Sacred Sites Update, High Tor's Ledges

I have posted an update of my visit to the Ledges at HIgh Tor last Friday.

Sacred Sites Update, High Tor's The Ledges 

Sacred Sites Update--Part I High Tor Labor Day 2017--The Large Dimpled Mound and more

Visiting and experiencing High Tor NYS DEC Forest Labor Day Weekend is a tradition that dates back to when I  first discovered the sacred mounds there ten years ago on a Labor Day Weekend. Soon after I began my Clarks Gully Blog. This past Labor Day Monday I took advantage of the beautiful weather to maintain that wonderful tradition.

I wanted  to explore Brink Hill and choose the parking area along Parish Hill Road up from Rt. 245 as my entry point, mostly because I had not entered from that access point before. So the area was some what unexplored. Originally I wanted to investigate the gully, but unfortunately got a very late start owing that I chose to drive to Lisle to pick up spring water first.

Instead I chose to hike up and take another look at the large dimpled mound we found last year, Brink Hill, Memorial Day 2016, Part 2. Given that we believe it is thousands of years old it has held up remarkably well. 

Our survey of the Ledges area on South Hill has given me a better appreciation of the significance and detail put into constructing the stone mounds. In essence  it has given me a new perspective and in a way I am looking at things with a new set of eyes (or heart.)

The mound covers numerous Earth Chakras and Energy Lines.

 The Stone Mound is massive- oblong shaped about 45-60' by 35-50' and about 3-4 feet in height at its highest point.

 In the upper center you can see my trekking poles which are in the hollowed out center. My orange seat cushion on the rocks above next to the poles show that the hollowed out center is about 2 1/2 feet deep. Leaves and debris over the millennia have built upon the floor bed and I imagine that the hollowed out center was much deeper at the time of its creation.

 My trekking poles show the dimpled center to be about 8' across.

My Trekking poles could not reach across the the length of the hollowed out center. I estimate it to be about 10' in length.

The large flat stone appears to be a prayer seat where pilgrims would sit to experience all of the prana/Life Force/chi/orgone permeating the ether as it tries to get into the vortex of the Earth Chakras.

Another Prayer Seat was found at the other end of the hollowed out center.

Again, one the lessons learned from our survey of the Ledges is the intricacy of the stone mounds and the effort made to emphasize aspects of Mother Earth's Energy Body and its parts such as Energy Lines.

Continue to Part II below or click on the link

Sacred Sites Update--Part II High Tor Labor Day 2017--The Large Dimpled Mound and more

Sacred Sites Update--Part II High Tor Labor Day 2017--The Large Dimpled Mound and more

Since I had poked and prodded on my way to the large dimpled mound I did not have much time left before nightfall. I decided to head back towards the Finger Lakes Trail. On the way up my dowsing rods had indicated that there were some stone mounds closeby; but found nothing.

As I walked to the Finger Lakes Trail I picked up some beer cans. Soon my rods where indicating a covered Earth Chakra and stone mounds up ahead. If you are unfamiliar with Earth Chakras or have not read my previous posts see my YouTube video--Earth Chakras--Vortexes of Energy Circulation - YouTube

I was very pleased to find the following; a large stone covering an Earth Chakras and marked Energy Lines, several Manitou Stones, and upright Stones.

A large Prayer Stone (boulder) covers an Earth Chakra, Its vortex is located below the boulder at the intersection of my Trekking pole. My Trekking Poles mark the two Energy Lines in the ground below that whisk away the Life Force/Prana/Chi/ Orgone.

 Pepper is lying in the hole, or indention next to the Prayer Stone covering the Earth Chakra.

Notice how the path Energy Line emanating from the Earth Chakra below the Prayer Stone are marked with stone.

 Again stones mark the other Energy Line.

Wow. A Manitou Stone Marks the intersection of two Energy Lines (Trekking Poles) close to the Prayer Stone covering the Earth Chakra.

 About 75-100 feet away from the Prayer Stone marking the intersection of numerous Energy Lines.  My trekking poles trace out two of them. Look closely and you may be able to make out a few tiny upright stones marking the Energy Lines.

My poles trace out a few of the many other Energy Lines intersecting at the  large stone.

It was getting close to dark and I had to move fast to get back to my car.

It was a great thing and learned much.

I would like to thank Janice Carr and particularly photographer Peter Shell who has been with me for every survey of the Ledges--concentrating, contorting his body to get the best angle and waiting for the right light to take photos. In a way they pushed me, and challenged me to learn more about the stone mounds that we were photographing--the detail, the skill, knowledge and love put into creating them.

