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| Chapter 13-1 The Hopis and the Secret of the Cosmic Cycle of Time |
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2007-10-31 20:39:04, VIEW : 1,356 |
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Chapter 13-1 The Hopis and the Secret of the Cosmic Cycle of Time
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Chapter 13 The Hopis and the Secret of the Cosmic Cycle of Time
I took a plane to
Phoenix and then by bus I arrived at
Flagstaff late at night.
The air smelled crisp and clear.
I rented a station wagon and checked into a
nearby motel.
Early next morning, I
started heading to Mesa where the
ruins of Anasazi - the ancient one - and Hopi Indians lived.
The bare earth
proudly displayed itself as it stretched in all directions.
A thick red hue stretched out into the
horizon.
The ancient center of all
ethnicity unearthed itself.
The earth
smelled draft and thick.
Passing small
pine forests, bare mounds of cactus mountains came into view.
The mountains formed a dark mouth about to
engulf life after death.
The smooth,
molten earth echoed new life as well as regeneration of the deceased.
As bizarre as the concept sounded, I
thought
"This is the earth's home!"
The road extended to the east and the dawning
sun slid down the long stretch.
The
thick undulating oasis of an inviting yet imaginary pond lay just ahead on the
road as if to tease my thirst for truth.
I drove all morning
into the sun.
Although my lips were
parched, I felt I was quenching my thirst for truth.
The road now headed up a hill.
A sudden intrusion of rocky red mountains
pierced an otherwise monotonous horizon.
I postulated there must be stories and legends behind every one of those
mountains, denied of its own place, on the minds of deprived new owners of this
vast land.
The road sign told me that I
was now entering Indian reservation.
By now the sun was
beaming straight down on me from above.
The road stretched upward into the sun.
Then suddenly a vast expanse of plateau above the flat plane of
Arizona opened up.
The blue sky of Autumn blended into the red
horizon that suddenly fell down into a deep cliff.
The mesmerizing
straightness and emptiness of the road in front of me was broken by a man
standing on the roadside.
His thumb
pointed in the same direction as the stretch of road.
As my car approached him, I noticed his stern
posture and the deep, defining wrinkles of his face.
His skin was the shade of an earthen clay
pot.
My curiosity for the Indian culture
sent a bolt of electricity through my body as I stopped the car beside the
man.
I opened the passenger door,
staring into his eyes.
He climbed in and
offered me a wrinkled, calloused hand, declaring, "My name is Pawatakawa.
Thank you."
I introduced
myself.
"I'm new to this area.
Are you a Hopi?"
"I am," he answered
with a booming conviction.
"What brings
you here?"
I started to
drive.
"I wish to find out more about
your culture.
I found reading books or
seeing an exhibit in a museum about the Hopi culture rather interesting, but I
wish to experience the culture first‑hand."
I turned to him and said, "This land is so beautiful out here.""
"We Hopis are part
of this land, not merely users of the land," Pawatakawa remarked.
"When one understands this relationship, one
understands the need to keep the earth alive and intact for the next
generation."
I reflected on his
statement.
"Where does this relationship
come from?" I asked.
"Do you have a
creation myth?"
Pawatakawa smiled,
contorting his well‑grooved face, emitting a warm grin reflecting many years of
acquired wisdom.
"I trust you are not
like other newcomers I have met here.
Very few of the tourists are interested in discovering one's spiritual
roots.
I will be very happy to share
mine with you."
I hadn't asked how far
he wanted to travel on the road, but suddenly this issue was not important.
The Hopi began,
"First there was only the Creator, Taiowa." The last word he said repeated
itself in my head; it reminded me of TaeUlChunSangWonGun, the name and title for
the ancient creator of heaven in the TaeUlJu Chant of JeungSan Do.
"There was no beginning, no end, no time, no
shape: no life,
just an immeasurable
void that had its beginning and end only in the mind of Taiowa the
Creator."
He spoke as if reciting a
soliloquy so familiar in his heart.
"Then he, the
infinite, conceived the finite.
First he
created the being Sotuknang, a man, to make the finite manifest, saying to him,
'I have created you, the first power and instrument as a person, to carry out my
plan for life in endless space.
I am
your uncle.
You are my nephew.
Go now and lay out these universes in proper
order so they may work harmoniously with one another according to my
plan.'"
"Sotuknang," I said
to myself.
"This is getting
interesting.
Isn't the name of the man
who created JeungSan Do JeungSan-Kang?
Another word for 'Jeung' is 'Sot' in Korean which means a pot that cooks
a rice-cake.
'San' means mountain in
Korean I wonder what 'u' means in Hopi?"
He went on with his
intonations of the creation story and I dared not interrupt him.
"Sotuknang arranged what is called the Nine
Universal Kingdoms."
"Nine Universal
Kingdoms!
You mean Nine Heavens," I
thought.
Pawatakawa
continued, "Sotuknang went to the universe of the First
World and out of it he created a woman who was to remain on that
planet and be his helper.
Her name was
Kokyanwuti, or Spider Woman."
"Or the TaeMo Go -
Ko -," I whispered quietly to myself with a big grin.
"When she awoke to
life and received her name, she asked, 'Why am I here?'
'Look around you', answered Sotuknang.
" 'Here is this
planet that we have created together.
It
has shape and substance, direction and time, a beginning and an end.
But there is no life upon it.
We see no joyful movement.
