Walking the Land: Wupatki – Eileen Nauman

Copyright 2012 Eileen Nauman

On January 20, 2012, I picked up Marchiene. This morning, we were going up to Anasazi-land…. those ancient people who populated the area we would be walking in today. We wanted to visit Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki. One a volcano, the other an Anasazi dwelling that is 1100 years old.

We were on a personal journey this time; not so much walking the land to do something, but rather, discover personal things about ourselves. I had always wanted to stop at Wupatki, on highway 89, on the way to the Grand Canyon, but had never stopped. Now, I was glad we were going.

Taking 89A north from Sedona, we drove up through beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. The day was clear, blue sky and sunny. Perfect for a road trip. I discussed a lot of things with Marchiene, as usual our talks always led up some interesting avenues. We talked about what 2012 would potentially bring. For the Mayan prophecy, “time would cease as we know it,” did not scare me or make me think the world was going to end. According to their long counts, the world goes through a major transformation every 26,000 years or so. And so, we are at that liminal moment in 2012. I would like people to use some logic about the prophecy.

The long count is every 26,000 years. Thus far, the Earth has not been destroyed. For those who are ruled by fear, you can relax. For the rest of us, it’s merely life as usual in 2012; nothing more or less. After all, Earth is a college wherein souls on the fast track come to learn as much as they can, crammed into each life, as they can.

Marchiene asked me which of the Earth’s destructive abilities might manifest. I told her I felt volcanic activity was potentially big. Why? Because we have a Uranus square Pluto. Pluto rules volcanic activity and Uranus is the planet of the ‘unexpected surprises‘ and ‘shock/trauma.‘ I felt the Yellowstone National Park caldera, where I have been many times, is the super volcano on the North American continent that has the most potential of awakening during this 2011-2015 period when Uranus squares Pluto. If it does, it will wreak global transformation on just about every level. But it won’t destroy the earth. It may destroy some people and places, but the world is going to continue to turn.

Stopping at the Campus Coffee Bean, one of my two favorite places in Flagstaff, Arizona, we had breakfast. Marchiene had maps and books. We discussed the various Anasazi dwelling areas that were near to Wupatki. They were known as Wukoki, the Citadel and Lomaki. We knew that once we arrived at Wupatki, that we’d know whether or not we’d be ‘called’ to go to any of the others.

It’s only a thirty-five-mile trip east of Flagstaff until we turned off for Sunset Crater. The Four Grandmothers (Humphrey’s peak or also known as San Francisco Peaks) that sit over Flagstaff, is actually a volcano that is six million years old. It is still “sleeping” and could pose a threat someday once again. When the volcano blew, it created a number of other craters through the weak sedimentary rock east of the original one. Sunset Crater had erupted just 900 years earlier. This area, as far as I’m concerned, is still “active” and nothing is dormant. I can feel the magma in the chambers below The Four Grandmothers. The area is very “alive” and not at all dormant or dead as many would think.

I explained to Marchiene that I’ve worked with volcanoes around the world. I have a good working relationship with Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. I’ve visited Mauna Loa many times, been at the red-hot lava flow of Kilauea Volcano into the ocean from a side vent called Pu`u `O`o, and walked through powerful lava tubes created millions of years before. I’ve ridden down into Haleakala, on the island of Maui. And there were plumes of steam in the crater that scared the wrangler who rode with us. He THOUGHT Haleakala was dormant–but it is not. It’s simply sleeping.

I’ve been at Arenal, the third most active volcano in the world, found up in northern Costa Rica. I’ve felt the sleeping, threatening power of Vesuvius up front and close. There is a certain electric, powerful energy about volcanoes. Even when they are dormant, they are powerful. And the most important thing to know is that volcanoes spawn/create massive vortexes around and in their core.

Vortexes do one thing: they REFLECT the energy of us just like a mirror. Stop and think about that for a moment. REFLECTION. There are, for example, four major, massive vortexes here in the Sedona area. But they aren’t the only ones. House Mountain is a sleeping volcano in the Verde Valley; the only one. We live on the slopes of this volcano, so I know more about it than others as a result. But the reflection/vortex is with ALL volcanoes around the world.

People who are drawn to Sedona find it inexplicable as to why they want to live here. Inevitably, in six months, they are moving away! I’ve watched this phenomenon for twenty-one years. Why? Because the vortexes of Sedona and the surrounding area REFLECT where a person is at. If they are deeply wounded but not willing to change and grow (which is what a vortex demands), then the energy they send out (dark/unhealthy) is reflected times TEN back to them. That’s what a vortex does: it AMPLIFIES our energy times ten. Those who stay in Sedona area or any area where there are volcanic vortexes, are working on their stuff, growing, transforming and trying to get healthy instead of suppressing/repressing their wounding. That healthy desire to heal is reflected by the vortex too and reflect back times ten to the individual.

