Ghost Dancing by Rex Patrick Haire, Ph.D. - HTML preview

I remembered Marjie said Perithnea’s hair was orange as I added a stick of wood to the fire. When it began to burn Perithnea said, “The fire is giving birth; new light, new warmth. Count mother down.”

At the end of the countdown Softener of Skins said, “It is good fire. You honor me by sitting at my fire.”

“I am also honored to sit with you.”

He glanced around the room and said, “This is so strange.”

“Why does it seem strange?”

“I see no men in this place, but I hear men making good sounds.

How is this possible?”

We have a machine that repeats the sounds people made in the past.”

“What is this word, machine?”

I doubted he would understand but said, “It’s a device that captures sounds on something like a ribbon. When you want to hear the sounds again, the machine makes them come out.”

He looked at the handsome portrait of a noble warrior above the fireplace. “You have a spirit in your house. How did it come to be here?”

“It was made with paint, like the colors you have used to decorate your face and pottery. The paint was put on a piece of cloth and made to look like a warrior. It is a permanent reminder of those who love the Earth and their Maker.”

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He examined the bracelet adorned with five ovals of turquoise that I was wearing and said, “This is also strange. You wear the water stones. These stones we know, but I do not know how they are fastened.”

I said, “The metal which holds them in place is called silver.”

He noticed the spirit inspired mandala/dream catcher, the painted leather shield and our hanging baskets of house plants.

“You bring life into your lodge to decorate. This is good. When my spirit travels free, I can see very well.”

“You are seeing far into your future.”

“Indeed. I see very clearly.” I was wearing the white shirt decorated with images of the Spanish Peaks. “The decoration on your clothing has meaning.”

“It represents the sacred twin peaks.”

“I have seen these with my own eyes.” Excited, he exclaimed,

“You are Man to Come! You are the one who will gather stones together and share your blood with the Earth which cradles them!”

“How do you know I am Man to Come?”

“The Light, the warmth, the scent of the fire, the sounds in the air, and the stones that you will gather tell me this. The Great Spirit shows me it is so. We will meet again. You prepare to travel once more. You are Man to Come.” He withdrew. My love for him filled my eyes with tears, as did his astonishing revelation.

Marjie complained of feeling stiff so I counted her up. She was also deeply moved by Tanner’s words and said, “He's been blind so long he’s used to seeing things only with his mind's eye, so seeing things through my eyes freaked him out. Everything was very strange to him. He didn't understand what he was seeing and hearing. Thank you for making experiences like this possible for me! I never dreamed of having a life like this. Did you think it would turn out this way when we got together?”

“I never could have imagined anything like this.”

“You are the best.”

“So are you.”

Perithnea popped in to say, “Hasn't it been a wonderful day?

The fire shared itself with you. It gives so much. You should try to 116

help Tanner understand about the music. He doesn't know the word machine. You need to keep the explanation very simple.”

“Maybe a bow that converts strength into an arrow’s flight would do.”

“He could relate to that.”

On another evening soon after that as Marjie and I sat by the fire she said, “There were Indian spirits here today. I heard the same kind of singing the Old One used to do when I made things for him,” she said.

“I guess the Tarahumaras who left Doug are getting restless.

They must know we’re planning to go back to the mountains.”

“Alta Sha said they have been purified of the negative energies they absorbed from Doug and are ready to move on.” With tears she added, “I still miss the Old One.”

A noise woke me around 2:30 a.m. Perithnea said, “Indians downstairs.”

“Tarahumaras?”

“They are bumping into each other and making a lot of noise.”

“Should I go and build a fire for them?”

“No, don't encourage them. They're already noisy enough!”

I heard a few bumps and thumps and Marjie asked, “Who's making all that noise?”

“It’s just the Tarahumaras. I wonder what they’re thinking. I wonder if they will go back to the mountains with us.”

In the morning Marjie asked, “Who was doing all that talking downstairs last night?”

“I didn’t hear that. What were they saying?”

She repeated some of the sounds, which sounded like Indian songs. “I wish they would cut it out,” she said. “They're driving me batty with all this singing.”

“You should be happy. How many people get to hear them sing the way they used to?”

“You wouldn't like it if you had to listen to it all the time.”

“I guess you’re going to have some company around here again.”

The Tarahumaras’ singing continued into the following day.

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That evening we built a fire. Alta Sha grasped my hand with both of Marjie’s and put it on her knee as we sat side by side looking at the flames. He said, “Alta Sha is blessed that I AM has chosen you for me to work with.”

“That is a wonderful thing for you to say,” I replied.

“It is the truth. Alleluia. She tires. I will speak to you later.”

After a short pause Perithnea said, “I know why mother wants to go back to the mountains. I read all about it in the book.”

“Can Marjie see the book, too?”

“Yes. I left a marker in it for her.”

“When can she go to look at it?”

“Now, if she wants to. It’s time for me to go. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, sweetheart.”

I asked, “Do you want to follow Perithnea to the books?”

Marjie said, “I’m looking at many, many books. Some of them are massive, even bigger than those record books you see in the county clerk’s office. Perithnea is showing me the book. It’s very dusty. I’m brushing it off. It has three dimensional mountains on the front cover like a holograph. We have opened it. This book is very old; the paper has turned brown at the edges. The writing is very beautiful, like it was done with a quill pen. It reminds me of the script in the Declaration of Independence.”

“Read it aloud if you like. Remember what you read.”

“It says, If you find me, cling to me, care for me, grow from me, give me. I’m turning to the next page. It’s also like a hologram. There’s a moving, fluid force of some kind here that reminds me of a waterfall flowing down from above. I can’t see where it’s coming from or what surrounds it. It’s not really water, but that’s what it reminds me of.

“I’m looking at the next page. It’s a lush, deep green color, but it doesn’t look like vegetation. I see marks in it like semicircles, like some circular object dug into the green, then dug into it again. This is the track that some flying object made in the green before it crashed into an opening. It was partially buried by a stone cliff.

“I’m turning to the next page. Now I am a man standing on the side of the mountain looking toward the sun. To me, the sun is God, 118

the Creator. It’s hot and dry and I’m very thirsty. My thirst makes me think a drought has replaced the lushness that was here before.

A black object is passing in a straight line between me and the sun.

It’s crossing in front of the sun and then it’s going right over my head. I don’t know what it is.”

Marjie used her index finger to make the outline of a peak on my palm, and pointed to a spot inside it. “He was standing there. I’m turning the page. I’m looking at several others who are very distressed and confused.”

Thinking they might be ETs who survived the crash I asked,

“Are they humans?”

“Yes.”

“Why are they confused?”

“They are confused about the words they have heard.”

“What is the source of the words?”

A male Indian spirit said, “The answer cannot be given. That is what confuses us. It is my duty to help the others find their way home. How can I do that and concentrate on the meaning of the words at the same time? We are silent walkers.”

“Are you walking silently because of fear?”

“Others are searching for us. We must be cautious.”

“Where do you live?” He pointed with his finger.

Herself again, Marjie said, “I’m turning the page. Who is Uncle Bill?”

Another unfamiliar male spirit said through her, “This is the place where they wiped us out.”

Marjie said, “There’s a little girl here who looks about ten years old. This is confusing. The meaning of this page isn’t as clear as the first ones. I don’t understand why I’m seeing this. Perithnea says I should shampoo my hair with the contents of this page. That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“I think she’s referring to the song that goes, I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair from the musical South Pacific. Go ahead and do that.”

“This is too exhausting.”

“Do you want to stop now and return to this page later?”

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“I’m not sure which page it is. All the pages have a number 8 at the top, like the numbers on a digital clock. There has to be a code or some other method for finding the right page number.”

“Put a marker in the book so you can find your place later on.”

“Okay. The last thing I’m supposed to remember is the name of the little girl. It’s Jennifer.”

It took two counts to bring Marjie completely out of the trance.

She said, “I saw the black thing very clearly. It was shaped like a hat box and was big enough for an eighteen wheeler to fit inside it.

It was taller than it was wide, but not by a lot. I clearly saw its sharp edges. It was very black. From where I stood, I could see a long range of mountains with snow on their peaks down to my left that extended as far as I could see. There was a big prairie directly below me. It was many miles before you could see more mountains. There was this huge, massive presence behind me.”

I knew the massive presence was the West Spanish Peak, for I had stood there more than once. The Indians had apparently witnessed the crash of an ET craft which had gouged the mountain in two places before being stopped above timberline by an overhanging cliff. I believed the first gouge was a familiar small meadow that was free of trees even though it was in the midst of an evergreen forest. It was terminated on the west side by a sheer cliff and a spectacular view of the huge valley below and the front range of the Rockies beyond. If not completely buried, perhaps the wrecked craft might be visible if one knew where to look. It was exciting to think Man to Come might find it.

The presence of a digital 8 on every page suggested that the wrecked craft was somehow connected with Nucleus 8, as did the holographic nature of the book. He had previously complained about the limited information provided by our two dimensional alphabet compared to their three dimensional writings. The book reminded me of the holodeck sessions familiar to Star Trek fans.

Nuke had told us that many of the advanced technologies depicted there were real ET capabilities they had deliberately transmitted to

Star Trek’s writers by telepathy.

A subsequent session held to clarify the identity of Uncle Bill 120

and Jennifer revealed that they were killed for trespassing on their sacred mountain by outraged Indians headed homeward. Bill said that he and Jennifer were from Oklahoma Territory. They did not appear again in subsequent sessions.

In order to meet and share with others contacted by ETs, Marjie and I attended a support group in Atlanta. We mentioned the ET

crash at the Spanish Peaks during the meeting and afterward talked with middle aged Donna (a pseudonym), who told she had once lived near the peaks and had recently visited the crest of Cordova Pass with a psychic friend who had told her that something very significant would happen there. Donna had experienced vivid memories of what she thought was a past life in which she was the male pilot of an uncontrollable ET craft that crashed on the West Spanish Peak! He held himself responsible for the deaths of his passengers and felt terribly guilty as he held a dying companion in his arms before he died from his own injuries and Earth’s toxic atmosphere. Whenever Donna focused on those memories, the awful guilt feelings were still there.

Donna remembered that before the crash, the ET pilot had gone to what is now the Hopi Indian Reservation to meet with Indian elders. As a precaution, he buried the crystals that powered his ship. Following up on that memory, Donna and her psychic companion went to the Hopi Reservation. Although Donna had never been there in this lifetime, she accurately predicted all the landmarks they would see on the way there.

Because of my physical connection to the West Spanish Peak beginning in the 1970s, being informed of the ET craft crash, and being told I was Man to Come, I thought Marjie and I should look for the wreckage. I reasoned that if we taped it and told others how we were guided to it, people would be more likely to believe that ETs had visited Earth in the not so distant past and that the spirits of the deceased lived on. Alta Sha had said I would eventually write a best selling book about our spiritual journeys that would influence many people. I thought a chapter about finding the crashed ET craft would guarantee its success and I was eager to begin the adventure. Marjie said the Utee spirits also wanted to 121

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return so we made another trip to the Breasts of the Earth.

We had just deposited the luggage in our reserved cabin at La Veta, Colorado, when Marjie said, “These guys are so excited about being here they’re about to jump out of my skin. We need to go straight to the mountains.” We headed south on highway 12, one of Colorado’s most scenic highways.

The Spanish Peaks are extinct volcanoes famous for the abundant dikes of granite that project from their slopes like broken spokes. These stone walls can be up to a hundred feet in width, over a hundred feet high, and as long as 14 miles. About three miles miles south of La Veta an impressive dike extends to the shoulder of Highway 12. When we reached it Marjie said, “Stop. This is where they want to get out.” I parked in the convenient turnout and we walked across the highway, stepped over a sagging barbed wire fence, and faced the dike’s end. I estimated it to be about sixty feet tall and fifteen feet wide. It’s yellowish-tan stone was beautifully decorated with green and orange lichens. When Marjie placed her hands on the wall she burst into tears and said, “They're gone.”

Tears filled my eyes, too. “I was hoping we would at least get to say goodbye.”

“The closer we got to this place the more impatient they were, and they knew they were making me uncomfortable. I’m relieved now, but I’ll miss them. They’re very happy to be here. I hear them singing. At least, Tanner’s still here.”

“Thank God for that. So is Rides the Wind.”

We embraced, dried our tears, and I took a few pictures of the wall before we got back in the car. Alta Sha said, “Do not grieve for them. You have done well, and they are happy. I AM is pleased with you. They do His will, and so do you.”

“I hope to see them again someday on the other side. What will they do here?”

“They will wait until it is time to reincarnate.”

I wanted to know what events would trigger that but knew he did not like to make predictions, so I didn’t ask.

I took unfamiliar ranch roads through alpine meadows and evergreen forests under stately cloud gods strolling through an 122

intensely blue sky. I was trying to reach the east side of the East Peak, where Nuke had said a surprise would be found. The sun was already setting behind the towering East Peak when we arrived at its eastern slope and a paved secondary road. Soon it would be too dark to explore more back country, so we parked on The first available jeep trail and waited for Nuke’s surprise. I hoped it might be an artifact related to ET contact with Indians, a ride in a space ship, or another way to reach the rumored sun temple on the East Peak. As usual, all my guesses were wrong.

We couldn’t miss seeing a pair of singing whippoorwills that flew very high before simultaneously closing their wings and diving straight down. At the last possible moment, to avoid hitting the ground, they spread their wings and soared up again. They, repeated this courtship ritual several times. We were reminded of the other pairs of attention seeking birds who associated with us on previous trips.

As if cued by their antics, Nucleus 8 began to channel. After our usual greetings, I told him we were hoping our surprise would be a ride in an ET vessel. He was sorry to disappoint, but advised me to remain alert. I told him about Donna’s memory of having crashed an uncontrollable craft on the West Peak and her belief that she would eventually return to the Hopi reservation to dig up the buried crystals she used to power her craft. Nuke checked Alliance records and in less than a minute verified that a craft had been lost in this vicinity long ago and had never been found. The crystals Donna mentioned had not been used by Alliance vessels for centuries and by now would be dangerously radioactive. He wanted to meet Donna and explore her memories in more detail.

It was time to return to the highway and head for La Veta. I drove forward looking for a suitable place to turn around. We rounded a bend and saw a pair of very large Great Horned Owls standing in the road and looking directly at us in front of a chained steel gate! One quickly flew up to perch on a gate post while its partner kept staring at us. After a brief stop, I slowly drove forward to see how close we could get to them. We were about ten feet away when they both flew toward the East Peak. I said, “That was really 123

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strange. Owls usually avoid people, but they acted like they were making sure we got a good look at them.”

“They sure did. Weren't they beautiful? What a sight!”

“A lot of people contacted by ETs have reported encounters with oddly behaving owls. I’m wondering if Indian spirits were inside those. They make the fourth pair of strangely acting birds we’ve seen while working with Indian spirits.”

A few minutes later we were back on the pavement and watching a steady white light at low altitude match our speed on a parallel course for several minutes. When a curve took us in a different direction it continued going straight ahead. Was this part of Nuke’s surprise? I still had hopes of finding the rumored sun temple on the East Peak but we didn’t have enough time to really search for it. An attempt on a later trip was also unsuccessful.

The following day we headed west on US 160, planning to cut north through the mountains when we reached Colorado 149.

Near that intersection, we stopped at a gift store crammed full of animal hides, beads, antlers, hooves, silver decorations and any other thing needed to create old style or modern Indian artifacts.

Decorated leather clothing made by local artisans was also available. I encouraged Marjie to try on a beaded buckskin dress which fit her very well and she loved it. I bought it and a leather purse which had a flap made from a beaver pelt. For myself, I bought enough gold and green colored elk leather to make an Indian style shirt and pants. Because of our connection with Australian spirits, I bought a kangaroo hide, hair still attached.

Driving northward, I was shocked by the number of houses now lining the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. Each of these homes had a septic system draining into the ground and eventually into the once pristine river. The bumper to bumper traffic added to the brown haze of air pollution that spoiled the view, gave us sinus headaches, and made me sick at heart. I was appalled that federal and state agencies had allowed this level of pollution to occur along the source of such an important river.

The smog followed us until we reached the San Juan Mountains and climbed out of the river valley. We were awed by the vista of 124

multiple twelve to fourteen thousand foot peaks that surrounded us at the top of 11,530 foot high Slumgullion Pass. The smog free valley containing Lake City, an old mining town, was a beautiful sight, as was cerulean San Cristobal Lake reflecting the dazzling peaks.

It was the Fourth of July and every motel was full except the Lake City Inn, where a reservation had just been canceled. If not for that stroke of Luck, we would have faced a very long drive to find lodging. As if to emphasize we were following a Divine Plan, the only available room was the same one Terresa and I had used three years previously! I thanked God for that little miracle.

We took medicine for our serious sinus headaches; Marjie fell asleep. The excessive development, air pollution and general degradation of the environment and sad memories of Terresa’s death caused me to weep uncontrollably. To avoid bothering Marjie, I went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet. I was soon joined by Alta Sha, who sat at my feet in Marjie’s body. With great compassion, he took my hand, looked into my eyes and said, “Let your tears flow. Do not hold them back. It is important that you let go of this sadness. When you do, you will be cleansed and your headache will go away.”

He stayed with me as I heaved great sobs for perhaps fifteen minutes and used about a half roll of toilet paper to dry my eyes and runny nose. When I could cry no more he said, “Remember that a pristine world waits in your future. Look to what you will gain instead of what has been lost.”

I napped with Marjie until late that afternoon. As predicted, our headaches were gone and we felt refreshed. After lunch, we shopped in several stores and bought two ceramic table lamps with mountain scenery and an area rug depicting the famous Mayan Calendar. Then we drove out of town on a highway following the shoreline of pristine San Cristobal Lake and a creek that fed it. Near sundown, we stopped at a turnout to admire the inspiring view of Sunshine and Red Cloud Peaks, both over 14,000

ft. high, before heading back to town.

It was getting dark when, as if deliberately repeating last night’s 125

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performance, a slow moving, bright white light appeared when we reached the lake and paralleled our course until a curve in Lake City turned us away. It was dark when I parked beside the road so we could get out of the car and keep watching the UFO. A State Trooper pulled in behind us and asked if we needed assistance.

When told we were watching the UFO, he said he had also seen it and that such flyovers were pretty common around there. He gave us directions to a popular restaurant, wished us good night, and left.

In the morning I was standing in line to check out of the motel wondering when we would receive precise directions to Tanner’s former home when I saw the large Colorado Atlas on a nearby magazine rack. A quick examination revealed it was full of detailed topographical maps that featured local landmarks as well as buildings, mines, back country roads and jeep trails for the entire state! I eagerly bought it. Marjie and I quickly located maps for the area around Mesa Verde’ and were blown away to find a trail leading to Tanner Mesa and Tanner Canyon. Rising about 600 feet above the surrounding terrain, the mesa was located about two miles north of the New Mexico border, just south of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, and about two miles east of U.S. 666.

(Numerous freak accidents occurred on 666 and may people thought that number was associated with Evil, so it was renamed US 491 in 2003.)

After a long and beautiful drive we arrived at our destination in the early afternoon. Just as the map indicated, a jeep trail ran east toward shining, tan colored Tanner Mesa. The dirt track we followed vanished at times and was occasionally crossed by other trails but I relied on the description Feathers that Sparkle had given us. We soon passed the first peninsula-like leg and the trail turned sharply left into a large, U-shaped cove. Marjie said, “This is the place.” Tanner’s claim that many had come here seeking treasure under the earth was clearly true, for three oil well pumps were sedately doing their thing. Huge boulders, some as big as a small cabin, had fallen from the mesa’s cliff long ago and lay scattered around its base.

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As we got out of the car Tanner began to channel. Weeping, he pointed to a small overhang near the mesa’s top and said,

“Everything is changed. All has fallen down. My home is gone!

That is where my house stood.” I attempted to comfort him with a hug, but he had withdrawn.

Marjie said, “He wants us to climb to the top of the hill in front of us.” When there she added, “He says to look down.” On relatively flat ground near the hill’s base stood a mostly collapsed, weed-filled circle of stones about 8 feet in diameter just as Feathers that Sparkle had described. Its location in a natural depression and the weeds in and around it hid it from ground level viewing, so we might have been the first people to notice it for hundreds of years.

We descended the hill to the circle. Because of Tanner had said a treasure would be found under a stone, I got down on my knees inside it and began to dig with a flat stone. Marjie said, “Don't! It feels like you’re stabbing my heart every time you do that.”

“I meant no disrespect. I thought maybe we were supposed to find something buried here, but as far as I’m concerned, finding this place is treasure enough. It’s an honor to be standing in the place where Tanner used to worship.”

As Marjie stood inside the circle, empathizing with Tanner’s reactions, I took pictures of her and our surroundings. Several spectacular buttes inhabited the broad valley, which was bordered by western mountains. I pointed to one of many rock formations topping the cove’s eastern ridge and asked, “What does that formation up there remind you of?”

