by Jamie Smith, embodiment of System Indigo | Oct 15, 2025 |
When Listening to The Unseen is The Medicine
A short journey through inner and outer landscapes, visiting multiple realms while exploring petroglyph sites, giving permission to see and hear what others may not.
Pony Hill, New Mexico
The bright sun beams down upon your skin, warming you inside and out.
Earth’s golden desert floor reflects the sun’s brilliant rays all around.
The warm air fills your lungs.
You breathe in freedom and peace.
And exhale belonging and wonder.
Resting upon a hill in the wise desert lands of southern New Mexico, is the home of a nearly forgotten story board, a gallery of history gifted to us by our ancestors long ago. This petroglyph site, visited by few, holds ancient memories of culture, presence, and connection.
This enduring gallery had recently been visited by a small group, led by their teacher and friend, Daniel Giamario, and guided in by Chelsea Rittchen and her special friend, Steven. The group traveled together along highways and long washed-out dirt roads, and together, they climbed the hill that is home to these spellbinding images.
Tales of kinship between spirit and matter existing through time and space are etched into the stones that sing these stories. Encounters, explorations, relationships. Patience, acceptance, growth. Recordings of emotional events that forever changed the people. Excitement and anticipation, fear and caution, grief and longing, transcendent mystery, devotion, and love.
You breathe in freedom.
And exhale belonging.
The soft wind ripples through your hair and the golden grasses.
Sweet floral scents fill the air.
The stones draw you closer.
Reach out and touch an image.
Instantly, the sunny sky is dark and your breath can be seen as the crispness of cold chills the back of your arms. You look up to see a man, familiar and brotherly, yet unknown. He’s looking up into the night sky, remembering and waiting.
And just as quickly as this flash of memory reveals itself, the golden sunshine brings your awareness back to your body, your skin’s warmth rapidly returning.
You see tiny flowers, winking at you with reassured safety and love, for they had witnessed you and your temporal journey.
Their petals show you how their stems keep them rooted in the ground while they dance wild in the wind.
The wind feels comforting and gentle on your skin, warm.
You breathe in presence.
And exhale belonging.
The group of enchanted story finders spent their time together receiving their transmissions from the land, sharing their thoughts and feelings of what the images hold for the visitors. Hours of connection with each other and the land brought the reach of the sun to its high position in the sky, and with that, a memorable farewell.
Fishlake Valley, Nevada
With deep love and gratitude, I said goodbye, and headed west. New Mexico, Arizona, up to Nevada, the land spoke as I listened to her whispers. Horses, bats, hares, ravens. Ancient rocks of the mountains, breathing networks of the forests, the red soil’s healing tenderness, our guiding Sun.
As the Sun prepared for its rest the following day, I was lovingly greeted by another gallery of history etched in stone. Among the golden grass of southern Nevada lay a fortress of dark rock, a gathering place for many to come and share.
Now referred to as the Fishlake Valley petroglyph site, these stones hold the same depth of wisdom as the previous site in New Mexico, welcoming any visitor to connect with the ancient memories.
Traveling from distant lands, humans came together to share stories, drink, and food. To celebrate each other and the seasons. To learn and grow from each other. To connect with the directions and with the elements. To hold ceremony for life and death. To simply be alive together. Both of these two sites, among many others, allowed the people to honor their sacred place in the cosmic embodiment of consciousness, true hierophanies. They would leave these stones, bringing the love and connection back to their communities, trees, and waterways.
You breathe in presence.
And exhale belonging.
The warm wind carries your awareness to the essence that is all around.
Quintessence.
You are being called.
Images of tree covered hills, coral reefs, a new baby’s smile, oceans of sandy dunes, tropical waterfalls, outstretched wings of a bird, glistening snow drifts, a pod of whales… your breath is carried along with the swift changes of imagery flowing through you.
You are taken on a journey.
As you sink further into what is arising, a nurturing presence is felt.
The safety of sinking deeper into the shifting imagery feels like a long-lost home.
Being guided along the living web of Earth, you find the images slowing, and after seeing all of Earth cradled in your hands, you are led … back to you.
You see yourself, truly, as if for the first time.
All of your life memories are shown to you within a single breath, instantly expanding your lungs with life force energy bringing tears to your eyes.
Standing face to face with yourself, you are touched by the raw, irreplaceable holiness of you.
You take their hand and become one again.
You remember that you hold the same preciousness as all of life.
The world you had just been shown would not be so if you weren’t in it.
Breathing, appreciating the journey thus far, you are nourished with love coming from within and all around.
You breathe in gratitude.
And exhale belonging.
The tranquility of the valley was soothing, and I found myself in conversation with the land as I was being shown the connections of my inner and outer worlds. Like the stars and spaces that create the shifting constellations in the sky, the constellations of my being were shown how they, too, are ever-shifting in the unfolding of cosmos within and out.
The time had come to say goodbye to the stones at Fishlake Valley and make my way back home. With the promise to return again, I continued my journey, revitalized with belonging and purpose. The drive north felt as if Mother Earth had escorted and safely delivered me back to the Snake River of Idaho, making sure every ounce of love and connection generated was brought back and shared.
Witnessing the stories that are being shared by these sacred sites helps heal the great forgetting that has separated humanity from the living earth and from each other. These whispers from the land gently guide its listener back to the heart, where they remember that love is the medicine.
May your remembrance bring you peace.
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All images by Jamie
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