Walking the Land: Rainbow Bridge – Marchiene Rienstra

Copyright Marchiene Reinstra 2011

On a cool and sunny afternoon, Eileen and I began our adventure at Rainbow Bridge, also called “Devil’s Bridge” by locals.
By the pictures that accompany this blog, there is magic and orbs and rainbow colors, but nothing devilish.

Of course, there are those amazing cloud formations that filled the sky as we started…. looking like dragon’s breath, or dragon trails, or —well, what do you think?

Here, if you can see through all the orbs that were following us, is a giant rock face and a tiny head in the distance.

On my early morning hike, my eyes fell upon a beautiful little piece of cedar bark shaped like a flame, with a hole like an eye right in its center–it looked just like a small version of the “dragon eye” in the tree trunk I saw on our last hike when we were heading for Vultee Arch.

Here are the orbs that collected as we came to Rainbow Bridge to conduct ceremony. When I first started photographing, the spots or orbs were not there, but the deeper we went into the wilderness, the more that popped into existence and surrounded us like dancing lights.

It seemed to me to be a sign of things to come, and so it was.
I also consulted my topo maps of the Rainbow Bridge area, and saw, very clearly, the shape of two dragons, one very elongated like a snake, and one more compact with an arched back! When Eileen looked at the map, she noticed that there was also a womb shaped space right there at the Bridge, which is also very significant.

After lunch, we headed for the trail down a very rough dirt road, made rougher by recent rains. Eileen skillfully guided our red jeep through and over ruts and rocks to the trailhead. There, we stopped as always to ground ourselves, pray, and give offerings. (see pic of Eileen with bowed head and orbs!

Here as Eileen is asking the spirits for permission to enter the sacred areas, orbs popped up everywhere around her.

Then we headed down the trail and eventually came to the special clearing where we had done ceremony last time we were here, two seasons ago. It was on our left, and as we walked into it, we were struck again by the cloud formations overhead and all around us, and the stunning rock formations and energy all around us. In the distance, we could see the familiar shape of a big pyramid shaped mountain and the profile of a huge red rock face which we named Skaatakaamcha, after the first man of the Yavapai creation myth.

Here Eileen is walking down the trail toward Rainbow Bridge. Notice the beautiful high cirrus. It’s known as “mare’s tails.”

We settled in and while Eileen prepared for the saging ceremony, I played my flute and offered prayers in the seven directions, along with offering cornmeal and seeds. Eileen did the same, and then we sat and watched what was happening all around us, especially the way the wind was blowing, the smoke, and the sky, which were all mirroring what we were doing and our intentions. (Eileen will say more about this aspect).

This is the area high above where Eileen was at. I fluted so thank the spirits.

After a while, I felt drawn to go up the trail further towards the Rainbow Bridge while Eileen remained in the clearing to pray and drum and journey. She will tell that story. I went up the steep trail a ways, until I came to a curve on the path that went by some stunning stone formations, huge guardian rocks that looked like songs in stone. (pic) Up here, as well as down in the clearing, I was welcomed by ravens circling and calling. There were three of them soaring overhead, and I thanked them for their presence and blessing. Then I gave another offering and played my flute to honor the spirits and prepare myself for journeying.

Here is a stone altar within the cave where ceremony is done.

I tuned in to Bololokon’s presence, and saw her huge form as a cloud dragon emerging from her sipapu in the cliffs behind me where we saw the rainbow sun last time we came. She flew directly overhead in the blue sky, and then when she was over the clearing where Eileen was, she spiraled around with great exuberance, rainbow colored sparks coming from her eyes. Then she kept going straight north, and rainbow fire came out of her mouth as she laughed—a sound that was something like light thunder. and she was gone. I could feel her blessing, and when I opened my eyes I saw a clear blue sky overhead with just one long stream of feathered cloud stretching from south to north exactly where I had seen Bololokan in my inner vision!

In the distance, you can see the pyramid shaped mountain at Rainbow Bridge.

I began my descent down the steep path to rejoin Eileen at the ceremony clearing. She had just finished drawing her vision and shared what she had experienced with me, and I shared my experience with her. We noticed that now the blue sky was clear of clouds, and that seemed to indicate that the energy in the area was clean and clear after our work with Bololokan. With a great feeling of gratitude and satisfaction, we packed up our gear and headed back down the path towards the jeep, knowing that another stage in our season’s sacred work on the land was accomplished.