Walking the Land: Honanki Ruins Part II-Marchiene Rienstra

Hi Everyone!

The adventure of going out on the land, looking for significant places, energies, and links between them, began for me this winter with a vision.

Here is the US Forest sign announcing Honanki. In it, and ancient Native American grandmother stood before me and told me to follow her to Palatki–a site of ancient ruins and rock art not far from where we live in West Sedona. Since this was a visionary experience, we did not hop my red jeep, as Eileen and I usually do. Instead, Grandmother White Stone (she told me that was her name) floated just a few feet above the land towards the Palatki site, and I was able to follow her in the same manner.

From the trail into Honanki ruins, you can see it blazing like gold in the sun on the southern flank of this butte.

When we reached the place where the ruins were, I noticed a pair of big black desert ravens circling the cliffs and calling a welcome. Grandmother White Stone led me to a large recessed smooth stone wall and walked right through it as if through mist. Once again, I was able to follow her. We stood in a cavern very much like the inside of a geode, though much larger, of course. It was lit as if from within.

Grandmother White Stone stopped, looked solemnly into my eyes and said, “There is a very important and sacred link between this place, Honanki, the area around the mountain you call El Shadai, and Montezuma’s well. It needs to be explored and awakened with sacred ceremony. Tell your friend Eileen about this. She will know what to do.” I nodded agreement and closed my eyes. I felt myself sinking as if on to an underground river, which carried me a long way until I felt myself being lifted by a powerful spring of water up and up until I emerged from a pool of water. I looked around and realized I was at Montezuma’s Well! It felt as if I had been carried back in time, and all around the little lake called Montezuma’s well were Native Americans, standing at the doors of their dwellings, looking down on me as if waiting for me to understand or do something. Then the vision ended…

Here is the southern side of the butte. If you didn’t know what to look for, you would miss the ruins completely; such was their natural camouflage.

I shared my vision with Eileen, who immediately realized some of the implications of what I had been instructed to do with her. We proceeded to make plans to visit the ancient Honanki ruins, because she felt it was the place of greatest power, and the right place to begin.

Here are some of the ruins, walls that are still standing and built a thousand years ago. Amazing tribute to their building selections and making it last.

A few days later, we piled into my red jeep Cherokee after lunch and a look at some topo maps we had secured of the area. It was a gorgeous ride through the magnificent landscape of Western Sedona on a beautiful winter afternoon. A great deal of the road was of red earth and rocks, so we had to slow down, but that just gave us more time to soak in the energy and beauty of the land. As we drove along, I suddenly noticed a road runner crossing the road just a little way ahead of us. I had not seen one in a long time. We smiled at each other. “Looks like we’re “on the road again,” I said with a grin, recalling last winter’s adventures discovering and working with the energies of the seven chakra centers in the land around Sedona. “It’s a good sign,” replied Eileen with a knowing smile.

When we got to Honanki, and got out of the jeep to take the trail up to the ancient ruins, I saw two ravens flying over the towering red cliffs toward which we were headed. I flashed back to the ravens in my vision, and it was clear to me this was a confirmation that we were on the right track.

Except for the distant voices of a few people who were already up at the site of the ruins, there was a deep quiet and peace that was palpable.

As we walked the path towards our destination, we both fell silent, struck with awe at the powerful energy of the place we were in. We made a point to ask permission and pay our respects to a huge guardian tree and a huge guardian rock that stood watch over the approach to the ruins. Once there, we walked from one end to the other, pausing at one end, where we were alone in a secluded spot, to “tune in” and listen for guidance and information.

I call this “spirit gate.” As you look up at these tall sandstone cliffs they take on amazing shapes and suggestions of what they might be.

Even the butte conspires to create petroglyphs through natural changes in the rock. If you look at the darkened area of stone, you’ll see a profile of a turtle. And interestingly enough, as we walked along the entire wall where the village is at, we saw a turtle petroglyph. Resonance? We think so. “As above, so below.” Why not have rock emulate the petroglyphs?

I felt the presence of seven Grandmothers, and got a strong feeling they were somehow connected to the Pleiades, and that the area we were in was of great significance to them and the ancient people who lived here. My sense of this was confirmed by what came to Eileen as we sat in meditation. (see her report) As we examined the rest of the ruins along the trail with great care, we found rock art and other signs that confirmed what we were given in meditation. This was indeed an important place of ceremony, and particularly of initiation of boys and girls into adulthood. The presence of the Ancient Ones was palpable as we walked where they had once lived. At one point I was moved to take out my small hiking flute and play a couple of songs to honor them and the spirits of this holy place.

Here is one of the many petroglyphs. We thought this looked like a human carrying a staff and ceremonially dancing with the sun (or moon).

When we left, the sun was laying the golden light of late afternoon over the landscape around us. As we were about to leave, we passed a large recessed smooth rock wall very much like the one through which Grandmother White Stone had led me in my vision of Palatki. Suddenly I knew! “Eileen, this is where the spirit-passage between these two places connects!” I exclaimed. “This and the other wall like it at Palatki are the spirit-gates the Grandmothers used to go between these two places.” Eileen nodded. “Our next visit must be Palatki,” she said.

Looking up at the butte above the ruins you can see the black river. This is created because of the type of pigments that are there in that sandstone section. When it rains, it brings out the different colors. Very beautiful.