I see the moon and the moon sees me… · Summary of research ... Fellow Traveller ... I see the moon and the moon sees me

I see the moon and the

moon sees me…

Reflective Practice and Parent-Child

Mother Goose

Joan Quagliana

ABSTRACT

I see the moon and the moon sees me—reflective practice and Parent-Child Mother

Goose®

The Parent-Child Mother Goose® Program (P-CMG) is a supported playgroup model

using song, rhyme, finger play and storytelling to enhance the bond between parents

and young children. It began in Toronto, Canada in 1986 and in Australia in 2003. This

popular program runs in Melbourne, country Victoria as well as the ACT. I work with

families in the program as well as training others to run programs throughout

Australia.

To date, research has centred on outcomes for children and families, but not on the

qualities needed in a P-CMG teacher. Using artmaking, collecting keywords and

symbol work, my research is based on an art installation which depicts the experience

of a family in the group.

Drawing from painting, journaling and songwriting, I present an autoethnography of

the process of investigating the practice and values involved in being a P-CMG teacher.

Seven voices emerged from this process, using input from stakeholders to amplify and

clarify the voices. These voices could help inform present discussion regarding

establishing both identification of best practice and methods of mentoring in the

newly established P-CMG regional office in Australia.

My autoethnography also shows how families interact with each of these seven voices,

ending by identifying the progress of the P-CMG program and how the seven voices

can aid its future development.

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare

1. This research paper comprises my original work except where

indicated in the preface.

2. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other

material used.

Name: Joan Quagliana

Signature:

Date: 11 June, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all of the people who have supported me on my Mother Goose

journey so far; firstly Knox City Council that has supported the program by dreaming it

into being and providing the hard work to make the dream a reality. Next, I want to

thank the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program (P-CMGP) in Canada that trained me

and supported us to set up a training program here in Australia. I also want to thank

my co-trainers who have broadened my experience of training. In addition, I want to

acknowledge the guidance of the “Inc”—the regional Parent-Child Mother Goose

advisory group for their support and interest.

Mainly, I want to thank my co-researchers: co-workers, parents in our P-CMGP here at

Knox, teachers and child care staff and friends I got a lot more out of it than you did,

but thanks for all your interest and encouragement.

Finally, thanks to MIECAT staff and students, and especially to our supervision and

mutual support groups. The staff have contributed mightily to whatever growth has

happened for me, but the intersubjectivity of working together has made it real.

June, 2011 Melbourne

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXPLANATORY NOTES ABOUT THE RESEARCH .............................................................................. 6 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 7 MIECAT VALUES .......................................................................................................................... 21

Starting with experience ........................................................................................................ 21 Being multimodal ................................................................................................................... 21 Valuing emergence ................................................................................................................ 24 Intersubjectivity ..................................................................................................................... 24 A personal note on co-creation and intersubjectivity ........................................................... 27

OTHER METHODOLOGICAL INFLUENCES .................................................................................... 28 PROCEDURES FOR THE RESEARCH .............................................................................................. 30

End of year presentation........................................................................................................ 37 Summary of research ............................................................................................................. 41 Voices with which to dialogue ............................................................................................... 43 Groups with which to inquire ................................................................................................ 44 Special concerns in researching with parents and families—issues of co-research .............. 45

RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................................................................. 46 Research with parents ........................................................................................................... 46

Part 1 ................................................................................................................................. 46 Part 2 ................................................................................................................................. 49

Other research methods ........................................................................................................ 51 Using the goose outline ......................................................................................................... 52 Toward the seven voices ........................................................................................................ 53 Coloured hexagons................................................................................................................. 54 The last phase of the research ............................................................................................... 56 The belly of the turtle ............................................................................................................ 59 Intersubjective responses ...................................................................................................... 62 Marrying the two sets of data ................................................................................................ 64

THE SEVEN VOICES ...................................................................................................................... 65 Firebird ................................................................................................................................... 66 Golden .................................................................................................................................... 68 Moon/Mother ........................................................................................................................ 70 Drover/Trail Boss .................................................................................................................... 72 Wise Woman/Storyteller ....................................................................................................... 74 Visionary ................................................................................................................................. 76 Fellow Traveller ...................................................................................................................... 78

THE REST OF THE TURTLE ............................................................................................................ 80 The legs of the turtle .............................................................................................................. 81 The tail of the turtle ............................................................................................................... 82

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 84 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 85 APPENDICES: side trips ................................................................................................................ 86

A: Siobhan steps out ............................................................................................................. 88 B: Tortuga’s journey .............................................................................................................. 91 C: Research documents ....................................................................................................... 105

I see the moon and the moon sees me…

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EXPLANATORY NOTES ABOUT THE RESEARCH

This research is offered not only as fulfilling a requirement for the MA in Creative Arts

Therapy but also as a reflection on my practice as a teacher and trainer in the Parent-

Child Mother Goose Program (P-CMGP). For a description of the PCMGP see p 9. In

this research the metaphor is a constant tool; some metaphors are understood within

the PCMG community, while others developed during the research. Here is a short

explanation of some of them:

Weaving the web (or net):

Creating, maintaining and expanding connections between the group members are

important parts of the work we do in P-CMG. Weaving helps describe this active

process of bringing families together using the principles of the PCMGP.

The web: The web or net itself became a metaphor for intersubjectivity (see p 24).

The hexagon: Starting from a central hexagon, this web is woven by fitting other

hexagons around it. Hexagons fit together snugly and expand in an oval pattern. This

reflects the PC group formed around the central idea of PC principles.

The turtle: Put 7 hexagons together and you have a turtle’s back or shell. The research

pointed me towards a description of voices or ways of being as a P-CMG teacher using

the metaphor of the turtle.

In the introduction to this inquiry I will begin with another metaphor, that of a journey

through time. It ties together many instances through history of weaving the web,

including those in a PCMG group.


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INTRODUCTION

Climb aboard the time machine with me and travel back to ancient Turkey—to Çatal

Hüyük in 6000 BCE where we can be part of a full moon ritual. Journey with me into a

network of limestone caves until we find the ritual space. People are seated in a circle,

waiting for a woman to begin the ritual. Children wander in and out of the group as

they choose, often spending some time on a parent’s lap before setting off to explore.

The woman charged with presiding over the ritual does not lead so much as hold the

space so that the people can all find their voice to connect with the Mother. She helps

the group invoke the energy of the moon, to connect with Her and with each other.

Take the time machine on another journey. Again a woman holds the space, this time

for herself and other women. It is the dark moon, the bleeding time, and the women

honour the changes in their bodies by celebration, separation and introspection. Again

they sit in a circle, sing, consult the oracle, meditate and share food, conversation and

laughter. The time machine this time was set for 12 July, 2010 and the place was

suburban Melbourne here neo-pagan women come together for a Moon Lodge in Box

Hill.

Go back in time again, to a longhouse of the Seneca tribe, part of the League of the

Iroquois. No tipis here, for the snow falls and the wind blows cold for almost half of

the year. It is the dead of winter and there is little game to hunt. The deer hide that

was tanned in the autumn is ready to be made into garments; cooking pots need to be

repaired and even the lacrosse nets need to be restrung. The people stay near the fire

that burns to keep them warm—they know the phase of the moon by reckoning, since

the sky is clouded over most of the time. Days are short, and during the long nights

the storytellers practice their best tales—explaining the mysteries of the world and

teaching the children how to live in harmony with the Earth.

The next journey is to an old church hall in urban Toronto in Canada in autumn of

1986. Two women lead this circle of women, each bringing a baby to sit on their lap.


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Holding the space this time means leading the women in song, rhyme and story. They

strive to deepen the connections between the women and their children using the

words of the songs and rhymes, but more importantly through the creation of shared

emotional experience. They seem to invoke the Hopi goddess Spider Woman, who is

credited with creating Mother Moon; they are weaving a safe space like that of Çatal

Hüyük or Box Hill of sharing, allowing and reflecting together. We are witnessing the

creation of the very first Parent-Child Mother Goose (P-CMG) Program.

They teach a song:

I see the moon and the moon sees me

Down through the leaves of the old oak tree

Please let the moon that shines on me

Shine on the ones I love

Over the mountains, over the seas

Back where my heart is longing to be

Please let the moon that shines on me

Shine on the ones I love.

As the moon revealed her light in Çatal Hüyük and her dark side at the Moon Lodge, so

too did she invite the women in this P-CMG program to a space of reflection, sharing

and laughter. The mothers touch the baby’s face as they bring them in to greet the

moon with a rhyme:

The moon is round as round can be

Two eyes, a nose and a mouth, like me!

Like the net of stars that are the seven sisters, the Pleiades, sitting in the night sky

above Çatal Hüyük or the web that Hopi Spider Woman weaves in the Moon Lodge, or

the tale that the storytellers weave around the fire in the Seneca longhouse, the

Parent-Child Mother Goose teachers are weaving a web of connection—between

parent and child as well as between each parent, child and teacher. They weave new


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connections or synapses in the child’s brain through the interactive learning which is

taking place.

I invite you on one more journey in the time machine—to last Wednesday (or even

next Wednesday) where we meet the Knox Parent-Child Mother Goose Program.

Every Wednesday morning in term time, about 10 families come together with our two

teachers and a program assistant to share space, experience, music, stories and

laughter (along with a snack) in this phenomenon which continues to be called the

Parent-Child Mother Goose Program

I invite you to continue the journey with me. I have yet to go to Çatal Hüyük, but

revelled in the Moon Lodge in Box Hill and I was born on the land where the Seneca

longhouse once stood. I was lucky enough to go on a journey of reflection and

discovery with some of the wise women who started the P-CMG Program in Toronto. I

want to take you with me on the journey backward and forward—back to how P-CMG

began (and what it is and is trying to achieve), then forward to its place in Australia in

2011 (and how it adapted to the Australian landscape along the way), as well as some

crystal gazing into where it might go in the future.

In particular, I have taken the invocation of the moon literally, and focused on the idea

of reflective practice and the P-CMG teacher as a way of looking at the program—what

happens when a group of (mainly) women and their infant children come together to

share song, rhyme and story. What are the qualities and even underlying values that a

teacher brings to a PCMG program which can best support the families in her group?

What makes an effective PCMG teacher?

I am taking the opportunity to tell this story as my MA research at the Melbourne

Institute of Experiential and Creative Arts Therapy (MIECAT) using some aspects of the

MIECAT form of inquiry.

It seems appropriate to inquire into an experiential program using a post-modern,

qualitative framework. This inquiry takes the form of an autoethnography—a


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collection of reflections on my roles as a P-CMG teacher and trainer. It takes place

using the MIECAT form of inquiry, answering three key questions in relationship to my

role as teacher and trainer of the Mother Goose program

What do I think I know?

How did I come to know it?

What might I do with what I have come to know?

This was done through using procedures such as description, amplification,

reduction…. (see p 47-60 for further explanation of these procedures).

I recognise that I am part of the story to be told, so I choose an autoethnography to tell

the tale. A more complete description of autoethnography, can be found on p. 28).

I am looking at the many facets of this program that I have yet to describe through my

journals, poems, installations and art pieces as a starting point. This begins the auto

portion of the autoethnography. But ethnographic investigation also takes the form of

an inquiry with others who can provide different points of view on qualities of an

effective P-CMG teacher.

A word about language is in order. After years of endeavouring to use gender inclusive

language (even conventions such as s/he, people instead of men and to staff a booth or

display rather than to man it) I have opted for the more accurate approach of referring

to P-CMG teachers as she or her, and referring to parents in the same way. Most of

the PCMG teachers and many of the parents are female. Most of the organisers and

all of the present board members are female, so not only the group members but

those who have constructed its organization feel to me to be best described using

female pronouns.

But it is not just words that I offer you on this journey. Just like the worshippers in

Çatal Hüyük and the people of the longhouse, words are only part of what is brought

to the circle. Songs and images, stories and myths helped connect the people to the

Moon, the Earth and the Mother; I bring these art forms to tell some of my story. For


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thinking is only one way of entering the space, and a weak way at that—knowing

through an image, a poem, a song, a story or a painting can strengthen and deepen

your understandings, so I offer all to you now.


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The Web of Community (and Connection)

So, in each of these situations people sat in circles and used rhyme, narrative, song and

storytelling to connect them. It is the jewelled net (or web) of connection.

in the caves in Anatolia

in the suburban house at Box Hill

around the winter fire on the Southern shore of Lake Ontario

on the floor in a church hall in Toronto (the Northern shore of Lake Ontario)

on the floor in an early parenting centre in Knox in suburban Melbourne


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Whether it was 6000 BCE or last month or 1500 A D or next week, the connection that

all these people weave together has the same sort of pattern. The pattern is also

reflected in the stars in the constellation of Pleiades, the Seven Sisters or the Jewelled

Net (Leeming & Page, 1994) and the rhythm and connection of reciting a rhyme or

telling a story in a group.

