A Matter of Spirit
April 2006 — Interview
“I have a great deal of trust in the spiritual realms. The other day in ceremony I thanked the Spirit for loaning me paintbrushes so I could continue my work. I am humbled at these gifts that cross my path and thank the Spirit daily for what comes my way.” – Rod Bearcloud Berry
Bearcloud was born a Vision Seeker and follows his traditions as a Ni-U-kon-ska native. Ni-U-kon-ska is a word meaning “Children of the middle waters.” He says, “I have always liked the name of my nation because I believe the word itself expresses the best way to walk on the Earth Mother.”
Bearcloud explains that his ability as a Vision Seeker is an ability to see beyond the normal world into the realms of the unseen and realms of Spirit, or the ethers of the Universe. He says his journey as a Vision Seeker has guided him to create the images he paints, and to exhibit these painting at his Bearcloud Gallery in Sedona. Each vision he paints is an unfolding story that is spiritual in nature, and this spiritual essence is felt by many who view his work.
When Bearcloud’s landscape paintings are viewed closely, they come alive with transforming images, such as bears, buffalo, coyote, appearing within stones or clouds that might take the form of eagles. Bearcloud says these stories and symbols possess an infinite understanding to which all human beings have the keys to understand. So it can be a special journey for him when anyone connects to his work and he sees them make this connection of spirit through his paintings.
Of his painting “Wah-Sha-Shu,” meaning “Sacred Waters”, Bearcloud says, “The earth has a natural way of explaining the infinite nature of the Universe and Spirit, and the ways in which we walk on the Earth Mother.” He says the painting reveals how all through life we are assisted by the spiritual world.
Bearcloud goes on to say, “Sometimes our eyes are open to see this assistance, but there are evolving levels to be recognized. The water explains the ever-flowing nature of the Universe and its ability to move without resistance, and yet is stronger than all things. Like these series of waterfalls have levels, we too have levels; and like the expanding outward movement of a ripple across a still lake, we too move outward and expand. It is important that we learn to do this in the levels of the mind, the levels of the body and also the spirit. Each is important to expand, and when one suffers, all will suffer; although many do not see that.”
Bearcloud’s ability as a Vision Seeker found a new avenue when he became involved in what he calls the “Star Glyphs” or Crop Circles that appear all over the world, and more frequently in England. He has traveled every summer to England since 1997. Bearcloud recognized the symbols to be important and realized that many of them where from his native traditions and could be understood to have meanings about “Wakan-Tanka (the Great Mystery) and our walk on the Earth Mother.
Bearcloud says that many strange coincidences have happened to him since his involvement with the Star Glyphs. These strange coincidences are part of what compelled him to look deeper.
Question: Is there a memorable experience you could give as an example?
Bearcloud: “Well, just this summer, I received a phone call from a friend in New York asking if a crop circle formation had appeared in a particular location. It hadn’t, but when I hung up, I called immediately back and said for the record, ‘I’m getting a feeling something might happen around Avesbury Stone Circle.’ My friend laughed and said “Ok it’s on the record.” Many people experience premonitions, but usually nothing comes of them. The next morning the feeling had grown. I wasn’t sure if I was just trapped by imagination, or if I was compelled in some way to go this location by some unseen force or voice. I got dressed and after a half hour drive, I arrived at the location at around 3:20 in the morning. I tried to position my car so my headlights were on the hill but there was no incline, so I couldn’t. It was a black night but I had brought high powered night vision binoculars with me.”
Question: Was the moon out?
Bearcloud: “No! In fact the stars seemed to be a little darker that night but not as black as it can get. When I looked through the binoculars, the outline of the hill lost in the black of night, had a very visible edge. I scanned down the hill but there was nothing there. I got into my car to drive away; I pulled forward slightly and stopped again. All of a sudden I felt a need to look a second time, so I did. I backed up, got out and walked to another location. There was nothing there. I left the area and went to a location some 20 minutes away to wait for the sunrise. Shortly after first light, I wanted to return to Avebury Stone Circle thinking that perhaps on the back side of the hill there might be something or maybe even some other location near the area. I wanted to return to the area again because of the extraordinary strong urge compelling me to be there earlier. Well, when I returned to the same location, now about an hour and fifteen minutes later, a formation had appeared. It was in the exact location I had looked at earlier, directly on the line of the hilltop. I was amazed and immediately made my way to the formation.”
