Off A Cliff

4/30/10

As I approached Mt. Gilead, there was a sign that said, “Montgomery County, North Carolina: A Golden Opportunity.” So I said, “Okay Spirit, I’m looking!” I had been so hot and uncomfortable on the trip, the thought that passed through my mind was that maybe I would find an opportunity to swim and comfort my body. Then, I went right past a county park with a swimming pool! I checked it out but, alas, the pool was not yet open. Little did I suspect that the opportunity waiting for me was at the mounds themselves.

When I arrived at Town Ck. Mounds, there was a busload of school kids there, picnicking after apparently having just been on tour at the site. Some of them had bought souvenir sticks which, of course, were not really Indian in origin so much as “Made in China.” As kids are prone to do, they had turned the ceremonial wands into clubs and were proceeding to have fake fights with them, pretend-whacking one another on the noggin. It brought to mind a scene from the film Terminator — some visiting alien or visitor from the future perhaps – looking at our war-like nature and wondering how we could have survived so long. Then one of the boys got creative. He held up the end of his staff, which had a “god’s eye” type design on it, made a woooo-oooo sound, and declared, “This hypnotizes you so you can’t attack! Haha!” A budding little shaman! Haha indeed!

I ate lunch, waiting for the kids to clear out before entering the site. Watching the orientation film, I learned the residents here have been named the Pee Dee, after the nearby river by the same name, and that they were part of the Southern Appalachian Mississippian culture. I was interested in this site because it was the place where the priests lived and held the energy and rituals for all the clans thereabouts. The main mound held the ceremonial lodge, in which all their rites were performed. I was also interested in it because over sixty years of continuous excavation have been carefully performed at the site, so much so that archeologists believe they have a very good picture who these folks were and how they lived. What I didn’t expect was the fact that they had actually rebuilt replicas of some of the structures, including the ceremonial lodge! In the same shape and size as the original, on exactly the same spot as the ancient one had been, stood the newly-constructed lodge. They had also rebuilt the defensive barrier that had once been around the village.

Though this is a now a historic site, I asked permission of the ancestors for permission to enter before doing so. Feeling their consent, I worked my way nonchalantly toward the main mound, checking out the other structures as I went. To this point, I hadn’t yet climbed any mounds at a site, being little interested in all the “tourist energy” that collects atop them. This mound beckoned me, however. The energy of the priests and shamans called me. I ascended the mound, again asking humble permission to enter. Feeling that had been granted, I circled the room respectfully, taking in the feel, the architecture. Then I lay upon one of the log platforms, greeting the ancestors, asking if they had any messages or energy they wanted to share with the people at this time.

As I lay there, I began to get a headache. A bad one. Shortly I realized something was happening. The headache was centered in my third eye, which soon began to pulse like a great drum. Then my heart chakra joined, pounding far harder than it should have been while in a relaxing, reclining state. I attended to this, continuing to keep my “antenna” up to Spirit and the ancestors there. The energy began to come through the 4^th and 6^th chakras very intensely, and I felt them synchronize and come into perfect harmony. At that point, I began to perceive the “spirit” of the place, the energy of the “Busk,” which was the main ceremonial cleansing all the people, under the guidance of the priests, performed annually. During this ceremony, all fires were doused in all the villages in the region. In preparation, they forgave all who had wronged them, sought to make amends for wrongs done, and cleared all debts. Then the people, gathered from all around, fasted and purged and cleansed their hearts, minds, and bodies. Afterwards, the priests lit a new fire in the ceremonial temple, which was then carried out to re-light the fire in all the other villages. For this reason that the people were called, “The People of One Fire,” for this represented their unity in Spirit.

So, as I lay in the temple sensing the purification energy, it is no surprise the answer I finally got to my question. “What message or energy would you have me share with my people in this day and age.” The answer, “Purify yourself. Release anger and offense and walk from the heart.” Ho. May it be so.

Upon leaving this place, it was so hot I again began contemplating the “missed” swim, and what “golden opportunity” could be coming my way, when Spirit told me to pay attention, that I was missing something. To my delight, when I checked in with myself, I realized my heart and brow chakras had been activated to a new level. Interestingly, these two are also brought into entrainment together in the practices of the Incan lineage into which I was initiated. For it is taught that the head without the heart and the heart without the head are both ways of being out-of-balance and, to be a seer, you must see from both as a whole. So, a Golden Opportunity indeed! Ho! Thank the ancestors!