The San Francisco Bay Area is, obviously, defined in many ways by the Bay itself.  When moving to the area in 2002 my travelling companion and I went out of our way to enter San Francisco from the North via the Golden Gate Bridge, sensing this to be a place of unique power. As I gradually became more acquainted with the history and rhythms of the land here, this impression was confirmed. As in much of the Western regions of this continent, the story involves our intimate dependence on Fresh Water.

    The mind that would control the flow of the waters was imported with Euro-Americans to the West and radically altered the landscape. In the state of California there is now only one river of any size that has not been dammed (the Smith near the Oregon border).  There are over seven million people in the nine counties (Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco) that border the Bay yet most of our fresh water comes from elsewhere.  If we lived only on water locally available, I have heard estimates that 80% of Bay Area residents would need to move elsewhere. Imagine the effects if this change were immediate. The three major wetland areas of the San Francisco Bay (San Pablo Bay, Suisun Bay, and the South Bay) were seen as wasted land and all radically altered in the past 150 years. What is the mind that would dam an entire river, import water in a pipeline from hundreds of miles away, or create permanent levees over a wetland? How does this mind still operate in our everyday life and in the ways we relate with ourselves?

    It is questions like these that we are carrying with us in the first year-long Earth Medicine training initiated in December of 2007 on Mount Tamalpais.  Over the course of the year an intimate ceremonial working group will circle the San Francisco Bay, gathering one day a month to deepen our personal relationships with the land and conduct ceremony for the well-being of the Bay, the human ancestors, and our larger web of relations. Our journey will be anchored by four mountain elders as we traverse the wheel of the year and this land, honoring Mount Diablo on Spring Equinox, Mount Hamilton on Summer Solstice, San Bruno Mountain on Fall Equinox, and returning to Mount Tamalpais on Winter Solstice of 2008. Throughout the year we will be carrying a prayer especially for the well-being of the Bay as the meeting place of many waters; the Sacramento, the San Joaquin, many local rivers and creeks, and, of course, the Pacific. The waters that enter the Ocean at the Golden Gate serve as a perpetual offering to our Mother. What is the quality of this offering? What messages (chemical and energetic) are we sending to her of our current way of life?

Each time we gather, we will establish a natural altar, a node of blessings and positive energy consecrated as a place of renewal for the ancestors of the land.  These altars may take the form of trees, boulders and stone piles, or other natural formations we are guided to work with, and they are also places for us living humans to make ceremony and pray. I will update this page with the location of these altars, and I invite anyone who is moved to visit them, make ceremony there, and add your prayers. These are ideal places to bring offerings (ex. food, drink, tobacco/prayer ties, found items like shells, etc) and your good intentions for the land and people here.  If you visit, we would love to hear how it goes!

Angel Island State Park (December)

A Peace Tree ceremony was conducted on Dec 1, 2007 at campsite #1. If you walk to the end of this campsite, the medium-sized oak (I think a coast live oak) at the end of the flat area is the one.  If you continue past the tree there is a look-out where you can see Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge (the site of the oil spill and the focus of prayer for this ceremony). It is customary to tie on your prayers for peace or to leave simple offerings.  Reserving campsite #1 (or #1-3 if you want the whole area) would make a great overnight gathering for a handful of earth people and you could sleep under the Tree.

Mount Tamalpais State Park (December)

This was first ceremony conducted as part of the 2007-08 Earth Medicine training. There is a parking area just before the East Peak parking lot where you can pick up the Lakeview Trail and take it up to Middle Peak.  When approaching the top of Middle Peak, take a right. Do not enter the ominous radiotower buildings with their strong electric juju, but walk just past them to the largest boulder. There will likely be stones/prayers placed on top, possibly a large quartz or maybe even a vulture feather.  Please add a prayer/stone at this physical manifestation of the World Mountain.

