Walking the Land: Sedona, Arizona – In Search of Bololokan’s Path-Sycamore Canyon

WHO ARE WE?

Eileen Nauman (Ai Gvhdi Waya is here Eastern Cherokee name) is 1/8 Eastern Cherokee via her father’s side of the family. Her great-great grandmother was on the Trail of Tears and as a sixteen-year-old, escaped and ran into Kentucky, where she later married into the Gent family. We know only two things about her: that she came from a medicine family and was from the Wolf clan of her people. Her medicine was being a shaman. And this gene has gone down through our family. Eileen was the chosen child to be taught this ‘medicine’ (this means an inherited skill of healing) by her father. She trained with him from age 9 through 18. Later, she had other Native American teachers and in 1990 began training others for Soul Recovery and Extraction, the medicine of her great-great grandmother.

Marchiene Reinstra is an interfaith minister. She has written many books and has been an advocate of women being equal to men in all organized religions. Coming from Dutch missionary parents, Marchiene grew up in India. She is cosmopolitan and has many natural psychic skills. She met Eileen in the mid-90’s and since then, they have become a psychic team in search of understanding the energy of the land where they live in the Verde Valley of Arizona. This includes Sedona, but the scope is much wider than that. Please see our blogs from 2009 as they worked to bring the chakra system of Sedona back online.

WHAT IS WALKING THE LAND?

Eileen’s genetic knowing about the land comes through her Native American blood. She simply sees Nature as symbolic and is able to interpret it so she that she understands the visible and invisible energy in an area and what it is doing. Further, she is clairvoyant and can see the spirits, the guardians of sacred places, vortexes and everything else associated with the land. Her belief is that if we understand the energy and beings where one lives, that you can live in a deep and positive harmony with them.

The land is fed by the human’s gratefulness and attention. And the land’s energy/spiritual beings, in turn, create a far more positive energy framework and environment for the human. They must work together for harmony. Otherwise, if one ignores the other, we are ignoring Mother Earth and all her relations. That is like ignoring your neighbors and pretending they aren’t there or exist.

This blog is dedicated to showing the fundamentals of Walking the Land in hopes that you will take the information and apply it to your own area. And if you will, then you will forge a positive and healing link as a result. And the energy of your area where you live will be amplified, lifted and online so that the positive applications of this teamwork will benefit all. Weather will return to what it used to be. There will be no more floods and droughts, as an example. Water can be cleaned up with prayer and attention to the spirit of it. And so much more. You will learn as we Walk the Land here in the Verde Valley.

TWO BLOGS: Eileen will post her blog on Walking the Land first and then the next day, will post Marchiene’s. Each writes a blog based upon her experience as they walk the land in search of the planetary water snake, known as Bololokan to the Yavapai Native Americans who live in the Verde Valley. There are many powerful planetary beings that work with Mother Earth. Humans can interface with them as well but it is always the planetary, regional or local spirit who decides that. You can’t work with one unless your heart is in the right place, you practice daily humility and understand that humans are a small part of the mighty woven energy that is here on our home, Mother Earth.

Their intent is to discover the natural energy geology of where Bololokan moves/slithers, through the landscape of their valley. In discovering Bololokan’s path, Eileen and Marchiene will then perform ceremony to reawaken this path. In doing that, the energy comes back online and it lifts and helps feed the area in a natural way as it used to be when the First People lived here in union with Mother Earth and all her relations. It will change the weather pattern of the area, which has been in a twenty-year drought. Bololokan is the WATER snake. There are three other planetary snakes for the other three elements: earth, fire and air. Bololokan utilizes the Verde Valley area as one of her many sipapu’s (emergence hole) to come up into our area. She has sipapu’s around the world and slithers inside Mother Earth in tunnels that connect them all. We’re fortunate to have her with us and we discovered her when we opened up the chakras of Sedona. She came to us and we had no idea she existed before that except in Yavapai legends who spoke of “Bololokan.” Once she contacted us at Rainbow Bridge, one of her sipapu’s, she has been with us ever since. This year in 2010, she asked us to discover her energy path throughout our valley and clean out those sacred points with human attention and ceremony. In doing that, her third dimensional energy in our valley will reawaken and bring harmony to it once more. We hope the drought will be broken and the rains that Bololokan brings, will once more, go back to its normal pattern. Join us on our journey and you can be a part of the discovery and education as well.

