Sacred Standing Rock

I have never felt anything close to the sacred vibration of the Oceti Sakowin camp, and I am no stranger to spiritual locations and illumined teachers. The moment my feet touched the ground, tears filled my eyes, my body moved into a state of grace and emptiness, and life as I had known it completely changed. It did not even take one breath.

Many sacred aspects of the Standing Rock story did not reach the news, yet to me they feel like the most important parts of everything that happened there. Certainly for those of us who hold the light, it is good to have the opportunity to become saturated with the vibration and carry the resonance forward in our lives. I am sharing this because the Elders who were holding the vibration and intention at Standing Rock invited all the people of the planet to join them at the camp, and then encouraged us to share prayerful, non-violent living with the world by taking it with us and embodying it back home. I invite you to create that sacred ground with me. Together we continue to give birth to a larger and more potent field of powerful, wise heart. This vibration is not alien to us. It is as close as the place where our hearts beat with the drumbeat of creation itself. We forget to live that way because the world around us creates powerful distractions. I look forward to walking together as we set our feet on sacred ground. It is right under our feet. It is actually created by our precious feet.

I went to the Oceti Sakowin prayer camp at Standing Rock because of two visions. One recent and another almost 30 years old. One night last November, an image of a chaotic, dark world opened before me, with multitudes of terrified people running in the streets of earth’s cities. Above them a gateway of light opened in a black and stormy sky. Through that opening, a pathway of light flowed down to the planet and on it walked a group of powerful peace-makers, bringing hope and the vibration of potent peace. I was told that these lighted ones were holding the space for Standing Rock. The pull was instant and magnetic. I was drawn to go and feel, imbue, and resonate with their vibration. I wanted to be able to walk in a way that the wisdom of the Elders walks in me. In this uncertain world it feels important to share this sacred vibration with others and to join together to radiate it in the world.

Immediately after that vision I was shown that it connected directly with another mystical event that happened almost 30 years ago when I ‘met’ a Shaman guide on a backpacking trip into the wilderness in Wyoming. He was suddenly there in my awareness, filling the sky and urging me to go to a specific sacred place. He was adamant that I had to go there. This ‘vision’ lasted for many hours and made it incredibly hard to keep hiking, as all I could ‘see’ and ‘hear’ was this teacher in everything around me. This particular Elder/Shaman has stayed with me all these years, teaching, supporting, and altering the fabric of my consciousness. I searched maps and tried to find the ‘place’ he wanted me to visit, but it eluded me. That November night, I finally understood – he had told me 30 years ago that the Standing Rock Reservation would rise to ignite the world in the solidarity of non-violent support of our planet. My Shaman master teacher had been directing me to a definite event and place, in a time that was yet to come. And so, even though the first blizzard had hit and it was far from an easy trip, I jumped in the car with my son and we drove north to Standing Rock.

I have never felt anything close to the sacred vibration of the Oceti Sakowin camp, and I am no stranger to spiritual locations and illumined teachers. The moment my feet touched the ground, tears filled my eyes, my body moved into a state of grace and emptiness, and life as I had known it completely changed. It did not even take one breath. Much of the rest of my time there I would notice tears simply streaming down my face – an unbidden and powerful expression of experiencing such a potent field of pure sacred energy. That and the fact that this was happening right in front of a formidable wall of corporate greed, militarized suppression, and upside-down power. We were in a potent womb of the highest human potential surrounded by a circle of fire created by our base fears. The vibration of the experience continues to roll through my Being. I am utterly altered. I am far from alone. So many who visited the camp are living new lives.

