Gary Holz - Secrets of Aboriginal Healing: A Physicists Journey with a Remote Australian Tribe

To Chris and Sonia, the driving force in the quest to become whole again, and who remain a larger part of our hearts than they can ever imagine;

To Robert and Marge, who exemplify extraordinary love and service to community;

To Corey, a constant source of inspiration and loved more than words can possibly express;

To Laurie, a shining heart and one of the greatest blessings in our lives;

To Rose and Ray, who were the guides on an incredible journey;

To the remote Outback Aborigines, who so generously shared their healing knowledge;

To all those who suffer but refuse to give up hope, even though others have told them their case is hopeless;

And to the Big Guywho is in charge of it all.

SECRETS OF
ABORIGINAL HEALING

In this dramatic and inspiring book Gary Holz charts a course on how intuition, surrender, and willingness are essential to the heroic journey of healing oneself.

WARD SERRILL, FILMMAKER, DIRECTOR, AND WRITER OF THE AWARD-WINNING FILM THE HEART OF THE GAME

... allows us a special glimpse into the heart of the Aboriginal world. It offers us insights into an ancient system of healing that touches on all aspects of wellness, from the physical to the spiritual to the emotional.

JOY PARKER, COAUTHOR OF WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK AND MAYA COSMOS

This story inspires us to engage our own life more fullyto awaken our own inner capacity for well-beingno matter where we find ourselves.

JIM MACARTNEY, AUTHOR OF CRISIS TO CREATION: OUR POWER OF CHOICE

Anyone who needs to heal would enjoy this book.

KRYSTA GIBSON, EDITOR OF NEW SPIRIT JOURNAL

What so many of us seek is not more information but guided wisdom that resonates with a deep place in our soul. One of love, nurturing, and truth that acts as another breadcrumb on the path to our true selves and healing at all levels. Robbie and Gary Holzs footsteps on this sacred journey are what they share with readers in this book and in their work.

RIK ROBERTS, PSYCHOLOGIST AND RETIRED JOURNALIST

Different from most self-help books, Secrets of Aboriginal Healing gives a more personal voice to learning about the healing powers we each have inside of us.

PAT RATLIFF, EDITOR OF EDMONDS BEACON

Kookaburra.
Photograph by Robbie Holz.

This book exists because of many wonderful people in our lives. Their skills, love, and support helped in one form or another in the birthing of this book.
We acknowledge and hold much gratitude in our hearts for them, especially the following: Ron and Barbara Carstens, Kathy Logan, Ouida Shelton, Dee Griffin, Joy Parker, Sara Stamey, Theresa Black-McCartney, Mary, Danielle Gibbons, Raven Neumann, Kim Votry, Starfeather, Christiann Howard, Adrienne Fermoyle, and our family and friends.

FOREWORD

BY JOY PARKER

When I first met Gary Holz in 1995, I was immediately fascinated with his extraordinary story about the time he spent with the Aborigines in the Australian Outback. One of the questions a reader might ask upon reading that account in this book is: Is this a true story? Are the people and events that Gary describes real? How is it that the two Aboriginal medicine people spoke English and used modern words such as programming and the subconscious?

Since 1983 I have worked as an editor and cowriter with anthropologists, indigenous healers, and medicine people. I learned how these sorts of people live and travel between the traditional village and the modern Westernized city. When I read about Ray and Rose, the two Aboriginal healers who worked with Gary in the Outback, I immediately recognized them as being typical of the indigenous person who is adept at moving between the two worlds. Many of these people have assumed this role because the time has come for them to share with the outside world their knowledge, which their people have kept hidden for centuries.

Westerners often have misconceptions about the indigenous. We are frequently conditioned to believe that people born in remote villages, like those in the Australian Outback, are primitives who know very little about Western culture. Mayan shaman Martn Prechtel often jokes that people expect him to talk like Tarzan and to be naive about things like history and politics. Among other accomplishments, Martn is an expert in sixteenth-century history and speaks several languages.

There are thousands of indigenous people who work in the modern city but still regard the village as home. Some of them, like Garys Aboriginal healer Rose, were born in the city (Brisbane) of an indigenous parent and a white parent and therefore speak a Western language fluently. Yet they prefer spending most of their time in the village of their tribe of origin.

We know that, in spite of all the benefits of civilization, there is something that we are still lacking. We want to hear again the voices of our own ancestorsthe songs they sang when they lived in harmony with the Earthin the village of our own ancient memory. Thats why we read books like Secrets of Aboriginal Healing; thats why we love stories like the one that Gary tells here.

Over the past several years many indigenous cultures have come forward and told their stories and shared their medicine. Secrets of Aboriginal Healing is another strand of this great tapestry, what the Mayans called the story of the original flowering Earth. This book allows us a special glimpse into the heart of the Aboriginal world. Most important, it offers us insights into an ancient system of healing that touches on all aspects of wellness, from the physical to the spiritual to the emotional.

Secrets of Aboriginal Healing is a great gift. By sharing his own story with such openhearted honesty, Gary has given us a mirror in which to see our own wounded souls and a map to find our way back home. We are fortunate indeed to receive his words.

JOY PARKER is a writer, editor, and popular lecturer. She is the coauthor of two groundbreaking books on the history of the Maya Indians, A Forest of Kings and Maya Cosmos. More recently, she coauthored Woman Who Glows in the Dark.

Ms. Parker has made television appearances related to her expertise in indigenous tribes. She has taught at both New York University and Columbia University and currently teaches at the University of California at Irvine.

Outback desert, similar to the setting of Gary Holzs Aboriginal experience.Photo by Robbie Holz.

PROLOGUE

A SINGLE STEP

According to my doctors, I was not supposed to be alive today. But I am. Why I am and how I got well, how I was healed, has been for me a revelation. And a miraculous journey. What Ive learned about healing you can learn, too, if youre willing.

The healing I experienced was not done through modern medicine, with wonder drugs and technologies. No. For me the healing began on the other side of the world, in the Australian Outback. With ways that are as ancient as the human race itself.