Deer Island Open Space Preserve (January)

On Jan 19th, we established a Peace Tree at Deer Island Open Space Preserve near the intersection of 101 and 37 in Novato.  After doing a circumambulation around this lovely (former) island, we ascended the DeBorba Trail, and near the top, past a beautiful rock outcropping surrounded by Bay trees, took a left onto a smaller unmarked trail. This side trail to the left (East) leads into a grassy open area with oaks and the barisaa (Peace Tree) ia a mature Oak with a double "Y-shaped" base. The ceremony was conducted with a nearly full moon rising in the East and the sun setting in the West.  Add your prayers for the restoration of San Pablo Bay and maybe even a colorful ribbon tied to a branch to honor the ancestors of this land.

Alhambra Historical Cemetary (February)

On Feb 23rd, in Martinez near the Carquinez Straits, we conducted a ceremony for the ancestors at Alhambra Historical Cemetery (to enter the cemetery it is necessary to pick up a key from the Martinez PD...just ring the outside buzzer any hour of the day and request it). The cemetery is on a hillside overlooking the straits, the Shell refinery and Martinez Regional Shoreline.  We spent time listening to ancestors, made offerings, sang, and prayed for their wellness, inviting them to work for the vitality and healing of the land there.  Our ceremony used a large stone ring (see the "horse trough" in the link above) as an energetic focal point. In light of storm that rolled in as we were completing our ceremony, we also gave thanks to Oya, the Yoruban goddess (orisha) of wind & storms, keeper of the cemetery, and one who assists the dead in becoming ancestors. This area of the straits is the major waterway that feeds the Bay and is the confluence of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers.

Mount Diablo State Park (March, Spring Equinox)

After spending a day together Saturday in ceremonial space and then sleeping on the mountain, on March 23rd we gathered at the summit of Mount Diablo before sunrise to welcome the first light of Spring. In each of the previous gatherings we have conducted a ceremony for the wellbeing of the ancestors of the land; however, we repeatedly had the sense that the spirit of this particular mountain is highly vibrant, energized, and not in need of any particular action from our side. Our group was touched in a strong way by the energies of this place, and if you have never been, I highly recommend it; this is an amazing place of power within an hour's drive of nearly everywhere in the S.F. Bay Area.

After energizing our prayers for the coming year with the first rays of sun over the distant Sierras, a crystal was planted in a place of a power at the summit as a transmitter of positive intent. The location is the top of an amazing stone outcropping just Southeast of the summit and along the loop trail that circles the peak. The quartz crystal is tripartite, reflecting the convergence of sun, moon, and earth in the sky at the time of dawn when the crystal was placed. The particular prayer that was made with this stone was a reaffirming of our year-long prayer for healing of the waters of the Bay (and the waters feeding into the Bay). As the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is clearly visible from the summit of the mountain, this prayer is especially sweet in this location.  It was also lovely to be able to see the first quarter of our circle of prayer around the Bay from Mt. Tam to Deer Island (Novato) to Alhambra Historical Cemetery (Martinez) to Mount Diablo and in April onward to the Eastern area of Sunol Regional Wilderness.

Sunol Regional Wilderness (April)

In our day at Sunol, the hills were teeming with green and the brilliance of California wildflower spring. Our group explored different plant and specifically flower medicines by connecting with locals that included: Sticky Monkey Flower, Mariposa Lily, Blue Witch, California Poppy, White Fairy Lantern, Wild Oat, Shortstem Morning Glory, Minature Dove Lupine, California Buttercup, and Milk Thistle. Not to mention the California Sycamores, Willows, Bay, California Sagebrush, and Oaks (with and without Mistletoe). We invited those flower relations who wanted to join us in offering their blessing to the waters, carefully gathering a few petals here and there.

This led into our ceremonial offering for the vitality and wellness of Alameda Creek, the largest East Bay watershed, a former home of salmon and now slowly returning steelhead trout, and a major contributor to San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (meaning a source of water for 2.5 million Bay Area residents). We gathered just upstream from Little Yosemite at a deep, quiet pool with a sycamore overhanging the trail side of the creek. This tree was recommened to us weeks earlier by the landing of a Belted Kingfisher in its branches. After make offerings of song and visioning with (and in!) the cool waters of the creek, prayers were made and flower petals scattered on the water, honoring the intimate conversation between Flower and River. Finally, and a chunk of obsidian was placed beneath the river stones as a prayer that any heavy or harmful energies be drawn from the stream and that the steelhead and perhaps even salmon may return with all their vitality.