Look at the pattern—start anywhere. I created the large blue hexagons to represent

members of a community that arrange themselves in a sort of web—their sides

parallel each other, blossoming out from a central place or converging from the edges

toward the interior. They don’t quite touch, but the small golden hexagons provide

the link that holds them together. This hexagonal web, made of individuals but

connecting together like a web to become stronger, is another way to depict the P-

CMGP as is the description in the final words of a song:

“…the circle extends to the stars and goes on forever.” (Rule, 2007)

I then began to look at the components of this web. If together they formed a

community, what might their individual voices be? The voices and the ideas behind

them were part of my inquiry at the beginning of my MA. They are described in more

detail on p 16. I investigated the voices as a way of describing qualities of teaching or

being with others. At times we embody one quality, sometimes more than one. Most

of us have one or two qualities that are less explored. I then began to represent each

of the 7 ways of being I explored as states in a country. What follows is the “mud

map” of what I have named the “New Turtle Nation”--the country which describes

these voices or ways of being a P-CMG teacher (and later Early Childhood Educator). A

mud map as every country Victorian knows, is a rough sketch of how to find a rural

location. (For more of the turtle’s adventures, see Tortuga’s Journey, Appendix B.)


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Figure 1 The Turtle mud map


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Yes, it is a turtle! The map is on its back. And now that you have an idea of the shape

of the land, let me name the regions. Remember that each region is my understanding

of a quality or voice of being a Parent-Child Mother Goose Teacher. The seven ways of

being that we are visiting are:

So this is the “political” map, with the boundaries and names attached. .It retains the

shape of the net or web. I then composed this chart to describe what my research was

revealing about each of the voices of a P-CMG teacher. It formed part of an article I

wrote about my research for the P-CMG community (Quagliana, 2010). I used this

chart with P-CMG teachers and early childhood educators to validate, amplify and

clarify these voices or ways of being as relevant and useful to reflection of what it

means to be a teacher—how (and who) are we when we teach. See pp 54ff for

specifics.


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Seven Voices of a Parent-Child Mother Goose® Teacher

Firebird is the one who lights the spark towards children’s learning and

family support. Revels in the wonder of a child’s discovery, and

actively looks for ways to make it happen.

Golden Girl stays “in the moment” with children and can be fully

present to them. She is a young surfie chick who stays in the present

moment and can listen to what children are saying and intuitively

decide what to do next.

Moon mother is about the maternal bond, feelings, memories.

She is the one who sings lullabies and rocks children to sleep, kisses

their hurts and makes them better.

Drover/trail boss was originally called the teacher or trainer. The one

who guides the group, sets up camp and keeps everyone on track.

Wise woman/storyteller is the quiet wisdom of the group. The old

wise woman, she goes back to basics; tells stories rather than reads

books and can settle children by the strength of her presence. The

grandmother energy.

Visionary can see farther than the others—has a vision for what she

wants for the group. Sets up policies, builds environments so that her

philosophy can be realised. This may be a long term proposition, but

she slogs away at it with the end in mind

Fellow traveller is empathic with the families, understanding that we

are more alike than we are different. Uses family centred practice and

strengths based initiatives. Values diversity and runs an inclusive

program. Is egalitarian.

Table 1 Voices for co-inquiry Taken from Quagliana, 2010


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Background

Since I have already briefly mentioned Mother Goose, let me attend to her first.

Parent-Child Mother Goose® (P-CMG) is a supported playgroup model. A supported

playgroup is a group of families of preschool children who come together on a regular

basis in a children’s playroom with staff support. Thus the children and their play is

the vehicle for families coming together. This is the basis of community playgroups,

which gather and support each other, but a supported playgroup has the added aspect

of trained staff to support parents in their interactions with their children and each

other.

Parent-Child Mother Goose, begun in 1986 in Canada, uses the deceptively simple

vehicle of song, rhyme, finger play and storytelling to enhance the connections

between parents and children. Originally set up for families at risk of abuse or neglect,

the program grew from one group in urban Toronto to an international organisation of

thousands of participants.

A very simple description of their values is contained in these three words:

Cuddle, communicate, connect.

Cuddle refers to the use of multimodality by using touch, movement, rhythm and

cadence to help parents experience ways of being with their children that are mutually

enjoyable and lead to a desire for more of this experience. Touch connects, and taking

the time and being led to use this touch helps encourage parents to continue to touch

in their daily contact with their children. Touch also encourages children to ask for

enjoyable rhymes and songs even when they are not able to speak their desires.

Parents soon learn that a child putting out their foot is asking for “Shoe the wild horse”

a well-loved P-CMG foot rhyme, and putting out a palm is a request for “Round and

round the garden”.

Communicate refers to a few things: the improved language abilities that we note in

the children in our program, the anticipation in a child’s eyes as she knows she is going


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to go for a big, bouncy rhyme, and the affection and non verbal communication that a

parent is invited to engage with her child in saying “Acka backa soda cracker, I love

you” when the action is to cuddle their child.

Connect does not just refer to the deepening connection felt between parent and child

in the group, but also to the connection parents feel for each other, each other’s

children and the teachers who facilitate the group. One of the parents told us, “I love

Mother Goose because I don’t have to pretend, and I don’t have to explain.” The

group celebrates successes and shares woes, gets together when the scheduled group

is on holiday, shares recipes and comments on clothes, children’s milestones and

holiday destinations.

Another way to look at Parent-Child Mother Goose values is to consider the document

“At the heart of the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program.” Each of the seven

principles are summarised here:

1. Teaching is directed to the adults. The children participate as is appropriate…

2. Activity focuses on interactive rhymes, stories, and songs, all presented orally…

No toys or objects are used.

3. Storytelling is an integral part of the Program with the stories being chosen and told for the

enjoyment of the adults…

4. The pace is slow and relaxed with plenty of time for repetition of material and casual discussion of

issues and questions that arise. The atmosphere is accepting and supportive, with the intention of

building the confidence and comfort level of all participants, and creating a feeling of community and

mutual support within the group.

5. Each program has … two trained P-CMG teachers who share all teaching duties and take time

together after each session to discuss their observations of the interactions within the group, and to

plan the next meeting based on their observations and the needs of the participants.

6. Groups are small enough to ensure that the needs of individuals as well as of the group as a whole

can be met.

7. The Program is aimed at families in need of support for any of a variety of reasons.

It is a free program.

At the Heart of the Parent Chld Mother Goose Program 2005


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As you read further it will hopefully become evident that the important processes of

MlECAT (see pp 21-26) resonate well with Parent-Child Mother Goose. These

processes include intersubjectivity, co-construction, multi-modality, emergence,

resonance and the importance of experience as a starting point for learning as

examples.

Parent-Child Mother Goose has two kinds of programs. The first is the babies program

(children between birth and two years of age) and the second, the toddler’s program

(children from two and a half to four years of age). The particular P-CMG group I am

involved in is a babies’ group. Our group, the Knox Parent-Child Mother Goose

Program, is auspiced by Knox City Council. Knox is a local government authority in the

south east of Melbourne, with a population of about 110,000 people. The percentage

of home ownership in Knox is above average, and while the proportion of overseas

residents is increasing, the most prevalent migrant group is still from the UK. While

Knox often is above the median for socio-economic status, there are recognised areas

of great need in the municipality. To address these disparities in the Municipality,

Council’s Family and Children’s Services Department has provided support for isolated

and vulnerable families through a network of Supported Playgroups, run by the

Specialist Support and Resources Unit, of which I am a member.

It is not only as a P-CMG teacher but also as a trainer of teachers that I began this

inquiry. After having facilitated P-CMG groups for two years, I was accepted as the

first Australian candidate to train as a Teacher Trainer Workshop Facilitator with P-

CMG. In addition, I was able to do this training in Canada—there was a fortuitous

connection between my family in North America, my boss’s commitment to the

program and Canada’s insistence that the first international trainer go through their

experiential apprenticeship training program there in Toronto. So when I tell

participants in my training about the first group in Canada in 1986, I am talking about a

woman who was my mentor during my training in Toronto and ran this group. When I

sit in a P-CMG group and enjoy the silence, wondering where the group wants to go

next, I remember doing the same thing with the Executive Director of P-CMG in a


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group in urban Toronto as part of my apprenticeship training. Most importantly, when

I sit in a P-CMG training workshop I know that I can put the careful plan away so that I

can observe and respond to the needs of the participants the way I watched

experienced trainers in both British Columbia and Ontario do. So from 2006 I have not

only been co-facilitating a babies’ P-CMG group but also training others to do the

same, using this experiential, emergent method of weaving a community that makes

the groups so popular and successful.


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MIECAT VALUES

The Melbourne Institute for Experiential and Creative Arts Therapy, known by its

acronym, MIECAT, informs the way I am looking at Parent-Child Mother Goose. What

is MIECAT and how does it influence the way I inquire?

Starting with experience

To explain MIECAT it is useful to talk about the values it espouses. One place to start is

the value placed on learning beginning with experience; that is “everything that

appears in my consciousness becomes available for self-referral and self-revelation.”

(Moustakas, 1994). Indeed, Moustakas goes on to describe this process as the ability

to “target my energy so that I am attending to just what appears and nothing else.”(p.

88). So since I am the researcher, this is a first-person account of my experiences

within Mother Goose and my reflections on these experiences. The importance is in

the sequence—experience first, then reflection.

Van Manen (1990) describes the processes of reflection as “…to effect a more direct

contact with the experience as lived.” (1990). Important also, is his statement that

“The meaning or essence of a phenomenon is never simple or one-dimensional.

Meaning is multi-dimensional and multi-layered. “(Van Manen, 1990).

Being multimodal

Another value of the MIECAT approach to inquiry is also articulated by Howard

Gardner, (1993) He argues that is that there are many ways of knowing (multiple

intelligences). Gardner says, "We have not approached ‘intelligence’ as a reified

human faculty that is brought to bear in literally any problem setting; rather, have

begun with the problems that humans solve and worked back to the “intelligences”

that must be responsible. “ (Gardner, 1993).


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So we come to know in many different ways, or through many different

“intelligences”. Gardner suggests that there are seven different intelligences, from

logical-mathematical and linguistic to bodily-kinaesthetic and musical intelligences.

More importantly for this inquiry, he says that he is starting with the experience then

working back to what it might signify.

Van Manen, Moustakas and Gardner begin with experience, as do Herron and Reason

(Herron and Reason, 1997). Similarly, Herron & Reason suggest an extended

epistemology that articulates experiential knowing as the basis of all other ways of

knowing. They suggest that presentational knowing offered through the different

modes, such as story, dance, sound and image allow us the opportunity to reflect on

experience in more informed ways, as does propositional knowing, or knowing

conceptually. All of these ways inform our practice, as described in the table over:

4


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Experiential knowing means direct encounter, face-to-face meeting: feeling and imaging the presence

of some energy, entity, person, place, process or thing. It is knowing through participative, empathic

resonance with a being, so that as knower I feel both attuned with it and distinct form it. It is also the

creative shaping of a world through the transaction of imaging it, perceptually and in other ways.

Experiential knowing thus articulates reality through felt resonances with the inner being of what is

there, and through perceptually enacting (Valera et al, 1993) its forms of appearing.

Presentational knowing emerges from and is grounded on experiential knowing. It is evident in an

intuitive grasp of the significance of our resonance with and imaging of our world, as this grasp is

symbolized in graphic, plastic, musical, vocal and verbal art-forms. It clothes our experiential knowing of

the world in the metaphors of aesthetic creation, in expressive spatiotemporal forms of imagery. These

forms symbolize both our felt attunement with the world and the primary meaning embedded in our

enactment of its appearing.

Propositional knowing is knowing in conceptual terms that something is the case; knowledge by

description of some energy, entity, person, place, process or thing. It is expressed in statements and

theories that come with the mastery of concepts and classes that language bestows. Propositions

themselves are carried by presentational forms – the sounds or visual shapes of the spoken or written

word – and are ultimately grounded in our experiential articulation of a world.

Practical knowing is knowing how to do something, demonstrated in a skill or competence. Practical

knowledge is in an important sense primary (Heron, 1996). It presupposes a conceptual grasp of

principles and standards of practice, presentational elegance, and experiential grounding in the situation

within which the action occurs. It fulfils the three prior forms of knowing, brings them to fruition in

purposive deeds, and consummates them with its autonomous celebration of excellent

accomplishments.

It is equally important that action not only consummates the prior forms of knowing, but is also

grounded in them. It is in this congruence of the four aspects of the extended epistemology that lie

claims to validity.

From ‘A Particpiative Inquiry Paradigm’ Qualitiative Inquiry vol 3 No 3 J Herron & P Reason 1997.


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MIECAT values using the experience of the arts not for the purpose of making

something beautiful, but to make meaning, to make sense of things, to find out the

“approximate meaning” to an inquiry. We

put ourselves in a place where we can begin to wonder about something

use the arts to explore this wondering

see what emerges from the art making

use some procedures of resonance, reduction and amplification to help us

understand what has come out of the experience and what it means to us

determine where and how we want to use this in our lives

Valuing emergence

As noted earlier in my description of my training emergence is critical to the process of

facilitating P-CMGP as well as MIECAT inquiries. This implies, as described by Lett

(1993) that the starting point comes from what is determined as valuable by the

companionee, or person seeking meaning, rather than from the companion’s agenda.

The companion creates an environment that allows the companionee to determine

what they are “wondering” about. The companion sets up an environment that will

help the companionee identify and then explore what seems important for them. The

companion witnesses the process of the companionee, reflects back their experience

of this process and helps the companionee track the sequence.

