"I experienced contact with something or someone sentient and much greater than my individual self. I had experienced contact, even momentary communion, with the "essence" of what could be called a transpersonal presence. Afterwards I was told by the local shaman or caretaker that I had met with the guardian spirit of the place.....Pilgrim Martin Gray described a (similar) unification experience he had while attending a Shinto religious festival."
Debra D. Carroll "From Huacas to Mesas"
DIALOGUES WITH THE LIVING EARTH, compiled by James and Roberta Swan (1989)
I was reading the above article by Debra Carroll, an expressive arts therapist and dancer from an important (and sadly obscure) book by the Swans, published in 1989. Within her article, I found a wonderful description of a visionary experience she had with the "Spirit of Place" (Numen) at a site she visited in Mexico. I was equally enthralled by a story she quoted by someone called Martin Gray, in which he described his own experience in Japan. I was moved enough to earmark the book, and I pulled out my yellow marker just to be sure I held them in memory. Ms. Carroll described Mr. Gray as a "pilgrim". Not a researcher, anthropologist, or photographer, but a "pilgrim". I loved that, as well as her story, and his. Because "pilgrim" embodies the humility necessary to approach a sacred site, the humility needed to listen to the voices of Gaia, in the places where Gaia may chose to speak to us.
I have a story as well, at least, a story that compelled me to pull out my yellow marker, and then, later, order Martin Gray's new book SACRED EARTH - PLACES OF PEACE AND POWER (which a syncronicity brought to my attention).
In 1992, I was living with my former husband, artist Duncan Eagleson, on 40 some acres in upstate New York. Where we lived was a rural area rapidly being built up with new houses, as well as industry. One of the mysterious places in the area, to me, was a field I used to go to. To get to that field, which bordered our property, one had to go through a kind of obstacle course - one crossed an old stone wall, immediately ran into a barbed wire fence, and then tramped through a living barrier of poison ivy, grape vines and small trees. Braving all of this, a beautiful expanse of field appeared.
Bordered on all sides by trees, you could stand there in the tall grass, or the snow, and see nothing of the warehouses or homes nearby. It felt, oddly, as if it was somehow protected, as if you entered a special, quiet, mysterious place. The land had obviously once been worked, but it had been left fallow for many years. In the center I perceived a "fairy circle". Small trees, bushes, even tall grasses formed a circle, if one looked. With my divining rods, I found there was a ley crossing in that exact spot - the rod "helicoptered" and whirled. (There is a lot of controversy about leys, ley crossings, dowsing, and "power spots" - I leave that to another time, and simply recount here my own subjective experience.) We came to revere the THE FIELD as magical.
Duncan and I were actively involved in Earth based spiritual practices, and Duncan facilitated a lively men's group. One night when the moon was full the group, energized by drumming, decided to visit THE FIELD. There was snow on the ground, and as the young men strode to the stone wall, something pushed two of them into the snow! Being young, they got up and aggressively thundered forward - and something pushed both of them backwards, again. They fell on their behinds in the snow! This (I was told) was enough strangeness for everyone. They turned around and went home. The next day, Duncan and I took offerings to the edge of the field. I remember placing crystals and flowers on a stone, and as I did, I felt such an overwhelming sense of sorrow that tears ran down my face and would not stop. I was, for that moment, the empathic medium for a prescence that lived there. I believe I felt the sorrow of the guardian spirit of that place. A year later there was an oil spill in a nearby truck depot, and the wetlands that bordered the Field suffered tremendous ecological damage.
I feel we opened a portal, a conversation if you will, because we were practicing ritual, and making art, that was about the earth. The spirits of that place responded to us, simply because we were there, and we were listening. Reading the experiences Debra Carroll and Martin Gray brought that time back vividly to me. So I was amazed, as I followed a link to a blog called Earth Portal (http://www.earthportal.org)/ to open to the following announcement:
"2007 - Martin Gray publishes his monumental book Sacred Earth: Places of Peace and Power with Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. of London based on his decades of travel to research sacred places throughout the world. " I've just ordered the book. Here's the description from Amazon.com:
Martin Gray spent the last 20 years on an amazing pilgrimage: he visited 1,000 sacred sites in 80 countries around the world. His journey unfolds in a remarkable compilation of images that reveals just how devoutly pre-industrial cultures everywhere worshipped and respected our Earth. Gray’s stunning photographs and fascinating text provide unique insight into why these powerful holy places are the most venerated and visited sites on the entire planet. Maps adapted from the National Geographic Society show the locations of all the sites presented, and a thorough appendix includes a comprehensive list of over 500 of the world’s sacred sites.
And guess what? As I wait for my book, I can subscribe to a newsletter about sacred sites, founded by friends of Martin Gray, called the Geomancy Foundation (http://geofound.org/) which happens to be in Arizona.
So. Thanks to the Powers that Be, I think inspiration and information is on my way. Ask and ye shall receive.
"There is an earth-based energy available to human beings, concentrated at specific places all across the planet, which catalyzes and increases this eco-spiritual consciousness. These specific places are the sacred sites discussed and illustrated on this web site. Before their prehistoric human use, before their usurpation by different religions, these sites were simply places of power. They continue to radiate their powers, which anyone may access by visiting the sacred sites. No rituals are necessary, no practice of a particular religion, no belief in a certain philosophy; all that is needed is for an individual human to visit a power site and simply be present. As the flavor of herbal tea will steep into warm water, so also will the essence of these power places enter into one’s heart and mind and soul. As each of us awakens to a fuller knowing of the universality of life, we in turn further empower the global field of eco-spiritual consciousness. That is the deeper meaning and purpose of these magical holy places: they are source points of the power of spiritual illumination.".........Martin Gray