Question: So do you think people where involved in creating it in someway?
Bearcloud: “No. The Star Glyph was sitting on the exact line I followed with my night vision glasses. I believe it was significant that I got out of my car a second time and looked at the same location twice. I might have questioned myself more and wondered if I had missed something.”
Question: What size was the crop circle?
Bearcloud: “When I went inside, the formation must have been 200 or 300 feet across. It was constructed of a series of 24 square spirals and a triangular configuration in the center. Forty-five minutes later, I watched the sun rise over the formation. I could hardly believe what the Star Nation people had gifted here; what a gift to have been given. This is one of the times that I felt perhaps, in someway, I had been communicated to by the Star Nation people.”
Question: Do you mean you had some sort of communication with some other beings?
Bearcloud: “I’m not sure how it happened, as there was no conscious recollection of any dialogue. I get a feeling from time to time that there is some sort of unconscious telepathy that may be happening with me, but I’m not sure. Yet, I was there that morning, and the Star Glyph did appear, and I did make that phone call the day before stating I thought something was going to happen. If something hadn’t taken place, it would have simply been an intuitive hit where nothing happened and was then dismissed.”
Question: That must have left you with a question mark. Were there other times something like that happened?
Bearcloud: “Yes, In fact two years earlier on July 26, 2003, I was awakened at 2:30 AM with a compelling feeling to go the a place called East Field, which for me is one of the more important locations for formations. A formation hadn’t appeared there, but a feeling came over me that seemed to suggest if I were there, I might catch one being made on video.”
Question: So what happened?
Bearcloud: “Well I got dressed and went to the field. I knew a place where there was a pull-out where I could drive right next to the field. I was there for about an hour. It was raining slightly, but while I was there nothing happened. The next morning I went to a different location on the same field. I set up my video camera to film a beautiful sunrise happening at the moment. I video taped for about 2 minutes. It was uneventful as I watched the distant layer of fog hanging in a grove of trees. Two weeks later when I was showing the video to someone, they pointed out a light anomaly on the video. It was very unusual, so I downloaded the entire two minutes onto my computer and looked at it frame by frame. I realized I had caught a series of light anomalies moving across the field for the duration of the 2 minutes. I had seen nothing the morning I video taped it.
“There was a triangular shape of three lights in the sky. There was a line of six lights against a distant hill. I shot an anomalous purple glow over the road that was off in the distance. Then a few seconds before a turned my video camera off, I captured what I thought was a UFO taking off. I believe I had been gifted with something special so I took great caution with my video. I told very few people about it and took the video to a well-known UFO researcher to verify what I thought I had captured on film. I watched the sun rise over the formation. I could hardly believe what the Star Nation people had gifted here; what a gift to have been given. This was another time that I felt perhaps, I had been communicated to by the Star Nation people.”
Question: So you feel that some kind of actual communication took place?
Bearcloud: “After six months of research, we had arrived at the conclusion it wasn’t a hoax and there were truly some sort of anomalies going on and a UFO taking off. I produced a video with all of the information about what happened that I sell in my gallery. I believe I was communicated to. What’s strange is that I saw nothing that morning but a beautiful sunrise. These types of communications have happened several times to me, and in every case it has been backed up with some event and verified by others that were involved with me at the time.”
Question: You had mentioned to me a little earlier some crop circles that had some amazing geometry in them.
Bearcloud: “I’ve always felt they all have beautiful geometry.”
Question: Can you describe a geometric shape that really stood out for you?
Bearcloud: “One of the first ones I encountered this way was in 1997, but to tell the story right I have to go back eight years. A very significant event took place that would matter eight years later when a Star Glyph appeared in a field. I had a vision where an unknown symbol came to me. In this vision, my face was low against the ground and the wind was blowing very hard, although I felt nothing. In the distance were three sacred mountains located right here in Arizona. As the wind blew the sand on the ground, it began uncovering what seemed to be a very common stone, a piece of red rock. As soon as the stone was uncovered, the vision would go away.
“The stone was simply shaped like a pie wedge with 3 points on top that resembled the three mountains in the distance. That vision happened five times in one month. For the next two years a series of unusual events transpired around that symbol. I designed a bracelet with that symbol on it, which I still wear today. Eight years later, that symbol appeared for the second time as a “Star Glyph” in the fields of England. In all my journeys and understanding of symbols, I never saw that symbol in any other tradition on earth, but I knew it was important.
