Part Thirteen A; Dimensional Adventures

Into California We Go…

We left Ashland, and it wasn’t long before we crossed into California and entered more mountainous terrain again. Even if my trucker’s atlas showed all the exit roads with mile markers, I was amazed to find that California had none. So, I had to guess where we were and found this annoying and disappointing about the state. Maybe Californians just assume that everyone knows where they are the way natives do.

I talked with my sister often. My mother Virginia was sleeping most of the time, and it was obvious that the end was near. She had gone into some intense twitching and jerking, so Jean had asked the doctors to give her something calming. Jean was shocked to see mother’s left leg moving, because that was the paralyzed side. But there was an explanation, and it wasn’t that mother was recovering. It seems that when the brain begins to shut down, the spinal nerves take over the basic functions of the body—respiration, heartbeat, etc., and paralysis is determined from and by the brain. So when the brain goes, the spinal nerves can move anything. However, the spinal nerves are not organized well, so mother’s heartbeat and movements were agitated and erratic.

Also, Jean had presented the doctors with mother’s Living Will, which meant the feeding tubes had been pulled. Jean sounded somewhat distraught about this, even though she was always the stoic one. It was also hard for me to accept—briefly—and then I knew I had to let her go. After all, you want to keep the one you love as long as possible.

With this information, Daniel and I wanted to check in on mother psychically to see if there was anything we could do via long-distance healing that could help her be more comfortable in her transition. We decided to do that after we returned to the trailer in the evening. We had checked in several times already through these several days and had talked with Galexis about it. Virginia was going very gracefully, even without our assistance. She had no idea that she was nearly blind, as she kept her eyes closed or squinted. She had never really known what had happened to her and didn’t give a thought anymore to what others thought about her (and that was a sure sign it was over – she always had been into appearances and what others thought of her). Her room was filled with flowers and she appreciated the attention they brought to her. She was allowing herself to be taken care of instead of only being the Great Giver to others. Lazaris calls this period of life “the Remains.” The life purpose is over, but the body remains for a short while. It is so interesting how different people are. Daniel’s mother has been in her Remains for over a year at the edge of death and here my mother does her Remains in a few short days.

I thought about why now, mother? Then I realized that a lot had happened and this provided many good reasons. Virginia’s husband had died, a couple of close women friends had died, and her cousin (Steven’s mom), who lived near her in the Towers had moved to Mississippi into a nursing home. Combined with this, she had back pain (any pain was a rarity), for which the doctor refused to give her adequate pain medication. In her circle of friends with whom she normally ate dinner, two had been very mean and judgmental about her. This hurt her deeply and she didn’t eat with them anymore, choosing to eat dinner alone. My mother never ever would have said a judgmental word about anyone else, so this cut to her core. Of course, her two daughters and two granddaughters lived far away. One granddaughter had just discovered she was pregnant, and had copied the scan that showed the baby in her womb and sent it along with Jean. Mother couldn’t see it—the only connection with her great grandchild she could have. I thought about how in primitive societies it was assumed that those dying reincarnated back into the same family. What if Virginia was already planning to return to her granddaughter Emily as Emily’s baby? She certainly would have to leave as Virginia before she could truly enter another body, I mused.

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MountShasta

Soon my thoughts were interrupted as Daniel pointed out a great mountain rising ahead of us in the haze. It was hard to distinguish, but gradually over the next half hour, it became clearer. As we got closer, its powerful presence towered over us higher and higher. We had arranged to meet someone to guide us to power spots in the area. I had found her name on a list of radio shows and called her. Judith Conrad takes people on tours onto the mountain. Fortunately, she had time this day after her radio show to take us up as a pair. We thought we had plenty of time to reach Shasta and meet her downtown at 3pm, but we had not taken into account just how far our RV-Park was from the main road. You see, most of them are right next to the highway, so you hear traffic, trains and whatever else all day and night. This one was hidden far away beside a lake and required an additional 20-minute drive out of town. I didn’t mind being away from the trains and the highway, but by the time we had unhitched, it was 10 minutes before we had to meet her 25 minutes away.

We left the RV unhooked with no slides out. No time! We hopped into Aylar and sped into town. She didn’t answer her cell but I left a message anyway. Mount Shasta the town is charming, filled with touristy and New Age stuff. I’d heard and read so much about the vortices and power spots here, so I wanted to stop. Native Americans and New-Agers pilgrimage here to do ceremonial rituals or channel, etc., and I could feel the excitement in the town nestled as it was in the arms of the great mother mountain. We easily found our meeting spot; a teahouse called “Serenity.” Judith had thought it appropriate to meet here because Daniel was Swiss and the proprietor of the teahouse was a Swiss woman, Daniella.

We entered the teahouse and immediately recognized Judith. I felt I’d known her for years. We met Daniella, but Daniel isn’t really into his Swissness and doesn’t like to speak the language anymore, so there wasn’t much to say. Since neither one of us drinks tea or coffee, we didn’t linger there. We quickly hopped into Aylar with Judith in the ample back seat. She directed us to a place nearby at the base of a very round mound of a hill, still at the base of the large mountain. Water was pouring out of the side of the hill from underground. These were the headwaters of the Sacramento River, Judith told us, and the locals drink this delicious and pure mountain water.

Judith led us to a path nearby. I could feel the abundance of nature spirits and little gatherings of power. It was a fairyland. You could almost see the gnomes among the rocks. Near the small stream, a gentle mound with bigger trees suggested a magical place. There, a late 40s to mid-50s woman lay sleeping or meditating in this peaceful, wondrous spot.

We drove across the highway to where Judith said there was a special Lemurian energy site. Lemuria was a mythical civilization that existed prior to, and overlapped some of the days of Atlantis. Lemuria held one of the major portals to other star systems and peoples, and was known for its tall crystal cities. The only way to go there was to bilocate. Lemuria held a definitely feminine energy. Lazaris has said that when Lemuria was “done,” it simply ascended into the mist.

Entering a quiet wood of tall slender trees, we soon found ourselves by another stream. It was clear, running smoothly, and you could see all the rounded stones on the bottom. What was unique was that this one was almost totally silent. The water moved swiftly without impediments, no rapids, in the way. It felt strangely but marvelously calm. As I breathed, it was natural to let go of the pain and tension around my mother’s dying. My nervous system calmed and relaxed deeply. Ahhhhhh. The whole area had a gentle yet strong feminine quality to it, so that must have been the Lemurian energy that Judith was referring to.

As we walked upstream, we came to a dam and beyond that to a larger, more aggressive and frothily noisy stream. Yes, there was more masculine energy here, a greater dynamic of movement. Next to this part of the stream was a place Judith suggested was a shaft or portal to other realms. It was easily identifiable as a circle of redwoods that stood on a slight rise and where the sunlight filtered through the trees, shining into the center. We took turns standing in the center and feeling the energy. Finally, we all concluded that the shaft was undulating and that there was an “opening” to some portal at the top.

There was a third spot to visit before we actually climbed the mountain. Middle Earth. This wasn’t on her tour, but ours. We were concerned that if we returned from the mountain too late, the store would be closed, and we needed to be on the road again early the next day. Middle Earth was an experience! From a crowded downtown, we entered what looked like a regular mineral and gemstone type of store with a New Age look to it.

Soon we became aware that each room led to another room to another room and became almost a labyrinth. The ceilings were sprayed with foam that gave the shape of the rooms a definite organic curving quality to them, enhancing the cave-like feel of the store. Each room held a particular category, or two, of crystals. One room had large amethyst cathedrals. Another had clear quartz. In a back room, the size of a large closet, we found the Andara crystals. The authority on Andaras was Karen. She brought out several boxes to look at, in addition to the ones already on the shelves. We held various chunks of what looked like colored glass and Karen explained more about them.

Andara crystals are a blend of quartz and silica that melted together under great pressure along an earthquake fault line in the Sierra Mountains. According to some psychic healers, Andara crystal glass creates a double vortex. Therefore, you have both zero-point energy and super-conductive monatomic energy simultaneously. It works differently than regular crystals like quartz, which amplify one’s intentions. Instead, the Andara crystal glass inserts one’s intention into the kinetic field associated with it (as all energy and focus go to the center of the crystal glass). So, the entire field moves in response to the given intention. As a contrast, some energy-sensitive healers say there is nothing extra special to these stones and that Andaras are just glass. We played with them and bought a couple. Inspired by the pyrite we’d seen at Anitah’s, we also got a pyrite egg, a rare form of this “fool’s gold.” It was hard to pull away (as it always is in a crystal store) but we had a lot to do before dark.

