Ashleea gifting crystals to the 'water spirits' in Hana
The Nature Spirits (elementals) of water are termed the UNDINES. Although etheric in nature (in other words, invisible to physical vision of many), they exist within the water itself. They are often found in rocky pools, river, lakes, near river banks, waterfalls, and coral caves under the ocean. They are present in every water substance. Mermaids are of this realm, and the Mer-folk are often suddenly observed when the veils between our worlds part briefly. The undines come in all shapes and sizes, are friendly, beautiful, emotional and open to human contact.
Journey to the Beloved
A number of years ago I attended a rebirthing workshop with Sondra Ray and is considered by many to be one of the early pioneers and authorities in this technique. Sondra had spent many years studying in India with a man who claimed to be the latest embodiment of Babaji, and through the years studying with him, she had become an ardent devotee of Divine Mother. So on the final day of the workshop, she involved us all in a puja, and invocation to Divine Mother. Each of us were provided with a bag of flower petals, and a piece of paper that listed the 108 names of Divine Mother, and with each calling of her name, we simulatenously called out these multiple names and threw the flower petals towards the direction of the beautiful altar which had numerous statues of many forms of Divine Mother, candles and other sacred objects. The total invocation lasted perhaps thirty minutes.
After completing the invocation, we made a bed to lay down upon and began our final rebirthing exercise of the event. For those who aren’t familiar with rebirthing, I will just say that it is an amazing exercise that involves a special breathing process which brings one to an altered state of consciousness. Quite often emotional issues that have been long buried within the psyche surface to be expressed and released. Thus, the technique clears the nervous system, and from my multiple experiences with using this modality through the years, I have received much benefit from it. Rebirthing can be done in groups (as ours was that day) or it can be done individually. People who are facilitators in this technique attend you, and they encourage you to keep breathing and keep going, whispering in your ear and nurturing you through the oftentimes emotionally charged experience.
On this occasion and perhaps because of the invocation to Divine Mother which proceeded the rebirthing, I had an amazing visitation from Divine Mother herself. She had been successfully invoked, and even as I write this many years later, I have chicken skin! From my altered state, I could sense Her presence moving throughout the room and the sea of bodies laying on the floor breathing and rebirthing. Her unconditional love was so palpable and Her extraordinary loving essence filled the room. I began crying and crying with bhakti tears which are tears of joy and elation. I telepathically communicated with her, and the message to me that day was that she was merging with every person in that room and that she had never left any of us. She was everything and everyone. She said that when I opened my eyes that I would see Her everywhere.
Thus, when I finally came out of my experience, I opened my eyes, rolled over to look at my neighbour rebirther (who had been a total stranger to me as we had laid down on the floor), and I saw Divine Mother looking back at me through her eyes. Even though I had been warned by Divine Mother that this was to be so, the 3-D experience of actually experiencing her eyes in the eyes of another person blew me away. I began crying again. And the experience continued….for as I walked around the room, Divine Mother was looking back at me through the eyes of one and all. To say that this was a turning point in my life would be putting it mildly! Even though I was still in an altered state no doubt, the experience of the reality of the imminence of the Divine in all went far beyond the intellectual comprehension of God/Goddess within us all. Many philosophers have expressed the concept of the shattered mirror, and that we are just shards of this same being that have been separated, perhaps for the experience of exploring the adventure of duality or because of some cosmic catastrophe or for numerous other explanations. In any event, many of us have had outrageous experiences where we remember unity and reunite with this amazing Being whom many of us call Divine Mother/Father. This experience inevitably changes our life as it did mine that day. Since that time, I have had other Close Encounters with Divine Mother, and two years later, I wrote a story which is posted on the internet (forheavensake.com) about yet another amazing encounter entitled “Precious Precious.”
FAST FORWARD: I am on a train traveling to Machu Picchu, Peru in the summer of 2000. This train is packed full with all kinds of people: backpackers on their way to trek the Inca Trail into the fabled Crystal City of Machu Picchu, Peruvians and an international collection of folks enroute to multiple destinations. I am on a research mission for my forthcoming book about mermaids and consider myself a pilgrim on a way to explore, investigate and experience the fabled sacred city of the Incas.
