Tim Shows me the Other Side

I have been very fortunate to have been guided by many strong men during my life. I cherish the things they have taught me about life, nature, and history. Tim O Neill has taught me a great deal about the wonders of the South West. He has taught me about the history of the Spanish Conquest of the Pueblo People and how they revolted and eventually expelled them. He has shown me how to find gold in river beds that look to be full of nothing but rocks and dirt. He has taught me how to find turquoise, to polish it and turn it into jewelry. All these things I cherish deeply. On my recent visit, he took me to see some petroglyphs just outside of Santa Fe. These petroglyphs were done before, during, and after the Spanish left. They were done up until about 400 years ago. Until you are right on them, you would never know they are there. Tim knows where to look and even more importantly how to see them. We saw thousands in this one location. There were thousands we never even saw. In all I took 386 pictures. I will just give you a sampling. I do not know what they all are, so I will attempt to only explain the ones I do know.

This would had been done after the Conquest. It depicts a Church connected to the death symbol. A serious commentary.

We saw many of these Kokopelli. There were all different lengths of horns or flutes being played. For this next description, you might want your kids to look away...

Richi you are an ASSHOLE....

Here is the work of another ASSHOLE. Someone attempted to steal this solstice symbol. They broke it in half instead. Unfortunately we saw many signs of this sort of theft. Now, back to the real art.

On this panel you see many things that look like octopus. They are glyphs for comets

Whole herds of animals.

A Thunderbird or Phoenix.

A cross stabbing a raven? The raven is the animal attributed to the creation of man in many South Western cultures.

The spiral is a symbol for the solstice. This one is divided in half most likely representing an equinox phase of the sun. The six fingered hand is a sign for a shaman.

We came upon this at the end of out walk. The cans are hung in the tree to provide homes for the dead ancestors. The Pueblo that use to be here lies buried and un excavated, so this is the next best thing for them. Sometimes people have imitated these can trees, but this one is the real deal. I am very honored to have been given this experience. Tim, Thanx.

Unfortunately, this is where the New Mexico story ends. A few hours later we were on a plane heading for home. Unfortunately the adventures are going to have to wait for a while. I am way behind on my work and we need to bring the bank account back to normal. Hopefully something will pop up soon to post about. Until then, see ya up the road.