Coyote Hills Regional Park (May)

If you haven't been, this park is a gem. For one, of all the places we will gather at this year, this may be the only location where one can see on a clear day Mount Tamalpais, Mount Diablo, Mount Hamilton, Mount Umunhum, and San Bruno Mountain. Even if that's not true one would be hard-pressed to find a site that feels more surrounded by these mountains and this quality of being a convergence point shaped our afternoon ceremony. Two, this is the place where Alameda Creek meets the Bay, and we spent time appreciating the creek here, knowing the we will be near it's source on Mount Hamilton in June. Finally, this is a great place from which to get some feel for the scope of the South Bay wetlands restoration as most of the South Bay wetlands are visible from Red Hill in this park.

Red Hill was also the location of our afternoon ceremony for the land. You can Google "Red Hill, Fremont, CA" or just consult a park map. At the very top of Red Hill, there are several stone formations. In the second outcropping from the North in the center of this formation there is a flat seat-like stone that forms a natural center-point. From this point, amidst several hours opened up to wind and sun, we conducted a version of an oboo or world mountain ceremony, calling in blessings from mountains in the various directions and making offerings for the ancestors and spirits of the land. We also made a strong prayer (anchored in a stone that remained on the land as usual) for the ongoing success of the wetlands restoration efforts.  

As one example of the type of magic that arises when doing ceremony on/for the land, at our first ceremony on Mt Tam there was a lovely vulture feather just waiting at the site of our ceremony, so we incorporated it into the altar.  At each subsequent ceremony for the land Vulture has made an appearance at some point. When walking up to Red Hill at this gathering, I was the first one up and after I saw what was there, I immediately walked back down the trail to ask the group what bird has been appearing each time we do these ceremonies.  "Vulture".  I wanted to assure them that I was not the one who placed the vulture feather on the Northern stone of our ceremonial site, wedged in the stone, greeting us.

Joseph D. Grant County Park (June, Summer Solstice)

Under the gaze of Mount Hamilton and in the 95 degree heat of summer sun, our group honored the Solstice by exploring both different expressions of elemental Fire and by honoring in circle the animal medicines we are especially close with.  We were clear from the start that we were in no way intending to invoke Fire, merely to pay respect. We hiked (slowly with frequent pauses) up to the scenic overlook on Dutch Flat Trail where we held a brief ceremony to mark the holiday.  In this ceremony we invited certain animal spirits to speak through us and in that way to be available to share their wisdom and perspectives on concerns of interest for group members. The ceremony for the land in this way was dedicated to the vitality and well-being of our animal relations and a stone of blessings was placed in the earth at the base of the valley oak directly across the trail from the bench at the scenic overlook.

Aside from the humbling temperatures we also saw from the overlook numerous brush fires in the valley that is the southern gateway of the Bay Area (Coyote Creek watershed, 101 South, San Jose and south). Having watched lightning in the distance over the Santa Cruz Mountains, just as we finished our ceremony and were preparing to make our way back, a flash of lightning struck very close to our group followed by a powerful ripple of thunder overhead.  We made our way to lower ground right away, taking heed of the awesome energies of electricity as fire from the skies.

Still touched by the display of elemental Fire we returned to read about the thunder beings sparking fires all over the state, many of which started on Summer Solstice and still blaze as I write this. Our state is in a serious drought right now, and the beings intimately connected to the rains are also playing a powerful role in bringing fire to the land. In the Bay Area if nothing else we wake up to the smell of forest burning and witness the sun and moon through a veil of smoke. How is our personal relationship with Fire? Are we also in touch with coolness, gentleness, and the blessings of Water and Earth that can temper the flames of destruction? Perhaps there are also healing and unseen gifts in the fires that burn now? In any case, reflections on our relationship with Fire are timely to say the least.

