GETTING STARTED
Recalling that I had learned during Blood Moon Tetrad that I was born on Tisha B’Av or the Ninth of Av, I started seeing the number 9 all around me. The numbers in 2016 added up to 9; I assigned No. 9 to my apartment. I was born on the 9th of Av, and so on.
At this point in my life, I had been on my journey for six years without a full-time job, and my annual income had dropped well below the poverty level in all six of those years. While I still managed to keep my head above water with no debt. And as far as a relationship involving a potential lover was concerned, I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to date a 54-year-old man in my situation. Regardless of all of this, I continued to feel as though I led a very abundant life. Restricted, somewhat delusional, and lonely at times, but abundant.
While my journey had fed my soul and true essence in ways I couldn’t explain, things were still very precarious for me on many other levels.
In addition to feeling lost in my career and love life and being entirely at the mercy of the Universe financially, I felt disconnected from some of my past ambitions. This was only natural, considering my journey was about spiritual growth, letting go, and trusting entirely in the Creator. I guess you could say it all had taken its toll on various aspects of my life. And I couldn’t help but wonder if my age also had something to do with feeling disconnected.
I felt as though I was going through another reincarnation or purification. It was a bizarre feeling and overwhelming at times. That said, I could sense that No. 9 has many different possible meanings at this stage of my life. Following my connection to G-d, I knew I had to continue following my intuition and inner guidance.
Right or wrong, heaven, hell or otherwise, with ego or without, I felt it was vital to stay committed to my inner calling. At the same time, I had to remember to respect everyone else’s journey as theirs.
Under the new moon of August 7 and 8, 2016, a friend and I visited a location where I had performed a meditation three years earlier, on November 13, 2012. (11/13/12) The site was the abandoned Loloma Bus Station in downtown Scottsdale, and the ceremony had taken place on Day 69 of the 72 Days of Angels and The Brotherhood of Light chapter.
Here’s an excerpt from my journal from that day:
“While reviewing the details of my day, I decided to figure out who the Loloma Station was named after. That’s when I learned about a very well-known Scottsdale pottery and jewelry maker by the name of Charles Lolomo: Charles Loloma was born near the little village of Hotevilla on Third Mesa of the Hopi Reservation, on January 7, 1921, the son of Rex and Rachael Loloma. He had his early schooling at the Hotevilla Day School.” As soon as I discovered this, I texted Tuwa and asked her if she knew who Charles Lolomo was. I almost fell out of my chair when she replied, “He was my uncle from the same clan as me, but a different village. We are from the Badger Clan.”
Overhead view of abandoned Loloma Bus Station back in 2012.
We both arrived at the old bus station and learned that my meditation from three years earlier had paid off. They turned the abandoned building into administrative offices for a new museum called “Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West.”
As we walked around the museum’s grounds, we were both overtaken by what they had done with everything. The Native American sculptures alone were stunning; seeing all of this made me extremely happy. I spent the next week dealing with issues at the apartments, and it was during this time that I took a moment to look up the various meanings of the number 9:
In Numerology, the positive characteristics of nine (9) are selflessness, fulfillment, completion, universality, universal understanding, interrelatedness, compassion, idealism, tolerance, forgiveness, generosity, benevolence, humanitarianism, emotionalism, and justice. Nine is also associated with accomplished artists and thinkers inspired by universal truths. Aztec, Mayan, and Native American myths describe nine cosmic levels (four above, earth, and four below). Simultaneously, nine can represent negative characteristics, from selfishness to extravagance to vulgarity—essentially the opposites of the positive attributes. I wanted my journey to include the positive characteristics: selflessness, fulfillment, completion, universality, universal understanding, interrelatedness, compassion, idealism, tolerance, forgiveness, generosity, benevolence, humanitarianism, emotionalism, and justice.
One of the most exciting things I noticed over the last several years while on this journey was that most of my best ideas or inspirations came to me in the early morning hours, either through dreams or through passing thoughts that didn’t involve a lot of thinking. Those ideas usually appeared right when I woke, just before I opened my eyes.
Well, the morning of February 14, 2016, was one of those mornings. Just as I was about to open my eyes, I downloaded a new batch of ideas. I finally received that bolt of inspiration I had been waiting for. Without going into too much detail, I knew it was time to return to The Transfiguration of Christ Mountain and to Hopi to lay down more prayers.
My journey would continue where I left off and include the nine characteristics outlined above and the nine points shown in the image on the map below. Most importantly, the ceremony would attempt to bridge the space between Heaven and Earth, Creator and Mankind. I started with the four directions and the four elements, the symbol of a cross, which represented Christ’s Consciousness, and the following Hopi World Symbol:
The Hopi World Symbol signifies the world to the Hopi. The “cosmic cross” or four bars represent north, south, east, and west, which correspond to the outermost points on the horizon where the sun passes through the year, the solstice and equinox points. The four circles inside the outer outline represent the four nations (the first four tribes of humankind) that came to the world to keep balance.
Once I combined the two images, I superimposed them over The Transfiguration of Christ Mountain on the following map.
12Minus3 Ceremony
This was my starting point. I still had to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do at each of the nine points on the diagram above, so I waited for further inspiration. On Tuesday, February 16, 2016, I celebrated the six-year anniversary of setting out on the 72 Days of God journey. On Sunday, February 21, I began working on the details of an offering ceremony that I wanted to perform to kick off my journey. I wanted to make this offering the following day during the full moon.
The numbers associated with the date and time of this particular full moon aligned perfectly with my numbers, so I knew it was essential to get everything in perfect order.
As planned, I returned to The Transfiguration of Christ Mountain on Monday, February 22, 2016, at 10:40 AM. I last visited this mountain four months earlier, on October 12, 2015, during the closing ceremonies of Blood Moon Tetrad. Most of the ceremonies performed previously had taken place right before sunset, so I couldn’t remember the last time that I had visited the mountain in the middle part of the day. Since there were no clouds in the sky and it was close to high noon, there was no place to hide from the intense sunlight. Being fair-complected, I had to be conscious of how much time I spent in the sun.
Just as I had done in all of my ceremonies, I placed both feet on the embedded crystals and, while shaking my Hopi rattle, greeted the six directions, north, east, south, west, above, and below, and repeated the following mantra;
The Father and I are one.
I stand before thee in the Light of the Christ.
For I am Light
I am Light
I am that Light.
I then placed kernels of corn to honor my friends at Hopi and all my relations to the north, barley grains to honor my family and friends in North Carolina and all my relations to the east, and beans to honor my home in Phoenix and all my relations in the south, rice to honor Ricardo and all of my friends in California, and all my relations to the west. pennies to honor Mother Earth and all my relations there, and water representing life, not only for myself but *all my relations on the Earth, in the rivers, lakes, and oceans.
I then closed the ceremony by placing both feet on the embedded crystals. I began shaking my Hopi rattle and greeted the six directions while repeating the following mantra;
The Father and I are one.
I stand before thee in the Light of the Christ.
For I am Light
I am Light
I am that Light.
Once my ceremony was complete, I faced north and photographed the place where I would begin my nine-day ceremony.
