by admin | May 12, 2026 | Articles, Newsletter
Angela recently came home from choir practice with a new song they had learnt as a warm up song. I was immediately engaged because of the line ‘You’re a holy place’, but also because it puts our planet ‘out there’ in front of us as a Whole to think about and marvel at.
This pretty planet spinning through space,
You’re a garden, you’re a harbour,
You’re a holy place,
Golden sun going down,
Gentle blue giant spin us around.
All through the night, safe ’til the morning light.
I learnt from Google that ‘It is a beloved children’s folk song written by singersongwriter Tom Chapin and John Forster that celebrates Earth’s beauty and fragility. It was designed to encourage environmental appreciation, serving as a gentle lullaby about the Earth as a “garden” and “harbour” that protects us while spinning through space. The song gained significant fame when it was used to wake up astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-96), including for astronaut John Glenn, emphasizing its theme of seeing the planet from space’.
I have for a long time believed the British astronomer Fred Hoyle’s prediction in 1948, ‘that a photograph of Earth from space would profoundly impact human consciousness’, a cognitive shift similar to that experienced by the astronauts who first viewed Earth from space. ‘They describe a profound sense of awe, a feeling of unity with the planet, and a heightened awareness of its fragility’.
This became more personal for me when I was driving my youngest daughter home from primary school one day, a long time ago. Her class had been watching a film about the planet as seen from space. As she watched she had the thought that she was down there somewhere, running around. The thought was accompanied by strong feelings. Not only was she self consciously aware she was ‘standing’ outside her planetary home, Earth; she was also ‘standing’ outside herself in that ‘home’. They had become objects for her reflection and thought, even as young as she was. She could think about a Whole that included her. Hoyle was right.
The two most iconic photos of Planet Earth are widely considered to be “Earthrise”, taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders in 1968, and “The Blue Marble”, captured by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972. Earthrise shows Earth appearing to rise over the lunar surface, while The Blue Marble is the first complete, clear view of the entire Earth from human hands.
Earthrise
The Blue Marble
We are looking at our planetary Home of which we are all part. We are down there somewhere, running around! We are no longer looking into the heavens with our feet on the ground, as human beings have done from ancient times. We are in the heavens looking down, down to where the whole human race and all of life has lived out its extraordinary story. A bird’s eye view perhaps, but we are where no bird has ever flown. A view from the moon perhaps, but there was a time when there was no moon. A scientific view perhaps, but experiences like goodness and beauty are not formally part of its bailiwick. Some of us might settle for ‘a god’s eye view’, or even a ‘God’s eye view’. But if not perhaps we can at least have a spaceship view from which we can watch in our imagination the passage from at least the beginning of our solar system and the formation of our planets. But better still, so much earlier than this even, from the Big Bang, the singularity that began our Universe and our solar system and our planet in the first place, the event that in fact gave us the time and space, or spacetime, that we all live in; the original singular event that began it all, and of which we are all part – all of us, everyone of us on this our planet. One planet, One story, One human race. We are all Earthlings together.
I am now not sure Fred Hoyle was right, or if he was, not everyone has heard the good news, particularly some of our world leaders. Perhaps they should all be put into spaceships and taken into space to look for themselves. Photographs are clearly not enough to affect their primary sense of identity. They are still primarily Russian, or American, or Israeli, or Iranian. That is no longer enough if we are going to survive as One human race on One little planet. Being human needs to be primary, Earthlings together. If we can all get over our egos and find a deeper foundation within ourselves we can make it. Perhaps the real battle going on is in our collective human consciousness, and perhaps small groups like the Elm Grove Sanctuary Trust have a role to play in moving that consciousness forward.
by Laurel Lloyd-Jones | May 12, 2026 | Newsletter
We have some wonderful news to share, especially with those who first became connected from having spent time with us in the Snowy Mountains of NSW at Elm Grove Sanctuary, Goobarragandra near Tumut, so many years ago.
This began a love affair of wonderment with this very special sacred space within the hearts of all those who immersed themselves in the beauty and connection through the natural world and community (common unity). Entering into the silence, walks, shared prayer, shared work, shared meals, and shared stories, people discovered kindred souls and a deeper connection to that Greater Consciousness that blesses us all.
