¡Colores!; 114; An Understated Sacredness; Rena Int #1

A few summers ago, I went up to one of the sacred shut shrines up in the mountains of Santa Clara. And being up there, I looked around and the thing that seemed most incredibly touching to me was the movement of the clouds in the sky, the the flowing of the hills down below me. And as I looked down around my feet there was the shrine that's located up there in those mountains. The shrine that has footprints practically carved into the not carved but actually been dug into after hundreds of years of people walking to the place from not just

there was nothing nothing that really stood out as as a human structure. There were gathered stones there and then the the worn out rock of people's feet coming to it and of course Cornmeal spread around it so that one knew if you knew what you're looking for that this was a very special place to be. And yet the specialness of it was somehow marked by the connection to those clouds, to those hills and to the to the trees around. The one of the most exquisite sites was the wind blowing up the side of the hill.

We've got a jet overhead and you're going to have to do some follow -up. Let's pick it up then. And significant is that there's no special structure that celebrates the sacredness of the place. Architecturally it is understated as almost inconspicuous. You can almost walk over it without knowing that it's there. And that seems it not only seems it is the way the poor rural operates. The thing is to

be is to be so much a part of that natural world that one does not feel significantly different from it. And I think it contrasts very sharply with the Western world because their significance is in how we are different from what is there. That shrine that is one of the major major places in the poor blue world is not visually important but it is still extremely important because it is the place out of which the breath flows. It is that place out of which the breath flows where the oh -oh -oh comes that that water -wind breath that we all breathe as animals breathe

plants breathe that we breathe and it is that place that the earth also breathes the earth breathes as we do. And it I think it's very important to know that about about sacred places in the poor blue world because it is that that is much more important than any structure that can be set up on the land or identifying a place architecturally as important but it is important because it is where where the flow happens it is where where the possibility of transformation of change change happens. Tell me a little

bit about the actual look of the place. You were starting to tell me how you can almost walk right by it but it's almost so visually understood I think that's the point of me to make here. If you were to be if you were walking through the hills or the mountains in that area and you came across a pile of rocks chances are that that you would just sort of freak your shoulder and say well somebody may have been here that sort of thing but but not not realizing that as a matter of fact for for the poor blue world it is so extremely significant because it is those places that connect us to the underworld that that tell us about those places out of which not just the people emerged but all life form came to this out of you know the came out of the underworld to this level of

existence it is synonymous I guess to a church in the Western world but very very different in quality because with it with a church it's so contained it's so architecturally contained here the here the idea is not not architectural containment but is is the place that reminds us of the connection with the clouds with the earth with the plants around us and animals around us but visually it is but a few few stones gathered and and for those places that are as significant as that particular one it is also the footprints of the people in the stone itself and that

signified it's really great importance it's specialness what you were saying that usually it's a little I mean what I wanted you to tell me then so I usually disappoint it is it's been you know it just simply is visually disappointing because you expect such a sacred place to have more more human construction more human work put into it but it takes you the other direction it takes you towards human beings I think I think what it does is it it makes you aware that that your connection is not with what human beings create but that as a matter of fact it's about how one connects to the to the earth itself to the sky itself

and you don't need architectural things to do that so good how about we pick it up then say your mom and then we hear your mom doing a prayer like that we've got understanding the visual understatement as it were of those shrines of those places is I think very critical to understanding poor blue sacred space

they are they are really visually understate it they are so inconspicuous that many people who go into that poor blue world into the poor blue places today's purple plaza areas that center place will not even know that there is an opening into the underworld in those plaza spaces and probably will walk right over without realizing that that they are on the most and in probably the most sacred space there is in that poor blue world that that is so crucial those openings are so crucial into the underworld because it is it is out of that

