Epistemological Road Trips and Treasure Hunts

            Another manifestation of my living in two worlds is that I am continuously being taught from both sides of the curtain. I have Joe’s books to learn from and, of course, many teachers on this side of the curtain but I also receive guidance and teaching from those mystical, unseen places. I have had many dreams of Joe teaching me one-on-one. I have also had many dreams in which we were teaching together or working on other service projects together as related to our mission in various dimensions and places. Some of these dreams are really pretty “far-out,” such as visiting other planets and traveling in space, and attending “council” meetings on other planets. Others take place in the astrals and are much like other dimensions on earth where we teach together or sometimes we observe classrooms or I may be working without him. He has told me several times that even when it seems like we’re separate such as when I work in different dimensions, including this earth dimension, we are always connected and if I need him, he will be by my side in an instant.

This has proven true, even in “dreams” which I now view as experiences in other dimensions. He has come to my rescue several times, apparently when I had taken on more than I was ready for. Other experiences take place in our home which is a mansion built after the Allendale Mansion in his home town, which is our “home base.” The home was given to us by the couple who had actually built the Allendale Mansion and then had built it again in the higher dimension when they passed over, is my understanding. There is no money in that world. Everyone does what they love and willingly provides services and products to each other.  But it was a total surprise to have dreams and visions of him showing me our new home that had been given to us and then just serendipitously deciding to check out his home town, Kingsport, Tennessee online and see the exact replica of the home in my dreams. As a special initiation, I actually traveled there and had a tour through the home, but I already knew the exact layout of the house. It was quite strange. We remodeled ours though. In fact, when Joe first showed it to me all of the furniture was sitting outside. He said it was being remodeled. He moved the kitchen to the other side of the house and made it smaller (we don’t really eat or cook much there, except for special celebrations). That way, one complete end of the house was made into a deluxe library-office which we share. We have lots of books, many very ancient ones, and if we want a book off the shelf or need to put it back on the shelf, we can teleport it with our thoughts. How do I know all of these details? one might ask. According to many outside our close-minded Western “civilization” these experiences are real and the reality in which they occur is more real than what we have been programmed to see in this reality. Earth is more of a school, although we had better take it serious if we want to move to the next level. The reality is that there is a lot of pain and suffering on earth and I really believe we are here to do the work it takes to end it. I would hate to have to repeat earth school.

The New Age Spirituality people who make claims we are just here under soul contracts and all that happens is what was meant to happen and what we signed up for, are on the wrong path, in my interpretation, because that view perpetuates more suffering. As I learned on my own Dharma Path, we do sometimes experience more than we had “contracted for” because everyone has free will and some people exercise theirs in some very inhumane ways. It was why we had to alter our mission plans a bit and write the Sacred Vows, a topic I could write an entire book about. Just as I wrote this, I had an epiphany. By this interpretation, Joe had been very upset about how my life and my loved ones had been impacted due to the evil free will of particular people, and yes, he would have been very upset; this explains our change in plans and why he chose the route he did after we wrote those sacred vows in 1989 and why I took the route I took. This will all be exposed in the future and it will be very interesting to put all of the links together. Joe sacrificed for us all.

Music for the Epistemological Road Trip

I was not initially aware that Joe had encoded so much music in his work. I was not even aware that he was a musician. But something inside me must have known he loved music. In the very second email I sent him, I emailed him a link to a YouTube music video. I didn’t understand why, except that when I had opened his email to me I had heard the song, “It’s a Beautiful Morning” by the Rascals playing. There was no song in the email, but I could hear it. This is not so strange; even Einstein said “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music.”  I was excited about hearing this music because it was the first time this had happened to me, so even at that very early point in our friendship, I sent the song back to him. I did not learn of his great love for music or that he played in a band until quite a few weeks later. And I did not realize how much he had embedded music in his work until after he had passed away and I began receiving clues for decoding his work. Later, someone had remarked in the scholarly literature that his work seems “musical.” His rhythmic, flowing words combined with all of the music that lies below conscious awareness help explain why it is perceived this way.

Shortly after his passing, I began to be awakened almost every morning to a song, which was another totally new experience for me. I interpreted the music as being from him and it was as if he was singing a love song in my ear every morning to wake me up. The music would often become a part of my daily blog, thanks to YouTube. Later, the music came to me transmitted in writings in which clues to the music would have quotation marks (“phenomenological brackets”) around the words. It was my cue to use the clues to search YouTube and again these videos, whether music or some kind of learning video would become a part of the blog for that day and it always amazed me how synchronistic it all was. The blogs were always written improvisationally and the music or videos would fit right in place. It truly was a form of magic. And it always added an emotional element to my writing.