Intersubjectivity

In both the inquiry and P-CMG the idea of intersubjectivity is central. Hughes says, “In

speaking of intersubjectivity I am referring to those moments when the parent and

child are in synch: When they are affectively and cognitively present to each other”

(2007 p14). He speaks of the connection between a mother and her infant—each

connected to the other through picking up on body cues (breathing, movement, eye

gaze, position) as well as tone of voice, and attunement to the other. Buirski and

Haglund (2001) extend this to include “the field created by the coming together of the


25

subjective worlds” and suggest that each “pair creates its own unique intersubjective

field through the interplay of …distinctive individual organizations of experience (p 50,

2001). In addition, they write that “we strive to grasp, as best as we can, the patient’s

affective experience. At the same time, we recognize that our understanding of the

experience of the other is never pure or true, but is always shaped and influenced, by

our own subjectivity. While Hughes writes about a connection between parent and

child, Buirski and Haglund extend this to the reciprocal connection between two

individuals, often in a supportive context.

Once she (the mother) has become aware of herself, then she needs to be attuned to

the other. Just as Hughes spoke of attunement of a parent for a child, the concept is

expanded to talk about the need for a companion (P-CMG facilitator) to be aware of

the other’s (a parent’s) emotional state. She knows what she is feeling, and uses as

many of her ways of knowing to understand what the other’s emotional state may be.

This can include observation, intuition or inner knowing, a felt sense or an emotional

resonance. The metaphor of music helps to understand this idea. One string

resonates with the pitch of the other—it responds with sympathetic vibration to the

tone it is presented with. I feel this emotional pitch, says the companion.

Then the next part of the understanding of intersubjectivity, after knowing self and

tuning in to other, is to reflect back to the other. To suggest what the experience of

being together has been, to offer it to the other as a way of helping her to make

meaning. The companion strives to offer a reflection not on the objective reality of

what has happened (if such a thing existed) but to subjectively reflect on the

experience for the sake of the other. This is what it was like for me to see/hear/listen

to your experience—does this help you make sense of it?

Intersubjectivity is an essential process in reflection at MIECAT and PCMG, as part of

early childhood pedagogy. Since Dewey proposed the idea of reflection in education in

his landmark book How We Think (Dewey, 1933), reflective practice has had a

resurgence in the 1990s and beyond. Winter (2008) uses these ideas and brings in the


26

concept of an inquiry as a means of reflection. Her terms of “Act, Plan, Reflect,

Question” which involve processes of “niggling, wondering, challenging and being

concerned” can be seen as another way of identifying an access point in Lett’s

terminology. Here are the questions she poses:

What could this information be telling us?

What else do we need to know?

What other information/data will be useful?

All intertwine with the questions in the introduction as the MIECAT form of inquiry:

What do I think I know?

How did I come to know it?

What might I do with what I have come to know?

I will describe more of this later because it emerged as an issue in my research. Suffice

it to say that intersubjectivity is connected with another idea or value; that of co-

construction of meaning. Part of the experience of intersubjectivity is that of meaning

making as a shared activity. The participants in the intersubjective space reflect back

to each other—not like a mirror, but like a multifaceted jewel, with parts slightly at an

angle, these are then reflected back at a different angle again. While the researcher

has begun the process, as soon as the other, the companionee enters into it, she

becomes a co-researcher. Unlike positivist research, the participants are coming with

the purpose of helping the researcher understand her reflections. Despite careful

planning, any emergent research can be taken to places the researcher did not think

she might go. Fortunately using reflective procedures, journaling and recording the

process, reflecting with others multi-modally about the experience, there is an

opportunity to better understand the “new landscape” that the researcher finds

herself in.


27

A personal note on co-creation and intersubjectivity

As can be seen from the diagram on p. 27 I invited many different people to participate

with me in this inquiry. They came along with me on my journey of wondering simply

because I asked them to. One of my big surprises was that they would learn by

participating in the inquiry. I did not think that would be the case, and I certainly did

not suggest to them that they would gain from it.

I forgot the strength of an arts based inquiry. I was so engrossed in my role as a

researcher that I forgot that I was also a companion who was leading the participants

on a co-constructed inquiry. This meant that I underestimated the value they found in

the process, as well as the strength of their contribution to it. I put them in the boot

of this vehicle I was travelling in, at least figuratively. I took them out to give me data,

assuming that I could put them back in and close the boot.

I forgot about connection; about intersubjectivity. I forgot that I was using members

of my community to tell the story, and that the inquiry connected us in new ways.

In the context of this research, as an MA inquiry, ultimately it was the responsibility of

the researcher, me, to make sense of what was experienced—first in a presentational

way through art, then in a propositional way through words, but then finally in a

practical way that may be useful to my community. As I have stated, the co-

construction of meaning with the Mother Goose community along with a desire to

share this work with this community is why the language offered is often simple but

hopefully not simplistic.


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OTHER METHODOLOGICAL INFLUENCES

The type of post-modern research I am undertaking is an autoethnography. It can be

described as “a form or method of research that involves self-observation and reflexive

investigation in the context of ethnographic field work and writing” and “referring …to

the reflexive consideration of a group to which one belongs as a native, member, or

participant (ethnography of one's own group).“(Marechal, 2010). Ethnographic, or an

ethnograpy “sees its task as the description, inscription, and interpretation of culture.”

(Marechal, 2010).

Or, as described by Carole Ellis (2011) “. . .autoethnography combines characteristics

of autobiography and ethnography.” She states that “. . . autobiographers write about

‘epiphanies’ “ (2011) which are moments that have significance in the writers life.

These epiphanies make a person tune in and reflect upon significant events “ . . .after

which life does not seem to be the same.” (p. 3).

Ethnographers study other cultures, including values, beliefs and experiences. They do

this both to help those in the culture being studied (insiders) and those from a

different culture (outsiders) better understand the culture being studied.

Ethnographers may take field notes, interview members of the culture, and look at

ways the culture connects its members as well as how it uses space and place. (2011)

She describes autoethnography thus: “ When researchers do autoethnography, they

retrospectively and selectively write about epiphanies that stem from, or are made

possible by, being part of a culture and/or by possessing a particular cutural identity.”

(p. 3) . So through my research I am undertaking to tell the story of P-CMG culture

using epiphanies or sudden awarenesses that I experienced both by being part of the

program and researching with myself. I did this by journaling, writing poetry and

songs, constructing installations, and making paintings and collages.


29

Following on from my own inquiry, as I have stated earlier I wanted to invite others to

tell their story so that this could help me tell mine. Described on p. 43, I identified

groups with whom to co-research with me. I used techniques such as drawing,

choosing keywords and arranging objects so that they could share their experiences as

being a member of the culture. As noted on pp 53-60 the later “culture” widened from

simply P-CMG to include early childhood education.


30

PROCEDURES FOR THIS RESEARCH

The search for the subject of the inquiry began in February 2009 when I made a multi-

modal community journal as a part of the requirements of the first year MA program

at MIECAT. I gathered images, wrote poems and reflections and took photographs and

drew pictures about the emergent idea of “what was my community?”. I did not begin

with a preconceived idea, but intuitively gathered and constructed images and

materials that held meaning for me at the time.

The time of gathering and constructing images coincided with “Black Saturday”—the

most severe bushfires in Victoria’s history. This figured strongly in my journal; when

we were invited to begin to identify “voices” that were present in our journal, the

firebird or phoenix emerged as the voice of renewal; of being born again in the ashes

of destruction.

The bushfires in photo and installation: (left) Wilson’s Promontory after the fires,

(centre) the firebird (with feathers) rising from the ashes, and (right) a detail of the firebird’s song.


31

After more images were evoked by music and movement exercises, I was invited to

create an art installation illuminating the ideas and themes in my journal. I intuitively

created a complex installation. As I chose, created and manipulated images and

combined them with key words from the journal I learned more about what aspect of

community I was inquiring into, and what form that inquiry might take.

On the next three pages are photos: first the entire installation, then the zones I

divided this installation into—like chapters in a book. As noted, the purple zone of

images (the ones to the extreme left of the table or rear of the photo) are about

values, the grey ones (in the middle) are about P-CMG practice, the pink zone (at the

right or foreground of the picture) are about P-CMG outreach or bringing the program

out into the community, while the green zone at the bottom refers to obstacles to the

growth of the program.


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Figure 2 The inquiry installation


33

VALUES PRACTICE P-CMG OUTREACH

Spotlight

Doll (Siobhan)

with two shadows

Message from Angels

Cauldron (Fire, art as

healing, renewal)

Wellspring, (origins, essence,

earthquake)

Spindle, (Navigator,

Pagan Ritual)

The Lair (Child abuse

Puppets Teddy bear)

Toys (hidden

in the Cauldron)

Alchemy, 5 elements,

Women’s Ways

The Firebird (ukulele, Turning of the seasons)

Mirror (reflecting

spindle)

Tunnel (Bridge,

Interface)

Close-up of Prickly shadow

(below left)

Silver Page

Treasure Chest

Trail of Gold , Prickly Inset and

Trail of Tears

Sticky Tape

OBSTACLES

Figure 3+1 Installation Zones


34

Photo of values zone Photos of practice zone Photo of outreach zone

Left side of obstacle zone: (trail of gold, inset prickly shadow, train of tears) Right side of obstacles zone (sticky tape)

Figure 4 A photo of each of the installation zones


35

Beginning in the values zone on the left, the first image was the spotlight, above a

circle of clay pieces. This I named the wellspring. Its keywords were origins, essence

and earthquake. This suggested a strong starting point. The last of the values images

was of the 4 colours of alchemy--black, white, red and gold. They evoked the process

of starting with nothing (like the ashes of the bushfires) then looking to the positives

(of the white) through the clarifying fire (red) to come to the treasure (of the gold).

The keywords offered some clues—5 elements, women’s ways. Back to the ritual and

the caves, I suppose.

Looking at the images themselves, it is no wonder that Dani found them eerie and

sinister. In the centre, the images of practice were on the silver paper. A doll, naked

with unruly hair, has two shadows sewn to her foot—one shadow is black, one prickly

from being made of sandpaper. The thread and needle that sewed the shadows on

sits next to her. I gave her the name Siobhan (Gaelic for Joan) and wrote her story,

giving her a life outside of the inquiry (see appendix A—Siobhan Steps Out).

If I then looked to the right of the silver practice paper, I found exit strategies out of

the group into the wider community. For Mother Goose this seems to be through

using the values to describe and promote the program. Hence a wooden structure

which I called a tunnel and gave the keyword Interface helped us find the way out of

the practice. The more I looked at the tunnel I realised it was really a covered bridge

like those I saw when I went to Vermont in the North Eastern US—in New England—a

sort of combination of a tunnel through and bridge across.

In the right hand corner was a brass cauldron complete with flames. It carried the

keywords fire, renewal, and Art as Healing. I had forgotten that I needed something to

weigh the bottom of the cauldron so the flames could show over the top of the

cauldron—as I was packing away the installation I discovered the basket of toys inside

the cauldron, with a toy frog smiling up at me, reminding me of the frog’s

metamorphic message of change and growth. Below the bridge was the treasure

chest, full of key words yet to be used—the box of delights, Dani called them.


36

I then went straight to the obstacles at the bottom of the silver practice paper—the

trail of gold which was also the trail of tears. What that evoked for me was still a

mystery, but the name was clear to me—taken from a Clannad song of the same

name, “Trail of Tears”, described one of the obstacles to effective practice. It felt like

the challenge of staying with the difficult journeys some of us bring to PCMG. There

would be more to investigate later. The Clannad song goes on to say, “We found the

path of loneliness along the trail of tears.” In the middle of the trail is the positive of

Siobhan’s prickly shadow—the piece of sandpaper from which I cut the shape.

In my haste to share the installation with my companion Dani, I left a roll of sticky tape

hanging from the table which contained the installation. I accepted Dani’s description

of the practicality of the hanging tape, and welcomed it into the installation.

With this wealth of images I was faced with the reductive task of describing my plans

for research in enough detail to obtain approval from MIECAT’s Human Resources and

Ethics Committee (HREC). Working intuitively I described a process of using objects,

artmaking and reduction to key words. I planned to use this process to inquire of

PCMG teachers what constituted best practice as well as what were the values which

underpin it. I would also get a co-researcher to investigate what the families in my

PCMG group experienced when we met together.

This inquiry, the part for which I needed HREC approval, was to form part of my

autoethnography where I would tackle this question using a number of perspectives,

lenses or points of view. I had a tight timeframe for HREC approval as I knew that the

national PCMG gathering (and AGM) was in early November and this would be a prime

opportunity for gathering data. Approval was granted in October, 2009 in time to

begin this research.


37

End of year 1 presentation

Throughout my MA study the hexagon appeared over and over again. This emerged as

an important element in a multi-modal presentation at the end of the first year of the

MA 1. Working with the hexagon I divided it into 7 equilateral triangles which gave me

7 vertices. I began to work with correspondences—7 hexagons, 7 colours in the

spectrum, 7 chakras in the body, 7 tones in major scale. I was increasingly aware of

how music was important—I was determined to use voice and instrumental music in

my inquiry. It is a strong, evocative modality for me, but I had been avoiding its

exploration.

