Walking the Land: Solar Plexus Chakra of Sedona, Grandmother Turtle – Marty Rienstra

Copyright 2009 Marty Rienstra
All Rights Reserved

Hi Everyone,

Here is my “story” of our “Holy Play.”

Early this morning, I sat on my meditation sofa with a cup of coffee, pondering the plans Eileen and I had to go to Sedona’s solar plexus chakra at Airport Mesa. I had been up there many times in the past, usually at sunrise, to revel in the beauty of the views and give thanks.

For some reason, I didn’t feel any “pull” towards going to the place identified as the Airport vortex, which is on a high knoll on the northeast end of Airport Mesa. What I did feel drawn to was the south end of the mesa, where there was a huge cedar tree I loved to sit under. “Well, if I am right about this, it will be confirmed,” I said to myself as I got ready to go. Lately, I have been carrying my Camel Bak because it has lots of room in it. But today, for some reason, I wanted to take my turtle backpack. It had room for a bottle of water, a snack, my flute, and more. “This will do just fine,” I thought to myself. (Below, see a picture of my backpack, named by a little girl when she first saw it, “Shelley Turtelle.” The name stuck!)

Here is my trusty backpack whom I call “Shelly Turtelle.” One can see my love to turtles. You can also see eight topo maps on the table, too.

When Eileen arrived to get me, she excitedly showed me her topo map, on which she had drawn the outline of a turtle around Airport Mesa.

“Look at that!” she exclaimed. ” I saw that last night and it really opened up the energy of the solar plexus trip for me! ”
I grinned and held out my turtle backpack. “See what I’m taking today?” I asked. “Seems fitting. I thought there was a reason I felt she should go along today.” At that, Eileen pulled two beautiful small turtle fetishes out of her pack and held them out. “Here, ” she said. “Choose which one you want to give to Grandmother Turtle today when we visit her.” With a grateful smile, I immediately chose the pale pink one, put it in my little offering bag, and off we went. This was definitely going to be a Turtle day!
“Since were are renaming all kinds of things, let’s rename Airport Mesa. Let’s call it Turtle Mesa,” I said, and Eileen nodded her agreement. “The best names are those that reflect the ancient stories or the actual shapes we find in the geological formations around here,” she said. “For example, did you see the shape of the big elk I found on the topo map of this area? I emailed it to you last night.” I shook my head. I hadn’t opened my email after 3 p.m. the day before. “Wait till you see it!” Eileen said. “And the hummingbird!”

“Ah,” I replied, “I just reread the Yavapai creation myth, and it said that the people emerged from the world before and below this one at Montezuma’s well, which was dry when they came up it, led by a hummingbird!”

“It all fits!” replied Eileen.

As we drove along towards Turtle Mesa, we noticed two huge yellow striped balloons, both of them on the ground near the road. Eileen told me she had seen two others, and she told about having to remove the rocks, and how that was part of the theme for the day—our work was to remove energy obstacles at the Solar Plexus. The balloons, we thought, continued the theme of our visit a couple days ago to the Sacral Chakra area and Komwida’s Kitchen—surveying. “We’ll be so high up on the trail at the mesa, we might as well be in a balloon!” I exclaimed. “It will be great for surveying the whole area for significant shapes and connections.”

You are looking at the chapel where it sits below Twin Buttes or Komwida’s Kitchen, where we were last week.

Before long, we were at our destination. We looked up at the high knob on which the vortex was said to be located. But we knew that was not where we were to go. Our destination was the far end of Airport/Turtle Mesa, following the Airport Loop trail. The trail is very narrow, and there are steep drop-offs on one side. You have to stay really grounded and focused. This is not easy, because the views from this trail are just spectacular! All the beautiful well known powerful rock formations are visible from up there: Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Elephant Rock (Which I call Ganesha, the name of India’s elephant deity); Cathedral Rock, Twin Buttes, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, and more.

“In India, Ganesha, the elephant god, is the remover of all obstacles,” I said as we walked along. “That seems fitting if removing obstacles is one of our themes.” Eileen agreed, and bent down to remove a couple big rocks from the path. “Just removing obstacles!” she chortled.