“It’s the head of an eagle!”

“That was my impression, too. Those other formations look like shrouded people watching over this place. I can see why Tanner chose to live here.” We spent about an hour exploring the vicinity, looking for arrow heads, potsherds or any other artifacts that might have belonged to Tanner but didn’t find any.

I was driving back to the highway when Tanner channeled again. “When I lived here the land was very green and rich with game. The mesa was a wonderful place for looking to the west and south. It saddens me to see these changes.” I was glad that he and 127

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Feathers that Sparkle had not left us.

We backtracked to the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation looking for someone who could translate the recorded words of the ancient Utee language. A clerk at the trading post arranged a meeting with the editor of the tribal newspaper, but he said no one would even listen to the tapes because Utes believe it is wrong to have any kind of contact with the spirits of the dead or to even say their names.

For some odd reason, it didn’t occur to me to ask Tanner.

After buying a few souvenirs at the trading post we entered New Mexico and the Navajo Reservation, delighted with the colored layers of cliff minerals and the scattered patches of wildflowers. Marjie pointed at the sky to our left and excitedly said,

“Look up there!”

Slightly ahead of us a silver, metallic-looking sphere silently paralleled our course at ten o’clock high. I estimated it to be about twenty feet in diameter and 300 feet above the ground. After a few seconds, it stopped and slowly, as if evaporating, vanished! It was my first daylight sighting of a metallic UFO. I said, “Wow! It just disappeared!”

Marjie agreed, “It just faded away.”

We were hungry by then and stopped at a strangely isolated gift shop/convenience store for drinks and snacks. As we checked out, I asked the young female clerk, “Have you ever seen strange things in the sky around here?”

“People see strange things around here all the time. Why did you ask?”

“Just north of here we saw a silver ball that disappeared in mid-air.”

“Oh yeah! My daughter and I saw that one on our way to school the other day.” The ET/Indian connection was still strong.

We had been home for a day or two before we called Donna to tell her that Nucleus 8 had confirmed the existence of a downed craft and his warning about digging up radioactive fuel crystals.

For a while, we had frequent contacts with Donna via telephone calls and personal visits in her Atlanta apartment and our home.

Face to face visits usually included hypnosis sessions for Donna’s 128

spiritual growth, some of which were very powerful. We were thrilled by a daylight UFO sighting over Atlanta, seeing objects in her home moved by unseen forces, and hearing unusual noises.

Donna’s highly intelligent boyfriend, who had other life memories of being a widely traveled ET, was sometimes present. On one occasion, Alta Sha carried on an intense telepathic communication with him, but the boyfriend would not fully reveal its content.

Donna’s trance sessions stimulated communication through automatic writing by the deceased UFO pilot inhabiting her consciousness. I shared his message with Nucleus 8, who asked me to give him precise instructions using Alliance terminology that the pilot would understand but Donna could not. This led to another session with Donna in which Nuke and the pilot, whose name was Rapsar, spoke to each other. After the fond greeting between old friends, they reminisced about the unauthorized and sometimes life threatening explorations they had undertaken when still Cadets.

Rapsar was overjoyed to learn that the crash was due to sabotage and there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.

Meanwhile, Rapsar’s loved ones were thrilled to know that his spirit had been found. He gratefully promised to assist Marjorie and me in our work with the Indian spirits and other loved ones.

The chain of improbable events that had to occur in order for Rapsar to be relieved of his guilt and to have his contacts with loved ones restored convinced me that we were still following a Divine Plan that now included Donna. Although trance work had given Donna a vision of her magnificent Higher Self and she had received life saving medical help from the ETs, she developed an unjustified fear that Rapsar would completely dominate her own personality and she refused further hypnosis. Many months later we learned that she was allowing dark forces to control her. Fortunately, Rapsar was no longer trapped within her. When his services were needed he helped us by channeling through another woman.

We were returning from one of our Donna visits when Marjie and I stopped at New Echota, Georgia, the restored former capital of the first Cherokee Reservation. The U.S. government had granted the fertile reservation lands in perpetuity to the Cherokee 129

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Indians, partly because of their vital role in helping General Andrew Jackson to defeat the British in the War of 1812. The peaceful, well organized Cherokees greatly prospered on their reservation, evoking the envy of white neighbors who coveted their farmland and the gold later discovered there. In order to steal their land, Georgia’s legislators ordered the Chrokees to be removed.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court said violating the treaty was illegal, backstabbing Andrew Jackson ordered the eviction of Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and other peaceful tribes east of the Mississippi River to what was designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Indians were forced to forfeit without compensation anything they could not carry with them. As if designed to increase suffering and death, the removal began during winter. Thousands of Indians died on the forced march from exposure, starvation and illness on various branches of what is now collectively called the Trail of Tears It’s a despicable fact that whenever enough whites have coveted valuable Indian Lands, promises that they would belong to the Indians In Perpetuity have almost always been broken in less than one generation.

Modern scholars say that North America was well populated by indigenous people until they were decimated by white man diseases for which they had no immunity. Their vulnerability was sometimes exploited by giving peaceful Indians the contaminated blankets of smallpox victims. To kill a non-combatant Indian was generally not classified as a crime; in some areas bounties were paid for Indian scalps. I wonder why humans so readily obey greedy leaders who declare it is our duty to kill others so that they will gain more wealth? To kill in self defense or to save another’s life is morally justifiable, but killing in order to steal is not, and genocide is pure evil.

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Chapter Nine: Pow-Wows To Remember We wanted to know more living Indians and were very pleased to meet Evangeline Lynch, Ed.D., a Cherokee who gave lectures in classrooms and other venues about Native American history and cultures. Upon learning about our involvement with the Tarahumaras, Dr. Lynch said she had a longstanding desire to visit with them because she, like many other Indians, appreciated their attempts to maintain their traditional way of life. She was impressed with Marjie’s channeling and invited her to speak about her encounters with Indian spirits at a weekend retreat for Christian women. Marjie agreed to do it, but later became very nervous about giving a talk to a group of complete strangers and wanted to cancel, saying, “I'm not a trained speaker. I'm afraid I won't give a good speech.”

“Did Chief Joseph have to be trained in order to speak for his people?”

“No.”

“Being trained isn’t important. Speaking from your heart is the only thing that matters.”

She said, “I just heard the word Korima.” Korima means to share in the Tarahumara language.

I asked, “Why did this word come into your mind? What is its source?”

“Indians.”

“Which Indians would say this word to you?”

“Tarahumaras.”

“Which one of them would say Korima to you now?”

She paused. “I don't know.”

“The one who told us to make the sacred staff. Remember how Rocks that Slide jumped for joy when he thought his stick was 131

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going to be used to teach others?”

With tears of relief she said, “Now I see! He wants me to speak for him! I can do that!”

I smiled. “Sure you can. You let others speak through you all the time. When your time comes you’ll know exactly what to say. You have doubted the accuracy of your channeling lately but everything it has revealed has come true. This is just another door in the hallway of your spiritual journeys and there are others also waiting to be opened. Will you be willing to open them when the time is right?”

“Yes.”

A while later she said, “Tanner wants to speak to you.”

“Good! Let’s have a session.” I began as usual with a prayer, thanking I AM for loving us, inspiring us, granting us creativity, and for our communion with Indian spirits. I counted Marjie down and told her to go into the Light; her head and shoulders moved like Feathers that Sparkle flying and she breathed in time with the beat of his wings. To him, I said, “Aho. It is good to see you again.

Are you with Softener of Skins?” After some leisurely breaths she nodded. Her expression changed, indicating Tanner was present. I said, “It has been a long time since we talked. It is good to hear from you.”

“I have words for the people she will speak to.”

“May I put your words in the box so they can hear your own voice?”

“Yes.” He spoke of the need to take care of all life on Earth and that the items on the sacred staff are about the spiritual path we all follow and are symbols of hope. When he was finished Feathers that Sparkle said, “I fly.”

I asked, “Where are you flying to?”

“To Hope.”

With her new confidence, Marjie looked forward to giving the talk. Upon returning from the two day retreat, she proudly said the women had loved her speech and she had thoroughly enjoyed herself. Helping the Indian spirits express themselves had helped her overcome the extreme fear of rejection a lifetime of abuse had 132

created.

We met more living Indians through another surprising event.

When driving a familiar highway we saw a small new sign pointing the way to the grandiosely named Native American Living Village. Its half acre of land contained a small travel trailer, a small storage shed, three canvas tepees, a few log benches, and a small wooden stage which three people might barely be able to occupy.

The only person there was a blonde, blue-eyed, male teenager who was very happy to have some company. We spoke about our interest in Indians and their belief in living harmoniously with all of nature. He was also concerned about pollution and climate change, saying he had visions of a future when very high winds would damage crops and cause wide spread famine.

He told us he was from Florida and had been “loaned” by his father to help Charley (a pseudonym), who claimed to be a full blooded Sioux chief. He complained that Charley expected him to provide all the physical labor needed to get the village up and running and was often gone for long hours without explanation, leaving him with full responsibility for the “village”. He was tired of living in the cramped camper, having no social life and no transportation and of threats of violence from local red necks. He desperately wanted to go home. There was nothing we could immediately do to help him, but I was ready to speak to Charley on his behalf if necessary.

We returned to meet with Charley, a portly man of average height. He had a dark complexion that suggested he was only part Indian. At first, his manner was guarded and suspicious but he became quite friendly upon hearing of our interest in anything associated with Indians. I mentioned talking with several full blooded Blackfoot and Assiniboine Indians and being friends with my half Creek neighbor when I lived in Montana. Charley said he wanted to move his village from the rent-free property he was using because his white landowner was trying to take control of the village. Charley was holding a fund raising event that evening and Evangeline and her Presbyterian Minister husband came with food for him to sell. We were pleased to see her again and to meet her 133

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husband. As Marjie and I were driving home, I said, “I don’t think meeting Charley just when he needs a new location was an accident. I think I AM wants us to help him. How do you feel about offering him the use of an acre or two?”

Alta Sha answered, “Would you like to hear my opinion?”

I smiled. “Of course.”

“I am allowed to guard only Marjorie. Charley needs to understand that you and Marjorie are motivated solely by your desire to serve and to be led by Spirit. If you are to fully share yourselves with him he must also be willing to share everything within himself. He should understand that after you have shared and all have fully shared, it may be possible for you to consider at least a temporary arrangement until he can make other, more permanent plans. If any enterprise is started on your property it should be self-sufficient and not a drain on your resources.”

“That makes good sense to me.”

“Are you willing to subject yourself to ridicule and discomfort for the sake of Charley and the other people involved in this project?”

“I wouldn’t be a worthwhile vessel of I AM if I am not willing to undergo some discomfort because I help those I AM wants me to work with, but I wouldn’t offer to do it at all if I didn’t believe it is the will of I AM.”

“Perhaps he can stay with you until the fall and then move to the property Dr. Lynch has offered to sell him.” I doubted Charley would want to move if his project succeeded at our place but as usual Alta Sha’s foresight proved much better than mine.

We scheduled a meeting with Charley at our home to get better acquainted and to discuss our proposal. On the appointed day, I hurriedly mowed the area we would offer him and Marjie made preparations for company, but Charley and his uninvited wife arrived an hour and half later than expected and gave neither apology nor explanation. I decided to overlook his disrespectful behavior because I thought I AM wanted us to support the village and foolishly thought his behavior might improve with time.

Marjie and I explained that our desire to serve God had led to our 134

encounters with Indian spirits, that we had attempted to help them, and that we wanted to do something for living Indians as well.

After touring the mix of pasture and trees at the intersection of two county roads that we proposed to let him use, Charley agreed to our generous terms. Alta Sha privately offered to speak directly to Charley, which I appreciated. Marjie was nervous about channeling for the first time before our new acquaintances and apologized in advance for what was about to happen.

Alta Sha greeted them and asked Charley to walk outside with him. Meanwhile, I chatted with his spouse about our adventures with Indian spirits, which gave her goose bumps. When they returned, Alta Sha withdrew. We agreed to meet with Charley and a real estate agent who was a member of his tribal council to discuss a lease, and our guests departed.

Alta Sha stepped forward again. I asked, “Did you and Charley have a good talk?”

“I revealed much of Charley to himself. He longs for the Light he sees in your spirit. I told him I am Pearl’s guard and guide those who are important in her life and will not allow anyone to harm her. Perhaps you should not tell Marjorie that to prove to him I spoke the truth, flying insects that sting covered her legs but she was not harmed. I asked Charley if he would also protect Marjorie and keep her from harm. He agreed. I asked him was there anything he wanted of Alta-Sha. His answer was peace, a chance to complete what he had started, and protection. I said he had asked nothing of me. Do you agree with my statement?”

“Yes. He has access to all those things through the Creator.” Alta Sha nodded.

The lease allowed Charley to use a portion of our property for the sum of $1.00 a year provided that he followed certain common sense rules and would quickly vacate the property if asked to do so. As if he actually was the chief of a tribe, he offered me a seat on his Tribal Council, which consisted of a handful of non-Indian volunteers. He cautioned, “Once you are adopted by the tribe you are expected to act on behalf of the people and if you betray their trust it will cause great anger.”

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I didn’t tell him I thought he was being absurdly grandiose but replied, “I’m not trying to help your project succeed in order to become a member of your tribe or your council. The Great Spirit knows who I am, and that’s all the recognition I need. If you ever want my advice, all you have to do is ask for it.” He dropped the subject.

In spite of Alta Sha’s admonition not to drain our resources to help Charley, we donated a few hundred dollars we wouldn’t miss to assist him with moving expenses and offered our labor as well.

Instead of thanking us, he acted as if it were his due, adding to the low opinion I was forming of his character.

Supposedly following Alta Sha’s instruction to openly share with us, he made an unannounced visit to our home when I was away and spoke about personal information with Marjie. That evening she and I had a session for general guidance. As soon as she was entranced, Alta Sha said, “She needs to fly. Will you assist me in helping her to go deeper?”

“Yes. What should I do?”

“Put your hands on her shoulders and gently press down.”

While pressing I suggested her trance would deepen. Moments later a masculine voice said, “I am the eagle of the shaman. I hear my bell ringing.” She smiled as Feathers that Sparkle made the head and shoulder movements of perching.

I asked, “What do you see?”

“The skin of my perch and things that rattle hanging from it.”

After a brief silence I asked, “Is Softener of Skins there?”

“I see him.”

Tanner did not speak first so I said, “I wait for his words.”

Speaking slowly, he replied, “A man chooses each moment in time to receive or not to receive. I choose to receive what you are receiving now. There will come a time when I will not receive what you receive. The one I see you with now, this woman, has much to learn. To lock eyes does not always signify truth. To look for too long can be aggressive.”

“Why do you share these words with me now?”

“This is the time to share it.”

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“Thank you.”

“There are more words I would share.”

“My ears are open.”

“Soon, my feathered friend, you and the woman will be before many who are very proud and wise. They must be approached as a deer, not as a bear. You carry your pride well. You are good.” He nodded.

“There is only One who is good, the Father.”

He said, “It is the same. You are like the sun shining on the waters. Brilliant.”

“I try to please the Father.”

“You are good! I am One Who Softens Skins. Anyone who does not see this, come and speak to me! I am finished.”

Feathers that Sparkle said, “I fly. It is pleasure.”

“Enjoy your flight.”

Smiling, Marjie said, “I see the eagle flying away from me.

What an awesome sight! I hear his cry. My God, it’s so piercing!”

She silently watched him for a few happy moments. “I’m back with you. When Charley came today he showed me part of his family album. When I saw a picture of his mother I thought, I know this woman. Looking at her somehow reminded me of Light Mother (Metatron). I told him I would like to meet her very much. He said I could meet her if we go with him to the Cherokee reservation.”

I thought it highly improbable that a full-blooded Sioux would be allowed to live on a Cherokee reservation or would want to.

Although Charley’s ancestry wasn’t important to me, I didn’t approve of him lying about it. Perhaps telling Marjie where his mother lived was an indirect way of “coming clean.”

The next day Charley told us that his barking dog, constantly chained in his back yard, had been poisoned. He asked if I would help him bury it on our leased land that he now called The Reservation. As we dug the grave, he said, “My dog didn't deserve to die the way he did.” To comfort him I described our hypnotic trance encounter with the spirit of Edward, an Australian hermit whose only companions in life had been wild dogs. After death, he had felt unworthy to go into the Light. When persuaded to look for 137

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loved ones in it, he had been overjoyed to find his deceased dogs eagerly waiting for him. I said, “Remember that the spirit of your dog still lives; it has only been set free. He is happy and will wait for you. If you look, you will find his spirit around you in this lifetime.”

We placed the dog in its cardboard coffin in the grave. Marjie said, “Old Ones are here. They are very ancient. They came to express their pain and their sympathy. They suggest you put some pine branches over the box before you cover it.” I followed their instructions. After filling the grave with dirt, we placed more branches on top of it. Charley said he would find a cross or something else to mark the grave. Marjie said, “When you buried him every shovelful of dirt glittered like gold.” We silently stood there for several minutes before we returned to the house.

As we sat around the dining table having cold drinks Charley said he wanted to build a wikiup, a log cabin, and a longhouse to go with the teepees. I suggested he start with a longhouse, which could serve as council headquarters, a museum, a gift shop and a classroom for teaching Native American History. I also suggested adding an adobe dwelling to represent pueblo Indians. Marjie made the movements signaling that Feathers that Sparkle was present, but he said nothing. I asked him, “Do you need for me to help you fly?”

“No. I see One Who Softens Skins before me.”

“Does he want to speak to us?”

“Very much.”

I asked Charley, “Would you like to hear the words of an ancient Ute' shaman?”

“Always.”

Out of respect for me, Tanner waited for me to speak first. I said,

“We greet you.”

Because He Rides the Wind remained in me, Tanner answered , “I greet you, feathered friend. And I greet you, brother of the bear.”

(Charley called himself Two Bears). “I met the spirit of the dog. The dog is happy now. There will be many happy lives. I say this to you so that you can feel peace. That is all.”

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After making more flying motions, Marjie asked to be counted up. Charley tearfully said it was time to go and left. His emotional reaction to Tanner’s words suggested that Charley thought he was real. I sincerely hoped he did and would try to follow Tanner’s example.

In the morning Marjie said, “I had a bad dream. People were tugging at my body, pulling me this way and that way all night long and wouldn't let me rest. I feel sore, like I've been in a struggle.

My stomach is rolling and I have diarrhea.”

“You’ve been through a lot of changes lately. We're not used to having so many visitors.”

“I'm nervous about channeling around the people that will be coming here.” She was still anxious a couple of hours later, so we had a session. I began with a prayer for a calming experience.

Entranced she said, “I see Alta Sha. He says I need to fly with him to the Throne.”

“Then enjoy your flight.”

“Everything is going by in a blur. This is fun! We are at the entrance. I‘m going in.” She began to weep.

“Don't try to describe what’s happening; just experience it. You can tell me about it later.”

Before asking to be counted up Marjie wore an expression of complete bliss for several minutes and remained on cloud nine. “I saw I AM dancing in circles, whirling around and giving me energy. The energy came in waves. When they got so intense I couldn't take any more, He would turn the energy down until I was ready for another wave. I felt completely flooded by it. When He stopped He told me to look at his Hosts and to touch them. I touched the first one and said, You are so beautiful. He answered, You see the beauty of God. When I touched the next one I said, You are so powerful. He answered, You see the power of God. I touched the third one and said, You are so strong. He said, You see the strength of God. The fourth one knelt down on one knee and hugged me. I was overwhelmed by his love. He said, Is this protection enough for you?

I'm not afraid anymore.”

“Everything will be fine. I know God will protect us from being 139

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overrun by visitors. Our privacy will not be destroyed. I AM knows how important it is to us. He wants to please us just as we want to please Him.”

Marjie and I spent many hours preparing the leased area for the arrival of the village property. While mowing the shoulder high weeds I covered myself with Divine Light and projected it at the many wasps and bumblebees angered by my intrusion and didn’t receive a single sting. We rushed through breakfast to arrive at the village at the time scheduled to begin the move, but Charley and his relatively large crew of helpers kept us waiting for an hour. His first priority was to dismantle the full sized canvas teepees, place them on our small trailer, and take them to our place. He insisted on getting one of them erected right away although there was plenty of other stuff to be moved and an unsupervised crew waiting at the village. Putting up the long support poles and placing the heavy canvas over them was exhausting in the hot and humid weather. This was the first and only time I ever saw Charley exert himself on behalf of the village. A few weeks later he was accused of stealing the teepees. His haste had been an attempt to establish ownership.

Upon our return to the village for a second load we met Jonathan, a half Cherokee boy around twelve years old, his older brother, and his father, who was a member of Charley’s council.

Jonathan rode with us back to our house. We discovered he knew practically nothing about the history of Indians but was interested in learning more. Hoping to instill pride in his ancestry, I shared a little of it during the short time we were together.

