Letters from Drunvalo 1.2

The picture above was taken soon after we completed our Medicine Wheel ceremony. Note that the "cross" of the stones is the same cross that Drunvalo was shown in his vision of the path of alignment. —ed.

by Drunvalo Melchizedek
Lionfire and Destiny

Traveling north from New Mexico, our sleek modern bus would probably have appeared to the ancient Anasazi like a spaceship moving across their land.

As we approached the wide open spaces of Hovenweep, home of David "Lionfire" Leonard and his wife, Mary, I could feel the power of this remote area. From this special vantage point, sacred mountain peaks and land formations of the Anasazi and the modern Native Americans could clearly be seen in all directions. Hundreds of thousands of Anasazi had once lived in this land we now entered. The smell of sage filled the air. Ancient pieces of pottery lay on the ground, as if thrown there to lead us to our Destiny.

Lionfire is a shaman who has studied the Ancient Ones for most of his life and knows more than most about how they lived. He is Hovenweep's official protector for the Parks Department, guarding the northernmost Anasazi ruins.

Hovenweep itself is on the same longitude as Chaco Canyon, directly on the "sacred line" -- the Great North Road that leads due north from Chaco. Today, nobody knows where this road was intended to go, or why it was so important. But Hovenweep lay on its route, and was once a place of great power.

Coming there, I knew that we were in the right spot. Everyone in our group felt this. We were "at home" in Hovenweep, and sensed immediately that this, finally, was where we would build our Medicine Wheel.

On Lionfire's land, there are Anasazi ruins in several locations. We began our visit by going through a complex of ancient dwellings. We were able in some cases to go inside and to notice once more how small in stature the Ancient Ones must have been.

We received permission to build our Medicine Wheel there -- this had to happen very soon -- and it was the perfect place. The wheel, once built, would be protected by these faithful keepers of the land. And, as they told us, Lionfire and Mary had received a prophecy many years before that we would come and perform this ceremony.

Before we arrived, and not even knowing why we were coming to Hovenweep (remember that we had originally intended to build the Medicine Wheel at Chaco Canyon), Mary had written a poem in honor of our journey. She says that it just came to her all in one piece, and she simply wrote it down. As we were gathered together in a giant kiva -- unroofed, but so deep that we had to climb down into it by ladder -- she read this poem to us:

The Weaving

We stand here, surrounded by the sacred mountains, At the sipapu, where our world began. We come from the four corners of this earth, Walking in love, bringing our knowledge of Many cultures, many languages. Seeking understanding, growth and change, For ourselves, our nations, our world.

This is our intention! Here at this time we create a new world, We weave a new reality!

We pray for assistance and request witness, From the sacred energies of our world!

* AIR - Winds of the 4 directions, winds that move the stars
* WATER - Rain, rivers, springs
* FIRE - Our sun, lightening that dances on the sky
* EARTH - Our mother, her sand, her cliffs, her mountains
* OUR BROTHERS - The four legs, the winged ones, water children and those that creep and crawl
* OUR SISTERS - The standing people, from mighty tree to smallest flower
* OUR OWN HUMAN RACE - From our ancestors who first walked this land, to our children's children, 7 generations distant Most of all we call upon
* OUR SELVES, here and now, to witness and strive.

We are here to create a weaving of a new reality.

In any weaving, beauty is created by the warp, weft, and the Pattern.

We bring: For the foundation, the warp thread,
Human energy, the experiences of diverse cultures.
Strength and pride from our societies, our families,
History, our struggle to manifest our own path.
These we braid together and string on our loom to form the warp, the shape of our weaving.
Onto this we weave the weft of our daily journey, the thread of beauty, spun, one moment at a time, with each step of integrity, as our actions spin time into history.

And the Pattern?

The pattern that will call the rest of the human race into understanding, changing?
This pattern is formed by our teachers and by our intention.
We set our intention to manifest a world where every spirit, human, animal, plant and mineral, walks in harmony and balance, health and joy.
We ask our teachers to guide us to actions that flow into this intention.
We seek to manifest that divinity within our selves that will create this new reality.

