One of the main reasons of this blog is to helps the girls to know about their mom before kids. Writing is easier for so it is through some of these posts that I can who I was, what made me tick and what experiences I had that made me who I am today. Many of those things include meeting some unusual characters along my journey. Many who were kind hearted, warriors and gifted healers. One of those was a man named Jade.
I met Jade in 1987 in Sedona Arizona. I was attending the very liberal Prescott College when my dear friend Cody Coyote (who later became Cody from Dual Survivor) told me about a Full Moon ceremony happening with a Medicine Man. Was I interested? Heck yeah!
Off we went over the hills and into the valley to the sacred red rocks of Sedona. There in one of the canyons we gathered with a handful of others as this Mr Jade led us in ceremony for the Full Moon. Included in that ceremony was a song for the elements that he taught us. A song that I have continued to sing decades later.
Some months later, after attending one or two other ceremonies with Jade, I went on a backpacking overnight with a college peer. We hiked miles and miles in the dry back country of central Arizona. We were on a mission to find these springs that pumped out millions of gallons of water an hour. The rumor was that the lost indigenous peoples (Anasazi) of the land used to camp there. After hours of hiking we came upon these sacred waters. The was crystal clear and the spring deep and wide. It seemed like we were looking down to the core of mother earth. Around the spring were trees, which seemed guard or protect the precious waters.
Tired but content, we settled in for a light meal in silence and we took in the beauty that surrounded us. When dark fell upon us, we were thankful to be in such a exquisite landscape. We thought for sure we'd have a most restful night's sleep in this beautiful space.
Much to our surprise, just as we started to doze, we became to get bitten by ants. Lots of ants. They seemed to come from nowhere and attacked. For the entire night, it seemed these ants were focused on keeping us awake. They succeeded. During the night, as the darkness settled and the land became more alive, the once serene energy we felt started to feel eerie and almost other worldly. I was young but not stupid. It did not take long to understand that these ants wanted to keep us awake so that we would not succumb to the negative energy that permeated once the blanket of night fell.
It was a long night. A trippy night. It was something this Brooklyn girl had never experienced before. Yet I knew, deep in my core, that we had come across a vortex of sorts. Some type of negative energy field that meant to do harm.
When daylight broke, my pal and I packed up our backpacks and hit the trail. What we had thought would be a two or three day back country sojourn was quickly axed. With our gear packed, we made damn good time back to where we left our car. On the drive back to civilization we were mostly silent other than a few comments like, "What the hell was that place?"
When I arrived back to the house I shared with other students I took a shower. It was my attempt to get the energy off that seemed to seep inside me. I then laid down and sleep for several hours. I woke in a fog like state which remained for the remainder of the day. I shook it off to having had no sleep the night before. That was not the case.
Over the next several days, I felt myself slowly but steadily feel more and more lethargic. It felt like someone put a vacuum to my ear and was slowly sucking out my brain and my life force. Even today, all these years later, it's hard to put in words what exactly I felt. I felt like I was dying a slow death. Finally, about three days in, I called Jade. I did not know him well yet I had a feeling I needed help that only one who knows about the medicine ways could offer. I picked up the phone (remember landlines attached to the wall), dialed Jades number. As soon as I said, "We went camping in the back country. We camped at some old Anasazi springs. I have not felt right since" Jade told me to get in my car and come over to Sedona. I did just that, with a quick stop at the gem shop in Prescott Valley, to pick up some malachite to gift to Jade.
Once at his home, Jade preformed a ceremony on me that helped to remove and clear the energy that had indeed seeped inside me. When Jade was done, I felt like I had a rebirth of sorts. That experience not only taught me what went down with the lost ingenious ones (something I will not put down in words) and how I was impacted, it also taught me some valuable life long lessons. Be mindful when going to sacred spots. Tread lightly and be respectful. Know when to go, when to leave and when to not step foot at all. I have to thank Jade for teaching me that.
After the ceremony, Jade, his grandmother and I went to dinner where I learned another prudent lesson. Having been guided by Spirit to be a vegetarian at age fifteen, I was sometimes judgey of other peoples diet. When Jade and his grandmother ordered steak for dinner I had a big aha moment. It is not important what others eat. It does not make them bad or wrong. To the contrary, important, kind, wise, gifted people eat things that I would choose to pass on. This person had just done an essential healing ceremony on me. How could I even think to judge him? From that day forward, I had full respect for other people in whatever choices they made in their life.
Fast forward, I left Arizona, eventually graduated from Prescott College through distance learning and returned to New York after a few detours, then made my way to California where I have been for twenty years. I always remembered Jade and the things I learned. I figured he long forgot me but I could not forget his strong, solid energy that served others. I had wondered what had happened of him. There was no internet back then. But one day there was and with some google searching, I was able to locate Jade. I emailed him and told him the story above. Again, I am sure I am one of countless others, so I did not expect him to remember me. Yet, as Facebook emerged and he began to have a presence online, I found myself once again learning from his wisdom. When I learned that Jade spends part of the year in Costa Rica and that we would be going there this winter, I was delighted that we could meet up again. When I told Jade that I still sang the song he taught me, he asked me which one and then we sang a few lines together. It was a sweet moment.
Thirty years later in the town of Puetro Viejo, we met for dinner. I was no longer a broke college student so it was my great pleasure to take him to dinner. We sat and talked and he shared his knowledge of the area. Over the next few days we found ourselves enjoying some of his well chosen suggestions (like Chino Beach, Manzanillo and the Farmer's Market). We were even able to break bread again over breakfast at local cafe that we would never had noticed not for his input on where to have a yummy meal. I was very thankful that when I when I got to see Jade again the girls were with me. I shared the story above, which allowed me to further to educate about medicine ways,culture and gratitude. They got to met a small but long lasting part of my past in the present.That present being a joyful warrior, medicine man.