Secondly, it was not until I started to clean up the area and big up beer cans that I found the stone structures pictured above. Coincidence? Hardly!. There is a protocol for visiting sacred sites that I talk about in several places in Sacred Sites in North Star Country. I strongly encourage you to read it. Don't be like a busload of foreign tourists with cameras in hand photographing everything. Imagine waking up and finding people traipsing your home with cameras in hand snapping everything in sight. How would you feel?

As you can tell I am not an advocate for going on a hunt for Nature Spirits. Let them be, they will be in touch if they like. Don't be like a foreign tourist!!!!

My journey did not end there. For several hours after I went I tried to go to sleep I had wild and colorful visions when I closed my eyes. In fact my first few hours of sleep where anything but restful as the energy and consciousness of HIgh Tor nourished me with all sorts of delights.

Before I went to sleep I was reading Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman. Perhaps I was influenced by his description of the visions he had after ingesting Guayusa (an exotic Ecuadorian tea), kailua,ayahuasca,,,,

But I had ingested nothing, no exotic foods/drugs/poisons.  It was nothing but Mother Earth's Energies and essences and the imprints of the many who have been coming to sacred High Tor for millennia. It was that what gave me such wonderful experiences--no chemicals were necessary.

I encourage you all to visit High Tor and experience its bounty. At some point my work will be recognized the solitude of this divine place will be lost. So visit soon.

I leave you with my description of High Tor in Sacred Sites in North Star Country;

“Imagine if you could go back in time 2,000, or even 3,000 years, or more, to when the mound builders inhabited much of the Eastern United States. Imagine if you could visit one of their sacred sites and feel the charged atmosphere of their spiritual practices as you sat next to one of their mounds. Can you feel the chills running up and down your spine as you cry for a vision and tap into the collective consciousness of the thousands that have been here centuries before you? Feel their thoughts, as they help elevate your consciousness, bring you closer to the Great Spirit, open up lines of communication to other worlds, and give you visions while healing you.” 

Sacred Sites Update--High Tor's Ledges Survey Continues

We were back surveying the Ledges at High Tor. We were joined by Helen Ellis and Joscelyn Godwin. Helen has been to the Ledges on several occasions before; It was Joscelyn's first.

Welcome Circle

Those of you familiar with my work know that I am a big advocate for having a Welcome Circle, or Welcome Area, at a sacred site. It acts like the entryway, or foyer, of your home. Like a foyer this is where you greet your guests, hang up your coat, take off your boots and prepare for your visit. 

The function and purpose of a Welcome Circle is very similar.

• Remove your spiritual debris/clutter. Instead of taking off your shoes, or dirty boots, as you do when you enter a house you smudge yourself, or have someone smudge you. Smudging is a cleansing process. It removes negative attachments, or thought forms, that might be clinging to you.
• Offering. Janice Carr brought two flowers. One of which she left at the Welcome Circle as she said a prayer. She also spread tobacco and said a prayer as we stood around. An offering is a gesture of respect and reverence for a space. It helps put you in the proper state of mind for your upcoming experience. Bringing an offering will better help you act in a sacred manner when you are in the sacred space. An offering could be something simple as tobacco, a flower, a piece of fruit. It should be something simple and small and something that will not attract attention. For example, you don't want to put down tons of fruit which attracts deer which then get shot during hunting season.  It is not so much what you bring, but rather than you bring something.
• Prayer. Within the Welcome Circle we held hands and formed a circle as I said a prayer.
• Permission. Asking permission to enter a sacred space is always good idea. You are announcing your arrival and telling everyone in the unseen world in the immediate area, remember the veil is thin here, that you would like permission to enter.
• Meditating. You should always meditate in a Welcome Circle if you have time. It helps raise the vibe of the space and hastens the formation of a natural vortex, or energy vortex. It also puts you in a contemplative mind and further removes any more negative thought forms you might have attached to your subtle body.
• Developing a strong imprint, or samskara. Over time as people keep doing these actions the imprint, or samskara, gets stronger and stronger. So the effects of smudging gets more pronounced--the cleansing gets deeper and pulls off more and more attachments. Meditations get deeper and deeper. Over time as we have seen at the original Welcome Circle at Gossamer Woods, a natural vortex, or energy vortex forms. A powerful imprints particularly helps when people that are not reverent or don't have time enter the sacred site and don't bother to smudge. The imprint will automatically look to cleanse them and put them in a more contemplative mind.