So up the mountain we went, climbing higher and higher. At first, the road wound steeply through tall trees. With every turn of the road, the view of the summit was grand in the light. Gradually, the trees thinned and grew more gnarled. The temperature had dropped steadily from the 80’s at the base until we arrived beyond the timberline at the highest point one could drive. There it was windy, bare and in the 60’s, although it felt colder to me. The view was phenomenal. The peaks of the mountain looked close, even though I could see a hiker looking like a teeny ant halfway there from the parking lot. This top place was broad and had evidently been carved by human equipment out of the mountain. Judith said that there had once been a ski resort here. Condos were going to be built here too, but so many floods, bad weather and landslides soon happened right at the planned sites that the government decreed the mountain unsafe to build upon. Of course, environmental and New Age enthusiasts were thrilled and agreed that Mother Nature had made her preference known. More consciousness was ascribed to the mountain, adding to the already burgeoning New Age lore.

I collected some small rocks with their varied colors, and Judith volunteered a Tarot reading. We sat down at a picnic table and she spread her cards. We didn’t hear anything new, but as always, reinforcements of what we already knew were always appreciated. I got a 10 of Hearts as the final card. 10 Swords or Knives impale a heart at the center. “Sorrow” was the keyword. Judith didn’t want to end the reading with a sad card, so she drew another to give depth to the Sorrow. The card’s keyword was “Peace.” This undoubtedly had to do with my mother’s passing, so I breathed out sorrow and breathed in peace for a while, sitting there in the arms of the great mountain.

Before we left the high point, Judith took us off to one side to see the “Upper Panther Meadow,” a place of green grass and interesting small mountain flowers growing around an assortment of large and small rocks that looked strewn about. The shape of this place was like a bowl tilted to one side as if something were to pour out of it. Immediately I got a strong sense to channel, so I sat down and went into trance. Galexis was delighted to be in this place, because it had been an ancient entry port to the mountain. Shasta, said Galexis, held great wisdom, but as protection from dark forces thousands of years ago, had split up the wisdom into fragments that could only be accessed by the correct codes or frequencies. There were several people who would come together in the years ahead, Galexis continued. They would be able to access the codes to certain fragments and together piece the wisdom back into the larger body of knowledge. Then it could be made available to all, as they would reintroduce ancient information around technology and healing into the world. Judith was one of the code receivers, they said, and Judith acknowledged that she knew she was one.

Unfortunately, there was still a lot of sadness and darkness in this place due to the shutdown and wisdom dispersal, so Galexis suggested that Judith gather the sadness and leftover pain and entomb it into a large rock sitting on the periphery of the meadow. No one had noticed this large rock before, shaped like a tomb but it felt truly appropriate to move the limited energy into it. The meadow now felt clearer, cleaner and lighter.

Back down the mountain we went as the sun began to set on one side and the nearly full moon rose orange in the sky on the other. We stopped at a place where Judith said some of the plants were identified. I was curious to know some of the plants as a way to connect with the local place. Strangely (I thought), we had yet to meet anyone with any knowledge of wild plant species in their area. That was a missing piece as far as I was concerned. But this path didn’t have but two or three trees identified, as well as a bush from which the natives made a popular brew.

So after taking our last pictures of the day, we returned down the mountain, reentered the town and dropped Judith off at her house. And then we returned to our RV by the lake that we could not see beyond the tall trees. As soon as the RV was balanced and steady, we put out the slides out and fell into bed.

Daniel and I both tuned independently into Virginia. Her body didn’t want to die yet, but it was enjoying (!) the sleep. Mother had been an insomniac and the body said it was catching up finally on sleep. Otherwise, Virginia’s spirit seemed quiet. Perhaps she was already partway on the Other Side. I remembered that I had tuned into her after the first day or so of her stroke and that she had been disturbed about getting into heaven. Independently, Daniel and I had negotiated for her and Jesus had shown up (wow! The Presence!) He had taken her into His arms. Her disturbance ended.

Then later, when I woke up in the night, it was as if she were in the room with me with two or three other people chatting in serious low tones to not disturb me. I think they were negotiating her stuff, her process, her soul timing. This went on all night because I woke up again during the night and they were still there quietly and intently discussing things. By the time I finally woke up in the morning, the discussions were over and two people/beings were sitting quietly nearby. They looked like regular people wearing nice-looking clothes in a 60's conservative style prevalent in my Lebanon, Tennessee childhood memories. We had asked Galexis who said that she was at peace subconsciously and unconsciously, but that consciously didn't yet grasp what had happened to her physical body. That was then. Now it seemed that the process was complete or nearly so.

As I lay there, I heard an unknown (to me) wild animal or bird howling in the night. Although it was cool and pleasant, we slept with the windows closed because yet another camper upwind of us had a fire going. I noticed, as I drifted off to sleep, that I no longer bothered to judge anyone about this. It was no big deal. I hoped they were enjoying the fire, which I would probably do if I were in their place.

If you go to Mount Shasta, call or email Judith Conrad and see if she’s leading groups you may want to join, or maybe she can take you on a magical journey up the mountain as she did for us. Her email is Judith@mountshastamagic.com and her phone number is 530-926-0462.

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Arrival  in The Bay Area

After a good night’s sleep, we pulled ourselves together and headed out. We had a long way to go today and so we didn’t take time to walk down to the lake and enjoy the pretty view. We pulled Shungo into Mount Shasta city and near the city park we’d visited the day before. This time we came prepared with our empty bottles. I filled up a few containers of the intensely cold water, and in between, rubbed my hands and fingers to restore warmth. Daniel filled up most of the bottles and hauled them back to the RV in two big heavy bags. The bottles were so heavy that for days afterwards, he had red stripes on both shoulders where the straps were. We had a few days of yummy water to take with us.

For about 30 miles south of Mount Shasta, we continued to rise and fall through mountains covered with evergreen forests. After a while, the mountains became lower and we entered the wide flat plain of the Sacramento Valley. In the center of this valley flowed the Sacramento River, the very river that had started at Shasta. We followed the river and watched the ecology become drier. The hills or low mountains had few trees, but were covered with a dead but golden grass that lay in swirls and twisting patterns of wind. As we continued southward, we saw more trees. Looking closely, I recognized oak trees, and only oak trees. They were grouped evenly about as if to politely allow each other plenty of sun. Occasionally, apple orchards and olive groves surrounded the road for miles at a time. It is obviously a good place for them with the hot, dry weather. I understand that the winters along the West Coast provide the rain for the rest of the year, the part of the year we were still in! We saw figs too, and passed through Corning, California—“the Olive City.”

While on the road, I called Jean. Mother was worse, unconscious and her body fighting for life. Jean was tired and concerned about her weekend plans. She had already planned to go to Tennessee a week later for her High School Reunion when she had arrived to take care of mother. The event was in 3 days. Then she was planning to fly back to the Northeast for her daughter’s wedding shower. Now, she was faced with the possibility that mother may hang on through the weekend and she would have to make other arrangements. I knew she was handling a lot, but as she told me once, “I always do 20 things a minute.” If anyone could handle everything, it was Jean.

When I hung up, I thought of Virginia and suddenly she was there with me. I could see her face very bright and clear in front of mine with all that impetuous enthusiasm that had kept her alive for 95 years through three husbands. She was checking in on me, as if she were asking, "where are you? And "where are you going next?" I mentally answered her that we were on a great trip and she was welcome to join us and travel along. She seemed glad for me and satisfied that I was happy. Then I saw her step back and show me her self. She was becoming radiant as a dark dross dropped off of her. Light flowed out of her and I saw that she was a higher spiritual being than I had imagined. She smiled, as if to acknowledge my awareness, reached out with both hands and pointing a finger of each hand at the two of us, blessed us. Startled, I felt some joy. Then I saw that across a line near her, there were hundreds of light beings gathered, ready to welcome her back Home. Evidently, she was popular on the other side, too! But she could not cross the line of death yet and the vision faded. I knew that she was done now. When the body was done, then she could leave.

North of Sacramento, we took a turnoff towards San Francisco, entering a thoroughly barren desert (not again!). As we entered civilization, the outskirts were dry and dusty. We had to stop to get gas and turned off the freeway, only to travel along a winding road into town. Getting back on the freeway was a trip and we ended up hauling our White Elephant Shungo around a shopping center a few times, looking for the access road. People gawked at us. We did have about the biggest RV anyone had ever seen!

We got back onto the now more crowded freeway and drove through the cities along this stretch northeast of the Bay. They were nondescript and the surrounding hills were still bare or with the yellow grass and oak trees. We saw the Bay, glimpsing it at first between the mounds of hills and finally descending to it. Nestled between mountains, the bay is buffered by a lot of wetlands. As we drove westward towards Marin County along a strip of land north of the bay, we passed through protected wild areas populated with flocks of birds we couldn’t identify. The traffic was terribly congested and we moved slowly. On our left was the Bay itself, the great expanse of water and misty mountains beyond.

