| | | In August 2020 I successfully completed a backpacking "thru-hike" of the entire Border Route Trail in northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. More than a simple backpacking trip, it was a spiritual pilgrimage: part vision quest, part healing odyssey, part rite of passage, part culmination of a 14 year period in my spiritual formation journey.
What I received and learned during that hike could fill many newsletters. For this one I feel led to share some of my experiences with spiritual portals. But first, let’s set the stage by reflecting on the more common experience of spiritual “thin places”.
For decades I have become increasingly sensitive to “thin places” in the veil that separates earth and heaven. A thin place describes a moment in time and space when the sacred and the secular touch, when the existential distance between the physical and spiritual worlds suddenly but softly disappears. We catch glimpses of the divine, discover the transcendent, meet the infinite, experience union, or immerse in oneness.
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| Have you ever stepped between two boulders and felt a shiver of transition?
Have you ever walked into the midst of a triangle or circle or square of trees and felt a spiritual presence?
Have you ever experienced the wind speak?
Has your heart ever skipped a beat when a spirit animal appeared out of nowhere?
Has your body ever shivered in the presence of a sunrise or sunset?
Has your soul ever ignited at the precise moment of a solar or lunar eclipse?
Have you ever frozen mid-step in the grip of epiphany?
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| These are a few examples of thin place experiences. Most of us typically marvel at and even ponder these occurrences, but often do not take the time or make the effort to consciously enter into relationship and communication with the Spirit who is present with and for us on the other side of the veil.
Now back to spiritual portals. We may say that portal experiences occur when Spirit steps through a thin place and engages us in our material reality . . . and/or when we step through a thin place to engage Spirit in their spiritual reality. Ancient prophets, mystery school initiates, and Celtic Christians were among those highly attuned to such encounters. They experienced portals as participatory realities beyond time and space, where linear time becomes spiral duration, when dimensional place becomes interdimensional space.
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| | | Portals are passageways between the worlds of spirit and our physical world, between heaven and earth. Portals appear in every historical culture's stories, folklore, myths, and religions. Portals appear throughout both the Old and New Testaments in the forms of gates (1), doors (2), ladders (3), caves (4), mountains (5), clouds (6), the heavens opening (7), and experiences of the higher heavens (8). The ultimate portal is Christ (9).
Over the years I have become increasingly sensitive to the presence of portals, but I still thought of them as rare. It somehow never occurred to me that the stories and descriptions in the Bible – as well as in mythology, folklore, and other religions – always indicate that portal experiences are available to every human being all the time. It was on the Border Route Trail that God finally succeeded in getting this message through to me.
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| As I was hiking along on the first day, I would frequently sense a thin place in the veil. Extending my senses, I would notice a nature spirit or elemental or angel or other spiritual being. I would marvel at the perception, express gratitude for the experience. In response I would experience some form of happiness or appreciation or positive regard.
On the second day, when I became aware of a thin place in the veil, I would again express appreciation and gratitude, but in response did not always receive the same kinds of warmth and positivity in return. This puzzled me, but I did not know what was wrong.
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| On the third day, the responses from the spiritual world felt like a mix of encouragement and disappointment. Clearly, I was missing something. The fourth day was more of the same, but my concern was overshadowed by the physical difficulties of the trail, which were taking a toll on my body and emotions. Desperate for relief, I decided to cut this day's distance short and turn off onto a spur trail to a lake where I could rest and recuperate.
I made this decision a little over one mile from the junction, and the spiritual world suddenly perked up with great interest. Hiking onward, I was repeatedly prompted to pause, bend down, and pick up different things that were on or near the trail. These included strips of birch and pine bark, varieties of stones, interesting twigs, pine cones of all shapes and sizes, lovely leaves from different types of trees, moss, etc. Before the distance was up, I was laden, both hands completely full to overflowing.
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| When I asked what all the items were for, the answer came back that they were gifts. “Gifts for who?” I asked. “For you” came the reply. That made me feel good, but I still didn't understand what I was supposed to do with the abundance.
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| | Arriving at the spur trail junction, I wanted nothing more than to hurry the remaining distance to the lake so that I could finally take off the pack and rest. The spiritual world, however, had other plans. Immediately upon turning onto the spur trail, I only made it three steps before I was struck by an almost physical blow that stopped me in my tracks and made me backpedal back to the junction. When I asked what was going on, the answer was, “Are you sure this is the path you want to take?”
“I think so. I don’t know why not. Are you saying don’t do it?” The terrain blocked my view of more than just a short bit of the trail. Peering in that direction, it’s true that it did feel a little dark, difficult, and ominous. Nevertheless, I was feeling desperate for water and a rest, and confident that I could handle whatever the trail might throw at me.
