Firing the Grid and Admiring the Desert

"Responsibility does not lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace we can be at peace with those around us. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us to develop inner happiness and peace" his holiness the Dalai Lama.

Thursday July 17 was the day to fire the grid. People from around the world were connecting energetically through prayer and meditation to our mother the Earth and sending love, peace and harmony and the energy of collective cooperation to heal the earth and to awaken our individual and collective souls as human beings on this planet at this conjuncture in time-space to our true purpose. If you were not part of the process or know nothing about firing the grid you can find out more at www.firethegrid.com.

I was a one of the millions of people around the world who fired the grid at 11:11am GMT or 4:11am Arizona time. I had originally planned to be on my way to San Antonio, Texas via Truth or Consequences, New Mexico on Monday but decided to stay to collectively fire the grid. It seemed like a good way to end my stay in Prescott.
Although I had stayed up very late packing up and cleaning up the apartment in the healing centre where I had been staying, I was up at 3:45am when Daisy came over to prepare the healing centre. The women started arriving a few minutes later. By 4:09 am there were 7 women gathered. We all sat in a circle around the deerskin rugs in front of the altar and we were ready to begin. The final two women who would join us came in just after we started the ceremony.

After a brief introduction, Daisy played the flute and and Margaret, who runs the sweat lodges at the healing centre, began drumming. That was their prayer for the earth. The rest of us were meditating and praying, sending healing energy to mother earth. Part way through the hour we listened to a CD of chants and the drum and flute prayers continued and our meditations continued. The birds were beginning to sing outside the window of the healing centre, joining in with us. Towards the end of the hour we began to name beautiful and not so beautiful places on the earth that we wanted to be healed. We all joined hands and I imagined that we were holding hands with all the people around the world that were firing the grid at the same time that we were. We did a visualization where we draw the vital energy from the sky, from source, through our bodies and sent it down into the earth to wrap three times around the core of the earth, the heart of our mother pacha mama. It was 5:11am. A few women had to leave to go to work and a few remained to discuss the prayer.

It was starting to get lighter. Margaret suggested that we go outside and drum in the sunrise. It was a great idea as it allowed us to walk on mother earth with a new sense of connection and respect, still focusing on peace, harmony and balance. We went over to the sacred ground where the sweat lodge is usually held. It is a clearing surrounded by firs and desert shrubs. The sun was just beginning to peak over the mountains in the distance. There were 4 of us. Margaret was drumming and singing a Lakota turtle song for Mother Earth. It was a powerful experience indeed.

After tea and breakfast I finished packing the car and was on my way. It was much later than I had planned to leave and I had hardly slept so I only drove for an hour heading towards Phoenix before I had to stop to have a nap. Ten minutes later, totally refreshed, I was on the road again and did not stop till I got to Picacho Peak State Park. I had seen the name when I googled Sonora desert and for some reason it caught my eye.

I pulled off the highway when I saw the sign, paid my $3 fee to enter the park and was informed by the two park rangers that it was over 104 degrees and probably not a great time of day to be hiking up to the peak. I knew it was hot but did not realize that it was quite that hot. I was told it would take over an hour to hike up to the top of the peak. I was still planning to arrive in Truth or Consequences relatively early so decided not to do the climb. Instead I drove to the furthest part of the park and hiked around that area, enjoying the incredible view of the rolling desert plains, with the train tracks in the distance and the blue, blue Arizona sky.

I was very thirsty. I opened one of the juices I was carrying in the cooler and made a cheese sandwich, eating it as I looked out over the distant horizon, wondering which of the famous cowboys I had read about when I was a child had passed through this area that was now a park. I had visions of covered wagons moving across the plains and gun slingers and cattle rustlers riding among the tall cactus. Other than myself, the plants and the warm breeze, there was no one around and no movement anywhere nearby. Off in the distance I could see the tiny cars passing by on the highway and the even tinier train halfway across the plain.

This was a perfect place to continue to celebrate my connection with Mother Earth. I did a standing meditation facing the rugged mountain peak and then lay down briefly on the earth, feeling the incredible heat that had been accumulating all day on my back. It felt good to connect with the earth, to remember my connection to this powerful element that sustains us and gives us life. I thought back to the ceremony earlier in the morning when millions of people around the world joined together to send our energy, our healing energy, to nurture our mother who has nurtured us and continues to feed and clothe us. I said a prayer of thanks to the earth before I quickly got up before the heat of ground became too much. There was such a sense of peace.

Lessons learned: 1) Many hands make light work. We need to each do our part to nurture and take care of the earth. 2) Sometime you can find peace only a few steps off the beaten path, 3)Beauty is where you are.