We hear no joyful sound.
What is life without sound and movement?
So you have been given the power to help us
create this life.
You have been given
the knowledge, wisdom, and love to bless all the beings you create.
That is why you are here.' "
I glanced over at
Pawatakawa.
He was telling the story
with his hands, spinning, offering, and creating along with the characters.
After catching a breath he resumed his
atonement.
"Following his instructions,
Spider Woman took some earth, mixed with it some tuchvala (saliva) and molded it
into two beings.
To the one on the right
Spider Woman said, 'You are Poqanghoya and you are to help keep this world in
order when life is put upon it.
Go now
around all the world and put your hands upon the earth so that it will become
fully solidified.
This is your
duty.'
"Spider Woman then
said to the twin on the left, 'you are Palongawhoya and you are to help keep
this world in order when life is put upon it.
This is your duty now: go about all the world and send out sound so that
it may be heard throughout all the land.
When you are heard you will also be known as 'Echo', for all sound echoes
the Creator.'
"Poqanghoya,
traveling throughout the earth, solidified the higher reaches into great
mountains.
The lower reaches he made
firm but still pliable enough to be used by those beings to be placed upon it
and who would call it their mother.
Palongawhoya, traveling through the earth, sounded out his call as he was
bidden.
All the vibratory centers along
the earth's axis from pole to pole resounded his call; the whole earth trembled;
the universe quivered in tune.
Thus he
made the whole world an instrument of sound, resounding praise to the Creator of
all.
'This is your voice, Uncle,'
Sotuknang said to Taiowa.
'Everything is
tuned to your sound.'"
Then I suddenly
recalled the sound of the Tae‑Ul‑Ju chant as I heard Pawatakawa's
words.
"When they had accomplished their duties," Pawatakawa
continued, "Poqanghoya was sent to the north pole of the world and Palongawhoya
to the south pole, where they were jointly commanded to keep the world properly
rotating.
Thus the First
World was created and Spider Woman brought forth the First People on
earth.
"The First People
were pure and happy.
The First People
understood their own structure and functions - the nature of man himself.
The living body of man and the living body of
the earth were constructed in the same way.
Through each ran an axis, man's axis being the backbone, the vertebral
column, which controlled the equilibrium of his movements and his
functions.
Along this axis were several
vibratory centers which echoed the primordial sound of life throughout the
universe or sounded a warning if anything went wrong.
"The first of these
vibratory centers in man lay at the top of the head.
Here, when he was born, was the soft spot,
the kopavi, the 'open door' through which he received his life and communicated
with his Creator.
With every breath the
soft spot moved up and down with a gentle vibration which talked to the
Creator.
At the time of the red light,
Talawva, the last phase of his creation, the soft spot was hardened and the door
was closed.
It remained closed until his
death, opening then for his life to depart as it had come.
"Just below it lay
the second center, the organ that man learned to use by himself, the thinking
organ called the brain.
Its earthly
function enabled man to think about his actions and work on this earth.
But the more he understood that his work and
actions should conform to the plan of the Creator, the more clearly he
understood that the real function of the thinking organ called the brain was
carrying out the plan of all Creation.
"The third center
lay in the throat.
It tied together
those openings in his nose and mouth through which he received the breath of
life and the vibratory organs that enabled him to give back his breath in
sound.
This primordial sound, very much
like the sound coming from the vibratory centers of the body of the earth, was
attuned to the universal vibration of all Creation.
New and diverse sounds were given forth by
these vocal organs in the form of speech and song;
their primary function was to use this center
to speak and sing praises to the Creator."
"Yes, and that is
what TaeUlJu is,"
I thought.
"The fourth center
was the heart.
It too was a vibrating
organ, pulsing with the vibration of life itself.
In his heart man felt the good of life, its
sincere purpose.
He was of One
Heart.
But there were those who
permitted evil feelings to enter.
They
were said to be of Two Hearts.
"The last of man's
important centers lay under his navel.
It was the throne in man of the Creator himself.
From it the sound of the Creator
originated.
From it the Creator directed
all the functions of man."
What he had
just explained was what TaeUlJu Chanting meditation was all about.
And he was much more eloquent than I could
ever be about explaining TaeUlJu meditation.
A sudden surge of respect for him emerged from within me.
"The First People
knew no sickness.
Not until evil entered
the world did people get sick in the body or head.
It was then that a medicine man, knowing how
man was constructed, could tell what was wrong with a person by examining these
centers.
"Thus the First
People understood themselves.
But
gradually those with Two Hearts increased in numbers and they forgot the
commands of Sotuknang and the Spider Woman to respect their Creator.
More and more they used the vibratory centers
of their bodies solely for earthly purposes, forgetting that their primary
purpose was to carry out the plan of Creation.
"But among all the
people of different races and languages there were a few in every group who
still lived by the laws of Creation.
To
them came Sotuknang.
He came with the
sound of a mighty wind and suddenly appeared before them.
He said, 'I have observed this state of
affairs.
It is not good.
It is so bad I talked to my Uncle, Taiowa,
about it.
We have decided this world
must be destroyed and another one created so you people can start over
again.
You are the ones we have chosen.'
They listened carefully to their instructions.
Said Sotuknang, 'you will go to a certain place.
Your kopavi (vibratory center on top of the
head) will lead you.
This inner wisdom
will give you the sight to see a certain cloud, which you will follow by day,
and a certain star, which you will follow by night.'