This is our time.
We are called.
Together we will weave a new world!
Mary's poem was astonishing to us. It spoke what we had all been thinking and talking of. It was even more amazing because of its mention of "the four corners of the earth," and "many cultures, many languages." You see, Mary had no way of knowing something I have not mentioned before: Fewer than half of the people with us were Americans. Our group members came from many, many nations. Two did not even speak English, but listened to us with their hearts.

After our Kiva ceremony at Hovenweep, it was time to find the exact spot to place our Medicine Wheel.

The Medicine Wheel

Hovenweep is vast. I moved back and forth over the land, searching and "feeling" for the right place for this most important ceremony to be located. Finally, as I walked over a certain area, all the mountains and the ancient nearby Anasazi canyon seemed to come into a certain alignment. Just off to the south, only a few feet away, was an Anasazi ruin that commanded primal importance long ago because it was on the highest point.

I knew in my heart that this was the right place.

As I looked around, a large rock "spoke to me" to be the central stone, and I placed it on the ground in what would become the very center of the Medicine Wheel. Four more rocks marked the four directions.

All the people were still in the air-conditioned bus, out of the heat, waiting for me to finish my job. By now I was almost a half-mile away, so a runner was sent to bring in the group.

They all piled out of the bus, eager to begin something we all knew would help to heal not only the Ancient Ones and the Modern Ones, but also each person's family tree going back thousands of years. For the spiritual health of all of our ancestors, and to heal the land of the Four Corners, we began as Children of the Earth and as one Family of Man.

First, each person went out in a different direction to "speak" with the spirits of the stones, asking permission to use them for our wheel. One by one, people came back holding the living stones close to their hearts, collecting them in readiness for the moment when we would begin creating the wheel.

Two males and two females were chosen to represent each of the four directions. They took up their places behind each of the directional stones.

I began the prayers by once more asking permission, then setting the purpose and intention of the Medicine Wheel. After that, the chosen Guardians of the Four Directions gave their own prayers, to protect their direction and the space within the wheel, that it would be holy and sacred.

Now, to the accompaniment of drumming and chanting, people carried their stones one by one into the sacred space, entering through the "doorway" in the East, dedicating each stone to the Guardians of the Four Directions, and then placing it in the wheel. First was created a circle of stones, each touching the one beside it. Then a cross of stones in the center marked the four directions. (Remember that cross!)

Since this wheel was about thirty-five feet in diameter, it took over two hours to make it. The energy kept building until we could "see" the Anasazi dancing with us, leading us on to completion. Each member of our group would place one stone, then join the others who were dancing, praying, chanting, or drumming outside the circle, and wait to place another stone.

And so, in a heart rhythm, the Medicine Wheel was constructed.

We all sat down, and after a moment of silence, the individual prayers began. Each person, holding the "talking stick," spoke beautiful and sacred prayers into the wheel for the healing of this land and its life forms... for the rain to reappear and the rivers to flow... for health, love, and beauty to flourish... for the relationships of mankind to blossom forth in harmony... for the rift between the white man and the Indian to heal.

The hearts of the people were open, and the energy and power of the space kept building until at last each person had spoken. A sense of immense energy and purity surrounded our ceremony.

At the final moment, I led a special ritual based on the Taos Pueblo ceremonies. This ritual breathed even more life into the circle by establishing a pyramid over many miles of the land, high into the sky and deep into the Earth, connecting the Earth and the Heavens with the Medicine Wheel at the center. The pyramid's purpose was to bring rain and spiritual balance to all beings existing in the Four Corners.

At the end of the Medicine Wheel ceremony, my guidance told me that it would rain in five days, and I announced this to the group. This message came not from me but from Mother Earth. Since we were in the middle of an historic drought, this message presented a spark of hope to those who lived close to this land.

It was our intent that this rain would begin the restoration of the Southwest, bringing water to the land and love and healing to the relations between the white man and the Native Americans.

We could all feel the love and peace. We could feel the Anasazi all around us. It was very good.

Meeting with the Stars

As it became dark and the stars began to peek out of the heavens, we all gathered at the main Anasazi ruins, at the highest point on the land. There, Daniel Giamario, a shamanic astrologer who was traveling with us and teaching his wisdom, invited us once more, as he had on other occasions, to look up with him into the night sky.

