Walking the Land: Walnut Canyon – Eileen Nauman

I picked Marchiene up at ten a.m. Today, we were going to Flagstaff, Arizona. Last year, Bololokan, the Yavapai Rainbow water snake, had shown me that after we had completed our energy work with certain places in the Verde Valley (you can follow our work in this blog by looking for the “Walking the Land” entries), that she went to Flagstaff and circled San Francisco Peaks (also known as Humphrey’s Peak) and said we must come up there for our next assignment.

Marchiene and I were tossing about, exactly where to go and she suggested Walnut Canyon, about five miles outside of Flagstaff and east on I-40. It felt right to me. She brought along her flute and her hiking book that had information on how to get to it. We drove up beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. This time of year, there’s no RV’s. I have “RV karma.” I can drive this narrow, winding road that goes from 4,000 to 7,000 feet and inevitably always get behind a slug of an RV that really shouldn’t even be in the canyon to begin with—but it is allowed and so we crawl along at 25 mph instead of 40 mph. I was hoping today, the karma wouldn’t kick in.

Fortunately, no RV’s. We went into Flag and we stopped at a favorite haunt of mine, the Campus Coffee Bean in a plaza. This is where a lot of the NAU students come and I love it because they have great food and lattes. As we got out of the Prius, a clan of about ten ravens, winged over our heads, calling and cawing. They settled in a pine tree nearby, continuing to call to us. I felt that was a good sign because Ravens always mean messages are coming, and they are about magic. And, when they show up in a clan, it means “family” energy of some sort. We arrived at eleven a.m. Marchiene was wanting Greek food, so I suggested a gyro omelet that had gyro beef and feta cheese plus spinach in it. I told her it was really good, one of my personal favorites. We ended up ordering the same thing along with a pumpkin latte.

Sitting down, I talked to her about the astrology aspects for the day. There was a Venus conjunct Neptune and I told her this would be a ‘heart’ day for both of us. It was about remaining in our hearts as we made the trek to Walnut Canyon. Not only that, we had Venus transiting 29 degrees Aquarius too and I explained that anything doing with a heart wound would be brought up today. And because we were in the early stages of transiting into the Aquarian Age, this took on deeper and more profound significance, I said. I didn’t know HOW it would reveal itself, but I was sure it would once we were out at the ancient dwelling site. And as always, we try to remain in the “expect nothing, accept everything” mode of operation. That way, we would not have certain expectations of Walnut Canyon and because of it, actually create a blockage of energy or awareness because of our own mind getting in the way with a certain expectation. Marchiene agreed.

When I looked at my pumpkin spice cup, you can see what is says: Get Well :-)). And of course we were talking about just that over breakfast. Amazing synchronicity.

The guy at the counter brought our drinks and food. And I looked down at my pumpkin latte, he had designed a “heart” in the cream on top of it. I pointed it out to Marchiene and we both erupted in laughter. I told her it’s a good sign. When you are “in the flow” of what you’re supposed to be doing (no matter if work or play), there are cosmic sign posts called synchronicity that will reflect it. In this case, I’d spent five minutes talking about the heart, love and compassion and even the latte mirrors it with a heart in the cream design!

That was a good sign and we settled in to have a delicious meal/late breakfast at the Coffee Bean. Where we sat, there was a lot of wall paintings reflecting Italy or Tuscan/Greek kind of themes. Marchiene remarked we’d been talking about Greece and here is was reflected in the choice of where we ate. Another good ‘sign.’ Further, she pointed to a painting behind us and it was Venus, the goddess of Love, depicted on the wall. And on the other side was a shell where water spilled out. She said it reminded her of Aquarius with the jaw of water spilling out of it. The synchronicities were coming fast and furious. I knew we were truly in alignment and that going to Walnut Canyon was definitely getting a green flag from the Cosmos.

When we got out to Walnut Canyon, it was 45F, sunny and a bright, blue sky. There was no wind and very few cars in the parking lot. Almost immediately, a raven flew overhead, welcoming us. It flew across the two story building and into Walnut Canyon. I could hear it mentally saying, “Come on! Come on! We’re waiting for you!”

We entered the US Forest Service building and talked with one of the rangers. He was very nice, very informative. There are 240 concrete steps down to “the island” where some of the 80 stone and adobe dwellings were at. There is evidence that people were at Walnut Canyon 3000 years ago. The Sinagua people came 800 years ago. The dwellings were made from rock and red clay mud. When it was rediscovered in the 1850’s by military parties, they found pots, bits of sandals, pots and other living items. During the CCC camps of the 1930’s, crews came in and rebuilt the fallen walls and put the stones back into place.