From the left Janice Carr, Joselyn Godwin and Peter Shell with Pepper on his lap meditating in the Welcome Circle. You can see stones marking the boundary of the Welcome Circle.

More Intricate Stone Mounds

We continued working on the far end of the highest ledge where we had previously found the area to have a very thin veil with powerful imprints and numerous vortices.

The highest ledge of the Ledges abutted a steep embankment and ridge above. The challenge was to determine were there any stone mounds covering Earth Chakras.

Peter Shell climbed up the embankment. In the picture he is crouching looking to see if there are any stone mounds. Given the steepness of the embankment any stone mounds would have been belted with running rain water and stones over the centuries.

We found a few stone mounds, but lots and lots of stones marking Energy Lines.

Many of the stone mounds continued to be very intricate marking Earth Chakras and Energy Lines. In the pictures below staffs mark Energy Lines.

Sunken/Dimpled Center, or Decomposed Tree Stump

We found a stone mound, or better said, a large hole with several stones around it marking Energy Lines, it is pictured below. Was it created by people? Arguably it is a stretch to say it is a stone mound. But, our criteria was to include any stone structure covering Earth Chakras--and it does. The yellow tape breaking from the blue and white staff marks an Earth Chakra.

The standing staff shows the hole to be about 2 feet in depth.

What made the hole? Usually trees fall over and create earthen mounds; you would think the same would happen when a tree rots.

The second challenge was should the circle even be considered part of a stone mound? It is not close to the circle. Many stone mounds contained dimpled centers and were very thick to mark energy lines. So arguably this is a larger stone mound that had many stones removed by rushing rain water because it was at the base of the embankment.

These are some of the challenges we have faced on our survey.

A Great and Fun Day

We finished up the highest ledge--a big accomplishment. It was heartening to see our friends and have them share in our experience and to meditate in places. We thank them for that. Sacred Space like a muscle needs to be exercised lest it atrophies, and it does this through prayer/meditation/ceremony.

It looks like we will finish some time this fall--Famous Last Words.

All said it was a fun and great day.

Blessings,
madis 

Sacred Sites Update--High Tor's The Ledges, A Thin Veil, A Powerful Spot Found

Wow. Last week in our continuing effort to catalogue the stone structures at the Ledges (pages 304-308 of Sacred Sites in North Star Country) we came upon a particularly powerful place on the far end of the upper Ledge. A place where people must have prayed, done cermony and vision quested with great intensity for centuries. A place that has fortunately maintained its spiritual integrity over the millennia.

It is an open doorway to altered states of consciousness, other realities, a place to get great insights, have visions, have mystical and hallucinogenic experiences....Some would say it has a thin veil, others might call it a portal, others might just feel it has a great vibe. I still don't know what to make of it.

The Area of the Thin Veil.  There are 5 staffs marking the 5 stone mounds in the area. Janice Carr is in the front holding one staff. Behind her to the right is a staff by itself and I am in the distance holding another. Behind her to the right next to the trees is a staff by itself, marking another stone mound. Photographer, Peter Shell, is holding a staff marking another stone mound. There are three energy vortices marked by the black dog(Jaeda Bear), white dog(Pepper) and the white paper/orange cushion. There are several other  mounds close by going the other way.

The three energy vortices are a testament to the power of the place and that spiritual activities took place there. Sensations for the three of us ranged  from feeling very charged to being in another place/dimension while there. One assumes that this place was intentionally created to have pilgrims experience altered states of consciousness. It certainly is conducive to pilgrims having visions or hallucinogenic experiences. I cannot imagine what it was like in its peak.

What is notable is that, while being in the space certainly enlightens/charges you up, those sensation do not linger as profoundly as with other aspects of Mother Earth. It seems that when you enter the space after some time you go into an altered state of consciousness, but once you step out things are significantly reduced.

What you experience can vary. You may feel little, or nothing at at all. You may just feel an energy burst. Or you have a profound mystical experience....What you feel depends upon your connection to Mother Earth, your spiritual acumen.....

It can take some time before you experience, or feel, the affects of the space. So give it some time before it works its magic.

What is It? 

There appears to be something more of Mother Earth there besides Earth Chakras. Some other aspect of Her subtle body. I did find something. But....I think that the real power of the place rests in the imprints left there by visiting pilgrims from their spiritual practices over thousands of years. The three natural vortices (energy vortices) tell you that serious spiritual activities took place there and certainly add to the feeling of the place.

