“Spiritual Adventures at the Seat of Power”

Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Michael Avery

“If you tell a rose that it is a rose, then it will always be a rose. 
If you ask a rose what it is, you might be surprised to find 
that it is an entire universe.” —Gary Reynolds
(quoting “the Caretaker” in Spiritual Adventures at the seat of Power)

Originally, I planned to call this post “Divine Guidance: When Books Take Flight.” But I fell in love with the golden rose featured above and the quote from Gary Reynolds’ free ebook.  

Divine Guidance can come through dreams, premonitions, inner nudges, intuition, synchronous events, and waking dreams. Spirit has no limitations, so I wasn’t at all surprised to discover a more bizarre form of guidance—flying books.

When Gary Reynolds sent us a short story about a flying book recently, I happened to remember a day when I was twenty-eight, living in Waikiki. I will relate Gary’s story and how people can get a copy of his free ebook, Spiritual Adventures at the Seat of Power, after my brief trip down memory lane.

Healing the Past

During the time I lived in Hawaii, there was a bookstore in Waikiki that I sometimes frequented. One day, I was nonchalantly perusing a section of biographies and autobiographies. Out of the blue, a fairly thick book leaped from a shelf and struck me in the chest on its way to the floor. Startled, I picked up the book and glanced around to see if someone had thrown it. Books just don’t fly by themselves, or so I thought. But there was no one around.

I was familiar with uncommon “waking dream “events such as this, and realized that Divine Spirt was telling me something. The book was an anthology of Early American authors. I opened the book near the middle and began reading an excerpt. The cadence of the sentences was somewhat familiar. What little writing I had done so far in my life was strikingly similar to the words I was reading.

Recently, I’d been puzzling over a recurring dream that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It revolved around the construction of a small dwelling in a rural area. How could this dream be related to my beach bum life in Hawaii? I wondered. Reading further, another passage explained the Early American writer’s misfortune while constructing his house. I was taken aback. My dreams had highlighted this problem in detail. 

I discovered another synchronicity between me and the author listed in the book. Prior to my sojourn in Waikiki, I carried with me a judgment that my writing was of no interest to anyone, even though I was experiencing just the opposite from friends and teachers. 

The Early American writer had died believing himself to be a failure. The majority of the printed copies of his flagship book gathered dust until someone, long after he had left this world, discovered the forgotten treasure in his attic. The book became a classic and was translated into several languages.

Putting two and two together, I realized that I carried an emotional wound accompanied by a limiting judgment—“nobody appreciates what I write.” Divine Spirit was showing me that it was time to release this judgment. It was not revealed whether I carried a similar judgment as the writer in the anthology, or whether I was being shown a previous lifetime.

I’ve spent a great deal of time since my “flying book” experience healing emotional wounds and releasing the judgments surrounding them.

Gary’s Story about Howard

Divine Guidance isn’t limited to any particular religion or spiritual path. I’m always interested in hearing how an individual becomes a student, devotee, or follower of a particular teaching.

When Gary Reynolds related the following short story, I immediately saw how it could fit into a longer post which would compliment my Waikiki experience.

Gary mentioned that, like me, he often asks people how they found their chosen spiritual path. In 1980, he met an 85-year-old man and his wife in Flagstaff, Arizona, just north of Sedona, at a gathering held by some friends of his. Gary asked the man how he had found the teachings of Eckankar. 

The man, whom we’ll call Howard, replied, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you!” 

Howard went on to say that he and his wife had been to many different churches and checked out many different paths. Finally, he prayed to God and Spirit to send them to their next teacher or spiritual adept.  

One day, he and his wife were walking through a bookstore. He said a book fell off the top shelf and hit him on top of the head!

Howard confessed that he was very stubborn back then and laughed. He said to himself, “This must be important.” So, he read the book and loved it. He has followed the path of Eckankar ever since. 

Gary told us that he has never forgotten that story because it was really unbelievable, but, oh, so true. The book was called The Tiger’s Fang by Paul Twitchell.

The Rose

When a friend forwarded Gary’s ebook recently, I found it fascinating since I had visited Sedona in 1985. The quote about the rose totally intrigued me. It has led to further insights about the extent judgments play in shaping our lives.

Some seem innocent enough— preferring waffles over pancakes because “grandmother burns pancakes”—for instance. However, other judgments severely limit our life experiences much like fences corral wild horses.

