JARM Library

Owning Your Own Shadow

Water has often been used as a symbol for the deepest spiritual nourishment of humanity. It is flowing in our time in history, as always, for the well is faithful to its mission; but it flows in some odd places. It has often ceased to flow in the accustomed sites and turned up in some most surprising locations. But, thank God, the water is still there.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. ... Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat.

A Room Of One's Own (Virginia Woolf)

But when I began to consider the subject in this last way, which seemed the most interesting, I soon saw that it had one fatal drawback. I should never be able to come to a conclusion. I should never be able to fulfil what is, I understand, the first duty of a lecturer − to hand you after an hour’s discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece for ever. All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point – a Woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved. I have shirked the duty of coming to a conclusion upon these two questions − women and fiction remain, so far as I am concerned, unsolved problems. But in order to make some amends I am going to do what I can to show you how I arrived at this opinion about the room and the money.

other quotes

A Girl's Guide to Personal Hygiene: To avoid ruining the moment by going to the loo, I like to subtly whip my tampon out just before sex. Pretty sure nobody notices. Not until they clean under their bed, anyway.

A Witches' Bible: Like many other witches and occultists, we have found Dion Fortune's unforgettable novel 'The Sea Priestess' (Aquarian Press, London, 1957) a goldmine of material for devised rituals and have benefited from the results.

Cheese Puffs: A pang of worry thumps inside my stomach, and I try to push this gnawing feeling that I've been having aside. But I can't help it. I check the calendar hung above my desk, decorated with stars and sheep, looking to the date of my last period. I always put a little "P" on the day I get it. I look for the "P" and see that it's been a little over two months since my last period. Two Months. I always get it right on time.

Contemporary TV Fiction – His First Bra: The funny part was that the training bra really made no difference in his figure. There were no breasts projecting, just a simple harness and a back clasp his inept fingers would learn to control. The woman said, "These are rather expensive, but they lay flat and don't leave the marks of a too-tight bra on his back or shoulders."

Five Go to Demon's Rocks: IT WAS a most exciting idea to think that the iron ladder in the great cement–lined shaft might possibly lead to the tunnel they had been into yesterday. Julian had seen water swirling at the bottom, when the tide was in – possibly if they went down it when the tide was going out, there would be no danger of being trapped!

From Woman to Woman - a gynaecologist answers questions about you and your body (1983): p81 What does the menstrual flow consist of? Primarily a mixture of blood, degenerated cells, and mucus. The blood that you actually pass (with the exception of a few clots) is almost entirely serum. The degenerated cells are fragments of the sloughed (shed) lining of the endometrial cavity, and the mucus (the sticky stuff) is an outpouring from the glands of the cervical canal.
p201 If visitors from outer space suddenly popped into one of our bookstores, they would soon be convinced that earth people, unlike other creatures of the universe, are equipped with only two bodily functions - eating and sex.
p286 Should you talk your partner into a vasectomy? Other than subtly suggesting that he could solve your birth control problem, the decision to have a vasectomy should be entirely his. If he can't volunteer cheerfully and willingly, forget it.

Llewellyn's 2022 Magical Almanac: Chocolate is famous as a sweet treat, but not many people know its magical side. It's also an entheogen, connecting the mortal with the Divine. Yes, chocolate is literally the food of the gods in some traditions! It has physical benefits, emotional benefits, and magical uses too.

Looking for Alibrandi: We live in Glebe, a suburb just outside the city centre of Sydney and ten minutes away from the harbour. Glebe has two façades. One is of beautiful tree–lined streets with gorgeous old homes and the other, which is supposed to be trendy, has old terraces with views of outhouses and clothes–lines. I belong to the latter. Our house is an old terrace.

Once Upon a Princess: Rosie gulped the water, then gave it to Olivia, pulling down her dress and brushing down the front of her. "Do I look okay? I'm not sure when I'll ever get over the fact your sister is Princess Alexandra and your parents are the Queen and Prince Hugo."
"They still have to pee and they both eat marmalade at breakfast - just remember that," Olivia said, taking her hand in hers again.

Shooting the Fox (Halligan, Marion): Would you like to see the fox I shot this morning, he said, as he opened the gate in the wall.
This is a particular form of words. It is not a question. You do not say no. It appears to be polite − would you − but it leaves no room.
I went and saw the fox. Exquisite red creature. It does not know yet that it is dead. Its eye is not dim, its brush is defiant. Soon it will droop and decay and know its own mortality.

Suddenly: She leaned forward and kissed me. Her lips moved softly across mine, but I wanted more. I slid my hands into her hair and deepened the kiss. ... She had her blinds open letting in the morning sunshine. I moved to the end of the bed. She followed me and was standing in front of me. I licked my lips nervously and looked up into her questioning eyes. "I want to give you something very special," I said and pulled my T-shirt over my head. Her eyes immediately dropped to my breasts covered by a white lacy bra. "I'm your birthday present."

Tales of The Curse: Before ovulation, the women's dreams involved activities in the outer world. But during menstruation, the dreams were almost uniformly inner–directed – of staying at home, taking care of the house, nesting. The psychological content of the dreams mirrors what was going on in the woman's body.

The Curse: The relief of finding that extra tampon in the glove box. ... Appreciating the first boyfriend who could buy tampons for me without dying of embarrassment.

The Ladies Room: If I wiggled again, Great-aunt Gert was going to sit straight up in that pale pink coffin and give me an evil glare the way she used to do when I was a child and couldn't sit still in church.

The Lord of the Rings: "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." This was unexpected and rather difficult. There was some scattered clapping, but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.

