RONZITTIART
Jubura ~ Fern Pool
Jubura ~ Fern Pool
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I want to give my sincere thanks to the lands of Karijini ~ I felt the beauty, love and significance of such and appreciated homeland to the Indigenous here. To the Banyjima, Yinhawanagka and Kurama people (and any others that may not have been named/mentioned from the information I gathered at the visitor centre) I acknowledge your connection to country and for being the custodians here for thousands of years. My heart bows in gratitude.
Jubara/Jubura is a culturally significant site for the Banjima people, traditionally considered a women's place and linked to the Dreamtime creation story of the Creator Serpent. also known as Fern Pool, a stunning, accessible swimming spot located in Ngirribungunha (Dales Gorge) within Karijini National Park, Western Australia.
TRANSMISSION: *My personal connection to the waters
I am of stellar origins,
with silky, pearl white iridescent frequencies that shimmer through my translucent form,
I am of the lunar Grandmothers and the waters of Earth.
I am consciousness made manifest in the living form of nature.
Barren is washed away,
Unyielding voids of your womb,
I bring peace back to you.
I hold you in my diamond heart,
Prismatic rainbow healing light,
I share my fertility with you,
that has dwelled here since you were in form of astral dust.
I present the knowledge and wisdom of the grandmothers back into your physical body as my water is absorbed into your skin,
I anoint your spiritual body,
invoking a divine consecration,
I sing to your soul,
All of you is whole.
I am with you,
your blood carries me,
Forever within you and your children.
held strong,
held gently,
held in eternity.
Arriving at Fern Pool is truly a spiritual experience. There’s a mystical otherworldly ethereal walk to get there from Jubula (Fortescue Falls), about five minutes. The ground is softer, the air fresher, the life force was gentle.
The walk is sublime, mostly shaded by the abundance of gorge trees. Rock fig trees cling to the ledges, their roots stretching down towards the bare earth. I hadn’t heard the flying foxes until walking this trail — a whole family hung from the great silver paperbarks, squabbling and fussing over something unseen.
Along the way, I couldn’t help but be absorbed by the lush density of the maidenhair ferns soaking up the moisture between the narrow rock fissures. Their green was so luminous, so full of vitality, it was as if I could see the colour radiating faintly off the leaves themselves ~ their aura in soft lights. To see a plant thriving so wildly in its natural home was breathtaking; I’d only ever seen them trying to exist as pot plants in people’s homes.
Finally, after taking our time immersed in the walk, we arrived at the pool and wow. It opened before us like a holy, peaceful, feminine sanctuary. I felt an instinctive urge to bow to her, a natural reaction to her beauty and the overwhelming presence of peace.
Gaynor and I stood there in total bliss, in awe of the gift we’d been given to witness that morning. We sat quietly on the bench in the shade, and for several minutes, I don’t remember us speaking at all..
I got up to introduce myself to the water which just only the day before did I write down the information from the visitors centre in my sketchbook on how to acknowledge the waters here and keep the spirits happy.
WURRUKARRA “Ngatha ngurara. Mirda ngarranybilarda”
~ Greeting the water ~
In a time known as Nhulyugarnu, when the earth was sodt, great serpents called Thurru moved through the country creating rivers, streams and carving out the gorges of Karijini. The pool above Fortesue falls is known as Jubula. Circular pool is called Walhibindiminha. The snakes still live in the waterholes and pools, and care should be taken not to offend them. Entering the gorges should be undertaken with great respect. When the Indienous would travel through country, elders always go first to show their respect by calling to the spirits in the land. They sing out to country to say who they are and where they have come from. They let the spirits know that they belong there, “greeting by the water” by taking a mouthful and spraying it into the air.
Darren Injie - Yinhawangka language group member:
“ you must always do it when you come to the waterhole. People ask me why do aboriginal people do it, and I ask them, why do people say grace?”
Deepest reverence to this sacred ground. Barefoot, I walked to the water’s edge, scooped the water into my hands, touched it to my mouth, sprayed it into the air, and introduced myself.
“Hi Jubura, my name is Sabrina. I have come here from Perth, Noongar Country in the south. I stand here with great respect and reverence for your land and waters. I come in peace, asking permission to be here today and to swim in your waters.”
Within seconds, a snake scurried across the top of the water toward me with a gentle gust of wind. I already had tears in my eyes but this was the most beautiful acknowledgment from the land. Welcomed I felt..
