“Essentially the conscious circle is an intense zone of imaginal interchange in which advanced beings on both sides of the form/formless divide –i.e., some still in their physical bodies, others no longer so—join hands across the realms for a mutual exchange of wisdom, tempering, blessing, protection, and occasionally course correction.  You might look at it like at it as a kind of ‘bodhisattva bandwidth…”[i]

The only day that had weather during our stay in Glacier National Park was our third day, which happened to coincide with the birthday of my brother, Troy.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, our first trip out to Glacier in 1995, was just a few months after his death.  So, the weather was apropos as far as that goes.  My sitting place by Lake McDonald was turbulent that morning.  The dawn sky was windy and the surface of the lake had white-caps on it.  The atmosphere was strong and demanding.  I tried to stay with it in the prayer practice.  I was struck by how quick the weather changes here in the mountains.  It started to drizzle just as I finished my body movements.

Since the weather was questionable, we knew that visibility would be iffy.  With that in mind, we had a leisure morning drinking coffee in the lobby of the lodge and having breakfast there.  Our stay at Lake McDonald Lodge was ending the next day, and we were scheduled to move over to Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish, Montana, which was a little under 30 miles away.  With that in mind, we decided to drive over and locate the lodge, so that we would not have to be bothered with that the next day.

The drive took us through the quaint town of Columbia Falls and past the turnoff to the airport in Kalispell.  We had a bit of difficulty finding the Lodge and ended up in an upscale neighborhood.

Finally, we did find it, and decided then to head out to the North Fork area of Glacier National Park.

We had been out there before in 2016 and seen the beautiful Bowman Lake area.  Now we were heading toward the Kintla Lake area, which is the furthest Northwest point you can take by vehicle in Glacier National Park and very close to the Canadian border.

The jeep came in handy for this drive, as the North Fork Road is unpaved for several miles after you leave Columbia Falls. Although it was partly sunny, we could see from the sky in the distance that the weather was very active in the mountains.

The North Fork runs just adjacent to Flathead River, which is the park boundary for many miles, before you get to the park entrance.

Just before you get to the park entrance, there is a junction named Polebridge.  We stopped there, as we had in 2016, at a mercantile store, which carried souvenirs and more famously is known for its Huckleberry Bear Claws.

A saloon, along with chickens in the yard and a water tank covered with decals from all over the world completes the touristy junction just outside the park entrance.

After a brief stopover there, we entered the park and headed up the unpaved road to Kintla Lake.  With the mountains to our right, we crossed golden meadows for several miles before turning East onto the road that would take us to the lake.

After arriving at the lake, the weather continued to be overcast, and so we decided to take a short hike around the closest end of the lake.  The dim light through the trees gave the forest and flora rich color.

After this short hike around the end of the lake, we were treated to a rainbow over the lake.  Just as in 2016, when we had come over to this side of the park to see Bowman Lake, here again was a rainbow -the rainbow that has symbolized mom’s presence bowed upon us was present again now, just as in 2016.

The rainbow was not over the mountain, but rather hovered above the lake, hazing just below the weather line like an intersecting arc across the mountain – activating the middle!

It seems that each time we come to this sacred park, there is life and death touching in an embodied and transformative way.  Yet, there are no words to describe it.

What is this mysterious interchange.  Mom and more…Troy…and more…Leonard…me…and more…a people, a land…spirit, wind, snow, lake and mountain.  Is this the conscious circle as Cynthia speaks of it?  Of what service is this?  What service is being given and what is being requested?   This Bodhisattva Bandwidth, which is a gift that does not come as prize, but as simply the vehicle within which the work of service is to be done.

“The whole notion is by nature evolutionary, incarnational, and collective.”[ii]

[i] Cynthia Bourgeault, Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey into the Imaginal Realm (Shambhala: 2020), 140.

[ii] Ibid., 140-141.