This reflection energy needs to be understood very clearly. We all have auric energy and we all send out certain signal or frequency. These signals then manifest as people or events that then occur in our lives. And it is these events we must work through to the best of our ability. When you live around vortexes or especially, a volcano vortex, then this speeds up the time, growth, demands on us to change and grow times ten faster. Everything happens swiftly and we have to be willing to make those changes or else. If you don’t, you move away to escape the demands of transformation.

We discussed the Four Grandmothers is really a sleeping volcano. There is magma alive and well beneath it. Sunset Crater, to the east of it, is part of this ongoing creation. The geology of the surrounding area is sedimentary. Why is it important to know the geology of your area? Because it can give you a hint of what energies are alive and well and therefore influencing you. Sedimentary rock was created by the shallow ocean that enclosed the western part of North America millions and millions of years ago. Therefore, this area is “old ocean” or in the simplest sense, water energy. It might be the southwest desert nowadays, but the ocean’s energy is still in the area. And along with it, volcanoes, lava and the energy of fire. We have a mix of water + fire = STEAM.

Steam can burn or steam can be turned into power. The steam age in the 1800’s is proof of this. Steam powered our manufacturing revolution and our mighty trains. Steam, if not controlled, can burn someone; even kill them. And so, this is the energy expression in the area we were going to today. Add to this, the history of the area, and this is where the mysterious Anasazi lived. The Hopi call them “the ancient ones.” They lived here and suddenly, inexplicably, disappeared without a trace. It has left archeologist stunned and without answers as to what or why.

When I enter an area, I look for the COLOR of the rocks surrounding us. In this case, we went into black lava fields, fingers of black extending across the red earth. Red symbolizes the woman’s moon blood. Black symbolizes the rich inner creation of her womb or uterus. Both these colors were in abundant display as we drove to Wupatki, thirty-five miles east of Flagstaff, the Four Grandmothers watching us. White is a masculine color. Gray is an androgynous color, a combination of black and white mixed. Or, female and male integration achieved. Gray, in our world, is the most balanced color of all rocks. Brown colored rocks are feminine energy because it takes the color red to create the color brown.

As we turned right to a USFS visitor’s center and Sunset Crater, I saw that the eight-thousand-foot cone south of us was black. This was feminine energy, no question. We stopped at two different places to observe the sleeping volcanic mountain. The lower parts were covered with snow, some of her smooth, curved side fine, black sand with little growing there. We stopped at a second parking area to look into her cone. The energy about her was that she was sleeping. Sunset Crater is not dormant. I’m sure, someday, as the plates grind against one another along the West Coast, the soft sedimentary rock will once more break and yield to magma pressure from below, and they will become active once more.

As we drove toward Wupatki, about two miles from it there was a sign that said: Wukoki. We both slowed down and we both wanted to go there. Something was strongly drawing Marchiene and I told her we would drive back there after visiting Wupatki. The area was mostly flat with rocky, ochre and red colored mesas. Fingers of lava, black and beautiful, interplayed with the colors of the region. The sky was a light blue and seemed to stretch across us forever. Montana does NOT have a ‘big sky.’ We do in Arizona. :-). As we walked out beyond the visitors center we spotted an aged Juniper tree, twisted and grizzled looking. It was probably two thousand years old. We stopped there and performed our ceremony to ask for entrance to the dwelling that stood in front of us. After receiving permission, we walked down a concrete path to a stone bench.

Wupatki was magnificent. A lot of it is still there. And down to the right was a meeting circle. There were even stone benches built into the circle so people could sit and talk. Beyond it, was an oval that drew my interest. And we had heard about the ‘blow holes’ in the area. I wanted to go see one for myself.

As we went down the path, we walked over to the oval. I had told Marchiene it was a womb because of its shape. There was a huge sign that said it was a “ball court” in the tradition of central American ball courts of the Mayan and Aztecs. I about had a hemorrhage on the spot when I read that. I just shook my head, frustrated that white folk archeologists can’t see or determine what they’re looking at! I’ve seen the ball courts of Central America–they’re rectangular! Not oval and certainly not his small. Whoever put this crap up should take it down. Oh…and further down on this plastic piece of info, it said that the Hopi people considered a place of ceremony. Well, no kidding! It certainly is!!! I was really upset with the drivel the archeologists came up with for this site. They’re totally off base as usual.

