Gateway 2 Ranch By Irene Butler –

Prima’s powerful flanks move in an easy rhythm as she nears me, her rich brown coat glistens in the sunlight. I see my reflection in her gentle eye as she puts her nose close to my face and whinnies a greeting. Paschar then nuzzled in, followed by Micah. Amongst these Warmbloods (sport horse breeds), I notice two Shetlands, and…what? a bull! – his stocky form nonchalantly munching hay alongside several large equines.

“That’s Tesoro, meaning treasure in Spanish,” said Liz Mitten Ryan, “and yes, he thinks he’s part of the herd.” Hearing his name, he looks our way and trots over, no doubt associating Liz with fun and a carrot treat. The 15 horse/1 bull Ryan menagerie also includes 4 dogs and 2 cats that romp around like inseparable buddies.

My husband Rick and I are at Gateway2 Ranch on the outskirts of Kamloops, British Columbia, owned by horse whisperer, author and artist Liz and her architect husband Kevin. As a breeder and trainer, Liz hopes the old method of “breaking” a horse to teach them skills will be replaced in every instance by the gentle and respectful horse whisperer techniques whereby this highly intelligent animal and trainer “build” on each others strengths and become one in a cooperative way with superior results.

The Ryans were intuitively drawn from their small hobby farm in Gibsons, BC, to this 320 acre ranch 10 years ago, fulfilling Liz’s dream of being encased in nature, where her horses could run free, and her dogs could bark without disturbing the neighbours.
Secluded for a decade with her equines in the rolling grasslands, forests, and endless sky, Liz spent her days running, playing, training, observing these joyful, reckless creatures until she knew their every nuance and became in her own words, “one with the herd” – a life-changing spiritual journey.

I feel from here her story takes on twists that are Oprah Show worthy. Even given her close bond with her horses, Liz was surprised and shocked when she began to write about her experiences and her horses by a type of telepathy or channelling began to communicate their perspective on the interconnectedness of all things and becoming one with the creator of all things – “God”, “The All”, or what some spiritual leaders call “Universal Consciousness”.

“My animals’ message to humans is that they want to be recognized as equal spirits,” says Liz. “They feel humans have been steadily removing themselves from the interconnection of everything in the universe – the divine spark of God in all things. They say the way to do this is to listen to our intuition or higher consciousness and be in our truth, as each animal species lives their truth in the way given to them by God.”

Liz has co-authored four award-winning books in three years with her horses (with contributions by her dogs and cats, and images of her paintings) – “One with the Herd”, “Unbridled”, “Sabbatical”, and “The Truth According to Horses”. These books won eight Independent Publishing awards at Book Expo America in Los Angeles in 2008. “The Truth According to Horses” was entirely conceived and authored by Premiere Edition (a.k.a. Prima) and the Herd,” says Liz. “It won a Nautilus Book Award for 2009, making Prima the first horse in history to win a literary award.” Other winners of this coveted award include the Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, and Deepak Chopra.

All of these prominent spiritual leaders, the Dalai Lama, Tolle and Chopra speak of universal consciousness and how to realize it. They believe we must transcend from our ego-based state of consciousness to awaken to this higher consciousness, thus melding our physical side with our higher purpose. Liz believes that animals being ego-less more effortlessly drift to this state of oneness with creation.

The realization that the power of the human mind (our thoughts) is much greater than conventional science can acknowledge is increasingly becoming an accepted phenomena. As elucidated in The Secret, a book by Rhonda Byrne, the “Secret” of the universe is that it is governed by the law of attraction; simply put – what you think about, you bring about; that our minds shape the world around us. She says great people throughout history (such as Socrates, Sir Isaac Newton, & Victor Hugo) knew this and shared it in their writings. Eckhart Tolle in his book, “A New Earth” similarly says, “the key to the creative use of mind and to the conscious manifestation of form was given to us by Jesus: ‘Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ (John 14:6).”

Today’s spiritual gurus believe mankind is on the brink of transitioning into a new era of heightened awareness and many believe that people, animals, and the earth itself are already poised to reveal ways of gaining insight into this oneness with the universe.

Are you ready for the next Gateway2 twist? More mind-boggling puzzle pieces have been added to the baffling communication between Liz and her horses. The Ryans’ have long been aware that this parcel of land “felt” different. Liz attributed this to their emotional ties to the ranch, but when visitors mentioned strange sensations, she invited Billa, a renowned shaman to walk the land. Billa detected two vortexes using L-rods (dowsing tools used to detect auras of energy fields).

