Note from Cayelin: The article below was written by John Dumas in 2008 and was inspired by his successful building of a window of light that creates a light dagger on the back of a small cave as the Equinox Sun rises beside the stone circle built by Gael Chilson near Tucson, Arizona.
At the September Equinox 2012, our Night Sky Cosmology had the direct experience of the powerful and magical activation this window of light facilitates. Many new pictures have been added at the end of the article that explains the genesis of this rock window.
It is an honor to be witness to what John created and to see that it is still fully operational. It was a great addition to the equinox sunrise ceremony for our group, who was inspired and delighted to experience their own light activation.
There is nothing quite like the direct experience of this type of light activation at a solar gateway. It gives us clues about why the ancients spent so much time constructing massive sites that captured this type of experience when the Sun was at one of the four solar gateways of the year. We experienced first hand how it truly is beyond remarkable and powerfully activating. Thank you John!
Stone Building Equinox Window at the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School in San Xavier, Arizona.
Sep 22, 2008 was full of great joy in connecting the “As Above So Below” with a bit of land that has been set up as an experiential exploration of dreaming, designing, and constructing astronomical key alignments to the landscape. Synchronicity, sweat, and of course my Virgo Moon played a major role in this magical dance of light and shadow.
I really got excited about archeoastronomy when I first went to Fishlake Valley, Nevada several years ago. This is a site that Daniel Giamario, our school founder, discovered in the mid-1990’s. I’ll never forget finding an unnaturally smooth stone that may have been sat on for hundreds of years. By siting on the stone and lining up two larger stones with a stone cut notch to the mountain on the far horizon, I was able to predict where the sunrise would occur on the equinox. The next morning I tested out my theory and proved my hunch was correct. This experience at Fishlake Valley sealed my passion for this ancient science.
Building the window of light. Notice the triangle of light framed by shadow.
On the morning of the September Equinox 2008, after a night dreaming about stone circles in Scotland, our hostess Gael Chilson, and care taker of this sacred land woke me up before sunrise. Daniel Skiles a new apprentice to our mystery school, joined us on our expedition to a beautiful stone circle Gael built and has caretaking since the mid-1990’s. The sky and and then the Earth began to glow more orange yellow with each step on our 15 minute hike up to the spot. We arrived about 6 am and I found a comfortable seat that allowed my line of sight to line up with where the Sun would greet us.
Daniel Skiles helped me to place two stones creating a “no brainer” user friendly site. Lining up the these rocks with the far horizon, was like looking down the site line of a rifle. The first rays of the Equinox Sun arrived at 6:19 am. With a few minor adjustments our first Equinox marker was successfully in place.
This however, was only the beginning of our adventure. Months earlier I noticed an intriguing cave like structure near Gael’s medicine wheel. I wondered if the Sun would illuminate it on the equinox, much like lighting up the Holy of Holies in the Egyptian temples I have visited.
The stone builders of antiquity built their temples to mark the Solstices and/or the Equinoxes sunrise and/or sunset. This allowed the High Priests and Priestess to identify the timing for their annual ceremonial events and when to plant the corn or reap the harvest.
I have had the good fortune to visit many sacred stone circle sites around the world and witness their magic. From the Mayan temples of Palenque to the Egyptian Pyramids, to the Long Barrows and Giant Stone circle of Wiltshire, England. These places have only inspired me further and set my imagination in high gear to construct my own honoring of these Earth and Sky mysteries.
The triangular cave with a triangular beam of light on John’s third eye.
My guess that the inside of this half cave would light up was looking good, so I got busy building a structure that would mimic the triangular cave. I built a pyramid of stones with a smaller triangular hole in side it’s middle; a perfect fractal of itself designed to honor the fractal matrix of the Universe and the “As Above So Below” principle.It was about an hour after sunrise that the pyramid window I had constructed was casting a window of triangular light inside the larger pyramidal cave. This was a perfect symbol for the fractal nature of life. As the Sun beamed its triangular light into the triangular cave, I was also beaming with my own inner light and delight at our success in working with the mysteries.
The two triangular rock windows with the triangular cave in the background.
The moment the whole illuminated structure locked into place I had an idea to erect another pyramid stone in front of the first one. This had the effect of casting a shadow exactly on a triangular rock in the first pyramid structure. The effect was magical and felt as if it was a key that was unlocking the sacred timing and mystery of the site.
About 10 minutes, later as the shadows shifted and I moved to the side, I noticed the triangular beam of light started turning into an eye of a cat. To our amazement we found ourselves experiencing a synchronicity that none of us planned for, or could have ever imagined.
The triangular shaped hole casting the beam of light inside the pyramid turned into an actual “eye” inside the pyramid. Then we noticed it looked like a the head of some ancient mythical creature with first cat and then rabbit like features. Our sense of excitement and wonder grew and I found myself going into deep gratitude for the great mystery that was unfolding around us.
This is only the beginning of this work on the land. I am sure there will be many more experiences like this. So if like me there is a part of you that loves the sacred connection between land and sky, and is resonating with this kind of experience, I Iook forward to seeing you at a future Shamanic Astrology Mystery School event and having an opportunity to share in the fun.
Final Note: Here are a couple of comments from the recent Night Sky Cosmology September 2012.
Thank you for all you and Daniel provided here. I feel like I awoke the first night in the womb of creation and then looked into the eye of God on Sat. morning. I can’t imagine how you could ever top that one but am willing to let you try. ~ Love, Mary Kern
The image coming to me again and again is the swirling spiral rendering of the galactic equator with the intense fire at the center – which speaks to me of how our days during the retreat were…again and again spiraling toward the mystery at the core of all things – great teachings, great presence by all, great connections, great MYSTERY. I am SOOOOOO grateful. ~ with love, sarah
The dagger of light is moving toward the back of the cave
The light window has shifted to a pyramid and is activating the third eye
The Pyramidal Window the Sun comes through at Equinox before the Sun arrived there on the September Equinox 2012
The Sun directly in the pyramidal window as seen from the cave.
- Throat chakra activation by the window of light
- Shadow Dancing as Rock Art just above the pyramidal cave on the Sep Equinox 2012