Places of Power, Places of Heart
On Mt. Tamalpais
Cataract Falls - Healing Waters
The fourth in a series of ceremonial hikes
Saturday, February 13th
9:30 AM - 3:30 PM
On Mt. Tamalpais
Cataract Falls - Healing Waters
The fourth in a series of ceremonial hikes
Saturday, February 13th
9:30 AM - 3:30 PM
Contact Steve to register.
Cataract Falls Journey
In preparation for the hike, I journeyed to the Lower World, and passed quickly over familiar places to emerge in a wood by a crashing silver stream, pure and crystalline in the damp wood. I was drawn to a Redwood, embraced it as a living presence and passed inside into its still internal hum. I followed the inside of the great tree down to the roots, floating there in and below the earth, holding onto a root with one hand. The Spirit of the Redwood tree/trees came forward, along with many little people of the earth, like undefined small trolls and earth spirits. We all sat together in circle, and Redwood presented itself sometimes as one, sometimes as two, male and/or female, and I discovered the spirit(s) were both, joined, containing both genders. The spirits confirmed and approved the date and location of the hike to the falls, and revealed the route with its clockwise spiral up to the knoll.
I asked what we should do, what we should focus on, and they all tossed me into a nearby pool of water, where I floated below the surface. A surge of flooding waters crashed in, felt threatening, and I was swept into another watery area. It was fringed with moss, yellow-green and sick-looking. A great turtle hopped toward me, snapped at me, threatening, then retreated into the sickly moss. I was surprised since sea turtles of this size are usually quite tolerant and friendly when I go snorkeling. Everything felt out of balance and diseased. I sensed then that I/we need to work on changing, protecting and purifying the state of the waters. Everything was suffering. An Upper World East Indian goddess woman dressed in deep yellow-gold, and with green eyes and strings of green beads danced over the blighted area, sprinkling healing powder as she danced. She would help.
I thought of my recent poem "Drought," and felt instructed to read it on our hike, and that the group should focus on passing through the veil into a creative space where we could bless and heal the waters. Vulture, who had appeared in an earlier journey pleading with me to help heal the poisoned earth, also came in to help. I saw that we should arrange ourselves in a grid atop the bare knoll and make a healing protection in the ground for Cataract Creek. A grid to protect and purify the water flowing down all the falls into the lake, while also connecting out to Mother Ocean seen beyond the ridge above Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
I returned to the tree roots, and the Redwood Spirit directed me upward. So I moved up the roots, up through the body of the tree to the highest tips of the canopy. From there I saw the cosmos above as a sea of stars, another great sea arching above. The sea of the stars and the sea of the waters are all connected, all one. We can call upon this connection of oneness for healing.
From the branch tips, I went back to the silvery creek below, and asked what else I should know. The silver spirit of the crashing water emerged, and she was the spiky, radiating silver Spirit of Cataract Falls
--who would both be an ally, and also receive the healing we offered. We would work to heal not only the whole Cataract watershed, but the ground water that feeds the great trees and ground spirits, the ocean beyond, and all the waters of the Earth. (I thought of Doctor Imoto's work purifying water: "I thank you, I love you, please forgive me.") Those who would help us in healing the waters would be the Redwood Spirit, the little people of the earth, the Golden Goddess, Vulture, the Spirit of the Falls, and the ocean of stars above us would be a well of power and support for our work. I felt the crushing silver presence of the Falls being with me and blessing me with its power.
Returning, I came back to my familiar ground and felt myself surrounded by helping and approving Power Animals. I met my main animal ally and rode on her back up to this world, was spewed from the mouth of the spring to stand on a familiar stump that I know, surrounded by a circle of redwoods. My Power Animal stood nearby, and will also assist with the healing process. The instruction was complete, and our day was planned for us.
In preparation for the hike, I journeyed to the Lower World, and passed quickly over familiar places to emerge in a wood by a crashing silver stream, pure and crystalline in the damp wood. I was drawn to a Redwood, embraced it as a living presence and passed inside into its still internal hum. I followed the inside of the great tree down to the roots, floating there in and below the earth, holding onto a root with one hand. The Spirit of the Redwood tree/trees came forward, along with many little people of the earth, like undefined small trolls and earth spirits. We all sat together in circle, and Redwood presented itself sometimes as one, sometimes as two, male and/or female, and I discovered the spirit(s) were both, joined, containing both genders. The spirits confirmed and approved the date and location of the hike to the falls, and revealed the route with its clockwise spiral up to the knoll.
I asked what we should do, what we should focus on, and they all tossed me into a nearby pool of water, where I floated below the surface. A surge of flooding waters crashed in, felt threatening, and I was swept into another watery area. It was fringed with moss, yellow-green and sick-looking. A great turtle hopped toward me, snapped at me, threatening, then retreated into the sickly moss. I was surprised since sea turtles of this size are usually quite tolerant and friendly when I go snorkeling. Everything felt out of balance and diseased. I sensed then that I/we need to work on changing, protecting and purifying the state of the waters. Everything was suffering. An Upper World East Indian goddess woman dressed in deep yellow-gold, and with green eyes and strings of green beads danced over the blighted area, sprinkling healing powder as she danced. She would help.
I thought of my recent poem "Drought," and felt instructed to read it on our hike, and that the group should focus on passing through the veil into a creative space where we could bless and heal the waters. Vulture, who had appeared in an earlier journey pleading with me to help heal the poisoned earth, also came in to help. I saw that we should arrange ourselves in a grid atop the bare knoll and make a healing protection in the ground for Cataract Creek. A grid to protect and purify the water flowing down all the falls into the lake, while also connecting out to Mother Ocean seen beyond the ridge above Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
I returned to the tree roots, and the Redwood Spirit directed me upward. So I moved up the roots, up through the body of the tree to the highest tips of the canopy. From there I saw the cosmos above as a sea of stars, another great sea arching above. The sea of the stars and the sea of the waters are all connected, all one. We can call upon this connection of oneness for healing.
From the branch tips, I went back to the silvery creek below, and asked what else I should know. The silver spirit of the crashing water emerged, and she was the spiky, radiating silver Spirit of Cataract Falls
--who would both be an ally, and also receive the healing we offered. We would work to heal not only the whole Cataract watershed, but the ground water that feeds the great trees and ground spirits, the ocean beyond, and all the waters of the Earth. (I thought of Doctor Imoto's work purifying water: "I thank you, I love you, please forgive me.") Those who would help us in healing the waters would be the Redwood Spirit, the little people of the earth, the Golden Goddess, Vulture, the Spirit of the Falls, and the ocean of stars above us would be a well of power and support for our work. I felt the crushing silver presence of the Falls being with me and blessing me with its power.
Returning, I came back to my familiar ground and felt myself surrounded by helping and approving Power Animals. I met my main animal ally and rode on her back up to this world, was spewed from the mouth of the spring to stand on a familiar stump that I know, surrounded by a circle of redwoods. My Power Animal stood nearby, and will also assist with the healing process. The instruction was complete, and our day was planned for us.