Once across the Bay, I looked up the directions to the RV-Park. It mentioned getting on another freeway and then exiting onto a certain road to the Park. Suddenly, Daniel swerved off the freeway into an exit that had the same name as that certain road. I fretted (as is my wont) when we didn’t follow the directions as stated, hoping we wouldn’t get into some bumpy rough back roads. But the road was fair and wound us through some pretty neighborhoods, very young. Lots of construction was going on here in what used to be farmland. Presently, we saw the turnoff to the Park and all was fine. In a way, I felt we were guided to this Park for two reasons. What we had taken was actually a shortcut and easier than the regular way. We also saw a publicly available wild area in which we could walk and hike when we needed our exercise. It was only a couple of minutes from the RV-Park.

We had been invited to park on top of the mountain with Alicia. However, I was too nervous to commit to driving up long steep roads. So we chose to stay at the RV-Park for at least the first night and then go see the “lay of the land.” I climbed into Aylar with Daniel as soon as we had set up and grabbed a bite. We drove south on the freeway, exited, and began our ascent. I was already cool, but as we drove higher up the mountain, I got colder and turned up the heat in the truck. The roads were steep and without flat areas where an RV could pause. It would be a major strain on the RV to go up at such an incline without a break, but Daniel was all excited about the possibilities of being in this awesome place, wanting to do it.

By the time we arrived on the crest near Alicia’s place, it was cold, windy and foggy. Not my kind of weather! There was just enough daylight left to greet Alicia and see the area she had in mind. Although the space was an unused driveway, it was too narrow for the RV without some significant pruning of the bushes bordering it. It was pretty level, but about 200 feet from the house, and higher by about 20 feet. I couldn’t imagine walking back and forth there at night in the cold to take a shower! Both Alicia and Daniel appeared so gung ho, I said I’d “sleep on it” and decide tomorrow.

Alicia lives in a small house on a point with a beautiful view of the bay. Above her on the mountain were neighbors with goats. Beneath her on the other side was a kind of bowl area, all wild. It didn’t look very promising as a place to build a house, as there was a steep drop from the access road, but there was a “For Sale” sign on it. Wild animal paths crisscrossed the bowl and we saw two deer there, waiting for Alicia to put out some more food for them. On the other side of the bowl, the mountain rose higher to the very peak. We would see that later, as we planned to come spend some time with Alicia. We returned to the RV-Park where the temperature was much warmer and no fog at all. That is Novato weather, I was to learn. We fell asleep easily.

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Kirby’s Crystals

 The RV-Park was quiet and I slept well and late. After eating breakfast and hanging around doing email and stuff, we headed over to Kirby’s place. He was going to be the host for the Galexis workshop coming up in only 3 days. Kirby lived in San Pablo, on the other side of the Bay. So we crossed back over and climbed up an even steeper rise, albeit shorter, to get to his home. There too, we had a great view of the Bay. Easy to get I guess, if one lives on a mountainside! In Florida of course, you have to live in a High-Rise to get a view.

Kirby came to greet us and ushered us into a magical world of crystals and artifacts he had created in this place. The energies were intense. I “hear” crystals talking as a kind of static or chatter in my psyche. If I tune in to one crystal, I may be able to distinguish what it is saying, but there were hundreds here. Many of them were skulls, and skulls are known for their talkativeness! This wasn’t any regular crystal shop with loads of little cheap pieces and tumbled stones, etc. The crystals were all very special with personalities and some were huge. Each one took time to look at, so I knew there would never be enough time for me to visit with them all.

Kirby also has developed a Light Box with many amazing features. Several very large crystal balls were placed on Light Boxes in the room. The Light Boxes had various programs for different color gradations to move through the crystals. They could be made voice-sensitive, so that when one talked or sang, the colors would shift appropriately in rhythm to you. Then there were other options for pitch and color and frequencies, which made this not just an artistic revelation for the crystals, but also a consciousness tool for personal psychic expansion.

Right away, I was attracted to the big skull Sha Na Ra. This was a life-size crystal skull on loan to Kirby and was known as one of possibly only nine skulls of this power level on the planet. As soon as I sat with it and put my forehead up to it (one of the ways to mind-meld or connect with the skull), I knew I had to channel. Galexis loved playing with Sha Na Ra, especially putting their (my) hands on the third eye and occiput and also massaging inside the eye sockets over the eye. I don’t remember what interesting stuff came out, except that there were many topics. Galexis recommended that the voice-sensitive Light Box program be played during their meditation for added implantation of energies and assistance in clearing resistances to healing and power. So by the time I came back out, it was decided. There would be Light Boxes on each side of me as I channeled, and during the meditation there would be the voice-responsiveness program. Otherwise, there would be a slow color change or none at all. Kirby had actually done this before at a Bashar event. I also got a message from the inside from Galexis that the room also needed to be prepared energetically with a bunch of spirit helpers before the workshop. That would create the Sacred Space that Galexis wanted. Okay, I thought. I’ll come early to the workshop and do something shamanic—whatever Galexis suggests.

It was hard to tear myself away from Kirby’s place, but he had to go somewhere and so did we. We needed to shop for some food so we’d have dinner. Also, I was on a search for the nutritional supplement NAC. I had found my favorite brand aplenty on the East coast, so I assumed it should be easily available in the hotbed of nutrition and health food here in California. However, even though the local stores had the brand I liked, they didn’t carry the NAC. Oh well, I have enough to keep searching for a while, but soon I’ll have to order some on the net, suggested Daniel, if the product doesn’t show up.

(To see a sampling of Kirby’s crystals and learn more about the fascinating Light technologies, check out his website at www.ancienttechnologies.com and also see more crystals at www.crystalsourcematrix.com.)

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Mother Has Died

We returned to the RV-Park and I called Jean. Somehow I had expected her to call me, but she hadn’t. Jean was glad I had called. She said she had tried to reach me several times starting the night before. Mother had died. Well, this was the moment I was expecting. It seems that Jean watched her. She was breathing quietly and slowly all day with the morphine that calmed her spinal nerves. Jean waited until she was tired and left at 9pm. About 20 minutes later, the nurse called to tell her that Virginia had passed. Jean was distraught that she had missed it, but the nurse assured her that it was common for patients to wait until the family members were all gone to the bathroom, or to get food, or whatever, before they left. So, the era with a mother had ended. I was now officially an “orphan,” since my father had died in 1976, oh so long ago.

I thought and felt about this passing during the evening and looked within myself for anything that needed to be addressed. I felt strangely liberated and saw that my life was making a huge shift, but where? Into what? I guess that’s the adventure of it all. My mother was always my reference point, my tether to how other people thought and what was “normal” behavior. I had also taken onto myself a lot of her health issues, and recently had begun ritualistically refusing them. When my mother had cataracts, I got them. When mother was ill with the flu, I got it. When she had skin cancer, I got it. You see, I had realized, through attending the Access classes that most stuff we humans carry actually isn’t ours to begin with, but belongs to others. This includes health problems, emotional patterns such as shame and fear, and mental constructs such as beliefs we hold. All of this material is baggage we have to sort through to consciously decide what we wish to use, and therefore keep. The rest is returned to the sender.

I felt disoriented. Baggage was dropping off me, even some things I couldn’t identify. Let it go, Ginger. It’s part of the process. The next day I would address all of this stuff in a personal journey with ayahuasca. How interesting that the two experiences were back to back! Here was a phenomenal opportunity to clear out any and all debris I picked up from my mother, or anyone else for that matter. I could access an altered state of consciousness to choose what was best for me. Yes, I was scared. I would lose control. But I decided that I needed to lose control, to let go completely, and surrender to the More of myself. To God, Goddess, All That Is. Ayahuasca is called the “Soul Vine” because it connects one to one’s own Soul. It’s also the Death Vine because it causes the person to come to terms with their life and death. This is the part I feared looking at, but knew that it was perfectly timed. Ayahuasca is also called an “entheogen”—which is anything that invokes within people the awareness of God and their own divinity (or divine nature by virtue of being a child of God).

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The Sacred Ceremony

Friday morning arrived and I was nervous. I kept telling myself it would be okay. My body, through muscle testing, confirmed that I was to be happy that I took the sacrament. We had to pack for a full night, as the ceremony would go on through the evening into the early morning hours. What to take? We were not to eat anything within a couple of hours of the ceremony. Would my blood sugar mess me up? I had a lot of doubts and I kept trying to answer them with my reason. It would work for a moment and then the fear would start up again. We loaded everything into the car and headed north. We passed out of civilization into the dry but lovely wild countryside. Then we entered Sebastopol (and I noted a hippie tie-dye store just before town) and drove through to the farmlands in the hills beyond.

