Mauna Kea New Year

January 1, 2010

Summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii

I awake at 3am with the clear thought, “Get to the summit of Mauna Kea immediately” I turn to see that Carolyn had awakened as well and is fully alert and ready to rise. With only a few hours of sleep after celebrating my 40th birthday the day before, we recognize immediately what to do. We pack our cold-weather clothes, load the 4 wheel drive pickup and leave our warm, tropical Kona cabana for the 3 hour journey to the mountain.

The landscape between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Saddle Road is otherworldly as we drive the narrow, winding and steeply climbing passage in the intense full moonlight of the night’s Blue Moon. Lava cones, rolling hills, military buildings, cattle ranches and barren, black frozen lava flows passed by as we speed toward the road leading to the mountain’s summit.

Stopping at the base of that steep, thin road leading up the mountain’s side, we watch the brilliant engorged moon setting on the western horizon. To the east, the sun is just peeking through the thin fog layer that blanketed the Pacific near Hilo. As the sun rises to reveal its full circumference we laugh and gasp in wonder as these two celestial bodies shone in nearly equal dimension and illumination. Perfectly balanced between the sun and the moon, masculine and feminine in age-old mythology, we celebrate our good fortune at being kissed by both at once! Quietly we offer our Ho’okupu and ask permission in a traditional way to visit this sacred place. While not entirely done according to traditional protocol, our hearts feel expanded and we speak of the energy surging through our bodies. We joyfully make our way forward.

Onward and upward we climb, slowly, past signs warning of the dangers of altitude and terrain. At 9000 feet the pavement ends and becomes a steep and slippery road of volcanic soil, deeply pockmarked and rippling like a washboard. Taking the 4 wheel drive was a good idea. With each rise in elevation and bend comes a new vista. I find myself catching my breath as the moon, still visible turns orange then blue then purple before disappearing at last behind the Pacific to the west. The sun, rising higher, shines its crisp white light over ever bleaker landscapes of volcanic pumice, boulders and older and older eroded landforms worn by millennia of wind, ice and rain.

Carefully passing us on their way down, we are greeted kindly by a caravan of New Year’s Day celebrants who in time-honored Hawaiian tradition had just held ceremony on the sacred summit less than an hour earlier. We exchange smiles, waves and chakas as we carefully pass.

The domes and buildings of the telescopes come into view before the summit. Seated snugly into the mountain and scattered across the high landscape these extraordinary tools help scientists from around the world provide insight into the origins of the universe. We drink in the view of these simple yet profound structures. Knowing that their presence here is controversial because of the sacred nature of the mountain, we honor the opportunity of the most advanced science and one of the most advanced spiritual places on the planet sharing the same place. It is the collaboration of science and spirituality that is helping us advance beyond who we have been as human beings on this planet.

Outside, the thermometer reads 43 degrees Fahrenheit, but my guess is with the wind blowing at perhaps 50-70 miles per hour it will feel even colder. Yikes! As I open the door of the truck the icy wind races in, whipping up a frenzy of anything light enough to fly. Adding a few extra layers of clothing including good windbreaker jackets, we carefully make our way to the trail leading to the true summit, amazingly, a hike of only a few hundred meters.

The wind blowing powerfully at our backs, we step gingerly onto the well-worn path toward the summit hill. The cinders crunch and slip a little under our feet and our eyes drink in the vast expanse of mountain dropping below us. Gently undulating, barren slopes, devoid of any vegetation in this harsh environment, extend for a few hundred meters to the east before plummeting down toward the Pacific only miles away under the cloud layer. The clouds themselves blanket the mountain, their undulating tops perhaps a mile lower than we are from our vantage point. The sun has emerged above the clouds, rising in the deep blue winter sky casting a bright and intense white light over the mountain top. We move our feet slowly, lungs burdened by the lack of oxygen at our 14,000 foot (4300 meter) altitude. The last 100 meters or so steeply rise toward the summit, the wind growing stronger as our bodies are challenged by the terrain, the wind and the height.

As I walk begin to sing, adding my voice to the noise. My body reverberates with the vibrations of my song and begins to tingle with the energy of my full being at once completely present in this moment.

