I would like to tell you a funny and true story. A story that at the time I didn't find so funny, nor did I see the significance in the turn of events that made this story so profound, and yet so ordinary. It is a story that reminds us to pay attention to the unexpected, and count on spirit to not only show up in unusual ways, but in seemingly ordinary ways too.
The story begins with my first journey to Machupicchu, Peru. Needless to say, I was quite excited to be traveling to this amazing land. I had dreamed of going for some time and now the time was upon me. I wanted to get the most out of my first trip, as most spiritual pilgrims do. Over the years I have entered sacred sites at night to meditate and pray. A night on top of a pyramid has proven, over and over, a profound way to tune in and receive sacred mystery school teachings. So, of course, I was going to repeat this process in Machupicchu.
On my last day in Machupicchu, I was ready to enter the site at night. I waited until 1 a.m. to make sure the guards were asleep. I climbed over a cliff beside the ticket gate to enter the site. I ascended up part of the Inca trail to a special carved rock, where I could see the entire site laid out before me. Machupicchu was exquisite, lit up by starlight, and the silence was profound.
I sat down with my back against the rock and began to meditate. The stone was getting colder and colder and it was getting harder every moment to concentrate. I had every piece of wool and alpaca clothing on that I owned. I looked like an alpaca mummy and could hardly move, but the cold intruded into my meditation with a vengeance. I sat all night in the cold. By morning's first light I had not received a single vision, insight or teaching. I was not visited by the Lumerian Star Elders, nor did I see Andean Angels or space craft. I received absolutely NOTHING except knowing where the phrase "Stone Cold" came from. Believe me, I understood -- Stone Cold -- quite well.
As the sun rose over the top of the surrounding Andean mountains, I greeted the warmth it brought. The vision of the sunlight hitting the ruins below was an amazing view and a seeming consolation for my night of suffering. I thought I would at least get some incredible photographs. I pulled my frozen hands out of my alpaca mittens and got out the camera I had kept inside my poncho to keep warm. I waited for the right moment to snap my first shot. But what happened next was... well, let's say... the straw that broke the llama's back.
Seeming to appear out of nowhere were what seemed to be a couple of
tourists. The site of Machupicchu is huge, but yet these two, speaking some unknown language, showed up and stood right in line with the amazing photo of Machupicchu emerging in front of me. This was puzzling to me as it was about 6 a.m., and the front gates do not open until 8 a.m. So where did these bozos come from, I thought? Couldn't they find another place from which to view the sunrise? Come on, I was thinking, I have been here ALL NIGHT in a stone-cold state, reducing my grand quest to have a vision to snapping a great photo. I didn't think it could get much worse. But it did, I assure you. One of the fellows pulled some bowling pins out of a bag and began to JUGGLE! It was the most absurd sight I have ever witnessed after an all-nighter in a sacred site. This guy was juggling at sunrise at Machupicchu, right in front of my breath-taking photograph, and ruining the only thing I
would gain from this frigid evening in Machupicchu. This was the last thing I expected. And yeah, they were snapping photos of themselves juggling in front of Machupicchu! It was like God was playing a big joke on me.
I have to admit all that mediating did nothing for my anger levels. I was grumpy, stone cold and downright livid. How dare these guys block my awesome view? There were so many other places they could have gone. How dare the Creator not bless me with a great vision with all the sacrifices I made to get it! After all, I have been blessed with tremendous visions in other sacred sites, over and over, some of which changed my life forever. Why was I being denied what I expected this time? I went back to the hotel, feeling dejected by spirit and downright tired. I forgot the entire event and went on with the journey that offered our group great insights and profound teachings, but in the back of my mind I thought about that cold, traumatic night where God played a big cosmic joke on me.
This last September 2000, I guided another group to Peru. When we returned to Machupicchu, at some point I like to amuse my group with the traumatic juggling story. It helps me heal my wounds of that night (just joking) and it gets my group laughing and reminds them that visions come and visions go and you never know when you'll be touched by a divine moment.
We were perched on top of the site near the funeral stone. Some of the
group had created an altar on top the stone, others chose to sit, legs
hanging over the edge, facing my favorite sacred mountain, Apu Putikisi. This mountain is a dimensional doorway to a golden city and when meditating upon it many can feel, see and hear the Lumerian Masters' messages, and if you are real lucky, you get a chance to go inside the city's first level.
I had just finished telling my juggling story to part of the group when
Howard, a professional storyteller, came up to me after a long meditation upon Apu Putikisi. He said, "Aluna Joy, I just got a very strange message and I wanted to know what you think about it. I was meditating upon the mountain and asking for the key to enter the golden city inside the mountain. Guess what they said."
I was very curious and said with excitement, "Come on, Howard, let's hear it!"
He said, "Now don't laugh at me, but the Lumerian Masters said the key to enter the Golden City was to JUGGLE!"
Now keep in mind Howard was way out of ear shot while I was telling the
story to the group. This is why what he said was so shocking. The group's mouths dropped open in amazement and all chimed in with, "WHAT???? What did you say????" We could not believe our ears. I knew Howard was a storyteller and a very creative one at that, so just for a second I thought maybe he made this story up to pull our legs. We had a very rambunctious group this year, and outrageous laughter and silliness was a daily and constant event. But I discounted this thought almost immediately. It was too far out to be made up.
What was so amazing was the realizations that came just after Howard's
revealing message. First, it was quite possible that the two juggling guys were the Andean Masters I had called on and they had, in fact, given me the keys to the Golden City. I have been calling the Masters to come to me in physical form all my life, and here they were right in front of me, and I did not recognize them! You don't expect Masters to juggle their teachings, now do you? Of course, I should have known better, the Masters I have been working with me most of my life have a twisted sense of humor, and always take me by surprise.
Secondly, I realized that because I had criteria for what I thought was the appropriate way to receive a divine message or vision limited me from seeing the message that was right in front of me. I was not in an altered-state meditation, I saw no burning bush or alien space craft, I was not in a deep and serious spiritual state, no phenomena was present at all, just a couple of odd-looking fellows in the absurd act of juggling in Machupicchu. This helped me realize we may be having divine messages transmitted in the most absurd and unexpected ways and in what we think is a normal, everyday conscious state. This makes me question how much are we missing? How many Masters walk among us every day? How often do they push our buttons, tease us, ask us to lighten up, and give the answers to us on our deepest questions, and we miss it because they do not come if the form we believe isn't appropriate.
Thirdly, that simple act of juggling itself was a profound teaching. I asked myself, what do we have to juggle? Maybe the act of juggling is where humanity is living at this time. So many of us are feeling on the edge and everything in our lives seems to be up in the air, like flying bowling pins. All the elements, issues and choices in our lives are up in the air spinning, twisting and changing in front of our eyes. We know very soon that these elements are going to succumb to the force of gravity and come back down to us. Are we going to be able to catch all the pieces at once? Or are we being asked to observe and choose which bowling pins to catch and duck quickly so as not to get bonked in the head by the others.
Maybe juggling is how we need to live our lives. Maybe to enter the next world, next state of consciousness, next dimension, we need to throw all that we are up in the air and wait and see what we can catch. Maybe we have no choice -- that is exactly what is happening, anyway. Maybe learning to juggle our complex spiritual and 3D lives together is a step to becoming multidimensional. I am still learning from this story myself and I am sure I am missing some of the point here. But you can be sure I am looking for jugglers to join me in my next trip to Peru.