Walking the Land: Grassy Knolls-Brow Chakra of Sedona, AZ

Marty Reinstra and I met at the Wildflower Bakery in Sedona today on 1.30.09. We had lunch and discussed where we would go today. She had Nicholas Mann’s book, Sedona, Sacred Earth and we wanted to follow the chakra system he’d outlined that was part of the geomagnetic landscape of red rocks.

We discussed the rainbow at Rainbow Bridge that had appeared shortly after we’d drum near the Sun circle far below the butte. Marty noted that she’d just gotten back from Egypt. And did I know that Isis (we had originally wanted to go to Isis Rock in Long Canyon, the Crown Chakra area) was shown with seven serpents on her crown that were rainbow colored.

I told her about Grandmother Rainbow Snake who lived near our home. She was twelve feet long, had blue eyes and one late night, while she was stretched clear across our dirt road, I accidentally ran over her and killed her. I had felt awful. I cried. The next morning, I picked up her dead body and put it inside our gate and honored her spirit. That afternoon, I’d climbed on my horse, Cinnamon, after a thundershower, to go riding. As I turned onto the main muddy road that paralleled our home, there was rainbow across the canyon. And then, when I looked north, there was a long necked cumulus cloud with a distinct snake’s head on it.

I’ll never forget that moment and had halted the horse and just stared at the cloud. Then, I heard Grandmother whispering to me in spirit. She told me that she was a Rainbow Snake, and that she had died to that she might better serve me from the other side. I told Marty that I’d been a snake person since in my teens when I had been initiated with two bull snakes. I love snakes. And the love me. We had a spirited and wide-ranging discussion about rainbows, needless to say.
When we got up to leave and pushed out the door, I was stunned. There, sitting on the pavement near the door, was a beautiful pigeon—the sun shining on her breast highlighting all the gorgeous rainbow feathers across her breast. I was awed and told Marty this was a direct response from Spirit over us looking at the rainbow myths of many cultures. Our rainbow bird met us right outside the door of the Wildflower Bakery! We stopped and I gave the pigeon some break and then some birdseed as thanks. Marty noted that in the Yavapai myths, doves play a very important part. And that pigeons were a member of the dove family. We found that intriguing and validating. The last thing I told her was that with this kind of swift response from Spirit toward us, it ought to be an interesting day on Grassy Knolls.

Here’s our ‘rainbow bird’ waiting just outside the doors of the bakery for us! This was a sign of the adventure to come!

We had decided to go to Grassy Knolls in Mann’s book first. The reasoning is that we were catalytic in bringing energy online at Rainbow Bridge where the emergence hole for the snake Kachina was located. I wanted to follow, in line and in order, the upward energy. So, instead of going to Isis Rock (Crown chakra) in Long Canyon, we would go to Grassy Knolls where Mann indicated it was the brow chakra of the area.

There are no maps showing ‘Grassy Knolls.’ Only a sentence in Mann’s book, that it was near Long canyon and across the highway from it, was all. This area looked like nonstop pine, juniper, brush, cactus and a lot of rock. Standing at the parking area of Long Canyon, the only thing we knew was that Grassy Knolls was above Long Canyon. We crossed the road and began to look around. We finally decided a steep, rocky slope might be the answer. After a lot of huffing and puffing (mind you, we’re in our sixties…), we got to what seemed to be the top.
Marty said, “Look, there’s a grassy knoll!” I was thrilled she’d found it. Walking over, it was another circle filled with yellowed grass, some cactus with juniper around in a circle outside of it. We gave a welcoming ceremony. Then, I closed my eyes to get in contact to see if the local spirit would come forward and be helpful.

Here’s Marty on the way to discovering the first grassy knolls circle. Notice her newly purchased double flute that is inlaid with turquoise is in a zippered up bag around her neck. And how large that bag is….

What saw was gray and white—ghost like figure. At first, I thought it was a tall Native American man, his hands raised with rattles and singing. What struck me the most was seven huge feathers sticking out of his hair like a ceremonial crown. I focused more and realized it was a very old, wrinkle-faced Native American woman. As soon as I did that, another six grandmothers appeared in their Native American garb. I laughed. I said, “You’re the Seven Grandmothers from the Boynton Canyon cave! What are you doing over here?!” Boynton Canyon was only about a mile south of where we were. The tall woman with the feather crown stopped rattling and singing. She told me that they care for this spot. I thought that was great. I asked her permission to enter this circle and she said we could. And to enter and leave from the south. I said we would. When I told Marty what I’d seen, she laughed. She told me that she felt the Grandmothers from Boynton also. Amazing. Marty put her flute bag and her hiking stick against a limb on a tree. She said she’d go with me to help me find the second knoll.

The first grassy knoll circle in Mann’s book said that one could see the Isis Rock from it—and there it is in Long Canyon.

In Mann’s book, the other monument was this mountain apu that is pyramid in shape that could be seen in the opposite direction from Marty’s grassy knoll #1.

