Early in the morning of August 15, 1987, phone calls started coming into
The Highlander newspaper in Marble Falls, Texas. People wanted information on the massive convergence of people to sacred sites worldwide  -- rumor was that on August 16 & 17 Enchanted Rock, some 60 miles distant,
would be one of the principal sites in Texas. There was nothing regarding
The Harmonic Convergence, as the event was named, on any of the media. And we received no press releases on the subject. Being something of an authority on Enchanted Rock the assignment was handed to me.

I called the park to reserve a campsite, although I held out little hope. Suddenly, it seemed, everyone was talking about the upcoming event -- except the media. From all indications the park would be filled to capacity. I called anyway and spoke with the superintendent, Warren Watson. Coincidentally, just before I phoned there was a cancellation and I reserved the only available site -- #13,  my favorite. The campsite was tucked away behind a slope along Sandy Creek. Despite that, and hundreds of people milling about, a reporter from the Austin-American Statesman managed, at random, to interview me for their coverage.

I returned home on the afternoon of last day of the event. The deadline was the following morning which meant that I had to write the piece immediately. To understand what happened at Enchanted Rock I needed to know more about mythology. I had all of the necessary books in my library but, frankly, I found the subject boring to the extreme, so I had only given cursory attention to the whole subject. I did have a few of Joseph Campbell’s books which were largely unread.

As I began writing it was if all of the tumblers fell into place. A whole body of knowledge, which I had only faintly apprehended before, presented itself with amazing clarity.  Through some unconscious process I was able to recall the necessary references and located them immediately in my library.  Around two a.m. the following morning Dreaming the Myth Onward was written.

It was from this event I learned the real meaning of synchronicity.

SYNCHRONICITY: My first meeting in 1981 with my mentor, Jamake Highwater, was precipitated by a grant proposal I had written on Enchanted Rock. He was given a copy I sent to a close friend back in New York City who just happened to live across the hall "from this Native American author, Jamake Highwater".

I had only a vague idea of his stature at the time and flattered he took such an interest in my work and recommended me to his editor, Dorothy Briley, at William-Morrow. During our meeting he gave me a note and suggested I contact Betty Sue Flowers.

It was through Jamake Highwater that I was introduced to Joseph Campbell’s work. I bought a couple of Campbell's books but nothing resonated. Flowers, as I learned later, was the editor of Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth and employed at the University of Texas in their graduate studies program. I followed up on Highwater’s recommendation shortly before the Convergence and even then I was ignorant as to her importance.

But wait, there’s more. Less than two years after The Convergence my marriage collapsed and I sought out a therapist to help me through the change. Somehow, I ended up in dream therapy with a woman named Shamaan Ochaum, leader of the Enchanted Rock Convergence ceremony, and the godmother to Dorothy Briley’s child.

Joseph Campbell died on October 31, 1987 -- 45 days after the Harmonic Convergence -- and at the funeral Jamake Highwater delivered the eulogy.

FINAL NOTES: Immediately after the article was published I received a phone call from Bill Fleming who lives near Enchanted Rock. He and his wife Brenda had spent the night of the Convergence in one of the caves near the summit of The Rock where they drummed throughout the night.

Bill told me that, of all the articles he and Brenda read on the event, I was the only journalist who really understood what had happened. Bill, Brenda and I have been the closest of friends ever since. It was the Flemings who let me live on their property rent free when I began publishing Enchanted Rock Magazine back in 1990. And Brenda keyed in this article from the old newspaper clipping.

There were no accurate figures regarding the number of people who converged on the rock.  The totals I used were from a personal estimate of people actually on the main dome.  At the time of the writing I failed to take into account all of the other domes, campsites -- walk-in and remote -- and even the people on the main dome beyond my view.

I remember when climbing The Rock on the evening of the first day and noticing up ahead a line of flashlights like a living string of beads.  I turned around and below me the lights continued down the dome, into the park and and out onto the county road where carlights were converging on Enchanted Rock from both directions as far as the eye could see. The park's superintendent told Bill that they stopped charging and opened the gates (because people were jumping the fence) after the ticket sales reached 7,000. 

--December 24, 2002

The Article: Dreaming the Myth Onward