"After many days
and nights they arrived at the certain place from many parts of the world.
When the last ones arrived Sotuknang
appeared.
'Well, you are all here, you
people I have chosen to save from the destruction of this world.
Now come with me.' He led them to a big mound
where the Ant People lived, stamped on the roof, and commanded the Ant People to
open up their home.
When an opening was
made on the top of the anthill, Sotuknang said to the people, "Now you will
enter this Ant kiva, where you will be safe when I destroy the world.
While you are here I want you to learn a
lesson from these Ant People.
They are
industrious.
They gather food in the
summer for the winter.
They keep cool
when it is not and warm when it is cool.
They live peacefully with one another.
They obey the plan of Creation."
"So the people went
down to live with the Ant people.
When
they were all safe and settled, Taiowa commanded Sotuknang to destroy the
world.
Sotuknang destroyed it by fire
because the Fire Clan had been its leaders.
He rained fire upon the earth.
He
opened up the volcanoes.
Fire came from
above and below and all around until the earth, the waters, the air, all was one
element, fire, and there was nothing left except the people inside the womb of
the earth.
"Finally, that
which had been the First World cooled off.
Sotuknang purified it.
Then he began to create the Second
World.
He changed its form
completely, putting land where the water was and water where the land had been,
so the people upon their emergence would have nothing to remind them of the
previous wicked world.
"Then Sotuknang
said to the people, 'Make your emergence now to this Second
World I have created.
It is
not quite so beautiful as the First World, but
nevertheless it is still beautiful.
Your
will like it.
So multiply and be
happy.
But remember your Creator and the
laws he gave you.
When I hear you
singing joyful praises to him I will know you are my children, and you will be
close to me in your hearts.
"So the people
emerged to the Second World.
In this world people were separated from the
animals.
The people tended to their own
affairs.
They built homes, then villages
and trails between them.
They made
things with their hands and stored food like the Ant People.
Then they began to trade and barter with one
another.
"This was when the
trouble started.
Everything they needed
was on this Second World, but they began to want
more.
More and more they traded for
things they didn't need, and the more goods they got, the more they wanted.
This was very serious.
They did not realize they were meandering,
step by step, from the good life given them.
They just forgot to sing joyful praises to the Creator and soon began to
sing praises for the goods they bartered and stored.
Before long it happened as it had to
happen.
The people began to quarrel and
fight, and soon wars between villages became commonplace.
"There were still a
few people in every village who sang the song of their Creation.
But the wicked people laughed at them until
they could sing it only in their hearts.
Even so, Sotuknang heard it through their centers and the centers of the
earth.
Suddenly, one day he appeared
before them.
" 'Spider Woman
tells me your thread is running out on this world,' he announced.
'Now my Uncle, Taiowa, and I have decided we
must do something about it.
We are going
to destroy this Second World just as soon as we put you
people who still have the song in your hearts in a safe place.' "
"So again, as on
the First World, Sotuknang called on the Ant People to
open up their underground world for the chosen people.
When they were safely underground, Sotuknang
commanded the twins, Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya, to leave their posts at the
north and south ends of the world's axis, where they were stationed to keep the
earth properly rotating.
"The twins had
hardly abandoned their stations when the world, with no one to control it,
teetered off balance, spun around crazily, then rolled over twice.
Mountains plunged with a great splash, seas
and lakes sloshed over the land; and as the world spun thorough cold and
lifeless space it froze into solid ice.
This was the end of Tokpa, the Second World."
I was startled when I had noticed how strikingly the axis
shifting in Pawatakawa's myth resonated with the idea in the book of JeungSan Do
of a three‑hundred sixty degree shifting of the earth's axis every 129,000 years
in order to bring about the Cosmic Winter. I further carried out the comparison,
and wondered if the statement 'the thread is running out' could signify that the
Cosmic Winter time has come according to JeungSan Do.
Perhaps this was a previous Cosmic year
civilization.
"Eventually Sotuknang ordered Poqanhoya and Palongawhoya back to their
stations at the poles of the world axis.
With a great shudder and a splintering of ice the planet began rotating
again.
When it was revolving smoothly
about its own axis and stately moving in its universal orbit, the ice began to
melt and the world began to warm to life.
Sotuknang set about creating the Third
World: arranging seas, planting mountains and plains with their
proper coverings, and creating all forms of life.
"When the earth was ready for occupancy, he came to the Ant kiva with the
proper approach as before and said, 'Open the door.
It is time for you to come out.' "
I pictured an image of people rising out of
the womb of the earth.
In The Truth
of JeungSan Do book the Master Teacher claimed that there was a Womb on our
planet earth where people sprung forth when the Cosmic Spring Time came.
" 'I have saved you so you can be planted again on this new Third World.
But
you must always remember the two things I am saying to you now.
First, respect me and one another.
And second, sing in harmony from the tops of
the hills.
When I do not hear you
singing praises to your Creator I will know you have gone back to evil
again.'
"So the people climbed up the ladder from the Ant kiva, making their
Emergence to the Third World.
Now in the Third
World they multiplied in such numbers and advanced so rapidly that
they created big cities, countries, a whole civilization.
This made it difficult for them to confirm to
the plan of Creation and to sing praises to Taiowa and Sotuknang.
More and more of them became wholly occupied
with their own earthly plans.
It was
especially disconcerting because so many people were using their reproductive
power in wicked ways.