I was also introduced to Einstein and other members of my soul family, who got in on the action of providing me educational lessons and music through written transmissions. One amazing lesson came from Einstein (although, all of the lessons are amazing). He had given me a clue that brought up a video that had another clue embedded within it (Friday, December 3, 2010). That was how the lesson plans were being devised that week and many of my soul family members took part. So I knew I was supposed to find a clue inside the video that came to the top of the search with the first clue he had given me as a search term. Well, I picked up the clue immediately because the lady was laughing when she stated the clue (my soul family is crazy funny, so her laughter was a big clue). The video was taken of a woman who was on a fishing trip with her family and it suddenly began hailing. There were not many words in the video but she exclaimed, “It's hail, that's pretty funny!” and she laughed. So that phrase was the clue that Einstein wanted me to use to plug into YouTube for my music that day. And what does it bring to the top? A video with a picture of Einstein himself on it (the one with him sticking his tongue out) came right to the top of the search and the song was “Hail to the Geek” by the Deaf Pedestrians: (http://youtu.be/FmWbBqiCxGc). It totally cracked me up and I still think it’s one of the funniest experiences I’ve had playing with the gods. Yes, even from the other side of the curtains, Uncle Albert (as I call him), who is known for his humor, is hilarious. I did not even know much about him at all, until I was introduced to him after Joe passed over.  Just as a side note, the internet is a fractal and appears the same from all dimensions (Kincheloe, 2008c). However, because it’s a fractal and constantly changing, it won’t necessarily bring up the same song next time, so these interesting occurrences are truly Divine events, from my perspective. In the really unusual cases, I took screen shots that show what song came up with the clue I was given, as part of my data.

I began to notice music more and more wherever I went and I always interpreted the songs as special messages from Joe, since this phenomenon originated in my earliest interaction with him. There was one incident in which he had given me a particular song for the morning which I had included for the blog, I went shopping later that day and just as I passed by a coffee shop, the very same song was playing from their outside speakers (“Stand by Me”). He really wanted me to get that message. There have been countless instances for which a particular song would seem to be a special message from him. Of course, everyone knows he loved rock and roll, which he had even expressed in his bricolage book (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004, “Acknowledgments,” para. 2).

On a long road trip I was taking to Tennessee as a special initiation, and after hours of driving, my daughter and I stopped to grab a sandwich at Subway and the instant we walked in the door, the song “I love rock and roll” by AC/DC began blasting. It made me think of Joe and a picture I had seen of him wearing a well-worn and faded t-shirt with AC/DC on it. Another incident earlier on that same trip, I had stopped to visit my daughter and son-in-law in Northern Oregon before heading east on the road to Tennessee. We met at a popular truck stop restaurant and the instant we sat down at a table together, “Desperado,” by the Eagles, began playing over the speakers. It’s a song that apparently had meant much to Joe since he referenced it several times in his work; it represents that it’s time to give up the middle path and make a choice between only one of two paths, and always strikes me as very sad and makes me cry. He was stuck where he was at the time. Yes, Joe was with me that entire two-week trip to Tennessee and made his presence known to me all along the way.

Music is a daily phenomenon at this point. The music in Joe’s text is effective for many reasons—it is a way of raising consciousness, a way of injecting emotion into the learning thus uniting logic and affect (which I have found is powerful for helping me remember what I have learned), a way of giving the text multiple layers of meaning by engaging in the hermeneutic circle, and a way he has communicated special messages to people close to him. This technique of using music works at the subconscious level and when brought to conscious awareness provides great learning opportunities, emotional connections, and contributes to expanding consciousness.

The Move: Arranging the Environment for Learning

When I was getting started with my research, I was forced to move. I was trying to care for my mother, but it was simply not working out and my entire extended family wanted me to leave. This happened shortly after Joe passed away and his spirit had entered my being or we had “alchemized” in some way. I had changed so much that evidently my mother did not feel like I was the same person, which I wasn’t. I kept seeing issues in multidimensional ways and could not relate to my family’s assessments of there being only one true reality (in which I was a villain) and only one true explanation for complex issues. It is common for people who walk their Divine Path to separate from their biological family. Guru Ra (Argonza, May 8, 2009) explains we will soon be reuniting with our true star family at higher vibratory levels and we have lived out the “logic” of being with our biological families. Rather than try and stay connected with them after they had made their views and wishes known, the best thing for me to do was to totally disconnect. I did still have my two younger children who were still living with me. I was divinely guided to a new home quite miraculously. It’s nothing special, just a manufactured home, but it’s my haven and I love it here. I know it was divine providence to choose this house from among three I looked at because when I walked inside it was like there was light emanating from everywhere. I don’t know where that light came from, but that’s what I experienced when I first looked at it. Before I bought it I took my two children through all three houses I had looked at, and they both chose the same house I had. It is the house that turned out to have the yin yang talisman buried in the back yard. There had to have been some greater intelligence guiding me. Returning to numerology, and the recurring pattern of seeing 9s, 11s and 3s, (which, again, at that time I was not aware of) the house address has 9, 11, and 3 again signifying the reunion of Twin Flames. I had to get a new phone number and the numbers again consist of 1119 when added together. I had to get a Post Office Box and the three digit box number adds up to 11, and the zip code has 9s and totals to 9. Thus, the signs were there I was on the right path. I loved my home and soon it would be time for the treasure hunts to begin (I had no clue what was in store for me). I think it’s pretty cool that the learning environment was arranged for me so perfectly in a place where there are few things to distract me. Schools do not adequately consider the importance of the learning environment, but my Master Teacher knows.