Even more nervous, I arrived with Daniel at the remote site. We drove into a large driveway surrounded by flowers and pretty shrubs. Through a door on the back of the barn, we entered a thoroughly modern wood-floored meeting room with doors to the bathrooms on one side and a kitchen included in a section on the other. It was chilly and shoes had to be left at the door outside, so I was glad to have thick socks to wear. Lee met us with pads she put on the floor for us to lie upon during the ceremony. They were pointed towards the large altar space in the center of the room, with men on one side and women on another. I found the spot farthest from the door and closest to the wood- burning stove, unrolled my small foam roll, and assembled all my blankets on top. One by one, others arrived. While waiting, I met who was there—an eclectic assortment of people. One did yoga and massage, another was a triathlete, while another had a small business.

We each put something in the central altar space, so that there were flowers, surrounded by various sized objects of power, crystals, and personal mementos. In a circle surrounding these, Mike and Lee (not their true names) had placed pictures of holy ones from all religions, all of which lay on the floor with the tops of their heads facing the center of the altar too, along with us. St. Germaine, Mary, Buddha, Quan Yin, Nanak, Krishna, Jesus, and Mohammed, et al, were beautiful faces with big eyes. One by one, we were called to go through the bathroom doors and have our limpia, or energetic purification ritual. We washed our feet and hands (or if warm enough, our whole body) in a state of reverence with intent to be clear and ready. By the time everyone had arrived, there were 10 participants and 2 leaders (7 women, 5 men).

It was dusk, almost dark when everyone sat on their mat (and of course, I was the only one in a chair to protect my broken coccyx) facing the center, and Mike, sitting next to Lee in the circle, brought out the Medicine. He had spent 2 weeks making the ayahuasca, boiling down the Banisteriopsis vine with a Psychotria (coffee) species so that the result was thick and syrupy. He had sung and prayed over it and when it was done, had sealed it in a Bell Jar so that it would not ferment. The vine has DMT, a potent entheogen (evoker of the God within) and the coffee species has blockers to the quick breakdown and absorption of the DMT so that one can experience its effects. This combination of plants is the most common one used in all of South America.

In the lore of ayahuasca, the participant gains the opportunity to work with the Spirits of the plants as spirit guides. In order to experience the greatest personal enlightenment and connection to the Divine, one must let go of ego and all attachment to separation. The focus is on knowing Oneness, and realizing how we are all (people, plants, animals, etc.) linked as one in God. In this process, we experience a healing or lifting of vibration into a greater and more positive state of being. And then we seek to illuminate something in our lives so that we can step into our greater self. Perhaps we need to know what has held us back or what awareness of ourselves can take us into expressing more of our divine nature and essence.

I thought about this process and although I had had revelations on other substances before, I knew this one was different. What I was to experience was part of the Sante Daime Church of Brazil’s sacred ceremony that the people down there did at least once every two weeks with each other, including elderly and children. I decided I wished to heal my fear and sense of separation and exclusion. I knew that there was a lot to release following the death of my mother, the spiritual wounding or Soul Wounding I received from her, and all the struggle with established religion’s perspectives that to me had seemed painfully limiting. As a result of my wounding, I had essentially shut down my body, especially the lower two chakras, and had lost my grounding in the physical world. I wished to illuminate this so that I could heal and lift beyond it into my power and especially the connection with the Oneness that I felt I had missed so far in this lifetime. I wished for clarity to emerge so that I could see my path forward, and step closer to claiming my Destiny.

Mike nodded his head to the first person on his left and the man there stated his name and what he wished to heal and illuminate. This went all the way around the circle and I was glad that I was last. Each one spoke about the issues that kept them from knowing themselves and God and what they felt they wished to experience. Some were gentle, easy focuses. Others were filled with issues and huge themes, like mine. Then Mike spoke about the “rules.” No talking out loud, and communicating silently with the facilitators when we wish assistance in our process or the way to the bathroom. There were bowls next to each of us, provided in case we should retch out or purge some old limitation literally. We were together in ceremony and hopefully would lift to a high place together. Whatever noises anyone made, we should be easy with it. No judgments or allowing ourselves to be disturbed by what another does. We are all traveling together. We may even experience others’ thoughts and feelings as we touched into the oneness.

He spoke about the sacredness of this event and discouraged us (several of us were new) from thinking of it as a “trip” similar to XTC or LSD. He told us he would decide how much we would each receive but if we wished more or less to indicate it with a hand movement up or down. After a couple of hours, he would offer us another round and we could accept more or not. From the time I had arrived, already nervous and excited, to this moment, it had been 3 hours or more. So my fear level had reached an all-time high. I sat there, trying to convince myself that I was safe, that everything would work out fine, and that I would be glad that I had experienced this afterwards.

Then it came time to take the Soul Vine. Not in order this time, participants came up to Mike one at a time when they felt ready, knelt and sat on their knees with feet tucked in under the buttocks. Mike observed each one of them for a few seconds and then poured a quantity of the sluggish semi-liquid into a cup and handed it to them. Silently drinking it, they would then gently return to their seats. Well, now or never. I approached Michael and sat there on my ankles like the others. I had read many tales of ayahuasca journeys by writers who had done this ceremony during their trips to South American jungles. In every story, the brew was bitter and disgusting. I braced myself for the taste. Instead, the syrup was sweet. Had he added molasses, cardamom and allspice? It smoothly sailed down my throat. Mike leaned over to me and whispered, “I gave you a small amount as I feel you may be more sensitive. If you want more, we will give you more at the second round, okay?” I nodded “yes,” smiled my gratitude and moved back to my pad.

Back at my pad, sitting on my chair, I covered my eyes with the eyeshade and sat quietly in the dark, waiting. It was done. I would experience this now. I prayed for help in my healing and for all my guides to be with me. In between the bursts of fear, I felt their presence surrounding me. Gentle music played in the background, songs of an indigenous people, giving the ceremonial atmosphere to my experience. After awhile, I heard others in the room stirring and knew it was beginning for them. For me, my view was still dark, and then, suddenly, an explosion of light and color and design flowed intensely through my head.

The intensity didn’t abate but increased rapidly. Colors and energies took over my whole body and I felt my fear arise like a monster out of the deep. I was losing control! Would I fall? I crawled out of my chair onto my pad. “Let go!” I said to myself silently and with increasing desperation, over and over. With each “let-go” thought, the fear abated and then the colors increased, so I went to another whole level of fear. Would I live? We were not to drink water and my mouth was dry, so very dry. And I was so very cold too. My breathing was erratic with my fear and I could feel the fear snowballing. “No!” I thought loudly against the fear. What if I didn’t monitor my body? Would it just cut out and die on me or would it stay around for me? I was torn between the letting go and trying to relax and the terror that my body may want to die. I realized that I believed if I didn’t monitor and control my body continuously, it would die and I would fail my mission. But was it only a belief, or was it real, here and now? Would I survive?

“Help!” I whispered in the direction of Mike and Lee and they were there immediately for me. Mike massaged my feet, keeping me here on the earth plane and Lee held my hand strongly. The fear let loose in my body and I thrashed in terror. Then they put their arms around me and held me with love. I could feel the love and it was wonderful and I could feel the fear and it was horrifying, both at the same time. I knew it was my choice which one to accept and be with and that love was the answer. Let go, let go, let go, was my inner refrain. Love was pouring out of me to them and fear was undulating my body like huge waves. I let go in infinite layers, each one bigger than the previous one. I kept whispering to them “I love you, I love you” over and over. And “thank you, thank you, thank you.” I felt such gratitude for their help and presence through this.

I must have relaxed and fallen asleep somehow, because I “woke up” inside the peak intensity of light and color realizing that I had nodded off. I had gone unconscious in the middle of the highest part of my journey. How odd! When I woke up however, it was with great fear and I would immediately thrash about. Somehow, I knew I had been having iridescent blue dreams. Upon my thrashing, Mike or Lee would return to me and hold me through it. This went on for an indefinite time. Sometimes, Mike would put his mouth next to my ear and whisper to me “you are safe. Safe. Safe. Feel the love. Let go of the fear. You are safe.” I heard his words inside my head off and on throughout the ceremony repeating “safe, safe, safe” to me. He would give me messages from time to time that revealed how he knew exactly what state or emotion was going on with me and what was happening in my consciousness. He reminded me gently that I had chosen a big agenda and to be gentle with myself. Sometimes he put his hand on my solar plexus and whispered that I was letting go of a lot of stuff, to continue the undulations down to my feet. These were messages I had given myself time and time again, but had not seemed to stick. Would they now? I was still feeling an intense amount of fear, more than I’d let myself experience since my emotional traumas at age 21, some 38 years earlier.

