Journey 113 - A Moon Visit and 2nd Epiphany

10/28/04: A Journey taken at night at the height of the full lunar eclipse this evening. I had already cleansed and placed my Crystal Wand outside to absorb the Energies of this Eclipse for my use over the next four years..the length of time before the next such great visibility eclipse locally. The Cloud People pretty much thinned out as expected, and so lots of white and deep red/orange light got to my Wand as it sat there overnight. Having the rare Energy of the Eclipse within the Wand will make it more powerful in Healing and Cleansing activities. Later, while heading off to sleep, I decided to take a non-Drumming Journey to visit the surface of the eclipsed Moon. I took my Upper World Guide Owl with me. We rapidly headed off to the Moon’s surface, and upon arrival found four Beings sitting around a small Fire. I had the sense of their being a negative presence..their faces were completely black and featureless, and they were huddled together in a motionlessness that suggested a foreboding to me. I spoke with Owl about my concerns, and he assured me to just continue with the Journey. I looked across the red Lunar Plain and saw a Village of Tipis there, floating over which were many blue-white streamers of Spirit Energy. Again I felt a sense of foreboding, but we walked into this Village nonetheless. I sometime later decided these Beings looked a lot like thin, low-level Cloud People one sees as fog lifts and lightens into those thin streamers zipping along just off the ground. We headed for the main Tipi, within which I found Grandmother Moon herself. She was huddled over a small replica of the eclipsed Moon, red and vibrant, looking into it as if it were a Crystal Ball. We spoke briefly about the purpose of my visit, to enhance my Feminine Side and strengthen my ability to use the gentle Spirit Light Grandmother provides. She told me the forebodings I felt were of my own doing..that I still had fears and faults in my Spirit Body that were manifesting themselves here. She said there was nothing negative about what I was witnessing on my Journey. She then handed me the little Moon before her and told me to absorb it into myself, which I proceeded to do, so that the Lunar Energy of the Grandmother would become part of me, altering my Shamanic Walk for the better. I myself then turned into one of the floating wisps of Cloud, and Grandmother and I were moving out through the Tipis. We came to a large Circle of Spirit Beings handing around a Sacred Pipe. They were sitting around a Fire that was completely black, and as they handed me the Pipe I relit it with a piece of this Black Energy. Once again I felt a slight sense of foreboding as I did this. At this point, Owl swooped in and lifted me far above the Moon into Space, so I could look down on the Sun, Earth and red/orange Moon lined up to produce the eclipse. We then returned to the bedroom, Journey over. A friend later suggested (I’m writing this up almost 4 days later) that the black Fire at the Pipe Ceremony at the end suggested balancing of light and dark to her..with darkness taking the place of light..and I think that was a very valuable insight. For, when I went outside Friday morning for morning Prayers, Grandfather Sun was on one side of the Sky and Grandmother Moon, back to full whiteness, on the other. With me standing in the middle between the two complementary Beings, I could see the balance of Male and Female asserting itself visually, so my friend’s comment later that morning tied in well.

When I got home from work that afternoon, a very special sign was awaiting me out back, and my going out there at the right time was yet another example of how the Spirits work. The timing was impeccable. A large Red-Tailed Hawk, my Pipe Bird and Shaman namesake, swooped down from the Tree directly in front of me as I walked across the landing, and headed out to the area of my Prayer Spot..and landed RIGHT IN MY EPIPHANY TREE! I knew the second she left the Tree and soared slowly across the yard that she was a Hawk! This was the first time I had seen a Hawk in the Epiphany Tree since my life-changing event itself on 10/19/01, written up in the early part of this Jounrnal..and this current visit was just 3 years and 9 days later. Not only did Hawk land in the Sacred Tree, but sat there for several minutes. She spent the first portion of the time facing away from me, then turned around and spent the second half facing me. Both times she wiggled her Tail from side to side quickly. She then took off and flew back deeper into the woods. The fact she faced both ways for the same amount of time speaks once again of balance..the main message of the prior night’s Journey to the Moon. The return of the Hawk to the Launching Point of my Shamanic Training has unspeakable significance for me. It tells me that I am indeed moving into a new phase of my Skills and Abilities, and that the prior night’s Journey was indeed part of that change for the better. It was a visit by the Great Spirit, consecrating my recent actions, solidifying my gains, and once more launching me into the Shaman’s World..deeper than ever. I am in awe with gratitude.