Karmatoo : How
the Hopi
people managed to protect their way of live, their traditions
against the mainstream American culture? Did they succeed?
Gary David : If you look south from the Hopi Mesas on the vast
spaces washed clean by wind and time, dark volcanic cones and
buttes rise like solitary sentinels upon the southern horizon.
It is the center of the land of the traditional Hisatsinom
(ancient Hopi, formerly called the Anasazi). This country is one
of the most isolated places on earth, and it’s far from the main
historic westward trails or the Santa Fe railroad line.
The Hopi
author Edmund Nequatewa explains the result of living, as they
say, out in the middle of nowhere:
“Being out here in such a
desolate place [the Hopi] thought that they would be safe from
other people, who would not think that they had anything worth
taking.”
This in part has guaranteed the physical and
ritualistic survival of the Hopi, who have one of the most
elaborate ceremonial cycles on the planet. They have also been
affected the least by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the
modern religion of “Progress at any price.”
Sad to say though, the Hopi, especially the youth, are now
increasingly being influenced by the outside world.
A few of the
villages still have no electricity or running water, but others
are more open to the contemporary world. As a result, the ritual
cycle that has persisted for thousands of years is being eroded
by the onslaught of contemporary culture with its TV, video
games, materialism, and the endless distractions of the
Internet.
Fewer young people are learning the Hopi language.
Fewer Hopi farmers are growing the traditional corn, beans, and
squash, so the people are becoming more and more dependent on
outside food sources. The poverty common to many reservations
forces many Hopis to move to larger urban areas such as Phoenix
to find work.
Thus, the sacred ceremonies that take immense
amounts of time and energy are being performed less and less.
Lured by the modern life, fewer Hopis participate in the “old
ways.” Hopi spiritual elders made prophecies of this - that in the
End Times Hopi ceremonies would cease altogether.
Many who still
cling to the traditional Hopi culture feel that the world's axis
is wobbling out of control, as the end of the current Fourth
World approaches.
Karmatoo : «Hopi» means «Peaceful People», what does the word
«peace» mean for the Hopi ?
Gary David : The word hopi means peaceable, polite, mannered,
civilized, or balanced.
All Hopi ceremonies, in one way or
another, help to maintain this balance, not only for the Hopi
themselves but also for the whole world. The Hopi have a word
for our chaotic current condition, which is the opposite of the
natural balance of the Earth:
-
Koyaanisqatsi, n. 1
-
crazy life.
2
-
life in turmoil. 3
-
life out of balance. 4
-
life disintegrating. 5,
...a state of life that calls for another way of
living.
The 1982 movie of the same name evokes the disturbing social
environment in which we all swim - or sometimes drown. Directed by
Godfrey Reggio, with music by Philip Glass and cinematography by
Ron Fricke, the film leads us on a mesmerizing and mind-bending
journey without the familiar dramatic elements of characters,
dialogue, or plot.
This movie evokes the visceral experience of
a world perpetually at war and almost hopelessly out of balance.
Karmatoo : You claim that Hopi sacred sites reflect the
locations of the majors stars of Orion constellation, how did
you find this similarity and, according to you, what does this
mean ?
Gary David : In July of 1997 I was driving the wide-open spaces
of northern Arizona on my way to see one of the kachina dances
held annually on the Hopi Indian Reservation. The kachinas are
spirits to which the Hopi people pray for rain and fertility in
this harsh but stunningly beautiful land. Wearing multi-colored
masks and costumes, the dancers perform their sacred ceremony
all day long under the brutal desert sun.
The droning beat of a
single cottonwood drum accompanies their slow, stately dance. In
the process of impersonating the kachinas, they actually become
them.
I had just finished reading The Orion Mystery by Robert Bauval
and Adrian Gilbert.
This book basically states that the three
major pyramids on the Giza Plateau mirror the belt stars of
Orion. With the Egyptian “Orion Correlation Theory” fresh in
mind, I gazed idly in the distance toward three equally spaced
mesas upon which the Hopi had settled and built stone villages
some time after 1100 AD. I wondered if this could also represent
Orion’s belt.
Perhaps this was another ground-sky relationship
right here on the dry, desolate Colorado Plateau.
Returning home, I got out my maps and sky charts and compared
them. What I found astonished me. Either an inhabited Hopi
pueblo or the ruin of an ancient Hopi village corresponded to
every major star in the constellation. The earth reflected the
sky with uncanny perfection. This propelled me on a journey of
discovery that lasted nearly ten years.
The significance of the Orion Correlation here is Arizona is
that it is in one among many such star correlations found across
the globe.