I am emotionally upset and processing my troubled emotions. I sit alone and stew, ponder, wrestle with my negative emotions, attempt to shift to positive emotions and daydream. Across the aisle from me is an attractive mother and daughter who speak only Spanish, and since my Spanish is limited, I am unable to chat with her as she was so eagerly trying to do with me. We smile a lot back and forth when our eyes meet and speak only in short Spanish phrases now and then.
As the train climbs higher into a more tropical area, the people on the train began shedding the layers of sweaters that were needed for early morning Cuzco, the city we have just departed from. As mentioned earlier, I am dealing with heavy emotional issues, and as I am doing so, I am praying to Divine Mother to help me release this yukky stuff. Suddenly, I noticed the lady across the aisle has taken off her multiple sweaters to reveal a bright green t-shirt that read (in double!) Precious-Precious! My mouth flew open, and I started giggling hysterically, for this message on the t-shirt was my wake-up call to remember Divine Mother and an obvious omen!
I gaze into this stranger’s eyes and I see Divine Mother looking back at me with such amazing compassion and love that words can not even come close to describe. Once again, tears of joy stream down my face, and I remember who I am, remember Unity, remember there is Only Love and all else is illusion and the play of maya. For the remainder of the three-week pilgrimage, I am once again integrated with this Knowing which brought me many amazing insights as I traveled throughout Peru and Bolivia.
There is a Spanish cathedral in the small town of Cocacabana, Bolivia that is famous for the miraculous Mary healings and appearances. In front of this cathedral are many kiosks and booths selling all kinds of Mary paraphernalia, and the effect is very carnival, very colorful. Cocacabana sits on the edge of Lake Titicaca which in my opinion is one of the most magical places on the planet and was one of the main reasons I journeyed here in the first place, for I believe there is an interdimensional world in the environs of Lake Titicaca where the Mer-folk reside. I have been called there by them.
Inside the cathedral, I make my way around the corners and up the stairs to the Mary chapel where I spend a long time praying. Mary is with me, in me and her energy is very strong in this chapel. I feel so blessed, so joyous and radiant. I bloom in the present moment of Her Presence. Dwelling in stillness and prayer, I touch into what is most magnificent for me: the intimacy I share with my most innermost Beloved. I have traveled far to once again find myself and to remember that ‘wherever you go, there you are!’
THE FACE IN THE ABYSS
“Imagination is the eye of the soul.” Joubert
With ninety percent of Gringo Bill’s hostel empty, I began exploring the original one -of -a -kind rooms which were left with doors open. I found a second- story room with a huge wraparound deck looking out over the main plaza of the village and homesteaded it so I wouldn’t have to deal with Diana for awhile. The room had been painted a bright fuschia color with a round tantric-style mural of a couple making love painted on one wall. Outside on the deck, I pulled up an old wooden chair and parked myself squarely in the corner….queen of the castle! From here, I had a marvelous view of the mountains in the distance, the peoples coming and going on the plaza down below and a quaint Catholic Church to my left. I put my feet up on the old wooden railing and made myself really comfortable.
Wall at Gringo Bills
My eyes were drawn upwards where I saw a condor (a large bird with wingspans of up to ten feet) making circles in the sky. Condors have lived in the Andes for thousands of years, and they are said to represent Hanakpacha, where higher spiritual beings dwell. The Quechua Indians believe them to be symbols of spirit, messengers from the heavens, representatives of the mountain deities and a lucky omen! I snapped a picture against the cloud-filled sky and my spirit flew to join this awesome being soaring admidst the high mountain slopes.
Condor in Flight
I pondered what it would be like to live here. If it was anything at all like what I have been experiencing in merely one day, then it must be a mind-blowing place to reside. On the other hand, I recalled from reading the history of this area how fragile life was for this little village and for the surrounding area. In recent years there have been a number of natural disasters. Beginning in February, 1995, a huge landslide destroyed the entire hot springs complex at Aguas Calientes, just barely missing the village below where I now sat. Later that year, there had been another big landslide that swept through the serpentine road that curls around to Machu Picchu. Five months later, there was another avalanche. In October of 1997, a huge fire broke out in the area around Machu Picchu, which turned many of the emerald green mountains black. In 1998 there was another avalanche much greater than the first which dammed up the roaring Urubamba River at one place. The locals feel that the reason for all these disasters is because the local gods (apus) were angry with the desecration of their sacred lands. Perhaps the tourists should be advised to acknowledge the spirits and to make offerings. When they buy their train tickets to Aquas Caliente, they would receive such a warning note and advisory.