Daniel's knowledge and perception of the ancient ways is truly outstanding. Throughout the journey, Daniel was a star who gave of himself to help others. On this momentous night, he led us into an understanding of the heavens in a way that few of us had ever known. Together, we gazed into Galactic Center as he had taught us, and spoke our own individual prayers into the cosmos.

Then, slowly, we all found our way in the dark back to the bus, guided only by the light of the stars, just as the Anasazi had walked this land so many hundreds of years before. Hugging each other, we tried to immortalize the feeling that we had in our hearts.

I could feel the three Medicine Wheels linking -- the one in Payson, the small one at Chaco Canyon, and this one we had created today. I knew that the rains would come.

Ancient Cliff Dwellings

The next day, we wanted to visit the Anasazi cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde, near Hovenweep. Mesa Verde was one of the Anasazi's most beautiful living places, a high plateau surrounded by rugged mountains.

But a forest fire was burning out of control, and Mesa Verde Park was closed to visitors. So the Ute Indians, guardians of Mesa Verde, allowed us to privately visit a portion of the reservation that belongs only to them and not to the National Forest Service. It was a site that very few white people have ever seen or even heard about.

To get there, our huge bus with its airplane-type seats and air conditioning had to negotiate a lot of tiny little dirt roads that wound through cedar forests. Our bus driver was quietly freaked out, fearing that we would never make it out of this primitive place. But all was well.

The Utes treated us with great honor. While we ate lunch, our guide told us stories of Ute tribal history. Then he led us to the place where a series of three hand-made wooden ladders dropped down over cliffs that plunged into the steep canyon.

The place seemed alive, so filled was it with the Anasazi spirits. I felt so honored to be allowed to be there that I could hardly speak. The voices of the past were all around me, telling me about their lives and the greatness of who they were. I could actually enter their homes, touch the stones, feel between my fingers the pottery they'd made so many hundreds of years ago.

More than one person in our group was forced to deal with a lifelong fear of heights in order to make that trek down the precipitous ladders to the ledges below where the cliff dwellings were. But the fears were faced. One woman could descend only with the help of protectors above, below, and on each side of her -- but she made it down and back up again. People took care of each other. Our group had truly become One.

That night, after Mesa Verde, I had a dream.

The Lost Children

This dream was one of a clarity that always alerts me to its being "special." I usually remember these dreams, as they are important to my spiritual growth.

In this dream, I was living with my family in an area near Mesa Verde, in a home I had never seen before.

I was going into my garage to get my car -- in this dream, the garage was a huge place -- when I saw that some Indians were living there. I went up to them to ask if everything was okay, but they ran away. Nothing like this had never happened before. I remember thinking, "How odd!"

Then, as I headed for my car, I saw three young Indian children running into the back of my garage to hide from me. I went over to see where they were hiding and to speak with them, and saw that they had gone into a three-foot-round hole in the ground. I knew I had never seen this hole before.

I looked in the hole and saw that it went down deep into the Earth, so I dropped inside to find out what was there.

The underground space opened into a very large tunnel about twelve feet high and wide that slowly sloped into the depths. I could see no one, so I simply went forward to explore this place.

I'm sure I hadn't gone more than a quarter of a mile when I realized that people -- lots of them -- were blocking my way only a few feet ahead. Mostly, I could see only their eyes.

At first I couldn't tell who they were, but then, as my eyes adjusted, I saw that they were all children, from about ten years old to about eighteen or nineteen. No one said a word. They just looked at me. But they would not let me through.

Then three men who appeared to be in their late thirties gently pushed their way to the front, walked up to me, and looked into my eyes. They were covered with scrapes, bruises, and, especially, infested sores. They were dirty, and appeared to really need help.

The oldest one -- he might even have been forty or so -- began to speak. He said he was the chief of the Anasazi, as we called them, and he wanted to know why I was there. I told him I wished only to help.

He turned to the children and motioned for me to look at them. I did, and I could see that they were in the same shape as the men. It was really heartrending to see so many children covered in sores and in such pain. All I could think of was how to help them.

The leader saw my reaction and said, "Thank you for being here. But you must go now." So I turned and went back out the opening into my garage. There were more children around my home now, but I let them be there. I didn't really know what to do. The dream ended there.

During the Medicine Wheel ceremony, I had felt the Anasazi presence the whole time, and so had many of our group. But at this time, I didn't "put two and two together" -- I did not connect this dream with the Anasazi's felt presence on our journey.

