The Building and Dedication of Casurina Peace Chamber

part of a presentation compiled by Junitta Vallak for the 2008 Sound Chamber Keepers’ and Chiefs’ Gathering, edited for the web by Stella Longland.

 

November 23rd 1985

 

Here I, Junitta, am beginning the ceremony for the pouring of the foundations of Casurina Peace Chamber and the Aboriginal blessing of the site.

 I had written the names of the four Archangels or our time – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel – on white card, and I placed each Archangel in its own direction in the foundations trench.  People also placed stones from sacred places in the trench.

 I had also written words of wisdom from all the faiths, creeds and religions of the world on cards, and each person was asked to place one of these in the trench.

 

Other people were invited to add their connections.  My intention was that the chamber was being built on words of wisdom to honour the sacred energies of the earth in this location.

 

I had asked my Aboriginal friend Gnarnarjarrah Waitarie, who is an elder of the Indjibundi tribe in Western Australia, to sing and dance the chamber site land to honour the Spirit of the previous Aboriginal custodians who were still present in spirit.  

 As Gnarnarjarrah continued dancing, one of the people present ‘saw’ and ‘heard’ … ‘a stream of Aboriginal spirit people coming from the south west, they spiralled around the hill where the chamber was being built creating a great corroboree’.  As he continued dancing, a great wall of spirit Aboriginals came and joined in, dancing and moving in time.  They were spectacularly dressed in red, yellow, turquoise, and purple, and they moved in waves like a vast living form.

 Gnarnarjarrah had brought his Mother and many relatives along, and, as his Mother’s voice sang an accompaniment to his dance, the vast Spirit corroboree repeated the sound down the valley to the four directions.

We found out that this gigantic spiritual corroborree would continue until the foundations were completed and that all the tribes in Australia were represented.

 We had achieved a great celebration encompassing two worlds through the use of sound and our intentions to bring peace and healing for the Earth Mother and all who live on her.

 

Here I am explaining about Joseph’s vision to the Aboriginal people and others who were present.

 

 

Here I am pouring the first wheelbarrow load of cement into the foundations.  In the far left is my unfinished house. 

 

 

We completed the foundations and as the vast Spirit corroboree danced off towards the south east, Gnarnarjarrah danced with them as the sun was going down.

 

 

Casurina continued to develop and this aerial photo taken in the 90’s shows the chamber far left, the Alcheringa Lodge, and my house with orchard, vegetable area and chook house.  Use of biodynamics, organic methods and solar power were introduced.

 

 

 

 

 A view of the chamber with the Alcheringa Lodge behind it.  This Lodge, based on the octagonal shaped Navajo Hogan, has a whirled log dome.  It was used as a communal gathering place as well as accommodation.  Casurina Peace Chamber was the fourth chamber to be completed.

 

 

 

 

In the finished chamber the mosaic in the center incorporated the four directions; four canopic jars representing the underworld, four Rainbow Serpents spiralling into the sipapu (the sacred hole in the floor), and, on the outer edge, the 12 signs of the Zodiac complete the design. 

I had left the earth bare in the center of the mosaic so that when the Aboriginal healing crystal was connected into where the two ley lines crossed, it would activate long dormant energies. 

Over 100 people attended the Ceremony of Dedication which took place on the day of the harmonic convergence, 17th August 1987.

Over the years, there were dozens of activities, ceremonies, workshops and hundreds of people visiting. 

In 1999, one of the special visitors was Dael Walker who brought his crystal skull, called Rainbow, to the chamber.  I always received guidance in the chamber, but when I was ‘told’ to put Rainbow on top of the central crystal I was very hesitant and nervous. 

Fortunately Dael was quite unfazed and Rainbow sat there very contentedly and my nervousness evaporated.  

 

 

Dael called the skull Rainbow because of the many beautiful rainbows that could be seen within it.

 Rainbow had acquired a body and was quite happy to stay put. 

Alas, Dael had to continue on his journey, and couldn’t be persuaded to leave Rainbow behind.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of Joseph with Olga Perewersew outside the chamber at Casurina during the second Chamber Gathering in 1999.  Without Olga, there would never have been an Australian chamber as she connected me to Joseph.  There are not enough words to describe how important her role was in supporting the peace chambers worldwide but this is another story.  She was a healer and the Grandmother of the Casurina Chamber.  Olga passed on in 2006, she was 96 and her Spirit lives on.