We found it moments later, a little downward from the other. The knolls were thickly covered with junipers. I told Marty that I was going in after the opening ceremony, sit down and drum. She nodded and took off for her site. I got situated and for the next ten minutes, simply drummed. I also saw Mother Earth bring up her rainbow energy up into my feet, legs, go through my heart, through my drum and then to a pyramid shaped apu (mountain spirit) in front of us.

Here is a view from grassy knoll circle number 2 where I was at. I was directly facing the pyramid Apu and to the right of it, the butte where Rainbow Bridge is located. On the other side of it and at the end is Lizard’s head.

I then visualized the huge rainbow energy flowing through the buttes where Rainbow Bridge was located, across to Lizard’s Head and then curve south and then west across Boynton Canyon, through Long Canyon to Isis Rock, and then to anchor in Marty’s circle, then my own. And finally, to bring this energy to a connected, fully moving rainbow circle to the apu in front of me.
After ten minutes I stopped playing.

“Eileen?” Marty called.
Confused, I said, “What?”
“I can’t find my circle. I can’t find my flute bag or hiking stick.”
I grimaced. “Okay, I called, “I’m coming over.” I got up, left everything in the circle and walked out of the south gate of the circle. Joining up with Marty, she had a confused look on her face.
“I can’t find it. I’d swear my circle was here, but it’s not.”

I looked around. “I thought your circle was further west from here,” and we both walked that way.
Well, it became evident real fast that (a) her circle was missing (b)her flute bag and hiking stick had DISAPPEARED and (c) we were going to have to hunt for them. I told Marty that this place had an androgynous energy, that her circle was the female energy and the one where I sat, was male energy. An androgynous vortex like this was usually a portal to another dimension. And as I looked around, everything seemed familiar and yet, it wasn’t.

I had a real scary experience with another androgynous vortex at a temple mound in Ohio twenty years earlier. I walked through the Beech and Oak druid gate which was the entrance, with permission. As soon as I had, I fell out of dizziness because the place was that powerful. And, I lost my way. I turned around to crawl out on my hands and knees, but the gate was gone! The only way I got out of that inter dimensional portal doorway vortex was to plead with the spirits who took care of it. They sent me a small sparrow to guide me out. I related this story to Marty.

“You know, your stuff has been transported,” I told her. “The Seven Grandmothers took it.”
“But why?” Marty had just bought an incredibly beautiful double flute that had been inlaid with turquoise. She was so proud of that flute and had wanted to play it at Grassy Knolls because there were two spots on it indicated in Mann’s book. Why not take a double flute? Seemed reasonable to me, too.
Shrugging, I said, “In my experience they take it to bless it and then give it back. Or, they take it to teach a person a lesson about giving up something they want too much.” I looked around the area. “It can also be they took it because they want us to look around more than we have. They may want us to see something more. Or, maybe they want to stop us from doing ceremony until a certain time. That time could be when they transfer the bag back to you.”

So, we searched for one hour, nonstop, tramping up and down and back and forth in the area where we knew the first knoll meadow had been. We found nothing. I told Marty I really wanted to get back to my circle to complete the stuff I’d started and she agreed. Marty looked for that thirty minutes I was at my circle. When I was done, she came over and said, “I think we’re just going to have to let it go.”
Nodding, I gathered up my stuff and left the sacred circle. “Yes.” I took out a towel and my knife and started cutting strips.

“What’s that for?” she asked.

Grimly, I told her since we’re in an inter dimensional vortex that if we don’t leave ‘bread crumbs’ or something we can follow, we’ll NEVER find this area again. I’d learned my lesson back in Ohio. The other thing Marty learned was: you never leave your sacred tools anywhere—you keep them on you at all times.

We walked from tree to tree, tying on pieces of white terry cloth towels on the limbs as we worked our way down. I had just finished tying the fourth one when Marty said, “LOOK!” I looked where she was pointing—straight ahead—and there was her flute bag and there was her beautiful bear hiking stick.

And here is the rag tied on the tree. In the distance, you can see a canvas colored bag on the ground. To the left of it, you can see the hiking stick leaning on the tree branch.

“No way,” I told her. “I walked through that area six times and there was NOTHING there.
Thrilled, Marty ran to her bag and picked it up. “They’re back!” she cried, jubilant.
I was happy for her. But I knew darn well I had slowly traversed this very area too many times to not have seen them IF they had been there. But they had not.
Right away, Marty pulled out her double flute and played a song of thanks to the Grandmothers for materializing it back to us. I was happy for Marty because I knew how much she loved that new flute.

Marty played her double flute for Grassy Knolls one to thank the Seven Grandmothers for allowing her flute and hiking stick to reappear.