Monte Bello Open Space Preserve (July overnight)

This was our second overnight (Diablo the first) and our only backpacking trip as a group this year.  We hiked in 2 miles to sleep near Black Mountain near the source of Stevens Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains. Continuing with a summer focus on elemental Fire, we explored the Fire in the Earth through guided meditations on the origins of the planet and visioning into the depths of Earth.  We discussed earthquakes and the movement of earth's thin crust over nearly two thousand miles of underlying stone, magma, and metal.

After sharing a camp dinner and singing for the sunset we made our way back up to Black Mountain overlooking the South Bay. From this amazing rock outcropping, we watched as day gave way to darkness and stars. Overlooking the lights from millions of East and South Bay residents, we drummed to explore our connection with the star people. Touching the Fire in the Stars.  

To complete our time in ceremony and offering pleasing energies to the land, we shared in a prayer and offered our attention to the stone people in the form of spontaneous movement and dance.  I'm pretty sure those stone people have not had humans dance under the stars with them very often.  It was lovely, and we continued in our tradition of leaving a stone with our prayers for the wellbeing of the land and spirits there.

Wunderlich County Park (August)

We dedicated this day's gathering to better understanding our tree relations.  In the same redwood grove (along the Bear Gulch Trail) where we recenty made ceremony to honor the mountain lion, we visioned along the roots, trunk, and branches of Tree asking where our own tree-self is in or out of balance.   We connected with various local relations such as the Bay Laurel, Coast Live Oak, Redwood, and Hazelnut and invited their particular perspectives and healing medicines.

After lunch participants spent time reflecting on the upcoming vows they will be making at our December completion gathering and about questions of legacy in general.  The story of Martin Wunderlich was shared (he purchased the land originally to build subdivisions and a golf course but instead gifted the land to the county to be a park upon his death).  What do we wish our legacy to be and how are we working to manifest that?  After this sharing we enjoyed time doing some healing and prayer for one another and eventually left an aragonite crystal (apparently good for earth healing) there, infused with prayers for the wellbeing of the land and the Bay.  The crystal is in the general area of the second small redwood grove off to the left of the Bear Gulch Trail maybe 1.5 miles in. 

San Bruno Mountain (September, Fall Equinox)

During our June gathering at Mt. Hamilton fire swept across the landscape in the form of lightning storms that started many wildfires across the state.  One of them was close to home at San Bruno Mountain on the S.F. Peninsula, the site of our gathering a quarter later.  Honoring this particular cycle of death (by fire) and rebirth, we spent the first half of our day in the Buckeye Canyon area, in and around the place of the fire.  New growth was emerging in bright greens across the charred landscape, a reminder of our own inner resilience and the generativity of the land.  We made simple ceremony at the shellmound to pay respect to the Native ancestors and invite their perspective on becoming even more intimate with the earth here.

Then in the second half of our day we made our way to the peak of San Bruno Mountain, passing the various radio towers and high voltage energies so common to the areas sacred peaks, to enjoy a scenic lunch on the ridge trail overlooking Colma, the Pacific, and SF Bay.  From here we reviewed the arc of our previous gatherings from Mt Tam in December 2007 all the way around to Wunderlich County Park in August 2008 and then walked with this living prayer for the Bay in our hearts along the Ridge Trail north to an area overlooking San Francisco and the Golden Gate.  Here we made ceremony again to honor the Native ancestors of the land, bringing them offerings of traditional foods (like smoked trout!), and holding a space to listen to their wisdom and perspective on themes like reciprocity and gratitude.  Upon completion we made prayers with a piece of obsidian that was left for them as a gift and as an anchor for prayer in our year-long cycle around the Bay. 

Golden Gate Park (October)

Kirby Cove (November)

Mount Tamalpais (December, Winter Solstice)

Daniel Foor   (650) 248-8917   danielfoor@yahoo.com