April 14 and 15, 2014
Driving in separate vehicles, a couple of friends and I headed up to Hopi Land on Sunday morning, April 13, 2014. It had been nearly eight months since I last visited Ahote and Tuwa, and a lot had changed. As we turned off Interstate 40 and headed north on Highway 87, the sky turned dark, and the wind blew furiously. The winds of change were blowing once again. The rain clouds were a good sign.
About 30 minutes outside of Hopi, the sky opened up, and the sun began to shine. However, the strong winds continued to blow.
We all arrived at the Hopi Cultural Center safely around 5:00 PM, meeting Ahote, Tuwa, and several of their family members. It turned out to be a lovely reunion. After dinner, we all went to Tuwa’s parent’s house for a brief visit. This visit was the first time I had officially met Tuwa’s mother and father.
We returned to the Cultural Center around 9:30 PM. I had planned to spend the night in the back of my van, but since the nighttime temperatures hovered around 30 degrees and the wind was still blowing very strongly, I opted for a room at the Cultural Center. After watching television for about 30 minutes, I fell asleep around 11:30 PM.
I woke up the following morning at 7:30 AM and ate breakfast in the Cultural Center. My friends joined me sometime later.
After we all finished breakfast, Ahote and Tuwa joined us and led us on an all-day tour of Hopi, including a stop at the Hopi Prophecy Rock and a couple of other sites. We spent the rest of the day touring Ahote’s newly planted fields, and he was gracious enough to share some of his secrets about being a successful dryland farmer. I learned a few new things about Ahote and Hopi during the tour.
That evening, Ahote and Tuwa invited everyone to their home in the village for dinner. Dinner ended around 7:00 PM. Afterward, we all returned to the Cultural Center and made plans to meet in the courtyard around midnight to watch the full lunar eclipse. I stepped outside around 11:40 PM and noticed the eclipse had already begun.
I immediately set out to find a place to perform my ceremony. The temperature outside was around 45 degrees. After a brief walkabout, I was led to a picnic table in the campground next to the Cultural Center. I sat on one of the benches, looked up at the moon, and performed the ritual on the Getting Started page.
Once it was complete, I joined my friends in the courtyard of the Cultural Center to watch the eclipse. We all agreed that it was a fantastic sight to behold, and seeing it at Hopi was very memorable for me.
A few minutes later, I returned to my hotel room and performed my prayer for the second time. I wanted to ensure that I completed the prayer during the last fifteen minutes of April 14 and again during the first fifteen minutes of April 15 while the eclipse was in full effect. Once I completed the second prayer, I rejoined my friends in the courtyard before eventually saying goodnight around 1:00 AM.
Walking outside the following morning, I noticed an unusual formation in the sky above.
Later that morning, after having breakfast, I drove over to visit Ahote and Tuwa in their village. Ahote wanted to discuss some things with me. He informed me that he thought it would be best that I didn’t visit the Sipapuni, mainly because the people who went there went there to die or return to the spirit world. That was enough information to convince me that I shouldn’t go. Everything else that we talked about I’ve decided to keep private.
Before I left, I gave Ahote and Tuwa a printed copy of the prayer I had done the night before and a link to my website. Since Ahote and Tuwa didn’t have Internet service, I asked them to please share the meditation and link with one of their sons who lived in Phoenix so that he could review my work. I wanted to make sure that if at any point I had mentioned something in my journal that was inappropriate or needed to be removed, they would let me know so I could make the necessary revisions.
Although I had tremendous love and respect for my friends at Hopi, I felt like the connection was too delicate at times, and the risk of writing something in my journal that would innocently disrespect them seemed possible. I certainly didn’t want to cross any lines or boundaries. That was not my intention.
I said goodbye to Ahote and Tuwa and wondered when I would see them again. I then reunited with my friends, and we departed the Hopi Land around noon. We then set out for Sedona, Arizona. After arriving in Sedona, I spent a few more hours with my friends before returning to Phoenix. The next week, on April 23, 2014, my astrology cardinal sign of Cancer participated in what’s known as a Cardinal Grand Cross.
Between the Blood Moon of April 14 and the Cardinal Grand Cross of April 23, 2014, I noticed I had undergone several more intense transformations. I couldn’t explain it, but I was beginning to see everything and everyone around me very differently.
On the afternoon of April 23, a baby horned owl appeared at the peak of the Grand Cross. I photographed it with my cell phone.
After taking a photograph, I was blessed with a small feather that the owl had molted on the ground nearby. The sighting of the owl and the feather during the Cardinal Grand Cross confirmed that a significant transformation was indeed in progress. Another death/rebirth of some sort was imminent.
With my visit to Hopi, the Blood Moon, and the Cardinal Grand Cross behind me, I now had to prepare for the next full moon, scheduled for May 14, 2014.