EILEEN’S BLOG for 12.15.2010

I picked Marchiene up at 9 a.m. It was cloudy. The weather guy said at 10:00 p.m. last night that a front would be coming through at midnight on 12.15. At Randall’s (best place for breakfast in Cottonwood), we went over the topo map for Sycamore Canyon.

Here is a hand drawn map you might want to keep handy. It shows our route, starting on 12.7.2010 at the snake’s tail, the sipapu on Mingus mountain. This week, we’re at the next stop, Sycamore Canyon. Grandmother Komwida gave this map to me. She is the Guardian in this region as well as the grandmother in the Yavapai myth of creation.

I want to take a moment to urge each of you to get the topo maps for your area. They can be found as US Forest Service offices or at surveyor companies. And you can also go to Google, click on maps and put in the area you are looking at.

Here’s Sycamore Canyon topo. It is a north-south canyon that goes fifty miles up to Flagstaff. When you have an area you want to look at, define it, as I just did. Then, make copies of the east and west of the site. And the north and south, if needed. In this case, I wanted to go to the head waters of the Verde River, which was about 1.5 miles into the canyon. I wanted to know what was east and west of that canyon in that area.

Here is where we are going. To look at a topo map is to have a lot of information in your hands IF you know HOW to look at it. What do you see here?

The first topo is of Sycamore Canyon itself. Parson’s Spring (you’ll see it listed on the topo) is where the headwaters are located. There are two artesian wells at that area that pour thousands of gallons of water year ‘round to create the Verde River. Head waters are some of the most powerful places on earth. Just ask those Indians who all want to go worship at the headwaters of the Ganges River. We are going to this place because Grandmother C. showed us Bololokan’s trail through the region. The first stop was at the snake’s coiled tail on the slope of Mingus Mountain above Cottonwood, Arizona. The second was Sycamore Canyon. With Grandmother’s help, we are following her orders and directions. Sycamore was our focus this morning.

When you look at a topo map there’s a number of things to look at.

1. Headwaters? This will show it’s a very powerful, sacred place of birthing energy.

2. Water of any kind be it stream, lake, river or pond. Of the four elements when walking the land, the hierarchy goes like this: Most important: water, then fire, earth and finally air. Water is queen because without it, we won’t exist. And all communities from ancient times to modern ones, are always around water sources whenever possible.

3. We’re going to talk fluid dynamics now of invisible energy. There is energy everywhere around us. If you’re clairvoyant, you can see it. If you aren’t, you can FEEL it. Where the topo lines are close together, there is a speeding of energy in that area…. where ever the lines go, that is the direction of the energy.

4. Where topo lines are further apart, the energy is less active. It still moves, but much more slowly.

5. Hills, buttes, mesas, peaks, mountains or anything above the rest of the land, energy will move AROUND. It won’t go over it. It goes around it.

6. Canyons or places that drop below the nap of the earth, focus energy like a laser. Anything that has a CREASE in it (such as two hills and crease in the center of it) that is where energy is going and pools. The crease or cut (canyon) into the earth, or a hole (sync hole or like Montezuma’s well, a hole filled with water), all congeal and being the confluence of energy together. The more narrow the place, the faster the energy runs. The more open it is, such as the Grand Canyon, the energy runs much more slowly. Narrow means faster. Wider means slower.

7. Lastly, you want to look for animals, reptiles, winged one, amphibians, humans, or anything that you recognize in the landscape of the topo lines on the map.

Let me give you an example. Above is a topo of Sycamore Canyon. Did you see anything based upon the above information?

Now, here is the same map and what I saw on it. There’s a SNAKE with its tongue out paralleling Verde River on the EAST side of the canyon. Go back and look at the topo map and see if you see it now.

Here’s what I saw. There is a huge eagle.