We then went to our respective circles and worked with the energy in each. I noticed lots of little birds or flocks of birds seemed to be always near the circle where I sat. I remembered our Rainbow Pigeon who was waiting for us just outside the door of the bakery earlier. Definitely bird energy here, too.
Marty had her now ‘magic’ rattle and flute to play in her circle. I did more drumming and singing in honor the spirits. At one point, I stopped, stood up, and drummed and sang to each of the four major directions. I asked each to come and I saw a ribbon of color move to each circle and anchor into it. I asked Father Sky and I saw a rainbow appear in Marty’s circle with the other end of it ending up in my circle. And then, as I asked Mother Earth for her energy, the rainbow came up at my end, went underground and curved downward. Then, it curved up and connected to the rainbow at Marty’s circle. We had a completed circular rainbow now between the two Grassy Knolls. This was indeed, rainbow landscape.

When I was completely finished, I stood in the circle, eyes closed and profoundly thanked the Spirits and the Seven Grandmothers for their blessings and help. I asked if there was anything else they wanted to show me or say to me. I saw a huge black, glittering female snake come up out of the sipapu at Rainbow Bridge, from the knob. She slithered gracefully through the sky, curving south and above Boynton and Long canyon to disappear at Isis Rock. I wondered what that was all about, but got no feedback.
Marty had a lot of rainbow energy emerge while she was in her circle, also. Despite all that had happened, we were truly happy as we said goodbye.

So, we tramped down the hill, no longer having to leave our bread crumbs. We stopped at the Euro Cafe in Sedona for a well-earned mocha latte. While we sat talking, some other things began to click for me.
“You know, we saw SEVEN grass circles up there at Grassy Knolls,” I told Marty. “If the Grandmothers hadn’t heisted your stuff, we’d never have tramped those knolls to realize they were there.”
Marty’s eyebrows raised. “That’s right. Seven circles. That means seven chakras.”

“Sometimes,” I griped good naturedly, “I wish I wasn’t so thick. The brow chakra is our reality perception. Our eye in how we see our physical world here. But it’s also a mirror: as above, so below. We know from Mann’s work there are seven chakras here. And what do we find today? We find SEVEN meadows on the brow chakra itself. That’s incredible.”

“And, don’t forget,” Marty said, “how our own reality was turned inside out and upside down so we were utterly confused as to where that first circle was at.”

“Yep,” I said, “there’s no question in my mind that we were in an androgynous vortex that was an inter dimensional doorway, too. That’s real Brow chakra stuff, too!”

I then realized what the huge black snake was about and shared what I’d seen with Marty. I told her that these seven circles curved just like the snake around the knolls. And, that the circles we’d discovered were placed across the area much like a snake slithers along on the ground. She agreed. When we go back, we’re going to make a drawing of the placement of these seven meadows/chakras and see if that is so or not. I’m sure it will be proven.

Marty said in Mann’s book that he had felt ‘grandmother’ energy at Grassy Knolls. “Well, we proved that one in spades,” I said. And then grinned. “Don’t forget: we’re two grandmothers, too!”

“Oh! That’s right,” Marty crowed.
We sat there laughing out loud. Laughing at ourselves. The follies. The wrong trails, the misguided sense of reality, the loss and find of the flute. I finally said, “We’ve had a real coyote day.” Coyotes in my culture are about tricking one’s self. Or having tricks played on you. We agreed that we needed to go back because we’d discovered five other circles near the first two. Each needed to be worked with. By working with all seven, we were completing an energy circuit and bringing it online before we went to Isis Rock, the Crown Chakra of Sedona!

All this made sense to me and I shared it with Marty because she was still getting used to how Spirit engages in a Native American way. By fully integrating the energy and ‘waking it up’ then we would be fully prepared for Isis Rock and whatever she had in store for us. Mentally, we were rubbing our hands in anticipation of going back to Grassy Knolls on our next hike, February 10th, to work with those other five circles. One hopes they will be there…. but you never know. We’ll just have to find out at that time.
As we left the Euro Cafe Marty said that there was a bookstore and it was around the corner. As we approached it, it said, Red Coyote Books. We just busted out laughing like two school girls. COYOTE!!! We heard laughter from ourselves and from the Seven Grandmothers. Wiping the tears from our eyes over the continuing synchronicities, we went into the Red Coyote to look around. It’s a really excellent bookstore. Marty went up to the counter to pay for a CD. There was music on in the background.
She nudged me with her elbow. “Hear that?”
“What?”
“The music.” I listened. I died laughing. It was playing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” We twittered like two teenage girls who had a secret. I think the bookstore owner thought we were a little tetched in the head!
In the car, going home, Marty said, “Oh!”
“What now?” I asked.
“I just realized something.”
“What?”
“Last night my husband John bought a book on Coyotes! I had read it all the way home to him!”
We laughed some more. “Well, this little hike had all kinds of coyote on it,” I said, grinning.
That’s the way it goes sometimes. Expect nothing, receive everything. Tramping around Grassy Knolls on sliding red rocks, getting pricked by cactus and a whole host of challenges had not dampened our spirits. We were just as high and like awestruck children as we had been when the Sunbow appeared over Rainbow Bridge. Stay tuned! You never know what the Coyote Sisters are going to get their energy detective noses into next!
In Spirit, Eileen….