Osiyo,
We at Bear Spirit Mountain have been blessed with so many wonderful updates over the last few months. My Ancestors are on the march in making their sacred site protected, restored and they are revealing to us many of their secrets of long ago.
To begin, we have received official IRS non profit 501c3 status. This is very important as we attempt to raise money. It also allows us a small tax break on the taxes we must pay for any property we own. There are many benefits. The amazing part is the story on how we achieved this status.
In order to receive this non profit status we had to apply by application. If you have ever filled out any IRS application it is a confusing enterprise at best. So much of the application didn't even apply to us. However, if you don't fill everything out perfectly it will set you back many months in getting approval.
I was told by the IRS that it can take several years to receive approval. So, I applied for "expedited service" to try to speed this approval up. I had to state a reason for this request. My reasoning was that we have an Indian burial site. It is an ancient site and because so many of our sites have already been destroyed here is a chance to protect one and by having non profit status it allows us the ability to raise money to protect this site. I even included a copy of my book to show the legitimacy of our site.
A few weeks after I submitted this request I was on a site visit to Short Mountain in Virginia recording a Serpent Wall we just found when I received a call from a IRS supervisor. It was no coincidence that I was at a another site full of my Ancestors presence that I received this call there.
This gentleman told me that because I hadn't given them a deadline on the application when I had to have this approval he was denying my request. I explained that I never saw anywhere asking for this. He said it didn't matter. My worst fear of not filling out that twenty page application correctly just came true. I asked him if there was anything I could do to rectify my mistake and he said send in a letter with the requested information and they will get to it. I was dejected. I knew if that letter didn't work I was looking at possibly two years before approval.
After Jason and I recorded the Serpent Wall, we headed down the mountain for my car to leave. We decided to eat at a small pizza place in Mt Jackson before going home. This is when the magic happened.
As I pulled into the parking lot and parked I decided to check my voice mail. I had a single message. As I listened to it this message it was the same supervisor from the IRS I spoke with several hours earlier. He stated that after speaking with me he is reconsidering my request and knowing that I was going to send a letter requesting the needed date anyway he would go ahead and approve my request for expedited service and assign an agent immediately. I was elated! And, I knew I had some help. Thank you , Ancestors.
It was only one week later that we received the letter giving us non profit approval status. Just one week. And from the time I sent in the application to receiving the approval letter, it was only one month. Think about that. When have you ever seen anything approved by the IRS in one month? We are blessed.
There have been new finds on our beloved mountain as well. Recently, I was introduced to a fresh college graduate. Her name is Rachael. Her major is in Historical Preservation and her minor is in Anthropology. While that is impressive, I also learned that she lives on Bear Spirit Mountain. After contacting her we arranged a time to meet with her at her home. As I met her wonderful family, I heard some pretty amazing stories of spiritual activity on Bear Spirit Mountain from a family that has lived there over fifteen years. None of this surprised me as many of you have read in my book some of my spiritual encounters there as well. But hearing other people's stories was exhilarating for me. There was one thing that they were very insistent on doing though before we did anything else. It was the same request I had heard from her neighbors Joe and Clyde very recently. All of them wanted me to visit this particular site. This site even has a name on a topographical map so it has to be significant in size.
I readily agreed to a tour of this site by Rachael and her brother and his wife. Conveniently, it was only located a few hundred yards from their home.
We arrived at this site and I can see that this is a mound of some type. It was an earthen mound and it was created on the top of a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley below that faces to the west. While seeing this mound was amazing, it was what was happening to me physically that was unexpected.
As I walked up to the base of the mound, I felt a buzzing sensation around my head. I have felt this many times before on this mountain, but not to this intensity. I was also short of breath. This reminded me of when I was in Bagram, Afghanistan many years ago at a high altitude of 7,000 feet. Until you adapt, you are short of breath there. But the altitude on our mountain is around 2,000 feet. I also heard many voices speaking to me in a language I didn't understand. I felt though, by their tone I was hearing that these voices were welcoming.
I knew all of these physical manifestations were energy. Energy coming from this mound. And, I now knew what Rachael has always known. This is a man made mound. At first, I didn't think it was a burial mound. But as I walked around the mound I found evidence that it is definitely a burial mound. I decided to take some compass readings on the direction the mound is facing. The construction was made to face northwest to southeast. These are the same directions for the winter and summer solstice events. This matches the same design of hundreds of other mounds discovered in the US.
Earthen Mound
After taking those readings, I the walked to the northwest tip of the mound and found the evidence showing me this is a burial mound. I saw three rocks. These rocks were arranged intentionally into a spiritual portal called a "niche." Niches were placed by my Ancestors in areas they felt their Ancestors needed access to visit them in this world from theirs. The bottom two rocks are semi flat and were inserted into the mound side by side just a few inches apart. The third rock had a more "arch" shape and was placed on top of the bottom two stones. This is the portal into this burial mound that the Spirits/Ancestors enter and leave this mound. This told me that there are many people that were placed in this mound for the next life.
