Literary Pilgrimage to Grandmother Cosmic Tree (Devil’s Tower)
The power of intentional living.
“You are twin flames, yes? You met during the between times, some call Halloween?” Chief Golden Light Eagle said.
Alan and I looked at each other. I was amazed. “Yes. We did.”
“Oh good. Welcome home,” Chief said.
This was the first conversation I had with Chief Golden Light Eagle also known as Loren Zephier and Standing Elk. He was truly a multidimensional being on Earth. I was surprised by how he knew this information before ever meeting us. It demonstrated his deep ability to Know people and welcome them with an open heart.
We met Chief at Devil’s Tower in June 2017 for a different kind of Star Knowledge Conference. One of camping and a long extended stay before some of the people went to Sundance that year. The reason we were there, or at least what brought us there, was for me to present my manuscript to Chief and ask his permission to use some of his teachings in my Time Guardians novels.
A month before, I sat in meditation asking for guidance about what to do for my book. The magic system I originally created for it wasn’t working and was turning out to be the opposite kind of thing I wanted for my books. Sitting in meditation, I heard a blue jay squawking outside. The jay flew back and forth across the North side of the house causing a raucous with his screeching. That was when I knew I needed to see Chief.
The symbolism of a blue jay is nobility and not dabbling. I had been dabbling with creating my magic system and wasn’t getting anywhere. In fact, I felt a dark force gripping me as I tried to go forward. I needed to completely shift what I was doing or I would be going down the wrong path. As a side note: All fantasy novels have a magic system. It requires quite a lot of consideration to create one. I had known about Chief Golden Light Eagle’s teachings for a few years before this time from friends and his powerful YouTube videos of his teachings. I felt compelled to include them into my books.
The blue jay was simply confirming the desire I had to meet Chief.
Off we went, Alan and I, to Devil’s Tower. During our trip, we learned how the butte is known by many names and one of them is Grandmother Cosmic Tree. Bear’s Lodge is also a preferred name. (Have you ever noticed the way indigenous sacred lands in this country have been renamed with word Devil in them: Devil’s Thumb, Devil’s Canyon . . . ?) For many native tribes, Bear’s Lodge has been a sacred place for centuries. Especially for the Lakota. White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared here with her bundle, the chanupa — the Lakota sacred pipe, and sacred songs. The Lakota/Nakota also followed specific constellations surrounding Grandmother Cosmic Tree leading them, in past times, through the year to the Sundance in the Black Hills. Their most sacred ceremony.
Permission to Write
It took me four days before I approached Chief with the traditional offering of tobacco to ask him about my manuscripts. I also gave him a chocolate bar. This made him smile. I was in awe of him and his leadership of many people. I knelt down next to him describing my process and my books. I brought a couple of my journals with me that had the original stories I’d written after returning from Scotland. My trip to Scotland, unbeknownst to me, was also a literary pilgrimage and will become a subject for another blog. My trip to Scotland was the impetus for writing the books.
He motioned for me to take a seat next to him. He listened and then said, “Put your journals on the altar and let’s see what happens.”
The altar was the one he took with him during the vision quest phase of Sundance and for the ceremony itself. A bison skull and staff with prayer flags along with other sacred items created the altar. He and his close friends created it near where he camped. I was grateful. I placed my journals in plastic ziplock bags because they were going to be in the elements over night for I didn’t know how long.
Galactic Ceremony
During our time there, I experienced many mystical and sacred events. Being at Bear’s Lodge put me into a very present moment place. The land itself resonated at a magical level. Manifestations of thoughts occurred almost immediately. Emotions were also heightened. I had to be more careful with how I reacted or responded to people.
One sacred event occurred where all of the women sat in a circle with our backs to the center while drumming and singing occurred. The singing was for a specific goddess Chief and the grandmothers of his Nakota tribe attribute to the galaxy. The power of the ceremony was palpable. Energy swirled in and around my body and around the circle. The purpose was to connect with the Grandmother Cosmic Tree. Many spiritual people see Devil’s Tower as a tree of energy that expands into the cosmos above and into the Earth below. As a kind of axis mundi. Connecting the heavens with the Earth.
A vision came to me during the ceremony of walking in deep tunnels under the Earth with many women. The tunnels led us up through the roots of the “tree,” up the trunk, and out the crown. This vision was very powerful for me, so much so, I include it in Book 2 of the Time Guardian series.
During one of our nights there, after I had presented the tobacco and manuscript to Chief, he told me I didn’t need his permission. He told me to write. That was what mattered. To do what I needed to do, and all would be well. This was strange to me. It was difficult to not want more from him in terms of reading the manuscript and giving me more permission than that. And yet, he continued to confirm this during another time when he spoke about writing in general — yet all the while looking at me. “Just write,” he said.
