Walking the Land: Heart Chakra of Sedona Landscape: Sugar Loaf, Part I
Copyright 2009 Eileen Nauman
All Rights Reserved
Marty and I started out our trek around 9 a.m. on April 7th. It was a clear, cloudless day and the temperature in the 60s. It was an easy path around “Sugar Loaf” the rounded red sandstone formation.
Here is “Sugar Loaf” as it is known locally. For us, it looked like an “egg” that belonged to the dragon (coffee Pot rock was the ‘head’ of the dragon and her ‘scales’ were behind her).
To us, we called it the “dragon’s egg” because it sat in a huge curved or U-shaped area of the mountains behind it. This ‘egg’ was protectively embraced by the surrounding formations. We were following Sedona, Sacred Earth by Nicholas Mann. He had said that “Sugar Loaf” was the heart chakra of the Sedona landscape. This was our last stop as we had gone to the other six chakras.
As we went on the path, the first thing we noticed was that the ‘egg’ had opened up and we saw a head and nose emerging from it. We then figured that the birthing of a little dragon (since we saw the mother dragon in the formations surrounding this ‘egg’) out into the world. If we had not been hiking around it to see this, there was no topographical map that would have shown this figure butting out into the world around us.
We noted as we rounded the structure, that “coffeepot rock” which we call Dragon’s head, was nearby. You could literally feel the energy pulsing off this area. I told Marty that the vista before us being U-shaped meant energy was coming in and then bounced out into the world like a huge concave radar device. To the left between one triangular scale and another white dolomite scale lay a U-shape between the two huge buttes. There was energy tunneling through this area like a flood. And as we looked at where it went, we realized it was flowing right into the ‘spindles’ area of Grandmother Komida’s Kitchen (sink hole) which was the sacral/navel chakra of Sedona.
As we gained more altitude, there was a black raven that kept flying around and around us. I told Marty he was telling us to get to the top of the ‘egg.’ We both laughed because Ravens had followed us from the beginning of Grandmother Turtle’s trail (airport mesa) to the grand old cedar tree at the back of her ‘shell’ where we gave prayers and offerings. The one black raven remained with us for the whole time that we stepped foot on this trail until we hiked back to my blue Toyota Prius.
As we moved to the north, we saw another ‘slot.’ A slot is a U-shape between two buttes. I showed Marty how the energy shot through it and seemed to connect up with other formation south of it. These local areas where energy flows are what we call Hartmann lines. These are lines of energy (like creek or river water flowing) that are made locally or regionally by geological phenomena. Such as sandstone buttes or dolomite (white capped) and red sandstone buttes found in the Sedona area. These local lines of energy can be seen simply by looking at the formations. Where there is a canyon, a u-shape, an opening, energy is pouring through that given area. Where it goes can be seen, sometimes, if you’re high enough to get the ‘whole picture.’ If not, a topo map then becomes vital to your understanding of how local energy ebbs and flows.
Why is this important to understand? People should not build homes or other buildings in the path of this energy. That creates a disruption of the natural flow of energy in a given area. And when you upset the flow, you have disharmony or imbalance. This is why, for example, the Incan’s when they built Cusco, the center of their empire, they built it in accordance with what is known as the Ceque lines of that valley. Temples and homes were built to go with a flow of a particular line of energy instead of impeding it or damming it up and causing chaos.
If you build a home in the flow of a Hartmann line of energy, there can be all kinds of problems for you, your family, your pets and your life. Depending upon how big the line is, how powerful it is (power is determined by many things, but essentially the geology formations within the area), people can get sick, they can suffer from nightmares, insomnia, restlessness and emotional ‘blowouts’ such as uncontrolled rage, irritability and temper tantrums, to name a few. The worst is really the illness that this can create in the auric field of the people who live there.
If you can imagine water rushing wildly at high speed over a huge bolder in the midst of a river, you can see all the chaos that results by just watching it. Now, take this understanding and put it into invisible terms of energy displacement. Just because you can’t see a Hartmann line of energy doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Usually, there are signs from Nature that it is there; hence our blogs trying to point out the various ways to tell about vortexes in the neighborhood or energy being around a given area.
If you have built a house on a Hartmann line (or worse, on a Ley line and these are MILES wide), then your only recourse is to move. Or tear down the house. Or move the house out of the way of this energy line flow.
I was pointing all of this out to Marty from our vantage point about half way up on Sugar Loaf. There were other areas that I showed her later.
