What is Gaia Healing?
In truth I was called to Virginia to do what I call Gaia Healing.  It's healing at Civil War Battlefields that I've come to understand works on many different aspects and levels, in multiple dimensions.  At the time of my first Gaia Healing experience in 2004, I didn't have an energy healing vocabulary to even explain what happened that day.  As I've come to listen to this calling, apply what I've learned and bring others into this work, I now understand that I'm helping souls to "cross over", healing the emotional scars of battle survivors and grounding Light with Gaia -- Mother Earth -- to remove the stain of human war from her skin.  None of this, of course, is "me" in this effort; all clearing and healing come from Spirit, and angels arrive to assist with the process.  And Gaia is so pleased and moved by our actions that She smiles for us and rewards us with a deeper connection and appreciation for Her grace.  I usually use Fulgurite and Gaia Healing frequencies in this work, which you can read more about below.

The Arboretum Partnership
For some time I have shared that the Trees had informed me that they are working with us in these efforts.  It makes sense, they stand tall for years through the passing of generations and hold energy in the ground through their roots.  They live with us almost invisible to our awareness and yet so important to our survival as manufacturers of oxygen.  Living beings aware in their own way of our presence and impact, open to -- indeed waiting for -- human awareness to awaken to our inextricable partnership.  Open your heart to a tree -- to many trees -- and feel how they and nature will respond.

As we bring in Gaia Consciousness frequencies, the Trees assist in the clearing of past trauma in the Earth and hold Light and the holographic 'impression' of perfection for renewal.  There is true joy in this work, even as we bring it to locations of the most dire of humanly created devastations.

Perhaps I understand more clearly now the significance of "The Arboretum" in the channelling I received on my first Manassas visit.

How It Began
The three stories below serve as an introduction to the curious, by way of explaining my own beginnings in this work.  Additional stories and fascinating photos are on linked pages specific to work at Manassas, Gettysburg and Jones Point Park (so far).  My hope is that others might take up the call themselves, or join me, or simply increase their awareness of energy "remains" on our planet.  There is so much we can do in simply asking and acknowledging.  Spirit is there to guide and help us.  I'm quite moved by my experiences and am planning to carry this work to more places in the future.

The stories are in reverse chronological order (most recent first).  You may detect a certain "progression" if you start at the bottom.

Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC - Dec. 24, 2009
I was guided to visit the Holocaust Museum on Christmas Eve.  Interesting timing, I thought.  I personally believe that the date of December 25th was chosen by early Christians to be celebrated as the birthdate of their Christ out of accommodation to the prevailing pagan practices of the time, and that the person Jeshua, on whose teachings Christianity is based, was actually born sometime in the Spring.  I also believe that for the greater part of humanity, who live in the Northern Hemisphere, that the Winter Solstice on December 21st each year represents both physically and psychologically the return of the Sun and its emanating light from the dark.  It is a time for joyous celebration, for now we know, on a profoundly fundamental level, that the Sun will return, the warmth it brings will come back and the death and sparseness around us will become lush and fluid and green once again.  Life returns. 

I checked out their website (http://www.ushmm.org/) in advance of my trip and knew that I needed to visit a temporary exhibit entitled, “A Dangerous Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fictitious publication supposedly exposing a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world and is the most pernicious piece of anti-Semitic literature – now in web form – of modern times.  It has been repeatedly repudiated, yet continues to raise its Hydra-like head to continue to cast shadows and aspersions against the Jewish community at large.  A worthy place to instill some healing energies, I thought.  From there, I’d rely on intuitive guidance.

After a half-hour Metro ride to the Smithsonian station and a brief walk on a grey, wet and windy afternoon, I was greeted by helpful security guards and made my way through the metal detector.  The building was warm; I was grateful to remove my coat and acclimate myself to the energy of the space.  I’d been here before and had been keenly moved.  To say that the permanent exhibits are thought-provoking is a sore understatement; I remember feeling afterwards that it was a “sobering experience”.  Very well thought out, poignant and informational, making personal situations real, which is really the only way to grasp the atrocity as a whole.  It’s too large to be fathomed otherwise.

But this time was different.  I was on a mission; I wasn’t here to learn or to be moved as I had been previously.  I was here to bring healing without really knowing what that meant or entailed.

The woman at the information desk answered my few questions; I oriented myself to the floor plan and headed downstairs for the Dangerous Lie exhibit.  The painted brick walls looked familiar, and yet much more stark this time.  Perhaps because this was a grey late December afternoon and not a sunny Spring day as it had been on my first visit.  I just remember it being much brighter before.  I was glad that I passed the Children’s Tile Wall on my way to the exhibit; I’d been wondering what it was and what it might look like.  More than 3,000 tiles, painted by American schoolchildren memorializing the youngest victims of the Holocaust, bore messages of hope, peace, remembrance and freedom.  Their optimism was conspicuous counterpoint to the oppression of the events they chronicled.

I was relieved that there were very few people in the museum at that time; I grabbed a stool, moved it to a quiet space and pulled out my stones.  I held them in my hand and meditated briefly then put them on the floor and directed the Gaia Healing frequencies toward them.  I don’t recall any specific impressions during these moments, except an awareness that I was on the bottom floor of the museum and that it seemed appropriate that I would lay a “foundation” of these energies there.  Whatever came next could “build” upon them.

