Here I go again with another of Shelly at This Eclectic Life‘s great ideas.  It’s called “My Neck of the Woods” and she got onto the idea to write about cool places to visit in our own areas, that maybe people who visit might miss.  I think some of it for her was to help dispel the kind of generalities that we have about places we travel.  I’m looking forward to her posts on her area of Texas, because I have a friend, B., who is moving back there in a year or so, and now I have this Redheaded Bloggy friend I want to visit there someday, and the only damn thing I know about Texas is the Alamo!

Now, I’m not sure what kind of misconceptions about the High Desert of Southern California I might be able to dispel.  In fact, if the word “desert” brings up thoughts of cactus and Area 51, UFO’s and Nuclear Test Sites, Gold Mines and crazy old prospectors, I might be actually confirming your prejudice!

But if you happen to be traveling out this way, and are in the mood for something quirky and fun, or something ancient and artistic, or something thought-provoking and spiritual, I just might be able to point you in the right direction.

The Integratron

The Integratron is the creation of George Van Tassel, and is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle, the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrials. This one-of-a-kind building is a 38-foot high, 55-foot diameter, non-metallic structure originally designed by Van Tassel as a rejuvenation and time machine.  Today, it is the only all-wood, acoustically perfect sound chamber in the U.S.

Kinda trippy lookin’, huh?  This place is amazing and interesting and historical, too.  There’s some great articles at the site all about George Van Tassel, the creator of the integratron and how it came to be, articles on how after he retired from a long career as an aeronautics engineer for Lockeed he moved his family to 4 acres at Giant Rock, near Landers, California. Giant Rock is a 7-story high, freestanding boulder formerly sacred to the Native Americans who lived in the area. It was here that he received, from a spaceship full of aliens visiting from the planet Venus, the instructions and plans to build the Integratron, which was to be, in Georges own words, “a machine, a high-voltage electrostatic generator that would supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure.”

Van Tassel referenced the Biefield-Brown Effect, the works of scientists George Lakhovsky, George Crile and the works of Nikola Tesla in relation to his work at the Integratron, and you can read all about the sience here if you like, (that Tessla was somethin’ else- wasn’t he?  Pretty amazing stuff!), and about sacred geometry here, (the likes of which the pyramids and many holy buildings and tabernacles were designed with, not to mention Phi aka: the golden mean) but what I really want to tell you about is the experience of the place, and the two sisters who run it now.

We go out there at least a few times a year, for the sound baths and occasionally for special events. We went out a couple years ago for their “Unplugged Goddesses” event, which was a weekend of awesome women camping and meditating and doing some energy work together.  We went with a group of several friends, the GirlyBoi’s mom and my daughter went, too.   Some of us slept in the Dome, while others camped in tents or under the stars.  A sound bath before bed the first night and another the next day; a trip to play along the ley lines at Giant Rock.  It was so excellent!

But what you just have to experience is the Sound Bath! Have you ever heard a crystal singing bowl? They are played with a sort of wand run around the inside edge and they are pitched differently, but every one I’ve ever heard seems to sort of resonate in your body and mind and sounds at once sweetly melodic and somewhat haunting.  They make the kind of sounds that seem to grab at your heart strings.

The Sound Bath is the Integratron’s signature experience.  It’s simply amazing.  After being greeted by the sisters, Nan and Jo and enjoying a little visit that includes a bit of Integratron back story in the charming courtyard, we head to the dome. The sound bath is actually a 30 minute meditation, but Nan and Jo are friendly and always happy to chat and encourage visitors too look around.

The first thing you notice when you enter the dome is the beautiful wood interior, and the pegs upon which copper wires are strung that radiate outward from the central post.  It looks like a big round harp.  The entire Dome is constructed of wood; there’s not a nail in the place.  It’s so warm and welcoming.  There are couches and chairs for lounging, a small library and scads of reference materials and articles on George and Tessla and Giant Rock.  After wandering the downstairs a bit we head upstairs to the sound chamber of the dome.

Upstairs Jo will tell you about the special acoustics of the dome, and we always have to take a moment to enjoy the “whisper chamber” effect.  Seriously; no matter how often we go, we’re like kids playing with a new toy; we can’t get enough of it.  Have you ever been in a whisper chamber?  It’s such a trip. I can’t say I understand how it works, but who cares?? Haha.  If I stand on one side of the dome between the vaults and you stand across from me and I whisper… you will hear it as if I were right next to you.  Somehow the sound travels along those arches or something.

The mats and pillows are all arranged for you, whether you’re doing a private or group Sound Bath.  We always stop at the small, multi-cultural altar and pay our respects to the local spirits before we have our meditation.  Sometimes we leave an offering if we are moved to do so; other times we like to look at the offerings others have left.  Photos, saint cards, crystals and stones, among other personal mementos.

