More Communing!

We are in the midst of our annual birding festival here in Cortez, and talk about communing with nature!  Birding every day is a bit much, so I took the day off today and will go out again tomorrow.  This post, then, is a continuation of the last post on the very interesting sites I visited with my friends last Sunday and again on my own a few days later.  Keep in mind that I am no expert on this, especially with this second site that was visited.  I just enjoy visiting these sacred sites, tuning in and getting impressions on some aspects of what went on there in the distant past. 

At this site which is just down the road from the one that I described in the last post, one is greeted by the rock art above which is on a rock that sits on a level sandy area at the bottom of a hill.  The rough estimate of it's age is between 1100 and 1500 years old.  The local inhabitants were just getting into making pottery back then, having previously used mainly baskets for carrying food and water.  I am not very knowledgeable about rock art, but I have to say that I have never seen anything quite like this.  It does look very animal like.

As I went around the base of the hill, I noticed a standing stone that was placed at what felt like the entrance to the "space". 

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the stone was carved out on top and down the back side to create a water feature.

Finding enough water had been an issue for the people who lived in this area up until about 1280 AD, when the whole area was abandoned because of weather changes and drought, so I assume that water was looked upon as a sacred substance.  I made an offering of water from my water bottle, pouring it onto the top of the stone, and asked permission to enter the site.  The water ran down the back side of the stone in the channel that had been carved for it.  I felt that the permission had been granted.

The top of the hill was calling to me, but before I went up there, I wandered around on the slope a bit.  I found some pretty unique rock art, again not knowing what it meant. 

Now, up top I was in for another surprise. The top of the hill was like a flat sandy bowl surrounded for the most part by huge rock clusters that stuck up creating a sheltered space.  What a perfect place for a small gathering.  The views were 360 degrees in all directions, and one could sit comfortably out of the wind. 

The big surprise was the discovery of another huge monolith that was propped up by a few very small stones.  Wow!!! 

As I was by myself at that point, and getting to the stone would have required scrambling around on loose rocks, I didn't venture closer to inspect it.  That will have to be done at another time.  Since I was in a pretty isolated place, I didn't want to become food for the turkey vultures if I should slip and fall, or get wedged in between some rocks.   I will have to go back with someone who can get closer to the megalith and use a compass to check out it's alignment.  I am guessing that it is aligned with the Summer Solstice sunset, but that is just a rough guess at this point.

So what are we looking at here?  Possibly an ancient culture that honored the Summer Solstice and did ceremony to call in the annual monsoon rains.  They communed with nature and followed the seasons. They payed attention to even the smallest signs or signals.  Back then, if one did not do that, it might mean starvation or death for the whole clan.

The lesson here?  Always pay attention to the signs and messages that come your way.  Listen.  These messages may come from nature, or just as easily from your environment or the people around you.  Follow your gut intuition.  Do not let the multitude of distractions that are sent your way every day divert you from your inner knowingness.  It might mean your survival, too.