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!
Straight off I saw large multiple faces in the Boulder I have face depictions from the cliffs and monuments of southwest on my vision quest shields they jump out at me. that whole area is fabulous you must have some old connections to it would love to hear more from your assesments from future visits thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you Alannah!
ReplyDelete