As we reached the top of Sugar Loaf, it gave us an amazing three-hundred and sixty-degree view of all of Sedona and the surrounding mountains and formations. To the southeast, I showed her where we lived beneath a dormant volcano, “House Mountain” that had been created and spewed lava around the area six million years ago. Then, with my finger, I followed from the volcano to the vent, El Shadai, near where Marty lived. I told her that in the geography of a given area, the highest peak was queen (or king, depending upon the gender of the apu or mountain spirit). However, what trumped a peak was a volcano. It doesn’t matter whether the volcano is active, inactive or dormant–they are the top of the pecking order insofar as being ‘top dog’ in an area.
The highest mountain in our area of Verde Valley (and this includes the Sedona area) is Mingus Mountain. And if you check out our earlier blog on Mingus, you know that it is part of the Yavapai Creation story. In fact, the birth canal is on the slopes of Mingus Mountain and the head of the infant is emerging. It’s all there in the landscape. Keeping this in mind, I told her that House Mountain, the volcano, and El Shadai, the volcanic vent, would be considered the “big 3” insofar as power and energy–because of their altitude and what they were. Volcanoes trump all other forms of mountains in a given region or locale.
I told Marty that if she placed her ruler between House Mountain and Mingus Mountain, and then to El Shadai, that there would be a natural “triangle” of energy between them. Since triangles were a huge part of what is going on in the Sedona Landscape, this is no small realization. It is part and parcel of a much larger scheme of energy, another layer, a more powerful one, than what was presently understood. It will take time to know the full landscape that isn’t just Sedona. Sedona is connected to other apus, mountains and areas. Nothing is disconnected from the other. And I told her the importance of why those topo maps were there to help us grasp the ‘larger picture’ here that was more than Sedona.
Sedona landscape is ‘ground zero’ for something. That ‘something’ is what we’re investigating and trying to understand with the help of working with local energies and guardians. These beings are not working all at the same level. For example, last week when we discovered the turtle in the topo map that was labeled “airport mesa” in Sedona, we went deeper. We found out Grandmother Turtle, the solar plexus chakra of Sedona, was the “local” hub and she worked with energy formations in the ‘local’ area. Bololokan, the rainbow snake, is a global entity. Yet, she works locally and I’m sure regionally, with other beings, physical such as mountains, buttes, plains and canyons, with animals, insects, reptiles or others in the landscape, as well as supernatural beings that we can’t see–but she can.
All we can hope to do is reconnect with the local beings and energy the best we can. We know coming from the heart, offering small gifts to the local residents, is a door opener. And if we sing with our voice, play a musical instrument, hum or whistle, these are all appreciated by all beings, seen and unseen.
By joining with what is surrounding us, seen and unseen, we become part of a greater fabric of being. We truly become a citizen of the Earth for the first time because we are inclusive, no longer exclusive and thinking “Man” is dominant over Nature. Indeed, being inclusive can make you feel so much more alive. Not only do the guardian spirits of a given area send you love, they also protect you and help you. An example of this is in 1993 we had the ‘fifty year’ flood here in this area. Our neighbor had three feet of water outside his house and two feet inside it. Our neighbors down below us were completely flooded out. Yet, we were on the same elevation as our neighbor to the north and we did not get flooded out. Why? Because I had a connection with the spirits of Echo Canyon. I played the drum and sang to them. I gave gifts and offerings to Oak Creek, the spirit alive and beautiful to work with. My connection to all beings, seen and unseen in this canyon, protected our house and property from a flood that wiped out hundreds of people around us. That is the only explanation I have for us not being flooded out and everyone else was.
So, developing at connection from one’s heart to their heart is important. In times of trauma, threat and stress, you can ask these beings to protect you, your family and property. Another thing we do is put cornmeal as an offering, around the property line of our place. That is another way to ask for protection from tornadoes, hurricanes and fire. (That doesn’t mean if there is an evacuation order, you don’t go–you DO). See www.medicinegarden.com for the article on Cornmeal for more instructions on how to do this. Working WITH your local spirits, guardians and deva are important. It creates harmony and balance. And in times of earthquakes, storms or other threats, this MAY make all the difference in the world. Another example is in a wildfire, ask yourself why there is one house left standing in a given area when all the others are destroyed? Or in an earthquake, one or two buildings remain untouched while there is carnage around them?
When I went into my altered state up on top of the Egg, Bololokan the rainbow snake appeared. I think it’s important to share with you that these spirit guardians do not speak English. Or any other language. Instead, they transmit images as language. You know you have the ‘real deal’ when the spirit of a land formation speaks images and not a language you know. It becomes tough at time to ‘think’ in images to respond back to Bololokan. Much of it is trial and error.