During this indeterminable amount of time, the room would be silent for a while and then out of our group consciousness would emerge music from a CD of some Iroquois singers or South American singers or Sante Daime singers. The disembodied ethereal women’s voices were filled with love and community. Finally, now, I was flowing with the colors and not resisting so much. Then suddenly, I saw the others and myself as colorfully (or more vividly than real life) sitting together on a high mountaintop in bright clouds. With us were some dark skinned teachers with pipes and flutes - very Andean. And we were all there in this point of incredibly high vibration. It was a complete other reality, like what is depicted in Pablo Amaringo’s paintings. I felt connected for an intense second or two to this scene, and then it flowed back into the brilliant colors and patterns of mind.

Then I knew everything was going to be all right. I was planning on living and my body could take care of itself. It didn’t need me organizing its every move. I felt tired now from the huge release of fear. Mike came and put his arms around me and said, “It’s all changing now.” I felt the truth of that. Then he said, “it’s time for round two but I think that maybe you want to pass on it? You’ve really done a lot.” I agreed and whispered, “Yes, thank you.” So all of this experience had only been a couple of hours? Wow! At this point, I was no longer cold and there were spirals of heat emerging out of my palms. Palm chakras? I could project this energy anywhere I wished. Yes!

In the next space of silence, I began to realize what I had learned. My body was not my enemy, my fear was. I had thought that I had no fear of death but here it was. Why was I afraid to die? I remembered that I was concerned that I would fail the Mission. What Mission? Some big Mission? And from the Lazaris fear workshop, I remembered that my core belief was that I was somehow excluded or left out. So if I failed my Mission, God would excommunicate me? Yes! Bingo! It was the fear of Judgment Day!! This then was the wounding my mother had given me! She had told me that if I had carnal (sensual or sexual) feelings and thoughts, my Soul would die. I was young enough to be totally overwhelmed by this prospect and terrorized by God and His Judgment. No wonder I had shut my body down and set my conscious self on top of it, monitoring its every motivation!

Still, I had struggled with my mother for decades over the Church issue. She wanted me to be a good Christian, serving others with no thought of myself. Mainly serving her, I realized, as she had served her parents or had felt guilty after they died that she did not serve them well enough. This fear of God’s rejection was the basic “cause” of many of my physical problems. My biggie was Insomnia. If I fall asleep, I lose control over my body and it may die on me. Then God would judge me. To put this off as much as possible, don’t sleep! Stay extremely vigilant! Keep that adrenalin going at all hours! All my anxiety, armoring, pushing away love, resisting, controlling, refusing to receive, accepting shame and unworthiness, etc., were the result of this basic terror of judgment by God and being found lacking. And of course subsequently being banished into eternal separation and loneliness (Hell), left out of the Love and Light.

Music began again, and this time, my energy shifted significantly. I was over the hump. The ceremony was beginning to wind down and the mood was loving and gentle. I snuggled into my blankets and relaxed the best I could. I now had the feeling as if I had a vice grip on my head pressing in on my temples. I could not lie on my right side as my eyeshades had their buckle on the right side and it would lie right in the middle of the temple. That hurt. So I lay on my left, but even there the pressure on my head was too intense. I had never been nauseous and never needed to go to the bathroom—amazing! However, I decided it was time to go to the bathroom now. I pulled off my eyeshade. Everyone was lying on their mats, candles were flickering, and Mike was leaning over someone and holding her. Lee was free and questioned with her eyes if I wanted help to go. I nodded yes and wobbled to my feet. The ground was unsteady or maybe it was just me. Lee took an arm and helped me. I pointed each foot carefully at the next spot on the floor and stabbed it, like the deliberate walking pattern of the deer I’d seen at Holly’s. They always looked like they walked pointedly and deliberately on tiptoe with their tall narrow cloven hooves. At the toilet, I released a huge dump. I emptied out my bowels effortlessly and majorly. I had not felt any churning in my abdomen or cramps that normally would’ve preceded such a load. Amazing! I felt amazingly lighter and free.

Upon my return, the energy of coming back into space/time was gentle and peaceful. Laura, who sat two over from me, sang along with most of the songs from India. I lay there, warmer now because they had fired up the wood burning stove next to me. Around 2:30-3 am, Mike gently announced that the ceremony was over and to rest and wind down. I slept a little while, but it was difficult with the headache and all the noises in the room. However, just as Mike said, I didn’t judge or begrudge anyone his or her noise. I would sleep eventually. For the next several hours, I snoozed or drifted, or worked on my head. It seemed to take forever for dawn to come. Periodically, the colors and lights would return, or some unusual awareness float through my thoughts.

Finally daybreak came. I ventured outside for a while but it was still too cold for my comfort. I came back in and waited. Lee began to heat up some soup and tea. I was so tired and my head hurt, but yes, my body was right when I muscle tested it before the ceremony. I was glad I had done this and I felt no fear now, only a gentle bliss and healing energy. After a couple of others had gone for soup, I did too. I was good. So was drinking water again. Around 9:00 am, Michael convened our after-ceremony gathering. Some people told of the highest experiences they had reached and what they had learned during the experience. As they spoke, I felt things that I had not felt during the experience. I had tears in my eyes as they spoke of their deep revelations. I shared that my peak experience was very brief and I never felt the hugeness of the love and oneness the others had. Mike turned to me and said, “You still may. Your first time has been difficult, but your next experience with the sacred Medicine (as he called the ayahuasca) will be much easier.” Mike added, “The Ceremony continues. Blessed be.”

Mike was right. Another hour later and I was in a total state of bliss. I had gone to the altar and picked up my crystal and looked again at the faces of the Saints around it. Sitting by my bed was a statue of archangel Michael with his sword and a dragon under his feet. I smiled as I realized that Mike had put it there for protection for me. My crystal radiated love, peace, safety and calm. Suddenly I felt totally connected into the whole experience and that love, peace, safety and calm had entered my body, filling it with a gentle joy. I sat swimming in the bliss for some time. Mike came over and saw with delight that I had noticed the statue he’d put there. I thanked him again and felt gratitude on a much deeper level than ever before.

After awhile, I hugged everyone over and over. It felt so good, so very good. We all shared where we lived and where we were going next. Some people were staying to experience the ceremony again Saturday evening. I could not imagine doing it again because my head hurt so, and I was tired and needed rest. Also, I had a workshop to channel on Sunday and needed sleep. Daniel adjusted my atlas bone and 4th cervical and it alleviated the pain in the neck, although the intense head pressure remained—my only impediment to total bliss. Boy could I use a massage! Then one of the other participants volunteered to massage me and gave me about 20 minutes of sheer bliss! I also arranged with Mike to come get some more massage and healing work on Tuesday. Finally, we rolled up our bedding and took it out to the truck. We helped clean up in the room and left after long goodbyes.

On the way back, we stopped at the tie-dye hippie store I saw on the way in. I was hoping to find some pants to replace my Guatemalan comfies, but ended up buying a couple of interesting lightweight summer short dresses or long tops. Returning to the trailer, we rested and napped. By dinnertime, I tried to channel. It was hard for Galexis to come through as I’d made so many many shifts. Galexis told us they would be working through the night to attune me, so that I could channel the next day. That night, I went to sleep as usual, and when I woke up in the night I realized that light drumming and group singing were still going on. Michael was right about this too! The ceremony did continue! I woke up several times in the night and the singing was going on and on.

Note: if you feel that you would like to experience the Ayahuasca Sacred Ceremony too, please contact me via email.

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The Workshop Within the Ceremony

By the time I arose Sunday morning, I was different—vastly different. I felt at peace with a heart calm and loving. Where was the tension and pain? The continuous stress for no reason? Gone! We arrived at Kirby’s and as soon as I walked in the door, I realized that no special preparation for the workshop energy-wise needed to be made. The ceremony had surrounded me and my environment with sacred energy, very shamanic in feeling. The room was already humming with ceremonial energy. Although I was calm, I was also excited about the workshop. What would happen? How would Galexis pull this off with my having made such a huge change?

I stood in the back yard and hovered around a wonderful tree, looking over the valley below San Pablo. It was a gloriously beautiful, sunny, clear and lightly breezy day, the type of day that makes me want to sing and adventure somewhere. I saw people begin to arrive, so I went out to greet and meet them. Several were friends of Galexis for whom I had channeled. We laughed and spoke easily. I noticed I didn’t have the usual social “mode” of anticipating how to be on the other person’s page and trying to think of clever or social things to say. I was so centered and calm in myself. What a new feeling! And I was able to receive peoples’ appreciation for Galexis with ease as well. I was pretty happy as I sat down in my chair, big crystals to either side of me on the light box.