Living in this little village would make one feel very small and insignificant in comparison to the tall mountains and high-flying condors. It would probably serve the ‘ego’ part of the human being to experience being ‘small’ for a change. Community with nature would most likely become one’s existence, as it has been for the Quechua Indians who have made this area their home for thousands of years. The community would consist of the sacred mountains, the apukuna, the rocks, the springs, the plants, the animals, the ancestors, the family members and the Great One Herself, Pachamama. This is something I could definitely get used to, for I am a pantheist and Nature is my religion.
The clouds gave way to dusk, and I watched as the light faded on the mountains. The mountains became silhouetted against the dimming light of the sky. Suddenly my eyes spied an image of a Face on one of the cliffs of the mountain directly to my right. It reminded me of one of those Easter Island statues for the Face was immense. The eyes, the nose, and the mouth were clearly formed to portray a face. Could this be a natural rock formation, or was my imagination getting the best of me I asked myself, and before I could give myself the answer, I knew! This Face had been given the job of guardian to the vortex. I felt riveted to my chair, for the moment I connected to this Face, I felt an energy flow between us. It was the guardian of this sacred area, and it was expressing itself to me energetically! What is more, I felt the energy of great love and compassion emanating from it and merging with me. My heart zoomed out of my body, twirled around the mountain peaks and landed back in my chest with a thump. This heart connection between us felt so very real! I felt honored that it had revealed itself to me. Then I merged with it.
Face in Peru
Finally, I came back into my body and my thoughts were brought back once again to the Ancients who lived here so very long ago. Did they engineer this Face and entrust it to guard the sacred area around here or was it just a natural formation that had been magically enlivened? Had anyone else ever noticed this Face? How many had experienced the energy of the Face as I had? Did the face point to a treasure, or was there an entrance to the Etheric City inside Machu Picchu through the Face? Was it merely a guardian or did it serve multiple functions? Whom could I tell about this Guardian without seeming totally bonkers?
Reluctantly, I peeled myself off the throne of my wooden chair and returned to my room. All was dark in the room, and I was relieved to discover that Diana was not around. I laid down on my bed, switched on the table lamp and picked up a book that I had purchased in one of the shops, “Journey to Machu Picchu” by Carol Cumes. I randomly opened to a page, and my eyes fell upon this passage, “The three world are interconnected, and it is possible to pass from Kaypacha to Ukhupacha through the the kkocha (lakes), pujyu (springs) and pakkarina (place of origin). One passes from Kaypacha to Hanakpacha through tombs, special rocks, and crosses. There is a continuous interconnection between the beings of the three worlds, an important aspect of the Andean cosmology.”
Upon reading this passage, the light went off over my head. Of course! Just as I had sensed with my interchange with the Face, the Face was a connecting place. “According to Andean cosmology, the Andean universe is arranged on three planes of existence. The universe is divided into three “worlds”: Kaypacha, Hanakpacha, and Ukhupacha.”
Kaypacha is the world where humans, animals and plants live. Hanakpacha is the upper world where highly evolved beings live and Ukhupacha refers to the underworld inhabited by supernatural spiritual beings. Now I could put all the pieces of my magical afternoon together: the condor came to me as a messenger to initiate my understanding of what then followed. I had accessed the upper world of Hankpacha through the Guardian, the special rock, and then had been given a blessing from the upper world. That was why I had perceived so much Love Energy course through my system. The Guardian was a portal or stargate to the upper world! I was so excited after putting all this information together that I screamed outloud with joy and danced around the room. Life was just so delicious, mysterious and fun!
As I was dancing, the door opened and Diana walked in with a shocked expression which read to me like, “How dare you be so joyful after we had a disagreement. You’re not supposed to be happy!” I ran over and hugged her, without saying a word of my initiation. I didn’t want to ruin anything by trying to explain. All I said, was, “Let’s put all our harsh words and feelings behind us, for tomorrow we are going to have a beautiful ceremony in Machu Picchu, and it’ll be so great to have harmony between us.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind. Looking at me with a questioning gaze, all she could say was, “Are you sure you’re ok?” I laughed some more, and replied, “Yes, I feel great!”
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