"Some of them made a patuwvota, a shield made of hide, and with their
creative power made it fly through the air.
On this many of the people flew to a big city, attacked it, and returned
so fast no one knew where they came from.
Soon the people of many cities and countries
were making patuwvotas and flying on them to attack one another.
So corruption and war came to the Third World as it had to the others.
"This time Sotuknang came to Spider Woman and said, 'There is no use
waiting until the thread runs out this time.
Something has to be done lest the people with the song in their hearts
are corrupted and killed off too.
It
will be difficult, with all this destruction going on, for them to gather at the
far end of the world I have designated.
But I will help them.
Then you
will save them when I destroy this world with water.'
" 'How shall I save them?' asked Spider Woman.
" 'When you get there look about you,' commanded Sotuknang.
'You will see these tall plants with hollow
stems.
Cut them down and put the people
inside.'
"After Spider Woman had done this, Sotuknang let loose the waters upon
the earth.
Waves higher than mountains
rolled in upon the land.
Continents
broke asunder and sank beneath the seas.
And still the rains fell; the waves rolled in.
Only the people sealed up in their hollow
reeds were saved."
I thought to myself
that this must had been when the Time of Cosmic Summer came, when the Southern
civilization of Atlantis and the Mu continent sunk under the
Ocean.
"The people sealed up in their hollow reeds heard the mighty rushing of
the waters.
They felt themselves tossed
high in the air and dropping back to the water.
Then all was quiet, and they knew they were floating.
For a long, long time - so long a time that
it seemed it would never end - they kept floating.
"Finally, their movement ceased.
The Spider Woman unsealed their hollow reeds, took them by the tops of
their heads, and pulled them out.
Looking about them, they saw they were on a little piece of land that had
been the top of one of their highest mountains.
All else, as far as they could see, was water.
This was all that remained of the Third World.
"Then Sotuknang appeared to Kokyangwuti, Spider Woman, and said, 'You
must continue traveling on.
Your inner
wisdom will guide you.
The door at the
top of your head is open.'
"So Spider Woman directed the people to make round, flat boats of the
hollow reeds they had come in and to crawl inside.
Again they entrusted themselves to the water
and the inner wisdom to guide them.
For
a long time they drifted with the wind and the movement of the waters and came
to another rocky island.
" 'It is bigger than the other one, but it is not big enough,' they
said.
'No.
It is not big enough,' said Spider
Woman.
"So people traveled toward the rising sun in their reed boats.
Crossing many islands, finally they came to a
great land, a mighty land, their inner wisdom told them.
'The Fourth
World!' they cried to each other.
"Soon all the others arrived and when they were gathered together
Sotuknang appeared before them.
Looking
to the west and the south, the people could see sticking out of the water the
islands upon which they had rested.
As
people watched them, the closest one sank under the water, then the next, until
all were gone, and they could see only water.
" 'See', said Sotuknang, 'I have washed away even the footprints of your
emergence; the stepping-stones which I left for you.
Down on the bottom of the seas lie all the
proud cities, the flying patuwvotas, and the worldly treasures corrupted with
evil, and those people who found no time to sing praises to the Creator from the
tops of their hills.
But the day will
come, if you preserve the memory and the meaning of your emergence, when these
stepping-stones will emerge again to prove the truth you
speak.
"We Hopis came to this land by sea.
The name of this Fourth World is
Tuwaqachi, or World Complete.
When we
landed on this new land, according to the legend, we Hopis were told by the
guiding spirit of our land that there will come a time when this land will be
flooded with strangers.
When that
happens, we are to prepare for the coming of the Fifth world.
"This time," I told Pawatakawa,
"Sotuknang himself was born on earth as a person to prepare the humanity
for the coming of the Fifth world."
Pawatakawa raised an eyebrow.
"Are you now telling me your
creation myth?"
I spoke in sincerity.
"Well, I'm
not so sure that mine is much different from yours," I answered.
"His name was Kang, Il-Sun
or Kang, Jeung-San.
His wife was the
TaeMo Go SuBuNim.
He gave us the TaeUlJu
chant to sing.
It is a song about
TaeUlChunSangWonGun, TaeUl Heaven - High King - or Taiowa, a song of
Creation.
He told us that this time the
world will see a shifting of its axis, causing volcanoes in the east and floods
in the west.
Yet this time he shall
harvest those who are pure at heart by afflicting this humanity with a sudden
attack of diseases.
He told us to know
the cure which in part involves the Song of Creation: the TaeUlJu
Chant."
Collecting his thoughts, Pawatakawa put his hands together, his
fingertips touching, and took a deep breath.
"And do you know this chant?"
I recited the TaeUlJu several times as I drove along the flat red
stretch of earth: "Hum-Chi Hum-Chi Tae-Ul-Chun-Sang-Won-Gun;
Hum-Ri-Chi-Ya-Do-Rae Hum-Ri-Ham-Ri-Sa-Pa-Aha . . . ."
Wearing a smile, I turned to him and bowed my
head slightly.
"Try chanting with me if
you wish."
I started him off slowly, and
after a few repetitions, Pawatakawa rode the rhythm of the
chant.
We then looked at each other and stopped the chant; I sensed he had
something to say.
"The sound has a
uniting quality to it that reminds me of our creator, Taiowa, as everything is
tuned to Taiowa's sound.
I find this
interesting, Kan."