I scanned my view over the sea of smiling faces waiting for Galexis. Okay, this was it. I closed my eyes and dropped into my trance. Galexis spent a little extra time doing some more attuning. Then they started with a clarity, energy and flow that never abated throughout the workshop. I could feel the power surging through me and energy moving intensely about the room. The message was clear and good. The questions asked brought out new levels of answers.

Then the meditation started out so intense I was almost panting. Light was shooting through the room and the flashing of the colors through the crystals were implanting spiritual frequencies more deeply into the participants. Galexis took people deeply into their unconscious minds and many of them began to go “under.” A few people began to snore. Then there was a pause as there was a deep shift being made and RRIIIIIIIIIIIGGGG! It was Daniel’s cell phone! I could hear people, startled, awaken with sharp inhales. Daniel ran out of the room and turned it off. Galexis paused and then said “very important, yes?” and then continued as if it never happened. The meditation continued without a hitch and most people now could stay more present. Strangely, it was as if the phone ringing was a good thing ultimately. It probably brought everyone back more easily than if Galexis were to say “come back now” as they were probably planning to.

As I lifted out of my trance, the drumming and the singing of the ceremony was continuing to reverberate around the room. Then it hit me. The entire workshop was held within the Sacred Ceremony! No wonder it had been so intense! My heart was open and energy flowed through my body easily, even through my lower two chakras! What a feeling! I was grounded and yet very high at the same time. So this is what I’d been missing! Daniel, and I had wonderful conversations with the others and everyone looked either a little spacey, high, or happy. That was a good sign. Many of the participants stayed to look at Kirby’s crystals or talk. It seemed that a lot of them were planning to come to the Galexis event the following Thursday at Marilyn and David’s place. I remained open and free and totally comfortable in the present moment. Everything was so organic in the “flow,” and safe.

I slept well that night, waking up briefly in the night to hear the singing. Just before dawn however, I awakened to quiet. I knew the ceremony had just that instant concluded. The drummers and singers were starting to put away their things. There was a fresh feeling of cleanliness and peace. I fell back asleep and dreamed that someone came to get me, saying that I had visitors. I went outside and there was a big brown pickup truck idling there. In the truck bed, there were old Incan people, elders of both sexes, dressed in white and sitting on crates with their backs against the sides. My messenger said that the ancestors had come to say goodbye for now. Most of them had on hats of various shapes. Although I didn’t know any of them personally, I was grateful for their presence and went to greet them. With the vividness and intensity of this dream, I woke up.

This was a rest day. I relaxed, wrote some on the computer, and leisurely assembled our laundry. We made our way over to Alicia’s place in the afternoon. While the laundry was going, Alicia, Daniel and I hiked up to the top of the mountain and around to one of the sides and back. At the very peak, there is a neighborhood recreation center from where we could get the most commanding view of the Bay and the Marin County valley to the west of it that led to the sea. Our legs delightfully stretched, we returned to Alicia’s. She turned up the heat for us cold Floridians and we watched the deer and turkeys go through the yard. The three of us discussed interesting topics, finding out how much we had in common and on and on. Then we were in for a very special treat; a South Beach Diet dinner. Daniel and I helped a little, but it was mainly Alicia’s gift. The wonderful organic veggies were absolutely yummy! Daniel and I concluded that for good organic food, California is the very best!



On Tuesday, we drove back through Sebastopol for my session with Mike. While Mike organized and integrated my energy currents, Daniel spent the time walking around the property and hanging out in the woods. On the way back we stopped at a small but nice organic food market by the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. Only in California! The local organic produce, as well as some imported from elsewhere, smelled hearty and healthy. We bought a couple of items and continued. Then we stopped again at the tie-dye place to return one of the items. Seems as soon as it got wet and was on a hanger, it started to tear so easily that by the time I took it off the hanger, it had torn in 3 places. The woman there was friendly and easy. Sure, get another one.

We drove back through dry, but pretty land. I was tired and noticed the effects of mourning on my body—the achy heart and low immune system. At one point, I’d heard that it takes about 6 months for the immune system to recover after the loss of a loved one (if it does). That would take me into March, but I had a feeling that I would lift or heal earlier, maybe 2-3 months.

Next; More adventures in the Bay Area

Part Thirteen B; San Francisco Bay Area High

Beauty in the Canyon

After all the excitement (see 13A), it was good to have a slower day. I channeled, sitting as usual in my back bedroom of the RV, but this time my view was the back window of a huge motor home. The residents of the motor home couldn’t see me through the reflections off the tilted screen of my back window and I didn’t see them through their curtains. Although I keep my eyes closed when I channel publicly, when I’m alone I keep my eyes open so that some light can reach my pineal gland. If I don’t have enough light during the day I’ll get slightly depressed (one of the main reasons I can’t be in a northern latitude during the winter!) I’ve had better looking views than the butt of a bus, so my eyes amused themselves looking at the folds of cloth on my bed or the curtain rods. We also did our laundry at the RV Park laundry room during my break. Our clothes weren’t as nice smelling as the loads we did at Alicia’s but serviceable. Another woman was there doing laundry and used a ton of fabric softener and fragrance. Her young daughter was sniffing, as if she had a cold. Could it be the girl was already reactive at age 8? I looked for an opportunity to approach the woman about this possibly sensitive subject but never found one.

Thursday, we visited Alicia again. She had promised us a fun hike in a special place, and we caravanned on winding little streets deeper into woods and valleys. The special place was certainly that. Nestled inside a tiny wooded canyon of Mount Tam was a small park known as Cascade Falls. The small parking area disappeared as soon as we parked our huge truck there. High above us, the canopy shaded the place, making it cool, moist and pleasant. We followed an undulating ribbon of path alongside a small stream towards its headwaters, ending not at the source but at some pretty falls perhaps 15 feet high pouring over a rock into the canyon. In the spring, Alicia said, the waters here are loud, voluminous and intense. I wished I had remembered to bring my camera. We were the only people there and the atmosphere was one of peace and calm. After awhile, sated and calmed by the waterfall, we made our way back along one of the neighborhood roads, noticing all the additions being built to the smaller houses perched on the wooded inclines above us.

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Reflection of the Goddess’ Garden

After our walk, Daniel and I parted with Alicia and went our separate ways. We followed directions and eventually, after some wrong turns, managed to find our way out of that neighborhood and onto the road leading to David and Marilyn’s place. This was the evening when I was to once again channel Galexis to a group of people, many of whom had gathered at their home before for various small spiritual events. David and Marilyn didn’t live far down the mountain from Alicia so we thought it wouldn’t take very long to find, but we were wrong. The street that passed by their house was completely closed off higher up, so we had to take a series of wiggles through unfamiliar neighborhoods until we came back upon the street, once again public. It was late afternoon by now and getting chilly as we found the intersection and the address we were seeking.

We rang the bell at the gate, which was promptly answered. Soon we walked inside, entering a magical fairyland (or rather, faeryland). A three-dimensional reflection of the Goddess’ Garden. The whole property was on a gentle to severely slanted hill. The top was flanked by a wall, dividing it from the street that ran above. From there downward were terraces running the longer length of the yard parallel with the street above. They were filled with flowering plants mingled within artistic arrangements of trees, shrubs, and herbs in composition that highlighted different colors and textures of leaves. Paths followed the terraces to trees on one side and a beautiful, simple gazebo on the other. Statues of charming childlike beings and magical creatures adorned special spots along the paths. In the center of the property ran the driveway and the house. Beneath the house, the land curved down into a channel for rainwater and an herb garden. I felt a sense of mystery and a gentle nostalgia for gardens, real or imagined, from my childhood.

We approached the house, oohing and aahing about what we were seeing and after much searching finally found a door to knock upon. David and Marilyn and their spunky young gray cat Katie greeted us at the door and ushered us into a visually beautiful and peaceful dwelling. Although we had never had time before to simply sit and chat, we did this now and found to our liking how simpatico we all were with each other. I felt we were in a house of wizards, since there was so much magical energy afoot. Of course, we got a tour of the place and discussed the arrangements of chairs in the living room. By the time the first people arrived, I was feeling pretty much at home.

Again, people came to me and introduced themselves. Their names were familiar, as some had been talking with Galexis for a while. Others shared with us that they were looking forward to speaking with Galexis but were still on the waiting list. (I made a mental note that a major project I would undertake upon my return to Florida was to catch up on that list.) We laughed and talked. It was such a great social hit for me that I almost didn’t want to get started, but it was time. I sat down and went into trance. This was an “Evening with Galexis,” which was not such a formal kind of event as a workshop, but more a question and answer evening. Galexis began by speaking briefly on their chosen topic and as they were getting to a key point, there was an intense rustling noise. Katie, the gregarious cat, was irresistibly drawn to being near Galexis and had discovered to her delight a nearly empty paper bag behind the chair I was sitting in. In and out of it she jumped with delight. Everyone was laughing, including Galexis who commented on the noise, drawling that those listening to the CD and wondering what all the noise was were hearing a cat in a bag. Galexis pointed out the attraction of the bag for the cat and applied that to the topic and continued. Everyone, including Galexis, was in a light mood. Even though some deep or complex questions were asked after the short talk, the mood stayed upbeat and the magical energy continued.