During the course of my research, I have found Orion
Correlations not only here in Arizona and, of course, in Egypt,
but also in Mexico, South Africa, Italy, Scotland, and
elsewhere. (See my article on the subject:
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=97)
The only explanation for the dispersal of such celestial
templates on the Earth is the existence in pre-Columbian or even
antediluvian times of a worldwide, unified maritime culture that
spread this concept of earth-mirroring-sky on a global scale. We
are, in fact, witnessing a worldwide Orion legacy that was
propagated long ago by a single cohesive force or intelligence.
These Orion Correlations must surely be the inheritance of some
lost super-civilization or even a gift from the stars.
Karmatoo : Did you explain your arguments to Hopi elders?
Gary David : Some of the Hopi know about my theory. The problem
rests in who the Hopi actually are.
The Hopi people are not an
“Indian” tribe per se but a collection of about twelve
autonomous villages, each with a different spiritual leader, or kikmongwi. Then, there are the tribal council and the BIA
(Bureau of Indian Affairs) that frequently are at odds with
these spiritual leaders. A factional strife common to many
contemporary Indian reservations contributes to the way that
certain religious leaders are denounced.
Time and again the
question come up: Which chief has greater religious authority
and power? There is also a division between the “hostiles” (who
are against the destruction of the traditional culture) and the
“friendlies” (who welcome economic growth that ultimately
destroys the culture). This schism is perpetuated by the B.I.A.
and the tribal government.
There are no straight lines on the reservation.
Everything works
in a circle, and a non-Indian such as myself is constantly
frustrated in trying to get a “straight answer.” I don’t blame
the Hopi; they’ve been exploited so many times in the past by
anthropologists, entrepreneurs, and
New Age seekers out for a
quick path to Enlightenment. I can say, though, that my theories
are in the process of being explained to the elders by a few
Hopis who grew up on the reservation.
So far, the feedback has
been positive. However, I think the pattern of Orion on the
Arizona desert speaks for itself. It is undeniable that there is
a direct correspondence between specific Hopi villages or ruin
sites and various stars in the constellation. Orion is the most
importance constellation for the Hopi.
For instance, it
synchronizes the crucial winter solstice ceremony.
Karmatoo : According to Hopi’s prophecies, the starting time for
a "Great Purification" will come when the "Blue Star Kachina"
removes his mask during a dance in front of uninitiated
children. What is the meaning of this warning : the discovery of
a hidden planet, the «official» revelation of alien presence
among us ?
Gary David : The Hopi Indians have a legend of the Blue Star
Katsina called Sakwa Sohu.
Frank Waters and Hopi informant
Oswald White Bear Fredericks in their popular
Book of the Hopi
proclaim:
"The end of all Hopi ceremonialism will come when a kachina removes his mask during a dance in the plaza before
uninitiated."
This is rumored to have recently happened on the
Hopi Reservation, though it’s difficult to confirm.
A number of candidates compete for the true identity of the Hopi
Blue Star, predicted to arrive prior to the end of the Fourth
World.
These include:
-
Supernova 1987A. The light from this blue supergiant left
160,000 years ago and reached Earth on February 23rd, 1987 - a few
months before the Harmonic Convergence and the start of the
quarter-century countdown to 2012.
-
The appearance in 1996 of
Comet Hyakutake, which had the
longest tail ever seen.
-
Hale-Bopp, the “Great Comet of 1997.” Many were out watching
this when the Phoenix Lights appeared over Arizona, the land of
the Hopi.
-
Mira (as in “miraculous”) is a large red giant star with a
blue tail. Its comet-like tail is 13 light-years long. The Hopi
say that after the Blue Star (Sakwa Sohu) arrives as the
Predictor of the End Times, the Red Star (Paha Sohu) will come
to act as the Purifier.
-
Between October 23 and 24, 2007,
Comet 17P/Holmes exploded
from a magnitude of 17 to a magnitude of 2.8. (The lower the
magnitude, the brighter the star.) In just a few hours it became
nearly a million times brighter!
-
On May 14th, 2008, NASA announced the discovery of
G1.9+0.3,
the youngest supernova in our galaxy. It exploded 140 years ago
near its center 26,000 light-years away. It “has generated the
most energetic electrons ever seen in a supernova” (NASA
astrophysicist) and is growing at rate of 5% of SOL
(speed-of-light).
Other celestial events yet to come may also be interpreted as
the Blue Star.
In addition, many omens or signs signal that the end of this
current age is at hand. Spiritual leaders of the Hopi have an
enduring legacy of prophecy.
The following predictions began to
be recognized by the modern world during the early and middle
part of the 20th century.
-
People will ride on black ribbons in horseless wagons (cars on
asphalt).
-
People will speak through spider webs (telegraph, telephone,
and now the World Wide Web).
-
A “gourd of ashes” will fall upon the earth, causing
destruction (A-bomb detonation at Trinity Site in New Mexico,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, H-bomb tests in Nevada).
-
There will be “roads in the
sky” that
aerial vehicles travel on.