Rachael, her brother Jason and his wife Elizabeth standing
next to the "Niche" portal at the base of the earthen mound
This mound provides evidence that this mountain and its use as a ceremonial/burial site was in continuous use for thousands of years. We previously thought that it was in use for one, maybe two thousand years. But the transfer in the custom of using stones to earth to create burial mounds happened sometime during the Archaic period, or about 7,000 years ago. Although, on occasion where the terrain wouldn't allow for earthen mounds people would still use rock mounds up to the late Woodland period, or 1500 years ago. However, there was a definite change in mound building material around 7,000 years ago.
We have found hundred of these burials on our mountain. Both earthen mound and rock mounds. We have found over a hundred images of rock art petroglyph s, pictographs, outline glyph s, etc. We have dozens of other rock structures such as serpent walls and sun effigies, base stone cairns, niches, man made stone circles, etc. And, the site stretches for five miles on multiple mountain ridges. To create so much on such a large territory took a very long time to finish building. And the transfer of mound building materials of rocks to earth shows that from the Paleoindian period (11,700 years to 19,800 years) to the Transitional period (2,800 to 4,850 years), this mountain was in continuous use for at least 7,000 years as a sacred site. While to date we have found hundred of burial mounds, I can assure that hundreds more have been destroyed over the last four centuries for farming, house building, re-purposing, and scavenging by artifact and relic hunters. But rest assure, our team is trying to protect as much of the remaining structures that are there today. Which creates a wonderful segway.
Last year, I was working at my site alone. I felt a very strong presence next to me. I knew it was him. The "Protector." The person who chose me and brought me there. His presence is unmistakable among all the spirits I have felt there. I know he was a great Chief, a great hunter and great Warrior in his day. Occasionally Ingrid will smell the odor of perfume there. Only she can smell it. I cannot. This is his wife. They are the great protectors of this mountain.
As I felt his presence, I felt the need to talk with him. I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all that they want me to do there. I am honored to have the burden, but at times when I see the size of this mountain I feel so small in what I can do. I stopped my work and spoke out to him. I told him "I am honored to be here, to be chosen and to be a part of you. However, you must understand that I am but a small man. I will do all I can to protect your sacred site. I will do all I can to preserve your sacred site. I will do all I can to tell your story of the greatness your people left to us. But, you must be the primary protector as I cannot be there all the time. You, must provide the resources for us to accomplish what you want us to accomplish because I am a man of limited means. And, you must send me the right people with the right connections and abilities as I am a man with limited contacts." This was my statement to him.
Over the last year I have been introduced to so many wonderful, talented people who are now a part of our Bear Spirit Mountain team. I have received permission from almost all of the landowners on our mountain to explore and research their land and record what we find. I have proven many of my theories regarding the how and the why they chose that particular mountain for a sacred site. I have had success with my book that has opened many doors. And because of those words I wrote from my heart in that book we have a wonderful lady who has stepped up with her love, passion and desire to continue my mission there to protect as much of this mountain as we can.
Her name is Sharon. She is a lady that understands the devastation that has been caused to sites like ours in the past. I have taken her out to my site and showed her around many of our rock structures and effigies. She was visibly moved by all that she saw that day.
Sharon approached me one day clutching my book in her hands. She told me she wants to do something to allow us to expand our operation by buying more of the available sites that have historical significance. I told her there is a ten acre site on the market now that I have walked many times. This site has forty rock mound burials and several other larger rock structures we call "the turtles." She immediately told me she wanted to buy this land. So, with a very large financial donation made by her my beloved wife and I sat in a closing at an attorneys office last week and we purchased the ten acre site. It belongs to Bear Spirit Mountain, Inc. now. It too, will now be included into the protective trust to never be developed.
Another benefit that came from this transaction is I reminded the Realtor who had this property listed that he must now disclose to whoever wants to buy or sell there that he and any other Realtors must legally disclose that this is a documented Indian burial ground. This also adds a indirect layer of protection for this mountain in the future.
Words cannot express our gratitude to Sharon for her generous donation that allowed us to buy this land. I pray its just the first of many people who will step up and help us protect this mountain by whatever means they feel necessary.
Closing table to purchase ten acres
My Ancestor, who I had that conversation with is more than keeping his end of our bargain. Every week we receive a new blessing to help our cause. Thank you Sharon, you have done so much for Bear Spirit Mountain.
My future plan for this ten acres is to rebuild the twenty or so rock mounds that have been desecrated. I want to restore the integrity of the grave for each one of those mounds.
On Saturday,November 30th at 10 am, I am having a traditional ceremony to start rebuilding those cairns. I am inviting many from the Indian community including a Shaman and drums to both pray for the Ancestors there but also send them music that they would know and love. Drumming for the American Indian is not only a melodious sound. It also a form of prayer in itself. I want the mountain to shake that day with the sounds of drums and traditional prayers and show our Ancestors they are not forgotten and we will take care of them. Below is a photo of one of these rock mound cairns that we will repair.
This rock mound has been opened from the center. We will restore this rock mound by rebuilding it.
I invite you to attend our ceremony on November 30th. It will be a special day and the Ancestors will Rejoice!
AHo
Maasaw