Introducing the “Nuts and Bolts of Bricolage”: Treasure Hunts

I found the “treasure hunts” to be valuable for developing hermeneutic skills and understanding polysemy as well as learning to recognize signs and symbols. And since my daughter participated in all of them, she was learning, too. The clues were transmitted to me in writing, and as the messages from the gods often are, (“slippery and imaginative”), there were many ways to interpret them. I learned to be more spontaneous and improvisational because I never knew when I would be called to do a treasure hunt. They were presented to me on the spur of the moment and the very first one that took me to King’s Valley was extremely shocking to me and almost traumatic because I did not understand what was happening. I felt that I was being watched, and it actually scared me. But once I learned how much fun they are I overcame my fear. Thus, I also learned to have great trust in the gods because the purpose was always good and I felt their great love, and of course, the entire time I believed Joe was leading me on these delightful excursions. These treasure hunts have also been valuable for learning the history of a forgotten valley that’s full treasures, and for meeting someone off the beaten path and developing a friendship. I could write a book about my experiences treasure hunting in Kings Valley, alone, and happily, treasure hunts are slated to continue in the near future. I would love to revisit “The Gentle Lord of the Land and Trees” and “The House of the Forlorn,” find the “Hidden Treasury Notes,” pan for the “Gold in Them Thar Hills” and solve the “Mystery of the Grist Mill.” These all came up for me on the Kings Valley Treasure Hunts! I also see the enormous value in using these interesting excursions involving clues, hermeneutics, semiotics, polysemy, history, geography, and signs for teaching children the precursor skills needed for the bricolage. Kincheloe (2005a) had defined bricolage in his updated article:

On one level, the bricolage can be described as the process of getting down to the nuts and bolts of multidisciplinary research. Ethnography, textual analysis, semiotics, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, historiography, discourse analysis, combined with philosophical analysis, literary analysis, aesthetic criticism, and theatrical and dramatic ways of observing and making meaning constitute the methodological bricolage. In this way, bricoleurs move beyond the blinds of particular disciplines and peer through a conceptual window to a new world of research and knowledge production. (p. 323) [Italics added]

            All of these skills were taught to me during my “treasure hunts” and “epistemological road trips” and, actually, it was amazing how these experiences opened my consciousness to many interpretations of things as simple as just a single word and the concept of polysemy. Yes, these treasure hunts, in my interpretation were devised by my Master Teacher, Joe from “the other side of the curtain.” What did he say about “treasure hunts” in his work? He did not specify in detail his own treasures hunts (but now he has taught me very well). One of my favorite quotes is, “Sex, I can assure you, constitutes one of those phenomenological moments [“experience for its own sake”]. But I’m never too far away from the postformal treasure hunt” (Kincheloe, 2006c). This conveys how important treasure hunting and “cognitive treasures” were in Joe’s life or at least the point he wanted to make that they are important processes for learning and research (p. 132-133). He also regarded the people we meet along the way, especially those who are usually silenced and oppressed, as treasures (Kincheloe, 2008b, p. 140).

One of the very first “treasures” I found after finding the yin yang talisman in my back yard was during one of the early King’s Valley Treasure Hunts, once I overcame my fear of this very strange way of learning. I had been instructed to go to a specific corner of “Old Fort Road.” I had interpreted this to be a specific road that turned off and led up to the “Old Fort” in Kings Valley even though it was not named “Old Fort Road.” I went to the exact site as instructed with my metal detector and just under the surface I immediately discovered this huge nut and bolt.

   

 

Was that a sign that I was being taught about “getting down to the nuts and bolts multidisciplinary research”? (Kincheloe, 2005a, p. 323). OK, so it’s a giant old screw and washer; I am not good at identifying hardware parts or using tools since I am not a handyman—just a do-it-yourself “handy woman.” The yard search yielded many nuts and bolts before I found the talisman, so there is definitely something going on here. The treasure hunts have provided infinite sources of laughter and have injected my life with joy. I was totally surprised that very same day I found the screw and washer to discover on my way home that there actually is a road named “Old Fort Road.” I found that even more humorous due to the implications of making “assumptions,” but it was too late that night to stop there. I went back later and found another “treasure” on the specified corner of the real Old Fort Road as I have written in my blogs.

Love Day Treasure Hunt: Kings Valley, the Queen, and Free-Riding in Falls City

Green (2006) discusses “Divine Humanness” and how our heart is our own ‘Kingdom to God’ which we can enter when we choose love in our daily actions. She states, “My thoughts are that in the collective field, the King and Queen, who sought to serve humanity, have been dethroned and separated by a culture that wishes to deny maturity. . . However, the Real Thing is something we have to deem as worth the effort and worth respected. . . Kings and Queens can’t rise when the lovers aren’t energized and faithful to their vision” (p. 226). This would imply that when we are faithful to our Dharma/Great Path and allow Eros Love to propel us, then the King and Queen shall rise. And, indeed, this is the message that my Master Teacher/King led me to discovering on these treasure hunts in his Kings Valley. What is interesting about this perspective is that King and Queen have been prominent in my experiences, showing up in many different places.

In many ways I think Joe and I do represent the King and Queen of Hearts; we have been able to see the worthiness of our endeavors in order to obstinately engage with full passion in a dream we both shared despite the “collective” that has ostracized us each or tried to hold us back along our paths during our various life experiences. The treasure hunts have served as a powerful metaphor for this. For example, the first treasure hunt I was sent on, as just discussed, was to Kings Valley, Oregon. Except that the first time I went, I was not told that it was Kings Valley; I was given a series of unusual clues along with a road name, Orchard Road. (I will need to go back to Kings Valley and see if there was an apple orchard on that road). I was to go on an “epistemological road trip” based on a paragraph of clues. First, I used MapQuest and I figured out that where I was to head must be Kings Valley because I had found an “Orchard Road” in the area as had been included in the clues. For this treasure hunt, I was to search for a metal box with treasury notes buried behind a dilapidated barn that stands behind a gutted out farmhouse. I could not believe how many dilapidated barns behind gutted out farmhouses there are in Kings Valley! I have not found the treasury notes but I have found many other treasures which I have detailed in my blogs and journal (“Before the Mission Project Begins: Initiation and Training,” May 20, 2009).