Here’s the eagle I saw in the landscape. Her wings are spread out and her legs outstretched to grab a prey. In this case, the daughter of Komwida who, according to Yavapai myth, was picked up by an eagle who roosted on the rocky walls, and took her to feed her eaglets.

And, down at the bottom of his tail feathers I saw four birds’heads. The first is a raven, then a hawk, a vulture and finally, a hummingbird.

At the eagle’s ‘tail feathers’ you can see all these birds. The Raven and the Hummingbird played key parts in the Yavapai myth. A double check.

Now, here is Marchiene’s take on it. She saw two eagles AND the aerie (the hill in the center) and the DAUGHTER’S profile and hair! Again, this is in keeping with the myth.

Here Marchiene sees two eagles AND the daughter’s profile of her face and her long, black wavy hair. Again, this double checks the Yavapai myth. And she has colored in brown the eagle’s aerie spoken about in the myth.

Let’s look at the WEST side of the Sycamore Canyon topo. What do you see in the lines?

Here’s what I found. I saw a bird that is around the volcanic vent next to the trail leading down to the canyon. Then, there was a coyote, a deer or antelope with horns, a fox and further west, a frog.

On the far left is a hawk that is actually the volcanic vent. And, looking at the vent, you can see the hawk sitting; so this is seen not only in the vent but the topography. There is also a coyote, an antelope or deer, a desert fox and further up, a frog.

Here is the photo. Do you see the hawk (more light brown coloration of basalt at the top of the vent) sitting there in profile looking toward the canyon where the Verde River headwaters are at? He has his wing hanging down and splayed so you see the feathers in it.

On Marchiene’s topo she found a duck and a green snake.

Here in the lower left of the topo map, Marchiene has colored the duck brown with an orange bill. And indeed, there are many ducks on the Verde River and here in the canyon itself. The other, above is a green water snake, again reflecting Bololokan in the Yavapai myth.

As you can see—we all see differently. One is not right and the other wrong. They are both correct because the correspond with the Yavapai myth. This is another reason to have a hiking buddy or a small group who walks the land with you. Two or more heads are always better than one. You get MORE information that way and also, ‘double checks,’ that are part and parcel of our business.

Why are these things important? Because it will show you the energy expression of an area. And what element(s) you are working with. And it will also double check you on any myths/legends or stories about the area as well.

Let’s talk about myths and stories and why it’s important to know the land you live on. If you don’t know the myths and stories you won’t be able to use the topo map to full advantage. Sometimes, there are no recorded myths and stories in an area….and if that’s the case, then the topo map becomes even more important. Remember the ancient and so-called “primitive” people of your area were connected deeply and continuously with Mother Earth. They knew what the land resembled and what it meant. Now, in the 21st century, we take a topo map to re-remember. Take your topo map out and see if you have creatures in the lines suggesting a certain shape. If you do, that is what our ancestors saw a long time ago.

In the Yavapai myths about Grandmother Komwida say she was put into a hollow log during the flood. She sent out a raven through a small opening. When the raven returned with a plant in its beak, she knew there was land nearby. They say she emerged from her log boat at San Francisco Peaks (called Humphrey’s Peak but we call it the Four Grandmothers). From there, she went south to Red Rock Country (Sedona) and to the EAST SIDE of the VERDE RIVER.

Here is one of about four hollowed out Cottonwood logs we found along the trail to reflect the myth. Another double check. You want the land to echo the topo map AND the myth/legend/story of where you’re working.

This myth points directly at Sycamore Canyon because first, it is part of Red Rock country. Secondly, the HEADWATERS of the Verde River at there. And, if you look at the topo map EAST side of the canyon, you see the Raven in the geology of the area.

Going back to the myth, when Komwida becomes pregnant and bears a boy and later, a girl, it is the girl who gets into trouble. At six years old, Komwida instructs her to go gather wood. A giant eagle swoops down upon her and carries her off to his rocky Aerie where she is devoured by the eaglets.

Back to the EAST side of Sycamore canyon, you can SEE the giant eagle. Not only that, when you walk in Sycamore Canyon, it is rocky and certain perfect for eagles to nest high in the rocks above the river.