A local farmer and his son had generously taken time away from hay baling to bring their large farm truck and a 16 ft. trailer for moving Charley’s shed. Although they worked for several hours loading and delivering it, Charley didn’t offer to pay them a dime.

It seemed like divine payback when Charley was the only person to be stung by wasps when the shed was unloaded. We had chosen good spots for it and the travel trailer and neither one had to be leveled.

Bathed and rested after the day’s busy activity, Marjie and I were 140

taking our usual evening walk when Perithnea emerged. She said hello, and did the dance that must be seen again. I said, “You've been watching me dance. Have I been doing it right?”

“Yes.”

“I've been thinking about that other dance you showed Marjie where people kept piling stuff on you until you collapsed. What is that one about?”

“It’s about when you go through life and people keep putting honors on you until they finally get so heavy you get tired of dancing and you just lay down, exhausted.”

At the top of the hill she said, “Mother (meaning Marjie) had a wonderful feast.”

“What feast was that?”

“When God gave her so much energy.”

“It was indeed wonderful.”

“He told her at the end of His dance that she should return to you. Do you know what that means?”

“I'm not certain.”

“I think it means you’re chosen. You are special. Do you understand?”

“I'm beginning to, but it's hard for me to think of myself that way.”

“Do you know why Charley's dog had to die?”

“Maybe it was partly to help him say goodbye to the past and partly to remind him of how his people were killed and why he is creating this village.”

“That's not all of it. One reason is so that the dog can be happy.

He was not happy being chained up. The only time he was happy was when Charley would play with him and that wasn't often enough. It wasn't Charley's fault. He didn't want to chain him, but he didn't know what else to do. Now the dog is happy to be free.

Another reason was so Charley would allow himself to cry in front of white people and find out that not all of them are the same. A chief isn't supposed to cry like that but you and mother didn’t complain about it and helped him to bury his dog in a dignified way. It was good for his growth and it was good for you, too.”

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When Charley’s village was fully moved to our property he decided to host a pow-wow in order to raise money, something he had never done before. Seeking advice from people experienced with pow-wows, he arranged a meeting in our home. I suppose he thought our display of Indian artifacts would boost his own stature.

Marjie and I were immediately attracted to Roger (part Creek) and Leanna (part Comanche’), a very friendly and practical couple.

They had attended many pow-wows where they sold bead work, jewelry and traditional moccasins. Sometimes Roger also danced.

He said he had felt at peace the minute they had arrived and knew it would be a good place for Native Americans to gather. They gave Charley the names of several people who could help him with the pow-wow. They laughed when I mentioned a supposedly full-blooded Apache’ chief said to be a champion dancer. They said he was a good dancer but had been kicked out of some pow-wows for lying about his ancestry. Although he hadn’t cleared it with me, Charley announced that I would give a talk at the Sunday Service when the pow-wow officially ended. I said, “Won’t people think I’m just another wannabe who has no business talking about Native American beliefs?”

Roger said, “It’s not the color of your skin but what’s in your heart that matters to Indians, and we can see that your heart is good.” In spite of the short notice, they felt the pow-wow could be a success. We thanked them for their help and looked forward to seeing them again at the pow-wow.

Preparing for the event, I used our tractor to level the dance ground and helped Charley erect log benches. Marjie and I put up a gated fence to prevent visitors to the village from wandering into our private area. The village had no independent water supply, so I bought several hoses to deliver water from our outdoor hydrant to minimize dust. Charley got stung again when using the tractor to cut weeds from the village grounds.

Although we contributed much more physically and materially to the pow-wow than either Charley or his Council did, he failed to thank us and, adding insult to injury, he tried to exclude us from a formal blessing of the pow-wow grounds by Don White, a 142

respected Seneca elder. Charley had not informed us of the event, but I saw him and an older couple performing a ceremony, which prompted me and Marjie to join them. The brief ritual was just ending when we arrived. I introduced us to elder White and his wife, who were both very friendly. Mrs. White said they knew our place was already sanctified when they first stepped on it and that their blessing wasn’t really needed. When Charley went into his trailer get something Mr. White said Charley had unexpectedly asked him to serve as master of ceremonies at the pow-wow even though he had no experience doing that. He had only agreed to do it because Charley said he had no one else to turn to and because they wanted a successful pow-wow. We apologized for Charley’s behavior, said we would not have handled it that way if we had been in charge, and thanked him for being so generous.

In spite of the short notice, several Indian vendors came to sell their beautiful hand-made goods and some also danced or gave impromtu speeches. Charley arranged for a local band of Choctaw Indians, in their colorful clothing to perform traditional dances narrated by leader Patsy Thompson. They also played a rough game of traditional stick ball. Although no prize money was offered, a group of professional drummers and a couple of fancy dancers also performed. Marjie and I made sure everyone had whatever they needed and kept the dirt dance grounds as dust free as we could.

We were completely surprised when a couple of patrol cars and several lawmen appeared, saying they had received a report that Charley was selling drugs. After looking around and questioning Charley, they left. An angry Council Member had called the cops because he had been told that he would be allowed to wear Charley’s full war bonnet at the pow wow and it was now denied.

We had seen no evidence of drug selling or use at all and knew that if impoverished Charley was a drug dealer, he was clearly a failure.

The unhappy Council member apparently didn’t care if our reputation would be damaged by his actions. When he resigned from the Council I thought, Good riddance. This was the sort of thing Alta Sha had warned me would happen.

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Several pow-wow participants privately said they had little or no respect for Charley. One said Charley could not be Sioux because the arena was an oval instead of a circle and the sweat lodge was not properly made. Some winning contestants said receiving a T shirt advertising the village as a prize was an insult and that instead of paying for unnecessary motel rooms and food vouchers, Charley should have used that money for prizes.

Regardless of Charley’s disappointing behavior, we greatly enjoyed making new acquaintances among the Indians and appreciated their good will and moral support.

Most of the vendors had already left before Sunday morning’s service at the pow-wow grounds. Marjie and I again wore our Indian-themed wedding outfits and I held the Tarahumra’s sacred staff as we joined a small group of mainly Choctaws. After saying a brief prayer, I described how Rocks that Slide told us to make and decorate the staff, the miraculous way several of the items on it had been provided, and how it symbolized the spiritual journey everyone takes through life, death, and reincarnation. Several people said how much they enjoyed it.

After taking the staff back to the house and changing our clothes we returned to the arena to tell the remainders goodbye. Leanna said, “I have to tell you what happened when you walked back to your house. Two adult red-tailed hawks and one young one came and circled over the dance grounds. Then they flew to your house and circled over it. It was a beautiful thing to see. You are truly blessed.” I later wondered if my three guardian angels had briefly entered those hawks.

The Choctaws were about to leave when Charley complained that by the time he paid the Choctaws their $400.00 fee, he would not have any profit at all. I thought the dozen or so Choctaws deserved more and deliberately did not tell Charley that I gave Woody Bell, their chief, another $400.00 of our own money. I did not learn until weeks later that when Charley learned what I did, he did not give Woody the $400.00 he owed him. He had effectively stolen $400 from the Choctaws and me. If Charley had thought I was deliberately covering his debt, why didn’t he tell me what he 144

had done and thanked me? To Charley gratitude was a foreign language and its opposite dominated his behavior.

Charley’s manipulations had caused a lot of emotional tension among the pow-wow participants which Marjie deeply felt. After everyone was gone, she had to lie down for several hours to regain her composure. By nightfall, she had enough energy to stroll around the empty dance arena with me under a star-filled sky.

Perithnea began to channel. We we were discussing the pow-wow when a high altitude, rapidly flashing white light headed toward us from the northwest. It gradually slowed, dimmed to a blood red color, and stopped directly above us. A few seconds later it blinked out and Perithnea cheerily exclaimed, “You have just seen an official UFO!”

“It reminds me of one I saw the first night of the pow-wow.”

She asked, “Do you understand now what you’re supposed to make out of your life?”

“I allow I AM to guide me.”

“That isn't what I mean.”

“Are you asking if I know what my life is leading up to?”

“Yes.”

“I'm not certain.”

“It's leading up to something very big. There will be rejoicing.

There will be singing and celebrating and it's all going to come to you. You don't have to travel to it. Just as the Indians came to you, the rest will also come.”

“But it won't be happening soon,” I said.

“All that you have is time.”

“That’s true.” When we reached the big chestnut tree beside the house I said, “The air is warmer here.”

“Trees breathe just like people. It’s releasing the oxygen it’s been storing up all day. If someone asks what you know about trees, you can tell them you have felt one breathe.” We entered the house. She said, “It isn't going to be as long as you think,” and withdrew.

Marjie said, “Tanner wants to speak to Charley and asks you to arrange a meeting.”

“Good. Maybe he’ll listen to Tanner. He doesn’t listen to me.”

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At dinner the following evening Charley agreed to hear what Tanner had to say early that evening. When he failed to appear I walked to his trailer to remind him of his commitment but he asked me to attend the Council meeting scheduled to begin a half hour later. After eating supper with Marjie, I attended the meeting mainly to gauge the amount of support he could expect from the group.

Charley complained for an hour about the ways white people were ruining his reputation while completely overlooking his own irresponsible and possibly illegal behavior. After his diatribe, the handful of Council members decided that the first priority of the village should be to build a museum and gift shop, but Charley said he had only $19.00 left after paying the debts of the pow-wow, failing to mention that he still owed the Choctaws $400.00. I offered to loan the council money for building supplies if they would supply the labor to build it and wasn’t surprised when that suggestion failed. Charley revealed that he still hadn’t paid for his gift shop inventory and for several carved wooden signs. I wasn’t surprised when the meeting ended without a concrete plan of action. I thought reminding Charley of his commitment to Tanner would be a waste of time and breath.

Marjie and I were taking our evening walk when I said, “All Charley wants to do is to show off. I think it’s time to tell him goodbye, but I’m not sure that’s what I AM wants us to do. I don’t think we should support Charley himself, but if I AM wants Indians to have a place where they can gather to educate people about their cultures and teach others to respect Mother Earth, I’m willing to help with that. I’ve even considered letting them use our house for that purpose. We could build a smaller one for us. What do you think?”

Alta Sha replied, “Alta Sha is here to answer your questions.”

“Should I go into debt for building materials?”

“We have already discussed this. It will not be beneficial to assume his burdens. You will only cripple him, not help him. It is within his power to succeed. Your role should be limited to that of a good friend who gives advice and support but not money.”

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“It bothers me that he has so little interest in spiritual things. He didn’t keep his appointment with Tanner.”

“You cannot force this on another. Perhaps there are spirits who are disappointed because you have devoted so much attention to Charley and the village that they have not been able to speak to you.”

“I am always happy to hear the words of Tanner or any of the others. Do they wish to speak now?”

“They understand it was unintentional. Sometimes the spirits are so full they urgently want to speak, but they can wait. Alta Sha is speaking the words of I AM. A wave of negativity has resisted the success of this project. Giving up your home is unnecessary.

Your shelter serves more purposes than you know. It is more than a place where you lay your heads to rest. The steps I AM has placed before you are not difficult, they are simple. If Charley is a minister, why does he not minister? If he is a teacher, why does he not teach?”

“I have the same questions. I don’t see him actually doing what he says he intends to do here.”

“By offering to loan him money for a building, you are trying to control the outcome of his work.”

“Putting up a building was the council’s idea.”

“Charley should advertise classes and charge a fee. Many more nights will be cool and dry like this. He could begin teaching as soon as next week. He could tell them to bring their money and their writing implements. It is not difficult to do this and no expensive building is required.”

“I’ll suggest that to him the next time I see him.”

“It is time for you and Pearl to return to your work with the spirits and to let Charley deal with his problems. You have given him the opportunity to succeed and have done much for him. It is enough. The rest is up to him. You should release this concern.”

“Should we go to other pow-wows in order to meet more Indians?”

“There is no need for you to travel in order to be known. As a result of the pow-wow, your name is being mentioned by many.

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Are Alta Sha's words a comfort to you?”

“They certainly are. I thank I AM and you.”

“Alleluia! Pearl is quite tired.” He withdrew.

When I suggested to Charley that he could offer classes on Native American culture for a fee and that he should try selling his gift items at the events he was planning to attend, he declared he did not intend to be a mere salesman and had no interest at all in teaching classes. He said he had seen Indian spirits in the trees near our house and had heard them whistling like birds to each other.

When I asked how he was affected by their presence he said he was afraid because they included the famous warriors Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Geronimo, and Cochise. I thought, He has good reason to feel ashamed and afraid in their presence. He knows quite well that those men of honor, integrity and bravery sacrificed everything for their people and would not approve of his self-centered, conniving ways. Each of them fought the white invaders until it was certain that more fighting would only lead to the complete annihilation of their people.

The next time he channeled Alta Sha confirmed that Charley could see the Indian spirits and asked, “Does it surprise you that he can see and speak to them the same as Pearl?”

“I believed him but it’s good to have it confirmed. Are these spirits here only for him or for us as well?”

“You have heard they are resting in your trees and have heard them walking in your house and on your roof. It should be obvious they are also making contact with you. What I AM has told me to place before you no longer requires that you to travel to contact such spirits. Now they come to you.” Feeling honored and grateful, tears filled my eyes. “You have studied the history of American Indians much. Now it is time for you to study the ways of today's Indians. Charley is very careful of where he places each step. He knows that carelessness has been the downfall of his people in the past. The spirits in the trees are here to learn from you and from him how to avoid repeating the mistakes of their past.”

“Who are they? Why are they here?”

“You have already been given names. They are accurate.”

“I would like to speak directly to them.”

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“Perhaps Softener of Skins can help with his Light in this matter.”

“Perithnea says that many others have come to have their own pow-wow. Who are they? Which tribes are represented?”

“All tribes are represented. There are too many to name them all.”

“That would be a very large number. Am I right to think they will be our leaders in the New Earth?”

“Yes. You will be capable of doing the task which has been given to you. You should go slowly and plant your steps carefully to avoid mistakes.”

“I don't fully understand what my responsibilities to them are, but I will do my best. Will we be working with the five chiefs in the same way that we have with the others? Will we transport them?”

“Yes, and one will manifest, but you are not yet ready for this.”

He smiled. “Perithnea says she would like you to live for a very long time. When the time comes for you to be taken away you must be properly prepared. If you were told when these things are going to happen you would avoid many things, things that are exactly what you need in order to be prepared.”

“I understand it’s probably best not to know everything in advance.”

He bowed his head and prayed, “I AM is magnificent. Always need Alta Sha. Find Alta Sha worthy forever.”

I added, “Thank you, I AM, for all the blessings and growth I have experienced and for the proofs of Your existence which sustain my faith. Help me to teach our Indian friends well.”

Their presence was signaled by footsteps in the stairwell and on the roof, knocks and pops in our ceilings and walls, and clothing rearranged in our closets. Perithnea had seen them running across our roof and sitting on our balcony. He Rides the Wind may have contributed to a vivid dream that the wind was blowing so hard that to fly I only had to extend my arms like wings. The sensation of flying was so real I woke up to the sound of Indian footsteps in the stairwell.

In the morning I said to Marjie, “Your face is awfully red. Did 149

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you have a bad dream?”

“I dreamed I was an Indian.”

One day Adam said, “I have been staying very close to strengthen the bond between us. I want to learn everything I can about you.”

“I hope you will overlook my faults.”

“How can I learn everything about you if I do that?”

“Perhaps to forgive them is a better way to put it.”

“You need no forgiveness from me, father. I am proud to be your son.”

“And I’m proud that you chose me to be your father. What have you learned from our Indian spirit visitors?”

“I have learned they have deep emotions of compassion, love and empathy. They are very brave. I want to be like them.”

After a second night of interrupted sleep due to Indian yelps and popping sounds I was resting in the recliner as Marjie was doing something in the kitchen. With eyes closed, I felt Light Mother/Metatron’s touch in the right temple of my brain. I said hello and felt powerful, mildly painful probing sensations deep in my frontal lobes. I thought surgical changes were being made to strengthen the neural connections between the left and right hemispheres and was mildly anxious about the outcome. To be on the safe side, I said to Metatron/Light Mother, “You and I were created by the same Father and we are both dedicated to serving Him. In that, we are alike.” I relaxed when I received a strong vision of the vivid blue color I associate with the Creator’s attention. My body vibrated as waves of spiritual energy flowed through my hands and out of my fingertips. I felt the touches of invisible grays on the backs of my hands and said, “Thank you for sharing your energy with me.” With eyes closed, I imaged all of us surrounded by a bright, nurturing sphere of Divine Love.

Marjie entered the room and softly asked, “Are you asleep?”

“No. Light Mother was just here and did something to my brain.

I don’t feel as tired as I did, but I have a dull ache where I was probed. I never felt anything like that before. I’m just going to rest a little longer.” A few minutes later I was up and about and felt 150

completely normal.

The results of Charley’s irresponsible behavior were catching up to him and put us in the awkward position of having to explain the nature of our involvement. Early on I received a call from the Chief of Police warning that Charley had a bad reputation and being too involved with him would be a mistake. I didn’t know Charley very well at that time and was not deterred, thinking he might be the victim of small town gossip. The village property had been located on our land for several weeks when a stranger came pounding on our door demanding to know why his travel trailer was parked in our pasture! Upon learning that we supported Charley’s plan to establish a living village and thought the trailer belonged to him the visitor quickly calmed down and became quite friendly. He was the father of the teenager we had met at the village. He had provided the trailer as living quarters for the exclusive us of his son and not for Charley to use as an office. The trailer was supposed to be retrieved by the owner when his son went back home but Charley had not informed the father of its changed whereabouts as required by their agreement. Charley had attempted to steal the trailer and had made us potential associates. I called Charley and commanded him to come and talk with the trailer’s owner. When he arrived he refused to return the trailer to its owner and did not yield until the owner threatened to call the sheriff. Charley removed his personal possessions from it and the father towed it away.

Soon after that Charley’s previous landlord, who was a university professor arrived at our door with a Sheriff’s Deputy to demand that we return his tepees to him! Charley’s haste to erect one had been an attempt to establish ownership. Charley was court ordered to return the tepees. If the true owner had pressed charges against Charley, he could have spent in a year in jail and would have received a $2500.00 fine. Fortunately, no one thought we were willing accomplices.

The person who had made the carved wooden signs for the village came to the house trying to locate Charley and collect the 151

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money he owed.

Charley had given us plenty of reasons to evict him, but in the interest of helping the village to get going, we gave him another chance. To raise funds, Charley sponsored a trade fair. For a modest sum, vendors rented spaces at the “village” where they could display their wares. Marjie rented a vendor space to sell her Indian spirit creations and those of a new Indian acquaintance named Mary, a lonely and depressed Nez Perce’ who was trying to make enough money to return to her tribe’s reservation. Mary was to sell exquisite papoose boards and other elegant items that could have sold for significant sums. Marjie happily anticipated spending a whole day with her new friend.

Several vendors attended the fair. It had been underway for about an hour when I went to see how things were going. I had just arrived when I saw Mary, Charley, and a couple of his buddies leaving in a pickup truck! I asked Marjie, “Why is Mary leaving?”

“Charley asked her to go with them to some event taking place in another county.”

“How do you feel about what Charley just did?”

“I’m really mad at him but I don’t know why.”

“Look at what he just did to you. He knew you wanted to spend the day with Mary and he took her away from you. He told you to look after her expensive stuff and to be responsible for any money it brings and he gave you the job of looking after his fair. Is any of that okay with you?”

Marjie sobbed, “I was beginning to love him and I already loved her! I thought we were going to be real friends. Why did he take her away from me?”

“You don’t have to do anything he told you to do. He’s just taking advantage of your good nature.”

“I don’t want to have anything to do with him ever again! I want him out of here!”

I wholeheartedly agreed with her. We took our table and all the items on it to the house and left the conduct of the fair to the remaining vendors.

Charley had already violated several provisions of our lease 152

agreement and was given a written order by our attorney to vacate the premises. Shortly after that Alta Sha asked, “Are you disappointed?”

“Not really. We met many good Indians because we helped him and I am grateful for that.”

“I AM is pleased that you perceive this. It shows much wisdom.”

“I believe the role Charley was supposed to play in our lives is over.”

“Excellent. Charley should honor your agreement and go peacefully.”

“I have some concern that he may resist. He seems to enjoy doing that even when he’s clearly in the wrong.”

“Your agreement says he will leave peacefully if asked to do so.

I will not allow him to torment Pearl (his nickname for Marjie) any longer and I know you would not allow it.”

Returning from a trip to town, Marjie and I had to drive by Charley and a few Council members at the village, all of whom turned away from us. She was so upset over seeing him again that she said, “I’m sorry, but I need to be alone for a while. I’m too angry to be good company right now.”