I found I was not comfortable with the results of making music with my guitar, so I

started afresh. I bought a ukulele, chosen not for its musical timbre but for its colour—

sky blue. With my background in violin and self-taught guitar I rediscovered the joy of

learning to play songs and accompany my voice on a new (simple to play) instrument.

I only persevered with songs that suited my voice and allowed me to use “my strong

voice” when I sang them—keys and rhythms that literally resonated with my vocal

instrument.

In this process I found myself separating songs into clusters. I would identify a song I

used to sing with the guitar as a similar type of song to the new one I was learning.

Guided by “The musician’s musician” James Taylor, who said that he only really ever

wrote twelve songs, I took James at his word and only learned seven songs (I’m not as

proficient as he is). Sometimes the song (which as you will have guessed is a cluster or

type of song) I wanted I couldn’t find, so I wrote it, often from poetry in my journal.

Yes, I chose seven songs, or they chose me. As I was gathering a mass of data about

what made an effective PCMG teacher, I was also going through a mass of songs that

made me an effective singer—that gave me my strong voice. As I came up with seven

types of song, I gave each one an autonomous region in the New Turtle Nation. The

turtle of the nation had seven hexagons on his back, one for each colour of the

spectrum or note of the scale. The end of year presentation was a “slide night” or


38

travelogue of my visit to the New Turtle Nation, almost as a musical ethnographer,

collecting one song from each (previously undiscovered) region, along with a souvenir

and a travel journal (my multimodal journal). The journal sat on the hexagonal

platform I found all those months ago.

Sitting on a little yellow chair with a little blue ukulele, I sang myself into knowing. It

was in the act of singing seven songs, each about a different way of being, that I

discovered that these voices could also inform my research about being a P-CMG

teacher. Out of this process I discovered my research voice. The turtle had a

collection of seven hexagons on its back; each of the hexagons was individual but

connected together to form a structure. So, too, did P-CMG connect families around

its material and philosophy. If the New Turtle Island was representative of Mother

Goose, then the research was about who lived in each of the regions I had described.

After the seven regions had emerged, I did two things:

I based all previous data on this concept

I designed subsequent research to amplify and clarify the emerging ideas from

this work


39

The turtle before and after he revealed his colourful facets

The New Turtle Nation, pictured above, had its basis in the Iroquois (remember the

time machine) legend that North America was born when a turtle fell from the sky and

laid mud on its back, from which the land was born. They say that under the land the

turtle still lives. North America is known as Turtle Island—New Turtle Nation emerged

to explain 7 of my ways of being or voices, as part of a reflection on my inquiry. What

follows is a summary of the attributes of each of the regions of the New Turtle Nation.


40

The Seven Autonomous Regions of Turtle Island

AREA IMAGE

IMAGE: Wilson’s Prom after the fire

AREA: Terra Nullius

SONG: “Being present is too hard”

SOUVENIR: A cauldron

IMAGE: Aboriginal Painting Minyma Kutjara

AREA: Golden

SONG: I am here

SOUVENIR: Toas (songline markers)

IMAGE: Mother and Baby in the night sky

AREA: Lost World

SONG: Wee Baby Moon

SOUVENIR: Handmade doll

IMAGE: James Taylor in cowboy hat

AREA: Desperado

SONG: Desperado

SOUVENIR: Cowboy Hat

IMAGE: Skeleton

AREA: La Huesera (The Bone Woman)

SONG: La Huesera

SOUVENIR: Skin drum and beater

IMAGE: Spiral

AREA: Spiral

SONG: Cycles

SOUVENIR: Rainbow wind toy with rainbow colours

IMAGE: Welcome Palm

AREA: Regresa (return)

SONG: Home Again

SOUVENIR: Gladstone Bag


41

Summary of research:

Below is a summary of the data collection opportunities. There were two phases to

the research. I found I was being pulled by 2 strong parallel processes, which led to a

dramatic change in the research design partway through data collection. Originally the

participants reflected on the practice and values underpinning the role of a P-CMG

teacher, as suggested in the title while parents helped me by reflecting on what the

experience of P-CMG was like for them.

Phase 1: Values of a P-CMG Teacher

1. State-wide P-CMG Gathering (practice and values underpinning)

2. Newly trained P-CMG teachers (practice and values underpinning)

3. Parents part 1 (what is it like to be with Joan in MG)

4. Parents part 2 (what do you want to get out of P-CMG)

5. MIECAT researchers

Phase 2: The Values Turn into Voices

1. End of year presentation: The New Turtle Nation with 7 lands, each having its

own song

2. Clustering: gathering images into seven voices

3. Widening the research group to include Early childhood consultants and

trainers

a. Early childhood trainers

b. Early childhood consultants

c. Preschool teachers

4. P-CMG Advisory Board (including teachers and trainers)


42

Summary of Data Collection Opportunities

DATE GROUP HOW MANY

RESEARCH QUESTION

6 Nov 2009 State wide P-CMG gathering 30 Practice Values underpinning

26 Nov 2009 P-CMG new teachers 18 Practice Values underpinning

2 Dec 2009 End of year presentation 1 Multimodal presentation of what I have learned

8 Dec 2009 Parents 6 What is it like to be in a P-CMGP with Joan?

Early Feb 2010 Parents 2 What are your goals for P-CMG?

11 March 2010 MIECAT researchers 2 What is P-CMG like?

29 March early childhood consultants 5 How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

30 March early childhood trainer early childhood consultant

1

1

How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

14 April P-CMG Inc Committee 7 How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

25 May Integrated Child Care Service 11 How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

8 June Upper Hume P-CMG group 7 How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

24 June Preschool Teachers (3 year olds)

5 How can you amplify and clarify 7 voices?

Development of research questions (see Appendix C)

1. Installation suggests reflection on values and practice

a. State-wide gathering

b. New teachers

c. MIECAT researchers

2. How do parents experience P-CMG?

a. What is it like to be with Joan in P-CMG (with co-researcher)

b. What are your goals for you and your child in P-CMG?

3. End of year presentation suggests 7 voices

a. Early childhood trainers and consultants

b. P-CMG advisory committee

c. Rural perspective

d. Child care and preschool staff


43

Voices with which to dialogue

I wanted to see if the voices that had emerged had a wider resonance. I used the

hexagonal structure to represent this research to groups. So with simply a name

change, I presented “The Seven Voices of an Early Childhood Educator” to a wider

community for their comment, thus helping me to amplify and clarify the names,

images and resonance of the seven voices.

I decided I needed to look at who in particular I wanted these voices to dialogue with.

The red hexagons were the 7 voices, and the orange contiguous ones were the points

of inquiry. So the orange hexagons represent the dialogue with :

colleagues

parents

other musicians

p-cmg literature

attachment literature

early childhood literature

music and movement literature

other teachers

other trainers

other p-cmg teachers

supporters of programs

other researchers


44

Groups with which to inquire

This led me to set up a structure of who I wanted to present the research to. It fitted

handily into the 7 hexagon structure until one of the groups, the early childhood

consultants “wondered” what it would be like to inquire with early childhood staff. I

added another hexagon to the matrix to extend my investigation to early childhood

staff working directly with children. So my research design looked like this, where ec

stands for early childhood and mg for Mother Goose (as in PCMG). It started to look

even more like the turtle from New Turtle Island.


45

Special concerns in researching with parents and families:

issues of co-research

The research with families needed to be different from my investigations with other

groups. All the other groups were asked, “What is it like to be in a group with

families?” while in the research with parents I asked the mirror of this question: What

is it like to be in a group with a teacher?” I was advised that if I asked parents in my

group what it was like to be with me, they might give me the answers they thought I

wanted to hear. So I would need to get a co-researcher to ask on my behalf—What is

it like to be with Joan in the Mother Goose Program? (One response to this question is

on the cover of this document.)

My co-researcher was Julie Burville, a sister artist. She wanted to try out the

procedures using objects and keywords on a captive audience—nameIy her teenage

daughters who had known me for about 7 years. In this “practice research session” we

changed the research question to “What is it like to hang out with Joan?” Their

responses, in the safety of their own home, gave me such great insight into how I am

socially with others that we obtained permission and used the data.

What is it like to hang out with Joan? Another version of what it is like to hang out with Joan

Beginnings: The first hexagon—a wooden platform

from Reverse Art holding the multimodal journal

which began the research installation.


46

Research Methods

Research with parents – Part 1

Parents were offered an outline of interconnected people (see above) and asked to

use objects, keywords and draw images that described their experience of being in a

Mother Goose group with me (see p 109). Rather than providing “objective” feedback,

the process of introducing an unknown researcher, asking parents to read and digest a

great deal of written material (the research brief and accompanying consent form) and

finally use unfamiliar methods of arts-based research seemed to put parents in an

unsupported environment. Ironically, the group connection we had fostered seemed

threatened; while they expressed a desire to help my research, the design did not

facilitate the participants in offering responses in a way which mirrored the goals of

the program. The content or learning revealed in the process was as salient as the

responses that the parents gave.

Two examples of parent research: “What is it like to be in P-CMG with Joan?”


47

Table Parents’ responses to “What is it like to be in a P-CMGP with Joan”

Each box represents a comment made by parent describing Joan in the P-CMG

program.

I don’t feel judged by being here, that it is ok to have “normal” kids & “naughty” kids & to ask for help.

When I hear Joan sing I always think she should be singing in a choir & that she would enjoy Christmas Carols

I feel that I am not the only one coming here who can feel both loving & frustrated with their kids.

The shell makes me want to go on a holiday, not to the beach but up to our van

group parents very quiet socially

I don’t feel guilty anymore about needing time away from my boys

I picked out the spoon because I love having meals together

B 1 reminds me of Joan & how fun & cheeky she can be

communication Joan singing very relaxing

comfortable cuddly

lullaby time any voice will do communication warm

Tiger movement fast feather sensory feeling

ducks, animals playtime frog: child is scared but loves song

duck happy fun horse:?? canter, slow fast

friendly relaxed

welcoming engaging playtime talking

singing happy


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Julie fed back to me the challenges of being an unfamiliar researcher both with her

words and with an intersubjective response, using art making to describe the

experience.

Two views of Julie’s ISR to the research—what is behind it, followed by what is shown to the outside world.


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Research with parents – Part 2

After the initial research with parents I actually felt that the web of community that we

weave in a P-CMGP was becoming unravelled. I had a small window of opportunity to

repair or reweave the connection while reframing the question for parents. I reflected

with two parents individually using the same multimodal procedures, asking what their

goals were for themselves and their children in P-CMG. In reflecting in this multimodal

way, I thought of Gardner’s many ways of knowing. I not only learned facts about

what parents wanted for themselves and their children, but witnessed the depth of

their feelings when describing what led them to the group and their progress. As well,

I felt a strong connection with the parents, recalling our shared journey to help them

meet their goals. I reflected on how honoured I felt to share the tears and laughter of

these two women. Finally, I recognised that inquiring multimodally allowed us to go

deeper, faster and more clearly toward knowing where we were and where we

wanted to go.

Parent responses to “What l your goals for yourself and your child in P-CMG?


50

I then gave an arts based intersubjective response to each parent’s work:

My intersubjective response to each of the parent’s creation about their goals in P-CMG


51

Other Research Methods

Using the goose outline

Prior to the emergence of the seven voices, I offered all participants the opportunity to

reflect upon practice and values underpinning this practice They were offered an

outline of a goose and invited to use objects, drawings and keywords in this reflection

(see pp 105-108).

Two examples of reflections on practice and the values underpinning this practice

As the seven voices began to emerge, I began to separate photos of the data,

keywords and images into clusters reflecting the seven voices—clustering the images

to promote meaning making.

Images laid out before clustering and later. . . Images clustered into seven voices on black paper


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Toward the seven voices

I began to use other MIECAT procedures in working with the images: As part of our

reflective work for the MA I asked other MIECAT students to amplify my understanding

of the seven voices. At my request they offered me keywords to describe what they

saw as we looked at the clustered photos of my research (pictured above). I then had

many, many words that described each cluster (or voice). Each offered a different

nuance to what each voice was about.

It was then my job to reduce this myriad of words to those that most strongly

described each cluster. Reviewing all the words in a cluster, I began a search of

images—graphic images, works of art, children’s artwork and my own artwork that

could encompass the words l had collected. Each time I found an image that

resonated with the cluster, I got a clearer idea of the attributes of each cluster—I could

better hear and understand the qualities of each voice.

I began to look for patterns in the data. I needed to find a few words to describe each

cluster. I wanted to find the name of the singer in each cluster, as well as provide an

image of what she looked like. I found that these two reductions—finding a

representative image and a title encompassing its attributes—worked hand in hand.

The understanding that came from finding resonant images informed the name of the

singer. For the longest time the third voice I had called “Pied Piper”. When I looked

for images to represent it, I realised that this slant on the child-like cluster needed to

be reviewed. Another reading and reflection on those words and images made me

realise that the connection to the child was more like a moon/sun or mother child

rather than a flutist from Hamelin leading children out of town.

This, in turn, brought me to consider what I was learning from this process—the

content in the process. A P-CMG teacher is not a Pied Piper, leading children away, but

a Mother Moon supporting the intersubjectivity, the web of connection and emotion

in a P-CMG group.