There’s another myth about Komwida that says she lived in a cave in Sedona. Then, one morning she goes to Mingus Mountain. This is the sipapu, the birthing circle or the snake’s coiled tail that we went to last week, 12.7.2010. Mingus is the highest mountain in the valley. The sun hits there first when it rises. The sun, in the myth, hits Komwida inside her womb. She then goes to a cave that drips water all the time. She lays down and the water drops hits her womb. It makes her pregnant and she births a little girl.

Here’s some facts. There are no caves with constant water dripping down in Sedona. BUT, in Sycamore canyon, there are caves everywhere. Plus, the HEADWATERS, on one side, appears like a cave beneath the roots of a tree and water is CONSTANTLY coming up and out of that hole or cave. I believe that Sycamore Canyon, because of what it contains, is the right place for this part of the myth to have taken place, and not Sedona.

Here is one of the many caves in the canyon. And the canyon consists of this sedimentary material, the red contains iron and the white is dolomite; both create when this area was part of a vast, shallow ocean millions of years ago. Sedimentary rock equals WATER element. And water is symbolic of emotions/feelings.

Going back to topo map of Sycamore Canyon, there’s a lot of AIR represented here. The eagle, the raven, hawk, vulture and hummingbird. The hummingbird plays an important part in the Yavapai myth, as well. It is the hummer that, according to myth, “minamina” who goes up from the Montezuma’s Well to look at the new world. He likes it and tells his people to come up into the world we live in. Another ‘double check’ for the myth agreeing with the topo map. It also pulls in the eagle who carried off the daughter. The aerie is the rocky cliffs that make up the canyon walls. It’s perfect habitat for eagles.

There are a number of places on top of Sycamore canyon that have a ‘basalt’ cap. After the shallow seas came the volcanic eruptions. Here you see a fairly rare and unusual ‘columnar’ basalt/lava formation. This requires a certain type of lava and cooling to create it. Sycamore canyon has lava caps on both the east and west side of it. Igneous rock is FIRE rock. It is the fire element. This canyon, then, is a combination geologically of FIRE and WATER. It also takes on the AIR element because of the eagle and other birds found abundantly in the topo map surrounding the canyon. And, we are well represented by the EARTH element in the four legged creatures and reptiles also found in high numbers. This place then, because it represents all four elements is very, very powerful. And if you didn’t know that, you could know it by the topo map and what these creatures represent. The WATER element, besides being geological, is also represented by the duck.

Getting back to our journey, I’ll let Marchiene in her blog, show you what she found in the topo maps. We talked a lot about the Yavapai creation myth and felt strongly that Sycamore Canyon, along with Mingus, who has the sipapu, was where the myth truly took place. Not Sedona. After breakfast, we rolled up our topo maps and took off down a twelve-mile dirt road. When we arrived at the top of Sycamore Canyon, we gave gifts of cornmeal and tobacco. We asked permission to go down into the canyon. There was an instant chorus of voices asking us to proceed.

And here is the trailhead to enter sacred Sycamore Canyon. Kachina carvers from the Navajo and Hopi reservations come here to ask permission of the grandmother Cottonwoods, to take a small piece of their root to carve their kachinas with. Medicine men and women from many tribes take their students down here to train them in many, various ways. I take my students here to learn a whole lot in 1.5 miles. We could easily stay five days in just this one spot and it would take that long to see/perceive everything that is in this canyon. Keep in mind it is a headwater canyon. And where you have headwaters, you have sacred birthing energy. This place then, not only contains the FOUR elements, it has headwaters. This compounds the power and importance as well as the sacredness of this one spot on Earth. It’s always to be approached with humbleness. Gifts of cornmeal are given. Permission is asked if we can enter this sacred site. Here, you had better follow protocol to the letter because this is not ordinary place.

It is a 1.5 mile walk through a lot of different places. I had tied a double knot on my drum and it hung on the outside of my pack. We had gone down the steepest part of the trail heading into the canyon when Bololokan dropped off my pack! Amazed, it hit the ground. I asked Marchiene to re tie it on my pack—and she really put more knots in it. The spirits of the canyon had unknotted it and allowed it to drop to let us know they were anxious for us to come. This is not uncommon for something like this to happen.