One day, in early July, 2009, I was sent out on another treasure hunt on the spur of the moment, asking me to visit a little town in Kings Valley off the beaten path named Falls City. The name of this town had come up when I was discussing Kings Valley with my landlord. He had mentioned Falls City, which is just west of the little town of Kings Valley, suggesting I visit there as it is an interesting town. So now I had been officially requested to take a trip there. I was totally surprised to find that as I drove into the town, the first (and only time) I had visited it, that there was a small street festival going on and even an “Art Treasure Hunt.” I thought that was pretty magical—a treasure hunt within a treasure hunt! That’s better than a dream within a dream (Kincheloe, 2008c, p. 83).

Bad to the Bone! But what had instantly caught my eye as I drove into the town was a sign at the one and only little grocery store, stating, “BAD TO THE BONE BBQ.” Hermes strikes again and I knew once again I was in the right place at the right time. This was back when I was just beginning to see the signs and symbols that Hermes and his gods were sending to me, so I was very amazed and amused. How could this be? I tried to figure it out in my mind, how this BBQ came to be given that name and how I had been divinely led to this celebration which turned out to be the “first” of what the community hoped would turn into an annual celebration. I could picture Joe whispering into the ears of the guys planning the Barbecue to give it that name and then giving me the instructions to drive to this remote little town to attend it. I have to back track just a bit to explain why the Bad to the Bone BBQ sign was so amazing to me. Before Joe had passed away, I had bought him a birthday card. I did not get a chance to mail it to him and then the next thing I knew, he was in Jamaica, so it was impossible to send it since I didn’t know his address there and I really did not want to bother him for anything while he was on vacation. His birthday was December 14 and he passed away five days later. I was upset that I had not been able to give it to him. I think he would have liked it because it seemed “so Joe” given the impeccable role model he was: the outside of the card said “Be bad for your birthday,” and when the card’s opened it says “VERY bad,” and plays the song “Bad to the Bone.” I thought he would have found it pretty funny so I was disappointed that I hadn’t been able to give him the card. Later, I discovered he had written an article with that same title in it (or maybe I had seen the title of the article before and it was stored in my subconscious mind, which made me buy the card). Since I was not able to give it to him, I had a special celebration on Memorial Day 2009 during which I “presented” him the card. My daughter, who has her share of psychic abilities, surprised me by saying, “Joe’s laughing.” So when I was given this particular treasure hunt, “Celebrate Love Day Treasure Hunt,” on the spur of the moment to a little town I had never visited and the first thing I saw was the sign, “Bad to the Bone, BBQ” I believed it was a loving and humorous message from him. But it seemed like such a sweet gesture, wherever it came from. This has to be a very funny, magical dream, was how I was thinking. A few weeks later I was further amazed when sent out on a “Pacific Coast Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt.” I went through the little town, Depoe Bay, to try and find a parking place. There was none, so I ended going all the way through town. I pulled into a little restaurant to turn around and in bright and bold letters was a huge sign saying, “Bad to the Bone BBQ: We’re Back!” How could I keep from falling totally in love with “Hermes?” As I write this today, the magic in my life since that day has not ceased and I feel blessed in the fullest sense of the word.

The King, the Queen of Hearts, and the City of Falls. I learned a little about Falls City during this treasure hunt and by doing some follow up research. The woman overseeing the Art Treasure Hunt had told me that it used to be a booming little town during the early days of the lumber industry and that the residents call it “The Queen.” I have not learned why it was given that title, other than it was the hub of the area during those early days. They had their own money for exchange back in the days, a copper engraved coin with a heart shape cut out in the center, perfect for The Queen. Thus, we have “The Queen” in Falls City in Kings Valley which I had initially been led to with a clue, Orchard Road. How does this magic happen? Green (2006) describes an account of a Twin Flame couple she counseled that relates here. The groom was from Boise and the bride was from Twin Falls, Idaho. They found it humorous that they had passed the sign for Twin Falls multiple times during their courtship–a metaphor for “fallen,” as represented in the story of Adam and Eve and the “fall from grace” and as is relived via the Twin Flame experience. When we do the Dharma work necessary the King and Queen can reunite again as Twin Flames (p. 16). That pointed me back to the metaphors I had been guided to on this early treasure hunt in Kings Valley.

I also had experienced an exhilarating “dream” relating to this treasure hunt prior that seemed more like an out-of-body experience in which I had visited a heavenly place (“home”) and Joe brought me back through the night sky on a motorcycle. On the way back, we made a tour that seemed like “freeriding” through the mountains. It was so much fun! We landed right outside my house and I was jerked back into my bed with a “snap” yet feeling so excited and exuberant, and disappointed that the fun ride was over. And then on my treasure hunt that “Celebrate Love Day,” as it was named, I was guided by clues I had been given before I left home to buying a tee-shirt with freeriding bikes on it from the grocery store there. It turns out that in Falls City/The Queen there is a freeriding course in the mountains and I figured out that was where I had been in the “dream” about freeriding on a motorcycle. So our “fall from grace” was turned into a grand time, freeriding in the mountains, and then into a “Celebrate Love Day” Treasure Hunt in Falls City/The Queen located in the heart of Kings Valley, Oregon (orgone?) complete with a Bad to the Bone BBQ and an Art Treasure Hunt within the treasure hunt (July 10 and 11, 2009). There is more to this story somehow. Is that why King shows up so often for Joe (was he reminding us)? There is the “coincidence” that he was raised in Kingsport, TN, had passed away in Kingston, Jamaica, and that if the “l” is bypassed, his name, Kincheloe, sounds a lot like “King Joe.” He is definitely connected to the word King. And in my “dreams” he really is a King.

