The Day After

So Tuesday was the Autumnal Equinox, when I would normally go out to the Parowan Gap to photograph the sun setting into the bottom of the gap.  Since it had gotten cloudy that evening, I decided to do my bowl burning that night  instead.

Wednesday was the day after, and since the window of opportunity for celebrating an equinox is that day, the day before and the day after, I decided to go out to the Gap on Wednesday evening. 

Before I did that, I drove up to Cedar Breaks National Monument late that morning to see if the aspens were starting to change to their fall colors.  Since that location is a bit above 10,000’, the aspen leaves there are usually the first to turn.  I was not disappointed!

There is a nice grove of aspens at the end of the Alpine Pond Trail, in addition to some here and there along the main road. As I hiked, I made sure to breathe in the fall smells.  That, plus the bright sunshine and subtle breeze made my “forest bathing” quite nice.

The rotting vegetation and fallen leaves release a compound called a monoterpene, which has many health benefits.  There are also many coniferous trees lining that trail, which emit pinenes, another healthy substance.  These are mainly sub alpine fir trees and bristlecone pines, the longest living plant on earth. At least for me, both of those scents smell really good, and I took full advantage of breathing them in yesterday.

Add to all of that magic were glimpses of Cedar Breaks as I walked along.

Around dinner time, I drove out to the Parowan Gap and positioned myself at the exact location to catch the sunset.  I was alone most of the time until a couple drove up to catch the very last rays of the setting sun. The almost full moon was starting to rise in the eastern sky, too.

There is another outdoor activity that is a benefit to our health.  That is Sun Gazing.  It is only safe to do right after sunrise and right before sunset, for about a half hour each time.  I did this until he last rays of the sun disappeared into the gap.

You can soften your gaze and intend to bring in the beneficial energy from our Sun.  Don’t go crazy with this, as you can focus your gaze elsewhere off and back if this bothers you.  

I so much enjoy sharing with all of you the magical and beneficial interactions that we can have with the natural world around us.   Bare minimum, take a walk outside every day, or even every night!  Pay attention and receive the messages.  You never know what you might experience! 

Equinox Time

The equinox is coming up in a few days.  Vernal for the southern hemisphere, and Autumnal for the northern hemisphere.  This is a time to examine where in your life you are out of balance.  It could be in any area, including relationships, finances, employment, or health to name a few. 

In addition to photographing the sunset at the Parowan Gap, I also do a bowl burning ceremony that evening.  On a piece of paper, I write on one side what no longer serves as my release, and on the other side, I write my positive outcome to take the place of what is being released.

For the bowl burning, I use a metal bowl with alcohol and Epsom salts. Skewer your paper with a stick and prop it edge to edge on the bowl.  That will hold it above the flames to burn.  Outside of course!  If you wish to do a simpler version, you can just take your paper outside and set a match to it.  The fire will dissolve and energize your intent and send it up to your higher aspects to be manifested. 

My trip over to the Parowan Gap will depend on the weather and clear skies.  I will report about that soon! 

The Closing Reception

 

Saturday night marked the end of this fabulous conference.  There was lots of food, a costume party, and a very loud rock band.  The band was called Hitchhiker.  It featured Travis Taylor as the lead singer, and included several other speakers from the conference.  Travis is the somewhat kooky head  scientist for Skinwalker Ranch. Here he is.

A few people wore costumes, but not as many as I assume you would see at other national conferences.  I also think that we had more last year.

So there you have it.  Good bye until next year.  I am already looking forward to it!

Skinwalker Ranch

 

During the PhenomeCon conference, quite a few extra activities were offered before, at lunch time, and in the evening after the actual presenters were speaking.  After the first day of presentations, I chose to go on a field trip up to the main gate of Skinwalker Ranch.  BTW—this is as far as they will allow you to go for obvious liability purposes!

The ranch is 512 acres of land mainly surrounded by the Ute Reservation near Fort Duchene, Utah, in the Uintah Basin.  It is literally out in the middle of nowhere.  The Uintah Basin has a number of geological and electromagnetic anomalies that seem to cause a wide variety of paranormal phenomena.  These include sightings of criptids, UFO’s, orbs, portals opening and closing, ghosts and dark figures, and any number of unexplained things.  These have been happening for hundreds of years, not only on the ranch, but in the whole surrounding area.  The “Secret of Skinwalker Ranch” show on the History channel depicts many of these strange things.  Check it out!

So on that night, about 50 of us loaded up onto 2 buses to head out to the ranch, about a 35 minute drive.  One bus was hosted by Thomas Winterton.

The other was hosted by “Dragon” Arnold.

They then switched buses on the way back.  We were highly entertained by their personal stories and stories of the happenings on the ranch.

The sun had just set by the time we got to the gate.  During the day there is a guard there.  Note the “Keep Out” signs!

Here is the mesa where a lot of the mysterious happenings occur. 

After a photo op, we loaded back onto the buses and drove to a spot south of the ranch property and where we could see the lights of neighboring properties on either side.  Everyone was pretty attentive to seeing if anything strange happened while we were out there. I did have a sighting of sorts.  At one point, I looked straight upwards and saw a small light blue orb.  I glanced down briefly and then back up to see if I was looking at something that was moving, like an airplane or a satellite.  The orb was gone.  No one else saw it.

So that was my entertainment for the evening.  In spite of not seeing much of anything odd or unusual, just listening to Thomas and Dragon was a real treat in itself.