Healing Arches in the Newspaper
Klamath Falls' Moore Park healing arch soothes spirit
ZAK KEENEY For the Herald and News Dec 3, 2024
Visitors to Moore Park in Klamath Falls have noticed a unique new monument that raises awareness of domestic violence and provides solace to its survivors.
A frequenter of the city park with her two children, Erin Rae is a domestic abuse survivor, artisan, spiritualist and founder of the Restoring Humanity Collective, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive support for individuals and families affected by trauma, neurodivergence and domestic violence by fostering environments that promote healing, education, artistic expression and safe housing. Rae has built what she calls a healing arch off the Ratcamp Trail on Moore Mountain.
A follower of yogi Michael Grab who specializes in therapeutic rock balancing, a contemplative yoga practice of stone arrangement involving patience, problem-solving and adaptation to arrange and balance stones that cultivates a meditative presence for the practitioner and creates an artistic display for passersby. Rae said she has stacked many rocks before and, while demonstrating the art to a family friend with her children, was inspired to build an arch.
"It's something I've always wanted to try, but never accomplished,'' she said. "It requires an excruciating amount of patience and a steady hand."
Held together by nothing but gravity and friction, the arch made by Rae was described as a trial and error process of rock selection to align, pile and wedge the rocks to build the structure.
"Once you're locked into your "spiritual seat,'' it's almost like the rocks begin talking to you and the structure sort of points to what rock will and won't work,'' Rae said.
Completed on an afternoon in November, Rae would return to the arch to see if it had survived the nights of rain and heavy winds that were plaguing the Klamath Falls area around that time. To her continued surprise, the arch remained, and on one of her visits, she remembered the advice she was given from local reiki healer Renee Frye of the Sacred Sol Healing Institute.
"During a session I had with her, she recommended to me to write all the negative thoughts and emotions I was carrying with me on flat rocks and take those rocks to a river and toss them in, giving that negativity to Mother Nature,'' Rae said. "I took inspiration from her as to what I did next."
Using a permanent marker, Rae wrote on the bottom of the Healing Arch negative words associated with the emotional duress and longtime impacts that survivors of abuse deal with such as hurt and pain. On the upper half she wrote positive affirmations and words of encouragement.
"People will interpret it how they will, but to me all the crap is down here and we as survivors don't have to carry it anymore, while the arch represents our new future,'' Rae said.
Leaving behind the marker she wrote with, Rae was surprised that another person had come by the Healing Arch and added their own words, an act she encourages all visitors to do.
"It made my heart explode with joy when I saw that,'' Rae said. "Domestic violence is an epidemic that hopefully will stop one day, and it needs to be seen and felt more."
In the state of Oregon, according to the secretary of state's office, over a third of adults in Oregon experience domestic violence in their lifetimes, and nationwide, intimate partners are responsible for approximately one in five homicides. From 2009 through 2019, Oregon's 393 fatal domestic violence incidents resulted in 532 death. In 2020, a survey by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that at least 32% of adults in families with children in homeless shelters were survivors of domestic violence. Beyond direct injuries caused by the abuser. victims and survivors may experience other physical effects associated with chronic pain and trauma. and oftentimes are at an increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. depression and suicide.
Rae escaped from her situation in 2020 after her autistic son. 4 years old at the time was strangled by her abuser.
"I hold on to love, light and gratitude.'' she said. "We as survivors have to remember that things are happening to us. not because of us. I hope that when someone sees the healing arch they can relate and realize that. I hope if they are being abused that it inspires them to get to a safer place for themselves because everyone deserves safety. peace and dignity."
The healing arch can be found off the Ratcamp Trail inside Moore Park with the trailhead starting northeast of the disc golf course. To learn more or get involved with the Restoring Humanity Collective, visit the organization's website
restoringhumanitycollective.org
or by emailing healingarches@gmail.com