Here I am, after giving my gift and asking permission, starting down the trail that will lead me into the canyon. I had Bololokan drum tied tightly to my pack. As I walked, she sang and drummed herself. It was a joyous sound and the spirits loved it.

Once retied on my pack, Bololokan drum continued to sing as I walked down the dirt and rock trail. She continued to ‘sing’ as we made our way into the beautiful, quiet canyon. Many of them I’ll forgo because of length and space. We got to the first Grandmother Cottonwood and ask her if we could proceed. She gave us permission. We continued on, the Cottonwoods anywhere between 200-500 years old in this canyon. The Navajo and Hopi carvers come down here and ask these Grandmothers for a small piece of root so that they can carve a sacred kachina. Sycamore is a training ground for many Native American medicine people. It is one stop shopping in this canyon and it would take five days in a row to really teach everything that is in it. Marchiene and I stopped quite frequently, talking with the trees, or the mighty rocks. Komwida is known for her white rocks and there are some very large, special ones in the canyon.

This Grandmother Cottonwood is at the first springs (there are 2 and the second one is the headwaters). She’s at least five hundred years old. A part of her limb split from her massive trunk. And now, her limb lays along the trail and doesn’t it remind you of a snake slithering along? It sure did us—we didn’t miss it. Again, snake energy is reflected in so many ways.

Within 1/8 of a mile of the headwaters, it began to rain! We both laughed at the synchronicity. We had come here to work with Grandmother C (who is really Grandmother Komwida of the Yavapai myth). When I realized the woman with long, silver hair that was so long was Grandmother Komwida, I was blown away. The woman spirit I met up at Snake Rock in West Fork gave me another name. I journeyed earlier and asked her why she introduced herself as C. She laughed and told me that was her ‘inner’ name. In the Native American world, you have an inner name known to only you and a select few people. And you have an outer name that everyone knows you by. To her family when she actually lived in the area, she was C. But to everyone in the region, she was Komwidapokuwia. I was shocked to realize it was the woman of the myth. In the story, Komwida is described as wearing white deerskin dress, her white hair shining like white with stars among the strands and hanging down to her knees. This was the woman I saw originally. And now, she is our guide on this entire journey. I am grateful to be guided by such a high being and guardian to this area. It’s not unusual to encounter them and they know the ‘lay of the land,’ and can keep one focused and going to the right place and doing the right ceremony in the right order.

Here you are looking at something rarely ever seen: headwaters. The beginning of a river. On the right is one pond with four artesian wells and on the left is the other pond with three artesian wells. Notice the tree growing right in the middle between them These two ponds are the beginning of a river’s life.

Guardian spirits help us humans in many, many ways. First, you must realize that ceremony can be akin to a safe that has a particular combination. If you don’t know the safe numbers, you can’t open it. The same working with spirits in the land. The know the ‘combination,’ in order to open up the ‘safe’ which is the land and its energy. I follow whatever Grandmother Komwida tells me. I never deviate from her instructions. To do so is to screw up the energy and cause a lot of problems.

You can see the droplets of continuing rain creating small circles and then the rivulets spreading out from them. It is a symbol. When you trigger an event, there is always the ‘ripple effect’ outward from it. And that vibration continues on and on. The rain falling before we started the ceremony to bring the spiritual fire from the sipapu on Mingus to here, was already in motion and working. Our INTENT set the energy in motion, like tossing a stone into a quiet pond’s surface. Don’t ever think that you can’t effect change, because you can.

We loved the light, gentle rain that started to fall. I told Marchiene that the weather last night at 10 p.m. said there MIGHT be some rain on 12.15, but at midnight. It was noon! A front can’t change that much in twelve hours. I know that as a meteorologist. I told Marchiene that because we were coming to the headwaters to bring the sacred fire from the snake’s coiled tail/sipapu on Mingus mountain to here, today, that we were being blessed with Bololokan’s presence and support. After all, Bololokan is the rainbow water snake spirit of the world. And she can make it rain any time she wants. We both felt strongly this was a powerful affirmation from the planetary water snake that we were of right heart, focus, humbleness and intent. It was a good sign. My drum, Bololokan, was carried on the back of my red pack….and it is made of elk hide and a cedar round. It got very humid and the rain was constant. I worried that the drum would be flat by the time we reached the area of the headwaters.