Walnut Canyon is interesting because it is very narrow with pine trees on all sides of it, along with Juniper. There’s a small stream that flows down in the bottom of it. The ‘island’ is actually a promontory of layered rock with a capstone of white limestone on top of it and sits like a “knob” out in the center of the V-shaped canyon. At the top of the steps, we stood and silently asked permission of the guardian spirits of this place if we could move forward to the dwellings far below. My heart expanded with a joyous sensation and I knew it meant “yes.” And then, the raven flew around us, cawing and flying toward the “island” to the west of us where the dwellings were located. It was a Raven day, for sure.

Ordinarily, we would have performed our cornmeal ceremony along with the mental request, but we were standing too close to other people and the building. We didn’t wish to draw attention to ourselves so decided that when it felt right on the island, we’d perform our grateful ceremony to the beings who still live there, out of the way of prying and curious eyes. We had also found that a number of places didn’t want a drum beat, songs sang or flutes played—all rules imposed upon us for various reason. That was fine. We could still send our heartfelt love, appreciation and respect for the area, regardless. We did not see any signs that said, “no flutes,” and Marchiene had brought it. I’ve never been to a sacred site anywhere in this world where music or voice wasn’t welcomed by the spirits and the land. Ever.

We went down several steps. And it was a well thought out plan. For elderly who may have knee or joint problems, there was six to ten steps and then a concrete platform, even a bench, where one could rest. Eventually, we got down to the sign that said, ‘the island.’ By this time, I told Marchiene that I’d had a past life here. I felt unbelievably happy and at home here on this promontory where dwellings encircled it beneath the dolomite white lip of limestone. She agreed.

There were a number of Junipers that were well over two-thousand years old on the way down. Some were gate guardians. At the first one I stopped at, it said to me mentally, “Welcome Daughters of the Sun.” I turned to Marchiene and told her. She grinned. “Well, you know the word Yavapai, means “Sun”?” I had forgotten all about that. Amazed at the synchronicity, I turned to speak to the ancient grandmother juniper. She told me that she was alive and remembered Marchiene and I when we were children here. I passed on the info to Marchiene. She said she knew she’d lived here too. Indeed, it was coming HOME. It was a heart day. And home is where the heart is. I stood there realizing we were visiting another incarnation where we’d been together.

When you go to a place—anywhere in the world—and you feel GOOD there, as if it’s a second ‘home’ it means you had an incarnation or life there. And of course, it works the other way around too, where you feel BAD or threatened, suddenly grief stricken or in danger, that’s also a place where you had an incarnation—but things didn’t go well in that life and it was not a happy one. We stood there glowing in the heart center that we were “home” once again. I told Marchiene that we all travel with a certain group of spirits when we incarnate onto this Earth. And that she and I have had many lifetimes together. We weren’t always sisters, nor were we necessarily related, but knew one another in that given lifetime. And we’d always worked well and positively together, no matter what our form, gender or reason in that lifetime. We work with a group of souls who have a like-minded vision. And in different lifetimes we end up helping and supporting one another in many, many diverse ways. Here at Walnut Canyon, we’d lived lives together in this beautiful, sacred place. Certainly, the astrology of the day was coming full circle for each of us in a beautiful, meaningful way.

This is an artist’s rendering of the dwellings and how the Native American’s utilized them.

The other good thing that can happen when you reconnect in this lifetime with another place where you lived, there can be a retrieval of any piece or pieces of spirit you lost there. This is important to retrieve them back and it happens automatically when this intersect occurs. Also, if you have Grace and have earned it, you can also receive a ‘download’ of information from that given lifetime. Not only your knowledge, but your experience. And it begins to help you in THIS present lifetime. That’s always a good deal. I wondered if we would be accorded such a gift. I didn’t know and didn’t dwell on it any more.

Here is the last set of stairs before you get to the dwellings. Note the huge, thick dolomite “lip” above the dwellings. Because limestone is so hard and tough, it doesn’t get worn away like softer stones, such as sandstone. And it makes a great roof!

As we moved quietly and slowly around the circle, we saw huge roof of white limestone above and below, within the caves, the walls that showed where the Sinagua people had lived and thrived. As I walked, I noticed many other dwellings in the caves beneath the limestone. And then, something, an energy, called me. I looked down, deep on the canyon floor that was green with trees, bushes and grass. I didn’t know WHAT I was looking for, but I felt it. I always sense energy, like a cosmic bird dog of sorts. Finally, a saw a somewhat triangular entrance at the bottom of the canyon. It had either been created out of the stone or it was natural. I couldn’t tell. It was almost triangular in shape, a very large entrance. I wondered what it was an entrance too, because it did not look like anything else in the canyon. There was no way I could get down to it, even though I wanted too. I hadn’t pointed it out to Marchiene, as she’d found the dwelling where she’d lived in that lifetime. I wanted to give her time and space to emotionally reconnect with it, and any memories that might be given to her, so I walked on down the asphalt pathway.

