Mystery of Chaco Canyon

Thursday was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, when the transition was made from spring into summer.

When I think of solstices I think of the trip I made to Chaco Canyon in 1982 when I camped out with my 2 daughters.  My husband wanted to go to India and I said I did not want to go.  We agreed that he would go to India and I would take our daughters camping.  I wanted to see the Native American spiritual centers in the Southwest.

I hitched a tent camper to my car and off we went for about 6 weeks.  Chaco Canyon was high on my list to visit.  I had read about how mysterious Chaco Canyon is.  About 850 AD a very sophisticated set of buildings, roadways and settlements were made and then suddenly abandoned.  In the early 1980's most people did not know about Chaco Canyon and the roads leading to the Canyon were sandy and difficult to manage towing a tent camper.  At one point my car stalled and from out of nowhere a group of native Americans pushed the car and trailer up the mountain.

We explored the entire area and were intrigued by the ruins.  One of the ruins was found to be important in determining when the solstices would take place.  I found the following on the internet.

High atop the imposing butte at the entrance of the canyon is the most famous of Chaco’s sites. There, a set of spiral petroglyphs pecked into a cliff face behind three giant slabs of rock functions as a solar marker. At summer solstice a vertical shaft of light pierces the main spiral exactly at its center. On the winter solstice, two shafts of light perfectly bracket the same spiral. Light shafts strike the center of a smaller spiral nearby on the spring and fall equinoxes.

This site, now known as the Sun Dagger, was discovered by Anna Sofaer in 1977. After extensive investigation, Sofaer and her colleagues published data that showed that the spirals may also track the 18.6-year lunar cycle.

Alas, it’s no longer possible to see the Sun Dagger in action. In 1989, the rock slabs shifted—possibly from increased erosion due to too many visitors—and the effect was spoiled. Today, the site is closed to visitors.

The world is full of mysteries from our past and I personally believe that the peoples of the past had far more knowledge, engineering, and life than we realize.  Just look at the engineering feat of pyramids around the world.  

Below is a photo of the sun dagger.

A Miracle in 2005

Whenever I think of times when the finances seem down, I think about a miracle that happened at church in 2005.  Unity of Denton had grown and could not afford to rent expanded space anywhere in Denton.  We located a church building in Krugerville outside of Denton for a bargain due to a split in the congregation.

When we moved to this location, it proved to be too far for some of our regular members.  Others moved away and our financial situation became worse.  I was in the ordination process which required the church to pay me a certain salary.  We sent financials quarterly to the field licensing committee for review.  All I knew to do was turn it over to prayer.  My late husband, Dean, had died the previous year and never even saw the new building we had moved to.

One day I was opening up the mail and nearly threw away a financial envelop as we were always getting ads for opening up new bank accounts, credit cards, etc.  To my shock I was holding in my hands a $30,000 check.  It was from the estate of a woman who had died a year and a half earlier.  The letter explained that the financial establishment had had trouble locating us because we had moved and changed names.  The letter went on to say that more money would be coming as this lady had had no relatives and wanted the church to have the money.  Altogether there was an incredible $330,000!  It was a miracle.  We used the money to add an addition onto the building and make improvements.

This story illustrates to me that we never know what is in store for us in the universe if we don't think about the lack and just focus on prosperity and never give in to negative thinking.

And the Rains Came

Every day this week I have been hoping that the rain would come.  A tropical disturbance was supposed to give us a good shot at rain this week and I waited to water my plants and lawn thinking that surely the rains would come.

Today was the best chance in the morning and early afternoon but the time passed by and no rain.  Then about 6:00 I noticed that the skies were dark in the north.  I looked at the weather app on my phone and the rain was moving down from the north.  There was hope!!  And the rains arrived in just the amount I needed without violent wind or lightning. 

The weathermen are having a difficult time making forecasts.  It is as if the weather has a mind of its own.  About 3 years ago the weathermen said there was no hope of rain for Denton even though other parts of the area were getting rain.  I was shocked to start hearing hail and this was not ordinary hail.  This hail was the size of baseballs and one broke through the window in my dining room.  This was followed by warnings of tornadoes but fortunately the rain wrapped huge tornado lifted off the freeway close to my house and moved east.

Sometimes our lives are like that.  We hope and hope for something to happen and give up.  It is at that exact moment that something we hope for happens.  I really believe in the adage of  "Let go and let God" which gives life a chance to work.  I think sometimes we hold on to hope in a fearful way but when we give up, life produces what we wanted for us.

Diane's Life is Changed by Visioning

In the Law of Attraction class the very first #1 suggestion out of 30 practical applications is to make a mind movie.  We always either write down our goals or make a vision board which are effective but now in this time of computer technology it is not that difficult to make our own personal mind movie of our goals complete with music and affirmations.  I will be going over this technique in the Law of Attraction class held at 12:15 at Unity Spiritual Center..

When I think of visioning whether by vision board or mind movie, I think of Dean's oldest child, Diane, who credits visioning for changing her life.  After her divorce Diane moved to Rockport, Texas where my late husband, Dean, lived with his first wife who later died.  Diane had been attending Unity and heard about the vision board.