As we left to drive down the twelve-mile dirt road, we saw that the rain had moved to Mingus Mountain where the sipapu is located. The entire mountainous area was swatched in rain! Finally, everything is going to get nourished with water. After three long months without any. This year, we’re experiencing La Ninya which means we don’t get the normal winter rains we need. By creating a bridge of fire from the sipapu to the headwaters, it has helped to reset the energy as well as affect the weather dramatically.

We reached the headwaters. I quickly unpacked my ceremonial items and placed Bololokan against the tree. One of things we did first, was to dip our hands into the two pools where the artesian water comes from deep within Mother Earth. To touch this water is to change your life. Why? Because it is sacred water, the blood of our Mother, and this is a place of birth. In the second pool, I placed water upon each of my chakras. I won’t go into the ceremony itself. But at a certain point, with Marchiene drumming (and the in the rain falling gently around us, the drum’s voice was strong and powerful—not flat. It had been rained upon, the humidity was high and yet, it was NOT out of tune. We agreed that Grandmother Komwida made sure the drum was resonate, deep and vibrating as I continued the ceremony.

Grandmother Komwida came and as I lifted the sacred ceremonial item, she came over us, her skirt white and sparkling with stars, all around the headwater area. I watched as the fire leaped from Mingus mountain sipapu, arched across the gray skin and came into the headwaters. The fire connected with the first pool and then it split and connected with the second pool. I saw the fire join and connect beneath our feet, underground. This was sacred cosmic fire, much like the burning bush Moses encountered in the desert. This fire then leaped all around us, consumed us and then moved in a counter clockwise tornado or vortex movement up within Komwida’s skirt. It whirled higher and higher. I felt the fire, but was not burned by it. I kept myself grounded and focused. I could feel the energy vibrating my body to the point where I wondered if I could withstand it.

Here’s my drawing of what happened on December 15, 2010. By visiting and performing ceremony at Mingus Mountain sipapu, it restarted the sacred fire that had burned there before. That fire, so long as it is tended by heart centered humans who know the ceremony, it burns. When the humans forgot or no longer believed in working in relationship with Mother Earth, it extinguished and went dormant. Until another set of humans came along and reconnected with it once again. As we went to Sycamore Canyon this week, the ceremony I performed with the help of Grandmother Komwida, was to bring the fire to the headwaters and connect them to one another. Less than a thousand years ago, this was up and running. But as white man came with his left brain and Patriarchy, the whole system failed and went dormant. Until now. We are bringing it back ‘on line.’ And by doing so, we will help Bololokan, the planetary water snake spirit who rules the rain and water of the world, to once more bring harmony to our region. Instead of a continuing 20-year drought, it will stop. We’ll know more about that next year because now, we must bring each sacred place awake and ceremonially continue to bring the fire to each one.

A human being who is conscious of such things is needed in order to be the physical catalyst on this 3rd dimension when working with fourth dimensional energy. I had been this receptacle many, many times before and I knew the routine and what to do. If the person isn’t of sufficient power and energy, such a vibration can literally tear the fragile human body apart. This is why you work with the guardian of the area because they will ensure you aren’t destroyed in the process. It was Komwida who guided the fire and kept the vibration such that I didn’t get killed by it. She slowed the fire down, brought the vibrational level down enough so it could run through me and then into the land and the headwaters. I was trembling inwardly like a drum was beating against my body. I kept my focus and did as Grandmother Komwida instructed.

