The Energy of Lava

I just love the energy of lava.  For me, connecting with this energy is the best way to merge with the hot and transformational energy of the core of the Earth Mother.  I remember a spiritual gathering that I went to on the Big Island of Hawaii in the mid 90’s.  If any of you have been there, you know that this island is almost totally covered with black lava fields, and also has active volcanoes.  During some of the energetic clearing exercises, I visualized jumping right into the volcano so that all of the energetic toxins that I had in my energy field would get combusted.  Each time I did that, I was tingling all over for several hours afterwards.  In the shamanic traditions, we can send our houcha, or heavy energy, into the center of the earth to be eaten up by the Mother.  That is her service to all of us. 

Last week, I had the opportunity to hike in 2 different lava fields.  Just east of Cedar City is the Markagunt Plateau, which is a huge volcanic area on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau.  Here, there are cinder cones and fairly new lava fields.  My hike a week ago took me to Navajo Lake, which is at about 9000 feet in elevation.  The eastern edge of the lake is blocked off by a lava field, and the only way for the water to drain out is to soak into the ground and come out at a spring, and then Cascade Falls, which I wrote about in a previous post.  To get onto the trail that goes around the lake from the parking lot, one must walk through this lava, which was deposited about 10,000 years ago, so it is fairly new. 

I walked slowly here, in addition to laying my hands on some of the stones, so as to soak up the energy. 

My suggestion is that if you can visit a lava field or get your hands on some basalt, that you touch or hold that stone and commune with it. Connect with the heart of the Mother. Feel that warm embrace and be comforted.

A few days after that, I drove up to the top of Brian Head mountain, at an elevation of 11,300 feet.  This is the highest point in Iron County.  Here, there is a different kind of volcanic formation called tuff.  It was deposited as ash from volcanic eruptions about 60 miles to the west, and is at least 30 million years old.  It is a pinkish tan in color, and fairly grainy.  It does not hold the same kind of fiery energy as the other lava, but is tremendously grounding nevertheless.  This was only my second trip up to the top since moving to Utah, as the snow had just recently melted on the road. 

 This lovely stone building at the top was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps around 1935.  

 You can see the orange rock formations of Cedar Breaks National Monument in the distance.

How amazing it is to be able to stand on rocks that are millions of years old, and also enjoy a 360 degree view from the top of the mountain.

Are You Expanding or Contracting?

As Tom Kenyon is fond of saying, we are currently experiencing a huge chaotic node that is part of our evolutionary path here on planet earth.  Everything has been turned upside down, and each person is experiencing this time differently.  Regardless of the state of the world right now, we are all still spiritual beings having a physical experience, and should be conducting our lives as such.  I would like to add that fear should have no place if you are living this kind of life. 

In light of this, are you in the process of expanding and evolving as a self directed process, or contracting and devolving as a reaction to the current chaos?  I recently worked with a client who had stopped her spiritual practice because she was spending all of her time worried and stressed out about the corona virus situation.  Of course, she has not been sick, but such carrying on can certainly lower one’s immune defenses and she might get sick as a result of that. 

I always go with the premise that we are all creating our own reality, whether we realize it or not.  Our reality is created by our conscious thoughts and actions, but also by the patterns that we hold in our unconscious.  This might make it seem that we are subject to random events and difficulties, but in reality, some part of ourselves has created these difficulties as part of our evolutionary path. The challenge is to recognize this and own it, no matter how distasteful it may feel. 

I have been listening to the nighttime alternative radio show Coast to Coast AM off and on since the mid 90’s.  George Noory is the host, and he interviews people from all walks of life on topics that are spiritual, financial, health related, alternative, you name it.  His recent guest was Vincent Genna, a psychic.  When George asked him to give his opinion on why humanity is in such a mess right now, Vincent replied that people were not doing their inner work.  In addition, he said that humanity has not evolved spiritually at all in eons.  We have not attained the skill and spiritual maturity that is our birthright as humans. 

Wow!  Did that ring a bell!  As spiritual beings having a physical experience here on earth, our inner work should be a priority and not an option.  Yet, here we are, projecting our issues on everyone else, acting up and acting out our inner wounds, and falling prey to all kinds of negative energies.  We should all know better. 

Back in the 90’s, I took part in several very large spiritual groups, led by guru type teachers.  There was a common drive to attain “enlightenment” back then, these teachers promoted themselves as having the key to that.  If we worked hard and did everything that these people advised, we would progress spiritually.  What I observed instead were a multitude of issues being buried because of the common teaching of the day to ignore the negative stuff and focus only on the “light”.  Consequently, the dark side was being acted out behind the scenes, causing a lot of trouble for everyone.  One teacher’s wife died of stomach cancer (what was going on that she could no longer stomach?) and he promptly married his children’s nanny.  Another ran into legal trouble because she physically assaulted an office volunteer, in addition to financial hanky panky in the state where she was operating, and as a result, her tax exempt status was revoked.  The third, who was about 10 years younger than me, passed away in 2016, after a long battle with some dark forces. 

