Traveling Through Time and Space
By Audri Scott Williams

We, members of the Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk, recently realized we had time to do some side trips since we found ourselves ahead of schedule (our entrance into Mexico is delayed from the end of January until the middle of February). So off we went to Roswell, New Mexico. Many of you will remember Roswell as the site of Area 51 and the controversial government “cover-up” of a crashed craft from outer space discovered on a farm in 1947.

What we discovered on this journey was a uniting of past meets present or ancient worlds colliding with modern, as far as beings from other worlds are concerned. Being a student of traditional knowledge, I was pleased to see the connections being made in the UFO Museum and Research Center. We were asking ourselves before arriving in Roswell, “Why are we heading to Roswell? What is the significance of this part of our journey? We have learned that even the most obscured deviations from our schedule have significant meanings that become apparent sooner or later.

As we moved through the museum we came upon a wood carving of the “The Palenque Astronaut” an inscription on a tomb-lid in the Sacred Temples of Palenque. The original inscription     is dated 400-600AD. This was significant to us because while in Mexico we will be visiting the Palenque Ruins and the Spirit of Truth Foundation will be hosting the next Beyond the Global Divide International Young Leaders Peace Summit (June 20-June 26, 2006 see below) there. There was also reference to the cosmology of the Dogon of Mali, another sacred space we will be visiting.

What does this have to do with our walk? Perhaps it simply raises the question of whether we are really alone in the universe. It also connects us to ancient teachings and carvings that relate the human experience to a greater universal concept of life and relationship.

Following our visit to Roswell, we traveled back into Texas to visit the McDonald Observatory on Davis Mountain in Fort Davis, Texas. There we gazed at the stars and had an up close observation of Saturn.

rom Davis Mountain we traveled to Van Horn, Texas and spent the day at Red Rock Ranch. Red Rock Ranch contains one of the most unique geological areas in West Texas. It is one of the few places in North America where you can view naturally exposed Precambrian Sandstone dating back billions of years. Over millions of years, the alluvial sandstone was pushed up and weathered by wind and rain to the magnificent shapes and balanced rocks that stretch throughout the expanse of the ranch. Here on top of these Precambrian sandstone mountains we found rocks with fossils of sea creatures.

Traveling north we ventured into Carlsbad Caverns National Park (a World Heritage Site), New Mexico and deep into the Carlsbad Caverns were we hiked down nearly 800 feet and found ourselves immersed in the magic of the under world. “The development of the caves has a history that challenges human consideration. Each movement of the earth, each drop of water, each puff of acidic air has left its mark on the caverns’ formation. It began about 250 million years ago with the creation of   a long reef in an inland sea. The sea eventually evaporated and left the reef buried under deposits of gypsum and salts.”

“20 to 30 million years ago, the Guadalupe Mountains were uplifted, fracturing the ancient reef. Groundwater seeping into these cracks combined with hydrogen sulfide gas from the oil and gas deposits below, creating sulfuric acid. This very strong acid carved out the large rooms and passageways that exit today. Finally, about 500,000 years ago, after groundwater levels had dropped, the slow process of speleothem stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone formation began with a single drop of water.”

Beyond The Global Divide Natural Time Intensive , Palenque, Mexico ~ June 20 – 25, 2006. Beyond The Global Divide (BGD) intensive retreats will each be attended by approximately 13 to 20 global peace ambassadors, in addition to traditional indigenous elders and young leaders from the respective lands. Both intensives are scheduled to coincide with the arrival of the Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk. For attendees, these intensives are designed to expand awareness through dialogue and experience, to fortify inner-spiritual strength and presence of peace, to create an opportunity to serve local communities, to document the wisdom teachings and stories of the elders, and to prepare the way for larger BGD gatherings in Aswan, Egypt (2007) and New York City (2009), that also coincide with the World Peace Walk. The first retreat, in Palenque, Mexico (June 20 – June 25, 2006), will focus on natural time, a term used to identify the ancient Mayan time science and its correlating prophecies, related to the contemporary 13 Moon Dreamspell Calendar (www.lawoftime.org) as well as the Mayan True Time Long Count, kept by traditional Mayan Day Keepers (www.sacredroad.org) for thousands of years.

In the spirit of transcending the global divide, the Natural Time Intensive seeks to explore and emphasize the similarities and common purpose between both the ancient and the contemporary perspectives of Mayan time science and prophecy, and seeks to document the stories and insights of the living Mayan elders so they may be shared with the world. This intensive will take place on site within an intentional natural time sustainable community, and include tours of key ancient Mayan sacred sites (i.e. Temple of Inscriptions) in Palenque and the surrounding rainforest. BGD global peace ambassadors will also take part in community service activities with the local community along side Trail of Dreams peace walkers.