For example, I asked her if the Egg (i.e., Sugar Loaf) was the ‘heart chakra’ of the area. The snake just looked at me, uncomprehending. I then realized I made the basic mistake of ‘talking in English’ to her when she didn’t understand. I then sent an image of a heart beating and pointed to my chest where my heart lay. I then pointed to the formation as a way of asking about the heart.
Bololokan got it. And then I felt her wrestling with the question and not sure how to answer it. I could feel her searching to speak to me on a more or less equal level so that we could communicate clearly with one another. Then, she sent me an image of a man and woman coming to this rock. They looked like early Native Americans and I have no idea what tribe or nation they might have been–or what time period. I saw them dressed in skins of animals. They were giving corn as a gift to this red egg. Then, Bololokan showed me a pregnant woman image and then showed me the woman who was offering a gift and praying with the man at her side. I think I got the inference. I sent back several images to the snake. The first I showed her the man and woman whom I felt might be husband-wife or in some kind of family relationship with one another. Then, I showed the wife smiling and her belly bulging with a baby in it. Bololokan then got excited and nodded her head. She glowed with joy. Yes, I had gotten it. Women who wanted to become pregnant came here to this formation to pray for fertility.
Then, Bololokan showed me women who were pregnant coming here and praying. The sense I got was that these were women who were afraid of dying in childbirth or having problems during labor. They came to pray at the Egg for an easy, swift birth and health for the mother and the baby.
I also found out from her that peoples from South America and Central America came here and made pacts or agreements or treaties with those who lived in a large area–but used this Egg as the place to come and make agreements with one another. I asked Bololokan about Courthouse Butte which sat near Grandmother Bell Rock. The Native Americans were said to utilize Courthouse Butte as a place to settle arguments. The snake said yes, that butte was used to decide between angry and warring peoples to make the compromises needed to bring peace. She differentiated the Egg from Courthouse Butte. The Egg was like a communal village–a large one–where peoples from many areas came to make positive and lasting agreements with one another. And in making these agreements this was positive and supported the greater communities as a whole. I felt as if this Egg was a rebirth of different, disparate parts coming together to become one or one unit. Bololokan lay around the entire bottom of the Egg. I imaged to her that Marty and I thought it looked like a baby dragon or a baby of some sort was being hatched out of this egg-shaped red sandstone formation. She said yes, this place was a place of birth and rebirth. And that the Sedona area was about birthing and rebirth. That was its main function (hence the “spindles” and the rainbow blanket created in Grandmother Komwida’s kitchen and the egg nest deep within Grandmother Bell Rock.
The rainbow snake didn’t want me to make the mistake of thinking that all of the Verde Valley (Sedona is the northern portion of this immense valley that holds Camp Verde, Cottonwood and Clarkdale, also). She wanted us to look at the WHOLE valley, for there were different parts of it that did different things. I understood that because I’ve done enough walking of the land to know that each local area was tied to a more regional one. In this case, the red rocks of Sedona were tied to House Mountain, the dormant volcano, to El Shadai, the volcanic vent from House, as well as Mingus Mountain where the Yavapai Creation myth originally started. I told the snake that we would be looking at the whole valley and that pleased her.
Because of all the ups and downs and chaos of the morning hours, I left my home without my gifts for the Egg, my Tibetan drum or knapsack. So, Marty and I are agreed will return together to do this properly to honor the heart chakra of Sedona, our “dragon’s egg” i.e., Sugar Loaf.
ADDENDUM 4.21.09–second journey to Sugar Loaf
Marty and I wanted to go back and give serious gifts to Sugar Loaf. I had forgotten my drum and my camera last time and I wanted to make up for it. I chose a rose quartz heart and a beautiful Picasso marble heart to give to the spirit of this ‘dragon’s egg’ as we called it.
Marty and I had parting gifts for one another. She had gone to Wolfs Robe, who lived near her, for a flute making workshop. And, she made a gorgeous cedar flute for me! So now, I don’t have any excuse not to learn to play the flute. It’s a gorgeous one made of red and white cedar. And it is an “A” flute. I really like the sounds of it. And handmade items, to me, are priceless and cherished forever. I told Marty that I’d have to learn how to play it over the summer so we could flute come November, when she and her husband came down here to live for six months.