I digress.  My point is this.  These were people who held themselves up as paradigms of spirituality, yet, were not doing their inner work.  Does this remind you of anyone prominently featured in the news these days?  Mostly everyone!  Think about what our world would be like nowadays if everyone was able to do their own inner work and stop projecting their wounds onto other people.

What does inner work consist of?  It involves first of all the commitment to seeing yourself with a clear eye, warts and all.  Own up to everything that is not working in your life.  Own it!!!  Stop dumping it onto others.  Some kind of meditation or contemplation practice is also helpful.  Working with your Inner Child can give you helpful insights as to which inner wounds have been triggered during times of emotional upset.  Whenever anything goes sideways, reference yourself first, and go within for solutions.  And the very most important thing is to love yourself unconditionally at all times.  Mother yourself in a way that your own mother never did.  Self nurturing and that inner connection will help you to stay out of fear. By embracing and connecting to your inner self and working through issues as they come up, you will keep evolving and expanding.

A Fathers Day Adventure

 

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, when we receive the biggest hit of the blessings from Father Sun for our health and spiritual evolution.  Of course, this is for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere!  I did a bowl burning in my lovely little back yard last night, and also refreshed and fed my shaman’s mesa during the day.  The mesa gets run through the flames of the fire as an additional blessing. I do my ceremony quietly so as not to disturb the neighbors, but I am always astounded that at night, it is quieter here than at my previous home out in the country in Colorado. 

Today was Fathers Day.  My father has been gone for 25 years, so I honored him today with a few kind thoughts.  A number of years after his passing, during my shamanic training, I was able to do the Shamanic Death Rites for him as a class demonstration.  This was to ensure that he was not stuck anywhere on his way to the place where he could start to plan his next reincarnation.  I used to check in on him regularly, but in 2014, found out that he had reincarnated, as I could no longer find him in the world between lifetimes.  Blessings to you, Daddy, wherever you may be! 

So today, as I am still exploring all of the great hiking opportunities in my area, I drove up into the mountains to a trailhead that led to a place called Cascade Falls.  This is a well known attraction, and is usually crowded, so I got up to the trail by 9:30, and there was only one other car there at that time.  By the time I got back to the parking lot after the hike, it was totally full.  I was happy to see many fathers out in nature with their little ones enjoying an outing, and giving mom a break at home! 

The destination water fall is a drainage outlet for Navajo Lake, where water comes rushing out of a hole in the side of a rock wall.  There is an observation platform there, but this is where the trail dead ends.  The 3/4 mile trail starts out level enough through a forest, but the last part approaching the waterfall made me a little bit nervous.   It goes up and down in some pretty steep areas.  Look at the photos below to see why I was apprehensive.  In the first one, you can barely see the trail!

Here is Cascade Falls. 

On my way back home, I stopped at the Duck Creek Visitors Center, which is in the mountain town where the road to the trailhead begins, and had a nice chat with the woman manning the desk.  For summer hiking, this area is the place to go, so I will be coming back often to try different trails.  Even though the trails are not as high in elevation as the ones that I hiked in Colorado, it will be a great way to get out of the heat. 

Big Old Trees

Yesterday, I took a ride up into the mountains south of here with a friend for a truly unique experience.  Our route took us straight west off of Highway 15 on a sometimes steep and one lane dirt road to the Browse Guard Station.  This little cabin was built in the early 1930’s for the purpose of hosting agricultural research and other related projects. It has not been used for many years, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The Guard Station is a fascinating destination, but that is not the main reason that people make the drive up to this location.  Behind the cabin is a giant sequoia tree.   This tree was one of several planted in about 1932, and is the only one to survive.  That makes it almost 90 years old.

Giant sequoias are the most massive living organisms on the planet, and can live to between 1800 and 2700 years, so the one here is still a baby!  They are only found on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, so seeing this giant is a real treat.  My friend and I spent some time communing with it in the cool of its mountain habitat, in addition to hiking around the area looking at the many wildflowers that were in bloom. 

When I put my hands on the trunk of this gentle giant, I detected a strong core of energy going straight town into the earth.  I had to wonder if it was lonely because it was the only one of its kind here, being surrounded mainly by ponderosa pine trees.. 

A week before this, I went up into the mountains directly east of here to commune with a different kind of big old tree.  Off of Highway 14, a short trail has been created that leads to a stand of Great Basin Bristlecone Pines.  These are the longest lived organisms on planet earth, and can live to 4500 years or more.  They like dry windswept ridges where other trees do not thrive because of the harsh growing conditions.  Unlike the unique nature of our local sequoia, these pines are located in a few other areas in Utah, including Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Bryce National Park. 

A wooden platform has been built at the end of the trail so that one can also get up close and touch the gnarly tree trunks of these wonders.

I do not know the age of the bristlecone pines at this location, as the only way to tell that would be to cut one down and count the tree rings. Instead, one can sit on a bench here and connect with the energy of determination, longevity, and grace that these trees hold.  That is exactly what I did.  What a nice way to spend some time!  It was hard to leave to head back home, but since this is such an easy spot to get to, I can come back any time.