Equipped with a set of L-rods, Liz leads Rick and I to Billa’s findings. At the top of a hill my breath catches at a peculiar spectacle. A solitary boulder that may have met with an ancient chiselling tool governs the rise; thick green and orange lichen fill the indentations giving alien features to this sizeable stone-head. Descending from the boulder a strip of flattened grass connects three stone protrusions in a straight line like a giant’s game of connecting the dots, the last being an aged cairn directly in front of a sizeable rock circle – the first vortex.

Holding the L-rods like loaded pistols, I watch as on their own volition they swing straight-out on either side indicating a mega energy field. Putting the rods aside I step into the circle to peer down between the rocks to the almost hidden hollows that go deep into the earth. A low burr-type cactus that grows no where else on this property grips my soles, seemingly to protect this ‘fortress’. Mullein, some standing like sentinels and others lying down to form an X over the mouth of the hollows add yet another protective tone. I wonder what secrets this anomaly holds.

Adjacent to this fortress and near where the property ends at Stump Lake is where another of the earth’s dynamics was discovered by Billa. We walk with Liz up a spine of a path that ends in two curved rocky ledges forming a head-like shape which is broken to the right and left by paths, as if ears. A higher mass of rock bulges like a third eye at the place the “head” ends in a not-too-steep cliff – the second vortex.

We climb behind to see the full scope of nature’s powerhouse that in some unknown time had drawn lightening leaving a gigantic tree charred and standing upright, and now acts as a channel to release this earth energy into the ether. Liz holds the L-rods which immediately swing out to either side, as they did at the fortress.

Liz invites me to sit in the eye of the vortex, a sheltered rocky nook that faces the lake. I was overcome with an oxymoronic feeling of “peaceful agitation”; a deep soothing calmness with a simultaneous high-octane surge, as if my very cells were racing; the weirdest sensation I’d ever experienced.

With our materialistic bias in science, there is no scepticism when something can be measured, and since Geologists have mapped out and measured the earth’s energy fields they are considered fact. It is scientific gospel that everything in the cosmos (rocks, plants, insects, animals, humans, planets, moons, suns) resonate or vibrate at different energy levels, and that energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable (Einstein’s E=mc2).

Yet I, like many, find it difficult to believe this interconnection of everything in the cosmos with my Western society instilled values of individualism and separateness, combined with a 3rd dimension perspective, which humans are believed to mostly resonate at.

Dimensions (how we see things -height, width, depth) is but one explanation for levels of consciousness. It is said humans may also resonate to the 4th dimension (where awareness of this universal oneness begins), and beyond to the 5th (where our sensitivities align with this connection to all things, or universal consciousness). Although reaching universal consciousness has always existed, the ease to resonate to these higher levels is thought to be evolving to a greater degree. There is hype about ‘indigo children and adults’ and ‘crystal children’ who have an innate capability to resonate to these higher dimensions and who are leading the human race to this heightened consciousness.

Another interpretation of the land’s dynamics recently came to light. The human body according to yoga philosophy has chakras, or centres of spiritual energy. The Earth also has a chakra system. Days after we left the ranch an expert in Geomancy (divination by means of lines/figures/geographic features) found additional prominent energy fields which he mapped out in chakras; the sizable “alien-face” boulder being a crystal skull and a heart chakra. He claimed this land was the more complete with full spectrum natural wonders than any he had ever witnessed.

With these discoveries added to Billa’s previous finds, Billa and Liz had a simultaneous epiphany. This land’s bizarre mix of dynamics seemingly brings about a crossing of dimensions that Liz says, “It’s like being given a hologram of how to awaken from our physical to our immortal selves.” Liz feels the powerful forces on this land may have heightened her and the horses’ capability to resonate at a higher level and clear the channels of communication – the link that allowed this horse whisperer to be directly inspired by equine wisdom.

Sharing this land flowing with earth energy was a natural progression. For the first time during the summer of 2009, Liz along with practitioners, including Billa, offered workshops to guide participants on their individual spiritual journey.

If it is true, and I think it is, that mankind is on the brink of transitioning into a new era of spiritual awareness and that people, animals, and the earth itself are poised to reveal ways of gaining insight into “the secret” of the universe and what it offers each and every one of us – I dare say, through Liz and her animals, Gateway2 is one of these earth locations so poised to unfold its secret behind “the secret”.

Rick and I left the ranch swaddled in Liz and Kevin’s warm blanket of hospitality, rosy cheeked from our rambling about the land, light-hearted from frolicking with the Ryan’s animal family…. and with much to ponder.