“One day I was going through a petroglyph book that contained thousands of symbols. I turned a page and there it was. I found it. The caption read, ‘6 to 7,000 years old, No known meaning.’ The interesting thing was that it came from some of my direct lineage of ancestors. It was a part of my nation but a symbol no longer seen or used. I talked with a Wacasa Wakan (Medicine man) one day about the symbol and he knew how to understand it.
“The way it was appeared in the formation had to do with expanding levels of consciousness I believe. It was at that point that the doors opened for me and from then on I was able to see the incredible gifts lying dormant within the hidden structures of the ‘Star Glyphs.’ They unfolded like a book as the pages of hidden geometry began pouring out.”
Question: Was there another formation like this one with your symbol that was important to?
Bearcloud: “Yes, in 1997, a formation appeared at Milk Hill, in Wiltshire England. It was only short time before the one with my symbol. It appeared on August 8th and the one with my symbol appeared on August 18th. It was a crop circle called the Koch Fractal. But, there was a difference.
“There was a center-piece that could be likened to a flower with a series of circles inside it. I thought that this center-piece might be an important piece of geometry somehow related to the outer fractal. I was excited and contacted someone because of a feeling that it may have never existed within the text of Earth before. I contacted a local university, a mathematician in Canada and another in Germany, finding no one with the knowledge to answer my question. Finally, I was left with one option, and that was to contact the world’s foremost authority on fractal geometry, Dr Beniot Mandelbrot.
“Dr Mandelbrot is one of the reasons our computers have the ability to have infinitely more capacity and he was the one that conceived the mathematic formula known today as the Mandelbrot Set. It is an infinite symbol expressed through a mathematical formula. In a letter, I asked the question of the existence of the central flower geometry. Some weeks later, Dr Mandelbrot responded back, explaining he had discovered that particular geometry and that it could be found in his university level fractal geometry textbook which he had written. He said he called this inner shape the inner infinity.
“What did not exist was the way the Star Nation people had brought these two elements together. The outer fractal was in union with the inner flower. There seemed to be something very balanced between the two elements and the way they were drawn together, but nothing obvious to the eye. It was pure genius and pure spirit. I could hardly believe what I was looking at. The outer part, or the Koch Fractal, shows the outer ever-unfolding nature of the Universe and the inner flower showed this same thing, but in an inward manner. I realized that the inner flower was made of a series of unseen six-pointed stars. There are twelve of them and this is a spiritual number, as well as expressing absolute Spirit. I had a sense there was more.”
Question: So, what did you do? You seem to suggest that you had uncovered something?
Bearcloud: “Yes, I went into ceremony, a purification lodge that I often do. Connecting to spirit was the only thing I could think to do at the moment. During that ceremony, I was gifted a vision that the glyph could be likened to the willows of my lodge. It revealed a connection between the Earth and the sky. It was during that moment I saw the Star Glyph could be understood in a similar way. Like the willows of my lodge could be drawn from one side to the other, I saw the geometry of the Star Glyph to be the same. When I completed lodge, I went to my computer and drew lines connecting the 12 stars as if they were the willows of my lodge. The intersecting lines that were drawn between these stars then create an additional larger 13th star. It is found in the center. I have heard people state that 12 and 13 are important numbers.”
Question: So what did you see in these numbers?
Bearcloud: “Here unfolds many stories of importance, one of them being the number representing the Christed realms of Spirit, a place of pure unconditional Spirit. It is an energy or way that a person can walk in our world absolutely, unconditionally, or with their highest potential. Not many people walk without any form of judgment. This is one of the elements of being conditional that gets in peoples’ way. People don’t realize that this way of judgement is one of things that keep them from reaching unbelievable abilities only talked about in some fairytales. These drawings show the fractal nature of this Star Glyph and the ongoing way of our walk with Spirit on the Earth Mother. This symbol is an expression of ourSelf.”
Question: What did you feel about that?
Bearcloud: “It hit me in my deepest place. I found the most humble place.”
Question: I don’t quite understand when you say that judgment stops people’s abilities?
Bearcloud: “We are trained from childhood to function in this manner so people don’t really give it a second thought. But in truth, it is usually a negative force that keeps one’s potential stifled.”
Question: That’s a lot to get out of it. It seems really special.