Here is Elephant Rock which is to the southeast of Airport Mesa or as we call her, Grandmother Turtle. You can see the back of the elephant, the rounded skull and then her trunk is U-shaped.

We walked on and began to encounter one huge cedar tree after another. All of them, said Eileen, were gateway guardians, and were signs we were entering into a high energy, important area. At each gateway, we paused, put our hand on our heart, and offered our respects and asked permission to continue. Often, we offered some seeds as well. Always, we felt a glad welcome, as if the trees were wanting us to proceed.

Here is Eileen asking a very old, dead cedar tree permission to continue on our path toward our goal. Even though the tree is ‘dead’ the spirit of the tree was still there doing her duties as a gate guardian.

We also saw a couple ravens, who circled us as we walked along, with a gurgling sort of caw, not harsh, welcoming. “They are urging us on,” said Eileen as she took a picture of them. Not long after that, a huge turkey vulture flew very close overhead. Eileen has turkey vulture medicine, and she saw this as another affirming sign that we were on the right trail.
We noticed that the trail was lined with many kinds of brightly colored wildflowers, which Eileen took pictures of. It was a gorgeous, sunny, crisp day, and every curve in the path opened on new vistas. At one point, we both felt a strong energy, so much so that we felt a little dizzy. A few steps later we knew why. We were right next to a huge red rock area that looked like a birthing place.

We paused to experience this energy and take a picture. Then we went on a little ways. Eileen stopped. She was looking at something below her off the trail. But the time I caught up with her, she had scrambled down the slope to take a look. “You gotta see this!” she exclaimed. I cautiously edged down the slope and saw what she saw: a big flat red rock with a black cross on it, with many little figures glued on it, most of them familiar to me as goddess symbols, and coins arranged in a semicircle above it, which Eileen guessed represented the lunation’s of the moon. It faced east, and it was clear that whoever had done this knew what they were doing!

At this point, a Canadian couple walked by, and we fell into a conversation about Sedona and what we were doing, and what they were doing.

A lot of good energy and information was shared, and they went on their way. “Now they’ll be able to see this area in a whole new way,” I said as we parted company. “Yes, that’s part of what we’re doing–helping people see how they can do what we are doing in their own way, all for the benefit of Mother Earth,” replied Eileen.

Along the trail we ran into a high energy area. And it was in the same area where the goddess altar was at.

By this time, it seemed that we had been walking an awfully long time. I hadn’t remembered it was this far to the end of the mesa. Finally we rounded the last bend, and there we were, able to look out in both directions over Oak Creek and Sedona and the whole area. We were as high as the airport by now. The power of the place was palpable. A huge grandmother cedar, a tree I remembered well, welcomed us into her shade. We were hot, tired, and thirsty by now, and it was good to take a little rest. I was amazed at how quiet everything was. As we ate and drank, Eileen remarked that the Solar Plexus chakra is, among other things, about the pleasures of all the senses, and individuality. I grinned and took out an organic dark chocolate bar with espresso beans in it. She laughed and we hugely enjoyed this special treat as we looked out over the amazing landscape of the area.

Then Eileen honored me with a wonderful gift—a large green jade turtle with a little one on its back, in a rainbow striped bag. “This gift is to mark the occasion of your receiving a new name,” she said. “Rainbow Turtle Woman.” I loved it–the gift, the name, everything. It was just right.

Here is the jade turtle that Eileen gifted me with. It has a baby turtle upon the back of the mother turtle.

To me, the turtle has always offered the wisdom of slowing down, so that life can be savored and understood more deeply. And turtles symbolize for me being really grounded on Mother Earth. I am aware that the North American Continent is called “Turtle Island” by many Native American nations, and now here we were on Turtle Mesa, and I was gifted with a turtle and Turtle’s name! Eileen explained that the turtle, like a few other animals, has a hump on its back, and that I could ask her to reveal to me, if I was ready, what was in that hump. We talked a little more about the ancient myths and meanings around turtles, and then it was time to do our gifting and ceremony in behalf of Grandmother Turtle Mesa on whose hump/back we were sitting. We offered prayers and cornmeal and seeds in all the directions, and then did a little ceremony which included giving our gifts of the small turtle fetishes and a crystal each of us had brought for the occasion. Eileen had also brought a beautiful little fruit and nut cake to offer.

