Lizard-Man Sighting at Chaco Canyon Ruins, New Mexico - 2008

Lizard-Man Sighting at Chaco Canyon Ruins, New Mexico

On May 21, 2008, I continued my personal tour of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.  At 2:00 PM each day, a park ranger or volunteer takes those who are interested on a tour of  Pueblo Bonito, the grandest Pre-Puebloan Indian ruin in all of North America.  Arriving early, I took a self-guided tour around the huge masonry artifact.

 

Built, rebuilt and added to from 800 CE to about 1200 CE, the complex was at its peak around 1100 CE, with large ceremonial kivas, granaries and multi-story dwellings.  Excavated and placed in a state of arrested decay through the judicious use of concrete and native capstones, one can get a good feeling for the grand affect that Pueblo Bonito must have had on tourists and traders in its heyday.

At sundown, many people gather in the great plaza at Pueblo Bonito, perhaps to soak up the spirituality of the site or to commune with the souls of those who made this the ceremonial center of a once-vast culture.  At sundown, I prefer the less crowded sites, where the wind and birds are my only company.

 

This particular afternoon, I decided to take the self-guided tour starting at the end of trail, then making my way back from section to section, “ending at the beginning”, so to speak.  My intuition told me that I might see different things than I would if I took the same old trail in the same old way.

 

About half way around the trail, there was a reward for my iconoclastic approach to the tour.  While people were passing me going the other way, I came across a huge bolder cleft by its fall from the canyon rim.  Upon it was the image of what I would call “Lizard Man”.  Facing west, into the sun, the profile of a half-human, half-lizard was warming himself in the afternoon light.

 

Those who say it cannot be true that a spirit chose to show himself to me that afternoon might want to stick to the paved roads and sanitized attractions of our ubiquitous theme parks.  There, they can rest assured that even if something looks “real”, it is probably “real-fake”. 

 

To those who are interested in meeting Lizard Man or other ancestral Puebloan spirits, take the Pueblo Bonito trail backwards, in place and time.  When you round that corner where he stands, if he wishes to, he will make himself known.  Either way, I assure that he is there.

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By James McGillis at 09:23 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Chaco Canyon 2008 - Camping at a Place of Sand and Rain

On Wednesday, May 21, 2008, I hooked up my travel trailer and drove from Homolovi Ruins near Winslow, Arizona to Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, via Interstate I-40 and Gallup, New Mexico.  During my transit, a cold front swept over the High Southwest deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, providing a forty mile per hour tailwind to my highway travels.  Although I ate dust and sand every time I got out of my truck, the good news was that I got excellent gas mileage.  As I approached my destination, the temperature dropped from 100 degrees f. to 65 degrees f.

 

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, my destination, is located over thirty miles off the nearest paved highway, regardless of which road you travel to get there.  If you are seeking an “off the grid” experience, with no mobile telephone, broadcast TV or electrical services, Chaco might be the place for you.  Gallup, New Mexico is the nearest city, almost 60 miles to the south, so the night sky is as dark as what I experienced camping at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

 

Besides the allure of peace, quiet and solitude away from our over-amped contemporary culture, Chaco Canyon, lies at the nexus of an ancient and long vanished Pre-Puebloan culture, popularly known as the Anasazi.

 

Having visited Chaco Canyon the previous autumn, I wanted to see and experience its stark beauty again, this time in the spring.

 

Winter and summer are the long seasons in the high deserts of New Mexico, with spring and fall often last only a few weeks.  As I blew in to Chaco, along with the dust of a desert sandstorm, spring appeared to be over. Shriveled spring flowers along the roadside foretold of the coming dry season.  Or so I thought at the time. Before I could set up camp, the weather had changed to colder and wetter.

 

From the west and south, clouds quickly began to build.  Soon I saw virga, hanging like a veil in the sky, with rain clouds following not far behind.  By the time I unhooked, leveled and secured my coach, the rains started in earnest. The sound of rain on the roof of my coach did not let up that evening, and lasting well into the night. If you plan to camp at Chaco Canyon, be sure to add good rain gear to your list. 

 

As I made my way to the visitors’ center the next morning, it was a cold and breezy 43f degrees. After paying my user fees, I sought a recommendation for a short hike. I did not wear foul weather gear, so in the event of a downpour, I wanted easy access to my truck. The friendly volunteer in the old visitors center suggested the Una Vida ruins hike. Its trail started from the parking lot where my truck already stood. 

 

Taking the volunteer's advice, I shared the short path to the ruins with a friendly couple, but saw no one else in the area until my return, an hour later.  Looking back down from above, a north-facing masonry wall at Una Vida intrigued me.  It appeared to have a face on it, as created by its symmetrical windows and door.  To me, it looked like the face of the world's largest Hopi Indian kachina (or katsina) doll.

 

Above the Una Vida ruin (Una Vida means “one life” in Spanish), sheltered by a stone overhang, was a collection of well-preserved Indian petroglyphs.  They stood out well for my camera in the morning light.  Similar enigmatic rock etchings abound throughout the High Southwest.  Because of their protected location, few acts of defacement or vandalism were evident here.

 

Upon returning to  my campsite, I walked among the ruins of an ancient farmhouse, which lay beneath the overhang of a cliff, less than fifty yards away.  Simply by readjusting my gaze to look for telltale signs, there too, I found ancient Indian rock art.

 

To my surprise, I came upon what appeared to be a face staring out at me from the canyon wall. This little character had sorrowful, yet knowing eyes. Splashed with ancient red ochre, Cracks and crevices above and around his eyes evidenced a large cranium made no sound and never moved.  Still, his eyes followed me wherever I moved throughout his rocky domain.

