The Ring

It was 2015 and I was looking for a retreat center to get away and work on myself. I found an advertisement for a center in Middletown, CA. The ad said it was an old Catholic retreat ground with cabins, a main lodge, a kitchen for cooking vegan food, a spring, and a Yoga center.

I called and spoke to David who sounded like the director of the retreat center. He made it sound very glamorous and told me they had a pool, a spring, a yoga center, meditation room and that a variety of a la carte services were available like massage, energy work, advanced yoga, and so on. I would be staying in a cabin by myself and I was told there would be 11 other guests joining me for the weekend. The price included three meals a day so I signed up and paid for a 4-night, 5-day retreat. It was kind of expensive but I was going through a rough patch and wanted to spoil myself.

I was so excited just to be getting away from my family to work on myself. It was close to a 3-hour drive from Nevada City. When I arrived I remember pulling up to the facility and thinking is this really it? You know how your ego paints a picture of what it’s going to look like? This was far from my vision. The first thing I saw was a large pad that once was a building.

I could see scorched earth and the remnants of a grand fireplace. There had obviously been a fire and the lodge had burned to the ground. Knowing myself well I shut my ego down and did not give any energy to the stream of thoughts telling me this is a dump and where is the spring and so on.

I pulled out my check-in instructions just to make sure I was at the right place. No one was around to greet me and there were no other cars or guests. I read the instructions and the address did match the old weathered sign on the fence post where I pulled in.

Additional instructions mentioned that all the food would be vegan, the schedule of the morning Yoga classes, and an important note to remove all jewelry. Ok, I thought. I was wearing two rings I had made in a high school art class. The first was a simple silver ring I had carved out of wax and cast and poured. The second was an interesting ring that I made from an old bracelet my mother said she got in Iran. It had two sides. One had an image of what looked like a mummy and the other part had an image that looked like a Mayan god complete with a headdress.

Neither of these images looked like it would have come from Iran so I’m not sure where it came from. I had taken the bracelet apart, I removed the thin silver image of the Mayan god and re-incorporated it into a new silver ring.

This ring always drew attention as it was very unique and had an energy about it. I removed both the rings and dropped them into the center console of my Toyota Highlander. This console /glove box was about 8” deep and full of all kinds of papers and miscellaneous stuff. I dropped both the rings in and they disappeared into the abyss of the box.

I started my car and drove up a bit farther, looking for all the other cars of the employees and guests. On the way up I passed the pool David had described as a modern facility with a nice pool. What I saw was an old dilapidated pool from 1950.

Much to my surprise I only found one other car parked outside of a small building so I pulled up there.

It was all very mysterious. “Where was everyone else?” I thought. I went inside and let out a “Hello, anyone here?” No answer. The building was a small kitchen and I could see food was being made. After a few minutes, a young blonde woman with curly hair came in. “Hi, I said.” She greeted me back and I stated: “I’m Rick, I’m here for the retreat I signed up for.” She said: “Oh great, my name is Marsha. I’m the chef and will be preparing all the food for your stay.” She was in the process of making a cauliflower pizza crust and it looked really good.

I asked Marsha: “Where are all the guests and where is David the man who was supposed to lead the groups and the one who took my money?” Speaking of money, it was quite expensive, as I mentioned, so my ego’s expectations were already waning. “Oh,” she said. “I don’t know about the other guests as I’m only the chef but David should be here soon.” I sat down in a chair and said “Ok, I guess I will wait for him here,” as I had no idea which cabin was mine and nor did she.

After about 30 minutes I heard a car pull up and a bald-headed man dressed in all black came in. “Hi,” he said. “I’m David.” I introduced myself and started to ask a few questions. My first question was where are all the buildings I saw on the website including the main lodge where we would be holding our meditations and group work? “Oh,” he said, “yeah that structure unfortunately caught on fire and burned down but don’t worry we will be using the Yoga room for our meeting.” The second question was where are all the other guests? He replied that they were not scheduled to arrive until the afternoon. And then he said: “Let me direct you to your cabin.”