There were several different camps at Standing Rock that were part of the protest. I stayed at Oceti Sakowin which means the Camp of the 7 Sacred Fires. It was a camp of peace, of non-violence, of constant prayer. It was an ashram, a monastery for those willing and capable of meeting that vibration. Weapons and drugs were banned, as were any words of hatred or fear – especially in reference to the pipeline workers, police or military guarding the pipeline. Prayers started far before dawn and were on-going throughout the camp 24/7. It was a potent example of living and standing for human rights and the protection of the planet using the non-violent principals of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Lakota Elders actually went one step further by offering unexpected kindnesses to the ‘opposition.’  For example, they were sending care packages to help the police and military surrounding the camp to stay warm in the blizzards. They explained that the true wealth of People is shown by what they give away. We were watching those who had vast hearts and wisdom but little on the physical taking loving care of those who had worldly riches and powerful guns, but were not living from their hearts. It was a potent lesson.

As the prayer-heart of the Standing Rock Reservation’s protest, this camp was created by the Elders of the 7 Sioux tribes who joined together for the first time in hundreds of years to stand in support of the planet. Seven generations ago, Chief Crazy Horse foretold the coming loss of the great grasslands. In his vision he saw a single blade of grass emerge from an empty landscape. He saw that single blade of grass call the People of all colors and all nations to join together to protect the Great Mother Earth. The Standing Rock protest was the manifestation of that vision. In fact, far more than just the 7 Sioux tribes felt called. By the time I arrived the flags of more than 630 Indigenous Nations from all around the world were flying at the camp. Each of those nations had sent holy prayers to saturate the land and protect the people. They sent sacred water, wood, food and countless other gifts. The ground fairly hummed with the vibration. The imprint of their combined prayers made the ground the most sacred place I have ever experienced. We were standing in the conjoined vibrations of countless holy temples, in the presence of sacred consciousness and an abundance of wise indigenous lineages all in one place, at one time, with one powerful, unifying purpose.

Magic happened there. Tragedy happened there. There were people there from every continent. Traditional enemies were camping and cooking and laughing and praying and protesting together. It was worthy of all the tears I and so many were crying. It was a miniature version of what is happening in the world. It was pure instruction on a way to move forward together. It was healing individuals. It was healing groups. It was instructing the world. It was not easy and in many ways is not over. As I write this a series of blizzards and requests from the Elders to leave the camp have resulted in very few people still in the camp. They need our prayers. Federal officers are threatening to come and take all remaining people into custody.   The protesters do not have the safety in numbers any more.

I am going to write several more blogs on the spiritual experiences and teachings I was blessed to receive at Standing Rock. For now, I want to end with a continuation of the vision of the peacemakers pouring down out in a beam of light radiating out of a darkened sky. Today, one day after the inauguration, as millions around the world are marching in (mostly) peaceful solidarity for the rights of humanity and the planet, I awoke into that same vision of the arrival of the peace makers. But this time, one of my shaman guides urged me to walk forward with him into a field of pure white light. As this happened, a realization appeared. I was becoming one of the peace-makers here to help the earth. I was surrounded by Beings of Elevated Consciousness, and I was being asked to walk with them. Then I saw that the area around me was full of other people of good heart. The field of light entering the world was filled with multitudes of people who show kindness, strength, and resilience. It began to fill with all of you.

I also see that the purity of the spiritual power of Standing Rock and the way it lit up the world, laid the energetic groundwork and energy grid to help waken good hearts. In a very real sense it was part of the ignition to show people how to rise up peacefully and powerfully to create positive change. The peaceful post-inauguration demonstrations world-wide were unprecedented. News reports state that nothing of that size or nature has ever happened before. We are awakening together. We can choose to continue this momentum.

We are walking together at this moment. We are called – and we are calling ourselves – to release complacency. To wake up and Live! To open and listen ever more closely to our hearts. To follow our intuition. To feel and care. To call upon our talents and our caring and our laughter and our power voices. To Be Present whether we are in community or solitude. This vision began to unfold in deeply mystical ways showing the evolution of light and consciousness that blooms as we walk together in this way. The opportunity is here – not to have to utterly alter our lives – but to fully Live them. To be Aware. Here. Together.

As usual, when we seek something, we ultimately find it within ourselves and in each other. As the Lakota say, A’ho Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ. We are all relatives. We are interconnected. We are together in the light. Together we Are the light.

Blessings

Read next: Answered Prayers

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