As conveyed, the treasure hunts involve the “nuts and bolts” of bricolage and can incorporate all of the dimensions Kincheloe has specified. There is much more research I wish to do of the area. Kings Valley and the city north, Dallas, are sacred and feel like very magical places. The treasures found there included an elderly man whose name literally means “Gentle Lord of the Land and Trees” (and he takes great pride in taking care of his land and trees) who lives in “The House of the Forlorn.” There is a Sacred Old Oak Tree, a wonderful roadside vegetable stand maintained by local farmers named the Gardners who are being forced to sell their land by bank and government take-over actions, a historical site of an old Indian fort, the sacred Luckiamute River, the site of the Old Grist Mill, “The Academy,” gold, treasury notes, and many more treasures waiting to be discovered. The area had been populated by Native Americans for more than 10,000 years before white settlers took it over, so it has a very ancient and lost history that needs to be recovered. The history is sad from the time the settlers came in, and there was a lot of suffering. I had taken a photograph of the Luckiamute River on one of my trips there and the hue of the river is a rich violet on the digital image, indicating the sacred spiritual healing energy being supplied to the area. The Luckiamute tribe, like so many tribes in America has been decimated due to the inhumane actions of settlers. When settlers took over the land with their wheat production, they built a grist mill on the Luckiamute River. The Indians were forced to move from their life source and change their diets, relying on wheat from the grist mill. Because Joe has emphasized indigenous knowledges in his work and led me to this very sacred place, we will be doing more work there in the future. As explained, bricolage can be halted and picked up again later. Treasure hunts, as a metaphor for bricolage, work the same way. There are many lost treasures in the sacred Kings Valley waiting to be found.

11-11 and 911 Synchronicities on Treasure Hunts

The 11-11 and 911 phenomenon appeared during the treasure hunts as well. Recently, as I examined the data for this study, I discovered that a photograph I had taken of a road sign for the very first and very significant treasure hunt, The Kings Valley Treasure Hunt, was loaded with the 11-11s and the other sacred numbers that keep appearing in my life: 9, 3 and 22, the master number signifying twin flame spiritual union. The numbers of miles indicated on the sign again repeat the 9-11 configurations with 9 at the top for miles to Kings Valley, and 2+9=11 at the bottom for miles to Dallas. It relates to the interrelationships explored earlier in this dissertation between twin flame sacred love, the truth that has been hidden from us, and how it all ties in with the Twin Towers, the 9/11 event, and the urgency of spiritual evolution. Specifically, these numbers represent the urgency of our reunion. There are other representations of 11 in the sign, such as in the letters. LL-LL in Valley and Dallas, respectively, representing 11-11 because the letter “l” is a signifier for the number 1. Since this was my assigned “Kings Valley Treasure Hunt” it is a signpost signifying this is the right path, although I was only conscious of that in hindsight when I just recently discovered the numbers. The Highway, “223” signifies the trinity union of Twin Flames since 22 represents spiritual completion of the united twin flames (11-11) and, of course, the number 3 represents trinity and their third power, as discussed previously. North is also significant. It reminds me of the “North Star” or guiding light. Many people regard Joe as a guiding light and “North Star.” I was on the right path (see Figure 4).  

Another interesting thing about the Kings Valley Treasure Hunt during which I had taken the above photo (Figure 4) is that the clues he had given me before that particular trip told me there would be clues in the photos, but I did not figure it out until writing this dissertation. The message was: “In the photos there will be clues that help you solve some of the previous clues” as I had recorded in my August 24, 2009 blog. That day’s blog was amazing because I found profound images in an inadvertent photo I had taken. I was trying to take pictures of a pasture and some cows, but due to the reflection of my car window, it turned out to be a multidimensional image that included not only the cows in the distant pasture and the gate leading to them, but also me driving, my eternity ring, the stripes of the highway zipping by, and even headlights in the rearview mirror. The astounding symbolism in the photo relates directly to the mission and is open for a deeper analysis and also to discovery of how the clues will help me “solve some of the previous clues.” It was also the day that I was led to a building that simply stated “The Academy” on it with 11-11 symbolized on its entry door. Those are not the only photos that seem to have been divinely taken: there was another day when on a short walk down the street and back to take photographs of flowers, I randomly pointed the camera up at the sky to snap pictures of storm clouds coming in. I could not even view what I was shooting and I was amazed when I uploaded them to my computer to see that all seven images of the clouds had amazing symbolic images. Two were images of a god and goddess stretched out across the sky, embracing and kissing and in one of the images the goddess was “with child” and in the other, there was a white fertility bunny looking down at the couple. There was an image that reminded me of Hermes with a huge quill in his hand and he was on a horse off to deliver a message. Another image looked like a smiling cherub who was being handed his wings. And one of them looks rather sexual. I have read somewhere that some indigenous cultures interpret such images in the clouds as the gods and goddesses making love in order to provide us rain, and it did rain that day. The very last image taken that day shows an opening between the clouds shaped like a heart, symbolizing god and goddess love. These photos, in my estimation, were truly a gift from a very special and powerful god. I could not have taken the photos if I had tried! (Paradis, 2010, “Lovers in the Sky”).