He continued, his hand gestures still offering their enhancement of the
commentary.
"I sense power in your
voice.
I am interested as to why you
have such a conviction for the chant," Pawatakawa remarked.
"What intrigues me more is how you claim your
chant dovetails with the Creation Myth of the Hopi's. In exchange for the ride,
I would like to invite you to watch a ceremony of ours tomorrow.
I would also like to continue this
conversation."
I once again bowed my head and smiled, this time in gratitude.
"Even though JeungSan Do originated in Korea,
I feel we've got more in common than we think."
I said.
We chanted TaeUlJu together until we arrived at his house.
He went home and we promised to meet tomorrow
and he was going to show me Hopi Fall Ritual.
I checked into a nearby motel.
Late the next afternoon, the sky shone in radiant crimson as the sun, a
fiery chunk of earth, united itself once again with the horizon.
Pawatakawa had met me on the walk to the
Hopi ritual.
"The ceremony lasts sixteen
days," he remarked.
"Its immediate
purpose is to bring rain for the final maturity of the crops, but its meaning
and importance to the Hopi's goes beyond that."
Wrinkled and leathery, his hands, as old as they were, became alive and
animated as he described the ritual, swirling, pointing, and building.
"You shall see The Snake Altar, which
features the images of two Snake Maidens, and The Antelope Altar, which is set
on a sand painting in about a four feet square, bordered with lines of
directional colors, and at each corner is a 'cloud mountain', a small cone of
sand in which is stuck a hawk feather.
On it are placed a Corn Mother and four directions, and several bowls of
water from the Flute Spring.
The whole
altar complex represents the world as it was formed by earth, air, water, plant
life and mankind.
The complete
construction of the altar takes eleven days.
"The ritual shall be acted out by members of the Snake and Antelope
Klans.
Before the midnight of the
eleventh day of the ceremony, the Snake chief brings in a young girl, the Snake
Maiden.
The Snake Maiden and the Snake
Chief meet the Antelope Chief with a young man, the Antelope Youth.
There shall be a ritual symbolic marriage
between the Snake Maiden and the Antelope Youth.
Today is the eleventh day and we shall be
able to see the Mystic Marriage."
We arrived at the grounds of the ritual that evening as he continued his
commentary. "The Snake Maiden is seated on the south side and the Antelope Youth
on the north side of the altar level.
Between the fire pit and the altar is set an earthen bowl containing
soapy water made from yucca roots.
In
front of the altar is placed a woven plaque full of many kinds of seeds."
The girl and boy were then brought to the
bowl by their chiefs, and a wedding ceremony was performed according to Hopi
custom.
The Snake Maiden's hair was
washed in the milky seminal fluid of the yucca root by the Snake Chief, and the
Antelope Youth's by the Antelope Chief.
The two chiefs exchanged places to wash the hair again, then twisted it
together while it was still wet to symbolize the union.
The couple was then conducted to the seating
ledge on the north side, the girl being seated upon the plaque of seeds which
had been brought by the Antelope Chief.
"The seeds signify food for the birds of the air, the animals of the
earth, and man," said Pawatakawa.
"It is now midnight and pavasio begins - the period of concentration and
the singing of the songs.
It lasts until
the stars in Orion's belt are hanging above the western horizon."
Snake Maiden and Antelope Youth remained
seated together until it was finished, being careful not to fall asleep.
Then they were blessed and the girl was taken
home by her godmother, the boy by his godfather.
The marriage seemed to have similarities with the balancing of the Yim
and Yang forces according to the book of JeungSan Do.
I kept thinking of the Marriage Ritual
between the TaeMo Go suBuNim and the JeungSan SangJeNim.
I told Pawatakawa of this connection, to
which he responded with a gentle smile, "I had a feeling you would find a
parallel in our ritual."
He told me of his interpretation of the significance of the mystic
marriage ritual.
"For as the bodies of
man and the world are similar in structure, the deep bowels of the earth in
which the snake makes its home are equated with the lowest of man's vibratory
centers, which controls his generative organs.
Conversely, the antelope is associated with the highest center in man,
for its horn is located at the top or crown of the head, the kopavi, which in
man is the place of coming in and going out of life, the 'open door' through
which he spiritually communicates with his Creator.
Thus the marriage of the two signifies the
final achievement in man's search for the harmony within himself.
The final harvest of self knowledge.
The next morning was the twelfth day of the ritual, Pawatakawa went out
with all the members to gather snakes and I accompanied him.
"The snake hunt lasts four days: first to the
west, to the south, to the east, and finally to the north," Pawatakawa pointed
out.
There were a number of
initiates.
Each carried a water jar, a
sack of cornmeal, and a kwawicki of two buzzard feathers tied
together.
"These wing feathers of the buzzard have gray spots underneath which
possess a strange odor and the power to soften the anger of a snake when they
are waved over its head.
The snakes are
not actually afraid or angry at man; they only coil to strike when they see what
is in man's mind and heart.
One, then,
must be of good heart and not be afraid.
He must never try to pick up a coiled snake.
He must wave the snake whip over him until he
uncoils."
Pawatakawa
said.
So he blessed the snake with cornmeal, with the sun, and with the earth,
and then picked him up.
When the snake
began to fight, Pawatakawa held him behind the head with his left hand, spat in
the palm of his right hand, and began to brush the snake full length.
The snake soon hung limp as a length of
rope.