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So I eventually reduced the images and words to their essence--seven voices with two

or three images as pictures of the singer. When I was asked by the Australian P-CMG

Advisory Group to summarise my research, chose one image and a short summary for

a newsletter article(see Seven Voices of a P-CMG Teacher, p 28).

Coloured hexagons

This began the next phase of the research (represented by the blue section of the

Summary of Data Collection Opportunities on p 43. I made a depiction of each voice: a

coloured hexagon with the name of the voice and some images laid out on it. In the

practical preparation for this research I discovered some things that were critical:

colour was important

the sequence of colours was suggested by the first voice, Firebird, as spectral

colours red to violet

another review of the images induced me to change some of the names


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Here are the seven hexagons with names above and images below

Firebird Golden Girl Moon Mother/Child

Drover/Trail Boss Wise Woman/Storyteller Visionary

Fellow traveller


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I arranged the hexagons as I had in the New Turtle Nation—as the mosaic of a turtle’s

back and invited the same reflection using objects, keywords and drawn images.

Hexagons laid out as on the turtle’s back with objects, images and keywords distributed by participants

Participants arranging objects (left) and drawing images (right)


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The last phase of the research

Two final research groups gave me a hint of the darker side of the voices.

A rural representative on the P-CMG Advisory Committee asked if there was a way to

represent the rural perspective. Data were collected from a local gathering in North

eastern Victoria.

At the same time I chose to see if the Seven Voices could be a learning tool. I used the

research to lead participants into reflecting on their practice. I asked them to think

about how they embody each of the singers of the seven voices in their own practice.

The participants were teachers of three year old preschool groups, gathering for their

network support group meeting.

It was near the end of the research and I was reasonably confident that these last two

groups would confirm my earlier research. Most surprising to me was the first

expression of what I labelled “The Shadow Side of the Turtle”. This was the label I gave

when the rural researcher described a black mood, confusion and negative responses

to the same research procedures when they reflected on how they use the seven

voices. Intuitively I realised that the shadow side of the turtle was the side that got no

light—his belly.

On reflection, this is not surprising. What these two groups had in common was that

both groups have ongoing challenges with resources. Rural populations consistently

do more with less, whether this is due to a lack of time, financial support, connection

or opportunities for training. Three year old preschool exists without government

funding which bars them from resources, support, training and the time for connection

with other professionals.

The research was asking them to reflect on their personal resources (how they use the

seven voices). This was coloured by the reality of their physical resources. They have

to work harder for support; they are offered less support by the infrastructure around

them, and need to work harder to create any support network than other branches of


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the early childhood community. They are, in reality as well as in perception, resource

poor.

I have always had a great admiration for the strength of country people to innovate, to

create more with less and to connect with each other despite barriers to setting up

and maintaining these connections. I admire the professionalism of three year old

preschool groups to maintain high standards despite fewer resources to maintain

these standards. I was disappointed but not surprised that these two groups reflected

on their lack of internal resources—times when the voices could not be heard or sang

in a minor key. As they feel things within, so they reflect them out into the world.


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Research data from the last two groups: the emergence of the shadow of the turtle


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The Belly of the Turtle

Given the feedback from the last two research groups, I decided to create a foil or

opposite for each of the voices. I constructed them in coloured plasticine, using the

procedure of amplification to expand my knowledge and understanding of the seven

voices by giving them greater depth and dimension—literally light and shade.

COLOUR VOICE SHADOW

Red The firebird (the cauldron) The Crack’d Pot

Orange Golden Sybil Syllabus

Yellow Moon mother Disaffected mum

Green Drover/Trail Boss Hapless Herder

Blue Wise woman/Storyteller Out of Touch

Indigo Visionary Four eyes

Violet Fellow traveller World weary


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Whimsical, I know, alliterative, I confess, but illuminating nonetheless. And

illumination was what I needed. I got out the silver paper and looked at each figure

and its own reflection. The two dimensional hexagons had a third dimension. I was

able to see the voices more clearly when I could use some shading on them. They

came down from their archetypal pedestal and became more real. In any investigation

into how we lead a group, the humanity (and lightness) of goofy characters like Sybil

Syllabus are useful ways to explain the quality of presence—the voice of Golden—by

its opposite in someone who sticks to the plan regardless.

So, if the firebird or cauldron is the vessel that contains and controls the energy of the

group, then the crack’d pot has lost its fire. The spark is gone, the energy does not

have a place to be stored in, and so it leaks out and is not available to the group. More

time and energy is spent in trying to get something going, with little available for

maintaining and expanding.

Rather than the Golden Girl’s freedom and youthfulness, Sybil Syllabus feels old and

restricted. Structure is everything, and the resulting “syllabus” is inflexible. It has lost

the capacity to respond to the group, but instead proceeds according to plan whether

this is appropriate or not. Sybil cannot ride the waves—she stands too stiffly and does

not know how or when to bend.

While Moon mother is tuned in to the connections between parent and child as well as

parent and teacher, Disaffected mum has lost this ability. She can be numb to what is

going on or too weighed down by not enough of the basics—respect, support, money,

time and love. This has nothing to do with what she wants, but what she can bring to

the situation.

The Drover leads the cattle to the round up, but the hapless herder is in danger of

losing the flock. She may not know where she is going, and she certainly does not

present a figure that the group is confident to follow. Stress, lack of confidence or too

much weighing on the mind can sap the leadership abilities and cause the herd to be

lost or put them at risk of a stampede.


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The Storyteller has an awareness of what is important, while Out of Touch has not

developed a useful way of measuring the true value of things. She may be attracted by

the latest trend simply because of its novelty rather than its usefulness. On the other

hand, she may have continued the same practice for so long or with such slavish

devotion that she has lost the ability to reflect upon it. She cannot find the bones of

her story—the spine that supports and connects her practice. She could have lost

touch with her feelings and cannot tell herself her own true story.

While the Visionary can see far into the distance, Four Eyes has trouble seeing the way

forward.

The Fellow Traveller enjoys both the journey and the companionship, but World Weary

is tiring of this particular journey and those she is travelling with. It could be a

familiarity that breeds contempt, the lack of choice in a co-teacher or group or even

the experience of being seduced by the advertised hype of the journey. It could simply

that it is time to rest—for a few weeks or even to take a rest from this particular

journey for a while.

The shadows serve as foils to the voices. Nothing is black and white—the entirely

positive descriptions of the voices are better understood and accepted when seen as

light combined with the shade of the shadow voices out of sight on the turtle’s belly.

Out of sight does not inevitably mean out of mind. Understanding that ideals are not

always met seems to be the lesson of the shadow voices.


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Intersubjective responses

In the research on 29 and 30 March, with work colleagues, I offered an ISR

(intersubjective response)—my response to the participants’ process as a piece of

visual art. As pictured, one set of ISRs was a coloured collage with a turtle, some

Aboriginal art and a short poem. With these work colleagues I observed their

responses to each of the hexagon. I saw that each had a particular affinity with one of

the voices—they wrote more key words, laid down more objects or described their

response to the voice in greater detail. The colours, words and images reflected my

experience of our process together. Most of these still adorn the walls of our

workplace.

The second group I made ISRs for was the childcare centre staff. I don’t know whether

my co-researcher Julie’s commencing study in floristry had a connection, but I knew I

wanted to make flowers for this group. I had explained the concept of ISRs to the co-

ordinator and she felt this could be a supportive thing for them. I recalled the

challenge of working in childcare when I visited them, and it pleased me to make them

“blossoms”. The colour, intensity and “funkiness” resonated in the research with this

group.


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An intersubjective response to the inquiry with work colleagues (29 March)

An intersubjective response to the inquiry with child care –funky flowers (13 April)


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Marrying the two sets of data

What appeared to be two parallel processes of reflection (my MA installation and the

turtle) had finally come together into one. All of the research on the installation

(practice, values underpinning, outreach and obstacles) could also be seen as parts of

the turtle (the mosaic shell, the head, the legs and the belly).

Consulting with P-CMG and the Early Childhood field helped me to better describe the

seven voices—first by the descriptions of practice and values underpinning a P-CMGP,

then by amplifying and clarifying what the emergent voices “sounded” like. What

follows is the results of this research—the seven voices of a Parent Child Mother

Goose Teacher.

Here are my descriptions of the seven voices

They consist of:

A title and an image

A description

A rhyme or song

A “vignette” of a moment when I felt the voice in the Mother Goose Program

Who is each singer in a P-CMGP

A sample of the keywords offered by research participants


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THE SEVEN VOICES

Firebird Golden Girl Moon Mother/Child

Drover/Trail Boss Wise Woman/Storyteller Visionary

Fellow traveller


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1. Firebird

From the beginning of the year, one recurring theme has been that of transformation through fire.

Starting with the community journal about the bushfire through to intensive and supervision

sessions, the idea that fire not only destroys but purifies, transmutes and changes has emerged. The

alchemical process in the installation: starting with black (like the burnt wood in the fires) then along

the sequence from white ash, red fire until finally at gold—the idea of change through “the purifying

fire” has been part of the investigation.

An entity who personifies this process is the firebird. She rises from the ashes, reborn. In the

installation the firebird sits on a pedestal—a sort of chalice or crucible in which transformation

occurs. As it is red, this began the colour scheme of the spectrum or the chakras, beginning with the

base or root. Indeed, one of the first images in the installation is what I called the “wellspring”, which

resonates with this Wiccan or neo-pagan explanation:

The Wiccans see the cauldron as a symbol of the Goddess, the manifested essence of…reincarnation,

immortality and inspiration. (Cunningham, 2000) which emphasizes the regenerative powers of the

cauldron. The cauldron was also the souvenir from “Wellspring” the first region of the New Turtle

Nation. The firebird recognises that part of the job of a P-CMG teacher is to provide the psychic,

emotional and physical environment for such transformation to occur. The circle that we sit in

mirrors the shape of the cauldron or the firebird’s pedestal. But the firebird also transforms the

teacher. Such a close, honest and interactive program insists upon the openness that changes

everyone in the group. Witnessing and validating the courage of families on their journeys draws

teachers into the intersubjective space where they are connected and changed.


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IMAGE:

The Firebird on her red pedestal

SONG:

Glorious light, day follows night

Even on Ramblin’ Road

A fire burning robs the heart of its load (Goanna)

MOMENT:

(“written” by a one year old girl)

Dear Joan,

Thank you for Mother Goose. Without it I don’t know if mummy and I would have made it.


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Who is the Firebird in P-CMG?

The Firerbird is full of enthusiasm. She loves to start a new group—to lend her energy to starting

something new. She brings spontaneity and intuition. She leads the group gently—finding the right

word or song to change the energy or put the group back on track. She picks up on cues from her co-

teacher—intuitively stepping up when the other’s energy is low, becoming more of a participant

observer when her sister teacher is making a connection leading the group.

Her sense of humour is one of her best weapons—she can deflect or redirect by a clever turn of phrase.

She gains trust by her intensity and honesty. She creates a space where families feel safe and

supported. She lets everyone know that mutual support and respect is the basis for the group. She and

will uses her considerable talents to make sure that families find the self-respect to allow this to occur.

Some of the descriptions from the research

One spark to light, passion, strength, fire colours, fiery soul, resourceful, excited, delighted, leader,

enthusiastic, controlled, joy, seed, open, gem, emptiness, hope of fulfilment, loss, encapsulates all the

voices, hearts linked, flower, oyster, enjoyment, eye, dragonfly, warrior, alchemist, esoteric, spotlight

,


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2. Golden

Golden is the young, sun-bronzed Aussie surfie chick. She lives in the moment and enjoys every

experience to the fullest. She is open to all her senses—the smell of the surf, its roar, the taste of salt

on her skin, the glittering look of the sun on the water and the warmth of the sun on her skin. At the

end of the alchemical trail, there is only gold. It is an end in itself and needs no analysis.

When a teacher is golden she is “in the moment” like the surfer on the beach. She is open to the

sights and sounds of the group. More importantly, she recognises that the group has an energy that

can be read and she is tuned into what the group is telling her. Her right brain at that moment is

prominent and she senses rather than thinks, honours her intuition and is brave enough to wait to

see where the group will go next.

IMAGE:

In the installation there is a woven ring around the firebird. It is attached to a spindle (the navigator,

I called it) that provides a sense of direction as well as a balance. It is the balance of the music of the

spheres—a sense of sacred geometry and “rightness” achieved by listening and openness.


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SONG:

“We are starlight we are golden

And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden” (Woodstock, Joni Mitchell)

In the journey to the New Turtle Nation, Golden is the experience of looking at an Aboriginal

painting—not from left to right as if travelling across the page, but hovering above.

MOMENT:

There are only two families in the group. It has a very quiet feel about it. Sara, who is usually very

active, picks up the quietness of the group. She sits with her mother more than she usually does. At

one point she gets up and I put my arms around her. I put her on my lap, but she chooses to lie on the

large cushion in front of me, with her feet closest to me. I start doing foot rhymes, pleased that she is

letting me stroke her feet. Her body settles and I choose more foot rhymes. I encourage her mother

to come around the other side as I choose back rhymes—mum strokes her back, I stroke her feet. She

blisses out—we stayed at it for almost 30 minutes. Not according to plan, but guided by the moment.


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Who is the Golden Girl in P-CMG?