Vision Quest
Many people there gave talks as they usually do at Chief’s Star Knowledge conferences. I enjoyed camping alongside powerful spiritual people for ten days and making new friends. Several of the people were preparing to dance in the Sundance. They were doing vision quests. Going up on the hill at the base of Grandmother Cosmic Tree, staying over night for four nights, and receiving their visions.
On the last day of people’s vision quests, Chief invited anyone who wanted to go on the hill to do so. I decided I wanted a stronger answer about my book. I can be quite stubborn sometimes. Alan decided to stay at the camp and go up with the group of singers later on in the night. I went up the hill with two young women.
We walked passed the prairie dog community, yipping and yapping at us. Along a trail of red soil, we walked through sagebrush, yarrow, and juniper trees. We then decided to go off trail up the side of the hill. A small valley was at the top of this hill that led to the base of the butte. I was hunting for a power place. A tree struck by lightning was at the edge of a plateau. I told Abbie and Janie that was where I wanted to go; they could join me or find another place. They chose to go closer to the base of the butte.
I found my place in the grass, set four stones as a boundary in each direction, and decided to announce my presence to the land while stating an intention for being there. I played Tingshas which are small cymbals most people play in East Indian Kirtans or in Tibetan Buddhist meditations. I called on the directions while playing these cymbals, offered sage, and sat in meditation.
After a short period of time the winds picked up. It was strange. Winds from all directions blew and blew. The clouds moved one way and then another as if being pulled by strong strings through the sky. I wonder to this day whether calling on the directions with the Tingshas brought on the winds. The entire time we had been at Bear’s Lodge, the weather was hot with a few gentle winds. These were cold gusts blasting around the butte with force.
Thankfully I brought my wool poncho with me. Even so, I was cold. I didn’t think I would last the night up there. I’d never stayed overnight without a tent before and not in that kind of wind. An outcropping of a boulder was below where I sat. I found a place to slide in and hunker down away from the cold wind.
The almost full moon came up and also helped me to stay on the hill all night. During the night, after the winds had calmed down for a short while, Chief, Mark McGuire, and others drummed and sang the Nakota ceremonial songs. These songs were a reprieve to the fear swarming inside of me like a nest of wasps.
At some point, I heard a rustling in the bushes underneath where I lay. I wasn’t too comfortable and kept trying to find a way to lay down in the crevice. But I felt like I couldn’t go anywhere. It was the safest and warmest spot to be. I looked down below me where the boulder dipped down into the bushes. A medium sized animal lumbered over. I was high enough up that I hoped it wouldn’t climb any further. In the moonlight, I saw it briefly look up at me. Deciding if I was safe to hang out with or not.
It too was seeking shelter from the winds. It had a somewhat small bushy tail, but no rings around it like a raccoon. Instead its body was flat and wide. It was larger than a muskrat or skunk. It was too dark for me to get a clear view. I told my beating heart it was okay. The animal wanted shelter and this boulder with its nooks and crannies was providing it for me so why not share? I told myself to wake up at dawn to see the animal. I knew it would leave the area around that time. I actually slept and when I woke up, it wasn’t there.
When I woke up in the morning, sunlight lit the valley of farmland below in greens and golds. I came down from the hill, proud of myself for staying all night, I had a sense the animal was a badger. It is a somewhat common animal for the area. I joked with Chief and told him, he’d sent me the animal. He just smiled.
I’ve learned since then, from Ted Andrews book Animal Speak, how badger is the keeper of stories. I felt blessed to share a space in nature with such an animal, to receive further confirmation for writing my books. But also, the badger represents keeping stories others tell to me, as sacred. Whenever someone tells me their story, I listen with heart. This is the way I treat the stories clients share with me for the creation of their memoirs.
“I would ask you to remember only this one thing,” said Badger, “The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other’s memory. This is how people care for themselves.”*
If ever you need a reason to travel somewhere so you can write, a literary pilgrimage is a great reason.
A note: Chief “dropped his robe” and transitioned in July of this year 2021. Only a couple of weeks after Sundance. Alan and I had the opportunity to attend the Sundance this year. I will miss Chief very much. He was and is a light unto this world. His teachings live on in his books and videos. It is my honor to carry his teachings through my books. For more information about Chief Golden Light Eagle or Star Knowledge.
* Quote from Ted Andrews Animal Speak (2005) Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN, page 247: an excerpt from Crow and Weasel by Barry Lopez.