It was the morning of the fifteenth day, Pawatakawa brought me to
Hotevilla town to watch the Antelope Race and the Snake Race.
By now I became a very close friend of
Pawatakawa and I was getting caught in the excitement of the on-going
ritual.
According to him the Antelope
Race was held on the morning of the fifteenth day, and the Snake Race on the
morning of the sixteenth.
The two races
were substantially alike, members of both klans participating in
each.
Early that morning, house roofs and cliff tops were crowded with people,
most of them huddled in thin cotton blankets against the thin wind of dawn
sweeping up from the desert.
They
created large silhouettes against the dawning sun behind them.
Below the steep side of the mesa the earth
was neatly terraced for tiny fields, which gave way to larger fields planted
between great dunes of encroaching sand.
Beyond, far to the west, stretched the empty desert, now yellow under the
rising sun.
For a while there was no more to see.
Gradually in the paling shadow of the cliffs one distinguished at the
curve of the trail below a group of Snake and Antelope priests patiently
waiting, the Snakes painted dark brown, the Antelopes ash-gray.
Farther away more dim and diminutive men
emerged on the trail, carrying green cornstalks, squash, and melon vines.
Then Pawatakawa pointed to the horizon with
his chin.
"They are
coming."
Suddenly the leading runner sprinted up.
The old priest handed him the pahos and water jar.
Then the runner headed for the foot of the
cliffs.
The thought of water rising out from below and coming up reminded me of
the TaeUlJu Chanting Meditation - and the rising of the natural water
energy.
This was a ritual race that
spelled out the needed solution for the troubled humanity
today.
A tremor of excitement rippled through the crowd.
The other runners were trying hard, urged on
by the men along the trail, waving their cornstalks and vines,
loudly encouraged by the Snakes and Antelopes
waiting at the foot of the cliffs.
It
was no use.
The runner was a young boy
of perhaps sixteen, and none could catch him.
Reaching the foot of the mesa, he began clambering up the steep, rocky
trail, urged on by the Snakes and Antelopes whirling their tovokinpi (rolling
thunder) or bullroarers (sticks tied to the ends of strings).
They spun them lasso‑like to simulate the
roaring sound of low thunder.
style="font-family:'Tms Roman 10pt'; font-size:11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 바탕; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">The young boy reached the kiva
before the rest of the runners began panting up the mesa, accompanied by all the
Snakes and Antelopes and the men carrying cornstalks squash vines.
style="font-family:'Tms Roman 10pt'; font-size:11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 바탕; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: KO; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">There were ribald calls from the crowd on
top, jokes and laughter.
If the mystic marriage of Snake Maiden and Antelope Youth expressed the
purpose and end of the ceremony, then the Antelope and Snake Races symbolize the
means for me.
The mystic marriage of
Snake Maiden and Antelope Youth was the union of man's two life forces, the
physical embodied in the lowest center at the base of the spine and the
spiritual residing in the psychological center at the crown of the head.
And the path between them was symbolized by
this race today; a water jar arising to purify the spiritual center at the top
of the head.
The whole ritual so far had
a deeply meditative effect on me.
The Antelope Dance was given at sunset on the day of the Antelope Race,
and the Snake Dance followed the Race on the next day.
The two dances, like the two races, were
similar, save that the familiar squash, melon, and bean vines were used in the
Antelope Dance, and the snakes were danced with only in the concluding Snake
Dance.
"Running Antelopes make the sound of thunder whose vibration stimulates
the clouds to come out of their shrines.
Hence the Antelope Dance first draws the clouds.
The bull snake has the power to suck out life
and rain from the clouds.
So on the
following day the Snake Dance brings rain," Pawatakawa explained to
me.
"The Snake members paint most of their bodies with a composition of suta
(red mineral) and yalaha (deep red mineral).
A large oval over breasts and shoulders is painted white with tuma (white
clay).
White is also used for a strip
covering the upper part of the forehead and the front of the throat.
The rest of the face is blackened with
monha.
Each member wears a reddish-brown
kirtle with a black design of a snake, and brown fringed moccasins.
On both are sewn seashells.
He went on with his detailed explanations with a great enthusiasm.
"In contrast the Antelope members paint
themselves ash-gray with white zigzag lines running up from their breasts to the
shoulders and down the arms to the fingers, and down the front of the legs to
their big toes.
The rattle which each
will carry is a gourd covered with the skin of the testicle of an antelope.
Each wears a white kirtle and embroidered
sash.
As a final touch the chin is
outlined by a white line from ear to ear."
Suddenly the Antelopes and Snakes filed into the plaza - two rows of
twelve men each, like a pair of prayer sticks for each of the six directions,
the Antelopes ash-gray and white, the Snakes reddish-brown and black.
Today was the last day of the ritual and I
was about to witness the famous Hopi Snake Dance.
The appearance of the Snake chief struck the
keynote of the somber scene.
There was
something neolithic about his heavy, powerfully-built long arms and his loose
black hair hanging to his massive shoulders.
At the end of the line trudged a small boy.
Silently they encircled the plaza four times
- a strange silence accentuated by the slight rattle of gourds and
seashells.
As each passed in front of
the kisi he bent forward and with the right foot stomped powerfully upon the
pochta, the sounding board over the sipapuni.
In the thick, somber silence the dull, resonant stamp sounded like a
faint rumble from underground, echoed a moment later, like thunder from the
distant storm clouds.