The Golden Girl is forever young, whatever her age. She loves the unpredictability of a P-CMG

group, and can be fully present to the immediate moment. She brings the courage to go forward

even when she is not sure what the next step is, and the peace to sit with uncertainty and silence as

the next step becomes clear.

Her greatest gift is focus—when she is with the group there are no distractions. It is all about riding

the wave—being there, getting the balance right, suspending analysis for the sake of present

experience. All of her that she brings to the group is available to the families and her co-teacher.


Flow, spur of the moment, impromptu, spontaneous, focused, fun, the unknown, uncluttered,

most important, how vital, listen, act, star, bright, daily, gold, little treasures, precious, key,

childlike, joyous, little things important, gift of sparkling, cork bobbing, golden goose, sense of

lightness, birds, bright yellow sun, down from above, Tom Roberts, golden summers,


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3. Moon mother

It is fascinating that the installation took on a very dark and lonely aspect to it, which emerged from

the positioning of the objects more than the look of any object. It was stark, and a bit troubled

andmysterious. Remarkably, the part of the installation most directly connected with what happens

in the group was described by Dani as “The Lair”, a name that resonated so well that it has continued

to describe this part of the installation What was significant about this part of the installation was its

lack of nurturant quality. The doll looked unloved, a spider guarded the lair and even the china teddy

had a glazed, frightened look about him. The message from the installation was that nurture is

needed in a mother goose group.

Many of the songs used in the program are about the moon. Astrologically, the moon is about

mother, memories and melting the ice. So a “moon mother” who nurtures and soothes children and

parents alike emerges as a needed voice in Mother Goose. In the New Turtle Nation it is known as

the lost world—significant as many of the parents are, like everyone, looking for a place of nurture

both for themselves and their children. One of the voices of a mother goose teacher is Moon

Mother, the nurturant presence that makes everyone feel welcome, safe and secure. Rather than

warming everyone by the warmth of her being, the Moon mother makes a safe “nest” for the families

to feel comfortable enough to connect with teachers, other parents, other children and even their

own children. Coming to mother goose gives parents a place to enjoy their children without other

pressures, and to be accepted for however they can connect with their child at that moment.


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RHYME:

Moon, moon come to us moon.

Climb over the mountains and come to us soon. (PCMG rhymes book)

MOMENT:

I am leading a rhyme that ends in a tickle. I make the motions to tickle, as I have no child on my lap.

All of a sudden I see the round face of Michael, bursting into a huge smile. He is looking at his mother

with an expression of love and joy. She looks back at him with the same expression. They are like the

sun and the moon, reflecting back the light of their love and connection.

Who is the Moon/Mother in P-CMG?

The moon mother is a nurturer—mother, grandmother or aunt, she connects both with the children

and their parents. She brings support and caring—both the practical support of a group as well as the

listening ear, observing eye and solicitous questions to let parents know they are welcome. She brings

an invitation for parents to touch their children both physically and emotionally through rhymes and

songs, and she brings a reassurance to children that they can have a good time with her. She lets

children know that their parents are in a safe place in the group. Most importantly she lets children

know that she has helped create a place where their parents can deepen their connection with their

children.

Her greatest gift is respect—for parents’ courage and strength to find ways to get closer to their

children, as well as for children who seek their parents’ love and connection whatever their prior

experience has been. She seeks and finds the best in parents, children and herself—caring for others

begins with self-care.


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Small group nurturer, mother, soft, gentle, unhurried, comfort, softness, touch, calming, intuitive,

serene, trusted, soft, of the earth, love, unconditional, cuddles, warmth, trust, empathy,

sustenance, orderliness, bear from Goldilocks, wee baby moon, memories, moon baby, dark,

lonely, stark, nurturant, unloved, glazed, frightened, nurture needed, melting the ice, lost world,

welcome, safe, secure, nest, comfortable, place, accepted, connected.


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4. Drover or Trail Boss

This region of the New Turtle Nation was called Desperado, and seemed to be a bit critical about the

fact that the inhabitants spent their time riding the boundaries and not investigating the interior.

On the installation it is represented by the trail of gold, the cutout or origin of the prickly shadow,

the trail of tears and the practicality of a roll of sticky tape ready to be cut and used. The role of

leader, best portrayed by a drover or trail boss is a vital one in a mother goose group. The golden

girl may enjoy being in the moment, but there is a plan to the group and some goals to be reached,

and someone has to be watching to make sure these things happen. However gently, the group

needs to be led. Someone has to remember the words and the tune—while parents become more

confident, someone has to help it all to happen.

Originally the name of this voice was “Teacher”. It seemed to send the wrong message. Drovers

and trail bosses help the group get where they need to go. They sit together over the campfire and

talk about the next day’s journey and review the journey thus far—what went well, what to avoid in

future—as well as any particular things to look out for in future or where to head when they next

start out. This seems to reflect the planning and observation involved in a mother goose group.

The installation became a story to be read from left to right, and the trails, cut outs and equipment

evoked a wild west feel to me—too many viewings of “Rawhide” and “Death Valley Days” as well as

Saturday afternoon Westerns, I fear.


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Rhyme:

From Wibbleton to Wobbleton is fifteen miles

From Wobbleton to Wibbleton is fifteen miles

From Wibbleton to Wobbleton

From Wobbleton to Wibbleton

From Wibbleton to Wobbleton is fifteen miles (Zoom, zoom, zoom)

(Children sit on parents’ laps in a circle. When we say “Wibbleton” parents rock children left, when we

say “Wobbleton”, rock right, and bounce up and down on “fifteen miles”. No one gets it right every

time, especially those across the circle from the leader. Mistakes abound. Hilarity and confusion

ensues).

MOMENT:

I have a new co-teacher, Edina. The last teacher seemed uncomfortable leading the group; she was

more used to individual work. I had seen Edina lead preschool groups skilfully. Fortunately I was not

her trainer, but I fear that my status as trainer could be intimidating to a new PCMG teacher. I am

surprised that she doesn’t join in, or volunteer to lead some rhymes or songs that she knows. One

day, on my way to the toy cupboard it comes to me. We have very different styles; each of us is used

to leading. Why not just share the task of “leading” by alternating weeks of being leader. I ask her,

offering her some lead time to get ready, but she agrees to start the next week. Once I remembered I

didn’t need to be in charge I really enjoyed my ability to better observe the families as they went

through the material. Edina had a different style, but it works and sends a good message to the

families about her role in the group.


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Who is the Drover in P-CMG?

She is a leader and a planner. She knows where she wants the group to go, and gently guides the

group forward. She has a good understanding of pace, and neither pushes the group too fast or

lets them get too far off track. She loves to bring the families toward the end of the trail—to let

the families find their own pace but know that there is someone guiding and encouraging them

onward.

Her gift is steadiness and determination. She helps the group put one foot in front of the other

and just keep going even when times are tough. She encourages the families along their path by

reminding them of how far they’ve come, of support available along the way and by taking “the

longer view”—that while it is hard to see now, there is an end to the “bumpy road” in sight if they

just keep on going.

Who is the Drover in P-CMG?

The overall view, reflective, responsible, visioning, collaborative, sergeant major, faithful, caring,

safe, focused, organised, driven, goal-setter, well prepared, directions, dance, leaders, wise,

shared knowledge, dimensions, boundary, determined, strengths and weaknesses, unfinished,

Annie Oakley, boundary rider, self-sufficient, rides the ranges, getting the job done, plan,

remember, help it all happen, get where they need to go, review, look out, planning, went well,

avoid.


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5. Wise Woman

She is called “La Cuentadora” in Spanish, and is related to the story of The Bone Woman or “La

Huesera” who collects the bones from those who have gone, arranges them then sings them back

into creation. The bones are the bones of the story, the bones of the group that remain the same

while the way they are fleshed out changes, the way that La Huesera can change people (often for

the better) when she brings them back to life.

The storyteller is the wise woman who has a “down deep” knowledge and the wisdom that comes

from trusting the group. She develops a trust with the families—the children grow to love her

because of the songs and rhymes she brings and her peaceful (at times) demeanour. They are at

ease in her presence because they know that they are safe and that their parents are safe as well

Parents can experience the qualities of a grandparent in the teacher, whatever the age. The teacher

is accepting and nurturing but not judgemental. She has time for the parent and does not have an

agenda other than the parent getting what they need.

The wise woman is also in charge of cultural transmission, just as a grandmother might be. She

teaches the literature of the culture, both in song and rhyme but also in telling stories that resonate

with the parents. Stories can reflect the values of the culture of the wise woman, the parent(s) or

more universal ideas. She gives the parents a moral compass in the messages of the stories. She

introduces the values she lives by and encourages parents to identify the values they want to call

their own.

In the installation, the lyrical quality, the affect of the trail of gold, shadow inset and trail of tears

evoke the wise woman. She extends to the bridge and the cauldron in staying with the parents as

they use the grounding and centring they have learned from the group in their daily lives.


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MOMENT:

I have decided to tell the story of “The Seal’s Skin” which I love, but has met with distaste in training

sessions. I decide to lead with my strengths—I will start the story by singing a verse of “The Silkie of

Skule Skerry” to start things out. This ballad tells the same story in song. I am happy that they are

listening as I begin this story that resonates so well with me—to come to a new place means to leave

some loved ones behind. I can see that they are with me; I wonder what the story means to them.

But they stayed with me and we’ve been doing this long enough that I know the story touched them.

It is truly the gift that I offer “from my mouth to your ears” as I describe storytelling to new teachers.

Who is the Wise Woman/Storyteller in P-CMG?

She is the steady voice of experience, whatever her age. She loves to help families reflect on their

journey, often by telling stories. Sometimes they are the folk tales in a P-CMG group, but often they

are reflections on what is important in life. She shares some of her self in the group, through leading

rhymes and songs, choosing stories to tell and reminding families of the old ways.

Those old ways existed before pace, electronics and resources separated people—made it such a

challenge to connect with each other. She demonstrates that by sitting together, sharing pieces of

culture and espousing deceptively simple concepts like touching, talking and taking time to be

together.

Her greatest gift is her voice—teaching a song or rhyme, telling a story, or simply talking to children

and adults in a way that is honest and true.


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Nurturing, sharing, comfort, trust, quiet, wise presence, creative, soft, intuitive, Aesop, stable, wise,

wisdom, rock, respect, clarity, coherence, definition, equal prominence, equal say, evolution, sense of

knowing strength, turtle, strong, defined, multi-faceted, sequence, series, bone, coherence, clarity,

defined, recognisable, evolution, natural life, need to hold, definition, integration, knowing, healthy,

shaman, bone woman, earth magic, shape shifter, cure others,


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6. The Visionary

P-CMG is a young program, especially in Australia. Teachers have helped to build the program. They

have dreamed it in to existence, in a way, because they believe so strongly in the benefits of the

program for families, as well as the enjoyment they receive from running it.

The visionary takes the “big picture” view and can look into the future. She goes beyond her group

and connects with other teachers. The program is an evolving one, and teachers learn by their

experience. They learn very strongly from one another, where each can share their experience with

others.

At a national (now international) level, the structure of the governing board of P-CMG has room for

collective decision making. At the Australian level, P-CMG Inc has grown from interested and

experienced teachers who have a desire to make the program grow and be responsive to local needs

and requirements.

The visionary is a dreamer, just as the teachers dreamed of network of P-CMG groups (where in 2003,

just 7 years ago, there were none). Often she dreams her group into existence, as the process of

finding a funding source and collecting parents is an ongoing challenge for all groups.

P-CMG has not come in as part of an existing structure but has dreamed the structure into existence

as well as the groups to accompany it. She sees the “universe in a grain of sand” as her group is

reflected in the collective of groups in her area, the regional office and the international collection of

P-CMG groups. The principles of collegiality, acceptance, sharing and enjoyment permeate all levels

of the Mother Goose program.


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IMAGE:

In the installation, the gold box of treasure is the promise of things to come—the vision of the future.

SONG:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Twinkle, twinkle, little moon

How I wonder what you are

How I hope you come back soon

Up above the world so high

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky…

Like a pancake in the sky…

MOMENT:

It is an auspicious evening. I have just been recognised as Australia’s first PCMG Teacher Trainer

Workshop Facilitator. I’ve found a way of training that is new, challenging and eminently satisfying.

But there is more—I have provided a way to help PCMG in Australia grow in a more sustainable way.

We have gone out to celebrate the visit by the Executive Director of PCMG in Canada, as well as talk

about the future. She asks me how I see the future. As usual, I see a picture in my head. It is the net

of stars or a geodesic dome; a series of connections. I talk about a series of hubs, with someone who

connects teachers around the hubs and how each of the hubs connects with each other. Five years

later, the PCMG Australia Inc. is setting itself up in a manner not unlike that vision I had in the

restaurant in North Ringwood.


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Who is the visionary in P-CMG?

She is involved in growing the Mother Goose program. She sees where she wants it to go, spends

time and energy talking with others about a shared vision and puts in time, energy and resources

to help it happen.

She brings hope and faith to the P-CMG community. She reflects on her experience and believes

in the value of the program. This spurs her on to identify her strengths and offer some of her

energy to help the program grow.

Her strongest gift is perseverance, as the ongoing challenge of building a community and trying to

ensure that there are sufficient resources to maintain and expand it is a long term enterprise,

filled with both rewards and challenges.