When I found “The Academy” on that Kings Valley Treasure Hunt day, it seemed like “someone” took control of driving my car. It felt like I was being remote controlled to take a specific path. Normally, after my daughter and I did our treasure hunt rendezvous, we drove straight through Dallas over to a highway that took us back south to head home. On this particular day, the car seemed to be in “automatic” and instead of going straight through town it made a number of turns and then came to a stop in front of a large building. The only sign on the building was “The Academy.” It looked empty. I took it to be a sign relating to my work in education. I had taken a photo and many weeks later discovered that the address adds up to 11 and that there were 11 little squares at the top of the entrance just above the address, again signifying the twin flame number, 11-11, thus connecting my work with my Twin Flame. Later I learned the building houses some social services organizations, but it was not fully occupied. For now, I just interpret it as a sign that I am on the right path, but sense there may be more that will emerge in the future.

“No Ordinary Treasure Hunt”: More 911s and 11-11s. I was guided on an excursion in the small town I live near, Albany Oregon, for this particular treasure hunt back in August, 2009. There is something very special about a church my daughter and I were led to during this treasure hunt, clues about purple, and some amazingly sacred photographs of the church with streams of sunlight in magenta, purple, and blue shining down on it that were taken at the time. My recollection is that in a past life we had helped build or found this church, which actually resembles a castle and is reminiscent of our Scottish-Irish ancestry. I was told that there would be some sort of clue behind the door of the church and I’ve been hesitant to follow through and walk through that door due to the emotional release I had experienced when I played the Celtic music I had acquired from an earlier treasure hunt. I have learned that these treasure hunts also often relate to retrieving memories of past life events and sometimes it can be very painful to transmute the emotions associated with them. I sense this one is particularly emotional. I do recall a dream that I believed to have been of the past life related to this treasure hunt. In my dream I was having an operation. I was supposed to have been anesthetized, but I was not. I felt the excruciating pain when the doctor cut into my abdomen, but I was paralyzed and could not scream out or tell them I could feel the pain. After the operation, an infection set in and I ended up dying. And so, I was buried in the cemetery next to the hospital. I had also taken photographs of the hospital and eerie photographs with sunlight streaming down on the gravestones at the nearby cemetery that same day. The irony of a graveyard right next to a hospital in this context does not escape my notice.

The date of the blog in which I describe this treasure hunt is recorded as August 13, 2009 and is comprised of 11’s and also 911. And then I noticed that I had recorded the date the church was dedicated, March 23, 1913, and, again, the 11’s and 9 are prominent. This can be calculated and/or seen in multiple ways. For example, the year 1913 readily displays 911 and along with 3 representing trinity, it symbolizes again the trinity union (9 being completion) of twin flames. But then 4 (for March) and 2 and 3 can also be added for 9 and the 9+3=11 combined with the existing two ones for 9-11-11. Again I have only just identified these during this analysis and I really want to go back and do more research because this highlights in my mind the importance of this church. This is one of the more profound treasure hunts that I had barely started on and I feel it holds many great secrets. From other messages and dreams, I have pieced together that we had lived in Seattle but lost our home and perhaps a church or business in the famous Great Seattle Fire of June 6, 1889. Then we moved to Albany, Oregon where we helped found this church. Photographs of the church, houses on a street nearby, and a cemetery that I had taken gave me a very eerie déjà vu feeling at the time and whenever I look at them. Recently, within about a week’s time, six different clues that had been handed down to me for music, brought up the exact same song about Seattle, “Seattle Rain” on YouTube, an impossible feat if one were to even try to make it happen. In Joe’s book he discusses how the Internet is like a fractal and works the same from any dimension (Kincheloe, 2008c). It seems that something is happening because my Internet research is far too serendipitous and synchronistic; I am constantly drawn and led to exact information I need for my research and spiritual growth. Because of these six appearances of the song, “Seattle Rain,” (http://youtu.be/AlYTHtTTZIw) which is a very beautiful love song, I feel a pull to go to Seattle, as well as to research the information I’ve been handed down in this treasure hunt more deeply. Related to this, in one of the very last messages Joe had sent to me just before he passed away, he had referenced Seattle in a round-about way, telling me he was “Sleepless in Montreal,” a reference to the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle.” There is something important about Seattle.

Again, in the date of the Seattle Fire, June 6, 1889, where it seems some sort of tragedy was experienced personally is the configuration 911. This time the presence of 9 cannot simply be attributed to the century. The date 6-6-1889 can be analyzed as follows: 6+6 equals 12, keep the 1 and carry the 2 and add 2+8 = 10, keep the 1 and 8 represents infinity. Thus, we have 11-11-9-8 which represents completion of the twin flame union for infinity. I want to note here, that this is how I intuitively added the numbers the very first time. There are many ways numbers can be added, but if we stick with our intuition, we are more likely to find significance, is what I’ve come to realize, and as I described earlier in relation to the recommendation to maintain elasticity of interpretation. It’s why setting rules for these things can never work. We are looking for our own personal meaning, and that can only come from intuition, not positivistic science or math. So if it seems subjective, yes it is and it’s supposed to be subjective. I have become adept at just adding and taking the first results I’ve found. Thus, there is never a struggle when I do these calculations except in reformulating how I had added them in my mind the first time in order to put them down on paper. Sometimes, multiple interpretations are helpful as well and can give confirmation or greater depth of meaning.