Photo by Pete Swan
Elm Grove now has new and committed stewards with the Swan family, Sarah, Pete, Charlie and Ella, who arrived on February 6th this year to faithfully take Elm Grove into the future with love and deep commitment to God’s leading. They are welcoming people again in the spirit by which the Sanctuary was founded. I know that all who have loved Elm Grove down through the years will rejoice with us in gratitude for what hope, trust and prayer has brought forth. Thank you to all who have been holding this in your hearts and prayers over a length of time now.
On 12th March 2026, Edwin and I returned to our ‘spiritual home’ to meet in the flesh this very special family whom we had been communicating with for some months since Pete first contacted us. On the 13th March we held a simple blessing ceremony with Sarah, Pete, and their children, Charlie and Ella, in the St Francis nature chapel, canopied by the elms. We wished to extend our love and support for them as they take the Sanctuary forward in hope, love, and deep trust that our Creator is leading them in all their endeavours.
We acknowledged the sacredness of the place for the Indigenous people of the Wolgalu Nation, who over centuries have held a welcome in that place for many nations and tribes who came there to share together in sacred festivals. We honoured the Bahloo River which joins with the Goobarragandra River at Elm Grove – a sacred birthing place for the Wolgalu women. Its strong importance remains today for Indigenous women of Tumut and Brungle.
We recalled also the wonder and connection to the sacred found there by those for whom Elm Grove has been a source of rest, solace, encouragement and hope on their spiritual journeys over many years. We expressed our grateful prayers of thanks that a promise given to us before we left Elm Grove in 2001 is being realised in Sarah, Pete and their family in gratitude for their commitment to welcoming people in the future in a Spirit of Welcome for all who come in goodwill. We also gave thanks for Rhonda and Blair who carried this spirit of welcome forward during their lengthy stewardship.
We prayed: Give Sarah and Pete, Charlie and Ella your Grace to trust you completely for the unfolding of your Good Purposes for their lives in the opportunities and situations that they will face each and every day. Give them love and patience, and deep harmony to share with all who enter Elm Grove in the future.
In the beauty and silence of your creation we ask for the gift and guidance of the Spirit – ‘the One who goes to the depths of everything’ – to be with them to spread Hope and Joy for our troubled world.
We ask in the Spirit of the Christ,
Amen
The Candle of Hope was lit by us with this message – Elm Grove Sanctuary was founded on hope and deep trust in God’s leading. We believe that you have been called to this place, as promised to us by God, that this would be so. May the joy and example of deep trust be your gift to many in the future. New people will come to love this sacred place, that was chosen by God for a ‘Greater Plan’, as it has been loved by so many before you.
It was then passed on to Sarah and Pete with our love and in deep gratitude.
We feel assured that Elm Grove Sanctuary is in good hands and we will continue to hold the Swan family in love and prayer as they seek to share their own unique inspirations and creativity as they take Elm Grove forward for the Greater Good.
Please hold them in your thoughts and prayers as they have an enormous amount of restoration work to accomplish for the buildings, and the environs, enabling them to welcome guests. If you would like to offer any assistance with this work then I am sure Pete would love to hear from you. You may send me your messages and I will be happy to forward them on. My email is egstrust2@gmail.com
Sister Laurel Clare Lloyd-Jones LFSF
(Little Follower of St Francis)
by Laurel Lloyd-Jones | May 12, 2026 | Indigenous, Nature & Spirituality, Newsletter
Alice Williams is the (Former) Secretary, Brungle/Tumut Local Aboriginal Land Council.
A small piece of paradise is what most visitors to Elm Grove feel when they encounter the area for the first time. Our people occupied this little bit of paradise for many thousands of years.
It was and still is a special place for Aboriginal women and children. Where they connected spiritually with Mother Earth. Where they learnt to appreciate all aspects of their culture and appreciate the beauty and spirituality of the land.
Elm Grove is very sacred ground for the Wolgalu and is used often by the Aboriginal community to teach the young people respect for culture, the land and the interaction between the environment and people.
Once you encounter the spirituality of the area you often find yourself drawn back again and again. The spirit of the land has a powerful presence and offers the opportunity for deep reflection of one’s life path, a greater affinity within ourselves, and with Mother Earth.
Alice’s words written many years ago still hold the potent essence and importance of protecting and honouring the history of Elm Grove Sanctuary. Care for the deep spirituality of sacred places by hearts and minds that are open are indicators of our true humanity and connection to the wonders of the natural world of which we are an intricate part.
by Laurel Lloyd-Jones | May 12, 2026 | Nature & Spirituality, Newsletter
St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) viewed all of creation as interconnected through a shared Creator, calling natural elements and creatures “brother” or “sister”. His spirituality saw the material world not merely as resources to be used, but as a “joyful mystery” that reveals a Universal and Loving Divine presence. By cultivating a profound sense of kinship with all life, St. Francis anticipated modern ecological consciousness by over 800 years.