A thin veil? Certainly the veil to higher realities, certainly exists there. Traditionally I have found them to be very small pockets--nothing of this size.

I wonder if we have discovered some other new co-creation beyond natural vortices (energy vortices) with Mother Earth? Something on the next rung of the ladder in our co-creating with Mother Earth. As I  noted in my dedication of Vortices and Spirals and in other writings when you, "Love, give, heal, do unto others, practice ahimsa, pray, meditate and Mother Earth may bless you with a vortex." So a natural vortex is one of the first rungs on the ladder of co-creation with Mother Earth, have we just discovered the next rung up?

I have no idea. This is only one of the questions I have been asking myself since. I certainly feel blessed to have this spot revealed to us.

Powerful Imprints

As I noted in my intro to High Tor in Sacred Sites in North Star Country,

“Imagine if you could go back in time 2,000, or even 3,000 years, or more, to when the mound builders inhabited much of the Eastern United States. Imagine if you could visit one of their sacred sites and feel the charged atmosphere of their spiritual practices as you sat next to one of their mounds. Can you feel the chills running up and down your spine as you cry for a vision and tap into the collective consciousness of the thousands that have been here centuries before you? Feel their thoughts, as they help elevate your consciousness, bring you closer to the Great Spirit, open up lines of communication to other worlds, and give you visions while healing you.”  Page (292-293)

This is probably one of the best places to have such an experience.

If You Visit

A map of High Tor is located on page 298 of Sacred Sites in North Star Country. Directions to the Ledges is on page 305.

Make sure to spend some time in the Welcome Circle as noted on Page 306 of Sacred Sites in North Star Country. This is critical, otherwise you may diminish the vibe; and it is the vibe, and not the all the stone structures that are what makes the Ledges so precious.

Smudge yourself, say a prayer, meditate for a while in the Welcome Circle.

Bring a small offering, a flower...Spread some tobacco. It's not so much what you bring, as it is that you show reverence and respect.

Act in a Sacred Manner while there--Keep your thoughts positive, focus on the divine.....Do not bring your cell phone or other electronic devices harmful to our Mother. Limit your picture taking, or balance them with a prayer.

If you have to go to the bathroom do so far from the holy area.

Make sure you can drive after you leave. Bring some food, preferably root vegetables to ground you if necessary. Generally people maintain mental acuity. Just make sure if is safe for you to drive.

This is an incredible find. I share this with you because I want you to be able to experience it as well. It is a gift to us from the pilgrims that have visited before. A gift for you to experience. A gift that you can share with others that will follow by acting in a sacred manner when visiting and praying and meditating while you are there.

Remember it's all about the Vibe

Blessings,
madis

PS I encourage you to visit soon. I have written about this for several articles and I imagine over time people will begin to frequent the Ledges. Enjoy before the chances for solitude are reduced.

Sacred Sites Update--High Tor NYS DEC Forest and Bears

We were at High Tor (Middle Sex, Naples NY) today working on our survey of the Ledges when we ran into a local land owner who said was having troubles with a bear raiding his bee hives.  I have been going to High Tor for over 10 years and have never seen a bear.

I mention this not to scare you but, to give you a heads up. I always have bear bells on my dogs so that I know where they are and they alert other animals as well. The chances of seeing a bear are extremely remote. 

If you know me well, you know I always say "a good day in the woods is when I don't see anything" (animal--bear, deer, coyote, raccoon, squirrel, chipmunk......)  

PER THE NYS DEC WEBPAGE

Black Bear Encounters
If you Encounter a Bear:
Never Approach, Surround, or Corner a Bear - Bears aggressively defend themselves when they feel threatened. Be especially cautious around cubs as mother bears are very protective.

Never Run from a Bear- stay calm, speak in a loud and calm voice, slowly back away and leave the area.

Use Noise to Scare away Bears from Your Campsite- yell, clap, or bang pots immediately upon sighting a bear near your campsite.

Do Not Throw Your Backpack or Food Bag at an Approaching Bear

Doing so will only encourage bears to approach and "bully" people to get food.

By teaching a bear to approach humans for food, you are endangering yourself, other campers/residents, and the bears.

Clarks Gully Post

I just posted a review on my Clarks Gully Blog of my visit to the Ledges Area of South Hill Last Week:
The Ledges, Marked Energy Lines, Fare ye well--May 11, 2017 Visit