“Beyond the invisible gateway, guarded by the night,”

A Force of Creation

1.1 billion years ago, the Midcontinent Rift occurred in what is now Lake Superior.  The magma from the eruption was so expansive, it flowed all the way from its epicenter to Kentucky and Kansas. Mountains of lava rock rivalling the elevation of the Swiss Alps were forged from the rift. During the Pleistocene Epoch, colossal ice sheets leveled the range, carving immense basins with their glacial activity. Their meltwater eventually transformed them into the Great Lakes.  A gigantic Dolostone (fossilized Limestone) Basin beneath the Lower Peninsula, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron is the foundation stone for the Great Lakes State.

“Light from a passable walkway, grows golden, true and bright,”

Leelanau Tribe

In my teenage and early adult years, I ran with an extensive group of friends that would become family.  One of our friend’s fathers owned property on Whaleback, and we gathered there for rhythm and revelry.  Many of us were musically inclined and would often provide songs around the fire in the forest. When we played drums, the sound would resonate down the hill and into the village of Leland.  In my opinion, there was no better place to spend these seminal years of my youth.  In all the time I spent with the Leelanau Tribe, it would be years later when I would discover the County’s vast indigenous history.   

“Up towards a hill fire, where one can lose their sight,” 

Experiential Origins

During the fall of 1990, I returned home from university to visit family in Leland.  At the time, they were living in a summer rental house in the village.  One night, I went to sleep on a hideaway bed in the family room.  Moments later, I drifted off and found myself lying on the bed, immobilized by a pulsating energy.  The inactive fireplace was ablaze with flame, while streams of light were swirling around the bed.  I freed my neck to see a Revolutionary-Era drum being played, yet there was no sound.  As the energy moving through me intensified, I found the strength to break the paralysis and return to my body.

“Upon staring down a mystery, found only in coals of white.”

Seeking Vision

My first Vision Quest was 30 years ago on North Manitou Island off the coast of Leelanau County in Northern Michigan.  Before I went on my journey, I did historical research on the peninsula at the Leland Library, as a part of my preparation.  I learned the County had been home to the Adawa, Anishinaabek and Ojibwe Nations.  In the mid 1800’s, the French arrived, and as their population grew, the tribes were inevitably consigned to reservations in what is now the Traverse, Manistee and Peshawbestown regions.  I would also discover that the tribes would canoe to the Manitou Islands for their Vision Quest Ceremonies.

“Bluffs of silken sand, highlight this aged coast,” 

Coastal Centers

In 1996, I was drawn to specific areas of the Leelanau Coast.  The first was the Sand Bowl on the summit of Pyramid Point; the second, the heart of Good Harbor Bay; the third, Whaleback; the fourth, the Clay Cliffs; and the fifth, Petersen Park near Northport.  When I was 25, I would hike to each of these places to experience their environmental relativity, not really understanding why.  Later, I learned that the Leland and Petersen Park areas were early villages of the Adawa, Anishinaabek and Matinecock tribes; while Pyramid Point, Good Harbor, Whaleback and the Clay Cliffs (among others) were locations for their Ceremonies.

“Hidden from any hand, rests a fortified ghost,”

The Soul of the Land

There is an extraordinary energy in Leelanau County, specifically on its western coast.  A trapezoid of natural power runs from the Sleeping Bear Dunes to the Manitou Islands, to Leland and back to the Dunes.  At its heart is Pyramid Point, which is the center of its sacred space.  It is a massive sand dune of unknown size, crowned by beech, cedar and maple trees, edged with high bluffs and cliffs and outlined by Lake Michigan.  People who visit the County are enchanted by its beauty and scenery.  The tribes were aware of its supernatural power, honoring their traditions by conducting ceremonies to relate with the soul of the land.   

“Beds between the trees, paths above the ground,”

Environmental Center

On a clear day from the summit of the Sand Bowl on Pyramid Point, one can view the coastal vista of Good Harbor Bay, North Manitou Island, North and South Fox Islands, Whaleback, Leland, the Clay Cliffs, all the way to Petersen Park near Northport.  In the center of the Sand Bowl, there is a unique presence, serenity and silence I had yet to experience anywhere else.  One of my friends mentioned that the silica in the sand is a collector, conductor and amplifier for solar energy.  In my experience, the entire trapezoidal region is a resonator, an environmental center empowering creativity, relativity, transformation and transcendence.

“Forbidden thoughts are keys, opening the threads of time unwound.”

When I visit my home county, I am called to Pyramid Point. Over the years, I have grown to understand the unique presence, serenity and silence I encountered, as I have experienced it in the Center during Ceremony.  Every time I venture there, I walk the least travelled trail to a steep, natural stairway.  It is a vertical, sand pathway; a rite of passage leading to its summit.  I stand in the center of the Sand Bowl and make my prayer.  Oftentimes, the full scope of my three decades of experiences are so overwhelming, I am empowered with humility.  For hours after leaving this sacred space, its energy resonates within every thread of my soul.

“Embers diagonally speak, as laughter sharpens its knife,”

A Reunion of Prayer

A few years ago, my friend came to a Lodge Ceremony during the Autumn Equinox.  When he looked into his Chanupa bag, the pipestone was missing.  I asked him where he had used it last, and he responded, “up on Pyramid Point.”  A couple of weeks later I headed to the County to visit family and walk the trail he had to search for the missing pipestone. That particular Saturday I was up there happened to be his birthday.  Locating something so small in such a vast area is like finding a needle in a haystack.  Following his rough directions, I hiked the trail to the bluff and turned left.  After a few moments, I stopped and felt like I had gone too far.  Turning around, I was drawn to a hidden trail near a secluded area of the bluff and made my way over the ridge.  Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a flash of red and circled around a large Cedar tree.  There beneath its canopy was a piece of red fabric and the pipestone.        

“Energized spirits leak…”

Leelanau Legends

For over forty years, I have had a unique relativity with Leelanau County.  In my adolescence and into early adulthood, I never wanted to leave my family, friends and the land.  Destiny drew me away in my early twenties.  And though we grew distant over the years, I found myself being called home by the spirits of the land who have, are and will always be present.  I see them shift through the sunlight between the trees in the day and dance within the moon beams at night.  I hear their voices in the wind and feel their presence in the currents and tides of Lake Michigan.  They hold a space for us to be legends of Leelanau County.

“…into a captured Stillife.”

Lyrics from the song “Stillife,” written in Leelanau County in 1991.