More.....

Yesterday I hiked on the trail where I found the Male and Female boulders a week ago.  It was a delightful day, partly cloudy and warm.  I was taking my time as I had been photographing spring wildflowers that were just popping out.  I took the same route that I did before, but today my experience was quite a bit different. 

As I moved along, I was keeping track of the huge petroglyph panel that was on the opposite ridge.  At about the point where I was approaching the opposite position, I came upon this rock arrangement. 

It is hard to tell if this is an ancient site, or if some hikers had piled these rocks up on a boulder.  It also looks like there is an outline of rocks on the ground creating a semi circle.

Once back on the trail, as I got to the opposite position and looked to my right, it appeared that the  shrubs had been removed and an open path like area was left, leaving the petroglyph panel location clearly visible.  Note the squarish outcropping on the opposite ridge. 

I walked over to near the edge of the ridge that I was on, and discovered a pretty impressive rock outcropping. 

It looked like a perfect spot to sit and contemplate the energy of the rock art panel that was opposite.  I can just imagine what kind of ceremonies may have taken place there.   Since this was a direct east/west positioning, it could be an Equinox alignment. There was a very nice Englemann's hedgehog cactus growing out of a crack in the outcropping.

Working my way back to the hiking path, I saw something fantastic that had eluded me last week.  Here was a boulder that had obviously been unearthed and stood on its side.  What was this???  I had never seen anything like this before.  Here are photos from several angles. 

 If you look carefully at the photo below, you can see the petroglyph panel location in the distance.

Apparently, the more uniform brown side had been lying in the dirt face down, and the darker and more eroded side with the lichens had been facing up and exposed to the elements.  The fantastic part was the ring of caliche that had formed where the top soil abutted against the boulder as it was lying flat on the ground.  This is a calcium carbonate accumulation that forms as water evaporates.  It mainly occurs in arid and sandy areas. 

So I took some time to tune in, and definitely felt that magical ceremonies were done here.  I was looking at the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious, the known physical world and the unknown world of spirit.  Perhaps alchemy had been done here to bring the spiritual into the physical world.  The Ancestral Puebloans all the way up to the current Native American tribes did ceremonies for fertility, rain and abundant crops. It also looked like this boulder had been standing upright in this position for a very long time.  There was no evidence of scrape marks or disturbed soil on it or around it. 

My next stop was the flat circular rock outcropping that was outlined in smaller rocks.  I did not have time to tune into the energy here the other day, so I took the time to do this now. 

Fantastic.  As I stood in the center facing the petroglyph panel, everything got quiet.  This was mostly internally, as I found that coming to a still center point within to be very easy here.  As I listened to the silence, I began to hear a very high pitched and almost inaudible sound.  It reminded me of those silent dog whistles that only they can hear.  I do not know if the sound was internal or external to my body, either.  I also do not know if it was always there and I was just noticing it now, or if it was a brand new phenomenon.  It felt otherworldly.  Clearly, more to explore here! 

 

Lastly, I visited the Male and Female stones and communed with them for a bit. 

This kind of site can be used to balance the male and female energies within.  To do this, I stood between them and put my right hand on the Male stone and my left hand on the Female stone.  Of course, giving and feeling gratitude and appreciation while doing this facilitates the process.  We all need to be balanced within our own male and female inner aspects, and I could feel that happening as I connected with these archetypal energies.  I then left an offering in the scoop on the top of the Female stone, and headed back down to the trailhead.  Wow!   Maybe I should say that I floated back to the trailhead! 

One might say that hikers created some of what I have described, and certainly the piles of medium sized rocks are probably contemporary.  But why here?  It is clear that there was a long standing presence by the Ancestral Puebloans in this area because of the year round water that is still available, in addition to the excavated ancient ruins that are not far away.  I do believe that I stumbled upon an ancient sacred site, one that made use of the already existing natural features of the land, as most of them usually do.  I will have to keep a look out for any local archaeologist that can give me more information. 

In the mean time, I am still enjoying the residue of the energy from my experiences of yesterday.  Perhaps I can do more wandering the next time I am on that trail!