“You need to release that anger. Let’s go outside and beat something up.” I propped up a small piece of plywood, handed her an axe, and said, “Destroy your enemy.” Sobbing with rage, Marjie chopped and screamed and cursed Charley for as long as she could and collapsed on the plywood. I hugged her for several minutes while she released intense feelings of betrayal and loss. Finally calm, she apologized for being so emotional. I praised her for not stifling her feelings. She took a long nap. When we took our evening walk she said, “I’m feeling much better after letting go of all that anger.”

“You did a good job of it.”

Perithnea unexpectedly said, “Did you see that red Indian that just rushed by us on all fours?”

“No. Why was he on all fours?”

“He was changing into an animal.”

“I wish I could see him. Aho, brother!”

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The following afternoon I was grilling steaks when Perithnea said, “Charley is hiding.”

“I had the same thought just a minute ago. All the bad things he’s been doing are catching up with him and his reputation is shot.

He has alienated everybody who had dealings with him, he can’t pay his debts, and he can’t skip town because his vehicles are out of commission. Why did he deliberately offend us at the trade fair?”

“He enjoys pain. He was born into this life planning to fail and be a victim. He’s compelled to drive away the people who care for him. He knew what he did would cause you to turn against him.”

When we heard rumors that Charley was threatening to sue us, Tanner told me to “Ignore that “gnat.” I knew he had no legal grounds and no money for a lawyer anyway, and nothing came of that. After making a few trips to remove the stuff Charley wanted to keep from our property, he left several items lying around for us to remove. We were glad he was gone, but it was not the last time we heard what others had to say about that whole affair. A few months later we were taking a Sunday drive when, quite by accident, signs directed us to a pow-wow being conducted by the same Choctaws that had performed at ours! It seemed that Divine Providence had guided to this completely unexpected reunion just in time, for the pow-wow was to end within the hour!

After a warm greeting Patsy Thompson told us that my talk about reincarnation had enabled her to stop grieving over the years ago death of a dear relative. We were pleased to see other familiar faces. Don and Peggy White said they had heard about our troubles with Charley and fully supported our decision to evict him. Roger and Leanna said they had doubted Charley’s honesty from the beginning and were sorry that we had been deceived. Leanna and some of her friends had prayed that Charley would not be allowed to hurt us and that any of his negative energy that lingered on our property would be eliminated. We were told again how strong the positive spiritual energy was on our land and encouraged us to hold another pow-wow which, if given lots of advance publicity, would definitely be successful.

We accepted Patsy’s invitation to attend services at the Choctaw 154

Baptist Church. When we did, Patty looked very ill, explaining that she couldn’t afford an overdue dialysis treatment. We shared healing energy with her that left her feeling and looking much better. She thanked us profusely. I advised her to daily visualize spiritual Light shining on areas of her body that needed healing.

She eventually died from her illness, but was not afraid at the end, according to a relative.

The Indian spirits remained after Charley’s departure. One night, I heard many footsteps on the roof and inside the house and wondered if Geronimo, Cochise, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse were responsible. It suddenly occurred to me that they were the third group of five Indian spirits to contact us. In an early trance session, Perithnea had shown Marjie a tombstone covered with carved symbols that included the number 3. The Tarahumara dream catcher had three shells on its circumference and five black beads on the web inside it. My attention had been drawn to the unusually high number of items gathered in groups of three and five wherever I went. The reason for that seemed quite clear.

On our evening walk I told Marjie about this insight and was answered by Perithnea. “At this moment, three Indian spirits are following us. If you turn around and open your eyes, your heart and your arms, they will embrace you.” I did, and felt a powerful surge of spiritual energy flowing among us. Perithnea briefly hugged me from behind before saying, “Uh oh, I’m in trouble now,” and quickly withdrew. I wondered what faery rule she had broken.

We were walking back up our driveway when Marjie said, “I see Indians in the trees, on the roof, and over there in the tall grass. I feel like I need to touch Mother Earth.” She laid face down on the mowed grass with outstretched arms. I followed her example. Her eyes filled with loving tears as she said, “I feel her moving beneath my hands. It reminds me of the way it feels when you're pregnant and the baby moves inside you.”

“Maybe that’s because she’s about to be born as the New Earth.”

She replied,“A bunch of Indians are standing around us. They feel like family.”

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“Amen to that.”

The following evening the Indian spirits urged us to dance, so we took our rattles and the Tarahumara drum to the pow-wow grounds. As Marjie shook her rattle and I beat the drum, we danced like Indians under a moonless, star-filled sky. She did the warrior dance and then the side by side steps mainly used by women. While singing a made up song and dancing with toe-heel steps, I prayed that people would learn to live in harmony with nature, that peace would prevail on Earth, and that all people would be spiritually united.

After a few minutes we took our customary walk. Normally talkative Perithnea only said hello, so I asked, “Why are you so quiet tonight?”

“I'm trying to stay out of trouble. I got my wings slapped for what I did last night. I wasn't supposed to embrace you when you were hugging the Indians.”

“No great harm was done.”

“I learned my lesson.”

“Are any of them with us now?”

“Many.” We silently continued walking for a while until she asked, “Why are you sad?”

“Because I can’t participate in the massive spirit pow-wow that’s going on right under my nose.”

“This pow-wow is for spirits. Would you want to contaminate their gathering with human flaws? When they have finished and it’s time for you to get involved, they will let you know in an unmistakable way.”

“Good. Another thing bothering me is that I’m afraid I’ve been saying things that aren’t true by telling people major Earth changes are going to happen much sooner than now seems likely. You said a change has to take place in people’s hearts before Earth can begin to heal, but at the rate things are going now, that could take a very long time.”

“A change will take place in human hearts about wanting to love the Earth and to care for her. A new era is beginning. The old order is passing away and a new one is dawning, beginning today.” I 156

thought that might explain why spirit representatives of all the tribes had gathered here. Perithnea had told me to expect a lot of visitors.

“How can the hearts of men change quickly enough? I don't like the idea that I may have to stay on this dying planet for another thirty years.” (A prophetic choice of words? We are in the 30th year now.)

“I'm not doing a very good job of cheering you up, so I'm going to go play. Alta Sha will talk to you.”

“Thank you for trying.”

Alta Sha said, “I am not aware of any falsehoods you have spoken. If you were to say something that is false, others will not remember it. Perithnea is right. People have to change inside before things on Earth can improve.”

“I doubt that a majority of people will turn toward the Light unless I AM intervenes in some dramatic way. Many people seem to be doing their best to go backwards.”

“They are simply traveling in circles. I AM will awaken a spirit of love in people, but His methods differ from those you expect.”

“I certainly don't understand His methods.”

“Not all of His creations put together can understand His methods. Your problem is confusion about the location.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You have been told that Native Americans would be allowed to reclaim the Earth. Do you remember this?”

“Yes.”

“And do you remember being told about a construction which is too large to be contained on Earth?”

“Yes.”

“Nucleus 8 has told you it was being created as a habitation for humans. You already know that chosen people will be transported to this construction. Many have been touched. Why do you think this is so?”

“So the ETs will know how to help us survive in the new world, and to create new beings.”

“Yes, beings who will not succumb. Why do you think designs 157

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have appeared in crops and not in other places such as deserts or forests or even the oceans?”

“Because crops are our food.”

“Now you understand the mystery of crop circles. They show their interest in what you eat. Their interest in livestock also shows this. They leave evidence of their interest as a sign for those who will notice and be awakened. All the activity of the others has primarily been for the creation of a New Earth which will contain all the living elements of this Earth plus many others which are extinct here but are preserved elsewhere. This is why UFOs have been seen in the oceans, in the arctic, in the mountains and in the deserts. Everything that is pure on Earth has been preserved and protected on that planet.”

“What will happen to Earth?”

“It is finished. Those who will be left behind are lost. Only those who are in the Light of I AM will be taken to the new world.”

“I’m happy to know about the New Earth, but I also have to say goodbye to this one. It makes me sad to know that Mother Earth is dying.” I was again overcome with grief for the egregious harm we humans have inflicted on our beautiful planet. “What will happen to Mother Earth’s spirit?”

“Native Americans talk about the spirit of the Earth being in everything that is of the Earth: the animals, the plants, the rocks, everything. Earth's spirit will travel to the new planet through them. In part, it is already there. There is much to rejoice. You speak of your world but you should eliminate the word world. It is too limiting. You should think more of your universe instead of your world. There are limitless worlds which can be made suitable for habitation, places where many different beings can happily live together.

“Your Father is pleased with you. Your pitch is higher. The information about this you have shared with others has been shared with wisdom. That wisdom makes you seek flaw in yourself and to eliminate it. The steps you have been given are not placed before arrogance. If you were arrogant, you would not be allowed to take them.”

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“Am I to share this information?”

“It has been shared with you at the proper time. You are being prepared to take another step. If you must mourn, do it only for the loved ones who may be left behind, but I AM has also provided for them. I AM greatly blesses those who are in His Light. What of Earth will you mourn; the concrete, the steel, the pollution?”

“Of course not.”

“Neither will the spirit of Earth mourn them.”

“Then there really is no reason to mourn.”

“What kind of world do you expect I AM has prepared for you?”

“It’s a relief to know the mistakes humans have made on Earth will not be repeated there.”

On another evening walk Perithnea said, “Things will be different in the new world. Every living thing will cooperate to make things run smoothly. That includes animals and plants as well as humans. For instance, if there is a place where you want the grass to grow short so people can walk, it will. If you want an animal to approach you, it will.”

“Will people hunt animals for food there?”

“It will not be necessary, but if someone does hunt they will use every bit of the animal so that nothing goes to waste, like the Indians did.”

“Being on a planet where all life works in harmony would be a dream come true.”

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Chapter Ten: Reservation Healing In 1994 a white buffalo calf named Miracle was born on a farm near Janesville, Wisconsin and became a national sensation because many Indians and non-Indians went there to honor her, believing that her birth fulfilled an ancient prophecy. According to the legends of several plains tribes, a white buffalo calf suddenly

appeared before two young warriors hunting for their tribe. The calf slowly changed into very beautiful White Buffalo Calf Woman and the enchanted warriors escorted her to their village. She taught the people how make practical use of every part of a buffalo’s body and how to prayerfully use the pipe of peace to insure truthful speech. As she was leaving, White Buffalo Calf Woman gradually assumed the coloring of every race and said she would someday return as a white buffalo calf to initiate an era of peace and harmony among all people. One Indian woman said that for them it was like the second coming of Christ.

I asked Perithnea what she thought about the reaction to Miracle’s birth. “It’s a very important event for Native Americans. It gives them hope.”

“Will Indians take Miracle with them to the New Earth?”

“No, but if they wanted to, the government would try to stop them.”

“Why?”

“They don’t like anything that unites Indians. They’re paranoid about having another Indian uprising.”

“Why would they think Indians would go to war because of Miracle? She’s a symbol of peace and harmony.”

“They have a guilty conscience.”

Marjie and I decided to visit Miracle ourselves. Dr Lynch arranged for us to stay with friends living near the Stockbridge 161

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Indian Reservation close to Gresham, Wisconsin. Our hostesses were to be Ruthie, a white former nun, and Dottie, a Mohican elder.

Both were very active in promoting womens’ causes and Indian welfare.

I came across a map of the Spanish Peaks area while packing for the trip and showed it to Marjie. She said, “Looking at that map makes me feel like I need to go back. Maybe we’re supposed to take some of those chiefs with us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

One moonless night as I walked down our driveway through a small copse of trees I was startled by the unexpected croaks of a heron leaving its roost. Although it was too dark to see it, I shouted,

“Hello! Thank you for letting me hear your voice. You are welcome here!” I decided it was heading back when its croaks got louder, stopping when it resumed its perch. I had never seen a heron on our property and had never seen one in the wild immediately return to a place it had left. Marjie and I agreed to look for it in the morning.

Upon waking Marjie said, “We had a visitor last night. Around one o’clock, a girl, tall enough to reach my shoulder, was standing near your feet for a few seconds. I blinked and she turned into a hazy ball of light near the ceiling. When I blinked again it moved into the dormer and disappeared. It wasn’t a dream. I know it was real.”

“Did you recognize her?”

“No, but I heard that big bird calling.”

“Perithnea was recently talking to me about an Indian spirit changing into an animal. Maybe the girl became the heron, or her spirit inhabited one.”

A while later Perithnea said, “You had a visitor in the middle of the night.”

“Yes. Was she one of the sprites?”

“No, just a friendly spirit.”

“Is she connected with the bird we heard?”

“Yes.”

“I thought so. Are they one and the same?”

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“You are very smart, father bright.”

“I assume that means yes.”

“Uh huh.”

“How did she know where to find us?”

“Word gets around. You live in a very sacred place, father.”

“It feels sacred.”

When Alta Sha channeled again I said, “I have many questions about last night’s visitor. Why was she here? What’s her name?

Where did she come from? Will she be with us for long? Why did she assume the form of a bird?”

“She is exactly as she has been described to you, a spirit who was only visiting. She was attracted to the Light here, as are many other spirits. She assumed the form and sound of a bird so you would notice her.”

“It was something I couldn't miss.”

“Exactly.”

“Will she be with us for a while?”

“Yes, for a time. Her name is not important.”

“What is drawing Marjie back to the mountains? Are the spirits we left there calling to her?”

“Not the spirits that are there, but the spirits within her and you.”

“Why do they want to go there?”

“If she were to go to the mountains, a blending of spirits would take place and much more.”

“Are you speaking of the Utees who stayed with us?”

“Yes. The ones you know as Tanner and Rides the Wind have not been able to grow as they should. They wish to join the three you released into the stone wall.”

“Why not?” It upset me to think they had not been able to grow while with us.

“Modern civilization. Their environment is not conducive to their growth. They have become confused.”

“Have we failed them in some way?”

“It is not because of any failure on your part. They need to take this trip. It is as important for them as it is for you. They need to be 163

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in an environment that will enable them to grow.” Empathy with their plight filled my eyes with tears. I also longed for the company of like minded spirits while living on Earth. He said, “They are in the hands of I AM. Why add grief?”

“They are already so wise it hasn’t occurred to me that they also need to grow.”

Perhaps Asalara will return to teach you.”

“To instruct all of us?”

“Everyone involved. Or perhaps not.” He suddenly smiled as if receiving good news. “I AM has prepared more steps for Alta Sha to put in place. Alleluia!”

“Alleluia! What about the Tarahumara spirits who entered Doug? Are they still with him?”

“They have been released. They have returned.”

“To Batopilas Canyon, the Spanish Peaks, or to our home?”

“To your home. They do not require a body to travel.”

“I always wondered why the spirits used Marjie's body for traveling.”

“It was for spiritual growth. It would not be wise for Marjorie to allow these three to enter her. They would bring undesirable qualities of the body they recently inhabited with them.”

“Will those qualities pass away with time?”

“Yes.”

I wondered how long it would be before we could return to the peaks. If we didn’t go pretty soon, Cordova/Apishipa Pass would be buried in snow, but we first needed to go north.

The warm welcome we received from Ruthie and Dottie made us feel very comfortable in their home near Red Lake. The Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation was several miles away. Several of its residents came to discuss their complaints about the corrupt Tribal Council, who refused to disclose how much money had been generated by their new casino and how it was being spent. A frustrated majority had elected honest, qualified people to replace the existing Council, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs negated the results, claiming that required election procedures had not been followed. A BIA approved election process had been initiated, but 164

the existing Council had written eligibility requirements that would prevent the most qualified candidates from campaigning.

The majority had initiated a suit demanding the Council’s full disclosure and a thorough audit of the tribe’s financial records by the BIA and the U. S. Department of Justice. Dottie and Ruthie invited us to go with them and others in the morning to tribal headquarters to demand access to the Council’s financial records, which we were pleased to do.

Although our small group arrived at tribal headquarters during the posted business hours the doors of the deserted office were locked. While the others discussed next steps, Marjie privately told me she had healing work to do. She and I projected healing Light into an equipment barn, a small storage building, and the small house serving as tribal headquarters. Everyone was standing near us when Marjie grasped two handfuls of loose dirt and said, “I’m supposed to heal the ground on which we stand.” She placed the soil on the banister attached to the house’s porch. I hugged her with my right arm and silently prayed for healing, justice, mercy and harmony and that the reservation’s inhabitants would rely on the Great Spirit for guidance.

The group finished planning their next steps. When we got back in the car with Ruthie and Dottie Marjie said, “I feel very good about the outcome of this healing. There is so much Light here now, no darkness will be able to withstand it. Everything is going to be alright.” With tears in her eyes, she rubbed her hands together and said, “I can still feel the energy in my hands. I know without any doubt that a healing took place.”

Ruthie asked, “What does that mean?”

I said, “It means that justice will be done.”

While I went to Stevens Point to tour an off the grid energy project, Ruthie and Dottie took Marjie to the tribal library and introduced her to a couple of women renowned for their healing ability. Upon my return, Marjie said, “One of the women held my hand and said only three people had ever given spiritual energy back to her after receiving it and I was one of them.” Showing me a thimble-sized quartz bear, she added, “The other one gave me this 165

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bear. She said it would give me clear vision.”

I also wanted to tour the small reservation community, so Marjie and I went back there after lunch. We stopped at a local park which contained a cemetery. I thought it was too bad that all the tombstones were engraved with European names instead of the more meaningful descriptive ones. Marjie said, “The energy here is bad. This place feels phony to me, like a pretense.”

We drove down a one lane road to a cul de sac where a wooden stage was bordered by tall wooden columns. I prepared to get out for a closer look but Marjie said, “I can’t stand the energy here. All I feel is revulsion.” I thought Tanner was influencing her reactions.

We left and parked in a pleasant spot within a copse of evergreen trees beside a shallow, wide creek burbling around small rocks and large boulders. Marjie said, “This is more like it. The energy is good here.”

As we walked to the bank of the stream Mi, a playful wood sprite, tickled my scalp, which reminded me to share energy with a few of the trees. We sat on a sunlit log; I thought, This is a good place to do the dance that must be seen again. I fetched a string of reindeer bells from the car and began to shake them with an Indian rhythm.

I was about to start dancing when Marjie said, “I feel as if I could fly right now.”

“Do you want me to count you down?”

“Yes.”

I prayed for Light, protection, wisdom, and communication with any spirits who wished to channel. Marjie’s head, neck and shoulders began to move as if flying; Feathers that Sparkle said, “I see the master's arm stretched out before me, the signal to land.”

After a brief silence I asked, “Are you with Softener of Skins?”

“He is here. He feels the pain that is in the hearts of these people.

He will use his healing powers to help them.”

“Does he have words to share with us?”

With his stiff, elderly gait, Tanner walked to the stream’s bank, where he raised his arms to the sky and shouted, “The earth, the sky, the four directions! Feel the truth that is in the wind. Feel the truth on your face. Feel the truth in your heart. Feel the truth in 166

hands that touch. In your heart you know what to discard. Discard all evil. Discard all darkness. There is healing in the wind. It will take many forms.”

Marjie’s posture indicated Feathers was back. I asked, “Are you flying again?”

“I have been cast down. It is finished.” He withdrew.

I asked Marjie, “Are you ready for me to count you up?”

She said, “Feel my hand.” It was ice cold. “Tanner touched me there before he quickly took his hand away. I watched him take powerful things for healing out of his medicine bag. While he was talking he held them up to the sky and the earth and each of the four directions before he released them into the wind. I’m exhausted.”

We went back to the house so she could nap while I went for a hike in the partially forested countryside. I stopped at a clearing beside beautiful Red Lake. Happy to know that tribal injustices would be corrected, I thanked God for all the blessings we had received and headed for the house.

Marjie was rested by suppertime and enthusiastically declared that the acorn squash Ruthie baked with a splash of Amaretto was delicious. We described the healing ritual Tanner had performed and discussed a few other experiences we had enjoyed with Indian spirits but dropped that topic when our hosts were clearly not pleased with it.

As we were about to leave in the morning, Dottie and Ruthie took our pictures, had us sign the guest book, and gave us sage for smudging, spirit rocks from Lake Superior, uncooked wild rice, and several old copies of Native American magazine. They were thrilled with our donation to the tribe’s legal fund and invited us to return whenever we could.

Our alternate route homeward led through scenic hills of crops and woods decorated with well maintained homes and impressive barns erected on massive stone foundations. Although Marjie had never before asked me to stop at a historic marker, she suddenly did. She didn’t know why she wanted to read it, but whoever or whatever prompted her knew it was important. It honored 167

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Waupaca, a peace-loving Indian chief who persuaded his bloodthirsty warriors not to wipe out the white homesteaders who invaded their territory. The whites appreciated his assistance so much that they adopted his name for the town and the county.

