June 4, 2012
Soon after drifting off to sleep the night before, I woke up thinking, “Orion, Phoenix, Pyramid, Phoenix.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I made a mental note to do online research the following morning. Phoenix experienced a full moon and a partial lunar eclipse several hours later.
When I woke up, I immediately got online and began researching any connections that Phoenix had to pyramids and the constellation Orion. I was trying desperately to figure out where my next invocation should occur. I traced my tracks back to the Moenkopi village in Hopi and discovered that Moenkopi was located on the 111°13’9.2″ latitude. I followed the grid lines down to the 33rd Parallel, bringing me to Florence, Arizona.
That’s when I remembered the Casa Grande National Monument, located in Coolidge, Arizona, several miles east of Florence. As you can see below, parts of the Monument are located on the 33rd Parallel.
Google Maps 2012
At that point, I knew I had found the perfect spot for my next meditation. After gathering my things, I set out for the monument, an hour southeast of Phoenix. I arrived safely at 2:50 PM. After paying my $5.00 entry fee, I watched a very short film in the visitor’s center and headed straight for the ruins.
As soon as the ruins came into view, I looked out towards the grounds and noticed a hawk flying directly over the site. I could not have felt more welcomed. Even though this sort of thing had happened many times on my journeys, I was still humbled every time a hawk appeared. (The hawk is circled in red in the following image)
Casa Grande National Monument
I was blessed enough to get one more photograph of the hawk. This particular snapshot turned out quite amazing. The lens flare next to the hawk looked like a comet. It was stunning. I loved the intense colors.
Hohokam Hawk Angel
I tried to keep my eyes on the hawk, but as soon as the next group of people came out of the visitor’s center, the hawk disappeared into thin air. I looked everywhere for it, in every direction, and couldn’t find it. I finally made my way to the ruins, sat on the steps of a doorway, and began my “Forget Thyself” invocation. I performed my mediation between 3:33 and 3:53 PM, facing east.
While I was repeating the mantra “Lamed Hey Chet” I noticed a tiny fly walking across the surface of my 72 Names of God book. It was a mayfly. Mayfly, strangely enough, offered the following message:
- Being intense,
- being present,
- now,
- being transparent,
- childhood issues.
Magfly (circled)
I spent the next 20 minutes trying to forget myself by living in the moment and keeping a close eye on the mayfly. Once I completed my invocation, I looked directly overhead and took the following image.
The Forget Thyself Angel
I then took a moment to walk around the monument to check out the various sites. It was impressive, apparently one of the first preserved ruins in the Desert Southwest.
For my journey’s sake and dedication to the partial lunar eclipse and full moon, I decided to name this day after a star in the Orion constellation: Alnitak.
“Alnitak: This primary star is a hot blue supergiant with an absolute magnitude of -5.25 and is the brightest class O star in the night sky with a visual magnitude of +2.04. It has two bluish 4th magnitude companions, producing a combined magnitude for the trio of +1.72.”
I drove back to Phoenix and spent the rest of the evening preparing for the next day.