Walking the Land: House Mountain – Eileen Nauman

House Mountain is in the background as a winter thunder storm drops snow on her slopes. The yellow land is in front, the volcano in the back. You can see the ‘square’ nature of her opening and see why people have referred to it as a “house.” Hence the name House Mountain. At one time before we lived here, there was an obelisk type of rock that look like an antenna sticking up out of that square portion. I was told lightning struck it one day and toppled it.

House Mountain is the only dormant volcano in Verde Valley. Not that every valley has one! Volcanos, whether active, extinct or dormant all have one thing in common: they form/create an enormous vortex because of who and what they are. The vortex can be male (and it whirls clockwise/solar/daytime is when they are up and operational) or female (it whirls counter clockwise/diurnal/night time is when they are up and operational) or androgynous, which means it is an amalgam of male-female energy. An androgynous vortex is not easy to fix. First of all, they usually are something special, unlike the other two types of vortices. Sometimes, they are a portal or opening to another dimension. Sometimes they ramp up and whirl at times known only to them. They don’t behave like a male or female vortex. When dealing with an androgynous vortex, you want to be very careful and do not take it for granted.

And the one thing everyone needs to “get” about a vortex, whether created by a mountain, a volcano or naturally occurring geological locations, they REFLECT BACK or MIRROR WHERE YOU ARE. This is a powerful understanding to make. To give you an example of this in action, Sedona, Arizona has a number of powerful vortexes. People come here, fall in love with the place, and move here. Six months later, they are gone! This is such a merry-go-round event! I’ve watched it play out for the twenty years I’ve been here. The trick with a vortex is it will reflect exactly where you’re at and draw in a lot more experiences/people into your life than normal. It can be overwhelming to many people. Especially if you’re in a dark or wounded place.

To live around a vortex (knowingly) is to understand you must grow (spiritually, internally) or you will move quite quickly. You will not stick around because the natural INTENSITY of a vortex is simply too much for you to deal with. When you live around a volcano, that is amped up by 50% MORE. The people who can handle this energy, you can bet, are into transformation and growth. Otherwise, tragic things happen very quickly because if you are wounded and you’re not integrating your Shadow elements, you are going to DRAW TO YOU some very profound, life-changing event that is designed to wake you up. And you won’t stay around the volcano either. You’ll move.

When we moved here, I understood implicitly what it meant. In my hogan, which my husband built for me in 1992, is where I train my shamanic candidates. And I built it over a feminine vortex on our property. Every volcano will always have smaller vortices around it. When I built the hogan over the vortex, I amplified it’s power by placing nine double terminated crystals that were at least 12-15 inches in length in the base of the structure. That way, it utilizes the power of the vortex times eight. My students love to sleep in the hogan because they have powerful dreams and visions. And when training my students, the natural energy simply makes moving into another dimension effortless and easy as breathing. Thanks to the vortex.

House Mountain created a female vortex. She spins up and is ‘on-line’ from dusk to dawn. Then, she ramps down, spinning at a much slower rate during the day light hours. Her vortex is large and wide. She influences the entire valley area with her twirling energy arms. You can liken a vortex to a tornado…they look the same. Only, they aren’t destructive, they help keep the earth in that area (local or regional) in balance and alignment. Only when a vortex is ‘broken’ by human intervention, or by getting clogged up with etheric debris, can it become a problem. Then, there’s all kinds of ramifications for people living within the range of that vortex.

Since I’ve lived here on the slope of House Mountain, I have taken care of her and her vortex. She is up and spinning at 100%, doing her job. I can’t say that’s what is happening to volcanic vents and volcanos around the world, however. The Druids created an alignment in the UK using geographical points. And once a year, they would burn a huge pile of wood over each point. The fire “burned away” the etheric dross that accumulates over time. It’s much like cleansing telephone lines so they can carry optimum messages without any problems.

Here I am drumming for the spirits of the area. I painted Bololokan on this drum. My brother Gary and his wife Debby hold drum making workshops. I made this drum and have bonded with the spirit of the elk hide and of the cedar wood. We work in harmony and this drum has held her ‘voice’ even in the rain—which is impossible if you know about drumming with a hide in the rain :-). The power of Bololokan and working in concert with the two spirits allow that to happen and for the drum to ‘sing’ regardless of weather conditions. Marchiene has seen this happen on more than one occasion.

I have lived on this land for twenty years. I’ve done ceremony throughout the year to honor all beings who live here with and among us. I also thank the creek spirit for her water. And for House Mountain, I honor her daily. I burn sage (safely so no fire can start) to keep the place clean and free of etheric dross or blockages. When you work WITH the land, it will work with you. Nowhere was that more dramatically shown than in 1993, according to Yavapai County where we live, we had a 50-year flood. We live down on a canyon floor. Our neighbor to the north is the same elevation as we are. He got three feet of water into his home. We were spared completely from the flood. No water entered our home. So how do you explain that? It’s the difference between working with the unseen spirits and guardians of our locality—and not working with them. Traditionally, I would put a trout as an offering to the creek spirit on the two solstice and equinoxes. For me, it showed the reality of a situation when it counted. That flood went on down below to devastate all areas and so many people lost their homes. If you work with the spirits, they work with you. And they can protect you in times of calamity.