We sprinkled it with blue and yellow cornmeal and left it for the creatures of the area to enjoy. Then Eileen played her drum, I played my flute, and we meditated as we offered our music to awaken and nurture the energy of the spirits of the place, and especially for Grandmother Turtle. When we felt complete, we shared what had come to us. I had asked Grandmother Turtle if I was ready to know what was in her hump. She showed me right away, but let me know there was more, which I would be shown later. Then she showed me an image of herself with beautiful rays of rainbow light radiating out from her huge form in the landscape in all directions, connecting to all the great rock formations surrounding her. I knew then that a wonderful energy had been awakened and released. Eileen confirmed this as she recounted her experience, which is in her blog. There were many resonance’s with what I had seen. “Grandmother Turtle also told me she wants you to come back as often as you can and work with her in this area,” she added after finishing her story. I told her I was more than willing. I have always just loved this place and these high trails with their exalting views and energy.

We sat there a little longer, enjoying the energy and beauty, before we headed down the trail that wound along the other side of Turtle Mesa to bring us back to our starting point. “It’s important for us to do the complete circuit today,” said Eileen, knowing it would be a long hike back.

The trail was a bit easier going than on the other side, and along the way we had new views. One of the things we noted was that we could clearly see El Shaddai, my name for the cone shaped mountain which is a volcanic vent right near where I live. In her vision, Eileen had seen a band of gold and white light go between Turtle Mesa and El Shaddai and the area around this powerful mountain.

El Shaddai is a volcanic vent that runs from House Mountain, a dormant volcano in this region. Eileen explained that she lives right under House Mountain and the energy, even though the volcano is no longer active, is still very much ‘alive.’ House Mountain is the regional apu or mountain spirit because it is a volcano. El Shaddai would be number two on the pecking order as a vent. There is powerful energy around El Shaddai, and I live within a quarter mile of it.

We stopped and stood looking at El Shaddai and the surrounding area for a long moment. Then we started walking again and noticed a stone pillar by the side of the path which had clearly been constructed to point to El Shaddai and other energy points in the landscape. “Someone knew what they were doing when they made this,” said Eileen as she snapped pictures of it.

As we continued walking, we surveyed the landscape, looking for shapes that held clues to the energies we wanted to recognize and work with.

We both saw a huge dragon shape in the mountain chain that included what locals call “Capitol Butte”, and “Coffee Pot.” From our high vantage point on Turtle Mesa’s west side, the dragon shape was pretty obvious to us, along with a couple small smooth roundish red rock shapes that looked like dragon eggs. I realized again how much human perception of landscape, among other things, is shaped by human experience and consciousness. The Native Americans often saw things that resembled mythical creatures or characters, or animals and birds. The early European settlers, and other white folks since then, saw things like sugar loafs and coffee pots and courthouses, etc. Interesting! Personally, I prefer the more mythical way of seeing things characteristic of the Native American mind.

By the time we reached the end of the trail, we were tired and hungry, and went straight up to the top of Turtle Mesa to have a celebratory lunch, which included fried cactus strips and prickly pear Margaritas–specialties of the Airport Restaurant. “Well, she’s up and running!’ said Eileen as we finished our lunch and surveyed the scene on the back of Turtle Mesa. “We did what we came to do.”

Feeling satisfied at many levels, we proceeded to the Quilter’s shop, where I had the pleasure of picking out pieces of gorgeous colored fabric out of which Eileen wanted to make me a quilt as a gift to celebrate my getting a new Native American name. Then she dropped me off at my home, and our Turtle Day adventure was done. Well, actually, not really. A special day like this lives on and on in our hearts and memories, shaping us in ways we cannot even imagine.

My heart is filled with gratitude for this wonderful day, Eileen’s marvelous gifts, and the prospect of more “holy play” next week when we go to “Sugar Loaf”, the Heart Chakra, which just might also have the name of “Dragon Egg.” We shall see.

Shelley Turtelle is ready to go. She’s has the Forest Service information right by her, and lots of topo maps from the Forest Service to guide us as we go forward in discerning and working with the energies of the Red Rock Sedona Temple for “All our Relations.”