We were on the trail by 8:30 a.m. I was sad that this would be our last energy adventure together. Marty would be leaving on 4.23 for ‘home’ which is Michigan. She wouldn’t be out here until November. I had gotten so use to having a buddy with me who was equal to the task at hand. Before, I had always done this work alone. It was much more fun and educational with a partner, so I am going to miss her a lot. However, the heat of the summer is coming and unless one wants to get up at 4 am to be on the hiking trail at daybreak (5 a.m.), that is the only time to do hiking around the Red Rock area–it reaches a 100F easily and that’s no kind of temperature for us sixty-somethings. So, we wait for cooler weather to negotiate our energy hunting until this coming late Fall.
We owe so much to Nicholas Mann who wrote Sedona, Sacred Earth (available through Light Technology). And typical of a Quest, we’ve taken his template and made more discoveries or seen another layer. This is as it should be. People who come to the earth energies, the guardians and spirits of Nature with an open heart, will always be granted access within their realm. Of course, how much or little depends upon the individual. Nicholas, who is a mystic, has a depth and breadth to himself that I’ve seen in anyone else in all my travels. He’s truly granted all of us a gift with his perseverance and hard work and observations here in the Red Rock area of Sedona. Without him, we’d never have stumbled backwards, into this whole, wondrous journey.
With my friend, the Tibetan drum, and my buddy the Nikon camera in hand, we climbed Sugar Loaf. As always, before we step onto the trail, we stop and mentally ask permission to come to whomever we want to work with. We were granted permission.
Here are the two stone hearts we brought to give to the spirit of Sugar Loaf. The one on the left is Picasso marble and the one on the right is Rose Quartz.
The views from Sugar Loaf are wonderful! It was a quiet day for Sedona and past Easter week and the kids were back in school. No tourists! What a treat! Even the traffic noise was barely discernible. A blessing. Marty and I were discussing Grandmother Turtle aka Airport Mesa. I told her that Grams was the local ‘hub’ of energy and the rainbow snake completely on a different and global level. You will always find a center where ever you live. And you’ll find various layers of spirit energies above that one.
Atop Sugar Loaf is some wonderful fossilized beach sand that has wave-like ripples in the sandstone. Another reminder that this area was ‘old ocean’ millions of years ago.
As we crested the top of Sugar Loaf, I was looking south. All of a sudden, I stopped Marty and said, “LOOK, there’s a SECOND TURTLE in the landscape. Do you see it?” I was so excited. Sure enough, there it was. Gram Turtle’s head points north east. This turtle, which seemed to flow from her shell had her head pointed in the northwest direction! Marty saw it. We got so excited. This is so typical of seeing what is in front of your eyes and yet not making connection with it–until it is time to be revealed to us.
Here is the second turtle that I saw. The first time we were up here, I didn’t see it. Now, I did. I’m trying to locate it on our topo map and getting nowhere, but I’ll find it eventually. Anyway, this turtle’s head is pointed toward the northwest. Grandmother Turtle (airport mesa) head is pointed northeast. Their ‘tails’ literally are separated by a pyramid shaped red sandstone butte! Note the triangle theme again. More on this later.
Here is Grandmother turtle, the first one we saw on the topo map as well as visually. Airport mesa will never be the same now that we see what it really is. And, Grandmother has a second ‘turtle’ in the landscape to keep her company.
Indeed, the most interesting thing is that where Gram Turtle’s rear of her shell slopes down into the landscape, there is a TRIANGULAR shaped mountain between her and the second turtle. And where the second turtle’s shell ends, it flows back down into the base of this pyramid shaped mountain. We stood there marveling at this. Now, it was EASY to see BOTH of them! We laughed a lot and I told Marty that the turtles, by being in those directions were actually encompassing the regional Apu, Mount Humphrey’s (aka, the Grandmothers) in Flagstaff, AZ. And, this mountain is sacred to the Navajo people as well as the Hopi. In the Hopi belief system, it is said that all their kachinas live in the grandmothers for half the year. The other half of the year, the kachinas are on Hopi-land.
I discussed the wider and broader ideas that all places are connected to one another, energetically speaking. If we could see it all, there would be a web-like connection running everywhere! I told her I felt that Mingus Mountain (where the original Yavapai birth and creation story took place) was the queen apu of our Verde Valley area. Why? Because she’s 7,000 feet high and by altitude, that apu or mountain or butte, is ruler over a very large area. Second in dominance would be House Mountain, where I live. It is a dormant volcano but is still energetically active even though it no longer spews out lava.
I told Marty I felt that there would be connection from the birth canal and baby’s head emerging area on the slopes of Mingus Mountain to another area. That if we had the topographical maps (I don’t have them but intend to get them shortly) and laid down a long ruler between that important spot, outward, that we’d see other areas lining up in connection with it. As we sat under the shade of our cedar tree atop Sugar Loaf, we agreed that we needed to expand our understanding of the energy connections.