Once the bridge of fire was joined between the two sacred points, Grandmother lifted up off us and moved off to the side. Bololokan then came from below and I saw her moved gracefully in a circle around the fire, make a circle and then come up through one of the two springs. She then proceeded to move with the column of vortex whirling fire. First, she rose upward in a counter clockwise spiral with the column of fire. Then, she went clockwise for the same amount of spiral turns. There was such joy all around me. I’d never seen a happy snake, but each of her beautiful scales was shining with a luster, and each scale a different color. Bololokan was working with the energy, centering it, making it balanced and once it was, she disappeared.

It was over. It continued to rain. We couldn’t stay and journal or do any drawing. My drum was soaked. Lucky for us, we had rain gear jackets on. We left offerings to the headwaters and then started to walk 1.5 miles back out of the canyon. But an interesting thing happened. In fifteen minutes, we were back at our car! And it’s a steep climb up and out of the canyon, too. At a hiking walk, you can make one mile in twenty minutes. We weren’t doing a fast walk. It was slow and deliberate and focused. When I realized what had happened, I turned to Marchiene and grinned. I told her that time had compressed. Instead of taking us thirty minutes to get out of the canyon (and actually, that’s at a hiking walk) it had taken us 15!

I always thank each of the Cottonwood Grandmothers going into this canyon and also, when I go out. This particular Grandmother had a huge black fungus about two feet by five feet on her about ten years ago. When I came down and saw it, I asked if I could serve her. She asked me to remove the killing fungus. I took a shamanic journey at that time and we extracted the fungus and infused the area with healing green emerald light. Now, that area while having no bark, is clean, dry and healthy once more. We have a closer bond because of the relationship between human and Nature. That’s as it should be every day of our lives. They are our relatives. And we’re part of a larger family. My heart always swells with such love when I can see and greet her. And she always wraps me in pink light and love. I hope someday that every person, no matter where they live on this planet, can forge a relationship like this with their own trees in their own back yard. Trees help keep the energy in balance and can fight unhealthy energy and keep it away from the family and house.

I have found that when you are in a sacred place, walking with that sacred energy, performing ceremony and coming from your heart, that time will speed up or slow down as needed. In this case, the energy was compressed and it took us only fifteen minutes to arrive back at our car! Shamans compress and expand time. When compressed, you can get from point A to B much more swiftly than is possible. When you expand time, you slow it down and you get ten times more accomplished. Today, they compressed it so we didn’t get soaked on the way back to the car. Marchiene had looked at her watch before we’d left the headwaters. And so she knew what time we’d left. She was amazed. I was grateful.

As we drove back to Cottonwood, the rain had moved from Sycamore Canyon area and now, all of Mingus was covered with rain…. the waters of life had finally, after three months of drought, were once more, nourishing our entire region! And it was because of awakening and now moving the fire energy. When sacred places are cleaned out and brought “on line” once more with human inter action, weather changes and becomes balanced once more. I took a photo of Mingus covered with rain. And on the way out, there were six horses out in the wilds. They stood beside the road, greeting us. It was a perfect ending to our day!

These horses have free range and were standing by the dirt road as we drove out of the canyon. Earlier, we’d had a Red Tailed hawk swoop down right in front of the car, heading due north. I told Marchiene that this was the Great Spirit’s way of thanking us, for birds are always her/his messenger. And to meet a group of free ranging horses, six of them, after that, was also a blessing and a “well done!”

NOTE: It is now 12.16.2010 and early afternoon. We have had constant, nonstop rain from midnight and it is now 3:00 p.m. This is NOT what the weather service forecasted for us. Last night on the 10 p.m. news, they showed a small band of rain going to cross “very quickly” and by this morning, Thursday, we would have clearing skies. That was so wrong. And the rain has been constant, nonstop and gentle all this time. Why? Because we’ve helped reset the thermostat in this region. We’re getting a lot MORE rain that we desperately need (we’re in drought) than was ever forecasted. Bololokan can now bring the rain and keep it here longer to give moisture to our thirsty region. By opening up these sacred areas, we will, I hope, completely rebalance the rain situation in Arizona. We’ll see what happens…but this is a very good indicator that what we’ve done in two weeks is WORKING.

I’ll be posting Marchiene’s blog on Sycamore Canyon tomorrow—so stay tuned for the REST of our adventure!