St. Francis was afire with love and passion for all of creation as evidenced in his historical journey across the battlefield of the Fifth Crusade in Damietta, where he met with Sultan al Kamil in order to promote peace and they parted on brotherly good terms. Francis’ writings from then on frequently refer to the value of peace-making.
In 2019 Pope Francis, following his namesake, met with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayab, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, in the United Arab Emirates: they signed a declaration of human fraternity and respect as a gesture of goodwill. Saint Francis’ promotion of ringing the Angelus bells three times daily across Europe, to encourage the faithful to pause for prayer, was inspired by his experience of the adhan (the Islamic Call to Prayer).
by admin | May 12, 2026 | Articles, Nature & Spirituality, Newsletter
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/soul-and-the-natural-world/
The modern and postmodern selves largely live in a world of their own construction and react for or against human-made ideas. While calling ourselves intelligent, we’ve lost touch with the natural world. As a result, we’ve lost touch with our own souls. I believe we cannot access our full intelligence and wisdom without some real connection to nature.
My spiritual father Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) spent many days, weeks, and even months walking the roads of Umbria and letting nature teach him. Francis knew and respected creation, calling animals, sun, moon, and even the weather and the elements his brothers and sisters. Through extended time in nature, Francis became intimately connected with non-human living things and came to recognize that the natural world was also imbued with soul. Almost all initiation rites – including those of Jesus and John the Baptist – took place in nature, surely for that reason.
Without such soul recognition and mirroring, we become alienated from nature and from ourselves. Without a visceral connection to the soul of nature, we will not know how to love or respect our own soul. Instead, we try various means to get God and people to accept us instead of experiencing radical belonging to the world itself. We’re trying to say to ourselves and others, “I belong here. I matter.” Of course, that’s true! But contrived and artificial means will never achieve that divine purpose. We are naturally healed in this world when we know things centre to centre, subject to subject, and soul to soul.
When God manifests spirit through matter, then matter becomes a holy thing. The material world is the place where we can comfortably worship God just by walking in it, loving it, and respecting it. Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be? When we can enjoy all these things as holy, “we experience the universe as a communion of subjects, not as a collection of objects,” as the “geologian” Fr. Thomas Berry said so wisely.
When we love something, we grant it soul, we see its soul, and we let its soul touch ours. We must love something deeply to know its soul (anima). Before the resonance of love, we are largely inattentive to the meaning, value, and power of ordinary things to “save” us and help us live in union with the Source of all being. In fact, until we can appreciate and even delight in the soul of other things, even trees and animals, we probably haven’t discovered our own souls either. Soul knows soul through love.
Fr. Richard Rohr
by Laurel Lloyd-Jones | May 11, 2026 | Articles, Indigenous, NEST, Newsletter
Such a privilege to have experienced this profound and deeply moving experience offered so graciously by Djinama Yilaga in a collaboration with Four Winds, at Barraga Bay near Bermagui NSW this Mother’s Day 10th May 2026.
The sharing of their personal stories brought forth recognition, grief, and such hope for the future with their closing ‘We Have Tomorrow and she looks good’. My lasting impression was the message – ‘we don’t carry the ashes – we carry the flame’. Their confidence, as they go forward, brings us all along on the journey of HOPE.
We congratulate them on their amazing success. It is with great appreciation that we offer our thanks to Djinama Yilaga for the sacred gift you gave us.
Djinama Yilaga ‘make happy’ in Dhurga language, is an intergenerational choir from the Far South Coast of NSW with singers aged from very young to ‘not so young’, united by a passion for song, culture and connection to Country, sharing stories and language of the Yuin nation through original music in Dhurga.
Together, they’ve created something truly special. From performances at Vivid Sydney, Parliament House Canberra, international performances in Poland and Washington, to commissions for the Art Gallery NSW and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, their journey is one of celebration, resilience, and community. They are inspiring the next generation to carry their cultural legacy forward.
Follow their beautiful music, cultural stories, and joyful moments as they bring Yuin language and Dreamtime stories to life through song: https://www.djinamayilaga.com.au/
Barragga Yangga. Photo by David Rogers.