“Canyon Spirits”

Imagine yourself hiking an unfamiliar trail, and ending up in a shallow canyon with the cliff walls rising on either side of you. The sun has retired behind the distant mountains hours ago, yet your way is lit by the soft glow of the now rising moon. You realize you are standing in the soft sand of a dry creek bed, immediately you worry that this could fill up with rushing water during a rain storm and the rocky sides are too shear to climb out. Calming yourself with the knowledge that it hasn’t rained for a couple of months now, you’re probably not going to drown in a rushing torrent of water, interesting how the mind plays tricks when the light fades. After pushing through a thicket of fledgling trees and brush, you find yourself standing before a rocky outcropping worn smooth by time. In the moonlight the ancient rock appears blue green, and the lichen seems to glow unnaturally in the lunar light. The sudden change in temperature creates a mist that slowly drifts away, the canyon spirits are here tonight. Then before your eyes, a thousand year old patina of ancient images begin to take shape in the soft glow of the full moon. A warm tingling crawls up your spine and settles in the back of your neck. You now are feeling wonder, awe, and fear all at the same time. Now is when some people would remain transfixed, letting the magic of this sacred place wash over them, humbly absorbing the spiritual power and ancient wonder of this holy place. Others would turn on their heels and hightail it back the way they came before the clouds drifted across the moon, obscuring the pathway back…neither choice would be wrong.

Cracks and crevices found in natural rock formations, were often locations for sacred petroglyph images. Ancient shamans reverently etched figures and symbols within and around these places of shadow, because they knew them to be doorways to the spirit world. This open doorway is the passage for ghostly spirits, former humans as well as animals. These robed figures seem to float across the rock surface, unbound by any earthly means, highly decorated and reverently etched into the rock, they represent returning spirits of shamans, which have passed from our world long ago. These ancient shamans are what stood between the people and the mysterious forces of our world and that of the spirits. It is in the realm of the spirits that a shaman sought to make contact with powerful spirits like these. This was done carefully and reverently, with the hope of acquiring wisdom and help for his people.