Magical Mounds & Unearthly Connections
Hello friend :)
If you're from east of the Mississippi River, chances are you've heard of the effigy mounds left behind from the mysterious mound builders.
I wanted to share a more personal, yet magical story that's been unfolding over the last few months.
If you're here from YouTube, perhaps you already know that I talk about Lyra a lot and share snippets of my life from that star system. If not, I’ll share a bit quickly. In my meditations, I visited Lyra in the lifetime(s) I lived there and found out I was a princess of an amphibious race (I know, sounds out there, but hear me out, synchronicities arise that confirm this for me). There‘s a stone here on Earth called Ruby in Zoisite that I associate with my life on Lyra, as the stone looks like the beings there and the essence of the stone reminds me of the feeling of the land I lived on. This is important to know for later.
My curiosity about the mounds started when I was researching the mysterious race of giants that lived parallel to humans during ancient (and perhaps, not so ancient) times. Last summer, I found the archives of the newspaper articles from the 1800’s & early 1900’s about the mass unearthing of these giant skeletons, and you guessed it, many of them were buried in or around mounds. Then, I found out there was an excavation done just five minutes from where I was living that summer. I was locked in; I had to experience these mounds for myself. Surely, I could try to reach out to my subconscious for answers, or perhaps even connect with some of the beings that lived around the mounds.
Last year, synchronicity brought us (my husband and I) to many local sites that contained effigy mounds. On a midweek camping trip on the shores of Lake Winnebago, we found ourselves sleeping just steps away from a group of Buffalo effigy mounds and we didn’t even realize that there were mounds at that park when we booked our campsite!
Over the winter, I spent much time doing more research about the giants and the mounds, looking to ancient history researchers for answers. I found out from people like Greg Hancock and Freddy Silva that perhaps these giants weren‘t an earth race. That perhaps they were a race from the stars. And the more I get into it, I would have to agree.
I do my best to balance science and spirituality, and always like to have personal experiences to back up my perspectives and stories. So of course, I started mapping out the effigy mounds in Wisconsin and beyond. I found out that Wisconsin has the highest concentration of effigy mounds in the US. I cannot believe how many there are, and how many giant skeletons were found here!
This year, Austin and I have been traveling around Wisconsin to visit the various groups of effigy mounds. So far, we visited Wyalusing State Park, Effigy Mounds National Monument (just across the Mississippi into Iowa), Trempeleau Tiered Mound, Perrot State Park, and we tried locating some mounds in Eagle Eye Natural Area but we're not entirely sure if we found them... Last summer, we visited Lizard Mound County Park & High Cliff State Park. In 2017, I was obsessed with the pyramids and was blown away at the tiered mound called Aztalan in SE Wisconsin, nearby is a lake that has three pyramids in the bottom of it. If you're interested in the mounds in Wisconsin and want to visit them, this website is great for information and directions. Some of these mounds are hard to find!
Over the weekend, I felt called to a specific area with more than one mound group. On that website I was able to find three groups that are located within five miles of each other in the little towns of Muscoda and Orion. Yes, there's a town here called Orion and I couldn't help but to shake my head with a smile at the synchronicity of it all. When I had my starseed awakening, I felt so drawn to the constellation Orion and remembered that I felt this way as a kid, knowing that Orion was "home" to me somehow. Now, I realize that I lived lives in Lyra and had to leave because of natural disasters, only to relocate in you guessed it, Orion. There's lots of info about Lyra and Orion and what happened, my top resource for this being Prisms of Lyra by Lyssa Royal.
This synchronicity drew me in the most to visiting this area, and I was stoked to see that it was less than an hour away from my house (bonus points for getting Austin to drive with me there). We packed a lunch and mapped out the three locations to visit for the day. That morning, I woke up feeling horrible mentally and feeling like a failure after the launch of a new project (though, I knew I wasn't a failure... and the project didn't fail... I just... had ego issues as I'm sure everyone deals with XD). Usually I'll find myself drawn to certain places to help me with certain things I'm going through. Sacred Sites are sacred for a reason right? The energies in these places can help you in different ways based upon their properties. There's a great film about this on Gaia TV called Templemaking.
Off we went to the first mound which was a bird mound next to a county highway. It was easy to find, right on Effigy Mound Ln, and a short hike through a sunlight forest brought us to the last mound of that group. I enjoyed the energy here, though the traffic noise was a bit distracting. The mound looked well preserved and was covered with the prairie grasses from last year. We didn't stay long, picked up some trash that leeched into the park from the roadside, and headed to the next group.
The next mound group was in Orion, at a place along the mighty Wisconsin River called Orion Mussel Bed State Natural Area. It's not exactly a state park, rather a natural area for rare plants and animals. According to the DNR's website, there are 15 mounds at this site: 3 birds, 1 bear, 2 lizards, 1 conical, and 8 linear. They are extremely difficult to see and decipher the shapes of without a bird's eye view, which is one reason I find them so peculiar... why would people build these mounds that could only be recognized from above? Surely, they weren't flying above them... or... were they?
In my travel log, I wrote the following:
"A site along the Wisconsin River. Mayapples & spring beauties cover the mounds here. The forest feels more of a savannah, the trees tower over the mounds like protectors. A nice trail loops through them all & it looks like there's conservation efforts being done.
There is lots of trash here from perhaps the fisherman or ancestors of the locals. Violets, spring beauties, buttercups, anemones, and other flowers dot the landscape and smile to the sun.