The Red Zone: I liked his bathroom. I didn't know that twelve months later I'd be painting the walls of it teal, that my blood clots would be on its floor. That I'd be bleeding in the shower, trying to calm my cramps in the claw-foot tub. I didn't know his daughter, Sadie, would be asking me to make her baths.

Watership Down: "My Chief Rabbit has told me to defend this run and until he says otherwise I shall stay here."
"His Chief Rabbit?" said Vervain, staring.
It had never occurred to Woundwort or any of his officers that Thlayli was not the Chief Rabbit of his warren.

Witchcraft for Daily Self-Care: One of the most important self-care practices for witches is protection. Protection can have many different meanings and purposes, from protecting one's energy and property to shielding oneself from external influences such as a negative work environment. It is simply about safeguarding yourself from outside forces and bolstering your self-confidence and independence by helping you create boundaries and develop the skills necessary to fend for yourself.

JARM Gazetteer

Adelaide: Capital of South Australia. Founded 1836 by free colonists from England, after the original invasion in 1788 that founded Sydney in New South Wales.

Dry Creek Explosives Magazine:

Mt Lofty:

Port Adelaide:

Port Wakefield: Originally known as Port Henry, was founded in the late 1840's as a port for copper from the mines at Burra. The SA Government gazetted the town in 1850 as Port Wakefield, with a view to opening up the mid-north for agriculture, although copper was the key commodity at the time. With the opening of the rail line through Kapunda, to Burra, copper was railed to Adelaide, leaving Port Wakefield to agricultural trade.
Gazetting of Port Wakefield: Harvard/Australian citation: 1850 'PORT WAKEFIELD, IN GULF SAINT VINCENT.', South Australian Gazette and Mining Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1847 - 1852), 13 April, p. 3. , viewed 03 May 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195939775
Copper shipment from Port Wakefield example: Harvard/Australian citation: 1850 'SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 22 April, p. 2. , viewed 03 May 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38441444

Stockade Quarry:

Torrens Island Quarantine Station: For clarity the references are not given, but the text is mine.
Torrens Island is located a little to the north-east of the Port Adelaide commercial centre. East of Lefevre Penninsula, across the Port Adelaide River.
Much of the island is mangrove and samphire marshland, with sanddunes on the west side. Access was by water only until a bridge was completed in 1962 at the southern end of the island. This bridge remains the sole road access in the present day (2024).
Historically the island has been used for farming, human and animal quarantine purposes, internment camps during the First World War, electricity generating stations, industrial sand extraction, dumping of waste, and environment conservation reserves. Currently, three power stations and a electricity grid-size battery on the island support the transition of Australia's electricity generation market to 100% renewable sources. Torrens Island has never been used for solely residential purposes.
The island is within the tribal area of the Kaurna indigenous people, who call the Port Adelaide area, Yertabulti, Land of Sleep / Land of Dead. Torrens Island is associated with location-specific cultural information, such as several Dreaming stories, and was used in the daily activities of the Kaurna people.
As can be seen from the above summary, Torrens Island has always been a place of human activity, and for Europeans, a place for activity not suited to highly populated areas. Such as quarantine stations.
Fourteen years after European settlement of South Australia began, Isaac Yeo began a dairy farm on the southern end of Torrens Island, where the AGL electricity generating stations now stand. He farmed there from 1850 to 1856 when the government authorities evicted him in order to establish the first quarantine station on the island. Isaac simply moved further north on the island and continued farming. In 1875 however, this farm was aquired by the state government to build the second, and existing (albeit closed now) quarantine station.
This facility opened about 1878, and the last major use was in 1954 when the passenger ship Strathaird reported smallpox aboard the ship. Hence every person arriving and leaving Torrens Island did so via the wharf. The Quarantine Station was closed in 1979 for human quarantine but continued in use for animal quarantine purposes until 2019.
A detailed flow chart exists showing how people moved through the quarantine facility - from arrival at the wharf to either "convalescence and discharge, or death". Only a small number of people died however, with most leaving again via the wharf.
An initial examination by medical staff sorted people into those with infections or those without. [...The latter, if considered immune, were released but kept under observation for a time. Otherwise if non-immune they were isola...]

Torrens River:

Witongga (Reed Beds): Witongga.

JARM Dictionary

depressogenic: something that acts to cause depressive responses.

Foucault, Michel: 1926-1984. French philosopher and political activist, whose work I came across during my psychology degree. His notions of power in society have been influential in thinking about my world. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault)

Freud, Sigmund: A name which kept popping up in my undergrad studies, both in psychology and sociology. Influenced Carl Jung.

Halligan, Marion: An Australian author whose work I came across while studying at the University of Wollongong. Born 1940 in Newcastle, New South Wales. Among other works, Self Possession, The Golden Dress, The Living Hothouse, and Shooting the Fox. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Halligan, accessed 29th Oct 2023)

loss, integration of: The process of accommodation, adaptation, and meaning-making, in response to loss, that makes the loss a part of the person's ongoing life rather than a barrier to ongoing living.

loss, primary and secondary: Primary loss: The loss that initiates, begins, the grief response. The specific loss that the person first reports. Secondary loss: Other losses linked in some way with the primary loss. Such as, changes in family structure, loss of family "memory" (stories /history unshared or unrecorded), or future hopes.

organismic:

Puberty Blues: An Australian coming of age novel by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey, set in the Cronulla / Sutherland Shire area of Sydney. Basis of the movie of that name, and a spin-off television series.

The Salvation Army: The church, that I now consider a sect, in which I grew up, before leaving in my mid-teen years. Members were required then to abstain from using tobacco products and consuming alcohol. The Salvation Army did not then practice Christening / Baptism and Communion, as common in other Christian churches.