Near Janesville three red-tailed hawks circled and looped in a game of aerial tag right above us. A few minutes later two others soared above the interstate exit. At the adjacent service station, we were given a map directing us to Miracle’s farm. Parked cars lined the roadsides and, for a fee, the lawns of neighbors. As if prepared for us, we found the only free and r convenient roadside parking place available. We quickly learned that we had arrived at feeding time, when the buffalo, normally hidden in the woods, came out to eat near the cyclone fence. Spiritual energy tingled up my spine at my first sight of Miracle, who was now beige instead of the snow white she had been at birth. Hundreds of people had already viewed her, making her complete lack of interest in the spectators understandable. After a few minutes, their food was consumed and she and her mother rambled back into the woods and out of sight.

I was impressed by the sequence of events that put us in the right place at precisely the right time.

Attached to the fence, bead work, dream catchers, feathers, peace pipes, ribbons, tobacco pouches, and so forth expressed the reverence spectators had for Miracle. Our own contribution was a beaded hat band Marjie had recently finished.

Miracle was not the only white Buffalo calf ever born. They are rare and become brown with age. However, believing that she was unique and signified the dawning of a new, peaceful age had brought many Native Americans and whites together in a shared hope for a better future; we prayed that more miracles would occur.

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Chapter Eleven:

Spanish Peaks Reunion

When Marjie was well rested from our trip Perithnea said, “Tanner wants to channel, and it’s time for mother to learn more about the Spanish Peaks.”

“Okay, we’ll have a session.” I counted Marjie down.

She said, “I see Perithnea. She’s taking me to the plane of books.

We have come to a door. She says we have to go through the keyhole to get in. This time I went through easily. She’s leading the way, carefully stepping into the footprints she left the last time we came here. I’m doing the same thing. Every time she lifts her foot from a footprint it disappears, and so do mine.

“The books are jumbled all over the place. I’m sitting on a box watching her burrow through them like a gopher. They rise up and fall back as she goes through. She has picked out a book I haven’t seen before and is bringing it to me. I’m opening it. The only thing on the first page is a feather. I think she got the wrong book.”

“Perithnea wouldn’t waste your time with an irrelevant book.”

“I’m turning the page. I see a rock jutting up from the ground in the meadow where we found those rocks with the symbols on them. It has a flat face but the back side is rounded, like the bottom quarter of a sphere. Yellow light surrounds us. An eagle with feathers all the colors of the rainbow is swooping down. Its talons are open, like it’s going to grab hold of the rock, but it missed and flew away.

“I see Tanner. He’s crawling toward the stone. He’s standing up now and is dancing around the stone in a clockwise direction. Now he’s dancing counterclockwise in a larger circle, but he doesn’t go completely around it before he turns back in a clockwise direction.

His steps make a crescent pattern like the 169

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shape of the stone. Now he’s kneeling in front of it. He places one of his blind eyes on the stone and then the other one.”

Tanner channeled, “Come fly with me to the Sacred Peaks. Look for stones with markings in the meadow. Bring the one with the lazy 8 (the infinity symbol) home.”

Marjie leaned back. Perithnea said, “She’s had enough for now, father. She’s been very busy.”

“What has she been so busy doing?”

“Trying to absorb everything like a sponge. Sometimes she’s able to squeeze a little of it out. I hope you took notes.”

“I'll remember. Was that a different book about the peaks?”

“It was Volume Two.”

“Tanner said there are more stones with markings.”

“Yes, like those over there.” She pointed to the symbols on the leather shield made for Rocks that Slide.

“What does the crescent stone look like?”

“It’s like the bottom part of a circle. If you sliced a sphere about two feet tall into four parts with equally spaced horizontal lines and you took the bottom piece out, that’s what it would look like. One side is very flat and the other is rounded off.”

“Will we find the other stones in the meadow?”

“Yes.” Marjie yawned. “That’s my cue to leave. She's going to make an awfully good dinner, you know. Bye!”

Marjie said, “That yellow light around everything was really something.”

“About two weeks ago Perithnea said to remember yellow because it was significant and that someone would be talking to me about it. Now I know why we’ve been feeling that we need to go back to the peaks. It’s amazing that the stones Tanner wants have symbols on them matching the ones on the Tarahumara shield, but he said the Utees were friends with them, so maybe the symbols were important to both tribes. Do you know why Tanner put his eyes on the crescent stone?”

“No.”

“Maybe it represents giving up physical sight in exchange for spiritual vision. The yellow light suggests that something sacred 170

was going on. It looks like we’ve got another spirit journey to make.”

I had finished installing the new fireplace and we were eager to use it. Following Tanner’s instructions, we smudged ourselves, the fireplace and the entire house with dried sage, cedar leaves and sweet grass. I prayed that many would enjoy the blessing of our fires and lighted the kindling. We soon had a very respectable fire.

As we sat side by side on our Mayan Calendar rug admiring it, Marjie said, “I feel Tanner very strongly. Count me down.”

After the countdown I let my body sway in larger and larger circles as if caught in vortex of spiritual energy. After Marjie made the flying movements of Feathers that Sparkle for a few seconds, Tanner emerged. Raising her open hands toward the fire, he said,

“At last I have my smoke again.” He bowed his head in silent thanks before making a sweeping movement with his right arm and said, “All your brothers are here.” Arms bent at the elbow, he made fists and flexed his biceps in a show of strength. “Warriors. They circle you now, just as the Light of the Great One circles you.”

Referring to Charley, he continued, “Swat away this gnat. He is of no significance. He is of no importance. You did honor to the Great Spirit. I also honor you. Cast away this gnat.” He bowed his head and Marjie made flying movements, but Feathers didn’t speak.

I counted her up and hugged her. She put her head on my shoulder and said, “You should know you’re hugging Tanner. It feels very strange because you’re hugging me, too.”

“I don't mind if he doesn't.”

“I feel as if I’m looking at the fire through Tanner’s eyes. I have never felt his presence so strongly. I see images in the flames but they move so fast I can't keep up with them. I see many faces laughing. Now I see a clear image of a young Indian running and acting like a horse, acting crazy.”

“I think you’re seeing the spirit of Crazy Horse. When I was a kid, sometimes I pretended to be a horse.”

“So did I.” The fire entertained us for hours.

We agreed to meet for a healing session with an Indian 171

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acquaintance, her husband, and her depressed adult son. As we were about to enter their home, Marjie said, “Tanner told me to bring a couple of feathers, some raccoon bones, a black and a yellow rock, and smudging ingredients.” Unfortunately the son was not present, so Tanner told the mother how to perform the ceremony.

He showed her the black stone, saying it represented the death of the old self and a birth of the new self. The yellow stone represented the healing Light of the Great Spirit, which would guide his path in the future. The feathers would fan the cleansing smudge smoke over him and her and would help their prayers rise to heaven.

Before withdrawing, he instructed us to smudge ourselves.

We discussed the son’s problems with her and her husband for a while. Before we left, she had all of us form a prayer circle with hands joined. After her prayer, I closed my eyes and asked for healing Light to bathe all members of her family. My hands felt lighter and lighter as I felt powerful waves of spiritual energy flow through my body and saw the deep, bluish-purple Light of God.

Then her husband said his prayer. Taking Marjie’s turn, Alta Sha said God was the bright and morning star, the Source upon Whom we depend for everything, and the Source of all healing and Light, and we had surrendered our lives to Him in order to serve as His children. He asked that all those present would be healed. Our joined hands spontaneously rose to shoulder height as he said

“Alleluia,” which we repeated. We held them there for a second or two and hugged each other.

Marjie said, “My hands are tingling so much they’re almost numb.”

The mother said she had felt it, too. Her briefly speechless husband, a Presbyterian minister, look stunned. Before we left, our hostess gave Marjie several ears of multicolored Indian corn and a recipe’ for preparing them. She also asked us to bless the van she was going to use when she took a group of friends to see Miracle.

While I prayed over it Marjie placed her hands on it and said, “It’s a good van. I heard voices and felt a lot of the happy emotions people have had in that van.”

We had finished our supper at home and Perithnea was helping 172

me clear dishes from the table when she asked, “Do you know what special gift you received from I AM today?”

“Everything that happened today was a blessing.”

“But He gave you one special thing.”

“I don't know which one you mean.”

Looking exasperated, she look took a step toward me, stamped her foot on the floor, and asked, “What is that?”

“It’s you stamping your foot.”

She did it again. “What is that?”

I said, “You took a step.”

“Yes! I AM gave you a step today!”

“Are you talking about our visit?”

“Finally!”

“What step?”

“You healed!”

“The step was when she asked us to heal her son?”

“Yes! You were asked before you offered and the healing took place! They felt it.”

“I wasn't certain that the healing actually happened.”

“You didn't feel it?”

“I felt a lot of energy.”

‘They did too, and for the first time in their lives! She felt it and he did too. He was so amazed he didn't know what to say.”

“They’re so religious I thought they must have felt it before.”

“They have never felt anything like that. You know, when I AM

gives a gift it isn't just one thing, it’s a whole series of things.”

“What other things do you mean?”

“Where are they going tomorrow?”

“To Wisconsin.”

“Who will your new friends be talking about to their friends?

They will tell them that they felt something special and then their friends will tell other Indians.”

“That’s great! I really appreciated it when Alta Sha said his beautiful prayer. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Alta Sha speaks directly to the Father. He speaks INTO the Father.”

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In another session Marjie said, “I see Mother. She’s showing me something that looks like the back end of an arrow pointing up at an angle from left to right. I only see the part where the gray feathers are attached. It’s an emblem worn by the Board of Twelve members.” The emblem was very similar to a symbol Rocks that Slide had told Marjie to paint on his leather shield. Was he familiar with the Board of Twelve, the governing body of a multi-galactic, interdimensional alliance?

Tanner told Marjie that she should make a cape and attach feathers from many different birds to it. A feathered cape had been featured in one of our trance sessions and we had seen one large enough to cover one’s shoulders in the museum at Mesa Verde’.

While Marjie worked for weeks to finish the cape, we gathered a wide variety of feathers from our property and many other locations. I gathered a handful of Mallard feathers on the shore of Kentucky Lake and also found a piece of sandstone with mineral stains that resembled a cloaked man whose head radiated beams of energy!

Shortly before the cape’s completion we held an exploratory trance session. Marjie made the flying movements of Feathers that Sparkle. I asked, “What is happening?”

Feathers replied, “I am in the mountain meadow with the old man. He speaks slowly, with pauses between each statement.”

“What is he saying?”

Tanner said, “That which your hands have been working on is nearly complete. When it is finished, you should sprinkle spirits upon it. Combine many spirits. When you wear it, these spirits will protect you as a mother eagle protects her young. Fold it inward to protect the feathers. Her hands know how to do this. I wait for you, Man to Come.”

I replied, “We will go to the mountains soon.” Feathers that Sparkle flew again. To him, I said, “Thank you for your help and for your beauty,”

Marjie said, “I see Tanner sitting on his haunches, rocking back and forth in the meadow. He wants us to gather bits and pieces of different animals and insects, to put them in a salt shaker, and to 174

sprinkle them on the cape. He’s shaking his hands to show me how.

After that, he wants me to roll the cape up with the feathers on the inside and tie it.”

“When does he want us to do this?”

“Before we leave for the mountains. We will be told when to go.”

When the cape was finished it was the size of a small blanket.

We used the hundreds of feathers on hand to outline various designs Marjie had created with colored yarns of russet, pink and grey.

Shortly before our departure date Tanner told us to spread the robe on the ground near the trees inhabited by the Indian spirits with its top facing east and to smudge it and ourselves. Tanner then sang an invitation to the spirits in his ancient Utee language and said, “They have entered.” I sprinkled small pieces of insects and animals on it. Marjie rolled it up and we secured it with colored ribbons. It had been over a year since Perithnea had drawn pictures of a man who made a long, transforming journey to mountains, donned a feathered cape, and stood before a multitude with a message of hope and unity.

My son Chris and his recent bride Vanessa (a pseudonym) traveled with us. We spent our first night in Colorado in a beautiful cabin next to a clear, swift stream a few miles north of the snow capped, West Spanish Peak. In accordance with Tanner’s wishes, I pricked my finger and let a few drops of blood fall onto the bank of the creek. We then explored several gift shops and restaurants in nearby Cuchara Village.

It was a bright, sunny morning when we ascended Cordova pass, awed by spectacular scenes of vast plains and snow topped mountains. Less than halfway to the top deep, drifted snow forced us to park. I wanted to go as high as possible on foot and we trudged onward until Vanessa turned her ankle on a rock hidden beneath the snow, causing her and Chris to rest at a relatively clear spot waiting for our return. When the heavy robe I wore and the thigh deep snow made the going too difficult, Alta Sha pointed to a nearly level spot under the roadside trees where the snow was only a few inches deep. “This is far enough. Lay the robe on the 175

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snow over there.” Marjie followed as I struggled to the designated spot and laid the robe down with its top facing east.

My beaded headband featured a thunderbird and I wore the white shirt with an image of the Spanish Peaks on it that I had worn in Batopilas Canyon. Marjie took pictures as I sat cross-legged in the snow at the robe’s top, raised my arms to the sky, and said to the spirits, “We have brought you back to the sacred mountains of your ancestors, my brothers. You are free to join the other spirits gathered here. Soon you will be able to travel to a new world which has been prepared for you, if you wish to do so. It is a pristine and beautiful world without pollution. There we will live in harmony and purity with nature and with one another according to the will of the Great Spirit. Thank you for allowing us to take part in your journey. You have taught us much to share with others.

Your friendship has been precious to us.”

“They flew into the mountain,” Marjie said.

“Did Tanner go with them?”

“No. He and Rides the Wind will stay with us for now.”

Alta Sha said, “You have done well. I AM is pleased with you.”

“It has been a privilege to help these spirits.”

“Now it is time for you to play.”

I shouted to our Utee friends, “Eko, eko, Zomolok! Eko, eko, Aradiia! Eko eko, Cerenos! We have brought some brothers to you!

Rejoice!”

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Chapter Twelve:

From Boy To Man

The plentiful wild rabbits in our yard had been nibbling on our flowers, motivating Marjie to shoot them with an old, semi-automatic, .22 caliber rifle. Her enjoyment of shooting them surprised me because she was usually very kind to all animals, so I asked Alta Sha about it. “It is Tanner’s influence. He used to get much satisfaction from hunting to provide meat for his family’s survival. It’s something he has done in many lifetimes.”

“Why is he still interested in things of the flesh?”

“Many spirits enjoy doing things they did in the flesh, but the time will come when they will care only for doing the will of I AM, and then they will blend with Him.”

“I have recently wished that I could blend.” He looked aside as if listening. “What did Perithnea have to say?”

“She says He accepts returns and exchanges but not Visa and he doesn’t give refunds.” I chuckled. “Don’t worry about the rabbits.

They still live and are happy. Who knows, they might come back as hawks.”

I smiled. “That would certainly balance things out. Speaking of hawks, I appreciated the ones I saw today.”

“It was I AM’s way of trying to please you. It pleases me to look upon one who appreciates such a small thing.”

“It was not a small thing to me.”

Marjie’s son Bart lived with his paternal grandparents but visited with us on weekends and holidays. In honor of his thirteenth birthday, we invited him to go to Colorado with us on yet another trip, and he accepted. Bart had never expressed a genuine desire to communicate with Marjie’s channeled entities and had been discouraged from doing that by his paternal relatives.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised when he asked me 177

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to hypnotize him with Marjie observing. As soon as Bart was entranced, Alta Sha said to him, “Look inward and search for objects you will find on your trip. They are significant and should be placed in your medicine bag. When you find them, notice your surroundings. They are also significant.” Bart described walking down a path and having to step over a log before he could enter a cave, where he saw a spider web, a brown snakeskin, a long black feather with a white tip, a blue stone, and a cigarette butt.

When his inner journey was finished I said, “You have looked into your future and have seen things to look for on our trip. It will be interesting to notice where you are when you find them.”

Following Tanner’s instructions, Bart made a small medicine bag from a scrap of leather. Tanner explained that its purpose was to hold anything that Bart thought was significant.

In the morning Marjie said, “Tanner wants to speak to you.” Not waiting for a countdown, she made the flying movements of Feathers that Sparkle. When finished, Tanner said, “I have something to tell Man to Come… On the mountain you will find several rocks.

Some of them are shapes. The inner curve of the crescent moon is one. Another is the joining of four colors. The third is broken; take the three biggest pieces. Look for the 8 rock. The serpent tongue is a new rock. The coloring in the rock is the serpent’s tongue. Do not leave behind any that call your name. They are to find you.

“The boy who goes with you must look for stones that speak to him. Tell him to listen with his heart. Boy has good heart. His heart has ears. What he hears is of no importance, only that he hears. If he does not hear, he casts it away. Make clear to the boy it is his journey into manhood. It is Man to Come’s journey into wisdom. It is woman’s journey into Softener of Skins.”

I repeated Tanner’s words to Marjie and added, “Looking for these stones could be like trying to find needles in a haystack. It isn’t clear to me what shape they have, how big they are, or even if they are all in the same meadow where the infinity stone was. We will certainly need more guidance to find them.”

Alta Sha nodded and said, “My friend.”

I replied, “It is good to talk with you again.”

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“I am permitted to tell you more about the stones you will seek.”

“We need all the help we can get.”

He made small line drawings of the stones and said, “Search for them in the meadow where Marjorie found the infinity stone.”

“That narrows it down quite a bit.”

“You will know them when you see them. What did you think of the boy’s vision?”

“I was impressed with his effort during the session.”

“He has heard the impossible and he has seen the impossible and he has accepted all of this without question.”

Bart rarely spoke to me unless he wanted something. I said, “His silence kept me from knowing if he accepted any of it.”

“Like Alta Sha, he speaks few words.”

The next time Bart visited I said, “Tanner has a message for you.

When we go to the Spanish Peaks to look for his stones he also wants you to look for your own stones. He says you have a big heart with ears that can hear, and you should listen with your heart. If it tells you that a stone belongs to you, you should keep it. If not, you should cast it away. He says this trip will be your journey from boyhood into manhood. I think part of being a man is to look within yourself for answers instead of relying too much on what others tell you to think or feel.” As usual, he didn’t reply.

Marjie and I were walking hand in hand one night when Nuke said, “I understand you are preparing to take a journey.”

“Yes, to gather more of Tanner’s stones.”

“A repeat performance?”

“I hope not. The last time snow prevented us from getting to the meadow where they’re located.”

“I was referring only to the general location.”

“We’re also planning a trip to Canada in July.” He raised his eyebrows as if surprised. “Marjie kept having dreams about going to Canada and Perithnea thought it was a good idea, so we gathered information about lodging and points of interest on the north shore of Lake Superior. When we saw a picture of the mountain named Nanabijou in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, we felt a surge of spiritual energy and decided we should go there.” He squeezed my 179

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hand. I continued, “Ojibway Indians believed Nanabijou was inhabited by the Great Spirit, who, because of their faithfulness, showed them where to find silver. He warned them to never show foreigners where it was, but a pretender told some white men. He was guiding them to the silver deposit when a great storm sank their boats and drowned them. The Ojibways claimed that during that storm Nanabijou rose to its present height. Silver is still being mined around there.” He didn’t reply.

Marjie and I were going to Memphis after a snowstorm when Alta Sha nodded at me and I nodded back. After a minute or so of silence, I said, “Share some of your wisdom with me.”

“I AM is all powerful. I AM is winter beauty. I AM is unseasonable.”

“Will you tell me more about the people you lived with during your lifetime near Angel Falls?”

“They have a stone age culture. They do not use metal. The temple in which I worshiped was made from natural stones held together with adobe. Over the years, the surrounding vegetation covered the stones, cementing them in place. There was trade with other tribes, but we avoided contact with so-called civilization.

Much of the area in which we lived was protected from development. We had weaving, but not of cloth as you know it.

Each family cultivated a small garden plot of plants that grow in that area. We ate both the leaves and the roots of the plants. We ate forest animals only on feast days. For music, we had wooden flutes that made a pleasant sound. She is growing tired. I should step back. Thank you.”

“Thank you for sharing.”

Accompanied by Bart and our unseen companions, Marjie and I left for the Rockies again on June 25, 1995. On day one, we shopped at the famous trading post at Cherokee, Oklahoma, which featured Indian arts and crafts of all kinds. Bart quickly found a blue stone there like the one in his vision and showed it to us. I said, “Alta Sha said you should pay close attention to your surroundings when you find the things you’re looking for. You’re surrounded with beautiful things made by Indians. That may show that you have a 180

spiritual connection with them.” He said nothing.

Immediately after putting our luggage in a motel room near the Spanish Peaks, Marjie said, “Tanner wants to go to the mountains right away.”

“Their tops are covered with clouds. It might rain or snow on us up there.”

“It’s time.”

While driving to the top of Cordova Pass I prayed that the good weather would hold and allow us to find Tanner’s stones. When we took the trail to the meadow where we first encountered Indian spirits, Tanner began to sing in the words of his ancient language and quickly found the stone with four colored bands. Smiling, he said they represented all the races of Earth. He also reminded Bart to pick up any stones that spoke to his heart.