I knelt, cupped my hands to hold a small portion of water, and carried it to Gaynor waiting at the top of the bank. She repeated the process with equal care.
For about 45 minutes we sat together, sketching, listening, and receiving transmissions from this waterhole. I was given a new language of patterning for my art — milky, silvery, fluid symbols that seem to hold the energy of Aluna. Aluna is the living consciousness of nature found in the water. Gaynor said " The library of Aluna was right here"
It's intelligence, it's magic, flowed directly into my bloodstream. I could feel it changing me.
While swimming, I couldn’t stop smiling or feeling so free. I duck-dived again and again, as deep as I could, wanting to disappear beneath the surface of this pool. When I peered down at my feet while upright, all I saw were beams of white light streaming in strobes to the abyss. No sight of the ground, only light and water moving together in a liquid-y synergetic pulse.
Surfacing midway across the turquoise waters, I flipped onto my back and floated. Above me hung the gorgeous white barked river eucalyptus trees with their leaves just touching the water. White cockatoos nestled among their branches, while the ripples of the water reflected on the escarpments. How enchanting, how anointing this was.
A timeless place.
I heard the words: “Spin backwards three times.” Without knowing why, I did it. That day Gaynor didn’t swim. If moments can change our life, this was one. Immersed in these waters, it happened: I swam alone beneath the waterfalls and met the innermost, long-pushed-away part of myself. Divine Mother.
We arrived here, at Fern Pool on Day Three of our journey, after spending much time working on the land. Jubura felt like the place where everything came together. The first day we walked to Walhibindiminha (Circular Pool) which is where we began our work as divination artists, channels. Gaynor and I sang to the land, she brought her guitar into the gorge like the total legend she is. She hiked with it for almost 8 hours, a true rockstar. Gaynor is an incredible singer, song writer and plays many different instruments, she listens to the wisdom of the earth, sky, galactic and inter-dimensional worlds. Her music is relatable to all and is deeply healing. She wanted to play a song to the land before we swam in the water. When we got in the water and it was Icy cold, dark in the shadows of the large towering rocks. We floated and kept getting pulled into each other like magnets. There was a time when floating that I felt my soul start vibrating out of my body and all of my physical body was non existent. Floating in what would be deaths presence is what i told myself when I came back to my body. Me and Gaynor both felt like we left our bodies and shared our experiences as we sat on a small waterfall ledge.
Day 1 was the day of death, cold waters and energy moved through us ~ This is a whole story in itself that I will leave for now, the above is a small portion of this day.
Day 2 we went to Joffre Gorge and walked a dry riverbed on the day of the equinox. Unknowingly we did this and kept describing this day as “walking in a spiritual desert” It was odd feeling all day of being in between, seeing dried gorges and dead plants from lack of water. We did “:work” here too, singing and placing light, intention and healing into a Lumerian quartz crystal Gaynor brought. We left it with the land sealed in the rocks.
It was day 3 that we made it to Ferns. Just to add the context on the 3 days.
Day 1 - Death Walhibindiminha
Day 2 - In-between Jijingunha
Day 3 - Resurrected Jubura
We returned the following day back to Ferns Pool, Thursday the 25th. This time Gaynor swam with me. Floating together, listening to our hearts pulsing in the water, the early afternoon light made the pool shimmer in shifting colours. A sparkling golden light danced atop the deeper, darker waters.
I look at Gaynor and she says “Oh my God, I feel like I’m being pulled backwards, like I need to spin backwards."
I told her this had happened to me the day before, how I’d done three backward rolls in the water without understanding why. We were both surprised, but in a good way, and she did her three backward spins as well. It made her pretty dizzy though and I had to hold her up in the water afterwards till she came good again.
We still don’t fully understand why we got pulled to do this, but perhaps one day we’ll crack the code of three spinning backflips in water. What we do know is that the synchronicity felt deeply relevant. A mini reassurance that, individually, we hear the land and the messages from Spirit in the same way.
I gathered a small amount of dirt. I asked her (Jubura) if I could please use a little amount to paint a painting with and tell the story that I experienced here.... and with a familiar feeling of acceptance I scooped up a handful, wrapped it in paperback, put into a small bag, said thank you so much and both left.
That is what the base of this painting is, the ground from Fern Pool.
