I felt a wave fear rising up within me as I looked around the blank faces of the doctors, administrators and therapists – my colleagues – who sat watching, expectant, as I searched for words to express a viewpoint, which I knew to both be true and unwelcome.
 

In that moment, as self-doubt began to close in on my throat, I heard the voice of my Teacher, Gaisheda Kheawok, echo through my mind: “You are never alone, the Great Mother is always with you!”  As I sat in this meeting, I was suddenly filled with a strength and warmth that I have come to recognize as Her presence. My words, just moments before seemed so elusive, began to flow. 

 

Shortly afterwards, I became aware of the small, heart-shaped stone that I had tied against my heart that morning.  I was immediately transported back to Sedona and the Sacred Site pilgrimage we completed nine months earlier with Gaisheda Kheawok, where the Earth had gifted me this stone. 

 

There, twenty of us from all walks of life, stood in one of Sedona’s energy vortices, awestruck with the beauty of the majestic red rock, flooded with an incredible strength and empowerment that thrummed deep from the Earth below and within us - that same energy had returned to support me today.

 

I can still hear the power of Gaisheda Kheawok’s voice booming off the canyon walls, guiding us with her Songs and Teachings into the limitless paths of our own Souls. What I learned about myself in those seven days has changed the course of my life. On this trip, Gaisheda Kheawok revealed to us not only the Mysteries of this land that she has been working with for over 25 years, but the possibilities that open up for us when we align ourselves with the Earth Mother, each other, and our own Souls’ destinies.

 

This pilgrimage ignited in me a transformation that continues to course through the various storylines of my journey, at times bringing with it an intensity that is challenging. Yet, as I gradually allow the illusions in my life to fall away, I am continually reminded to hold onto the Teachings. I am reminded of Gaisheda Kheawok standing in ceremony, silhouetted by the rocky outline of Kachina Woman, calling forth the wisdom of the ancestors and inviting us all to become ourselves, to remember why we are here, to trust that even when the path veers in unexpected directions that the Mother is with us and the Earth is speaking. 

 

So I keep walking. And as I do, realize that I am smiling, for though today I see around me the drab hallways of my day-to-day workplace, I know that beneath each footstep lies a foundation of solid red rock.