Walking the Land: Rainbow Bridge

Today Marchiene and I went on the next step of our journey to awaken dormant areas that were no longer attended. Rainbow Bridge was our next stop. We went to a circle that is about a quarter of a mile down the trail toward the red sandstone bridge. We had originally come here two years earlier. And Bololokan, the Rainbow water snake, had appeared out of her sipapu (entrance to our world) and created a rainbow. This rainbow was photographed not only by me, but thirty other people who were there at the time this event took place.

Here is Marchiene with her cornmeal pouch getting ready to ask for permission to enter the sacred area. Cornmeal is a gift to “all our relations,” and shows our intent and respect for everything that resides in this area.

For me, it was like coming home, full circle. Two years ago we started our spiritual journey by going to each of the chakras of Sedona. Now, we were back. The sky had very few clouds in it (note the photo) The first thing I did was bring out our sacred white sage. I use a thick, heavy abalone shell and am always fire conscious. Having been a fire fighter, I take all the precautions. I set it on a large, flat sandstone rock. It was on wet, gravely ground with no fuel nearby. And I don’t leave it until it has stopped smoking. Once the sage was smoking, I moved it to the four directions, ask them to participate in this celebration and ceremony to come.

Just after we both asked permission to enter the area and gave our gift of cornmeal, this beautiful little white and orange butterfly showed up to guide us down the trail toward Rainbow Bridge. This is how synchronicity works when one is in the FLOW of the life energy. There is ALWAYS a sign of welcome, of being invited to come forward into a given area.

One thing about Sage….the spirits always talk with you if you know how to watch and listen. When smoke is thick, it tells you the area is ‘sick’ and needs to be cleansed. Sage emits negative ions. You can consider positive ions to be like dust in your house…no something you want to have around. Humans and pollution cause positive ions to collect in areas where they collect. Hundreds of thousands of people have come to Rainbow Bridge over the last century. And so the Sage was so thickly smoking that I made a comment to Marchiene about it. This place was truly ‘dirty.’ The Sage’s job is to clean it up. The thick smoke is like a big vacuum cleaner neutralizing the positive ions. I lifted the abalone shell to each of the four directions and prayed for their help. I then placed the shell back on the rock. And, as we sat with it, we watched the smoke move to all the major directions. This is when you know you’re working in concern with the spirits. It will always move in all directions because that is an act of balance.

The sky was unbelievably beautiful with high cirrus clouds. In meteorology, we call these “horse tails” because they look like a horse is running, tail up like a flag and flowing behind her.

At one point, Marchiene pulled out her flute and began to play it. I was watching the sage smoke. It was thick and heavy. And then, suddenly, it burst into flame in the abalone shell. I called to Marchiene and showed it to her. Whenever sage goes from smoke to fire, it means there’s an awful lot of energy being pulled in from the ethers to deal with the ‘gunk’ that is in the surrounding area. The fire eventually went out on its own. When she was done, I pointed to the sky. All of a sudden, the sky was REFLECTING the sage smoke here on earth. I smiled and told her that this always happens. When you work WITH the spirits of a given area, come from the heart and your intent is to be of service and help, the sky will ALWAYS reflect what is going on below. The old saying, “as above, so below,” is quite real. Here’s a photo from the same area of sky, ten minutes later. It’s impossible that clouds could move in that fast. It’s the sky’s response to our ceremony and clearing the area with sacred sage smoke.

This is Bololokan, the Earth’s water snake who brings rain to the world, has her sipapu, or opening. This is Rainbow Bridge. Two years ago when Marchiene and I were here and performing ceremony for the land and the spirits, Bololokan first showed herself as an amazing rainbow where her entry into this world sits. I have photos to prove it, as well as a blog from that time that is online for all to see.

Marchiene, later, decided to move up the trail to a favorite area. I remained next to my abalone shell and the sage. From there, I took my drum and moved into an altered state. I was curious to see what Bololokan would do to bring the awakening energy from Vultee Arch area to this one. I noted that both areas had huge sandstone arches. Something they had in common. As I closed my eyes and drummed, I saw Bololokan come out of her sipapu behind me. She raced through the air, her colorful scales glittering, to Vultee Arch. There, she picked up the red, orange and yellow fire and raced around and around the Arch with it. Then, she picked it up with her tail and arced it across the sky to Rainbow Bridge. I watched as she directed a circle of fire at the base of this huge mountainous area. And then, she took some of the fire and wrapped it around the arch, and then leaped upward. Diving down into her sipapu, Bololokan took the fire into her tunnel system. Then, she came exploding out of her sipapu and I watched the top half of the mountain burst into inter-dimensional flames. The red, yellow and orange flames leaped a thousand feet into the sky, burning powerfully. I thought of Moses burning bush but the snake laughed and said her tower of flame was much larger.

The sky was a clear blue when we performed the sage ceremony. As I sat the abalone shell with the sage on the rock at my feet, I looked up. The clouds had formed and looked exactly like the thick sage smoke. This is something I look for when performing ceremony. Why? Because when it’s done right, there is an instant reflection in Nature to our heart centered and sincere connection with Mother Earth. “As above, so below,” will occur. And here it is. The smoke was released with the intent of cleansing the area and Father Sky and the cloud beings reflected our intentions perfectly.

Looking at it, it appeared to look like a cosmic blowtorch. Bololokan then retraced her steps/route back to Vultee Arch, then to Sycamore Canyon, and finally, back at the beginning, the sipapu on Mingus mountain. Then, she raced around and around on Mingus, followed the arc of fire to the artesian wells of Sycamore Canyon. She raced around that area, her tail on fire. Again, she arced up and went to Vultee Arch and performed the same maneuver. Finally, she came back to Rainbow Bridge area. I don’t know what she was doing and she didn’t share it with me.

Then, Bololokan created the thick, white sage smoke and she began to waft the smoke from Mingus mountain to the west, then north up Oak Creek Canyon and then back down through Sedona and back to Rainbow Bridge. I got the sense that she was cleansing on a much larger inter-dimensional slate board. And it was made possible because now, four of the eleven sacred places were “on line” and working. She was doing serious cosmic house cleaning with the western and northern part of Verde Valley. But she could do nothing else since we hadn’t gotten to all the other areas to be a part of her bringing them back to life. Something was better than nothing.

Here Marchiene is playing her flute for “all her relations.” In the USA, flute and drum music are beloved by the spirits. In other parts of the world, it may well be other instruments. Music, by its nature, is sound. And spirits of all kinds and types are drawn to music and celebrate with us in joy of our mutual connection with one another.

When I got done, I drew my picture, wrote in my journal and then drummed some more just to give music to the spirits of the area. Marchiene came back and I’ll let her share in her blog what she saw and received.

There are many faces of human at Rainbow Bridge. Here, on the western slope of the mighty red sandstone castle of Bololokan, are a number of facial profiles in the rocks. Can you see them?

We have a lot of rain coming our way Saturday and Sunday, February 26-27. We find that after we reopen a dormant area, it rains shortly afterward. This is no different this time. Our next stop is Airport Mesa or Turtle Butte as we refer to it. In about two weeks. Blessings.