"This is the supreme moment of mystery in the Snake Dance," Pawatakawa
whispered to me with an eager excitement, "the thaumaturgical climax of the
whole Snake-Antelope ceremony.
Never
elsewhere does one hear such a sound so deep and powerful.
It assures those below that those above are
dutifully carrying on the ceremony.
It
awakens the vibratory centers deep within the earth to resound along the world
axis with the same vibration."
The Snake Chief at the same moment stooped in front of the kisi, then
straightened up with a snake in his mouth.
He held it gently but firmly between his teeth, just below the head.
With his left hand he held the upper part of
the snake's body level with his chest, and with the right hand the lower length
of the snake level with his waist.
"That
is the proper manner of handling a snake during the dance," my Hopi friend told
me.
Immediately a second Snake priest
stepped up with a feathered snake whip in his right hand, with which to stroke
the snake.
"He is commonly known as the
guide, for his duty is to conduct the dancer in a circle around the plaza."
As they moved away from the kisi another
dancer and his guide paused to pick out a snake, and so on, until even the small
boy at the end was dancing with a snake in his mouth for the first time.
It was a large rattlesnake, its flat birdlike
head flattened against his cheek.
All
seemed to show the same easy familiarity with the snakes as they had with the
squash vines the day before.
After dancing around the plaza the dancer removed the snake from his
mouth and placed it carefully on the ground.
Then the Snake Chief and his guide stopped at the kisi for another
snake.
A third man, who Pawatakawa
called the 'snake-gatherer,' now approached the loose snake.
It was coiled and was ready to strike.
The gatherer watched it carefully, making no
move until it uncoiled and began to wriggle quickly across the plaza.
Then he dexterously picked it up, holding it
by one of the Antelopes, singing in the long line.
The Antelope, smoothing the snake's
undulating body with his right hand, continued singing.
The ceremony went on in a kind of mesmeric enchantment in the darkening
afternoon.
There was nothing exciting
about the men dancing with snakes in their mouths - only a dignity that revealed
how deeply they were immersed in the mystery, and a strange sense of power that
seemed to envelop them.
The seashells
with their slight, odd sound were calling to their mother water to come and
replenish the earth.
"The song of the
Antelopes is describing the clouds coming from the four directions, describing
the rain falling.
All the Hopis know
that if it does not rain during the Home Dance of Niman Kachina, rain will come
with the Snake Dance.
This is the
consummation of the union of the two universal polarities, the release of that
mystic rain which recharges all the psychic centers of the body and renews the
whole stream of life in man and earth alike,"
Pawatakawa told me.
After the Snake Dance Pawatakawa said that the whole ritual was
over.
He invited me to stay at his house
for the night.
On the walk to his house,
I asked him if he knew any other Hopi stories or legends.
"The one that immediately comes to mind," he
answered, "Is the legend of Pahana."
"This is a very strange yet profound legend," he went on.
"It is said when Hopis first arrived in this
land, they were given a stone tablet with a missing corner piece by Masaw - the
guiding spirit of this land.
On the
tablet was marked a picture of a man without a head.
With the tablet Masaw gave following words to
remember for the Hopis."
As if he was
remembering one of his past lives, he spoke with a deep reflection.
"This is what he said, as marked on the
tablet: After the Fire Clan of the Hopis had migrated to a permanent home, the
time would come when we would be overcome by a strange people.
We Hopis would be forced to develop our land
and lives according to the dictates of a new ruler, or else we would be treated
as criminals and be punished.
But we
were not to resist.
We were to wait for
the person who would deliver us.
"This person was our lost brother, Pahana, who would return to us with
the missing corner piece of the tablet, deliver us from our persecutors, and
work out with us a new and universal brotherhood of man with us.
But, warned Masaw, if our leader accepted any
other religion, he must assent to having his head cut off.
This would dispel the evil and save his
people.
"As prescribed by prophecy, if the true Pahana were to come, four lines
of sacred wheel would be drawn, and the Bear Clan leader would step up to the
barrier and extend his hand, palm up.
If
he was indeed the true Pahana, we Hopis know he would extend his own hand, palm
down, and clasp the Bear Clan leader's hand to form the nakwach, the ancient
symbol of brotherhood.
At the front gate of his house hung dried corn.
The house had earthen walls and earthen
floors, yet the inside was furnished with modernities such as kitchen tables and
cabinets.
The rain which had started
that afternoon was still falling into the night.
At his room I placed my worship bowl to the northern direction.
I told Pawatakawa that now I was about to
start my daily Ritual to Sotuknang and Taiowa.
He nodded his head in approval and asked me about my knowledge on
Sotuknang.
I told him with a firm voice,
"Sotuknang, as you say, was created as the first power and instrument as a
person.
And since such a beginning, His
deeds had firmly established Him as the ruler of all Heavens and He had come to
reside on the kingdom of the Ninth Heaven as its Highest Ruler.
And then in 1871 he was born on earth as a
human child in
Korea.
His Religious name is JeungSan Kang.
He came to earth this time as a human because
as we approach the beginning of the Fifth world, humanity has to mature fully as
the divine ruler of its destiny.
Our
humanity in marching toward the Fifth world had advanced scientifically;
however, we were beginning to forget the purpose of our creation.
We were destroying our spirituality.
Thus JeungSan came to earth as a human child
to assist humanity in fulfilling the purpose of creation.
