Submitted by Frank Haggard, Ambassador to the Southeastern Spoke I woke up with a jolt, the image of the medicine wheel lit up by beams of light connecting all the spokes to each other was still in my minds eye. It was 1:00 a.m. We were not supposed to get up to leave until 3:30 but I seemed to be restless with anticipation of how the day would unfold.
As we arrived at the Southeastern spoke of the Big Bear Medicine Wheel just beyond the town limits of Mecca, the dawn sky told us that it wouldn’t be much longer until the sun would be coming up all around us. However, since we were to be making our contribution to the ceremony in an incredible space located between several walls of rock, we knew that we probably would not be in direct sun until nearly 12 noon.
Since I was the only one of the eight of us who had participated in the initial establishment of this spoke, I was very pleased to drive to the exact location and to uncover the crystal that we had previously placed. I began to set up the site as Bennie Le Beau our Shoshone Elder and mentor had demonstrated. We also set up a fire pit where we kept a flame burning throughout the event. Being new to this whole process, I was thankful that two of the individuals who had joined us on this morning have been participating in ceremony and placing wheels for many years. Still they looked to me to set-up the space and to coordinate the activities.
The stones in place, we began to offer our prayers and songs. Mari Mendoza offered a beautiful song to welcome in the energy of the morning. We could feel that the spoke that we represented was connected to the other spots on the wheel. We danced, chanted in various sacred languages, sang songs and shared stories. Stephen Jahlberg shared a healing technique that sent powerful energy to our sacred Mother. We were all amazed at how much energy she continues to send back to each of us. Every individual in our group had powerful contributions to make. Olivia, Fern, Marta, Leslie and P. J. shared and joined in the heartfelt prayers, songs and chants in Hindi, ancient Japanese, Spanish and English.
We savored the moments of silence when they occurred. We also enjoyed sharing some refreshments and unconditional fellowship. It seemed as if the hours flew by and before we knew it, our work was complete and we began to pack up to leave. Some how each of us knew that November 15, 2004 would last in our memories for many years to come. We were honored to have participated and felt a little sad that the family gathering we had shared would never be the same again.
Later that evening I was driving my car to a rehearsal in Palm Springs. I could tell by the vibration in the steering wheel that something was not right mechanically. An inner sense encouraged me to take it slowly even though I would be arriving late by a whole 30 minutes. I patiently slowed to a speed where the vibration ceased. At the end of rehearsal I got in my vehicle to drive home. I put the car in reverse and heard a strange popping sound. Stopping to investigate what was going on, I discovered that the right front wheel of my vehicle had completely snapped off. In that instance, I felt that I had certainly been protected and that my willingness to participate in such a powerful ceremony that day was probably more significant than I would ever know. |