I was thrilled that House Mountain was part of Bololokan’s energy path through our valley. Marchiene came over at ten a.m., and we got started. As always, we had an abalone shell with a wand of sage in it. At the creek on our property, we have a huge black lava stone with a concave shape. Always aware of fire danger, I placed the shell and wand on it. When I lit the sage, it barely smoked at all. In comparison to all the other places we’ve been, when sage either exploded into flames or smoked thickly, this did very, very little. It finally went out after about two minutes. I told Marchiene that an area that is ‘clean’ the sage will not light or if it does, it will barely smoke at all. This is an indication that the area is not blocked up or thick with etheric dross. And either of these situations can cause a glut and clog of energy through the area. I was very pleased to see that the sage didn’t smoke that much. It showed me that I was tending my local area as I should.

Here is the sage that barely burned at all. It’s a good sign that the area is “clean” and not blocked or the energy arms of the vortex are not broken or damaged.

Marchiene brought her twin flute and she played a wonderful song to honor the spirit of House Mountain. Then, I lit the sage….and there was a dribble of smoke and then it went out. A good sign the area was clean. Then, we sat down and I began to drum. Moving into my altered state, I saw Bololokan, the Rainbow water snake, move from her sipapu/opening on Mingus Mountain, then go to each place we had awakened through ceremony until she got to us. She raced madly around and around House Mountain. With each circle, there was a different color. And finally, the volcano looked like a brightly sparkling tier cake.

Bololokan raced down into the opening of the volcano, came back out. And when she did, an amazing array of all the rainbow colors came shooting out of it. The colorful, sparkling energy continued, unabated and flowed quickly in an ever widening circle until all of Verde Valley was swathed in the energy. Then, a white/gold light shot up from within the volcano, thrust up through the sky and into outer space. I followed it until it came and connected itself with the constellation of Cassiopeia. She is the Ethiopian Queen sitting on her throne. When seen in the night sky, it looks like a “W.” When I was over at Honanki ruins with Marchiene, I was told when we journeyed to talk with the elder spirits who continue to keep the place sacred and viable, that they were aligned with a group of stars. They showed me the stars in the night sky and I immediately realized it was the constellation of Cassiopeia. They said it was very important to them ceremonially because they were connected to it. And they said that when summer was at its peak, the constellation was overhead (which is true—I live here and know that).

Here is Eileen playing her Bololokan drum on the banks of Oak Creek. The slopes of House Mountain enclose this area and the creek itself. Where there is water, there is natural power. And linked with a volcano’s vortex, its power times ten.

Now, I saw the white light erupting from House Mountain completely encircle the constellation. As it did, I saw the constellation respond and emit a bright, glorious white-gold light filled with billions of stars. This “ribbon” or connection came back on the same path and then it followed what Bololokan had already done. The white-gold star light began at the base of volcano and circled swiftly upward until, at the mouth, it joined the white-gold light from it. I wish I could draw the beauty of what I saw, but my sketch is a very poor representation of the true colors, the sparkling beauty of the energy now up and moving around the volcano.

I asked Bololokan what the significance of Cassiopeia was to the people of this valley. She turned me over to my spirit bear, who was sitting nearby. My bear told me that the Rainbow Snake was very busy and that she would try and fill in for her. I saw Bololokan repeat her procedure of retracing from one sacred area to another. Once she reached the sipapu or opening on Mingus Mountain, she flipped up into the sky and disappeared.

The bear said that to the people of thousands of years ago, they saw the “W” configuration in the sky as milk from the cosmos spilling down upon them. She said that the constellation arrived when all crops were ready to be eaten or stored. So the milk from the “Milky Way” (as we know it nowadays) was seen to be important from this one constellation.

The bear also said that every volcanic vent and volcano, whether dormant, extinct or erupting, was aligned either with a specific star, a star system (like the Pleiades) or a constellation. Volcanos are especially important because they are the act of creation that keeps the Earth and its iron core spinning at a certain speed. She said the major mountains, whether volcanic or not, also had an alignment. I asked her why this was so. She said that the Earth is a part of a greater fabric or web of living energy. All planets are aligned with other stars and constellations. She said what was important for us to understand is that the more mountains, volcanos and vents that could be brought back to life energetically speaking, and the connection once more being made, that this would help stabilize earth in every way. Because humans continue to ignore Nature and the fact that we’re all related and connected, has put our Earth in a perilous imbalance. And we are seeing it now. Every star or constellation helps to ‘feed’ the Earth and vice-versa. Each constellation has a unique skill, expression and energy. And those connected with Earth are necessary for her survival as well as ours.

Here is my sketch of what I clairvoyantly saw as Bololokan worked to incorporate the connect the energies.

I thanked her for the explanation. I remember being down at Machu Picchu and working with the various temples on the site. Each niche had an alignment with a star or a constellation. Remembering that helped me understand on a new level, what it all meant. I was excited by the potential ramifications.

On Monday, April 18th, Marchiene’s experience at House Mountain.