At the meadow we sat on the grass and I pierced my finger tip to let a few drops of blood fall to the ground while asking our Father to guide us to the other stones. Tanner and I thoroughly searched the area where Marjie had last seen the infinity stone but could not find it. We separated to search for others. After several minutes, I found a partially embedded, brick-red stone broken into three pieces. Excited, I shouted, “Tanner! Come and look at this one!” He rushed to me and joyfully exclaimed, “Man to Come has found the heart of the buffalo!” A wave of spiritual energy rushed through me as I extracted the assembled pieces from the soil and carefully handed them to Tanner, who thanked the Great Spirit before gently placing them inside our canvas tote bag. Tanner later found the black, crescent-shaped moon rock, but no others.

When a few snowflakes mixed with light sleet began to fall Marjie said, “I’m ready to leave. Tanner wants to go.” I didn’t want to leave without greeting my Utee brothers and walked to the meadow’s western edge, shouting, “Eko eko, Zomolock! Eko eko, Aradiia! Eko eko, Cerenos!” I repeated the poem Zomolok had taught me:

Peenay.

Peenay Cheecalla.

Doo no washeenay.

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Seenay a hay kay.

Cheecalla, Utay!

As if they answered, a burst of spiritual energy ran up my spine.

By the time we hastily reached the van Bart was shivering. He quickly stepped inside, but before we entered Tanner said, “She will not give up the stones.”

“She?”

“Mother Earth. She has taken them within herself. Tanner is very sad.”

I put my right arm around Marjie’s shoulders and said, “We can come back tomorrow.”

“She has taken them into her bosom and hidden them from me.

She makes me wander. I must have these stones for my new home!”

“Do you mean the New Earth?”

He looked as if I had said something foolish. I wondered if he meant our house when he said, “Home is wherever I am.”

“Did you or your ancestors put the stones here?”

“Grandfather, the Creator, put them here.”

“Even if you don’t have them in your possession, you still have your vision of them and what they signify. No one can take that from you.”

“Tanner must have his stones! Perhaps they will be found in the lowlands. We should leave. The boy is ill. His lips are turning blue.”

We got in the van. While I started the motor to get the heater going, Tanner gathered our smudge ingredients, put them in the pewter container we used for that and lighted them. After we all bathed ourselves in the smoke, he withdrew.

On our drive back down the pass Perithnea said, “Father, I don’t quite understand. Why didn’t we find all the stones? Is Tanner being tested?”

“Maybe it’s a necessary challenge for his spiritual growth.”

“But why are spirits put to the test?”

“They have to grow, too. You know that.”

“It’s true. I’ve been put to the test, too.”

“And you have passed with flying colors. I don’t know why the stones aren’t where they’re supposed to be and I don’t know why 182

a spirit needs to find physical stones in the first place. Why does Tanner think he can take them home when he lives in the spirit world? If he reincarnates he could possess the stones, but he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about when I mentioned the New Earth to him.”

“How did the stones get moved?”

“The Utee spirits are still here. Maybe they had something to do with it. I’ll bet Alta Sha knows where they are.”

He answered, “Indeed I do. Ask.”

“Will we find the other stones if we come back tomorrow?”

“Softener of Skins will not return to the mountain tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Because he knows Mother Earth will not yield the stones to him.”

“I want to look some more, even if he won’t.”

“What purpose would that serve? The stones are not here.” My eyes filled with sudden tears. “Speak.”

“I miss my Utee brothers. I want to be with them.”

“Why do you long for what you know cannot be? Did you not feel their touch? You have other work to do.” I couldn’t stop weeping, grieving over being separated from my new friends and other loved ones in my past. He said, “Ask.”

“How have they been getting along?”

“They have been moving stones. The stones are not Tanner’s to find.” The spiritual prank caused me to laugh. He asked, “Why is that humorous?”

“I AM enjoys a good joke.”

“It was not intended to be funny.”

“I know you weren’t joking, but it is ironic that we came all this way expecting to find stones that aren’t even here.”

“You did well on the mountain. I AM is pleased. He has arranged another adventure for finding the rest of them. Alleluia!”

“Alleluia.”

The clouds had left, allowing the sun to spotlight a meadow full of glorious wildflowers, exactly what Marjie had wished for. I parked in a convenient turnout bordered with purple clusters of 183

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delicate Columbines. Bart’s lips were pink again and he nodded when Alta Sha asked if he felt better, but he decided to stay in the van instead of strolling with us into the Creator’s magnificent display. Marjie’s favorites were petite purple Irises. We collected a few bulbs for our own garden.

Marjie did not know what Tanner had said about the missing stones, so I told her, adding that I greeted the Utee spirits and recited the poem. “What poem?”

I repeated it and another bolt of energy surged through me. I asked, “Did you feel that?”

“Yes. You don’t think we’re about to go on another wild goose chase, do you?”

“I don’t feel like we have ever gone on a wild goose chase. Every trip we have made for the spirits has produced something worthwhile, even if we didn’t find all the stones or the answers to all our questions. Looking for them gives us a reason to travel, and we always enjoy that.”

After supper we drove through the gorgeous Trinchera Valley bordered by the mighty Sangre de Cristo mountains to our west, hoping to see some of its abundant wildlife. Within a few minutes, we saw a distant herd of elk and then a second and third group grazing beside the narrow gravel road. Another side road led us to Torres, a tiny village next to towering, snow-capped peaks. After rounding the bend at the western border of the valley, we encountered perhaps a hundred elk in a broad meadow to our right. Ten or twelve yards in front of us, a large number of cows and their calves calmly crossed the road and climbed the tree covered hill on our left but the forty or more bulls following them would not cross. Instead, they stampeded across the meadow toward another opening to a steep wooded hill about a hundred and fifty yards away. A lone timber wolf chased them. When the mamas and babies finished crossing I sped toward the bulls’

destination, arriving there a few seconds before the bulls, blocking their exit with the car. Perplexed and anxious, they halted about fifteen feet away. With rare enthusiasm, Bart took several pictures of the trophy-sized leaders, who snorted and pawed the ground. I 184

thanked them aloud for sharing their beauty with us before they wheeled around and raced back toward the previous crossing point, the hopeful wolf still on their heels.

I said to Bart, “I prayed before we left the cabin that you would get to see elks. Few people get that close to a wild herd.”

Alta Sha said, “It takes a while to gather them.”

“Now I know why I decided to take the second turnoff toward Torres. I thank I AM for this wonderful blessing.” I asked Alta Sha,

“Why is collecting the stones so important to Tanner? It must be more than a simple desire to possess them.”

“Of course. That would be greed. He will use them for teaching.”

We headed toward our lodging and passed close by a small herd of grazing mule deer. Rays of the setting sun pierced an opening in the pink, gold edged clouds; reflected sunlight also turned the mountain top snow vividly pink. After dark, bright moonlight illuminated the majestic peaks, bringing an exquisite end to a blessed day.

Our scenic tour continued in the morning as we took a jaw-dropping route west and north through the mountains to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. After chipmunks took the snacks we offered from our fingers, Marjie and Bart took a brief helicopter ride over the very deep canyon.

Traveling toward Durango, we stopped at an overlook to stretch our legs and to admire the grandeur of the surrounding San Juan Mountains. I again shouted the names and the poem of the Utee warriors and felt a responsive spiritual thrill. Marjie, moved to tears by the splendid scene, rested her head on my shoulder. Throwing rocks and snowballs into a lake hundreds of feet below, Bart smiled and he shouted, “This is really beautiful!”

We spent the night at a postcard perfect ski lodge made of huge logs that faced a lake mirroring gigantic mountains. It was off season for skiing, so the cost was very reasonable. Upon entering our room, Bart quickly noticed a spider web in the corner of a window; we checked off another item on his list of things to look for. While Marjie napped, he and I walked to the lake and skipped rocks on its glassy surface. We returned to the lodge, stopping 185

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beside a pedestal-style grill, thinking about cooking supper on it.

Bart turned over one of the small rocks around its base with the toe of his shoe, revealing a cigarette butt! I said, “How about that? It was hiding, but you found it anyway.”

When Marjie woke up she pointed to a new swelling on one of her forearms. Because her mother had died of melanoma, she wanted to have it removed as soon as possible. In the morning, we searched for a dermatologist in Durango and were surprised to find one who was willing to see her right away. He was confident the growth was benign but excised it and arranged for it to be tested, telling her the results would be telephoned to her in a few days.

During the procedure, we told him about the purpose of our journey and discovered he was quite open to channeling and was fascinated with our quest. We took it as more evidence of divine help.

We made a side trip to the Southern Ute Indian Reservation that took us by a ranch for sale adjacent to the Piedra River. Two houses and a few outbuildings were visible from the highway, andwe decided to investigate. One house was a two story adobe resembling the Spanish colonial style and the other was a modern, single story bungalow. When we entered the vacant, unlocked adobe, Tanner told Marjie that he had frequently traveled through this area when still in his body, which helped to explain its attraction. With its multiple bedrooms, expansive living areas and restaurant style kitchen, it could house many people.

A short path to the shallow, swift river required stepping over a log to reach it. To Bart, I said, “That’s another item from your vision.” I looked for Tanner’s rocks on the stony river bank but didn’t find any. We crossed a field full of vivid blue morning glories and into a pasture where comical prairie dogs were having their morning rush hour. We then chanced upon a hidden pond full of hungry fish in a lush, irrigated pasture.

Walking back toward our van, Bart found a magpie’s white-tipped, black feather, yet another item from his vision.

Marjie and I felt at home in this beautiful place and decided to speak to the Durango based realtor about it. The barely visible spire 186

of Chimney Rock Park north of the ranch would surely have been visited by Tanner, so we drove there but arrived too late for the last guided tour. We were allowed to explore the grounds near the entrance and fruitlessly searched for some of Tanner’s rocks in an arroyo before resting on a stone ledge in the shade of mature cottonwood trees.

Marjie said, “Alta Sha wants you to help Bart see the snake skin of his vision with his mind’s eye.”

Bart agreed to accept my help. I was about to begin when two ravens perched on a limb above us. I said, “Aho, brothers. Welcome.

Have you come to help us find the snake skin?” One of the ravens began chattering in the guttural sounds of its bird language and didn’t stop when I gave Bart hypnotic suggestions. When finished I asked,

“Where are you?”

“I’m back in the cave looking at the skin. It’s kind of brown.”

“Do you have any idea where it might be found outside of the cave?”

“No.” He had nothing to add, so I counted him up. The raven chortled on for a few more seconds before flying away. A park officer said the park was closing and we had to leave. As we got in the van, I said, “I want to have a farewell ceremony at the ranch house.” No one objected, so we returned to the ranch. Sitting on the hearth of the adobe fireplace in the middle of a long living room, we smudged ourselves. When the ingredients stopped smoking I attempted to re-ignite them, but Alta Sha said, “Put the remains in the fireplace. They will purify the fire of those who will follow. I AM is pleased with you all. You have done well.”

“We haven’t found the rest of Tanner’s stones or Bart’s snakeskin yet.”

“The stones are for another time. You try too hard to find the snakeskin. It will not be complicated. It will be simple.”

We started for home in the clear, bright morning of the next day using highways through unfamiliar mountains and seeing elk, pronghorns and ravens. At mid morning, Adam said, “Hello, father.”

“Why hello, Adam! What a nice surprise. Do you still want to 187

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talk with Bart?”

“Yes.”

“This is a good time for it.” To Bart, sitting in the backseat, I said,

“Adam wants to talk with you.” He said nothing but his features suggested interest.

Adam asked, “How is your quest going?”

“I found everything except the snakeskin.”

“Perhaps you will find a snake on the road. I have been paying close attention to you. I have noticed that you have not given up on your quest. You still look for the things you want to find. You are steadfast. These are the actions of a man, not a child. A child would have lost interest by now.” Adam looked to me for agreement. I nodded. He continued, “A man holds steady to his quest. My father has taught me that it is always important to learn and to grow. My father is very wise. If he does not know the answer to something he will seek it, and when he has the information he will pass it on to you. I am proud to be his son.”

“And I am proud to be your father. You are also very wise.”

He continued to Bart, “Your spirit has grown on this trip. Your pitch is much higher now than it was. When you return, you should not let your spirit be pulled back down by the people around you.

I have visited your home and I have seen what happens there. They will try to draw you back into the shadows. You should fight this influence and keep your spirit free. One is never trapped. One can always have a free spirit. I felt trapped when I was climbing down the pyramid. I could not give up. I wanted father to rescue me, but to free my spirit I knew I would have to go all the way to the bottom by myself, and I received help.”

I said, “A man knows that he alone is responsible for the choices he makes and accepts the consequences. He can’t blame someone else for his own mistakes. When you decide to fully accept responsibility, you will receive a lot of help from your spiritual friends.”

“And from friends with a physical form, too,” Adam said. “I enjoy traveling with you, Bart. You’re a good companion. I’m glad you came along. Do you have any questions you would like to ask 188

me?”

“No.”

“Then goodbye for now.”

We were passing through relatively flat terrain dotted with clumps of grass and cacti when we spotted a very large red tail hawk perched on a roadside fence post. Because of its size, I then understood why Indians called them red eagles. I slowed to walking speed on the empty highway; we got within fifty feet of it before it slowly flew across the highway in front of us to another fence post, where it remained as we slowly passed by, closer than we had ever been to a completely wild hawk. I thanked it aloud for sharing its beauty with us.

We stopped on another long stretch of deserted highway after finding a freshly killed, tan colored snake about four feet in length.

We exited the van for a closer look. Bart said, “It’s just like the one I saw in my vision at Chimney Rock.” We placed its limp, warm body into a plastic bag and put it in the cooler in case Bart wanted to keep its skin.

We arrived at home late that afternoon. I normally didn’t think about smudging after a journey but this time something prompted me to do so. When I had gathered the ingredients and the three of us gathered in the living room, Marjie said, “Tanner wants to speak to you. His pull is very strong. My entire body is vibrating.”

“I imagine he’s the reason I thought of smudging. Let him speak.”

Tanner ordered, “Bring ember.” When the smoke rose he said,

“Get boy’s feathers.” I handed him the black and white magpie feather and a few others we had collected. Holding the magpie feather in his right hand, he bathed it in the sweet smelling fumes before pointing it at me and said to Bart, “This one knows this. It is good. Purification of the feather.” He used it to waft smoke onto Bart, me and himself. After all the ingredients had burned to ashes, he took Bart’s hand and said, “This feather is from a bird who flies high and very fast. He travels far. He is a great hunter.” He put the feather down and affectionately placed his right hand over the one he was already holding. He patted the back of Bart’s hand once 189

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after each statement and said, “When a boy enters manhood he no longer has need of family. He chooses to leave family behind. He flies free like the eagle. When boy becomes a man, he needs a new name, a secret name. This name will be known to you, to me, and to this live one here. Only we will know this secret name. I will choose this name for you now. Later, you choose. Understand?”

Bart said nothing, so Tanner asked me, “Does boy understand?”

“Bart, do you understand that Tanner is giving you a secret name now, but later in life you may choose another one?” He nodded.

Tanner said, “Good. Your name is …,” and he withdrew.

Witnessing this sacred moment was touching for me. Bart’s facial expression suggested he was also moved but he was silent.

As if attempting to convince Bart that consciousness is not confined to the body, that it survives death and that the entities who channeled through Marjie had an independent existence, he had been shown many examples. He had found every item of his vision and the spirit of an ancient Utee shaman had emphasized his spiritual independence and had warned him that others would try to draw him back into the shadows of doubt. While eating supper we heard a loud sound as if someone had struck a large piece of metal with a hammer one time only a few feet away from us. At bedtime, we all heard an invisible someone moving about in the bathroom. Then we heard loud footsteps ascending the visibly empty stairwell. Bart would not talk about those events, so I could not gauge their impact on his self concept or his general beliefs. I avoided personal attempts to influence him because I knew from past experience he would be grilled by paternal family members who would use such information to justify curtailing Marjie’s visitation rights.

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Chapter Thirteen: Manu Bijou Taking a break from mowing, Marjie came inside for a drink of water and shouted, “Yahoo!” I gave her an inquiring look, waiting for an explanation, but it was Tanner who said, “It is not polite to stare.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know it was you. Welcome.”

“Tanner ride small red pony! Pony go fast! How does red pony run with no legs? Pony all broken down!” He hunched down, imitating the mower’s shape.

Trying to explain how an engine works, I pumped my fist up and down to demonstrate a piston’s movement in a cylinder.

Tanner laughed. “Man to Come funny!” I laughed too when he pumped Marjie’s fist between her legs and hurried back to his legless pony. After mowing, he jumped in the shower, whooping and hollering about riding the red pony. I had to revise my perception of him as a sad old Indian grieving for his lost rocks and his loved ones.

After the shower Marjie complained, “I heard chanting when I got on the mower and the next thing I knew I was getting out of the shower.” She enjoyed mowing herself and was a little miffed.

“Tanner had a great time riding his red pony around the yard.”

“At least one of us did.”

Perithnea added, “I had a wonderful time watching Tanner. He would lean back in his seat, arms up in the air, and bounce up and down. He was singing and shouting and having a marvelous time.”

While meditating I felt significant pressure in the middle of my forehead and at both temples and thought Metatron was doing something to my brain. In my mind’s eye, the odd sensations at each temple became horns and my expanding forehead belonged 191

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to a bull buffalo calmly grazing in the midst of a large herd on a grass prairie that stretched to the horizon. Those sensations quickly passed away. I resumed normal consciousness and told Marjie what I experienced. I was surprised when Nuke responded,

“Congratulations, Counselor. You have taken another big step. You are making excellent progress in the use of your third eye.”

“I had Metatron’s help.”

“He is also very pleased.”

“Why would I experience myself as a buffalo?”

“Didn’t you say you would like to have the kind of experiences that Marjie has in her trances?”

“Yes, she has experienced being a wolf, a hawk, a platypus and so on.”

“Why shouldn’t you be able to have such experiences?”

“I have felt like an eagle, a porpoise and a whale, too.”

“Keep on using your third eye.”

We finally made our trip to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. We noted that piles of birch logs cut to fireplace lengths were stacked in outlooks along the highway for use by people who desperately needed warmth in winter. Marjie exclaimed that she had been wanting to find some white bark fireplace logs for a long time, so we took three or four small logs with us. We remembered Alta Sha saying I AM wants to please us just as we want to please Him. We parked at the head of a trail that leads to Manu Bijou’s summit and began walking. An hour of mildly strenuous hiking through a forest brought us to Saltwater Bay, an inlet of Lake Superior. Its shore was covered with black, glacier-smoothed stones that were perfect for skipping on its clear, smooth surface. After tossing a few, we sat on a handy log and wondered where to look for Tanner’s stones. Marjie said, “Tanner says to take the trail that leads to the heart of Manu Bijou.”

A sign at a nearby trail head stated that the summit was several miles away. I said, “I hope he doesn’t expect us to go all the way.

We don’t have the endurance to hike that far and even if we could it would be dark by the time we got back here. We could get lost trying to get back to the car.” Nevertheless, we started up the trail.

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Marjie said, “Tanner says to keep a sharp eye. Things that seem insignificant may be the most significant of all.” After several minutes of uphill hiking we came to a dry creek bed. Marjie said,

“My hip is hurting. I don’t think I can go any farther.”

“There’s a ledge over there we can sit on.”

We were about halfway across when Marjie said, “Tanner says to look for stones here.” She sat on a mound of small stones and began examining them. I walked slowly up the creek looking for stones that spoke to my heart. After several futile minutes, I returned to her side. She handed me a small red stone that had veins of a black mineral in it that resembled a serpent’s tongue. She handed me a flat grey stone about the size of my hand that had an oval depression on one side of it and said, “This one goes with it.”

The serpent stone fit perfectly into the pocket. “He wants this one too.” She showed me a sliver of black rock almost two inches long shaped like the fang of a rattlesnake and said, “We have found the stones Tanner wants.”

“He was right when he said they might seem insignificant. I wouldn’t have noticed them among the thousands of rocks here.

What were the odds of finding them all where you decided to sit?

So many things had to occur at just the right time and place. Thank you, Father. I guess we better head back to the car.”

As we walked Alta Sha said, “Tanner knows the legends about these rocks. When he looks at the small red stone he clearly sees the tongue of the snake. The legend says that when the mountain sighed, water rose up to the chest of Manu Bijou. A drowned serpent was deposited in a bed of rocks prepared for it and turned to stone.”

“How did Tanner learn the legends?”

“His elders taught him.”

“Were these stones ever in his possession before today?”

“No.”

“Are we going to find the infinity stone here?”

“You will find it. I cannot say where. Tanner is very pleased. Are you pleased?”

“I am pleased to be doing the work of I AM and to be walking 193

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in the beautiful forest He created, but I don’t feel the thrills I felt where Tanner and his spirit brothers once lived.” Along the way I picked up a black stone spotted with yellow flecks and showed it to Tanner, who named it the tortoise rock.