{I meditate at the sites to ask anything that wishes to reach out to me to do so, and to share a message.} The mounds & the builders say to me that this area is misunderstood and disrespected. They mean no harm, however, they want light, respect, and understanding. Sandhill cranes belt out from across the river. I got the insight that there were no people buried here. This was a place of worship. An overhead view will share the significance of this place and how each mound was used. Use what you learned from the templemaking video (mentioned above)."
After meditating, I felt calmer and more in tune with my body. Austin walked along the trail with me and we talked through the ego issues I was having and I let them go. I started seeing energy pulsing in my vision, like looking at "warp speed." Before we left, I heard a horned owl across the river more than once, and I thought that was strange to hear an owl in the middle of the day. I was also seeing a peculiar amount of spiders too, a symbol for me meaning "making connections."
The last mound group of the day was just down the street to a group called the Elder group. A man named Frank found the mounds on his land one day and became enthralled by them and became a seeker. He restored the mounds as best he could and maintained them for his lifetime. Immediately, I felt like I was home here, the energy so uplifting and awe-inspiring. The mounds were separated on two hills. The east hill contained a buffalo, eagle, and other effigy mounds. The west hill had 12 round mounds, thought to represent the calendar year.
We came the day after the park caretakers burned the prairies on the mounds, making them really easy to spot. Prairie burning is a common practice here, as this would happen naturally in the past, and burning helps keep invasive plant species out. I felt it VERY symbolic of the "rising of the phoenix," how the creature burns itself to the ground to be reborn again. Symbolic for what I was going through that day! I discovered what was blocking me and creating disharmony in my life in these moments and was all set to let them go out of my life. Anyway, here are the excerpts from my log (as I wrote this, I noticed several spiders webbed in my hair):
"On Frank's hill, the west hill, a dead animal lay on the path to the top. Reminded me of the story from Ley Lines and Earth Energies by David Cowan, when he would be searching for earth energies and his dowsing rods would lead him to dead animals. Energy feels like potential, renewal, joy for new. I prayed here asking spirit to guide me along my highest spiritual path and to allow my ego to fall away with grace (important for later...).
We walked to the top of the east hill with the effigy animals and a swap box stood before them. (A swap box meaning something like a "little library" or a geocache where you'd trade something of yours for something in the box.) I opened it up and inside was a ruby-zoisite pendulum with an owl charm on the end. I asked if it was for me, and it said yes, so I swapped it with a heart rose quartz and a cube pyrite.
The pendulum! We visited Orion effigy first and heard the owl, and then found the owl/ruby zoisite pendulum here. As we parked at the west hill, a male cardinal flew in a tree at the en-trance, showing me the way. (My dad died two years ago and shows up in my life now as a red cardinal. He and I were close spiritually and he knew most of my spiritual/metaphysical self. He'll usually show up at synchronistic times.) The 12 conical mounds appeared to be in a wavy line (like a snake or worm, symbolic of how energy moves) pointing south.
This trip feels like a death and rebirth as I'm navigating my personal paradigm and how I want to show up in the world.
More joy, gratitude, and appreciation came to my body, I feel more relaxed and ready to move forward. I feel more grounded walking barefoot, eating a croissant (sometimes, I crave things that have butter in them and recently I found out it's because my body wants to ground. Animal products are more dense and can feel grounding), soaking in the sun, and allowing the old to flow away.
(As I meditated, I got a message from the cosmic beings I often talk with)
"You found us! (felt a warm sense of love in my heart) It didn't take us long to build these (seeing giants quickly making the mounds in a day). But they will last a lifetime. We love you. We know it can be hard being a human right now, but it is all getting better soon. Your next location will be revealed to you soon."
My log pretty much explains this place and my experiences well. I was BAFFLED by the synchronicity of the ruby zoisite owl pendulum, like what are the odds of that happening? I feel like I absorbed a new tool and a new way of living, one rooted in grace. I am excited to visit this site more often, as it was so tranquil and rejuvenating. I don't know much about the sacred geometry or alignments here, but I definitely felt it to be a highly significant place for these ancient people {giants}. When I feel called to, I'll share with you who I think the giants were/are. :)
On the way home, we drove a new route and stopped at the co-op to get some groceries. Another synchronicity happened at the checkout. Austin and I each had a basket, and he set his on a checkout counter as I looked at candles. I quickly followed him and set mine down too. Austin left to grab something else and I stayed to talk with the cashier. She commented on my crystal pendant, a ruby fuschite (I bought this pendant the same day I bought a ruby-zoisite pendant, and the two stones look very similar to each other). She even went as far to ask me what it was, so I told her, then glanced down at her name tag, upon it inscribed "Grace."
Remember earlier how I said I asked for more grace in my life?? I couldn't help myself but to feel like my prayer was answered. Not necessarily that this person would bring grace into my life, but that the Universe answered my prayer symbolically in this moment. Needless to say, I felt completely different after a day well spent with the mounds.
I truly believe that these mounds are sacred sites, hidden not because they are secret, but more so because of their antiquity and the forgetfulness of humans. I want to learn as much as I can, so I can know for sure, but for now, the magic lives on and synchronicities arise in the many mounds of the Midwest.
Thanks so much for reading my story, I hope you feel inspired to go out and to visit your mounds to have life changing experiences. If you do, remember these places are sacred and magical, and deserve the best from us :) Let me know if you end up visiting mounds in your area, and if you have exciting experiences by sending me an email, commenting on this post, or connecting on IG. :D
Much love,
Ashley Lynn