Family, motherhood, community, empathy, support, down to earth, compassionate, community-

minded, respect, growing good citizens, assessment, involved, practised, concerned,

knowledgeable, we all have a heart, we all have feelings, warm smiles, returning, spiral, clear,

different, shining, offers, reaching out, coming back in on itself, connections with nature,

disconnection, trying to find an order, pieces too hard to hold, multicultural, random, far seer,

walk beyond, look beyond, look back, ear to ground, psychic.


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7. Fellow traveller

The fellow traveller respects the fact that “we’re all in this together”. She recognises the strengths in

the parents in the group, and increasingly watches the group form and watches parents become

more active participants. She strengthens her connection with the families as they strengthen their

connections with each other. She respects the fact that she is gaining from the group as well as the

parents; her openness means that support can at times be mutual—facilitation takes on a “starting it

all off” function. The teacher, also provides an atmosphere where parents can feel comfortable

contributing their ideas and suggestions for material as well as sharing what is important in their

children’s lives (and their own). She models acceptance, inclusion and trust. Without toys and

activities to hide behind, the group allows for a tremendous amount of mutual sharing—a

comfortable P-CMG teacher brings an honesty and openness to the group. She has helped create an

atmosphere where mutual respect is fostered, and thus the acceptance for everyone’s strengths and

challenges is part of the landscape. The fact that parenting is a tricky business is understood within

the members of the group, and acceptance for all members wherever they are in their journey is an

important part of the environment the teacher has fostered. In addition, the teachers work in groups

of two or three. The teachers, fortunately, travel together. The ease of connection between them is

vital for the group to succeed and grow. The teachers are all learning—timing, material, observation,

how to interact with vulnerable families—and they accept and encourage each other’s progress. The

teachers learn from each other, share with each other, rely on each other and laugh and cry with

each other.

In the installation: On the bridge is a purple postcard. The bridge is also called the interchange. It is

in part of the installation called “values underpinning” and shows a way of being together which goes

beyond the material and even the connection between parent and child.


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RHYME:

A smooth road, a smooth road, a smooth road, a smooth road

A bumpy road, a bumpy road, a bumpy road, a bumpy road

A rough road, a rough road, a rough road, a rough road

A hole!

(Children sit on parents laps and bounce more and more vigorously until A hole! when the parent

separates their legs and drops the child through the resultant “hole”.)

MOMENT:

Jenny, our program assistant gets a phone call just before the group begins. A family friend, more like

an extended family member, has died suddenly. She is shocked and very sad. I ask her if she wants to

leave, but she feels it will be more useful to keep busy and say nothing—to work her way through it.

She soldiers on, but is not as present as we are used to. After the group has finished, I look over and

one of the parents is giving her a big hug—she knew something was wrong without being told. Later,

Jenny is lying on the cushions and two year old Jasmine is stroking Jenny’s back. No words needed.

(She doesn’t have a lot of them). But she can feel another’s pain.


We all have a heart, all feel, all equal, family, warm smiles, returning, holding centre, helping, synergy,

room for us all, tools, pairings, crossing the divide, stages of connecting, looking at each other, no

strings, sharing the journey, ease of connection, learning, accept, encourage, empathy, mutual.


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THE REST OF THE TURTLE

At this point I had completed my inquiry into the shell of the turtle—the seven singers,

each with its own voice. The turtle also has a head, legs and a tail. The head of the

turtle appeared to me as the things I learned by doing the research. As I mentioned, I

was surprised that the medium of the research (a multimodal presentation using

music, colour and shape to ask people to reflect on their educational practice using

objects, keywords and art making) was greeted by participants as healing, connecting,

even spiritual. Participants thanked me for the opportunity to reflect, and in the case

of workmates who I saw on a daily basis, I know that they talked about the experience

for days afterwards.

Fig x The turtles’s legs and feet Fig xx The turtle’s head


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I also learned that the research could now become an opportunity as well as a vehicle

for greater reflection. The child care centre (and a preschool that I once worked at the

childcare centre and came back for a visit) offered a table for individual children to

reflect upon their feelings using colour, texture and crystals. I have already been

invited to present my research (not the conclusions, but the multimodal data

collection) at a neo-pagan women’s reflective weekend entitled “Things that move

us’’, reminding me that the intersubjective space I create in a PCMG group has many

parallels to a ritual circle Both groups consist mainly of women. They both involve

sitting in a circle, singing and chanting. In addition, the circle encourages participation

by all rather than overt control by the leaders. Participants energise each other.

The legs of the turtle

Just as the installation suggested that I investigate ways to connect with the wider

community, the legs of the turtle speak to me about moving the inquiry forward (what

do I want to do with what I now know). The inquiry was a resounding reinforcement

of the value of the MIECAT procedures to arrive at approximations of meaning. Of

particular significance were procedures that helped to connect me with the

participants as well as strengthen their connections with each other. One of the tools

that supported this type of connection was the intersubjective responses.

Within PCMG in Australia we are developing a system of mentoring teachers; it is my

hope that the seven voices can make an appearance in this system, given the dynamic,

connecting way in which we offer both groups and teacher training, the seven voices

as indicators of quality practice can contribute to the discussion, being another

manifestation of the legs of the turtle.


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The tail of the turtle

The tail of the turtle helps him keep his sense of balance. It keeps him from tipping

over, and also helps him steer. Along with his legs that propel him forward, the tail

keeps him steady and grounded. I believe that this research is very valuable and want

it to inform the mentoring and evaluation system for new teachers. The tail of the

turtle tells me to proceed in a balanced way, grounding myself in P-CMG ideals and the

practicality of using the seven voices for this work.

In addition, the tail steadied me when the research pointed to the less than perfect

aspects of the voices—their shadow side, revealing the belly of the turtle.

Finally the two parallel processes of reflection (the installation and the turtle) had finally

come together into one. All of the research on the installation (practice, values underpinning,

outreach and obstacles) could also be seen as parts of the turtle (the mosaic shell, the head,

the legs, the tail and the belly).

Consulting with P-CMG and the Early Childhood field helped me to better describe the

seven voices—first by the descriptions of practice and values underpinning a P-CMGP,

then by amplifying and clarifying what the emergent voices “sounded” like. What I

found was the seven voices of a Parent Child Mother Goose Teacher.


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CONCLUSIONS

So I went on a journey to the New Turtle Nation and I met seven voices/singers there.

I got to know the lands that they call home. I even found out about their shadow sides

and got to understand them as well. I found that the journey was as informative as the

destination. I shared with colleagues what the journey might be and they helped me

decide where I might go, then I shared with more colleagues what the journey was

like. I didn’t tell them so much as invite them to experience it with me.

They liked the journey (the research)—it was almost like going there themselves. They

liked the souvenirs (ISRs) I brought them—I picked them out (often made them with

local materials) based on my experience of being with them and our shared emotional

experience in the recreation of the journey.

I found out that describing what went wrong (shadow side) was as illuminating as what

went right—it gave people perspective. I’ve already written a travel article about the

journey, and I am going to lead a group on a journey this spring. We are setting up

guidebooks for travellers to this New Turtle Nation of ways of being in a PCMG group

and I want to make sure that the seven voices are included.

I think there is more to investigate and write about. Like the participants in the

research, I so enjoyed the journey and continue to reflect upon it. As a returned

traveller, I can sit in a PCMG group and think, “That was a moment that was Golden”

and know that it was about presence and not just sunshine.

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44

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REFERENCES

Buirski, & Haglund. (2001) Making Sense together-The Intersubjective Approach to

Psychotherapy. Northvale N J: Jason Aronson.

Crossley, N. (1996). Intersubjectivity: the fabric of social becoming. London: Sage.

Crotty, M. (2003). The Foundations of Social Research. London: Sage.

Ellis, C. & M. Flaherty (eds) Investigating Subjectivity: Research on Lived Experience.

London:Sage 2011.

Ely, M., Vinz, R., Downing, M., Anzul, M. (1997). On Writing Qualitative Research: Living

My words. London: Falmer Press.

Fosha, D, Siegel, D. & Solomon, M. F. (eds) The Healing Power of Emotion. New York:

Norton.

Gergen, K. J. (2009). Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community. London: Oxford

University Press

Gergen, K. J. & McNamee S. (2000). From Disordering Discourse to Transformative

Dialogue. In Niemeyer, R. A. & Rasking, J. D. (eds.), Constructions of Disorder.

Washington: American Psychological Association.

Lomas, P. (2005). Responsibility. In Cultivating Intuition (pp. 77-86; 87-92). London:

Whurr.

Mazzeti, L. A. (2003). Inhabited Silences: In Pursuit of a Muffled Subtext. In Qualitative

Inquiry, Volume 9 number 3.

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological Research Methods. London: Sage.

Orange, D. (1995). Emotional Understanding. New York. The Guilford Press.

Quagliana, J. (2010) I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me reflective practice and

Parent-Child Mother Goose—an arts based autoethnography. In Goose

Gazette, Volume 2 number 1.

Spinelli, E. (1989). An Introduction to Phenomenological Psychology. London: Sage.

Trudinger, M. (2006). Maps of violence, maps of hope: Using place and maps to

explore identity, gender, and violence. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications.


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APPENDICES: SIDE TRIPS

There were two large pieces of the MA process that I wanted to say more about, to

explore in different ways. They were:

Making the installation

The end of year project

Each of these investigations resulted in a children’s story:

Siobhan steps out for the installation

Tortuga’s journey for the end of year project

I offer each of them as another way of knowing the experience, and hope that, if

nothing else, they can entertain.


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Siobhan steps out

Snap! A light turns on in the darkness, and a creature climbs out of the wellspring. She

dances down the steps of the alchemical trail of transformation. It is Siobhan, a girl

with wild blonde hair. She has sewn two shadows onto her foot—a black one and a

prickly one. As she slowly progresses with the shadows dragging along behind, she

spies a clearing. There, a firebird sits on a pedestal that looks like a chalice made of

bright red. Around the firebird is a circle woven of branches.

Siobhan sees that around the circle is a leather rope. She follows it and it leads to a

giant spindle. This is a long journey through the dark forest. She hears whisperings in

her ear. The voice is the most beautiful Siobhan has ever heard—the clear bell-like

tones tell her not to be afraid, yet point out possible dangers on her way.

While the angelic voices keep her safe most of the time, all of a sudden she finds

herself in a dark cave—the lair of some great beast. A great spider guards the entrance

and Siobhan is trapped inside.

The cave, this lair, is a contradictory place. It looks perilous but there are toys to play

with, the soft floor of the cave to dance barefoot upon, a harp that makes music when

she sings and a loyal companion—a bear.

Oscar, as the bear is named, tells her that they all ignored the angel’s warning and

wound up in the lair. (Or did the angel warn them at all?) He tells her a strange story—

on sunny days they can see another cave with the same inhabitants, including a spider

who appears just as frightening.

The harp, Glissanda, sings a ballad that tells that the spider, Morrighan, did not start

out as a monster, but instead was the weaver of the circle in the clearing. She saw the

firebird fly there and was so dazzled by her plumage that she ran away to the cave

here.


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Oscar counters that Morrighan must be dangerous, as she hides while unsuspecting

travelers come, then keeps them from leaving (by guarding the entrance to the cave).

Glissanda replies that Morrighan just needs friends and this is her way of acquiring

them. An argument ensues, and Siobhan cannot decide who is right.

The spider has gone away—they are not sure where. The bright golden sun comes out

and Siobhan sees a golden sunbeam coming from the woods. Then the sunbeam

disappears.

Oscar says, “Let’s make a run for it.” Glissanda says that every time they have tried in

the past, Morrighan has barred the way. But Siobhan, with the best vision in the

group, can see Morrighan over on the other side of the spindle. The great spider is

turning to look at herself in the great shining pool in the clearing. “Morrighan has

finally found a friend,” says Glissanda.

Rather than tangle themselves in the spindle, they find a covered bridge further on

that takes them into another country. They are welcomed in Cauldron Country, with a

population of mystical creatures, led by a perspicacious frog. The trio is invited to stay

the winter. Many of their days are taken up with sitting by the fire and telling stories.

The Cauldron People tell the story of the trail of gold, and how their people happily

traveled down it until they hit the prickly shadow. Siobhan then feels for her prickly

shadow, but finds that she has lost it in the rush to get away from the Morrighan. Her

black shadow has slipped free, and now follows her like everyone else’s.

Siobhan listens as the frog continues the story. He says that their trail of gold became a

trail of tears after their encounter with the prickly shadow. Siobhan thinks to herself

that she knows how they feel.

This turns out to be a living myth, as the Cauldron People are mounting an expedition

to the fabled cave of gold to rediscover that which they lost in their encounter with the

prickly shadow. They were impressed with Siobhan’s vision, Glissanda’s hope and

Oscar’s quick thinking, so the Cauldron people invited the trio on this next adventure,

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and our three explorers could hardly wait till spring when they would be off in search

of the mysterious golden cave.

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Tortuga’s journey

When Tortuga’s grandfather died, he left his grandson a map. It’s not a treasure map,

boy, he said, but this is a journey I took in my youth. Take it and you will never be the

same.

Tortuga remembered Grandpa then breathing his last. There were so many questions

he had wanted to ask: Will it be fun? How will I be changed? Can I change back?

