This is a continuation of the last post on the Witness and the Wisdom Keeper. The day after our
group explored the ancient Dance Plaza with the nearby male and female
monoliths anchoring that sacred space, we went in a different direction to
another sacred site. This was a place
that I had only visited once a few years ago.
It was with a different and more experienced eye that I approached it
now.
The hike almost to the top of a rock strewn hill was
somewhat strenuous but very rewarding as the hillside was covered with blooming
springtime wildflowers. I had been
searching for the Utah penstemon in bloom for several years now, and was suddenly
surrounded by them! What a magical
sight. After spending some time
photographing them I caught up to the rest of the group at our destination.
The site we were investigating is composed of a super
massive monolith which sits on the north end of a carefully crafted stone
circle. There is an entrance into the
circle to the left of the monolith, and a pointed standing stone in the wall of
the circle directly opposite that stone.
Behind the place where the circle can be entered, there is a passageway
between some rocks that leads out to what I guessed to be an alcove or waiting area for whomever was to
conduct the ceremonies here. This was traditional
at many different ancient sites in the southwestern US, as the ceremonial did
not want to mingle with the participants before the ceremony. He or she would want to make a grand entrance
as soon as the crowd was settled in.
If you look at the massive rock in the photo, you can see
what looks like a mouth about 1/3 of the way up from the ground. That is actually a large “scoop” in the rock
with several smaller scoops inside of it.
Below that scoop is a white band of rock which actually forms a ledge to
sit on. While the others were busy
mapping the site and taking measurements and calculating alignments, I sat on
that seat to do my thing. It didn’t take
too long to realize that I was sitting on the spot from which the ceremonies were
conducted. That is why I labeled it “The
Shaman’s Altar”.
After settling in, I tuned into the sublime vibration of
this place. Even Virginia was having trouble
with her GPS and compass because of the energy that was being generated there. Undoubtedly, this is another ancient huaca consisting
of a natural energy vortex with man made features added to it. I
could just image the whole monolith decked out with ceremonial objects that could
be placed on ledges and hung from stony knobs.
I then reached behind me and put my hand into the largest of
the smaller scoops. I immediately felt
the energetic residue of a liquid that had been there many hundreds of years
ago. It felt wet, even though there was
no liquid in it when we were there. Was
this scoop used to store a sacred liquid for some sort of anointing?
After tuning into the type of ceremony that might have been
here, I got a strong sense of coming together in community and united
purpose. The individuals would be merged
into one group body through ceremony. What
a tight knit group indeed! Of course,
this would be necessary for their survival, and the fertility of the clan and abundance
of their crops. We modern humans are
such individualists that it is hard to imagine living this way.
Before I got up, I glanced to my right past the smaller
boulders that were near the entrance to the circle. No surprise, but I was looking right at the
Dance Plaza on that baldy hill perhaps a mile away in the distance. Were ceremonies done in both places at the
same time? Were bonfires built there so
that the sites could locate each other in the dark? Were we looking at alignments with either the
solstices or equinoxes? Clearly this was
a society that performed many kinds of sacred ceremony for the benefit of their
community. We might take a page from
their book and do the same.
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