The primary benefit of healing old, emotional wounds and releasing those pesky judgments is to lighten our load as we climb the mountain toward spiritual freedom. Additionally, removing these barriers allows us to open our hearts to greater flows of Divine Love. As my wife, Pichaya, always says, “It’s all about love on the journey of Soul.”

Seat of Power

In Spiritual Adventures at the Seat of Power, Gary Reynolds goes into the history of the “Wings of the Winds” house in Sedona on the property once owned by Eckankar. He also writes about the Hopi rock that was part of that history, the Vairagi ECK Masters with whom he was in contact, and his spiritual training by the individual he refers to as “the Caretaker.” Gary was entrusted with the site when the Caretaker was away. 

Writing about the Seat of Power, Gary explains: 

“In 1982, the Spiritual Site in Sedona, located in the beautiful red rock country of northern Arizona, became the Seat of Power for ECKANKAR. It remained the Seat of Power until 1990. The Seat of Power is a tremendous flow of the ECK (Spirit) that pours out of the higher worlds of God into the lower worlds. The Living ECK Master had carried the Seat of Power, just as he carries the Rod of ECK Power, until he moved it to the Sedona property in 1982.” ¹

Gary describes the property as follows:

“The Spiritual Site is a lovely piece of property that borders Oak Creek. Oak Creek runs through Oak Creek Canyon down into the Sedona area and on to the Verde River. Oak Creek used to be known for its great healing powers. The old timers of Sedona told stories of animals coming to the creek to drink and heal when they were ill or injured. 

“The Indians called this area sacred. The Hopi Indians lived by the creek from 1100 to 1400 A.D. They left rock drawings all around the area. The whole area is beautiful beyond description. Large, natural, red- rock monuments stand as sentinels over the whole area. The red soil with all the green vegetation makes this area of Arizona one of the prettiest places on earth.²

“Helen Frye built the Wings of the Wind house in 1965. It sits on a cliff that overlooks Oak Creek. From the living room, one can see the valley below and Cathedral Rock, which is one of the most photographed monuments in Sedona.”³

My experience in the Living Room

In 1985, two friends and I packed up a motorhome and set out to tour the Southwest. We had heard about the Seat of Power in Sedona, and were excited to experience it for ourselves.

By a stroke of luck, or a smile from Divine Providence, we managed to find the Wings of the Wind property. We had no map, the roads were poorly marked, and there were no identifying signs. But we drove right to it!

The memory of the three-plus hours we spent talking with the Caretaker in the living room, asking question after question, inspires me to this day. When we first walked into the room, I noticed the air. It was highly charged and vibrating intensely. Through the large picture window on the far side of the room we could see Cathedral Rock, the famous landmark, just beyond Oak Creek. It was larger than life. 

But looking through the vortex passing through the living room—the spiritual current streaming down from the God Plane—the scene took on an ethereal quality. Cathedral Rock was swimming before our vision.

To me, it felt like the diameter of the spinning vortex extended approximately fifteen feet outward in all directions from the center of the room. Lining the walls were drawings of Vairagi ECK Masters, some of whom I’d heard or read about; of others, I had not. Most were done in pencil, but a few had been drawn with colored pencils, too.

After being in the presence of the Caretaker and standing in the vortex passing through the living room, I was unable to sleep that night. I can only imagine what Gary experienced over the course of several years.

How to Get Gary’s Free Ebook

In conclusion, I’d like to thank Gary for jogging my memories of Hawaii and for sharing the story of how Howard found Eckankar through the miracle of the flying book. I told him that I’d found Spiritual Adventures at the Seat of Power captivating. If you are interested in obtaining a free copy, you can request a PDF from the following email address: 

[email protected]
Please type “Gary’s Free Book” in the subject line.

1. Gary Reynolds, Spiritual Adventures at the Seat of Power, p. 1.
Definitions of the terms Seat of Power, Living ECK Master, and Rod of ECK Power can be found in ECKopedia: The ECKANKAR Lexicon on pages 247, 158, and 236 respectively. The Vairagi ECK Masters are also also explained on page 313 of the same book.
2. Reynolds, Spiritual Adventures, p. 5
3. Reynolds, Spiritual Adventures, p. 7

Please note: This article is a reflection of the author’s and contributor’s own spiritual understandings and does not speak for any spiritual path, teacher, or religion. “Fair use” of any copyrighted terms registered by Eckankar does not imply endorsement by that organization.

More posts by Michael Avery can be found here.