But Grandpa was gone. He had been so kind to Tortuga; he always had time to answer

the bundle of questions Tortuga stored up for their next meeting. Grandpa would tell


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him the same story many times if asked; Tortuga’s parents would soon tire of the

repetition, but not Grandpa. He seemed to like repeating his wisdom, and Tortuga

couldn’t get enough.

But all too soon, Grandpa was gone. He was buried at the bottom of the garden, and

Tortuga would mount little expeditions to go and see his grave. He would sit on the

smooth stone and tell his grandpa what he had been up to, and then open the bundle

of questions that his parents tried their best to answer. Grandpa seemed to say to

him, “Stop talking and start doing.”

This brought Tortuga back to the map Grandpa had left him. Tortuga was at a time in

life where young turtles were setting out on adventures. It just seemed such a wrench

to leave Grandpa, even though he was in the ground. His parents had clear ideas of

where he should set out to—practical ideas that would help his future, but his heart

wasn’t in it.

Finally he decided that the way he could be closest to Grandpa was by following the

map he had left behind. His parents thought it was fanciful, but knew they couldn’t

stop their youngest when he had an idea in his head.

At least the map was beautiful—the parchment had all the colours of the rainbow on it

fashioned in hexagonal shapes—every place was represented by a six-sided figure in a

different colour. The directions were vague, but Tortuga was young and confident that

he could find his way.

The map said to start in the interior—it gave directions to The Wellspring. Tortuga

dove in the water—it looked like one of the swampy lakes that dinosaurs used to drink

out of. But as Tortuga dove in, he felt the warmth of the water. It was refreshing and

relaxing. As he crawled out of the water, a firebird slinked by. She told Tortuga that

this was her land—it was called Wellspring, as on his map. She explained that the

water had filled up what used to be a volcano. It had erupted years ago, with so much

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force that it blew its top off. Rains and a diverted river filled up the bowl of the extinct

volcano, but there was still heat under the ground, making for a warm pool.

Firebird looked at Tortuga’s map. “Ahhhh”, she said. “You’re going to Golden. You’ll

love it there. Follow the song lines and you’ll find it easily.” She then explained that

he was to look for toas that marked the lines of song that the creator used to sing the

land into being. She taught him the creation song that would take him to Golden.

Tortuga’s voice was gravelly and lacked the lilt of the tones of the Firebird. But he

found the markers and found a magnificent beach. He was in his element. He sat on

the sand in the sun and watched the waves, and then Tortuga dove in for a swim. The

surf was amazing—he rolled through the tubes and rode the waves for hours.

Suddenly he saw a woman surfing a huge wave. Her blonde hair glistened in the sun—

the droplets of water on her shoulder sparkled and glistened. She rode her board

swiftly into the beach, then sat on the sand and brushed her fingers through her salty

hair. Tortuga swam to the shore and walked up to sit beside her.

Neither said a word for the longest time. They both enjoyed the roar of the surf, the

smell of the kelp. Tortuga still tasted the salt in his mouth. His flippers moved slowly

in the sand as he took in the view of the sun shining off the water. Finally she spoke.

“Ahhh. Another golden moment. In Golden.”

He had little to say. He showed her the map and she smiled. “Well, mate, you’ll have

to head upcountry if you want to go to Moon Mother. Cross over the dunes and walk

through the scrub till you get to Mother Mountain. It’s the only one around. Climb to

the top and you’ll find the people of Moon Mother. But stay and have some tea with

me—it’ll be easier traveling at night.”

So he helped her catch some fish which they cooked over the fire. As they watched

the sparks come off the fire, she reminded him of the crescent shape of the toa that

would guide his way, and taught him the song in her low, rumbling voice. She pointed

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out the stars that would guide him as well. Tortuga learned the song easily and bid her

g’day. Off he went to find the dune and the mountain.

As he walked he thought about what had already happened on his journey. He

wondered if the firebird was really born of the ashes, as they said. She might have

come out of the volcano—think of it. He had gone swimming in a pool warm with the

energy of the earth.

How different that was from the dip in the ocean with the surfer. They didn’t have to

say much, but he remembered the feeling of being with her on the beach. Not much

to say, but it was strong.

And now, how to find his way in the dark. No, not dark—he saw the enormous moon

rise and reveal the Moon Mountain. It was easy climbing, and before long he reached

the top. Nestled in a cosy cave, he saw a woman singing her baby to sleep. The tune

was so restful that Tortuga sat down outside the cave to listen. She gestured for him

to come inside the cave, and he sat on a bundle of sweet grass as the baby slowly

calmed its kicking and slowed its breathing. Soon he could hear the regular rhythm of

a sleeping baby, and the woman laid him in his cradle.

Moon mother, as he introduced herself, offered him some food and a place to sleep.

She continued to sing and Tortuga was soon asleep. In the morning he watched Moon

Mother bathe and nurse the baby (boy, he discovered) and soon the baby fell asleep

again as the sun rose higher in the sky. Moon Mother wrapped up some of the food

from last night’s supper, told him to head west down the mountain singing its creation

song and to look for paddocks and herds of cattle to find the plains of Desperado.

It was a hot, dusty road down to Desperado. Tortuga choked as he sang, then he

finally gave up as his croaks were drowned out by the shouts of the Desperado

drovers. He was pleased to see that the cattle had found a stream and were mooing

and drinking. The drovers bathed in the stream and joined the cattle for a drink.

Tortuga joined in, but they were sated long before the cattle were. The drovers talked


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about the route ahead, and how much ground they could cover before the sun set. An

argument ensued about whether they should travel by moonlight. Tortuga started to

slink off when they stopped their “discussion” to introduce themselves (Dusty and

Rowdy) and look at his map.

All thoughts of the night journey evaporated when they saw that he needed to go to

see La Huesera. “She’s up in that cave near the limestone cliffs,” said Dusty. “We

should go by moonlight to show him the way to the cave—it’d be hard to find without

us,” replied Rowdy. Decision made. They would let the cattle drink for a while; then

leave after the heat of the day was gone.

Dusty explained that La Huesera often went walking during the day, but came back to

her cave to smoke and sing and (Rowdy covered Dusty’s mouth so Tortuga didn’t know

what he tried to say, but both the men started giggling uncontrollably. Rowdy

reassured him that he would be safe, but surprised when he got to La Huesera’s cave.

Tortuga stared at his face for a long time, but there was no lie in those features.

The herd set off in the afternoon and were refreshed and content to move ahead.

Dusty joked with Tortuga about spending time with La Huesera and said that he’d be

changed after his encounter. Finally—what grandpa promised. He was excited and

didn’t feel tired despite the distance they had traversed. He loved walking over the

land and watching the sun set and the moon rise—there were so many stars he

couldn’t keep them all straight.

Rowdy stopped for a minute and pointed up another mountainside. Tortuga was

disappointed—he had gotten used to walking on the flat. But Dusty reassured him

that a visit to La Huesera was worth the climb. “If I didn’t have the beasts to get to

market I’d go with you,” he said longingly. Tortuga bid goodnight to the boys (he

wanted to call them cowboys, but he knew they’d hate it) and headed up the

mountain.


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The song they had taught him was an eerie one—low and scary, to his mind. The toa

he was looking for was shaped like a bone. He finally remembered his Spanish—huesa

means bone, so the woman he was setting out to see was The Bone Woman. That

didn’t calm his nerves much.

He soon heard another voice singing the creation song. A thin woman (delgada he

remembered—it sounds so much nicer in Spanish) was, as promised, singing and

smoking. She looked at the ground in front of her. Tortuga was amazed to see that

there were bones in front of her (huesas—remember). She got up and started to

arrange the bones to form a skeleton. La Huesera picked up bones from a pile in the

cave and filled in the gaps.

Soon she sat back in front of the fire, still singing. It was hypnotic—Tortuga rocked in

time with the music, and his lids became heavy. He kept slipping in and out of sleep (if

sleep it was) and when he opened his eyes he saw La Huesera blow smoke over the

skeleton. Then he opened his eyes again and saw that the bones were knitting

together. Tortuga tried to wake himself but it was like crawling through a swamp—

slow, seductive and slurpy. He couldn’t get out of the mire and sunk down into sleep.

When he woke, a young woman sat beside him. Did La Huesera turn herself into a

chiquita—a young woman? No, he heard rustling in the bushes, and the old woman

came back with some big leaves. “Tobacco leaves are best gathered by moonlight,”

she said. “Have you met Almira?” Tortuga smiled at her, but he didn’t want to think of

where she came from. La Huesera was frightening to him.

But Almira was curious about everything. She made him tell the story about

grandfather and the map, and told him she would come with him and help him

discover the last two places—Telcontar and Welcome. La Huesera laughed softly, but

said, “Yes, Tortuguita, you need a compaňera.” “How dare she call me little turtle,” he

thought. “I’m not sure I want a companion,” he said. Almira’s face fell, and Tortuga

changed his mind. He had gotten used to her shining eyes and didn’t want to see the

light go out. “Sure”, he said, “come with me. We can keep each other company.”


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Almira raced off and Tortuga had to call her back. La Huesera taught them a repetitive

song—or rather he taught Tortuga, because Almira’s mind was elsewhere. She gave

them some dried beans, a dried out gourd to cook them in and some of her dried

tobacco with a flint. She put it all in a woven bag, and told them to look for the spiral

path. He thanked La Huesera for her generosity. She said, “Chico, you’re going to

need it.”

Tortuga raced to catch up with Almira. She raced after a butterfly without any spiral

path in sight. After following Almira for a few side trips, he started to follow La

Huesera’s instructions, hoping that Almira would follow. Eventually she did, but he

couldn’t find a spiral path anywhere. He sang the song, and Almira said, “Look,

Tortuga—a shape like your song!” Sure enough, there was the toa, the song line

marker with a spiral on it. The path was overgrown and he would have had trouble

finding it without Almira’s interest in shapes.

The path was steep. Almira walked for a while, but then she laid down and fell asleep.

Tortuga was much too small to move her, so he sat down with her for a while. Then he

climbed up the steep path. It flattened out as soon as the path turned out of sight.

When it when up again, it was much less steep. Soon Tortuga was at the top. He

could see for miles. The spiral path reached across a ridge, then down a valley.

Tortuga was wondering why he brought Almira with him. He could hear her coming up

the path, skipping, singing (not the creation song, but something she’d just made up).

“Did you take a drink?” she asked. “Drink!” said Tortuga. “Where did you find a

drink?”

“In the ground, silly,” she giggled. He could see clear water dripping from her chin.

She saw the thirsty look in his eyes and picked up his flipper and led him to an

underground spring. Not only was the water indescribable, the spring was near

another spiral toa. It was a shortcut—they wouldn’t have to climb across the narrow

ridge, but could start halfway down the valley.


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It seemed that they both had different ways of looking at things; Tortuga went in a

straight line but Almira took the curves. They both found their way. Telcontar was a

beautiful place—not necessarily on a mountain but one of the highest spots around.

They met Circe who showed them the best places from which to see the road ahead.

It amazed Tortuga that they each saw such different things.

Almira found Circe’s song easy to sing—she learned it faster than Tortuga did. She

sand it in her sleep, it seemed to Tortuga. The next day, as he was looking at the road,

he realised that he could see the road home! He was glad, because the map seemed

to fade away beyond Telcontar.

He had told Almira that he wasn’t sure where they should go next—perhaps that was

the end of the map. Almira smiled and said that she was sure he would figure out

where to go next. Tortuga now realised that this was the “end of the road”. He was

surprised he felt sad—Almira might not come with him now that he had run out of

map.

He delayed leaving Telcontar all the next day. He went to talk about it all with Circe.

She told him that he needed to look at the map in his heart, now that he had followed

Grandpa’s map. “Map in my heart, map in my heart,” he mumbled as he fell asleep.

While asleep he had an amazing dream. His turtle shell turned colour—it was red in

the middle, then one section turned orange, yellow, green, blue…all the rainbow

colours. On each section he saw a pattern—it was a toa. As he looked at the red

section, he heard the creation song for wellspring and caught a glimpse of the firebird.

Then he heard the waves and saw the golden surfer on the orange section. Mother

Moon’s cave appeared on the yellow section as he heard her lullaby. As he looked

toward the green section he heard cattle and Dusty and Rowdy leading them along.

The blue section revealed a bone, then the smiling face of Almira. Dark indigo showed

a spiral on its section, with an eagle flying ‘way off in the distance.


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But down near his tail was a section in violet. All he could see on this section was an

outline of Tortuga and Almira trudging toward Tortuga’s homeland. He could see the

smooth stone that Grandpa was buried under. Grandpa would have liked to meet

Almira. Oh well, there were lots of other people at home who would love to meet her,

too. Just like he had.

Once your mind is made up, the rest is easy. Circe smiled as Tortuga invited Almira to

come to his homeland with him. She was getting restless and said she just wanted to

get going—she even confided in him that she was leaving today, with or without him.

But she was happy to come with him, and he taught her the song of his homeland and

looked for a toa in the shape of a turtle. Almira spotted it, and it was easy going from

then on (honest).


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Documents

I see the moon and the moon sees me… · Summary of research ... Fellow Traveller ... I see the moon and the moon sees me