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| “Your choice.”
“Then I’m doing it.”
“Leave a gift here at the junction.”
“But I thought these were gifts for me.”
“They are.”
“Then why am I supposed to leave one of them here?”
“You'll figure it out.”
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| Using my spiritual senses, I determined which gift to leave behind and where to place it, expressing gratitude and curiosity. I then started back down the spur trail.
I did not get very far before I was again stopped. “Another gift?” I asked. “Yes.” Looking around, I didn’t see anything to suggest where the gift should go, so I examined everything in my hands until a pebble drew my attention. With the pebble in mind, I looked around again, suddenly noticing that the trail was bisected by an incomplete line of stones. The gap beckoned to be completed, so I placed the stone in just the right place, feeling a sense of integration arise. Stepping over the line of stones, I felt an almost electric tingle pass through my body. I was keenly aware that there were a lot of spiritual beings witnessing what was going on. Some were simply curious while others were very intent. |
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| Another short distance down the trail I came to a double tree that had fallen over the trail. With my pack on, the tree was too low for me to duck under, too tall to safely climb over, and the underbrush on either side of the trail was too impenetrable for me to go around the tree. I needed to put all my “gifts” on the path, take off my pack, crawl under the tree, then pull the gifts and pack through to the other side.
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| | Heading down the trail again, the thought crossed my mind that perhaps I should leave a gift there with the tree. I sent out a query to all the gathered witnesses but no one answered. The decision was mine. So I turned around, walked back, selected a gift, and placed it where it seemed most appropriate. What I felt from the surrounding witnesses was a wave of relief, and even a bit of cheerful jubilation – but I still didn't know why.
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| I hiked a short distance, stopped, turned around again, and tried looking at the tree with both my physical senses and supersensible perceptions. The word portal suddenly came to mind. “What makes a downed tree a portal?” I asked.
The answer came back, “Anything can be a portal.” Images of the trail junction and the line of stones in the trail appeared in my imagination. Contemplating them, a whole cascade of other images from my hike washed over me.
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| “Anything can be a portal?”
“Yes.”
“But I miss most of them?”
“Correct.”
“How do I recognize portals?”
“A portal is present every time you are offered a choice or an opportunity . . . or are presented with the need to change directions, change your behavior, change your mind, change your attitude . . . or revise your expectations, plans, worldview, or perception of reality . . . or to learn from, teach, play with, or partner with Spirit.”
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| “So the trail junction was an opportunity, choice, and change in direction. The line of stones in the trail was . . . what?”
“An invitation to partner with Nature, to be a steward, to fix something. The changing seasons, weather, and previous hikers loosened the missing stone until one day a hiker kicked it out of the path. The changing seasons and weather filled in most of the divot, but to Nature the hole was still palpable, like a missing tooth. Then you came along and it became an opportunity – a chance to get your attention, maybe teach you something, and to reconnect what had become disconnected.”
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| | "What was disconnected?”
“Didn’t you feel anything?”
“Yes. It felt like something re-integrated and then powered up.”
“There you go.”
“But what was it?”
“Everything is connected to everything. Sometimes the purpose of a gap is to permit things and energies and beings to flow through with greater ease. Other times a gap is the result of damage that needs repair in order to get everything back to flowing smoothly again. Sometimes a gap is a sacrifice, hopefully temporary, in order to get someone’s attention, to obtain someone’s assistance, to provide someone with a learning experience – it creates a win-win opportunity.”
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| “We’re not just talking about lines of stones in the forest, are we?”
“Nope.” |
| “And the downed tree was a portal . . . how?”
“You needed to bow down.”
“Humble myself?”
“That’s your choice.”
“If that’s not it, then why?”
‘Slow down, you’re moving too fast, you’ve got to make the morning last….’
“Simon & Garfunkel? I’m not paying enough attention?”
‘…Just kicking down the cobblestones,
looking for fun and feeling groovy….’
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| Okay. I treated the tree as an obstacle to plow through, instead of an invitation to play, to climb on, to crawl around in the dirt, to notice, marvel, and explore. Which is the way I treat way too many things in my life. Which leaves me exhausted rather than energized.
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| | So I put my gifts down again, shrugged off my pack, and climbed up on the double tree, walking up the trunks until I was high off the ground in the canopy of other trees. I looked at everything with curiosity and delight. I played with my spirit friends.
‘…I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life, I love you, all is groovy.’