Bearcloud: “It touched my spirit in a way that’s hard to explain. It felt like the ways of pure spirit.”
Question: It makes me want to ask if there was anymore to it.
Bearcloud: “Yes, I discovered the outer stars did a similar thing. There are six larger stars in the outer part of the Koch Fractal. I discovered that when these stars are visible, its points can be joined creating the points of an unseen seventh star in the center.”
Question: Do you think there is some sort of message found in that?
Bearcloud: “All of these geometric forms have a story. To even tell one, is to limit its possibilities and expressions. But I will say that it has to do with the six sacred directions that come together as one at the center. It shows the Oneness and the seven direction of within. This has many meanings but the one most important to me explains that all nations come together as one.
“There are many nations on earth that carry the Six-pointed star alters, including Native American. Not many of the symbols are explained by native people but they are expressions of spirit the people feel close to. So, the symbols are worn and used on cloths, in beadwork, blankets and so on. It is hard to define something infinite but the world out here seems to need that. It does have an understanding. For example, the glyph expresses through its geometry the similar nature that all of these spiritual paths have. It shows that all of this coming together as one creates the Oneness of our planet. This fractals down to a
similar thought found within our very singular world of self. This is the place where it must first begin. It also shows the quality of individualism and that all are different as well. It explains that every person can have and does have a different view of things, even with the glyphs.
“What can be important here is the ability to know both of these qualities exists and that there is a balance between the two. In my ways, we would look with the eyes of the bear and look with the eyes of the Eagle Spirit from the house of Raven. The eye of the Bear is to see inward or see self, and the eye of the Eagle is to see the elements of the Universe. The House of Raven is to know the magic that exists in knowing and possessing these abilities. That’s only a small piece. If one looks further there is much more.”
Question: Where do you think the crop circles are coming from?
Bearcloud: “I believe it is from a group a beings that exist in our Universe that have a great deal of compassion for our planet Earth and would like to see us make it. I don’t think any one really knows for sure where they come from, except for some of the man-made ones. Many people feel they come from our relatives the Pleiadians, my intuition agrees with this one.”
Question: I would like to ask a one-word question, WHY?
Bearcloud: “We are entering a time when we are getting closer to making contact with beings outside of our world. There are signs of this happening presently. We are also crossing a natural cycle from one age to another. As a warring planet however, we show the war mongering nature of humanity. If we are to ever deal with higher beings in our Universe, we will have to shift as a planet and function with higher concepts. These glyphs teach that.”
Question: Is there anything that makes crop circles stand apart from those that are man-made?
Bearcloud: “Those that stand apart from man-made circles sometimes have anomalies like spheres on the field when photographed or the wheat or crop stems will be affected. Currently there is a lot of research being done on it. Sometimes there will be a weave in the field seemingly impossible to attain.”
Question: Were there other special formations like the one that appeared at Milk Hill?
Bearcloud: “Yes. Just the next year a formation appeared at East Field in Wiltshire. It appeared four days before I arrived for the first time and ended up being one of the most important ones to me. Its timely appearance was no mistake. I spent the following three years uncovering what was in that one formation. I called it the “Star Nation Book of Spiritual Knowledge.
“It has been included in several of my DVD’s as well as the Koch Fractal at Milk Hill. I talked about that seventh star at the center of the Koch Fractal or what was the central flower. This formation could be said to represent the understanding that could be found in the central flower. In other words, the flower at the center of the Koch fractal expresses the infinite nature and the existence of the seventh direction. The Seven-sided snowflake star essence at East Field is the geometric understanding of all that can be found in the central star. It reveals all sacred essences and possesses some of the most powerful symbols that exist in our known Universe. I found it contained in excess of 50 different geometric relations that tell a story; 52 if I remember correctly. Even that is important.
“However, there can be much more. It is the ever-unfolding door to the cosmic realms. There is a teaching for each circle of the moon. 52 circles of the moon is the length of some ceremonies equivalent to four years. Also, there were three faint circles in the field that had appeared with this formation. They where hidden within the lay. I believe it was one of the first times that the lay became important to the story of the formation. From there, the seventh direction of within could be understood and we could see in a universal language long forgotten. The Star Nation had shown the commonality that exist with all beings in the universe and opened the door for all to walk through it if they so choose. From there another level could be seen another door opened for us to realized the oneness that exists in the universe.”Many Blessings
Wah-we-nah
Bearcloud