![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i.livescience.com\/images\/i\/000\/064\/672\/i02\/pueblo-bonita-night-6.jpg?1396966551\")
<\/p>\nAugust 11, 2012:\u00a0 I am on a solo journey to Chaco Canyon.\u00a0 I take a favorite walk from the Great Kiva Rinconada through the south gap towards the trail that leads to the mesa above the kiva and the ancient site of Tsin Kletzin. \u00a0The subterranean Great Kiva was once utilized for religious activities and ceremonies.\u00a0 It had 39 foot passageways from the underground structure to above ground levels. Casa Rinconada is one of the many buildings in the Chaco area that have documented astronomical alignments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the walk all was silent save for the wind. Suddenly I encounter two large deer, or possibly elk or antelope.\u00a0 There are two farther on.\u00a0 How they survive in this harsh environment should be a lesson to us all.\u00a0 I feel blessed by their wild animal presence.\u00a0 Back in camp, I sit in mottled shade of nearby low growing cliff bushes and create prayer sticks for friends facing challenges as well offerings to my home.\u00a0 Knees bent, “feet standing,” I silently wind colored yarn, feathers and other found objects into the sticks.<\/p>\n
These “ofrendas” are a meditation practice given to me long ago at the LBGTQ Spirituality Gathering at Lama retreat center north of Taos, NM by Maria Elena.\u00a0 Maria Elena is of Mexican Huichol ancestry and had the gift of being a “dream healer.”\u00a0 She could enter into the dream world of a person and offer help and interpretation.\u00a0 As a young child in Los Angeles, where her Mexican parents had immigrated, she occasionally found herself in that dream world, seemingly floating above her bed and having other unusual experiences.\u00a0 Experiences that her parents did not want her to have, as they had immigrated to the U.S. to forge a new and hopefully more prosperous life.\u00a0 So, they put her in parochial school to help her forget the old ways.\u00a0 But Spirit will have its way, no matter where we are.\u00a0 At school, Maria Elena made friends with an African American maintenance man and together they went out to the desert and did prayer and ceremony, \u00a0further deepening her healing abilities. This secretive time in ceremony and prayer helped her make sense of her natural talents. Maria Elena said that if she had been living in her Huichol community in Mexico, the elders would have recognized her gift and taken her to be trained in the ways of their people.\u00a0 Fortunately for me and many others, she did not lose that gift and indeed was willing to share some of her healing ways.<\/p>\n
Back to Chaco and the prayer sticks.\u00a0 As I sat there quietly making prayer sticks, slowly sliding out of the low bushes emerged a two foot snake that just as quietly made her way under my legs, stopping briefly among the colored balls of yarn and feathers to give me a quick glance, then travel on her merry way.\u00a0 For some indigenous cultures, the snake is the most sacred of animals as it travels with its heartbeat closed to that of Mother Earth.\u00a0 I was both in awe and gratitude for this silent serpentine gift.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day driving into Chaco, the cell phone buzzed with a message from work at the public schools in Santa Fe.\u00a0 As I listened, I recoiled and contracted, wanting to be as far from an increasingly difficult work situation as possible. But soon thereafter I heard this internalized message:\u00a0 “Say yes! to all that does not compromise you or your core values…keep your spirit shield firmly in place, beware delusional thinking, but do not contract in fear of change or letting go to new conditions or requirements or adaptations to the material world.”\u00a0 Perhaps this<\/strong> was the message the snake was giving me in advance of our special encounter.<\/p>\n Join Earth Walks May 20–22, 2016 on a special journey to Chaco Canyon, led by a wonderful Pueblo family. \u00a0To them–and perhaps you as well–this will be a homecoming journey. \u00a0Contact Earth Walks for more information…the trip is designed for only 12 participants, so be in touch as soon as you can.<\/strong> \u00a0(This fall, Earth Walks will journey to Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. \u00a0We are available to also create your own special trip in Santa Fe, New Mexico or the Southwest USA)<\/p>\n Happy Trails, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Doug Conwell \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Santa Fe, New Mexico<\/em><\/p>\n August 11, 2012:\u00a0 I am on a solo journey to Chaco Canyon.\u00a0 I take a favorite walk from the Great Kiva Rinconada through the south gap towards the trail that leads to the mesa above the kiva and the ancient … Continue reading ![\"27\"](\"https:\/\/earthwalks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/27.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"