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| | That entire spur trail to the wilderness lakeside campsite was a series of experiences like that. I couldn’t hike for more than a minute before coming to another physically obvious portal, another experience, another place to leave a gift, another opportunity to play. The trail is rarely used, and had not been cleared in many seasons. There were many downed trees, dead falls, and other kinds of debris. It was also very rocky in places. Other places were crowded or overshadowed by unique groupings of trees or ferns or raspberries.
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| | As I progressed, the feelings of spiritual heaviness and disappointment lifted. In its place I received from the spirit observers a growing sense of contentment and pleasure. Despite how much I had been carrying in my hands, I ran out of gifts before I ran out of trail. However, that was no problem, because by then I had begun to figure out that:
Every bit of nature is a gift.
Every portal is a gift.
Every bit of nature is a portal.
Behind everything physical there are spirits, and Spirit. For everything in the heavens and on earth declares the glory of God and reveals the presence of God. By opening up my awareness… by tuning in… by connecting with the spirit beings who are nature… I found myself almost continuously in the presence of God, walking with God.
For the remainder of my time on the Border Route Trail, whenever I became distracted and lost conscious awareness of the spiritual realm interpenetrating material existence, a laughably glaring physical manifestation of a portal would appear.
Many times it was patterns of trees falling across the path.
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| Other times it was a leaf fluttering down past my face to land at my feet, or a pine cone bouncing downward branch by branch by branch, causing me to look up and then get hit by it.
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| | Sometimes it was a snake crossing right in front of me, or two squirrels chasing each other around me like I was nothing more than another tree in the forest.
Sometimes it was the call of a loon on a distant lake, or the creaking of a tree swaying in the breeze.
These are all examples of portals (invitations, doorways, windows, pathways) awakening my consciousness from a dull, introspective slumber back into relationship and communication with all that is.
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| When I was a teenager learning to play the guitar, the first song I ever wrote was putting Psalm 24 to music. I did not really understand what that Psalm meant. All I knew is that it spoke deeply to my soul. I knew that it was as if everything I needed to know in order to survive and thrive in this world was embodied in that Psalm – if I could just figure it out.
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| I now understand that Psalm 24 gives us pictures of one portal after another. It describes a path for human beings to step from this world into the next and how God steps from the spiritual world into ours.
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| | Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; for He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. [Selah] Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory! [Selah] |
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| | The mission of Wise Cosmos is to be a portal for human beings to discover that the spiritual world is not only real and alive, but also yearns to enter into communication and relationship with us.
We are so glad you are with us on this journey and welcome you to invite your friends along as well. |
| Thank you,
Lelan
Lelan Harris
Executive Director
Wise Cosmos Educational Initiative
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| | (1) See for example Psalm 24:7, Psalm 118:19-20, Proverbs 8:34, Genesis 19:1 (connected to Genesis 18:21 in which we explicitly learn of the Lord’s intention to go down to the Earth to scout around and investigate the evil that was stinking to the high heavens).
(2) See for example Psalm 24:7, Psalm 78:23, Revelation 4:1.
(3) See for example Genesis 28:12-13.
(4) See for example 1 Kings 19:9,13; Exodus 33:22.
(5) See for example 1 Kings 19:11; Exodus 3:12; Exodus 19:13-23; Matthew 4:8; Matthew 5:1; Matthew 17:1.
(6) See for example Psalm 78:23, Matthew 17:5, Revelation 11:12.
(7) See for example Isaiah 64:1, Psalm 78:23-25, Ezekiel 1:1, Matthew 3:16-17, John 1:51, Revelation 19:11.
(8) See for example 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Deuteronomy 10:12-14, 1 Kings 8:27-30.
(9) See for example John 14:1-31; Matthew 5:17, 28:20, John 1:1, 8:58, 10:17-18, 18:6, Acts 4:12. Particularly at Easter we recall that Christ Jesus was buried in a tomb, a cave. It became a portal from Earth to the underworld (Ephesians 4:9, 1 Peter 4:6) and then a return portal for Christ's resurrection body back onto the Earth (John 20, Luke 24, Matthew 28, Mark 16). To this day it remains a portal for all of humanity (1 Corinthians 15).
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| | For more information on Wise Cosmos Educational Initiative, please visit our website where you may:- Register for Parzival, a course by Brian Gray.
- Register for The Lord's Prayer, a course by Lelan Harris
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| | Art credit: All photos of the Border Route Trail copyright (c) 2020 Lelan Harris |
| Gratitude & appreciation to Jodi Chandler for her significant contributions to the content and aesthetics of this newsletter. |
| Wise Cosmos Educational Initiative is a world-wide community that welcomes all who, in the words of Rudolf Steiner, are endeavoring to unite the spiritual element within the human being to the spiritual in the universe.
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