The cabin was only 100 yards from the kitchen building and we walked up to see it. It looked like an old dilapidated cabin from 1950. He opened the door that had no lock on it and said: “Why don’t you get settled and come meet me at the yoga center for an afternoon yoga session.” “Ok,” I said, “I’ll see you in 20 minutes.” He turned around and walked out.

I dropped my backpack and looked around. My ego noticed that the cabin was very dusty and dirty. It had a smell of old clothing that was packed away in a box for years. Kind of a mix between moth balls and an old antique shop. This place was a real dump, my ego said. This is what I get for $350 a night, not including any of the other activities that were all a la carte services. I told my ego to shut the hell up and changed into my yoga outfit consisting of a pair of shorts, a purple crew neck tee shirt, and flip-flops. I walked over to the Yoga building as David called it, following his instructions to cross the bridge over the spring.

I was excited to see the spring as this was their main selling point and the name of the retreat center. Once I saw the bridge I was most disappointed to see that there was no water running under the bridge at all. My ego jumped all over this and was saying WTF where is the spring but once again I silenced this voice and pushed on. As I arrived at the Yoga Center I could see it was just another old cabin. I went inside and looked around and found that it did have a new floor at least but other than that it was an old dusty room.

I asked again: “Where is everyone else?” and David said: “They are coming,” but something seemed amiss. I took his Yoga class. It was very basic. After I went to the kitchen for lunch and had a really nice kale salad, I heard a car pull up and looked outside to see two women get out of their cars. Oh, I thought, the other guests have arrived. I finished lunch and went back to my dusty cabin to relax for a while. It was now 5:00 and dinner was to be served at 5:30.

I went back over to the kitchen, expecting to see some other guests including the two women that had arrived earlier. However, when I went inside there was only one other woman. She looked to be about 50 and had short blond hair. I introduced myself and we started talking. She asked me where everyone else was and I said: “You are the first person other than two women I had seen pull up early today.” She said: “Yes, I saw them when I arrived and overheard them speaking with David.” She said she had overheard them say they were not impressed and told David they wanted a full refund and had no intention of staying at this so-called retreat. Again my ego was screaming, I should leave now but I just told my ego to shut up, this is what is happening and there must be a reason.

The other guest, Linda, and I ate dinner while we chatted in the kitchen. The food was the highlight of this retreat for sure. Shortly after dinner David came in and said “Ok, we are leaving and we will see you in the morning at 8 for Yoga.” Immediately Linda looked very concerned and said: “Wait, are you telling me you are leaving the two of us here alone with no one else?” They looked kind of embarrassed and said well, yes. I again inquired as to where the rest of the 11 guests were. David explained that it was only going to be the two of us. I don’t think there were ever 11 guests and later I found out this whole center had been sub-leased for a week by David and there was no ongoing retreat center here.

I again had to quiet my ego down. I said goodnight to Linda and went back to my room and just told myself to make the best of it. I’m not bailing out, this is all happening for some reason. I pulled out a book to do some reading in this lumpy old bed for a bit and then turned the light off. I woke up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom. I turned the light on and saw some moths flying around the light. When I got back in bed they were still fluttering around the light. I took a swing at them with my hand and of course, hit nothing but the curtain behind me. As soon as my hand struck this old drapery, a swarm of moths came bugging out. I was like wow WTF. I sat up and was amazed by all the different moths. There were little green ones, big brown ones of all kinds of sizes and shapes all buzzing around the light and me. There seemed to be around 30 moths of all sizes and shapes flying around.

I pulled the cover over my head and went back to sleep. I awakened the next morning and saw a few of them on the walls and ceiling. I got up, changed into my yoga clothing, grabbed my mat, and headed over. When I went in David was there with Linda and we spent about an hour doing another yoga class.

I had scheduled a message for that afternoon and was looking forward to that. I went to another old cabin around 2pm for my massage. I was greeted by a gentleman in his 40’s with dark hair. He was very friendly and I asked him how long he had worked with David. He said: “I was just hired for the first time today to come over to give you a massage. I don’t really know David and this is my first time here.” I could hear my ego getting riled up.