I knew that my ‘home’ was on the eastern side of the knob or island. Marchiene’s home was on the western side. When we rounded it I knew exactly where my home was and walked up to it. The stones still lay scattered all around. They had not been rebuilt by the CCC men, but left there forever to show people what it was like when the first white men arrived in the 1850’s. White dolomite limestone rocks lay in profusion, helter-skelter, but I could feel this lifetime as I stared into the cave. This had been a happy lifetime for me. It was a pleasure to stand there and allow the past to seep back into me, into my heart.

We found a place where we wanted to journey. Marchiene had found a flat, white rock and I decided to sit on the concrete steps behind her. We wanted to be in the sun to do this, to warm like lizards on a rock, and not in the coldness of the shade. We thought about the people living here and how they appreciated the warmth of the sunlight in the winter. We were no different today.

When I moved into my journey after grounding myself, Grandmother Komwida appeared. She was like a giant, her feet in the canyon, rising a hundred feet above us. She had on her white buckskin dress that fell to her booted feet covered in the same deer hide. Her long white hair down below her hips moved gently in an unseen breeze. She stood between us. Saying that we were returning to a lifetime at this place, she said Marchiene and I had not been family. Rather, we were best friends as little girls. She showed me a Juniper tree I’d already seen along the steps. She told me we always used to climb this tree and loved sitting in its smooth, curved branches. She said those who lived here called themselves the “people of fire mountain.” This, I learned later, was about not only San Francisco Peaks being a volcano, but also Sunset Crater, another volcano, which was nearby and close to another major dwelling site, Wupatki.

Grandmother Komwida shared a number of personal things with me, plus a healing, that remain secret and sacred within me. One thing she did want known was the triangular-like entrance I’d spotted down on the canyon floor, was important. She told me that the Star People had used this entrance as a portal to come and go from their dimension and into ours. They were always visiting the people who lived in this canyon. And for thousands of years, it was the only portal around. Then, she told me that other portals were created in Hopi and Navajo land, in certain mesas, where the Star People could work with those groups of Native Americans. And they do to this day. I asked her if the portal in Walnut Canyon was still up and running. She said yes, it was. She said next time we come here, we should journey into it and see where it takes us. That’s an invite I won’t refuse!

Grandmother Komwida told me that as a gift for all our hard work, we were going to be directed to certain other places we had past lives in the Southwest. She said Marchiene and I had many and that we should go to Antelope Canyon, Wupatki, the home of the Four Grandmothers (San Francisco Peaks/Humphrey’s Peak), and Chaco Canyon. From each of these places we’d receive information from that life, as well as any knowledge we accrued during it. I was overjoyed to hear this and humbly thanked her. I had always felt at home in the Southwest more than any other place in the USA. Now, I knew why.

And then, the Four Grandmothers from the volcanic mountain that lords over the city of Flagstaff, came to me. It was such an honor to see them in person. Each was an old, old woman. All wore Native American costumes and they were powerful and represented the four directions, north, south, east and west. Further, this mountain was connected to three other sacred mountains in the Four Corners area for the Hopi and Navajo, too. The more ancient truth is that the descendants, the Anasazi, knew of this connection and relationship, too. They gave me information and thanked them for it. And then, they disappeared as quickly as they had come.

When we got done with our journeys, Marchiene and I compared notes. We had each gotten some different information; but very relevant to what they wanted us to continue to do in our area of Verde Valley. Marchiene liked the idea of going to all our other homes and we plotted and planned when we could do that too. What fun! So many wonderful trips to look forward to—together.

We finally left Walnut Canyon about three p.m. It had been a wonderful, heart filled day of good things and gifts. It was like we had each been given a cosmic birthday gift of sorts. We drove back to Flag and back to our haunt, the Coffee Bean. I ordered another pumpkin latte and a red velvet walnut muffin. Time to celebrate! And when the cup of latte was brought to me, it had a different design this time: that of the Tree of Life in it! What a perfect ending to a perfect day! We are “all related”, all part of the Tree of Life. We may be on different branches of it, but we come from the same trunk and roots. We are all connected. Marchiene and I sipped our lattes and decided that next week, we’d head to Sunset Crater and Wupatki. We’re on a roll—again. Who knows what will happen next! Stay tuned.