Suddenly, our eyes and ears are directed at the stone ahu sitting directly atop the true summit. Those who came in ceremony before us today have either built anew or repaired a whistling wooden framework of short sticks, lashed closely together with strong twine with enough gaps between the sticks to create a channel through which the wind blows fiercely. Anchored into the meter-high pile of stones forming the ahu, this musical instrument makes a mighty noise, amplifying the wind’s already loud wail. Below it and hanging from it are woven leis, fruit, offerings wrapped in ti leaves and other gifts. Neither Carolyn nor I are trained in Hawaiian culture or ritual, so we are uncertain of the true meanings of these offerings. Perhaps they are for Poli`ahu, the goddess who resides here, or they have another intent. We leave only words of gratitude and prayer, and add those to the items on the ahu.

My body tingling, my mind crystal clear, I circumnavigate the ahu several times before sitting at its base facing east toward the sun. The stones block the force of the wind and Carolyn soon joins me, sitting closely next to me sharing some warmth. We are both glad to have a place of relative warmth and peace. We close our eyes and drop in.

I have seen Mauna Kea in my visioning while at other sacred spots on the planet. I see it connected energetically, with broad white highways of light and information, to every other sacred site on the planet. Only a few places on Earth are as well-connected. Here at this ahu, those highways converge and sitting here, I can feel the surge of energy below my root. I am aware that as long as I am clear and present, I can be active in the exchange of energy and information moving at the speed of light around the planet and both give and receive what is needed to support the positive transformation of myself and all who dwell in our biosphere. Great change is afoot!

Dolphin Initiation

December 13, 2009

Big Island, Hawaii – Kealakekua Bay

Stepping across the volcanic stones that comprise the beach here, I and my sweetheart make our way to the edge of the gentle surf. The morning is young but the air is warming already. We carefully wade into the water and swim out toward the deeper water of the bay. Near the horizon a mother humpback whale and her calf break the surface and blow a spray of water to great cheers from the small crowd at the beach behind us. Earlier from the shore we saw spinner dolphins leap into the air from the bay we are now swimming in. We are here to meet them, to share the same ocean for awhile and to relate with them if we’re invited.

Carolyn swims out ahead, confident in her previous experience here, excited to once again play with these bright and joyful teachers. Taking my time, I slowly swim and observe small crabs and colorful fish below me on the steeply sloping sandy floor. Looking up across the sparkling surface, I see the heads of a half dozen other snorkelers bobbing and looking about as well, all of us searching for dorsal fins, noses, spray – any sign of the dolphins we’ve come to commune with. Carolyn is out there somewhere among the other swimmers but, in masks and snorkels, to my eye she’s become indistinguishable from the rest. I send her a blessing on her journey today.

I enjoy my solitude as an opportunity to be present in my own experience, open to the community of swimmers around me and the dolphins, whales and other creatures that call this place home. Swimming forward toward the mouth of the bay I say, “What I Am in the highest opportunity of relationship with the dolphins, as Why I Am Here.” I relax, open, feeling my senses beginning to tingle and suddenly without warning the water around me is alive with squeaks, squeals and clicks – the language of dolphins!

Looking ahead and to the right and left, I swim forward but can see no sign of these beings, although I hear them clearly. Now I feel their sonar penetrating deeply through my body, scanning me. But where are they?

Wow! They appear as I never imagined. Swimming from behind me, two dolphins materialize on my right, another on my left. I am escorted out toward the ocean as the dolphins match my pace. They swim forward of me for a few meters, turn around and stop. We face each other for the count of a few heartbeats pounding in my ears. Slowly, gently, one of the dolphins moves toward me and stops close enough for me to touch his nose with my hand though I keep me arms at my sides. He turns his head and looks at me deeply, his right eye gazing, curious. He clicks and moves to my right, swimming around and behind me. The two females introduce themselves one at a time, just as the first did.

As they circle clockwise around me, I spin slowly to face them. Around and around we dance. I open my awareness completely, allowing them to feel who I am, my full presence expanded in gratitude. I intuit their invitation to open to them and as I do, I feel a physical pressure in my brain and a sudden release of energy in my upper chakras. My ears, eyes, third eye and crown open. The connection between my third eye and heart is like a superhighway of energy flowing freely. Still underwater, I laugh deeply and loudly, bubbles bursting around me. The three dolphins swim away from me moving toward the shore and leap out of the water about 5 meters from where I’m hovering. I watch them re-enter the water, bubbles trailing behind them as they disappear into the beams of light filtering down through the surface and out beyond my visibility.