We found the blow hole near the oval (of course). The USFS had put flagstones around it and a wire grid across the top of it. You could put your hand over the square and feel the moist, cool hair coming out of it. I took off my hat and put it over it so Marchiene could take a photo to show the air was blowing out of it. I considered the breath of our mother, the Earth.

A USFS woman volunteer with beautiful long, gray hair came up to us. We asked her a lot of questions. One of the things she told us that there were ‘blow holes’ all around this area. I found that interesting because there are few places where you can actually hear and feel the breath of our Mother. It made sense to me that the Anasazi, wise as they were, knew this was a very sacred area. And indeed, it is to this day.

One of the fascinating things I felt as we drove into the Anasazi area was the profound peace that enveloped us. There was such calm, harmony and peacefulness. No matter where we went on this plateau on this day, that energy expression was always there. It was a very nurturing, feminine energy. That could be explained by the feminine energy release by black sided volcanoes, or the red soil beneath our feet. What made it sacred were the blow holes, the breath of our Mother always washing away our trauma, our stress, and embracing us like a nurturing, loving parent.

Marchiene and I went into the ceremonial oval after asking permission of the guardian who stood there. She played the flute in honor of all the spirits who were still there, still active and working to create the harmony everyone felt.

After she finished her beautiful flute music, I saw on the edge of one of the entrances to the ceremonial oval. Moving into my journey state, I knew this was a private one for me alone. At Walnut Canyon, I had been told by Grandmother Komwida that we would be guided to a number of places where Marchiene and I had past lives. And on this day, I found out more about who and what I was back in the time when I lived as an Anasazi at Wupatki.

Marchiene decided to sit by the blow hole to do her journey. This was a profound moment for both of us in different ways. I’m always amazed at the lives we’ve all lead. And the things we’ve learned.

After leaving Wupatki, we drove two miles back and went to Wukoki. Having gone 2.5 miles, we literally saw this huge red sandstone rock rising up off the plateau and built on top of it was a three story, narrow dwelling! It rose up out of the earth, to me, like a ship sailing across the desert. It was an amazing image as it revealed itself to us. It was here that Marchiene felt she’d lived. When we parked, she left and walked up on a hill, not far away from Wukoki and played her flute.

I had stopped, asked permission to go to Wukoki and received the answer. As I climbed the stairs up to the magnificent ruins, I could hear Marchiene’s flute as if she were standing right next to me. Amazed and startled, I saw she was easily a quarter of a mile south of me. There was no wind blowing to carry the sound so clearly and intensely to me. It was then I realized Wukoki was at the “hub” of energy alignments in the area. This was why the Anasazi had built it; a physical manifestation of all the energy grids coming from different directions, flowing through Wukoki and moving on. I’d seen this same type of dwellings build in stone in Peru. Where there were unseen, invisible lines of energy, the Inca would create a stone monument to hold and stabilize and also manifest it into our third dimension.

Wukoki, then, for me, was just such a place. A hub with lines of energy moving to other dwellings such a Wupatki, Lomaki land the citadel, and beyond. I’m sure there were also energy alignments with the Four Grandmothers as well. Standing in Wukoki, I could feel the ‘buzz’ of energy. I had felt the same kind of energy at the Temple of Balance at Machu Picchu in Peru. The same thing. The Anasazi were equally aware of the invisible energies as they were. I just stood there with a silly grin on my face. What a cool discovery to make! In southwestern England, there’s ample evidence the Neolithic people and later, the Druids, understood the same thing. Their circles, such as Avebury, Woodhenge and Stonehenge (and hundreds of others unnamed) focused and stabilized the energy, too. And the people of today think they are so smart…… Our ancestors put us to shame. We’re blind, deaf and dumb in comparison. They lived in harmony with Mother Earth and her energy. Today, we do not.

After leaving Wukoki, we drove to The Citadel. This was an incredible town dwelling high up on another red sandstone bluff. It was wrecked, the stones having fell off the slopes into heaps. I liked the energy of this place. I’m sure it was in alignment with certain area energies.

We then moved on to Lomaki. We didn’t go into Box Canyon where there were more dwellings as my knee wouldn’t take it. Lomaki had one partial dwelling out on the plateau. I felt no energy in the area. However, high above on a lava ‘finger’ there had been a dwelling because you could see all the bricks scattered about after it had fallen. Up there, was energy. And I’m sure at one time in 1100 A.D., that adobe brick home atop the lava finger, was in alignment with the Citadel.

We had quite a day and left. But not before taking some gorgeous quilt like pictures of the plateau below us. There isn’t anywhere on earth more beautiful than this place. To add to the beauty, there is harmony, peace and calm. Three things this world is in dire need of.