We were glad to be sitting in the car’s comfortable seats while exploring the rest of the park. At a scenic turnout on Manu Bijou, we walked to the edge of a high cliff at the lake’s shore where, like half of a bridge, a steel walkway extended over the water far below.

I was surprised to feel afraid I might fall when walking on the see through steel mesh in spite of knowing there was no danger of that.

Marjie was thrilled and would have taken flight with the sea gulls soaring below if possible, but brave Gold Eagle was scared and a little squeamish! I was eager to get back on solid ground. It didn’t occur to me then, but in one of our early sessions Marjie experienced being a female eagle who found her dead mate at the base of a high cliffs. Could I have been him? We had shared several other lifetimes, so it was certainly possible and would explain my irrational fear.

We finished touring the park and had supper at a little diner near our motel. Our spiritual work at Manu Bijou was finished.

On our way toward home we took a very interesting tour of restored Fort William near Thunder Bay, Ontario. It had been an important outpost of the fur trading business in the early 1800’s.

Like our Williamsburg, Virginia restoration, actors in period costumes portrayed the types of people who had lived there at its peak of development. Most natives were friendly with voyageurs who brought them useful items in exchange for furs and did not attempt to settle in tribal homelands. We had an interesting conversation with a traditionally dressed, middle-aged Chippewa woman sitting beside a birch bark teepee near the fort. She continued weaving a basket with strips of bark. She explained how tree moss acted as an insulator between the two layers of birch bark covering the teepee’s frame and kept it warm during the frigid winters. In warmer months, she and her husband continued the Chippewa tradition of surviving in the bush through hunting, fishing and gathering. It was the tourist season and hard to find 194

vacancies along the north shore of Lake Superior, but a friendly man took pity and offered us a cabin he wasn’t planning to rent.

Back at home, winter soon rolled around and we received an invitation from Ruthie and Dottie to celebrate Christmas with them and some of their Indian friends. Marjie suggested we could use thin cross sections of a small cypress tree knee as pendants on necklaces made from leather strings. The discs were about an inch and a half in diameter and a quarter inch thick and had grains of a darker color at their centers which had interesting forms. We had made about fifteen pendants and were sanding them smooth when Tanner said, “This good therapy for the woman. Makes her feel good.”

Delighted with his company, I said, “It makes me happy to see her having a good time. It has been too long since I heard your voice.”

“There was no need for words.” Holding one of the discs, he said, “This comes from a good heart and is good for the heart.” I nodded.

The sanding finished, I said, “They need to be sealed.” I fetched a small container of clear lacquer.

Tanner said, “No good. Poison. She has better.”

“Where is it?”

“High room. I bring.” He brought a container of sealant from the craft room but it dried to a dull sheen. Tanner shook his head and said, “No good.”

I said, “I have something that will make the grain stand out and seal them at the same time.”

“You show the old man.” The new combination worked very well. Tanner said, “This better. We make necklaces with all the pieces. You have many gifts to give.”

“Do you know where we are going?”

“Yes. You are going to the heart. When you give these to others, you can tell them that these are a gift from the heart of the tree given from your heart for them to wear over their heart to show they have a good heart.” I liked his idea a lot.

We ran out of leather strings before our supply of cypress 195

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pendants was used up. I said, “We can get different colors of leather strings for the rest of these.”

Tanner said, “Man to Come teaches Asalara,” and withdrew.

The following day Marjie showed me a sketch and said, “This is the place I dreamed about. It’s the inside of a cliff dwelling. There was a hole in the ceiling for getting in or out. To get to the opening, you had to know the right combination of foot and handholds that were built into the wall like little shelves. When a lot of strangers came into my cell I jumped up on the wall to escape. I got out and ran over the rooftops of the other dwellings for a long way. I was being chased. That’s when I woke up.”

“Keying foot and handholds on cliff faces was a trick the Anasazi used to keep enemies from gaining access to their dwellings. I didn’t know they used them inside their homes. Maybe you dreamed about something that actually happened to Tanner or maybe to you in another lifetime.”

We had bought more leather strings and were attaching the pendants to them when Tanner said, “My brother speaks to us.”

“I did not hear him. Which one speaks?”

“One Who Rides the Wind.”

“What did he say?”

“He says you are a true brother.”

“His words make my heart glad. I’m proud that he thinks so.”

“Man to Come, stand up.” He also stood. “This is for you.” He put the necklace he had just made in my hand.

“I like this one very much. The grain looks like a buffalo.”

“Like Asalara drew.”

“Yes, it’s like a cave drawing.”

He patted me on the shoulder three times and said, “It is good, like you.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “I would like to be as good as you.”

He solemnly said, “Then ask I AM to let you soar with the Red Eagle,” and left.

Another disc’s stain was almost identical to the buffalo on mine.

I added tiny hawk bells and beads to both sides of it and handed it 196

to Marjie. “This one is for you.”

She smiled. “With you, Christmas never stops around here.”

We arrived at Dottie and Ruthies’ place early on Christmas Eve. I went to town for some last minute shopping for Marjie and two of the ET children who frequently channeled through her. She and they were delighted with their gifts, which included stuffed dolls for the children and insulated cold weather gear for her.

On Christmas Day we were joined by several of their Indian friends and a man, wife and young daughter from Germany.

white man, wife, and young child from Germany. The Germans were anthropologists researching the Pottawatomie culture. I was surprised to learn that many Europeans were interested in the indigenous cultures of North America.

When all were gathered we gave our hostesses and each Indian a necklace and had one left that we gave to the little girl. They all smiled when I explained how they were made and repeated Tanner’s words about them being gifts from the heart. That evening our hostesses told us that a few months after our first visit the corrupt council members and their thugs had been indicted for various crimes and new council members had been properly elected. The reservation had been healed.

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Chapter Fourteen: Spokes Of The Wheel Soon after our return from Wisconsin we held a session to seek guidance about next steps. Marjie said, “I hear a voice, but I don’t see anyone. It’s telling me to notice a large capital T in front of me.

Now I see a large U. The letters are coming directly at me, starting out very small and becoming very big. The voice is saying you should remember these letters and put them together.”

“Put together they make the German word TU, which means you when you’re speaking to a close friend or family member.”

“When you said that I felt a strong tug on my right side. Now I’m being shown a wheel that has spokes. It’s lying on its side, supported on a point at its center. You are supposed to draw a wheel like that.” I did. “Now place an object on the rim of the wheel.

How can the wheel be balanced?”

“By adding other objects to the rim.”

“Nothing can be added to the rim. That isn’t part of the mystery.”

“This is guidance? It’s extremely vague. All we have been given is a word meaning you in German and an unbalanced wheel.”

“I have no idea what it means.”

“The only connection I can think of between tu and anything we received before is the word Sputberg, which also sounds like a German word.”

“I felt another strong tug to my right. They’re really pulling, as if to let me know there is a connection. Whoever is speaking does not like being restrained. They feel like they are dangling a carrot and they don’t want to. They would like to go ahead and tell you, but they are not allowed to, so it remains a mystery for you to solve.

Alta Sha says that is all. Count me up.” I did.

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I said, “I suppose being pulled to the right means my ideas were right, but I don’t think reasoning can tell us what the image means.

I think it will take a sequence of events.” Much later I wondered if meeting with Germans at a gathering of Indians was prelude to something bigger. Was it mere coincidence that I had also studied the German language in college? Vikings, the ancient ancestors of modern Germans, were among the first Europeans to settle in North America in what is now Newfoundland. Did the word TU

imply a spiritual connection with that genetic strain?

In a later session Marjie said, “Perithnea is taking me to the place of books again. The ceiling looks like a cloud. That’s quite a ceiling you have here, Perithnea. She’s telling me I can stick my head through the ceiling if I want to. I’m doing that. I see a lot of water coming at me. I’m ducking back down. Why is there so much water up there? She says it‘s really just very misty up there, but it seemed more like water than mist.

“The books are piled up any old way. Why don’t you organize this mess? Why don’t you have any shelves in here? She says it’s more fun to go searching for what you want than to have everything in a nice neat row. That was kind of like our spiritual journeys. There were always unpredictable events and surprising twists and turns instead of orderly, complete instructions. “What are we looking for? I see a book that’s entirely black. She’s burrowing over to it. Now she’s showing it to me. Who is the author of this book? She says it’s on the cover, but it doesn’t have any words on it!

“She says the author is Black. Now she’s opening it. I see a big number one that takes up the whole page. (I think it was actually the letter I. ) On the next page I see a capital W and the word Black.

The next page is turning by itself. It says the W stands for Wilson.

Now I see a capital M in front of Wilson. It stands for mountain. I get it, Mount Wilson! The page turned again. I’m stepping into it.

“I’m in very hilly country. Everywhere you look you see hills.

I’m standing on a steep hillside. Everything is very lush and has a dark green color. There are some short trees around me and there’s a clear, babbling brook nearby. It has some long fish in it. There are 200

a lot of black stones around. I see a road made out of these black stones.

“I’m going down the road. I see something bright and shiny on it. It’s a needle with black thread. It’s actually a tapestry needle. I wonder what it’s doing here. What does it mean? What’s it for?

Perithnea is showing me that the tapestry needle can be used to weave the black thread through the pages of the book. The thread follows a line of thought which connects these pages together.

“I see two-wheeled carts being drawn by small ponies. Black will be found in this location.”

“Is Black a person?”

“W. Black lives here. The people are very happy. It is a good place in a couch potato sort of way.”

“Is it Ireland?”

“No. I see some people carrying something. Canes. They’re walking down the road and are quite old, but happy. There’s a lot of laughter. Perithnea says this book is about two different places.

The volcano (Sputberg?) is one place and you don’t have to search for it. It will come to you. To find the other place, you have to go to the hilly country I visited. It’s in the northern part of Europe. It’s very steep. There are a lot of black stones there. It’s a place where faeries have been. That’s why it’s a gay place. It’s peaceful and slow-paced and the people wear sweaters a lot. There are a lot of high mountains there. That’s all. Count me up.” I did.

“Everything was so green there! The people are very friendly.

They will take you in and treat you like a family member. It is such a loving place that it makes tears come to my eyes. I want to go there and meet those people.”

“How were they dressed?”

“In black robes.”

“Like monks?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder where Mount Wilson is.”

“Perithnea suggests that we look it up using the atlas program on our computer.”

Subsequent searches revealed that Mount Wilson, which is 201

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14,252 feet high, is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness of southwest Colorado near Telluride. We could not have missed seeing it on our recent trip. An internet search for the location of Sputberg, which I thought might be the name of a volcano, a town, or a castle in Europe was fruitless. The closest match was Spitsbergen, Norway. Norway might fit the description of the friendly country Marjie saw in the book. It was also a source of Viking culture.

That evening Nucleus 8 said, “I think it’s time for me to do more self investigation.”

“Alright. Shall we have a session now?”

“If it’s convenient.” He immediately entered a self-induced trance and said, “I am aware of the entities who are brothers to Tanner. They have been playing games with his stones, moving them from place to place to entice him. I have the feeling that the infinity stone will continue to relocate. There are good things for us at Mount Wilson, but you should concentrate on what is good for yourself and let Tanner concentrate on what is good for him when you go there. I feel as if there is some force drawing me to the eastern coastal areas of this country. There is great spirituality there.”

“Perhaps it’s connected with Edgar Cayce’s foundation.”

“Yes, I feel a connection there. I also feel a pull farther north, out of this country, where there is ancient spirituality. There is some kind of family connection involved with travel to the east.

“I see a wheel with eight spokes. Each spoke of the wheel represents a destination. You can think of them as a list of your travels, but instead of a vertical list, they are arranged as spokes.

One is designated as off balance. You will balance the wheel by completing all the journeys. Your travels to the east and north will take some time. I see you traveling by automobile instead of some other conveyance. You can start from any place you want, but when you reach one destination you will be shown the next destination in the sequence. That is all.” He emerged from the trance and said,

“The connections I feel toward the east and northeast may relate to my family as well to yours.”

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“Are you familiar with Edgar Cayce?”

“Yes. He was an important contact for us.”

“We ought to visit his foundation at Virginia Beach when we go east.”

Marjie and I went to the university library to obtain the address for Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment headquarters. We also learned that Norway is so mountainous that most of its citizens must live on fertile coasts. Many of them speak English and they are famous for their friendly, hospitable manner. The small, strong Fjord Horses of Norway are one of the oldest breeds and were often used for farming.

Having my attention directed toward Norway was doubly interesting because twenty years or so previously a gifted psychic had told me that in one of my many lifetimes I was a lone, traveling preacher in the ninth century who introduced Christianity to the pagans living there. Historical records show that Christianity was introduced to Norway between 800 and 1100

A. D.

As war loving marauders, Norsemen (Vikings) established permanent settlements in Ireland, Scotland and England during the Middle Ages, and interbred with the indigenous population. Since my ancestors in this lifetime hailed from Ireland, Scotland, and England and Marjie’s were from Germany, a current genetic connection was certainly possible. I knew there was a genetic connection between 8, a human/ET hybrid, and myself. Perhaps that’s why he also felt drawn to some kind of family connection in that direction.

Our research also revealed that the restored Viking village at L’Anse aux Meadow, a World Heritage Site in Newfoundland, is thought to have been active around 1000 A. D. Portions of the coastline there are very similar to Norway’s, and black granite is plentiful in both locations. As has often been the case, initially cordial relationships with natives apparently deteriorated into open hostility, possibly due to deadly infections by European diseases for which they had no immunity. The site was then abandoned. Amazingly, the Great Seal of Newfoundland depicts 203

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two Indians with bows and arrows standing on opposite sides of a central shield.

As soon as practical we started our next spiritual journey and visited the A.R.E. headquarters at Virginia Beach. Although it has been a popular location for seekers of spiritual enlightenment for many years, we felt no heightened energy there. I was pleased to purchase a bookthere about a psychic woman’s interactions with the spirits of deceased Native Americans.

We then went to Jamestown, where the first European colonists had unstable relations with the native Powhatans. Some were friendly and helpful but others attacked. It is doubtful that any of the Europeans would have survived without native assistance.

We also visited restored Williamsburg, where Marjie was entered by the spirit of a child named Victoria who was hanged along with her mother, a shopkeeper and healer accused of witchcraft by the corrupt governor, who subsequently stole her valuable inventory. Following her mother’s instructions, Victoria was still waiting at the hanging tree for her to return. When Marjie stood under that old oak hanging tree, Victoria perceived a spiritual Light very much like her mother’s and entered it. She channeled frequently during the several years she remained with us; everyone who knew her, especially Nucleus 8, was attracted to her lovely Light and generous personality.

Although there was no direct contact with lingering Indian spirits at the locations we visited, each was a place where natives had prolonged contact with Europeans. Many tribes that initially welcomed the whites became hostile when permanent settlements, habitat destruction, firearms, alcohol and deadly new diseases threatened their culture and their lives.

After returning home the spiritual tug to the northeast was still strong. There appeared to be an ancient spiritual and possibly genetic connection with Norsemen, so we decided to visit Lans aux Meadow. Donna, our Atlanta acquaintance, put us in touch with Candace (a pseudonym), a mutual acquaintance who lived in a cottage on Prince Edward Island. In the spring of 1993, I had met Candace, herself a gifted psychic, when I was observing hypnotic 204

regression techniques in Atlanta. Although we barely knew each other, she had to tell me that she and I would eventually work together with the personnel of a very large organization. I thought that was not possible because I had no interest at all in organizational psychology and it seemed very unlikely that we would ever meet again. As usual, my rational assumptions were colossally wrong, for within two years I had become Nucleus 8’s counselor, she had moved to P. E. I., an ideal staging place for a trip to Newfoundland, and she was eager for our company. The ways of I AM are truly amazing.

Enthusiastic Candace met us on August 10, 1996, when our Air Canada flight landed at Moncton, New Brunswick. She and Marjie hit it off right away. Candace and I brought each other up to date during the long trip by ferry and car to her cottage. Candace had been channeling independent entities for many years and relied upon one named John as if he were a guardian angel whose words were gospel. She was receptive to a variety of entities who channeled through Marjie during our visit, and they appreciated being treated as distinct individuals.

Her dwelling was located on the shore of a picturesque bay bordered by low hills. The dense forest of Belmont Provincial Park dominated the opposite shore. Her cottage had two bedrooms on opposite sides of a central living/dining/kitchen area. Outside of the front door, a small deck faced the water. A few small trees dotted the lawn, which extended about a hundred feet to a short dock. A few other houses, none very close, lined the shore.

Candace, Marjie and I were talking on the dock that first dark night when Nucleus 8 began to channel and I introduced him. It was quickly apparent that she reciprocated his strong attraction to her. As if to validate his identity to her, a pair of low flying, silent, interdimensional craft passed directly over us. They responded to Nuke’s verbal instructions before continuing toward the park.

Candace said she had seen mysterious lights descending into and emerging from the park’s forest on several occasions and thought there was a subterranean ET base there. Nuke said she was right and that her spiritual Light was so bright that ET vessels used it for 205

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navigation!

During the next few days Candace demonstrated generally accurate psychic abilities, especially when using Tarot Cards.

Though impressed with her talent, we soon learned that she often lied about her past, present and future plans. In spite of that, Nuke was smitten by her spiritual Light and asked me how to keep her interested in him. I was concerned that he would be emotionally harmed by her but also knew he was determined to blend with humans, so I gave him some pointers. Perhaps having an emotionally risky relationship with someone like Candace was par for his course.

While Candace worked in her faltering gift and flower shop, Marjie and I explored P.E.I., paying special attention to anything that was black in our search for Tanner’s stones. Local roads were named Eagle Feather Trail, Indian Feather Path, Sweetgrass Trail, Hawkeye Path, etc. An article about P.E.I.’s history revealed that early settlers had uncovered gigantic human skeletons when digging holes for bridge foundations at Darnley Basin, a natural harbor. The excavated skulls were large enough to be placed over an average man’s head like a helmet. Only a giant could have wielded the huge stone club they found. We decided to go there.

Wandering up and down the Darnley Basin beach in search of Tanner’s stones, we found sea-worn pottery shards that were white on one side and black on the other, but nothing else of interest.

Marjie said no spirits lingered in the vicinity, so we headed for the car. Tanner patted me on the shoulder and said, “These are not the things you came to find, but you will find them. Your steps will be guided.”

“Thank you, friend. It’s good to know that.”

Our drive on narrow roads bordered with vivid wildflowers took us through fishing villages, inland towns, thick forests, farmlands and ocean beaches. Occasionally channeling, Nuke gathered small natural items that he later used to create a charming gift for Candace. Even though several of her falsehoods were revealed, I was shocked when he offerred her a vacant seat on the Board of Twelve! I thought her a very poor choice for that 206

immensely important job but knew 8 had access to information I did not know and kept quiet about it.

To my great surprise, Candace announced, “Rapsar wants to speak now, but he wants to do it through the Tarot cards.”

“I’ll write down what he has to say,” I replied.

She spread the cards on the dining table. Rapsar said, “You have a great distance yet to go, but a revelation is coming concerning the direction of your journey, possibly within five hours. The period of waiting is now over, and several things will be revealed which will show you what to do next. Your old ideas about the purpose of this journey will be replaced by a completely new concept.”

Candace said, “He’s speaking so fast I can’t keep up.”

“Perhaps he will continue through automatic writing,” I said.

Nuke said, “That’s a good idea.”

He wrote, The end is near. You will soon be able to see where you are going, but beware of any false information given, as you could be misled.

You will recognize the first particle of a light which will be turned on and then you will go forth to the next question which will be of great importance, as it will give solid direction. That is all that can now be revealed to you. I will speak again as the sun sets and then as the sun rises.

Give thought to all that passes you by so you will not miss anything.

The following morning Rapsar spoke as promised. “I have received permission to accompany you and expect to be there before you arrive. What you wish to find is not necessarily visible to your eye but what you can see acts as a trigger to guide you in the direction you must go. Seek not that which is animate. Be aware of the attitudes and feelings that surround you as you approach the designated area. There will be little effort on your part to arrive at your destination and you will find what you seek early on.

“It would be wise for Nucleus 8’s woman to accompany you but she feels incapable. We will see what can be done to accommodate her but if it proves necessary for her to go, a way will be made which will resolve her concerns. All this will take place shortly.

There is nothing more to say. You are on the way. There are few obstacles to overcome, and those that may come across your path are minimal. I take my leave. Nucleus my friend, I am out of here.”

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I thought, Now that Rapsar has a willing channel, he likes to repeat himself.

At sunset Rapsar said, “What you are seeking will be found where the Norsemen first landed in the new world, but only if you keep bearing north as far as possible when you approach that place.

You will not be able to see it from any other approach. If you seek it in the right spirit, you will find it. I will provide further guidance when you arrive in Newfoundland. Beware of those who would wish to deter you in the pursuit of these vital answers.”