 

Having traveled as much as I have in the southwestern US, I have learned to keep an eye out for the spirits that dwell in these canyons.  Like the Egyptian carvings of the Pharaonic Period, were these silent sentinels formerly human? Or are they representations of non-physical spirits trying desperately to gain the attention of those humans who pass by their yearning, yet immobile countenances? 

 

Such is this place, Chaco Canyon, where people are rare, ancestral Puebloan spirits abound and history lays enigmatically all around, even within the public campground.

 

From Chaco Canyon to Moab, Utah would entail two hundred sixty-one miles of driving, and it was time to go.

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By James McGillis at 01:31 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Quantum Leap Celebration 2007, Taos, New Mexico

Did You Feel The Energy?

It is time to leave the unique energies of Taos, New Mexico and the Quantum Leap Celebration of the past three days. Truly, I can say, all had a good time. From visible energies of Barbara With channeling Einstein, to the wide-open vistas that I

could see while standing behind the short wall, this was certainly the place to be this week.

To wrap up this week’s events, Brigitte London and The Spirit of the Outlaws Band (formerly Waylon Jennings’ band), put on a rousing send-off concert last night. 

In addition to the excellent musicianship and Brigitte’s great voice, Grammy Award Winner and Country & Western Star Lynn Anderson, of “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” fame sang her signature song in duet with Brigitte.

With rain showers and rainbows this morning, I depart for Durango, Colorado at Noon.

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The Quantum Leap Celebration 2007

Do You Inspire Consciousness? Take the Quantum Leap

Did you sleep well last night? Did you dream anything unusual? Do you feel any different today? If so, you may be feeling the new energy of the Quantum Leap.

 

At midnight, Taos, NM time there was a subtle (like a train wreck) shift in consciousness in our world. If you allow yourself to perceive this change in the physics of our world, you will enter a new era of creativity and opportunity. If you wish to remain “where you are” and hold a tether to the Old Energy, that is perfectly acceptable. If you wish to go forward, you may to do so.

 

Here in Taos, 650 Shaumbra met yesterday, holding the intention that our world and therefore our universe are ready, able and willing to change away from duality, moving now towards a unity consciousness. If only the square root of one percent of a given population elect to do so, we can accomplish a shift of consciousness. I will let the mathematicians among us help decide if 650 people represent a sufficient number to accomplish that goal. In any event, as more of us “sign on” to new energy consciousness, a critical-mass or tipping-point cannot be far away.

 

I would like to thank Geoffrey Hoppe of the Crimson Circle for leading the way. Through his channelings of Tobias, Geoffrey helped bring the Old Energy Train into the station last night. Those who wished to, disembarked, changed platforms and got on the New Energy Express. 

 

Since this is new-dimension consciousness, you can hop aboard at any time, from any place. There is no cost to ride; there are no rules to follow or slogans to remember. All you need do is look around and notice the beginnings of change. As a full creator, you too can participate. All it takes is one small offering of Love.

 

I will look forward to seeing each of you on the New Energy Express.  Your comments are welcome.  Just click on my signature.

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By James McGillis at 02:13 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link

 

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Memories 2007

After two days “off the grid” at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, I reemerged into my normal “wired” lifestyle. As of this writing, I am in Taos, New Mexico, where I will attend the Quantum Leap Celebration. The Celebration starts later today and will extend across the next two days.

 

If you visit Chaco Canyon, you will find its geographical features as interesting as its ancient culture. The Pre-Puebloan “Chaco Culture” is on of the great mysteries of the past millennium. In the high and dry Canyonlands of Northwestern New Mexico, native cultures rose and fell between 600 CE and 1250 CE. During that time, the populous built masonry buildings of great elegance and unique architectural style. 

 

These “great houses” or “great kivas” flourished throughout the Four Corners area (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah). Then, in the thirteenth century AD, the high culture of Chaco disbanded, with evidence of deconstruction and destruction by the Anasazi, who originally built these huge structures.  As they disbanded, possibly heading south to greener valleys, their Great Disappearance became one of the enduring mysteries of humankind. When they were done with Chaco Canyon, the ancients set fire to many roof timbers and toppled many walls. It was as if they did not want anyone, including themselves to settle again in that place.

 

Everyone loves a mystery. Why else would people flock to this desolate and long-deserted place? We all want to know who they were, what they were doing here and where they went. To learn more about this now vanished culture, I suggest reading “ House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest”, by author Craig Childs. With scholarly detail and down-home story telling, Craig brings ancient sandstone haunts back to life.

 

While in Chaco, I sought out the least-visited great house, known as Kin Klizhin, which is nine miles out a 4-wheel-drive road. On the road, the only living things I saw were birds and a herd of elk. When I arrived at the Kin Klizhin Ruin, the visitors’ register indicated that I was the first person to visit there in the past six days. With no mobile telephone, no radio and no sounds other than the wind, I spent a couple of peaceful hours there.  Occasionally, I ducked behind ruined walls, seeking shade from the hot afternoon sun.

 

Sometimes, our lives feel overfilled with actions and activities. Although there is apparent loneliness to places like Kin Klizhin, I found it ironic that it was once a “welcoming center” for the Chaco Canyon Culture. For the fast-walking Pre-Puebloans, Kin Klizhin was less than one day away from the combination Mecca, Las Vegas, World’s Fair, Vatican, Angkor Watt, Taj Mahal, which we now call Chaco Canyon.

 

Why did they come to Chaco Canyon? Why did they leave? These questions are simple, but definitive answers continue to elude us. From my perspective, I believe that a unique, but inexplicable group consciousness arose then in the Four Corners, centering itself in Chaco Canyon. With its celestial aspects, geographical features and ancient cultural alignments, we look forward to our next visit.

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