Moons Over Sedona Part III: Uqualla's World

Sedona, Arizona

Monday, May 1, 2011

8:20 a.m.

Moons Over Sedona Part III:

Uqualla’s World

“The trek upward is worth the inconvenience.”   --El Morya

On Sunday evening, April 17, we were invited to a full moon ceremony at a medicine wheel in the back yard of a store on Sedona’s main business street.  Around sunset people began to gather -- locals as well as tourists from Florida, Canada, and a large group from Spain.  Although I have seen many full moons in my lifetime, the intentionality of a ceremony with flute, drum, and prayers of invocation to the four directions clearly enhanced the glory of that moonrise for me.  But that experience in itself is not as remarkable as what it led to.

At lunch on the following Tuesday after a meditation group, a member mentioned that she lived next door to a Native American shaman named Uqualla.  Out of my mouth like an arrow shot the question, “Can we meet him?”  

Within half an hour the three of us, Viveka, Kate, and I were at his doorstep requesting an audience.  (I must mention that Kate Deakin is a Canadian woman healer known also as Kaeylarae. [see Kaeylaraehealing.com]  “Coincidentally,” she had been present at all of the meetings we attended, and the full moon ceremony two nights before, so we had naturally fallen in together as birds of a feather.  Since then, she has become our constant and joyful companion, playmate and walking partner throughout our stay in Sedona.

Uqualla -- which sounds like “equality” without the “ty”, belongs to the Havasupai tribe that lives along the Colorado River at the base of the Grand Canyon.  We learned that he had been given the blessing of his elders to represent the teaching and ways of his people to those in Sedona who might come questing.  He received our unannounced presence with grace and within a few minutes we were sitting in his consultation room in four chairs facing the four directions. 

He explained that he had been in prayer and seclusion for several months asking Spirit what his next steps might be.  After sharing our Sole2Soul mission with him, our conversation centered around the possibility of interviewing and filming him in ceremony.  

We invited him to perform a ceremony at a “new” medicine wheel outside of town that Joseph White Wolf, a Native American elder had advised Kaeylarae to renovate and reactivate.  Reluctant to perform in an unknown setting, he suggested a full moon ceremony on top of Sugarloaf mountain which he has lived in the shadow of for 10 years.  Yes! That would be perfect, but we all knew we must act quickly, for the full moon window was fast passing.  It would have to be that very night at moonrise or not at all!

To climb Sugarloaf mountain -- which Uqualla calls Turtle Dome -- in the dark I was not inclined to do.  We had climbed it the day before and I was fully prepared decline rather than risk an injury.  But when we arrived at his house that evening, and I saw him in his full regalia, eager and excited to be called out of seclusion, there was no way I was going to be left out of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Our Sole2Soul Walk up to this point had repeatedly been drawn to learning more about indigenous spirituality firsthand -- both in Needles, CA and Quartzite AZ -- and this was a golden opportunity to expand on that theme.  

Uqualla, I later gathered, is well respected in the Sedona spiritual community.  He is the genuine article -- through and through -- fully committed to his sacred art.  Word pictures cannot do justice to his attire and accoutrements -- comprised of feathers, bells, scarves, beads, weavings, animal parts and skins, face paintings, and more.  Each time he appears the costume is clearly the result of deep contemplation, assembled from the ground up for the unique occasion.  All of this is masterfully designed and impeccably executed with fierce “indigenuity,” a word we adopted to represent his fresh creativity.  The only comparison I can think of for its colorful and dramatic effect is Japanese Kabuki theatre. See  http://www.uqualla.com/ 

With flashlights and lanterns we made the trek to the top of Turtle Dome.  What a privilege to await the moonrise over Sedona with him, and to be asked to “play” the rattle.  (I was “magnificent on the rattle,” he said.) We got a good laugh over that, but in all seriousness, I was thrilled to hear the invocations and songs and be witness to the elevated language he uses.  Some might call it “oracular”  I think of it as sacred oratory, or better yet, as “heartspeak.”

He was so energized by being called out of seclusion that he agreed to do four ceremonies in all:  three ceremonies on the following day to complete “calling in” the four directions which he had begun the night before at moonrise, when he called in the North.  We met up around 5:00 on the following day to drive about 8 miles out of town to the “new” medicine wheel for the sunrise ceremony (East).  We went back at  noon for the ceremony for the South and again at sunset for the West.  At the end of the day we all felt the effects of a glorious accomplishment for our shared mission.

Viveka captured it all on video, and I am happy to be able to include one of Kaeylarae's photos.  Please note: that is an eagle's head mounted on the staff he is carrying.  


His messages speak to the unique needs of our times, and the human call to emphasize love and unity over fear, and especially our care for Mother Earth.  We look forward to being able to share them with a wider audience through the Gathering WOmentum film project.