked like something from a Tolkien story! Some had pointy cone-like tops, some straggly bits hanging down from the ears, some- like mine- were in geometrical shapes.
The magnificent Ayers Rock
Now we were trundling along on the bus down the Stuart (a Scotsman with too much liking for whiskey who mapped the road) highway from Alice to Ayers Rock. There are endless expanses of sage green bushes extending to the red-green MacDonnell Mountain Range at the far end of the horizon. This is used as cattle country, neatly organised by making sure water sources are 40km apart. This works, as the beasts only need to drink every second day, and won’t stray more than 18 km from a water source. However, in this seemingly unchanging landscape, some things have moved with the times. “The ranch on the left of the road would have had 300 horses with which to muster the herds. These horses competed for food and water with the cattle, so were replaced with modern methods” explained the bus driver.
“Now it’s run by four men on quad bikes.”
Whilst shopping in the multicultural and artistic ‘Leaping Lizards Gallery’ in central Alice, I’d seen elderly aboriginal guys in chaps and cowboy boots hanging out at a loose end. I should imagine that these had been ranch stockmen and musterers in the not too long ago past, and would give anything to get those jobs back.
Wallaby!
The last night of our trek we were to stay at Hermannsburg, originally a nineteenth century settlement which formed the confluence of three cultures. This was where German Lutheran missionaries worked closely with the local Aboriginal Arunda tribe. The two groups liked and respected each other, the Lutherans setting up schools, clinics and tanning businesses to help the locals. More than this, they were considered friends and protectors by the Arunda as they literally prevented their slaughter by the groups of encroaching whites who wanted their land.
A site of historical significance, Hermannsburg was where three completely different groups met – Lutherans, local Arunda and expansionist whites. Those missionaries truly were driven by God! They would get up at five in the morning, sit in their little rooms in which we now camped, get their books out and study the Arunda language. They would do the same after dark. The most famous -Pastor Strohler- made a hugely positive impact although his own health and family life suffered as a consequence of harsh living conditions and long hours.
That night, I was allowed to interview the local witch doctor – he was the very reason for bringing my new video camera!
Nicolas our Aboriginal guide
So, after dinner I was taken to Lloyd Spencer’s bungalow, where he and his wife were contentedly sitting on a foam mattress on the veranda in front of a nice log fire. No furniture in this new-looking house, I saw some younger girls look after a baby in the floor of the main room. He was so welcoming and tolerant as I fumbled, for the first time, with getting some light for my new camera. I asked how he worked and to give examples, which he did in his own language of the spirit world. Of course this doesn’t really translate into our lexicon, however as I looked into his dark brown compassionate eyes I really felt I understood. This was a world of being connected to the land and utilising everything the land had given. He talked of entering desert animals, such as the snake, to use their spirit to clean the body.
“I’ll show you” he said, grabbing my wrist.
“You see they just go into the blood here, and clean up…clean you all over” he made a sort of munching sound and tapped my wrist. He was so sincere and caring, and very open. He explained that he was a seventh generation witch doctor, and so was guided by his ancestral spirits, which were so important to him. It was late, I was cold, and so after half an hour I made my apologies.
“Oh no! I was planning on sharing all my secrets and methods”, he exclaimed.
“Another time. I was honoured to meet you”.
All the time he had his wife sitting right next to him, who often answered on his behalf and intervened. He gave her a lot of respect, listening carefully till she’d finished.
I was so sad on leaving – he was apparently so fond of her, and yet she had diabetes, a kidney problem and had lost an eye because of this disease. Although he’d told me proudly how ‘he could cure anything’, it was very apparent that these complications of the western diet – diabetes – were something for which both his ancestral advice and animal totem could not prepare him. He had no tools for these modern illnesses. As a doctor I knew that diabetes really doesn’t exist in indigenous societies, being a product of obesity due to dietary sugars/refined carbohydrate such as bread.
The Gift of Ochre
Sadly, it seemed that whatever was left of the Aboriginal community after the white land grabbing slaughter then tearing apart of families, was now going to be finished off by their Western diet. It seems that like alcohol, whilst whites cope well, the aboriginals simply don’t.
“Like poison in a pure system” said Raymond, my ‘Into The Blue’ guide. The natural diet would have been mainly meat, with bush tucker fruit and herbs to supplement. Perhaps a little honey harvested from the back on a honey ant he most sugar.
Even in little Hermansburg, there was a new, small renal dialysis unit to combat this complication of diabetes.
I was so sad, remembering the trusting, old-soul look in Lloyd’s eyes, “My people used to be strong. We didn’t have these diseases”.
Enough for now!!
Love and Light from the Land of Light… Sue
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I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was driving two hours west of Beijing to the first Buddhist Alliance meeting in China – a group aiming to increase understanding between different sects of Buddhism. Many attendees were old friends from previous lecture invites at natural healing conferences in China. My friend Professor Fucius, beside me in the picture, is hoping to take the Alliance one step further with interfaith alliances, to bridge the cultural gaps which can lead to some of the problems we see in this huge country.
I was honoured to be the only Westerner in this gathering and delighted to meet such luminaries as the head of the Chinese Lau Tse Association, head of Buddhist and art association, and UN representatives. In the scenic limestone park we enjoyed many delicious meals and conversations before I headed back for the opening ceremony of the 2010Global Summit of Women.