A Miraculous Ritual

The next morning there were the usual clear skies as we approached the Navajo national monument known as Monument Valley.

We were all together, moving along a smooth road, about to enter this sacred place, when a vision began within me. Ahead of us, I could see a throng of Anasazi facing us on both sides of the road. There could have been hundreds of thousands of them.

One man appeared to move closer to our approaching bus until he was centered in my vision, only a few feet away. It was the Anasazi leader from my dream, only now he was regal and stately, dressed up in feathers and beautiful clothing of many colors. He began to speak.

He said the Medicine Wheel ceremony we had performed was prophesized by his elders and would offer them a connection to this world. He said that through this wheel and our own intent, his people could be saved from the terrible trouble and pain they were in. He thanked us dearly, many times, for our effort.

But, he told me, as a group we were not aligned properly in our energies. He "showed" me to myself wearing a t-shirt with the image of an X in the middle of a circle. What was needed, he said, was to revolve the X of our energy so that it would appear as a cross. He said that to do this, we all needed to come very close together.

He said he and the others were caught "between the worlds," and we were there to release them all. For each one of us on that bus, it was a mission that had been given to us for this lifetime. And all of the work and hardship we had endured, both in our own lives and now, trekking through the hot sun of a southwestern August, had been needed just for this task we were there to perform.

Using the microphone at the front of the bus, I told our group about my dream and my vision. One other member of the group had also received a vision that matched mine. In describing these events to our group, I could barely speak, because I kept feeling such grief at the suffering I'd witnessed in those Anasazi children -- their bruised and emaciated bodies covered with weeping sores.

At this emotional moment, as I sat down again, everyone on the bus spontaneously joined hands and went into a profound heart connection. And, again spontaneously, with tears flowing, we all began singing with one voice the hymn "Amazing Grace." We could "see" the children all around us, and feel them rejoicing. "I once was lost, but now am found."

And just at the moment when we began to sing, the driver changed roads, from Route 666 to Highway 160. We were headed for the meetingplace of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, the spot where the Four Corners come together at one point.

Then the visionary Anasazi leader reappeared to me and said, "Look." And the image of the circle and the X he'd shown me before turned into the image of our Medicine Wheel, with the four center stones in a cross.

He said, "You must do ceremony now. You must be on Mother Earth."

We needed to find the very next possible place were we could pull over and do ceremony out on the land, and that "next possible place" just happened to be the junction of the Four Corners. Diane Cooper, our "lady of all needs," directed our bus to this monument, which is managed by the Navajo.

From past experiences, we had some concern about being allowed to perform our ceremony in this public place. I looked into the eyes of the Native American lady who was selling the tickets and asked her for permission. With no hesitation, she said, "You can pray here, you can do your ceremony here. We will let you." She pointed to a particular area. "Pick somewhere out there."

As a group of One, we went into the area the woman had pointed to, and found out that we were now in Utah -- the only state we had not yet visited. This was perfect, because I had been "told" we must do ceremony in each state of the Four Corners.

We gathered in a tight circle and built a tiny Medicine Wheel in its center, using many little stones. We tried to use a compass to site the stones, but none of our compasses would work there! Each time we put one onto the earth, it showed "north" in a different direction. So we found our direction from nearby tourist information signs.

We burned sage and cedar, and offered tobacco. We poured water, and breathed life into the circle.

All of our hearts opened at once, and the beauty and Power was overwhelming. You could feel the love and purity in the air. I began to cry, for I knew that our Mother was loving and caring for us. It was really good.

Once more, the song "Amazing Grace" lifted around us. One of our group knew all the words, and her clear, sweet voice carried us through to the end: "God, who called me here below, Shall be forever mine."

And so it was that the Anasazi children were released from their imprisonment of hundreds of years.

(As a side note, many members of our group had been experiencing inexplicable sores on their bodies. After the Four Corners ceremony, these cleared up literally overnight.)

That afternoon, we headed for a magical, natural cathedral known as Antelope Canyon. There, we were destined to be strangely tested by an amazing Navajo shaman, a young man of great power who invisibly became the key figure in our final ceremony.

© Spirit of Ma'at LLC 2003

NEXT TIME, PART III - Conclusion