An Excerpt From Chapter Twenty-Four

On a very cold January morning in the late 90’s, as I stood facing north just as the Sun was rising high up on the north end of the Bonaparte Plateau, British Columbia; I distinctly heard the OM sound emanating towards me from the south. I was saying my morning prayers when I heard OM come bounding across the frozen lake for a half minute or so. What a thrill! The woman beside me had not heard it, so it was not a chorus of Tibetan monks chanting on the Bonaparte Plateau.

I had heard tell from an Asian Vancouver acquaintance who hosts the Dalai Lama when he comes to Vancouver that the Dalai Lama says that the Bonaparte Plateau is a portal to the Center of the Universe and that he goes there every year to pray and meditate. This experience awoke an entirely new vibration in my body, and I determined I would honor my physical body more so after this event.

What a magnificent and brilliant creation our physical body is with its myriad functions! This experience reminded me that we too are creators and the decisions we make for ourselves enforce our life-force, Universal Energy, and health, and sound it out to those around us and the Universe. It reminded me of the time I re-accessed my first ever birth into a physical form, when I saw the colours green and purple and heard this very distinctive sound as well. Love is creation, Light is information and Om is the highest sound for creation on planet Earth!

 Center of the Universe, British Columbia, Canada

 It was the second moon of the year. 2017, the Budding Trees Moon, guided by red tail hawk and rose quartz crystal when I decided to journey to a special plateau that I had already discovered in 1996, although now I was heading to the southern edge of this plateau. In the early 1980’s on a snowy November day, a mysterious man dressed in white robes arrived at Vidette Lake in Deadman Valley, 30 kilometres east and 50 kilometers north of Kamloops, BC. This monk claimed to have found the Centre of the Universe and introduced himself to the then owner of the Vidette Lake Gold Mine Resort in Kamloops. Not knowing what was happening, the owner invited him into his log cabin, a former 1860’s Fur Trading Post.

The mysterious man turned out to be an apprentice monk who had been sent by a Rinpoche from San Francisco to verify the existence of the Centre of the Universe. Tibetan monks believe that the Centre of the Universe is located on the Earth, and using a series of tests, it can be verified. The Rinpoche, or Master Teacher, in San Francisco had simply pointed to a location on a map that he had never seen and claimed the spot. He then sent the apprentice to the Kamloops area and on to Vidette Lake to conduct a series of tests. This was the white-robed man who showed up in 1980, and the three tests he performed verified the Center of the Universe.

Since then the retreat has changed hands a few times and is currently owned by a gentle, on-a-spiritual-journey soul named Ray. It is a cool day in late April in the South Thompson region of BC, and I’ve bundled up in my blue wool sweater, and left my Airbnb in Kamloops, traveling with my friend Wulf. We drive the gorgeous scenic Highway #1 from Kamloops to just west of Savona. As we leave the highway and mosey along into Deadman Valley, my heart begins to sing. The first 15 kilometers in to the retreat are one of BC’s hoodoos, Sedona-like red and purple rocks erosion of absolute splendor. It is ranches and greening ranch land and a meandering river that we follow until we climb a tad on a well travelled gravel road. The sun comes out this spring day, and I enjoy my rose quartz as my friend drives, so that I can luxuriate in the marvel I am beholding. As the miles pass by, we encounter small narrow lakes, surrounded by firs and birches and a few cabins. Approximately five kilometers south of Vidette Lake Spiritual Retreat I begin to feel extremely happy. My body is singing and vibrating! My friend hits a small boulder on the road that’s rolled down the cliff beside us, and we stop to check on the muffler of my car. It's holding up, and as I move it off the road I’m drawn to a flat stone that reflects the rainbow that I immediately resonate with, feeling its aliveness. I love this chunk of rock, pick it up and place it in my car and we carry on the last stretch to Vidette Lake Retreat. When we reach the retreat, I suddenly realize that the stiff neck and shoulder pain I’ve been experiencing for some time is healed.

Rays friendly dogs greet us, and we were soon shown into our rustic “Trappers” cabin for two, one of eight cabins available. Many of the cabins are on the lake, although off the grid, many are luxurious and well equipped. Wulf lights a fire in the antique cook stove, and we warm up and have lunch before teeing up with Ray, deciding to venture up to ‘the spot’ at 5 pm. We explore on our own till then, walking the old road up to several mine shafts, now closed off. The Mother lode of gold was never found. Good, I think, as long ago I was told by a ‘talking boulder’ near Kamloops that gold resonates with the vibration of God. As I sit overlooking the lake with a gold mine shaft behind me, I all of a sudden clairaudiently hear singing.

At 5 pm we jump into my car and follow Ray on his ATV for about five minutes to the lookout, a filled with Kokanee fish Vidette Lake shimmering far below us. We then carry on to park beside the trail that runs to the Center of the Universe . . .