March 19, 2012
I woke up remembering the following dream: I was a student. Someone had taken my chair away from the desk during class, and I stood before my desk, waiting for the person to return it. I knew that standing in front of my desk would draw attention from my instructor, and the prankster would return my chair faster. I patiently waited as a guy with a huge smile and blond hair returned my chair. I quietly sat down, ready to continue with class.
I started my day at 7:30 AM, shortly after sunrise. Once I got situated, I left the Walmart parking lot and reached the address: 6859 Hwy 577 Pioneer, Louisiana 71266.
My drive, estimated at an hour and a half, would take me through parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. About fifteen minutes outside of Greenville, I crossed the Mississippi River.
After crossing the Mississippi, I continued through southeastern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana. I stopped in Oak Grove, Louisiana, for breakfast and some Internet time before arriving at my next destination, Poverty Point National Monument.
“Eight centuries after Egyptian slaves dragged huge stones across the desert to build the Great Pyramids, and before the great Mayan pyramids were constructed the Poverty Point inhabitants set for themselves an enormous task as they built a complex array of earthen mounds and ridges overlooking the Mississippi River floodplain in what is now northeastern Louisiana.”
I was on VERY ancient ground.
I hit the ground running. Not wanting to waste time, I checked in at the visitor’s center (the red dot on the image below), obtained a map for a self-guided walking tour, and headed for the trailhead.
I knew that the hike would take approximately 2 hours to complete. I knew it would take longer since I had a 20-minute invocation to perform on top of the ceremonial mound. It was a very lovely, breezy, overcast day with limited sunshine.
The yellow dot on the image above shows the location of the ceremonial mound. The trees on this mound were recently removed to prevent erosion, so the image from Google Earth (above) and my photograph (below) are slightly different.
Once I arrived at the ceremonial mound, I went to the top and performed the same ritual I had performed at the previous mounds. Once I felt like I had permission from the ancestors, I climbed two hundred and ten steps to the top of the massive bird-shaped effigy.
I placed the following stone on the ground, which I had brought from the Winterville Mounds…
And I then sat down to do my 20-minute meditation. I performed the invocation between 11:29 and 11:49 AM.
While performing No. 7—DNA Of The Soul meditation, an ant decided to visit by crawling on a board directly next to me. It was a giant ant, so I had to keep my eyes on it to ensure it didn’t bite me.
Ant offered the following wisdom:
- planning for the future,
- stamina,
- being patient and
- deligent.
The message, “Energy and patience needed to complete work,” was very similar to the message in my dream the night before. Once I completed my meditation, I stood up and took the following photograph.
At first, I thought the photograph was very ominous, but then I noticed the ring around the sun (the Light), the hints of pink around the ring, and the fact that all of this was breaking through the clouds (the dark), suddenly the image made more sense.
Once I completed my ritual, I returned to the mound’s base and continued my hike around the trail. I was the only person walking the path at the time, so it was very peaceful.
As I hiked into the last patch of woods, I saw the following sign.
In this patch of woods, I saw several different species of butterflies, about 40 butterflies in all. As the butterflies swarmed around me, it felt very magical. Strangely enough, I could not capture them with my camera.
Butterfly offered the following medicine:
- reincarnation,
- complete transformation,
- and magic.
Once again, I had to remind myself that while creating a strong spiritual connection to the land, my primary objective in the 72 Days of Angels adventure was to connect to the ancient wisdom of the land and nothing more. I wasn’t looking to reach any conclusion by doing these meditations in these places.
As I exited the patch of woods, I came upon a Dogwood tree in full bloom.
Before I reached the end of my three-hour hike, I came to a set of trees standing side-by-side. The trees appeared to touch one another very gently as if they were dancing. The space between the trees fascinated me the most. It seemed like some magical gateway into another dimension. My imagination got the best of me as I wondered what would happen if I walked between the two trees.
The two columns most definitely resembled Kabbalah’s Tree of Life.
The Tree Dance
Once I arrived at the visitor’s center, I watched the 15-minute documentary on the park. I left the Poverty Point National Monument completely exhausted but exhilarated at the same time. I spent the rest of the day driving across Louisiana, finally arriving in Shreveport sometime that evening.
I went to bed around 11:00 PM and spent the night in a casino parking lot.