-
Hopi delegates will go four times to the “House of Mica” (the
UN building) but their pleas for peace will be ignored.
-
Women will wear men’s
clothing (Women’s Liberation Movement, etc.).
-
People will begin living in the sky (International Space
Station).
-
Floods, famine, earthquakes, and tsunamis will ravage the
Earth (climate change).
-
An event will happen when America is sleeping, and we will
wake up to a thunderous eruption of war (9/11?)
Karmatoo : Some Hopi Native Americans seems to have strange
relationships with extraterrestrial beings like
Robert Morningsky and the Star Warriors or the late Chief
Dan Katchongva who believed that UFO sightings were deeply connected
to Hopi prophecy. Are they anecdotal, or on the contrary,
forewarnings of a deeper connection with alien beings ?
Gary David : In August of 1970 a rash of UFO sightings occurred
in the skies over Prescott, Arizona. Over a two-week period many
hundreds of flying saucers were seen by hundreds of witnesses.
This prompted Chief Dan Katchongva of the Hopi Sun Clan, his
councilor, and an interpreter to travel southwest about one
hundred and twenty-five miles from his village of Hotevilla on
Third Mesa to Prescott to learn more of the event.
He described to the Prescott Courier newspaper an ancient
petroglyph near the village of Mishongnovi on Second Mesa.
This
ancient rock carving depicts a dome-shaped object.
“‘We believe
other planets are inhabited and that our prayers are heard
there,’ he said. ‘The arrow on which the dome-shaped object
rests, stands for travel through space,’ Katchongva said in
explaining the petroglyph.
‘The Hopi maiden on the dome-shape
(drawing) represents purity. Those Hopi who survive Purification
Day will travel to other planets. We, the faithful Hopi, have
seen the ships and know they are true,’ he said.”
The purity of
Hopi maidens throughout the ages has attracted the high-flying kachinas, which are
benevolent spirit messengers.
Paul Solem, a non-Indian expert on Hopi prophecy and Mormon
doctrine, was also key figure during the Prescott sightings. He
even claimed to attract the flying saucers by telepathically
communicating with them. In one instance he took a group of
people outside and then began to mentally focus on
extraterrestrial contact.
He soon exclaimed:
“They are here! I
can’t see them, but I know they are here. One just said, ‘We’re
here, Paul!’ There are several people in the saucer. I can hear
them talking.”
After a few minutes a star-like UFO appeared,
halted, then moved first in one direction and then the other.
He believed the entities in the spacecraft were angelic and
kind, like the Hopi kachinas, and hailed from the planet Venus.
He said that they had shoulder-length hair neatly cut and their
voices were musical and androgynous. This sounds like what we
would typically describe today as a Nordic ET.
He even received
the space travelers’ proclamations, which he transcribed:
“We come to lend credence and as a sign or token that the Hopi
prophecy was of a divine nature. Great sorrow and fear will be
coming to this planet very soon and few will escape it. Our
leader as spoken of in Hopi prophecy is already here (on Earth)
in mortality and is known as the Apostle John (the same as in
the New Testament).
The white brother shall be introduced by a
huge fire and the Earth shall quake at his arrival. We are of
the 10 lost tribes and we will return several nights unless
there is contempt for us.”
Local UFO researcher Dan Carlson said that the area around
Prescott had been a magnet for many of the early important
though controversial figures in the field of ufology, including
George Adamski, Daniel Fry, George Van Tassel, as well as former
Prescott residents Truman Bethurum and George Hunt Williamson.
“If one is to believe Hopi prophecy,” Carlson remarked, “the
reasons the saucers are sighted here most often and contacters
seem to be attracted here is that this is a chosen land.
Prescott is within the Hopi circle of sacred ground where the
beings from another world are supposed to bring about prophecy.”
Chief Katchongva had been one of the elders most active in
bringing the knowledge of Hopi legends and prophecies of End
Times to the world at large.
He believed that these persistent
UFO visitations were among the signs and omens that the Fourth
World is about to end. Apparently on the last day of his visit
to Prescott an unidentified spacecraft flew in very low - about
eight hundred feet.
Katchongva passed away in 1972 at age 107 under some rather
strange circumstances. When Dan Katchongva ‘died’, his body was
never found. He was last seen walking up a canyon where a UFO
had just been sighted.
The historic relationship between “flying shields,” or
paatuwvota, and the Hopi of Arizona has become a part of a long
tradition. Legends of ancient star beings that pilot spacecraft
and sometimes mate with the indigenous people are an accepted
fact for the native peoples, not a matter of dispute.
The
Phoenix Lights seen in 1997 may be just a more recent example of
this native tradition.
Perhaps we should start listening to the deep wisdom and wide
experience possessed by the original inhabitants of this
continent, especially the Hopi.
They’ve been on the case for
ages.
