Etched Into Our Memories

Painted Rocks site in Arizona

"Line by line, moment by moment, special times are etched into our memories in the permanent ink of everlasting love in our relationships." 

Gloria Gaither

Ninety miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona there's a spectacular petroglyph site that features over 800 images etched into basalt boulders by the Hohokam people.  On an incredibly hot day in August, I visited there with my teachers, Maria and Lynda Yraceburu on our way back to San Diego, capping off our trip to Canyon de Chelly.  It was at least 104° with waves of heat shimmering the blacktop in the distance into a mirage of oily wetness on the roads.  Hot enough to cook eggs on your car hood.

Maria serenades rocks

Needless to say, we didn't stay out looking at the rocks for long.  No water is available on site, you have to bring your own, and boy, do I recommend that!  For an utter lack of humidity rivaled the soaring temperature.

Maria showed us depictions of snakes, spirals, concentric circles, ladders, spider webs and animals.  It was a spectacular gallery, to me as symbolically rich as any art gallery.  Full of mystery.  Why here?  Why this amazing display of so many stories, messages, and symbolic imagery?  It was like dropping into an early day chat room featuring a very lively discussion session.  The historic/cultural marker displayed a few of the images with attendant speculations on their meanings. 

I remember being torn between wanting to linger and absorb the wisdom of the rocks, and feeling like I was about to meltdown.  Maria pulled out her wooden flute and echoed back to the stories in stone our presence--letting the ancestors know someone still comes to look, listen and learn.  Softly serenading grandmothers and grandfathers of old with a song of thanksgiving, praise and honoring.

Painted Rocks

The secrets of the first four worlds spread out before us on the ground, at the dawning of the world to come.  We were walking the edge between the 4th world of soul sickness and ushering in the 5th world of peace--the great coming together.  Weaving an energetic web, making relations, and allowing our non-linear minds to reach out and fill our cups from well of a wavering mirage.  The images and experience etching their way into my heart-mind.