Once the last question was over and I had returned, Daniel came to me and asked me what we wanted to do about the crystals. We had originally thought that we might show some of the remaining crystals in Bob’s collection to people this evening, but we simply weren’t in the mood for hauling all of them out of the truck with it being so cold. However, we had one crystal, actually a pair, to share. This was the one I mentioned earlier in my travelogues that had belonged to Bob. The day after his death, the crystal seemed to leap off the shelf and cleanly broke in two nearly equal pieces, one part being very sparkly and clear while the other part opaque, complex and darker. While at Holly’s we’d gotten the thought that perhaps the break discharged something and that the crystal should be rejoined. But crystal repairman magician Lawrence Stoller and I talked and it dawned on us that the two pieces, so very opposite in quality didn’t want to be one but a pair. They played out duality between light and shadow, clarity and darkness. We had mailed them to him to work on and now they had returned to us, arriving at Alicia’s the day before. The crystals were beautiful and clear energied. Lawrence had lightly and expertly beveled the edges. We felt, happily, that we had made the appropriate choice. We showed them to David and Marilyn and others who remained after the session and many seemed to appreciate the pair. Before the night was over, they had found their new keeper. (For more information on Lawrence Stoller and beautiful pictures of crystals, see http://www.crystalworks.com).

The atmosphere at David and Marilyn’s continued to be magical into the night. Daniel and I chatted with our new friends and even got David to play the guitar with some encouragement. As he plucked the strings of one of his vintage guitars, I felt a wondrous magic filling the room. David created a warm and golden mood while outside it was dark and cold. I felt I was privileged to be in such a bright, warm, snug and happy space. The night was one of those evenings I don’t like to ever see end, but David and Marilyn (and their charming cat Katie) needed to have their house back so they could sleep sometime before the next day! So we all finally left. Novato was considerably warmer. Daniel and I supposed that if we were to spend any length of time in the Bay Area, we’d have to stay in Novato or I’d simply be continuously frozen!

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Time at Glen’s

The crystals and jewelry were beautiful. We ooohed and aaaahhd over them, trying not to interrupt Glen as he was focused on faceting a very small gem. One mistake, teeny tiny mistake, and the gem becomes virtually unusable. So utmost concentration is required. We chatted with his wife Sharon and saw some interesting imported crystals from South America. Finally, we pulled ourselves away and headed back. To our delight and amazement, we returned in record time. I was even going to have time to eat something! It was miraculous and we laughed at how easy magic and miracles are at some times. Thanks, Universe!

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Dreams

During this time, I was curious as to why I hadn’t had any experiences with my mother on the other side. Galexis answered that by saying that she was not a spirit guide type and I certainly didn’t need her to be present with me in order to feel okay about my life and directions. She and I were truly done for this lifetime. I was happy that she didn’t hang around – it meant that she was evolved enough to go on to do her spirit life thing. Spirits who hang around are those who have a lot of trouble in their transition but Virginia zipped out of here easily. And as I related earlier, she had a lot of very bright beings waiting for her. No, she must be having a good time. Some spirits that die after a long exhaustive illness may have to recuperate in one of the healing temples there, but my mother was healthy and energetic up to the very end. I imagined that she would not spend long in rest.

Then I had a dream that became brighter and moved into lucidity. (That’s when the dream becomes as real (or “realer”) than the physical plane existence. In a lucid dream, you can feel the texture of the light that makes up everything.) I was going to a party in a high rise building in a large city such as New York, except the scale of this city was greater than New York. Buildings were higher, for one thing. I entered an apartment in a skyscraper on a very high floor. I saw some people who looked familiar but I didn’t remember their names, and they didn’t seem to remember mine. Oh well. And then the 30-something hostess arrived. It was mother! I knew it was she because of her eyes and her vibrational presence. But her body was taller and very slender, her nose was long and narrow. She wore a black slinky dress with some beads flashing red and gold, her favorite colors. She smiled at me and tilted her head so I could see her hairdo. It was curly and spiky, a very modern city style cut, and black. Somehow, this truly suited her. I immediately realized that I was visiting with her in her favorite form in her favorite environment – all the glamour of a big city and the arts, theatre and the like. Certainly several of the partygoers must be actors and actresses. She held was seemed to be a champagne glass and I sensed that she was celebrating being back after the long lifetime she’d led. Love sparkled from her eyes to mine. I felt her “spunkiness” and adventuresomeness, qualities she had while in alive in the physical.

We laughed and danced a bit together in her joy and agreed telepathically with each other that all was right and we’ll see each other later, years later. I also knew that she would reincarnate in the New World that was coming, to do some spiritual path work and that her level of consciousness would be easy to see then – no limited roles like this time. Gratitude and joy filled my heart and I turned to leave. I took one look back at her as she went to talk to some other guests of hers. (This was the same turn and look I had when I saw my father alive for the last time and also in Nashville a few months earlier this year, when I saw Virginia for the last time. So this was the symbol of the final glance.) Who knows, her guests could’ve been my grandparents, although they looked in their mid-thirties in definitely different bodily form. Everybody can look vibrant and young on the other side.

Within a few days, I had two more dreams. They were bright but not truly lucid. One was that Daniel and I had decided to move to a place on a mountaintop. As we arrived there, we saw that a series of pulleys had been set up to bring stuff up the mountain. Someone had hauled up some of our personal effects and they were sitting by the doorway, neatly wrapped and boxed for us. Then, perhaps to confuse me as to what all that meant, I then had another dream the following night that Daniel and I were leaving the mountains in our travels as if the mountain part of the trip had been a particular long and strenuous journey. We were with friends and celebrating in the lowlands. So go figure! Dream interpretation is usually something I have done pretty well - a mainstay in my therapy practice many years ago. I thought I knew mountains to be journeys with obstacles, but perhaps not any more. But one thing was certain. My psyche had processed Virginia’s death and the ayahuasca et al. I was grateful.

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All About Adam

Saturday was the first of the two-day workshop organized around Adam, the young healer. I had heard about him months earlier and ordered his books, which I felt were remarkably thorough for such a young man. He was still a teen when he wrote them! Adam has a gift for healing that shows the natural powers humans have but haven’t been using. Living in Canada, Adam has been giving one-day workshops in Toronto to hundreds of people who have trekked from everywhere to receive healings while learning more on how to heal themselves. I had investigated all the available workshop times and they all seemed to be sold out or were impossible for us to attend during our trip schedule. But shortly before we arrived in California, Adam had been featured on national TV and was suddenly a major celebrity. So I was surprised to get an email from the Adam newsletter that there happened to be an Adam workshop in the Bay Area at the same time we were there! And, miracle of miracle, there were plenty of seats available. Another synchronistic miracle! How does it get better than this? I felt this was a very special gift from the Universe to me. Was this going to be part of my healing?

So with our tickets in hand, we headed out as soon as I could get myself together (usually around noon). We knew we would miss the morning presentation (Bruce Lipton PhD speaking on his favorite topic “The Biology of Belief”) but the afternoon part was with the famous ex-astronaut Edgar Mitchell. Daniel was impatient to get there and although we were low on gas, we decided we had enough to get to the workshop. We put together a Mapquest for the hotel location and headed out across the Bay. At one point, we missed our turn. We attempted to go in the direction we thought we had to go and saw an exit that looked good, but again we missed it. So we got off the freeway extension the very next exit we could. Now we were frustrated - sure that we had at least 20 or 30 blocks to go to the place near the Bay where we would find the hotel. We aimed east for one of the main roads and as we came to the corner of that road, we looked up and suddenly realized that the hotel was right here! Yes, the Mapquest was wrong! We had been guided via the most elegant route to the hotel. Wow, that is some kind of encouragement!!!

So happily we parked in the underneath parking lot with only an inch to spare above the truck. We found the workshop site, registered and entered the huge main hall. There were perhaps 700 chairs set out theatre style and people were steadily filling up the ones in front. We found seats in the center about halfway back. Not a great view but okay enough. Big screens displayed a clever metaphysical saying with its author indicated. It would fade and then another would appear. After a few moments, the cycle of sayings would repeat. The ideas were stuff that you would have heard in the What The Bleep movie.

