Native Spirits & Spirit Pennies of Skamania Coves

Native Spirits & Spirit Pennies story begins here:

Please note, out of respect for their privacy, I do not share the names of the two spiritually gifted women I had the honor of experiencing the following events.

In the spring of 2009, I invited a friend to come visit the Coves and stay with me in the completed Riverhouse. As we walked the property, I enthusiastically explained my husband’s vision for the land and houses which had been torn down and their foundations in the process of getting set.

At one point, I glanced over at her and could tell she was disturbed by something.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Cinda, there is bad energy here,” she said. “Wow…. the spirits of the land are not happy.”

Confused and a bit frightened, I wanted more information. My friend has a gift for sensing energy and spirits, something I didn’t.

Concerned, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“The spirits are aggravated. With the busyness of the highway north and the noise and banging of the passing trains south, this land is sandwiched between this hectic, unsteady energy. The Native spirits of this land are anxious. They are not happy.”

I’ve known this woman a long time. I trusted her intuition.

“I don’t want angry Native spirits! We’re here to make things better! Crap! What can we do to appease them?”

What do irritated spirits do anyway? Were we in the center of another Blair Witch Project?

Part of Scott’s vision is to create a peaceful, calming place for visitors to enjoy and replenish their own spirits by taking in the beauty and serenity of this place. We did not want to scare customers away with angry, irritated, anxious spirits.

“I’ve heard they love sparkly objects!” she blurted. “Perhaps you can hang sparkly things in the trees to distract them?”

I had visions of the mighty firs and magnificent white oaks with tinsel hung and twisted throughout their branches. This was not an option.

“I am NOT going to hang trash in our trees! There must be another way to make them happy.”

That night, I tossed and turned. I sent messages to the land spirits, making it up as I went, trying to assure them that all was well, to please not be angry. When morning finally came and with coffee in hand, the two of us walked down to the river. With each step, my friend spoke to the spirits. I have no idea what she said, but trusted it went well because when we arrived at the High House, we found the answer we were seeking.

As we stood on top of the High House’s newly laid foundation, I pointed out where the bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and kitchen would be built. The High House is nestled behind a steep hill, which offers secluded privacy and yet it still has incredible views up and down the river. It is called the High House because it sits at the highest point on the property and we imagined sitting in a hot tub, taking in that view.

That’s when something caught my eye. Something sparkly. I bent over to take a closer look.

“Look! Pennies!”

“Pennies?” my friend asked, surprised. “Why is there a pile of pennies left here?”

“I have no idea!” I picked them up and counted. There were twelve pennies. “I swear, I didn’t see them when we arrived, and they weren’t here yesterday.”

Note: this is the part of the story where everyone asks, what were the dates on the coins? I did not look. I didn’t know it was a thing…that the dates might have meant something.

“Hey, could these be considered sparkly things? Could we scatter them around the property to distract the spirits?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes!” She answered enthusiastically. “They love coins!”

“We have six houses! We could put one at every front and back door! Even if the house isn’t built yet, we could hide it where the doors would be! Would this work?”

“Yes! Let’s do it!”

We walked the property and at each house we offered two pennies to the land and the Native spirits.

It wasn’t until years later that we realized the importance of that choice we made. Native spirits do like sparkly things, especially pennies.

STORY CONTINUES >>>>> CHAPTER TWO: PENNIES ARE MULTIPLYING