“Follow the River”

The beautiful jade green hue of this prehistoric rock and the brilliantly colored lichen, create a surreal canvas for these sacred images. This ancient site takes on a dreamlike quality due to the natural formations of lichen and the powdery calcium-like deposits that partially obscure these petroglyphs. The ever changing white deposits create the illusion of a mist drifting at the water’s edge and swirling around the robes of spirits emerging from the spirit world. This alone is evidence that the spirits are still present here, continuing to alter these canvases of rock and drifting in and out of our world.

A trio of wispy shaman figures appear in a shallow depression in the rock. Their hands are raised in prayer and their flowing robes disappear in the mist. High above is a terraced cloud image carefully etched into the rock, and perched above the cloud is a goggle-eyed Mesoamerican rain deity. These images are related directly to the abundance of water. It is the spirals that suggest the journey that lies before these animals as they bound across this ancient rock, following a river that flows from the heavens. The spiral represents a journey in the spiritual sense as well as the physical. The double ended spiral is often interpreted as journey out as well as the return journey.  All of these images make it easy to imagine a nearby stream or river flowing down from far-off mountains or just appearing from a spring in the sweltering desert. If so, this sacred place must certainly be a prayer for the continued flow of this life giving water. The hand prints are a final prayer placed upon this ancient rock. They are key to the endurance of this site because when a shaman places his or her handprints upon the sacred face of nature, they have created a personal message to the spirits that reside there.