Finally, an elderly gent rose and stepped upon the stage to applause. This was Edgar Mitchell, who has been championing the new physics and metaphysics for a few years now. He has even started a research institute to study meta-science. Edgar started out with the usual thank-you-for-coming speech. Then before Edgar got to any good juicy concepts, he spent a good deal of time talking about himself. I guess it was assumed that since he was a celebrity, that everyone wanted to know about his personal details. We saw pictures of him as a child, learned about his parents, and then saw him in the military. Finally, he got around to his famous life with pictures of him in his astronaut suit. The climax of the workshop came when he described the transcendental experience he had upon seeing the earth from space and his greater awareness of the oneness of all things. This event changed Edgar irrevocably and started him upon his spiritual path. He has subsequently sponsored and participated in numerous meta-science events, attempting to bring the concept of oneness to the world, and in it, encouraging people to take care of the planet. Edgar is a good man and a poor speaker. Yet, one cannot help but have admiration for his dedication and mission.

After the workshop, we came out to our truck and, realizing it was on empty proceeded to search in the area for a gas station. We spent the better part of an hour going from gas station to gas station, asking if anyone knew where we could get diesel. I was getting nervous, for we ended up in a not-so-good section of town, filled with warehouses and broken down buildings and roads. No one was about. We found a couple of closed gas stations. Finally I asked strongly for support from our unseen friends and chose to trust that all would be well. Soon after that, we found a place (surprise!), much to my relief. The managers of the station were an Indian couple or perhaps Bengalis. They looked at us nervously, and I mused on whether they had had some unfortunate experience with a customer recently. There was no option of paying with a credit card at the pump, so Daniel went in. I followed, as I saw some colorful Indian style stuff there – colorful leis and décor. As we got a full tank of diesel, they brightened enormously and looked actually relieved that they weren’t going to be alone all day on a weekend in an empty commercial district, or maybe they made just enough money on us to justify sitting there by themselves for hours.

But as we drove away, I got a sudden strong impression that they were tired of running this station but were perhaps economically forced to do so, but at the same time they now had some renewed hope about the world and their futures there since we arrived. Where did that sense come from? Unrealistic? Possibly or probably. Some spiritual ego? Possibly. But neither of us had said anything-outright “spiritual” or whatever. So, puzzled, I wondered if our futile wanderings around the vast neighborhood were part of the reality play, corralling us to that place for some reason. You know, one of those “arranged” synchronicities the Universe enjoys. It was as if we had fulfilled some purpose there.

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Day Two; Adam Day.

The next day we elegantly found our way to the hotel and parking. We returned to the big room with the screens and their sayings – this time Adam’s. Adam is a healer. As a young man, his gifts became so evident, especially after he healed his mother of a serious illness, that both parents basically rearranged their lives around his work. To protect him, Adam was known simply by his first name for several years and no pictures of him were ever shown. Before he had finished his teen years, he was giving healing workshops and doing miraculous in-person and long distance healings on people. He also had written two really good books on healing, “Dreamhealer” and “Dreamhealer 2.” I purchased these books several months earlier and forgot to bring them with me for autographs, but oh well. If you want to see a little about Adam or order the books yourself, go to his website http://www.dreamhealer.com. Adam teaches how to visualize the body and illnesses and then how to change or heal the illnesses. Colorful computer generated illustrations in the book give readers the pictures to visualize, making it easy. These are useful for any would-be energy healer. Essentially, the work done in the workshop is on a DVD as well, “DreamHealer Visualizations for Self-Empowerment.”

So of course, we were both excited to see him. Me, for the possibility that I could get a healing boost from him and Daniel to observe his energy and techniques. His father opened the workshop with an introduction and showed a video of young Adam in semi-darkness doing healings. His eyes were back up in his head with his eyelids open, showing no pupils; an eerie effect. Then the young healer was doing a group healing and playing the energies like an instrument. Wiggling the fingers here and pushing and shoving energies over there. Quite a dance of the arms! It reminded me of the motions Galexis makes with my arms when they are doing healings on people, so I wasn’t surprised to see it.

Then the lights came back up and the young energetic tall and wiry dark-haired man that is Adam stepped up to the stage. He talked briefly about how he discovered his healing gifts and how he had (probably) experienced a Thunderbird. His newest and third book had just been released and the first photo in the photo section of the book was a picture of a huge black bird that resembled a baby eagle but was many times the size of one, around four feet tall. Of course, my first response on hearing this was that it was an extra-terrestrial because ETs often take the form of extra large birds as a “cover” for their actual shapes so that they don’t freak out ordinary people. Adam had had a lucid dream in which he was visiting a land and following a path that led him to a special place where he saw this huge bird.

When he awoke, he shared the dream with his parents who recognized where the land was from Adam’s detailed description. So Adam, his parents and several other curious family members traveled to Vancouver Island and from there to a remote place called Nookta Sound. Once finally there, Adam recognized and found the path and followed it, just as he did in his dream and found the bird. Everyone in the family was amazed and since then they have relied on Adam’s inner sight. They asked a local native medicine man what the bird might be and the man said there were no birds in the area of that size, unless Adam had seen a Thunderbird, the mythological bird that protects the Native Americans from hunger and suffering and generates thunder and lightning. (The myths speak of this around the time of the “great flood,” or a time when the waters of the earth were fouled and weather was stagnant. The Thunderbird brought back the seasons and the cycles of weather. Atlantis times?)

Adam continued talking about what he now did (at age 21?) and what those who wanted to be healed needed to do to help him activate the healing. Adam did a aura reading demonstration with a couple of volunteers as he looked at their health problems. He could see auras only in the dark, so his dad turned off the lights while a volunteer stood on the stage. We could barely make out Adam moving around in front of a blackboard and hear chalk mark sounds as he drew some of what he saw on a stick figure. When the light was turned back on, Adam explained what he had seen and showed us his drawing. Then he asked the volunteer and got verification from the person about their health issues. He seemed to have a completely different way of seeing or interpreting than I do, so I didn’t see how the shapes or marks had any connection with the conditions.

Then Adam continued to explain the several different visualizations he used. Before he conducted the first group healing of two, he asked all of us to scootch our chairs together so that there were the smallest gaps between us in the crowd. When we were briefed and were piled on top of each other, the lights were turned off. In the very dark room, Adam talked us through some of the visualizations in the order he recommended and at certain points in the process, was silent for us to do our visualizations on our own. Also during this silent time, he was doing the arm dance work on the stage. I could feel stuff moving around, but no great shift for me. Darn! After the lights came back on and we broke for lunch, I resolved to trust that I would get whatever healing was appropriate. I wish I could trust as my first choice, but at least I remembered to go for it as second choice! During the break, we talked to some of the other participants who were there and ate our picnic lunch sitting outside on the curb in the warm sun.

Before the afternoon session began, some of us gathered informally around in the back of the room as Adam’s father spoke to a couple, giving stories of Adam’s magical healings. They were pretty amazing! The afternoon session was similar to the morning and we did a more advanced meditation process, again in the dark. I felt lighter and freer and later in the evening I realized that my lymph system was draining, always a good sign.

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Aerie in Mill Valley

This time, after the workshop, we didn’t head home for dinner but to visit our friends Mykaell and Auriela in their Mill Valley place. Following their directions, we arrived in the town of Mill Valley and called them on the cell. They arrived and led us up a winding road to their aerie with its beautiful view of the whole area. I considered it an aerie as I thought, more than once, if I were an eagle (or a Thunderbird?) that I could just jump off the balcony and soar between the mountains down to the Bay in a thrill and rush of flight.

The two had purchased one of the older places in the town over a year earlier and Mykaell, skilled in construction work, had done most of the renovations himself. This had transformed a charming but limited building into a work of art. And inside, to complement the art of the design and the floors and walls, beautiful art of impeccable taste was everywhere – a most extraordinary gallery. Auriela is known for her business gifts of placing fine art in fine homes worldwide. Daniel and I reveled in the colors, shapes and states of being that come with the art experience. We sat with both Auriela and Mykaell on their balcony next to beautiful roses looking at the splendid view on a perfect day.

See our view

We sat and talked and talked. At one point, they pointed out a place where they said Galexis had told them existed a vortex. So Daniel and I of course had to stand there and feel it. Yes, it felt just like a vortex we had created at one point in our ex-house. So we shared how we worked with a vortex and used it for various purposes and after the four of us went in and out of the vortex playing with the energies, we all got positively high. We virtually sailed down the hill/mountain back into Mill Valley the town to a restaurant where we celebrated our last night in the Bay Area with good company and good food. There’s something about that combination that is magical and connects one to some deeper primordial sense of human community through eons of time. What a satisfying feeling! I returned with Daniel to our RV Park feeling sad, like at the end of a summer camp. But I was also elated to have experienced such wonder and healing on many levels. The Bay Area had been wonderful to us.