Next, I picked up my stones and kept hearing “Hall of Remembrance” so I looked to find it in my guide.  I was surprised when I got to the Hall and realized that I hadn’t seen it on my first visit.  This is wholly different space.  The Hall, if you haven’t seen it, is hexagonal in shape (as a circumference of the Star of David would be).  It is quiet and meditative, with cushioned benches on four sides and an eternal flame that burns atop a 4-ft-high black marble crypt opposite the entrance to the room.  The crypt contains soil from 38 death camps, sites of mass execution and ghettos in Europe, and from cemeteries of American soldiers who fought and died to defeat Nazi Germany. The ceiling is three stories high and comes to a pointed skylight in the center, while four tall narrow glass panes let in light from corners in the outside walls.  On this day and at this time, light was streaming in a narrow band from the southwest window, just left of the eternal flame.

I moved across the polished red marble floor to pay my respects and stopped halfway.  Just three days past Solstice, on this dreary wet day, I found myself awash in bright light.  It was as though the narrow window had somehow focused what available sunlight there was to laser intensity and it hit me brightly, boldly in the middle of the room.  I could do nothing but stand there, close my eyes and drink it in.  In this space of sorrow, I stood in holy light and gave joyful thanks that I could enjoy such wonders in such a somber place.  Then I looked up and saw the quote from Genesis 4:10 carved into the marble mantle to my left, “What have you done? Hark, thy brother's blood cries out to me from the ground!”  I could not have found a more solid and meaningful affirmation of my work as this.  Of course, the ground cries for blood spilt, the rocks and trees and water breathe it in their own way – and so do we without even realizing it.  We are all part and parcel of this great Earth – of Gaia.  We breathe in what She breathes out; She breathes in what we breathe out.  It has always been thus; our very life dependent on each other and each act of grace or boorishness affects all of us and She that bears us.  I hear the calls of my brothers and sisters and I do what I can in my way to lend love and healing for their pain.

After spending a few moments at the eternal flame, I sat on one of the benches to meditate with my stones.  This time I had brought Peridot (warmth from the heart) and Carnelian (vitality).  I closed my eyes and drank in the space, the time, and the intent of this memorial.  As I did, an empty cross appeared to me – of the full height of the building, so that it extended down through the floors below and all that was ‘visible’ to my third eye was the horizontal beam and the top portion of the upright going up through this Hall of Remembrance.  It was of simple construction in wood and I was awed by its size.  Such a strange thing to see in this place -- on this day.  What significance was there?  Then I heard the word, “Forgiveness,” and I began to understand.  Since this means so many things to so many people (and the context itself could be well, a little controversial perhaps?), I’ll leave it to the reader to interpret.  Suffice it to say, I felt I’d been bestowed a gift and since that time have valued much more the capacity to ask for, offer and receive true forgiveness from the heart.  Any one of these is a gift in and of itself.

I did pick up a memento on my way out of the museum.  These days, I’m most conscientious about the things that I buy and try to avoid the ‘calories’ of unnecessary material consumption.  I have to say that the small designer glass necklace that I purchased in the museum shop, embellished as it was with a silver ring on which the word “Hope” was inscribed, is now one of my very favorite indulgences.  Every time I wear it, I feel as though I have a special glow about me, as though I carry with me the energies of that day and the hope of a humanity that never wants to build a memorial like this one ever again.

 When I got back to my friend’s house, I had to look up the metaphysical properties of Fulgurite right away.  By now I was incredibly curious – why this stone?  Such a strange looking crystal – was it really appropriate for what I’d just done?  Among its many details outlined in “The Book of Stones: Who They Are and What They Teach”, Fulgurite is known to “assist in facilitating a conscious death experience for those preparing to pass over.”  I almost cried.  This is Spirit at work in my life.  Then I read its Affirmation, “I call upon the Divine to join me in manifesting the prayers of my highest intention, and I surrender my attachment to outcomes.”  It was perfect.  In this trip, I had given up pressuring myself to cover the entire grounds, the urge to heal, and the expectation that my experience would be similar to ones I’ve had at other battlefields previously.  I thanked my Guide and Spirit for this gift and for that day.  And now, my work – my real work – is beginning.  I will return again to Antietam.

New Market Battlefield, March, 2004
My first experience was in 2004 on a ride through the Shenandoah Valley, when I was compelled to stop at a -- any -- battlefield site.  When I couldn't ignore the urging going on in my head, I pulled of Route 81 South into the New Market Battlefield State Historical Site (info here: http://www2.vmi.edu/museum/nm/).  I had no idea what the story was behind this particular battle, but I quickly learned about how Virginia Military Institute cadets were called into an infantry attack under Confederate General Breckenridge.  As my daughter and I walked the grounds, I kept "hearing" that I had to lay down.  I tried to ignore it, but the message persisted loudly and long enough that that's exactly what I did.  (Fortunately for what pride I had at the time, it was March, and there weren't many people around.)  I picked a spot in last season's mowed over hay field and sat down.  Slowly, I leaned back and as soon as I my head touched the ground, I felt a swoosh of energy come up from the ground through my head.  It was quite profound!  It felt like a cyclone going up, swirling and widening as it rose.  It lasted only about 20 seconds, and afterwards I lay there for a few minutes trying to make sense of what had just happened.  Mind you, this was before I'd taken any energy healing classes.  I shared my experience with my daughter, we completed our walking tour and headed back on the road to her college not really understanding what had happened but feeling confident that it had 'helped' something, somehow.  Little did I know that this was my unexpected initiation into this work.