Diane assembled a vision board which included a happy marriage with a wonderful income.   She began teaching aerobics and rented out a place in a strip mall.  The owner of the mall was a good looking builder named Al.  There was instant chemistry.  After dating and getting to know each other, she knew that this man was the one she wanted to marry and they were married.

Al is not only loving and caring but he is a well known builder in Rockport and became a multimillionaire.  They own 900 acres by the ocean which includes Crane House.  The whooping cranes migrate to their land and they rent out Crane House for overnight or weekly stays.  It is usually booked out for most of the season.  Al built a hurricane proof home on their property which withstood the powerful hurricane Harvey of last summer that decimated most of Rockport.  Photo of Crane House below.

Diane is interested in the Unity movement and has always been interested in spiritual pursuits.  In addition she is an artist in her own right.  She creates beautiful jewelry and has this to say about her artistic skills:

         I always wanted to be an artist, all my friends were! I couldn’t even draw a straight line, I would always say. But come to find out, you don’t necessarily want to draw straight lines in jewelry! I took local jewelry classes for several years and then decided to take it up a “notch.” Six years ago, I met a Pawnee Indian lady in Santa Fe, Kim Knifechief. She is a silversmith whom I convinced to give me lessons. I loved it- couldn’t get enough. Now I go to Santa Fe several times a year and spend the entire month of August making silver and turquoise jewelry with Kim. When asked what style my jewelry is, I say it has a Native American flavor which is Kim’s influence, but also a more modern look because I use pearls and stones which are not turquoise. I don’t put a piece for sale unless I absolutely love it and wouldn’t love wearing it myself!

One of Diane's creations

Diane's vision board all came to pass and is a reminder to me of how absolutely powerful and life changing it is.

Movies and Slides: Serendipity at Work

I am always amazed at the serendipity in my life.  Just this week I had a situation resolved that I have been trying to address for years.

As most of you know by now, I am working on photo albums and scrapbooks as I have tons of photos and memorabilia from relatives.  I think it is important to pass them on in as interesting way as possible to my relatives.

The biggest problem I had was what to do with the 8 millimeter home movie film.  I wanted to have these films transferred to a DVD but the price is significant when you send them off to a company to have them done.  I also have some VHS home movies plus tons of slides. 

I decided that I would have to find a way to somehow transfer these images but while I waited I would tackle the photos and memorabilia I have for the time being. 

Pam Livingston told me about a free program at the Denton library where they would demonstrate the various equipment they have to preserve family memories.  I was surprised at the size of the class with people all about my age who are facing the same situations I am facing with so much stuff stored on movies and slides.

It turns out the Denton library has a legacy section where you can reserve 3 hours to use equipment that will transfer the movies and slides to a DVD.  It was an answer to prayer.  I am looking forward to many many hours in the legacy section of the library.

I think it pays to wait if possible when a situation comes up that you cannot see the resolution.  There have been so many times that a solution was just about to happen but if I had addressed it, then I would not see the miraculous outcome.

Irritants in Our Lives

When my youngest daughter, Susan, was attending Missouri State University in order to become a Nurse Practitioner, she had personality problems with one of the instructors.  I remember talking to Susan on the phone and listening to a wide array of problems and conflict.  Susan tried to stay out of this instructor's way but interaction had to take place in order to graduate.

Susan graduated and was very surprised to be offered a position as Director of the Nurse Practitioners program at Missouri State University.  Normally a requirement for the new position required a PHD which she later obtained but at the time did not have.  Incredibly they told her if she began her PHD training while in the position that she could still have the position and the University would pay for her doctorate.  Everything worked together to make this new position work out.

A few days after accepting the position Susan called me with the astounding news that the professor that she had had the personality problems with was the one who recommended her for the position.

How many times have we had a personality problem with someone and then found that they were in our life for a reason or even more incredibly that we we grew to appreciate them? Sometimes they are like an irritant that produces the pearls in our lives.  All people in our lives are there for a purpose or a reason----there are no coincidences.  It may take time to discover the gift of their presence but there is always a gift.

Overcoming Adversity---Story of My Dad

It is Father's Day and I am sure there are countless stories and photos about dads who are either still living or have passed on.  

I was lucky to have a dad with whom I had a really good relationship.  He was born in 1920 and  grew up under very unfavorable circumstances.  His maternal grandmother died 3 days before he was born.  He was born with a club foot and spent many days at the Scottish Rite Hospital where they broke and reset bones.  He always had a limp and special shoes.

While he was still a child, his parents divorced which was highly unusual in those days.  His mother struggled to provide for 2 boys but his mother also suffered bouts of depression and could not find a job.  Then the Great Depression came which forced my dad to quit school and do anything to bring in money.  He sold newspapers and picked cotton.  They did not have a place to live and were forced to live under their pickup truck.  In later years neither he nor my uncle would talk about those days.  They literally lived on apples.  

World War II came on the scene and my father wanted to sign up.  Because of his club foot he could not fight overseas but they did accept him as an air traffic controller. 

He met my mother at a church function in Okla. City and was determined that he would make something of himself.  He did not want my sister and I to go through everything he had been through. 

He was very spiritual and began to look into various forms of spiritual organizations.  Eventually he found Unity.

He never complained.  I loved going to his house and drinking coffee with him while we talked about coffee and religion.  My heart was broken when he died in 1983 of leukemia.