Over at the Integratron site, the Sound Bath is described like this:

The Sound Bath is a 30-minute sonic healing session that you can experience while resting comfortably in the Integratron’s highly resonant, multi-wave sound chamber. We play 9 quartz crystal singing bowls live, each one keyed to the energy centers or chakras of the body, where sound is nutrition for the nervous system.  Imagine lying on comfy mats in the center of this relaxing and resonant high-energy field, while having your body bathed in exquisite sound for 30 minutes. The results are waves of peace, heightened awareness, and relaxation of the mind and body.

Let me tell you that in all my travels (astral or otherwise… Hahaha!), I have never experienced anything like it.  The sound of those 9 crystal bowls seems to get right into your body as well as your mind.  You can feel the energies move between the chakras… the sound seems often to shift from one ear to the eother and then blend and meet in a sort of vibration in your mind… you feel blockages in your body open, the sensation of a cooling breeze in the high heat of summer, warmth in your toes during winter… I almost can’t even describe it.  It’s been described as:

“Kindergarten naptime of the Third Kind.”

Which is somehow apt; I mean, do you remember those kindergarten naps?!  Haha!  They were so great.  So refreshing and revitalizing.  After a lil nap I could get up and play in the sandbox all day!  So, if you’re ever out here in my sandbox, go check out the Integratron!  You’ll love it!

*For more history on George, Giant Rock and the Integratron check out labrynthina.

It’s Tarot Tuesday, a new meme by chameleonsdream who blogs at Coffee Break and Everyday Tarot (Both, by the way, great blogs and well worth visiting!)

I am in love with this Image from the Tarot of the Dead.  It has such a great Dia De Los Muertos feeling and style.  I think I need this deck.

The High Priestess card always speaks to me of potential.  It is the number 2 card, the first card carrying the energy of duality which is reflected in the black and white drapery on either side of the central image.  She is what may be, what could be.  She is possibility and wishes and the planting of seeds in Spring.  Often she represents hidden or unformed knowledge or talent.  She can stand for activities or business ventures still in the brainstorming stage, ripe for action but not yet put into play.

I think she’s a perfect card for me today, in the Spring and while I work to learn new ways to process and share my knowledge and writing with a wider audience.  She speaks to me of the potential for growth.

On a deeper level she represents a re-awakening of spirit and perhaps some level of connection with the Gods and the Universe for me.

Truth be told, I never was one to “trust” the Gods on a large scale or as part of the big picture.  I always knew that there is no guiding intelligence presiding over this insane mess of a world with all its incredible beauty and devastating horrors.  That life happens to us all and there is often no rhyme or reason to it.  Not everything happens for a reason, it’s not “God’s will”- blah, blah, blah.

What I learned when my Lil Pharaoh died is that whether I knew it or not I had some subconscious belief, some misguided trust that such a pointless tragedy would never touch down in my life.  SIDS was something that happened to other people, as was starvation, war, genocide, the stoning of people for the crime of loving, torture… well; you get the point.

What an incredibly brutal awakening from a dream I didn’t even know I was living.

To make a long story short, The High Priestess card is representative of the potential for me to again have a relationship with the elements and energies of this natural world and maybe… maybe even the Gods and whatever Light there is.  There seems to be a crack of light shining into this dark cave of my year and a half or so of existential despair.

And maybe…

Just maybe, I can help my precious daughter come through it in some way.  I have hope today, and that’s more than I’ve dared in a very long and dark time.

I’m playing along for Tarot Tuesday , a new meme. Join us in posting your tarot thoughts, images and ideas on your own blog or in comments here or there for this weekly meme hosted by chameleon’s dream at Tarot Tuesday Home . Check back and see who is playing and visit others posting for Tarot Tuesday!

Sometimes the Universe speaks to us, ya know?  After my night and talking with my girl this morning, I settled into checking my email and enjoying the many responses to both of my Thursday Thirteen posts, both here and at my new blog, The Eclectic Witch.

I answered one comment by email.  One of my most favoritest bloggers, Janet, had commented over at the new blog, so I fired off an email to her, never thinking for a second that she didn’t know it was me.  We had a good laugh, but the comment got me thinking, and inspired me (in combination with my experiences of the previous night), to write a new post there, entitled  Creating an Ancestor Altar or Altar of Your Dead.

I’ve been recreating this altar recently, and making some small shrines and decorations for it, and had, for some reason, stopped.  I don’t know if it got to be a little overwhelming, or if life-stuff got in the way, or both.  But somebody’s talkin’ and I’m listening.  It’s time for me to finish creating and decorating my new home for my many departed ones, and to celebrate their lives with color and light, with mementos and candles and incense.

I’d love for you to stop by over there.  Not just because I shall supposedly get paid per click in some way that I don’t really understand, but because I’d love to share this with you, my friends, if you’d care to join me.

I posted this image over there, but I just can’t get enough of his sweet face right now, so I’m going to post it here, too.  The image has been transferred onto polymer clay and then surrounded by colorful bits on a candle glass.  I still have to finish polishing it.  But he’s so beautiful… my angel grandson… our Lil Pharaoh.

Peace, out!