Have I just experienced an initiation? Yes, without a doubt. My body has changed, my awareness has opened. The many stories I’ve heard from others about the miracle of swimming with dolphins suddenly become very real for me. I get it. I get what their excitement is about. In that moment my connection with the others who have encountered dolphins in this way becomes more tangible. I recognize that I have just joined a community, consciously, that has been happily ready for me to follow the call and come out to play.

In the next hour or so, I celebrate as other dolphins come by to allow me to share in their morning play. Some stay out at the edges of my field of vision, others again come near enough to share a gaze. I watch as they swim, leap, spin below and above the water, branch off separately for a moment or, more often, swim together in small groups. I notice a quiet, sweet moment when a single dolphin joins a solitary woman, who I imagine must be a familiar friend, as they swim slowly side by side for long sinuous minutes. I get a sense that they are having a conversation, getting current with each other, sharing news of our respective societies and relating as allies on Mother Earth. I watch and learn.

Later, I sit on the shore and warm my body in the sun, now rising a little higher in the sky. I see two more whales blow near the mouth of the bay as Carolyn emerges from the sea, her wet skin shimmering, her eyes sparkling. She joins me on the beach and we laugh and share the stories of our encounters. Quietly we send a blessing out across the water and down into it, expressing gratitude for this day, and for this opportunity. What a gift of a morning! I think we will come back tomorrow…

Healer Activation – A New Work

January 8, 2009

Something my new friend Ashley Torres said to me in Sedona last week sent me in a humbling and powerful new direction. She said, “Sedona used to be a place where people came to be healed. Now it’s a place where healers come to be activated.”

Recalling these words as I sit in the inner sanctum of the temple of Mother Earth called Cathedral Rock, I feel the powerful presence of this place as my energy body brightens and lightens. Earlier in the morning I had climbed to this high and sacred spot. An arduous climb is initiation of a sort, a secret password if you will to the opportunity for those who would worship in the temple. I am alone here.

On my way up I passed others returning to lower elevations, some stopping, some resting, all smiling. One asks, “How are you?” “Great!” I reply, “and you?” “Great!” comes the response. “How can one not feel great here?”

In the quiet stillness conversations among hikers, mountain bikers and photographers punctuate the sense of calm excitement here. As I climb halfway up the sandstone formation, the light song of a Native American flute rises airily to my delighted ears. The musician far below brings the chattering people to reverent silence. I receive the musical offering happily sitting on the red stone perch, drinking in the beauty of life. Below and all around me red cliffs and formation form a panorama in every direction. The juniper and pinyon are ever present along with agave, prickly pear, sagebrush, desert grasses and dormant wildflowers. I am at peace.

Continuing on ever higher, the footpath I follow leads to a saddle where most who have made it this far have ended their journey. Only two people are here now; a couple taking in the view of Oak Creek and the Verde Valley below. A thinner, fainter trail leads onward along the cliff’s edge. The monolithic sandstone rises majestically to the heavens and I keep my hand on her cold rough presence as I make my way along. Steeply the trail rises to a black basalt, jagged dragon’s spine. I acknowledge the dragon and ask permission to climb along his back. Feeling agreement, onward I rise, the spire urges me forward.

Suddenly I am here. The cool sandstone platform on which I stand, and then sit, is a shelf between two mammoth pinnacles, feminine in feeling and capacity. Facing me in solitary magnificence, a single spire of sandstone; phallic, strong, full masculine authority.

The energy here is intense and awesome. I am humbled immediately and resist the urge to lay down and fall asleep. I am present. I am spirit and matter, light and density, powerful, humble and ecstatic. I begin my work…

Completing my activation here is another step on my journey…begun before I was born but anchored again and again as teachers, allies and sages have assisted me in remembering why I am here. I feel who I am as a healer deeply and see it reflected in the lives of my family and friends. Even now, I feel new shifts as my body reorganizes to accommodate my new orientation beyond my previous experience. Growth. Something new here. A new capacity to support others into coming into their healership fully. My breathing deepens as my mind expands with the recognition of this new mystery school graduation.

Smiling, grateful, knowing that I will return again with others, I begin my journey away from the temple and back to the full realm of life.

Much love,
Jack

Two Visions, One Presence

January 5, 2009

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