The massage was interesting; it was more like energy work than a feel-good massage. Once again Linda and I had dinner together, another kale salad and some type of soup. Linda was expressing that she was not happy with this so-called retreat and said she would be leaving in the morning. I was thinking I have two more nights and once again my ego was saying let’s get the hell out of here.

That evening I retired to my cabin and again it was still just Linda and me. We had both talked about asking for our money back and getting out of there but I was determined to stick it out especially as my ego was so triggered.

It was probably about 2am when I was awakened by the sound of wind and a freak storm that seemed to come in from nowhere. It was really blowing out and suddenly I heard a loud crack followed by a ground-shaking thump. The wind and storm quickly passed and I went back to sleep. The next morning looking around my cabin I saw that a tree had fallen and narrowly missed my cabin. I saw Linda briefly in the morning before she left. We were both shaken up by the freak storm and she had experienced everything I had. She told me that she was leaving after the Yoga class and had asked for her money back but was met with a mixed response from David.

We did the same routine. That was the last I saw of Linda. That afternoon there was a talk about a higher consciousness schedule around 3pm. I went to attend and I was the only one there besides David. My ego was quite triggered and I told David I was not satisfied with any aspect of the retreat. He brushed it off and I sucked it up.

That evening once again he left and I was the only one left. That night around midnight as I lay in bed there was a tremendous shake almost like a bomb went off — just one intense jolt. It was so intense, it shook the entire cabin. I turned the light on. A few moths came out and I could see dust coming down from the ceiling. What the hell was that? I thought. This is getting crazy.

The next morning I asked David if there was an earthquake and he just kind of looked at me strangely. No, he said. I did not tell him about what I had experienced. We were scheduled to go to Harbin Hot Springs and he had me follow him in my car. This was my first time at the springs. It was a lovely ground with an amazing Yoga room and three natural Hot springs pools. When we got back I told David I was done and would be leaving tomorrow and I wanted the balance of my money back. He put up a fight and said he would not return the funds but he would credit me towards another massage. I was in no mood to argue so I agreed to another massage and some energy work. We came to an understanding and that was my last night.

The night passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening, no moth attack, earthquake, or freak wind storm. I packed up my stuff and went to a cabin where I met Jim the energy worker. He did his thing on me and as we chatted a bit more. I learned more about David and how this whole thing was thrown together and marketed as a retreat center. He said this was an old Catholic retreat center from way back in the 50’s. I told him about some of the strange and mystic things I had experienced and he did not seem surprised. “This place is haunted,” he said, “and after the fire, more local people have stories about strange experiences like yours.”

After the session, I grabbed my stuff and headed to my car to get the hell out of there one day early. As I mentioned, I had put my two rings in the glove box and the only other time I had been in my car was to drive to the hot springs. I opened my door and got in with my keys in my right hand. As soon as I sat down I had a strange feeling. I looked down at my hand and the ring with the Mayan face on it suddenly appeared on my thumb.

I sat there staring in disbelief wondering how it got on my thumb and what was going on. I literally sat there for 20 minutes just staring at my thumb. I looked up to the heavens and asked. What the hell is this all about? What is the message? The whole experience really sent me for a loop.

A few months later I was back working on my farm. It was a hot summer day and I looked at my hand and saw that my plain silver ring had mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again while out at the farm. This really bummed me out as I had been wearing this silver ring for over 25 years and now it was gone. I did search around for it but it was like the old needle in a haystack as they say. It never turned up.

About a month after that one day I noticed that the Mayan ring that I wore on my middle finger was also gone. This really sent my head spinning. Both my rings had mysteriously disappeared. It was about a month later when Michelle, a large heavyset man who volunteered at my farm came up to me and said, “Is this yours?” In his hand was my Mayan ring. I was taken aback and said: “Where did you find it?” He told me how he was working in the strawberry patch and sitting right on top of a strawberry leaf was this ring. It made no sense as it was a heavy silver ring. How could it be held by a leaf? I took the ring back and shook it off. A few months later I saw a channeler and asked about the ring. She told me this ring is not to be worn by me and that I should dispose of it. I kept the ring but never wore it again. My take on this is that I was being shown that nothing is as it seems. There is a mysterious force behind the veil and this was one of many mystic tales I have experienced.