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The last time I had attended this international conference, aimed at promoting women in business and economically, was in Cairo. This year the leading topic was “women at the forefront of change’, focused on corporate ‘diversity’, of sex and race. Ten years ago we were told at this conference (by economists)that women are 52% of the population, do 60% of the work, and own less than 1% of world assets. Had things improved?
This year in Beijing, walking into the first breakfast meeting, it was great to recognise familiar faces one of whom was Anne Sherry, ex CEO of bank of Melbourne then Westpak bank. She has now moved out of finance to run Carnival Cruise group. Anne told me that her company is one of the very few that had made a significant profit in the past recession laden two years and she’s sure it’s because her executive board make diversity of sex and culture a priority – very heartening!
2010 prominent ladies were Rosie Rios, the US treasurer; senior representatives of corporations such as IBM, and the Herald Tribune; Shuping Li, vice president China; Dr Maude Olofsson, deputy prime minister of enterprise and energy, Sweden; First Lady of Tanzania, Slma Kilwete; Minister of women for Chile, Hon Carolina Schmidt; vice president of Vietnam, Hon Nguyen Thi Doan, and many more ..
The conference starts with a ministerial ‘round table’ for heads of state to share ‘best practices’. So often in life, or governments, something effective has been found to make headway in a difficult area. How often do others in different cultures learn from this? Never…. However one of the unique features of women is their ability to share and learn from each other. Major companies have now been surveyed in 45 countries and the findings showthat women make up less than 10% of company directors. This is the dismal reality of access of women to board appointments. Hong Kong leads the ways in the Asia Pacific region, with 8.9%, just ahead of Australia, India, 5.1%, Japan 1.4%. The US faired better at 15.2%, with Saudi Arbia at 0.1%
As Mao Zedong famously said, ‘Women hold half the sky’…and then added..’and the world is ruled by men’!!
We learned that legislation has to lead any real change, from the Hon Maude Olofsson, deputy prime minister of energy in Norway; thanks to quotas introduced in 2008 women now make up 44.2% of boardrooms.
From breakfast to dinner we had meetings about global trends and ‘hot topics’ such as how to link third world endeavors in business/NGO/government successfully, with sharing of ideas and experience. Something one would have thought happened naturally, but doesn’t!
From world bank experts we were told of research proving that for each year of extra schooling undertaken by third world women ,their income increases by 10-20%. This ONE year of extra schooling multiplies out to increase GDP by almost 1%.
HR experts from corporates such as Marriot, Boeing and Standard Chartered repeated that the biggest problem for women was their lack of self belief. Women were happy to be quietly brilliant, hoping some how to be ‘spotted’! WE had to take a leaf out of men’s book and blow our own trumpet!
‘Hope is not an action plan’
IN the US 43% of private firms are owned by women. Sadly, many of these women come from corporate who are losing this fantastic skill set because of gender inappropriate policies….
On a personal note, it makes sense for me to attend those conferences on women’s issues as most of the speakers are experts on diversity, in gender, age and culture. My work and book, ‘Medical to Mystical’, whilst cunningly disguised as a self-help book,(!!) is based on oneness, that is that all things are connected at a deep level. I believe that most problems in the world are due to the misperception of separateness – in people leading to wars and genocide, with the Earth the neglect we see.
Sitting having breakfast midmorning in the coffee shop of the Albuquerque Hilton, I felt increasingly excited at the prospect of interviewing Candace Pert. She’d been a personal heroine ever since I’d read her wonderful book “The Molecules Of Emotion”, based on her research as a physiologist working at the National Institute of Health in Washington.
Her work had proven, in no uncertain terms, how every thought and emotion we have affects our physical bodies. To me this was the most significant work in the past century, on a par with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity! She had described vividly how exciting it had been to work as a research scientist with her (now) husband, Michael Ruff, discovering more and more about ‘peptides’ and their workings all around the body. Amidst the tense, backbiting environment of competing scientist all jostling for position to be first in line for major prizes, such as the Nobel, her team discovered that these peptides were informational substances constantly flowing through our brains and bodies, causing our feelings and emotions.
An honoured guest of the Chinese Government at the Yellow Emperor Ceremony to honour Huang Di, the founder of the China
Then air reverberated with shamanistic rhythms from huge drums, each surrounded by three to five men whose arms flailed in a coherent frenzy. This was at the ‘Yellow Emperor Ceremony’, and this Spring I was lucky enough to be an honoured guest of the Chinese Government at this invitation-only event.
Huang Di, as he’s called, was considered the father of the Chinese race, and is accredited with both uniting this huge country and introducing advances such as Chinese medicine, astronomy and calligraphy. Attending this particularly Chinese event proved to be one of the most moving experiences in my life as I stood patiently in the rain with thousands of Chinese and ‘foreign friends’, venerating the Yellow Emperor. Leaders in all walks of life gathered in a huge square, each allocated a metre-square spot, listening to speeches given by national luminaries.
The organization was phenomenal – busses had collected us from the pleasant government accommodation; smiling girls ready with waterproof coats should they be needed. Dozens of these busses collected in a park, and everyone was guided in individual ways to access the square according to their standing position. This whole event was run on a level of organization and people management of which the west can only dream.
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