This particular treasure hunt has provided a start for some research I will want to continue with. And for the skeptical, I view it this way: If what I am remembering does not turn out to be past lives, I am sure having fun learning about the past and present and how they are connected. It’s the most fun way to learn history which has always been my worst subject in school because it was taught in such a painfully boring way. I have one last observation about this church based on some additional research I’ve done for this dissertation. It is the United Presbyterian Church and its address is 330 Fifth Avenue, Albany OR 97321. The numbers of the address 3+3+5 (for Fifth Avenue) again add up to 11 and the zip code computes to 11-11 (9+2 and 7+3+1), thus again 11-11-11 and 9 is also prominent. Are these all coincidences? Were these numbers being included in the construction of the Twin Towers a coincidence? Was the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 a coincidence? Time will tell whether these numbers, Twin Flames and this treasure hunt are connected in some yet unseen way when I return to the research for this treasure hunt. There was also some kind of conflict during that era right after the church had been built between this church and another church nearby called the United Presbyterian Church and Rectory which had been built in 1891 (911 and 8 for eternity appears again). I actually sensed this (or remembered?) a few weeks ago when I happened to be driving past this particular church. It’s another beautiful and historic church, built in a “Carpenter Gothic” style which I had encountered on the treasure hunt (Wikipedia, 2012, “United Presbyterian Church”). However, currently the church is occupied by the Borean Bible Fellowship, called the Borean Fundamental Church of Albany. Boreans (also, Bereans) do not accept the triune nature of God and are a form of Protestantism based on Calvinism (Wikipedia, 2012, “Bereans”). Protestantism is the religion Joe grew up being “indoctrinated” with for which the indoctrination had failed. How do I keep being pulled into this religious stuff? I will leave this for the time being; it’s a bricolage that can be picked up at a later date, but it does confirm for me there is personal significance to this treasure hunt and that it in some way relates to Kincheloe’s work. In fact, it appears that this notion of a “triune God” is hugely controversial and a plethora of interpretations have been provided. “As Bernard Lonergan, a priest and philosopher in the Thomist tradition states in relation to the triune controversy, ‘The abundance and variety of the material, unless it be drawn together in a manner that displays pattern or order, are more likely to obfuscate than to illuminate the mind, to cloud the issue rather than clarify it’” (Addie, 2007).  It looks like this is another call for the multidimensional critical complex bricolage and perhaps it relates to why Kincheloe (2004d) reiterated “ecumenicalism” three times in that very special excerpt he has assigned me as will be discussed up ahead (see “Symbiotic Hermeneutics”).

Tennessee Road Trip: When White Lights Bend to Make Blue

            The longest epistemological road trip was the one I took to Tennessee in April, 2010, where I actually was able to walk inside the Allendale Mansion, the “mansion of my dreams.” It’s really interesting when one can plan their own déjà vu experiences. I knew the entire layout of the house from having been in it so many times in my dreams. This particular treasure hunt lasted two weeks because my daughter and I decided to make it an easy, leisurely vacation. Since there were so many and very incredible synchronicities along the way I will only mention this treasure hunt in passing. One of the notable things was my reluctance to go. The fear had crept in again. Why was I being asked to drive all the way to Tennessee? (Of course, I knew it was all free will; it was not as if I was required to go, but I wanted to and yet I still wondered). As the day to leave approached, it was pouring down rain, which only heightened my anxiety. Three days before leaving, I received a music clue from my “beloved,” and the clue was, “Don’t let a blue Friday slip into the weekend” (Friday, March 26, 2010 7:11 AM journal entry). As recorded that evening, the song that was brought up to the top of the YouTube search was “These White Lights Will Bend to Make Blue” by Azure Ray. The significance of blue and Azure Ray to Joe and his work is profound (he wrote of “Blue Knowledge,” the “Blues Aesthetic” and he may be considered to work the “Blue Ray” of Divine Wisdom Knowledges). But that’s an analysis for another time. The music video shows a car leaving home in the dark, driving to get on the interstate in the pouring down rain. At the end of the video it was dawn, giving me the message that it was going to be fine. The words and images for the song were meant to alleviate my anxiety about the trip: “Drive away, just get on the interstate and slip through this closing gate” as the lyrics go. It seemed to be another important initiation representing the actual launching of our work together on a special “earth project.” I had analyzed the song quite thoroughly in my journal (Friday, March 26, 2010 11:12 PM). It really did help because it had been a prediction. The morning I left for the trip, March 29, it was dark and raining. I had written in my journal just before leaving, “It’s absolutely pouring out. Not the kind of weather to travel in and it truly is not going to be fun. Oh well. According to the music video you had sent me a few days ago – I am to go ahead and go in spite of the rain” (7:19AM). Amazingly, when I got up to northern Oregon the sun was shining, and that was where I was greeted with his often-cited song, “Desperado” at the truck station and restaurant. Other than some light snow through Eastern Idaho, the weather during the entire trip was absolutely gorgeous.