Candace confirmed Rapsar’s prediction of a delay by hemming and hawing about going with us until late in the afternoon, which forced us to spend another night at the cottage due to the ferry schedule. We soon learned that passive-aggressiveness was her typical behavior toward anyone who attempted closeness.

We had been riding the ferry for several hours when Candace cheerfully revealed that although Nuke had ordered him to keep his hands off her, Rapsar had been teasing her, singing love songs, telling her how cute she was, etc., and she had encouraged it. I knew how much her disloyalty would hurt Nuke and was highly offended, but did not comment. She continued, “Rapsar is not alone. A very large, blonde man dressed like a Viking is with him.

Shadowy spirits are standing in the background that I can’t clearly see.”

“What’s the Viking’s name?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know where he is from, when he lived, what he did, and so forth?”

“I just know that he is a Viking.”

I said, “Nuke, are you hearing this?”

“Yes.”

“Did members of the Alliance make contact with Vikings early in their history?”

“Yes. Rapsar’s ancestors did contact the humans you call Vikings. Many Viking behavior traits and the blonde, Nordic body type resulted from that contact. By Alliance standards, Rapsar’s race are barbarians. They are large, human-looking, and warlike.

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Although Rapsar is considered one of the most civilized members of his race, his actions are influenced by his culture, in which all is fair in love and war. He thinks it’s alright for him to challenge my relationship with Candace regardless of my wishes. To him, it’s a matter of conquest, and to conquer is primary.”

(A National Geographic article claims that the first people to call themselves Scots probably migrated from Ireland. Irish noblemen united bands of the native Picts in order to fight Vikings, who raided Ireland and Scotland at irregular intervals for four hundred years. I wonder if the addition of ET genes explains why Scots and Germans have excelled in science and technology throughout recorded history.)

Candace said, “Rapsar is very lonely and needs someone to comfort him. He was trapped in Donna’s body and unable to express himself for a very long time and now he is free and full of joy. He wants to share his exuberance, but Nuke is putting a damper on him.”

Nuke declared, “He’s just trying to gain your sympathy in order to get what he wants.”

Candace mostly kept to herself until the ferry docked around 10:00 p.m. Nearby motels were full, but a friendly receptionist phoned around until she found a vacancy due to a last minute cancellation and reserved it for us. The lodge was closing for the night when we arrived and we obtained a cozy cabin for only $25.00.

We had already turned in when Candace got up from her bed, took a seat at the dining table, and allowed Rapsar to rapidly write on the provided stationary. His note told us to proceed northward to the farthest shore of the island and to not allow a mild distraction along the way to divert us. At our destination, we would receive much more information. Furthermore, spiritual power was more intense at locations where the shoreline was penetrated by V-shaped inlets; we should stand there to discover what would be revealed. You will first see a particle of light, and then you will see a great vision in the sky that will explain many things to you and give you a whole new perspective on all that has led up to this point.

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In the morning Marjie privately said that Candace was hoping Nucleus would not find out that Rapsar had spent the night in her arms. I replied, “She knows perfectly well that Nuke monitors everything we’re doing and he already knows what she pretends to you is a secret. Her asking you to help her hide something important from Nuke rubs me the wrong way. She’s testing your loyalty to him.”

Candace was out of earshot when Nuke greeted me. I said, “You must know what happened between Candace and Rapsar last night.”

“Yes, and I am very upset about it.”

“Perhaps she was just being compassionate, or maybe she wants to make you so angry that you will back out of the relationship. If you back out first, she won’t have to admit that she failed.”

“Rapsar manipulated her into giving him exactly what he wanted. He’s being quiet now because his conquest succeeded. He has also shown me how easily Candace can be diverted from her commitment to me.”

“Maybe he did you a favor.”

“I know. I have nothing against Rapsar. He was only acting true to form. I would have been suspicious if he had not made the attempt. I learned things about Candace I didn’t want to know.”

“Why don’t you resolve the issue by telling her what you think and how you feel about her behavior?”

“I’m going to quietly stand here and let her feel my outrage. It makes her very uncomfortable.”

When Candace said she sensed his hostility, Nucleus denied he was angry with her. I thought his behavior was a little childish, but I also thought it was normal for someone who, as a cadet, had been intensively trained to suppress his emotions.

Our coastline drive took us by majestic mountains and a huge fjord at Gros Morne National Park like those of Norway. At a stunning seaside overlook, Nuke said, “This is my spot.”

Fluttering her eyelids coquettishly, Candace said, “You should build a cottage here and invite your girlfriend to it.”

He replied, “I have already invited her.” He honestly told her 210

how he felt about her intimacy with Rapsar.

“All I did was to offer Rapsar the solace he needed and nothing more.”

“You could have asked me how I felt about it beforehand; you could have explained yourself.”

“There was no need for me to speak to you about it. I saw someone who was hurting and I consoled him. I don’t need anyone’s permission to do that. I don’t agree that I should notify you if I intend to do such a thing. I am free to do as I wish without any constraints from you.”

I thought, Spoken by a true narcissist. If she truly has no idea why Nuke is upset, she’s an emotional dunce. I said, “If your husband walks into a room and finds you in the arms of another man, don’t you think you ought to explain why?”

Nuke added, “Membership on the Board means that you are required to consult your compatriots before taking independent actions.”

“If that’s the case, then I will just have to resign from the Board.

I cannot seek approval for everything before I do it. What are you going to do, Nucleus? My love for you is unchanged. I love you as much as ever. I know that I love you, regardless of anything that has happened. Is your love so fickle that you can’t overlook this and accept it?”

“I must take time to think this over. I don’t know what to feel about it, but I know I don’t hate you.”

Candace had revealed her susceptibility to flattery, and having accomplished his goal, Rapsar stopped his seductive behavior.

Later that day Nuke decided to forgive Candace. Although she violated his trust on many occasions after that, causing him intense emotional pain, he stayed in that relationship much longer than I preferred. I was often silently angry with her for trampling on his feelings, and Nuke often sought my counsel about their conflicts. I shared my opinions but avoided direct interference.

It was dusk when Rapsar’s directions took us to the northern edge of Newfound where a small beach was covered with black pebbles smoothed by Ice Age glaciers and relentless ocean waves.

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Although it was drizzling and a brisk wind was blowing, Marjie said we had to continue on foot to a point of land about fifty yards away. Our umbrellas kept our upper bodies dry but drizzle chilled our legs. Marjie said, “Tanner is chanting and dancing and laughing.” Just as Rapsar predicted, we passed an old mound of whitened oyster shells, and when we could go no farther north, Marjie exclaimed, “That’s it!” She pointed at a half submerged, black rock sitting in clear, shallow water about a foot from the shore. She picked it up, stroked it lovingly and said, “Tanner is beside himself. He’s jumping and singing. This is better than multiple orgasms! I’ve never felt such joy!”

Shaped like a semi-flattened kidney bean, the sharp edged stone, about eight inches long, five inches wide, and an inch and a half at its thickest point, was heavier than expected. The bronze colored edges of an embedded mineral protruded from the black matrix here and there, creating lots of nooks and crannies on its upper surface. Only one small bronze edge emerged from its smooth and much flatter underside. I had toured many rock shops and mineral museums but had never seen anything like it. (More than a decade later a gemologist of Danish descent told me the bronze colored inclusions were raw opal.) Candace said she received many impressions from the stone but could not immediately share them with us. Withholding information we wanted for indefinite periods of time and not keeping her word were chronic patterns of her behavior that tied Nuke in knots and irritated me.

The black beach was near restored L’Anse aux Meadow. Some scholars think it likely that Vikings traveled up the St. Lawrence River into the Great Lakes and down the east coast into into the Gulf of Mexico and thence up the Mississippi. At least, thirty different stones inscribed with Norse runes have been found in widely scattered North American locations. Some of the runes describe travels into lands inhabited by Indians. The most famous and controversial of these stones, allegedly found in Minnesota, was displayed at the Smithsonian Institute for several years. Taken altogether, the physical evidence suggests that Vikings traveled 212

widely in North America and would have contacted a variety of native tribes which were much more numerous before European diseases devastated their ranks.

That night we stayed at the Valhalla Inn on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We arrived at the only restaurant in the vicinity just as it was about to close, grateful to have a much needed and delicious fish dinner. Breakfast at Valhalla was a few skimpy pancakes that left us hungry, but the gorgeous view of icebergs floating by the fjord’s mouth caused us to spend another night there.

We headed for L’Anse aux Meadow to continue our search for Tanner’s stones and to verify Rapsar’s predictions. The visitor center and restored structures provided much information about Vikings and their lifestyles. While exploring the nearby shore, I climbed over boulders and found one of the V-shaped inlets Rapsar had described. There I collected several small white stones in which a black mineral formed various shapes, a piece of white brain coral, and a small gray rock with mineral stains that resembled humans dancing. At another V-shaped inlet, I gathered two small black rocks with a white mineral embedded in them. We climbed a trail leading to the top of a sea-side cliff where Marjie rested on a large boulder and said, “Many people have sat here and looked at the sea.”

A fairly large helicopter had been hovering for a long time above a stationary object in the water about a quarter of a mile away. For part of the time, it was there, a shiny, metallic panel dangled on a cable between it and the object, causing occasional flashes of reflected sunlight. The copter had been there longer than a real helicopter could have without refueling and I told Nuke I thought it was a UFO in disguise. He said I was right and that it was delivering supplies to an underwater base.

Candace was handling some of the newly collected rocks and said, “This one looks like a buffalo on this side and on other side it looks like a black bear. The buffalo is Man to Come.” She had not been told Tanner’s name for me.

We enjoyed the magnificent scenery for a short while before heading back to the Visitor’s Center. Along the way I picked up a 213

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roundish stone that resembled gray clay indented with someone’s fingerprints. Marjie said, “Tanner wants to keep that one and all the others you picked up.” When she stopped to remove a small stone from inside her shoe I noticed a cliff face a few yards beyond her where two slabs of stone leaned toward each other, forming an equilateral triangle with the ground as its base. The slabs were quite thick and about six feet long and three feet wide. I pointed it out to Marjie and Perithnea exclaimed, “That’s the pyramid, the portal!

You should go over there.” A thick patch of low brush covered the ground between the gravel path and the portal. I avoided damaging it as I approached the triangle but stopped when I could not get any closer without crushing plants and getting my shoes and feet wet in puddled water. I waited to feel the spiritual energy I thought would be plentiful at the entrance to an active portal but didn’t. Meanwhile, I said hello to a honey bee extracting nectar from a sunflower beside me. I retraced my steps to Marjie and asked Perithnea, “Why don’t I have a special feeling about this place?”

“It is a portal. You could have entered it if you had had enough courage.”

“It wasn’t lack of courage that stopped me. I didn’t want to damage the plants without having a very good reason. I wasn’t thinking about using it to step into another dimension.”

“The rocks themselves aren’t the portal, it’s their shadow. The most important thing is that you found it. You stood before it and you left your traces. That means you now have access to that portal and to any other portal you find. It’s a very high honor. Not many are allowed to do that.”

“That is a great blessing.” I actually couldn’t think of a reason to enter a portal without having a destination in mind. Where would I have emerged? How would I use one? How long would I be gone?

We returned to the Valhalla Inn. We stood on a high balcony admiring the panoramic view of the fjord and several icebergs beyond its mouth drifting slowly southward. Marjie said, “I need to do some trance work.” She laid on our bed and I counted her down. She said, “Tanner is asking if he can speak.”

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“Of course.”

She sat up. Tanner said, “Go get big woman. She understands meaning of stone. Say Tanner wants her to come and will trade for knowledge.” I fetched Candace, who took a seat. Tanner handed the large black stone to her and ordered, “Take. Read. Tell what you see.”

“I see...”

“Wait. First, Tanner will trade for your words. Have food, grain to eat. Have wood, plenty wood. You build fire, build fort, be safe.

Have hides, plenty hides. Keep warm. You build fort with wood, sit beside fire, cover self with hides. Be safe when you read stone.

You in fort now?” I silently wondered why she needed so much protection.

“Yes. I see a small warrior with his hands behind his back.

Behind him is a teepee. In front of the small warrior is a great warrior, a Great Spirit Chief. He is wearing a flowing robe. He is there to help the small warrior, to show him what to do. Across here are two villages. One is a large village with many people in it. This is a small village which is almost abandoned. Beyond the villages is a plain where there is a large herd of buffalo, but they are running backwards. Above them is a mountain where the man called Black Bear lives. His totem is powerful. A band of renegades is with him.

They were cast out of their tribes because of bad behavior. They follow Black Bear, who is emerging from a small hole in the mountain, a cave. He is preparing to attack the villages. He will signal to begin the attack when the buffalo runs backward. On the opposite side behind the small warrior, there are two teepees. One is large. Eight stalks of corn are growing beside it. Beyond it is a small teepee in which there is a baby and perhaps a woman with the baby.

“I see several holes in the rock.”

Tanner interrupted, “No. Holes not in rock. Holes in you. Empty spots in self. Go to fort. How you fill holes in ground?”

“You plant seeds in them.”

“Yes. Put seeds in holes, cover with dirt. Seeds will grow, fill holes.”

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“I’m getting tired,” Candace said.

“There is more! You hold rock wrong. Hold rock on fingertips.”

The stone’s weight made that a little difficult for her. “Read more.

What you see around edges?”

“I see a silver moon.”

“No. Look on other side.”

“I see a blue moon with a silver lining.”

“Yes! Blue moon. What else you see?”

“I see a red moon.”

“Yes. Good. Red moon. What else?”

“I see four black moons.”

“Yes. Four black moons. Now look at place where Black Bear is.

What you see there?”

“A cave. Inside there are drawings on the walls.”

“Tell about drawings!”

“One looks like a space ship. There are two figures with large heads and large eyes walking out of it. They’re carrying something in their hands. One is holding what looks like a left arm and the other is carrying a crutch. They’re bringing them to a very large man who wears a hat with horns sticking out of it. He is wearing long boots with many laces that cover his legs up to the knees. Next, I see four women. Two of them are holding babies.”

“How they hold babies? In front or in back?”

“In front.”

“Ah. Good. What else you see?”

“In front of them is a pile of rocks.”

“Good.”

“Beside them is a pile of fish.”

“How many fish?”

“Approximately a dozen.”

“Too many. How fish lay?”

“They’re all piled up. It’s hard to tell how many are there.”

“Fish are seasons. Three, four enough. What else you see?”

“Two zigzag marks like lightning bolts.”

“Move like snake?”

“No. Move like lightning.”

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“What is this lightning?”

“Fire in the sky that flashes.” I said.

“Yes. Like snake strike.”

“That is all,” Candace said.

“You do good. Very good. You still in fort?”

“Yes.”

“More on other side. What I have to trade?”

Candace said, “I will trade for your friendship.”

“No trade for friendship. Trade for things you can use. I have eagle feather. Feather good. Feather help you with prayers.” He offered her the black, white-tipped magpie feather from the ranch near Chimney Rock.

“It’s a beautiful feather.”

“I give you feather for what you see on other side. When turn rock over, tell Tanner one word. One word only.”

“Whale! It’s a whale.”

“You do good!”

“Thank you,” she said.

“All pictures in rock are symbols. That is all.”

Complaining of fatigue, Candace returned to her room across the hall.

Tanner had corrected her mistakes and praised her successes, so I didn’t think he had truly needed her help to interpret his stone.

Aware of my unspoken thoughts, Alta Sha commented, “Tanner took advantage of her skills so he wouldn’t have to tax his mind.”

The symbols Candace described seemed to reflect events that had already occurred. I thought the small warrior represented me, who could not protect the children entrusted to us without the help of big warriors like Nucleus 8 and Metatron. Like the Buffalo running backwards, I had helped Marjie to explore her traumatic past and her criminal ex husband (Black Bear) had resumed his psychological abuse of her by interfering with Bart’s visits, trying to obtain child support (something his drug using judge friend had not required him to pay when Bart was living with her) and attempting to have her driver’s license revoked. Also, in one past life regression, Marjie was a pueblo Indian attacked by outlaws, 217

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resulting in the deaths of her and her baby.

We did not know how the moons Candace perceived related to our current lifetimes.

Marjie and I had no reason to rush back to P.E.I. but Candace stated that she absolutely had to open her shop the following day, so we headed for the distant terminal to catch the night ferry. Along the way, we stopped at a seaside archaeological site where a large sign depicted four Indian women, two of whom were holding babies in their arms! The inscription indicated that the area was occupied by Native Americans around 4000 years ago, a time when Nuke said Alliance ETs were openly helping humans to recover from a planetary cataclysm.

Candace remained on top of the cliff when Marjie and I started down a steep trail to the rocky, driftwood littered shoreline. A middle aged man ascending the trail said, “If you want to catch the last ferry to Nova Scotia, you had better hurry,”and kept going. We thought he was an Alliance “plant” put there to advise us, so we only spent a few minutes at the shore before joining Candace, who excitedly said, “When I was walking along the path a single white feather fell out of the sky and landed on a pile of other white feathers on the ground, but there wasn’t a bird in sight! I think it was a sign from White Eagle.” (White Eagle, her new spirit guide, wore a full war bonnet of pure white feathers.) Although we arrived at the terminal in time to catch the ferry, it was full and a long line of cars were waiting to board the next one, which wouldn’t arrive until the following morning. To save our place in line, we had to leave our car parked where it was and either spend the night in it or in the terminal building. When I expressed my regret to Candace about not arriving on P.E.I. in time to open her shop she said, “It’s not a problem. My assistant can open it.

She’s done it lots of times.” Because of her lie, we faced a night of trying to sleep on plastic seats or a concrete floor surrounded by a crowd of strangers instead of a comfortable motel bed. I began to doubt the truth of anything she said about her personal affairs.

After several hours of my unsuccessful attempts to sleep, normally brave Nuke, clearly very afraid, said that his absolutely 218

essential connection to the Station’s System had suddenly been severed, which prevented him from returning to his body at Alliance Headquarters. I knew that sustained absence from his workstation could be disastrous for untold millions of Alliance members and told him I would attempt telepathic contact with Metatron to find out what was going on. Within seconds, I felt Metatron’s touch in my brain and received beautiful, tranquil and calming mental images which I described to Nuke, who relaxed and said all must be well.

I managed to sleep until dawn. Marjie asked, “Did you feel a shift in the whole building around two o’clock?”

“No, I was asleep.”

“It was like an earthquake shook the building and everything around it but it was only a single jolt.”

Nuke said, “Immediately after the shock my link to the Station was restored. This has happened before, but it doesn’t happen often. It has never happened before in my lifetime (over 4700 Earth years) and it’s not likely to happen again while I’m alive (approximately 3500 more years). It happened throughout the cosmos. Breath (God) established the proper balance between the forces of Light and Darkness. The Board knew the shift was about to occur and severed my link to protect me, and that’s why we weren’t allowed to get on the ferry. I would not have enjoyed being on that ship. It would have been rough. There were disruptions all over Earth.”

I replied, “Before we left home we were told that a trip to the northeast was necessary to balance the wheel that symbolizes our journeys. The shift to establish a proper balance between the Light and the Dark is confirming that prediction. By the way, Perithnea said I have access to all portals now because I left my traces at L’Anse aux Meadow.”

“It is a real portal and there are many others. You have been granted access to any portal that you wish to enter. Not many have been granted such access. Imagine there is a portal here beside me.”

He outlined a triangle with his finger. “All I have to do is step sideways if I want to enter.” He took a step sideways, waited a 219

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moment, and stepped back. “See how simple it is?”

“Yes, I get the idea.”

“You have been blessed with many gifts on this trip.”

“We all have.” I wasn’t sure how to use that gift, but I planned to keep looking for portals.

A man who arrived on the morning ferry said, “Be glad you didn’t cross over last night. It suddenly got very rough even though there wasn’t a storm or a strong wind to cause it. A lot of people got seasick.”

Our car was among the last few allowed on the ocean going ferry, which saved us from a long, frustrating wait for the next one.

The weather was perfect for our voyage. We sighted a whale (was it the one Candace saw on the stone?), a very bright UFO (Rapsar’s particle of light), and a high-flying jet airliner that had no left wing (like the severed left arm on the stone)? Several other passengers were amazed by the one-winged airliner. I knew the ETs were demonstrating that they could make their vessels look like anything at all. When after our return to home I told my parents about the plane with no left wing, my father reported viewing a recent broadcast about a garage being destroyed by the left wing of a small aircraft that mysteriously fell from the sky! No one could locate the aircraft, which, if real would certainly have crashed. Nuke assured me that the damaged garage was fully covered by insurance and was replaced by a better one.

We were waiting at the terminal in Nova Scotia for the arrival of the connecting ferry to P. E. I. when Tanner said to Candace, “Read other stones for Tanner. Tanner will trade more wood for fire.”