Here is another view. On the left, to the back, is the dormant volcano, House Mountain. I live one canyon over and on the slope of this volcano. In front of it and continuing on the left is turtle number 2. And center and behind is Mingus mountain.
The Red rocks of Sedona aren’t in a vacuum energetically speaking. There are certain formations, canyons or slots that create energy movement in and out of this northern part of the Verde Valley. We have a whole valley yet to explore and understand. For example, Montezuma’s Well is where the birth and emergence of the Yavapai people were said to come from, also. It is in Rim Rock, many miles south of Sedona. We have House Mountain to look at and understand where she hooks up with what formations. We have El Shadai, the volcanic vent formed by House Mountain near where Marty lives, that is a real hot spot we have yet to explore. I told her that we have a lot of work cut out for us this November. With topo maps of this widening area, we can begin to piece together a larger picture and understanding of what is going on energy-wise in the Verde Valley. No question that Sedona is a huge ‘substation’ of energy, but there are many other areas that are not as glamorous or ‘famous’ in the valley that are of equal if not more importance. HOW it all configures into one another is the great question. And it will be a lot of fun finding out!
Here you can see the ‘head’ of turtle number 2. Right behind it is Mingus mountain and notice the birthing circle with the head of the infant protruding out of it (the round area on the slope of the mountain). We need to look at this birthing area in alignment with turtle number 2 for starters. I’m sure there’s all kinds of connections to this birthing area to everything else in the Verde Valley proper (and that includes Sedona as well). It’s just going to take time and a lot more topo maps being bought as well as hiking/exploration to flesh out the larger picture of energy and how it is connected up with one another.
Marty and I then left our heart offerings, gave blue cornmeal and then sat down to flute and drum. While we were doing that, a pair of falcons flew overhead. They then played around our huge ‘dragon’ whose head is locally known as “Coffee Pot Rock.” I showed her the falcons. Then, we played, sang and drummed more. About that time, a Red-Tailed Hawk flew overhead and then headed straight toward Mingus Mountain. We had just talked about the importance of the mountain and here the hawk double checks us on it!
Marty then made a huge discovery. In Nicholas Mann’s book he tells of Chimney Rock being the ‘head’ of a dragon with one horn. We couldn’t understand how to fit our concept of one dragon with its head being Coffee Pot rock. Maybe the ‘tail’ of the dragon was Chimney Rock, but neither of us felt comfortable with that.
Here is Dragon number 2. As Nicholas Mann pointed out, this was a dragon with one horn. You can see the horn and that is her head. Out in front of her is a red sandstone “egg.” And, you can go back from her head and see the triangular ‘scales’ of her body. Her body is individual and parallels Dragon number 1 (Coffee Pot rock is the head of it) and her ‘egg’ is Sugar Loaf.
Leaping to her feet, Marty went over and said, “Look, there’s TWO DRAGONS HERE! The Coffee Pot Rock one is pointed to the east and the other, with one horn on its head, is pointed southwest! Sure enough, as I looked at them, she was right. And Nicholas was right. And, even better, the horned dragon has her egg right in front of her, just as Sugar Loaf is the ‘egg’ of our other dragon. How very coo. Two dragons. Two eggs.
Here you see on the left, the “new” turtle or turtle #2 and Mingus mountain in the background and to the right, our second dragon with a single horn on her head and her ‘egg’ right in front of her.
What was equally fascinating to me is we have TWO of everything. Two turtles. Two dragons. Two raptors, a falcon and zoned tail hawk flying overhead. Two wise old women doing this exploration. TWOS. Wow. More stuff to feel our way through and try to connect the dots on!
Here is a Zoned Tail hawk flying around us blessing what we are doing for Sugar Loaf and “all our relations.”
We ended our thanks, our songs and music and left. It was a sweet and sad goodbye. I was so used to working with the energy and the beings and Marty. But, my life is so busy anyway, I know I’ll use this ‘extra’ time to good use, haha.
Here is Marty with her ‘turtle’ knapsack. Little did we know when we started this incredible journey, that turtles would play such a key role in all of it!
Thanks for coming along on our journey work. I sincerely hope that it inspires you to look at your own back yard and surrounding area because the earth is ALIVE. And the beings who live right with you are eager to make connection with you–and teach you and be a support to you. What a wonderful way to live FULLY! Happy energy exploration this Spring and Summer! We’ll see you in the Fall with our NEXT Chapter of exploration. Who knows what will happen!!