Dreams, Divine Marriage, and Multidimensionality

The number 11 also appeared in my dreams. In one dream there was an image of a plaque that was being held up very close to my face. It could have been an address, but the numbers on it were 7013, which add up to 11. Also contained within are the most sacred numbers, 7 being the number representing God, 3, the Holy Trinity, and 13 which represents unity and eternal life. Also, the number zero does have spiritual significance and serves to magnify the meaning of the other numbers, according to some numerological systems. I had originally interpreted the number 7013 as a date—the date from which I traveled back in time to be on Earth and the date I will be returning to, except that I will be jumping timelines or dimensions rather than getting there in a linear sense. While most people will not understand this interpretation, those who understand and have experience with nonlocal space will understand it. Time is an illusion, and is mostly used to regulate and control people. My days are timeless in so many ways.

Another highly significant dream was my sacred marriage to Joe, a topic that is supposed to be “hush-hush.” But why? I believe that this was a Divine Spiritual Marriage that happened in another timeline. This marriage in the upper realms happened so early in my research that I knew absolutely nothing about the 11-11 phenomenon or even what the dream represented. But I had recorded the dream and the date, which was January 28, 2009. Thus, in hindsight, I calculated it out: 1-28-2009 = 1-2+8-2+9 = 1-10-11 = 11-11. As my memories became flooding back, I learned we have been married many times in many lifetimes, but it seems that this particular marriage and place in time is “home” where I will or already have returned. It really is much like Heaven there. Honestly, in many ways, in a phenomenological sense, I do feel I have already reached home, but just have more work and awakening to do in order to be fully conscious.

Twin Flame reunions often occur in dreamtime, according to many sources, as well as in descriptions of couples who have reunited. There are cases in which the couple do not know each other and consciously connect in dreams to arrange for their first meeting. There are also other cases in which the couple resides in different dimensions. Detweiler (2011a) describes her twin flame reunion in the upper realms and meeting her young daughter and how it gives her comfort and reassurance in the now. It is that “immanence” that critical pedagogues describe so often in their work: it’s the ability to see into the future and learn what “could be,” or “what will be,” and in reality, “what is,” since in a sense, everything happens simultaneously. These concepts sound contradictory but when one begins to experience multidimensional dynamics they make sense. The heart of Kincheloe’s bricolage is the recognition of the multidimensionality of being human and ridding ourselves from a one dimensional reality that has created so much denial and suffering for people. Even professionals within the domain of psychology now reject the construct of automatically labeling people with multidimensional experiences as “schizophrenic.” The argument fails on rapidly accumulating evidence. It’s tragic that westerners have caused so much untold suffering before coming to this realization. The road is long yet and there are many injustices to atone for along the way.

To explain dimensions a bit, the way I like to understand them is that the dimensions are not separate. They intertwine and mix together and are mostly composed of space. Thus, we are always present in multiple dimensions, but have to expand our consciousnesses and increase our intuitive abilities and awareness in order to perceive the other dimensions and the people and entities within them. This has been happening for me at a relatively rapid rate since I met Joe. I find it very exciting because while the process, even when “rapid,” is slow and one must be extraordinarily patient, the steady progress and gifts along the way are divine.

Pacific Coast Treasure Hunt: The Crystal Genesis Heart

One of my special gifts, which I received earlier in the other realm first was a remarkable multiple-faceted crystal heart, about six or seven inches in diameter. In my dream, Joe had hung it from the chandelier in our bedroom. Somehow he could make it spin extremely fast and as it spun, rainbow sparkles were sent spinning around the room reflecting from the walls and ceiling. Not long after that, he asked me to take another Pacific Coast Eager Beaver Treasure Hunt to go to Depoe Bay and purchase a crystal heart. I had by this time learned to follow his instructions without hesitation and loved these assignments. The excursions were always fun and included many surprises, “postformal treasures” as he called them (Kincheloe, 2006a, 2006 b, 2006c, 2006d). I knew there was a crystal shop in Depoe Bay and expected that was where I’d find the crystal heart. I was not able to find a parking place in front of the store, so I parked down the street from it. On a whim I decided to go into the gift shop I was closest to and check if by chance they had a crystal heart. The shop, called Paradise Gifts, was jam-packed with gifts and souvenirs. I did not know how to begin looking for a crystal heart midst the chaos so I simply went up to the cashier and asked if they had any crystal hearts. “I have just this one,” she stated, as she pulled a small box out from behind the counter. It was a crystal “genesis” heart, about two inches across and was hanging from a blue satin ribbon. It seemed to fit the bill for my assignment, so I went ahead and bought it. But then I second-guessed myself. I knew the crystal shop was just a few doors down and I thought for sure they would have a crystal heart. Did I buy the right crystal heart? So I walked down to the shop, looked around but did not see one. Again, I asked the cashier if they had any crystal hearts. “No,” he said, “we do not have any crystal hearts.” I had purchased the right crystal heart. It was so special because I felt that I was bringing a piece of Heaven down to earth—the crystal heart, representing the beautiful heart at home. I was not aware of the significance of the action at the time, but I was just happy that I could have the heart as a reminder of the one I have at home.

In relation to this, Kincheloe (2004e) cites using a crystal to represent bricolage because it reflects and refracts multiple perspectives, and I have already discussed his metaphor, the “crystal amaryllis” and how it can represent a metaphor for bricoleurs. This dream takes the metaphor to the next level—a magnificently multifaceted heart difficult to describe in its true glory, symbolizing love that reflects all of the colors of the rainbow, emanating love in all of its flavors, spinning around the room to create a visual, ethereal, and totalistic sensual delight. Bricolage as love is a wonderful—and maybe the best metaphor—and love bricoleurs work to spread the most radical form of that love.