Yesterday, I hiked a trail that I had been on a few times
before. The greater area where I was is
called the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, and the area I hiked from is the White
Reef Trailhead. There are quite a few
trails that branch off from there, and I have been trying to explore all of
them, especially since the spring wildflowers are in bloom, and I am having a
great time trying to identify all of the ones that I can. You have already seen many of my photos of
this area, with the white sandstone reef, the red cliffs and the snow covered
mountains behind.
Each time I go there, I almost expect that the trailhead and
parking lot will be closed off, since Washington County, the next one south of
here, has asked that their state parks be off limits to all non-county
residents. But this is not a state park,
and I routinely run into people riding bikes or horses, or walking their
dogs. In fact there has been a sign at
the entrance that says that this is a very busy time of year, and to please
park in the designated areas and not on the side of the road. Ha!
The last few times I have gone there, there has been only one other car
in the parking lot! I guess people are
taking the stay at home suggestion seriously.
This area has obviously been inhabited in the past, as there
are several places that I have hiked through where there are lithics scattered
on the ground, meaning that the ancient inhabitants were chipping local stone to make spear
points and arrow heads. There is a ruin
that one can hike to, and also that extensive petroglyph panel that I had written
about in a prior post. These all have
previously been labeled Anasazi, but the current trend is to label these sites
as belonging to the Ancestral Puebloans.
The modern descendants of these people are the Hopi, Zuni, and all of
the Puebloan tribes along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico. There are 2 year round creeks here also,
which makes it a prime habitation location.
As regular readers
know, I have written extensively about the sacred sites I have visited just across
the border into Utah from where I used to live.
These include archeoastronomy alignments, rock art, standing stones,
villages, kivas, and stone circles. There
is so much like that in the 4 Corners area that quite a few people retire there
just to enjoy archaeological field trips.
In light of that, I didn’t expect a lot of that in my new area.
So yesterday, I repeated most of a trail that I had hiked
before, and then added an extra extension that I will explore further next time. On the way back, I was on a trail on top of a
sandstone ridge called Leeds Reef that I had used maybe 3 times before, so I
was not really looking for anything new and exciting. Just hauling it back to my car. Suddenly, off to my left just off of the
trail, I saw a stone circle outlining a round sandstone outcropping. That stopped me in my tracks. Had this always been there and I didn’t
notice it, or was this something that some hikers had just created? Nevertheless, it had the energy of a sacred
site. It would be a perfect place to
just sit and meditate or tune into nature.
On top of that, it was within sight of the big petroglyph panel that was
on top of the next ridge to the west.
Hmmm! Here is a link to my post on that.
I decided to wander and explore, because if this were a
sacred site of some sort, there might be other indications here. We all have a guidance system that can lead
us to our intended target, no matter what that may be. (That is how I ended up here in Cedar City!) Sure enough, I didn’t have to go very
far. This is what I found.
First of all, there were very few big rocks exposed like
this in this area, so it would be a perfect place for something special to be
created. I headed over to the first big
rock, and looked behind it to find the second smaller rock. I was
kind of shocked, as I was looking at the classic male and female archetypes of the
natural kingdom that were revered in shamanic ceremonies. The female is always wider and rotund, and
the male is generally skinnier and pointed, although this male rock was more
like a phallus in shape.
What clinched
the deal was the bowl shaped scoop on the top of the female rock.
The feminine has always been revered more
than the masculine in most native traditions, and this is where offerings were
made. I was thrilled. Here is a place that was easy to get to and
where I can do my own ceremonies. After
tuning in and giving my gratitude and appreciation to this pair of sacred
rocks, I left a small offering in the bowl.
It is also worth noting that there might be some sort of
alignment between this site, the petroglyph panel on the next ridge, and
perhaps the Summer Solstice sunset behind the mountains beyond.
This is not the first time I have discovered a pair of
masculine and feminine boulders in a ceremonial location. Here is a link to my post on that, with a
photo below. In that case, the feminine stone was short and squat, and the masculine stone was taller and pointier. There was also a scoop on the top back side of the feminine rock where I left offerings each time I visited, as other people had been doing, too!
As there are no coincidences, John Gray of Mars and Venus fame gave a free meditation that very afternoon after I got home. Perhaps some of you participated. Part of his theme was the balancing of the Masculine and Feminine energies within each of us.
Interesting that as I am writing this, a sublime and sacred
energy is surrounding me. That feels
really good. Perhaps you can tune into one
of the photos and get a similar sensation.
I hope to get back there some time in the next week, and may have more
to report.
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