As a human, He reconstructed the Heavenly
order; thus in the Fifth world all human races can coexist as brothers and
sisters.
As a person on Earth, He bade
Kokyanwuti, the Spider Woman, to be born as a woman on earth so He could greet
Her as His wedded wife.
Pawatakawa, her
earth name is Go, PanRyeu.
The Lord
JeungSan SangJeNim taught us to sing praises to Taiowa and that song is TaeUlJu
Song of Life.
After having charted the
path towards the opening of the Fifth world, the JeungSan SangJeNim died,
promising His return on the fifth world as the Supreme Leading Spirit.
The TaeMo Go SuBuNim then founded the
JeungSan Do religion and taught people to sing TaeUlJu Song of Life.
In order for current humanity to be saved we
all need to sing the TaeUlJu Song of Life.
This time the key to entering the Fifth world is completely dependent on
the TaeUlJu Song of Life.
This time,
neither JeungSan SangJeNim nor the TaeMo Go SuBuNim shall be the ones who
save.
This time the main savior shall be
we humans.
We shall determine who shall
be saved.
We shall select our own entry
into the Fifth world by singing or not singing the TaeUlJu song of life.
This time humanity shall fulfill the purpose
of creation.
The path toward the Fifth
world has already been charted by the JeungSan SangJeNim.
Our current humanity had been pushed into
that path by the TaeMo Go SuBuNim.
Now
we need to walk on that charted path in order to complete our destined purpose
of creation."
I saw his eyes sparkle. I stood
up and bowed to the JeungSan SangJeNim and the TaeMo Go SuBuNim four times and
he accompanied me. We then chanted the
TaeUlJu Song of Life together, accompanied by the peaceful sound of rain drops
outside. Soon I noticed Pawatakawa
poking my shoulder. Without stopping the
chant and without opening my eyes, I looked around. His soul ascended from his body and was
hovering above it. His soul looked
surprised to be out of its body and it was desperately poking my shoulder for
assurance. I held his soul by the hand
and we both ascended to the thatched ceiling.
I could see both my body and his body in deep chanting meditation
below. Up at the ceiling I saw a Hopi
man and a woman approaching us. They
both called out "Pawatakawa!" Pawatakawa
looked overjoyed and rushed up to them.
They hugged each other warmly.
Pawatakawa turned to me and introduced them as his deceased parents. I bowed to them and they bowed with me. I noticed they were wet, wearing the kachina
costume.
Understanding
my curiosity, the man spoke in Hopi.
"We
both partook today's ceremony of the Snake Dance.
We accompanied the rain kachina (rain spirit)
today.
The rain you saw today is our joy
and dance.
The rain you saw today is the
kachina.
The rain you saw today is our
body and mind.
The rain is us.
I noticed that the rain has stopped now.
Welcome, my Eastern brother."
He extended his arm to me palm up.
I extended my arm palm down and grabbed hold
of his hand in Yim-Yang form and shook his hand.
In his left hand he was holding a stone
tablet with a broken off corner.
In my
left hand I was holding my copy of the book The Truth of JeungSan
Do.
I suddenly noticed that I was
dressed in traditional Korean white robe.
On his stone tablet, there was a picture of a man without a head.
On the cover of my copy of the book The
Truth of JeungSan Do, there was a strange picture, the meaning of which I
never understood.
It could have been a
man's head; it could have been a bear's head; then again, it could have been
some kind of a bird.
Next to the picture
it was written, "The Light of the Savior is in the East."
 
The man
placed his stone tablet underneath the picture on the cover of my book.
The picture of a man without a head on the
tablet seen together with the image on the cover of The truth of JeungSan
Do formed a picture of a living kachina.
The man proclaimed, "Eototo!
Chief of all Kachinas!"
The newly
formed kachina jumped out and proclaimed in the air,
"I am Eototo, the leading kachina, the chief
of all the kachinas. And the chief kachina of the Bear Clan."
His round, bare mask of white buckskin was
painted with only three black dots for eyes and a mouth and embellished on the
top with only three sparrow-hawk feathers.
He bowed to all twenty‑four directions and announced to earth and heaven,
"Our brother from the East, Pahana, has finally come!"
Soon many other kachinas gathered around
him.
They all hugged me.
Then all kachinas declared,
"Bring in a feast for our brother from the
East!"
Upon their
declaration, Pawatakawa and I both opened our eyes and we found ourselves back
in our bodies.
Pawatakawa stared into my
eyes for a moment.
Then we heard another
declaration being atoned in the air.
"Pawatakawa, bring the guest out.
The dinner is ready."
Pawatakawa's
aunt was calling him from the kitchen.
We went out to the kitchen and sat on the dinning table.
There was a well cooked corn and rice dish
waiting for us.
Pawatakawa brought two
beers from the ice-box.
He poured a
glass for me.
I poured a glass for
him.
We both drank.
I handed my empty glass to him and poured
beer for him in that glass.
He gave me
his empty glass and filled beer in it for me.
We both drank.
As his aunt as a
witness, we declared we were brothers.
We slept
under one blanket that night.
He held my
hand tightly.
From the small window at
the top of the wall in the room, I could see the milky way floating
by.
http://www.xanga.com/elementfive
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The Dao Culture - Jeff Kraus-Talking about Tao, Dao center, Daoism, Taoism, I-ching, Iching, yin yang, and all
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