Wizened Staff

Any traveler is wise to not travel alone, though some trails narrow but to a heart’s width, and other meant for solitude.  So, a seeker should always carry a staff – more than stout support for balance or protection, but friend that connects spirit to earth – and more.  If gaining understanding and wisdom is a goals of such journey, then the staff will serve more in concept – in concert with pouch and scroll as is commanded.  In this a staff represents the core values and perceptions by which you will stand – solid and firm, yet alive and changeable by else than whim.  As with its solid, wooden counterpart, this Wizard Staff can be appraised for strength, reach, flexibility and beauty.

 

STRENGTH –  a man’s staff of character and self contains a central core of unchangeable commitment to a measure of honor, integrity and principles that can withstand the assault of perversity and allure.  Around this is a more pithy surround of values and beliefs which cushions the frictions of daily life, and present a more resilient form for others to grasp – yet it is slightly vulnerable to change and sloughing away.  Around these cores of identity is a ‘thick skin’ for protection – perhaps amazing in texture and pattern, but essentially a barrier against casual assault on the inner cores.  Lovers and critters alike may attempt to ‘get under your skin’ – and learning to tell the difference is a test of compassion, empathy and fear.

 

REACH –  ‘tis said a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, but this must be tempered with reasoned judgment.  A ‘soul quest’ should never shuffle beyond the reach of ‘what brought you here’, nor aspire to more than can be integrated with ‘who you are’.  While you may probe into the unknown as if testing a bush for snakes, but then must serge backwards into memory for a fine braiding of new experience with the core of strength.  For proper Tegsh balance one should grasp the staff such that the wider ‘probing’ end is in relation to the shorter ‘serge’ section as ‘probe’ is to the entire ‘reach’.  In planning the probing should be into ‘what has come before, with the shorter end but an exploration of possibilities.  Thus the dream never draws beyond what the soul can balance.

 

“no future path might support that which your character cannot sustain, while those of whom mind and spirit are balanced in heart and earth will find any trail lined with fruit, and any dream a goal.”  the scrolls of Eskiyalı 

FLEXIBILITY –  just as a tree too rigid might break in the wind or be torn from stability for wand of deep roots of being, a staff must be able to sway in the breeze, or bend in mediation.  The vital center core will sustain, while values may yield and the skin peel away – for these can be healed, and scars seen as lines on the face of a crone.  But even a flexible shaft will lead to folly if only poked and jabbed in an aim lined based only on what has worked before.  You seeking must be allowed to swing about and vibrate a bit like a hound dog following a scent.  The balanced reach in tune with Phi will prevent the staff from being knocked from your will; while it can rebound from fruitless paths of yearning – always in motion, never still, as if conducting a symphony.

BEAUTIFUL – many would anoint their staff with aromatic oils, carve figurines and inscribe symbols such that a stranger might not know of this inner self.  But, as such perceived beauty is artificial, then information gained from strength or reach or flexibility may also prove feckless, and values changed on this accord but a delusion.  If instead you strive for an inner beauty founded in congruency, and ‘who you are’ and ‘who you are perceived to be’ show the same, then another may grasp your staff in confidence and pull you from the bitter swamps of complacency.  I assure you, my friend, that nothing is more beautiful in the march of time than a seeker open to any path, striding onward in measured step, with a solid staff both leading and following – forward two, back one, spin about and try again.

A Model Station 1874

 

Shearing the Rams by Tom Roberts
Born England 1856, Arrived Australia 1869, Died 1931

“Reaching Calwarro head station I found it in possession of its proprietor, Mr. W. J. Malpas, who renders me valuable assistance. I found in Calwarro water holes a resemblance to an inland lake, the wild fowls were in abundance; pelicans, swans, ducks, in search of prey, as the waterhole abounded with fish of all sizes.

The Black Swan who graced these waters.

In entering upon the survey of this run I found I had some intricate questions of boundaries to determine between Mr Malpas and his neighbours, Messrs Calder and Stephenson, of Thorlindah as well as Messrs Hood nad Torrance, of Currawynya, as their respective runs had been applied for from divergent points, and some clashing had taken place. The country as I advanced increased in interest, as countless billabongs diverged east and west, ten, twenty and thirty miles, forming magnificent lakes in the back country some four kilometres in diametre; so that as we camped on the banks whereon the waves were beating we could imagine ourselves upon the seashore. It was plainly evident that the country should never suffer from drought, where Nature had already done so much of the engineering in rendering cannalisation and easy process, and the outlet of the lakes practicable sites for effective embankments that would retain a permanent supply of water for many years. For although I was now witnessing the spectacle of well filled lakes after the good rains of 1874, the same lakes, in protracted drought, had been known to be quite dry, so that horseman could canter through their beds.

I spent an exceedingly pleasant three months in the survey of Calwarro, Currawyn and Thorlindah and the back country thereof. Carrawynya had been formed by Messrs Hood and Torrance, of whom Mr Torrance was the leading spirit. He was ably assisted by the young Hoods, nephews of the part-owner, who soon became as proficient as their tutor. Mr Torrance died whilst upon an overland journey, about three months before the run was surveyed, so I missed the pleasure of meeting him. However, I saw his work, which was a marvel of practical forethought - no fortunes frittered away, nor embarrassments engendered by the building of ornamental woolsheds - but awaiting the growth of the clip, he met the necessities of shearing by the expedient of bough sheds.

An Historic Bough Shed

Early dwellers built shanties for shelter and bough sheds for coolness. A primitive fridge was made by cutting a hessian bag down two sides and inserting two boards. This hung in the bough shed in the breeze and was used to set jellies and to keep honey and syrup away from the “hants”. Even meat and butter were kept in the bough sheds. A canvas water bag hung from one of the boughs and the water tasted good on a hot day. Lamps were made by stuffing a kerosene soaked rag in a bottle.

Horses, cattle, and sheep or throve exceedingly well, horses especially. Much of the country was polygnum flats, whereon the cattle throve amazingly, whilst on the mulga ridges sheep found herbage and grasses adapted for their sustenance judging by the superior meat and wool grown there.

During my rendezvous at Currawynya the station property, consequent upon the death of Mr Torrance, changed hands being purchased by Mr Wilson, of Victoria, whose sons Hector and Norman duly arrived to take possession in 1874. I found them capable young men of business.

When Hood and Torrance formed the station they improvised such buildings as met their necessities for dwellings, stores and sheds; but within the year preceeding my survey they had built a splendid mansion, with lofty rooms and als a detatched, composite building for store, dormitories, harness sheds etc.