Pilgramaging: Newark
Well decided to go on a semi-pilgrimage to a few sites around Ohio.
First stop was the Newark Earthworks - part of which is infamously part of a golf course.
Went to the Great Circle - pictures of which just do not do justice to the sheer scale of the earthworks on the site.
I visited the visitor's center first and made a small donation/sacrifice ($10) for the upkeep of what's left of the site and bought Woodward & McDonald's Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley - a guide to Publicly Accessible mounds & earthworks in the Middle Ohio Valley - and a 19th century plan of the site before much of the site was sadly destroyed or became a long par five (again you only get a sense of the sheer scale of the site by walking around). Also noticed they had a number of copies of George R. Milner's The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America which was one of the textbooks for my Archaeology of Eastern North America class a few years ago.
I then entered the circle through the main ancient entrance and the interior felt rather charged and awesome. I circumambulated around the inner edge of the circle and near the end I saw some interesting sights: first one crow flew down and landed in front of me then a second one flew in from another direction. The first one called then they both flew off to somewhere outside the circle. A short while later I passed under a tree where a flock of crows landed and rested. Finally near the end a monarch butterfly flew up to and around me then headed towards the center of the circle. Having circumambulated the circle I walked towards the center mound and a rather large and awe-inspiring tree that was growing out of the center mound - like a world tree at the sacred center.
I offered a few prayers to the spirits of the area and the ancestors (and there is a chance that there maybe some literal ancestry here since part of my heritage is Cherokee and some native traditions maintain that there is a connection between them at one point and the mound building cultures along the Ohio Valley before they were pushed further south).
I also asked for help in dealing with some personal issues which seem to have had some effect and quite frankly I feel better.
Tomorrow going to try to leave early and visiting Fort Ancient and a stop over to visit family. Over this weekend I'm also planning to visit both Luperca's Statue in Eden Park and the Great Serpent Mound.
Well need sleep.