edition #4 - from Thaedra

Hello beautiful souls,

My name is Thaedra Frangos and I am a freelance movement artist, dancer, biodynamic craniosacral therapist and accredited Wayapa Wuurrk® - Indigenous Earth Mindfulness and movement - facilitator. I live on Wadawurrung country and am a Wemba Wemba (Gourrmjanyuk family clan) and Dhuduroa Theddora Mittung Yaitmathang descendant along with Greek ancestry. I have an intention to support awareness of and reverence for the incredible wisdom of our first peoples in a present day context as a pathway to healing, wellness and connection.

I hope you enjoy my letter.

I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, the Wadawurrung people of the Kulin nation.  I pay respect to elders past, present and emerging and to the profound wisdom and beauty of the land that holds, sustains and homes us.

Lets speak about freedom.

Dancing, dancing, feet on the earth. The wind, she sings. Ocean breathes - the salty delicious resonance with the fluid body. Wind in her hair, sky in her face, mountainess shapes. Let’s speak about freedom. The soft whisper of the wind, the depths of the ocean, the movement of the tide, the waves undulating, flowing. The rhythms of nature, the rhythms within us. A child calling with wondrous insight “have you seen the gold?” It is present in the sands, coated rock formations of gold sparkling in the glorious sun. The ocean, she is us. Tidal flow, moon rhythms. A shell to our ear, the sound of lifeblood, earth music, flowing flowing, rhythm, rhythm, the primordial beat. Nerves and cells reaching to the depths of the earth from our fluid, electric bones and skyward like the trees that rise up and expand from roots of interconnected networks under the soil. We breathe in, we breathe out. Nature reciprocates. The endless expansion and contraction, inwards and outwards, up and down and all around - the energy of the earth flows through us and connects us.

Fires of transformation. The cleansing smoke, the wise plants. Nothing hides in the smoke, it cleanses, restores. The smoke reaches us and we receive the spirit of the trees.  When we get down to it, we cannot hide from ourselves, our connection to everything is what makes us alive. There is no knowledge greater than represented in the salt water whose constant movement, interaction, stillness within it and at rest on the sea bed is the fluid nature of our being. In the Gunnai and Maara languages - “Wayapa Wuurrk” Connect Country. Our earth connection is what feeds us, holds us, enlivens us. The salt water people, their spirit speaks.  As we connect to the earth, horizons expand endlessly as we open up to the listening, to the wisdom of ancestors and custodians. Our sorrow and healing is in the rains, our rage and transformation in the fires, our agitation and motivation is in the winds, our shock and enlightenment is in the electric storm, our fevers and nourishment is in the sun, our madness and insight is in the moon.  We of the living race, know our place. It is here, in the connection, in the feeling, in the acceptance and in the being. Feet on the earth, grounded we rise, expansive we connect, in stillness and listening, we know. This is our nature, our mother. 

With love,