underworld that we that we came the people of course a very long time ago were way down in the in the fourth fourth world or a few reverse at the first world and as we started moving up with the help of other plants and animals there were some birds that helped there were some badgers that help and different there are different versions of how the people came up through those those different levels but very important is that we human beings didn't do it alone they had to have help of of other birds and animals and as they emerged into this into this plane of existence into this level of existence it is out of those openings that they that they came and as they as they came onto this this level this world as it were into this world then

then they began to move through this land and began to again be reminded of their connection with plant other plants and animals because they they couldn't they couldn't survive without their help without their assistance and whenever it came to to deciding where they should settle where they should put their their villages and their communities they again would go to different different animals and different povlos have have connection with different animals but generally the the people would would ask both rainbow and water spider to help them find where the where the center center of the world is not just the center of their community but the center of the world and that opening that we call in tewa the non sepul which literally means the belly root of the earth

is that point that would be found and then a mere stone would be placed there and that that point that that place that was found with the help of both rainbow and water spider then would be the center of that world for that particular group of people and usually it was oriented with the far mountains of four far mountains and the the plot the open plaza space then was was described around it and then the houses were put in very interesting that they the it was not the houses again we're back to that what is more important in that world because it's not the architectural structure that was first defined it was the open plaza space around that opening into the

underworld so you've got one negative space within another and then finally the the structures that would be that would be built around it and and what you get again is that very same thing happening within the within the keva space because you again there you've got a reiteration of that larger world with the with opening again into the underworld and then the keva space within and that usually set within the plaza so that you've got many levels of of of of going into the earth itself you've got the nonsipu you've got the keva and then you've got the open plaza space and and it just keeps going like that to the far mountains where usually the boundaries are drawn for that world let's talk for a second because we have the

respect you're in it let me it's all because my my mind is so unless I look at it okay as you're reading the selfie afraid to you know take time with it pause let's start right over from the beginning last summer as I stood on top of one of Santa Clara for low -sacred mountains I was most impressed by the wind the beauty of the clouds and the flow of the hills below there's a shrine up there with a few well -placed stones which define an area scattered with cornmeal and a deeply warm path in the bedrock you had the your paper is touching the mic I'm sorry what does that work for your picture yeah that's fine okay you can tighten up if you like tighter no

that's that's hard however she's going to move on okay but I don't know you know let's say remember how we feel could be a little more than just your average head shot if you want to put her off the one side or whatever okay you ready last summer as I stood on top of one of Santa Clara for low -sacred mountains I was most impressed by the wind the beauty of the clouds and the flow of the hills down below there's a shrine on top of that mountain with a few well -placed stones which define a small area scattered with cornmeal and a deeply warm path in the bedrock no special structure celebrates the sacredness of that place architecturally it is understated

almost inconspicuous that's great and that's wonderful okay does that feel all right that feels fine yeah it feels funny okay that feels fine it sort of keeps me on track right yeah this nice pause and take your time that's wonderful okay that particular shrine is typical of poor blue shrines in that it is visually disappointing it is nevertheless a very special place because it is a place of access to the underworld from which poor blue people emerged it is a doorway of communication between the many simultaneous levels of poor blue existence there's those shrines allow for a flow of energy between this plane of reality and other concurrent realities understanding

the visual understatement of that shrine and other poor blue shrines is important to understanding poor blue sacred space visually and physically understating shrines or for that matter poor blue community and house forms stems from the very nature of poor blue cosmology at the center of the poor blue belief system there's a conviction I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm starting at the center of the poor blue okay at the center of the poor at the center of the poor blue belief system is the conviction that people are not separate from nature and natural forces this insoluble connection with nature has existed

from the beginning of time the goal of human existence is to maintain wholeness or oneness with a natural universe poor blue people emerge from the underworld from inside the earth what do we stop for a second let's do that let's do that last sentence and then we move on to poor blue people emerge from the underworld from inside the earth Santa Clara poor blue was a wonderful place for a child to grow up I was a child there in the 1940s and remember the incredible sense of well -being and containment both socially and physically from the both socially and physically from the plaza or the booping year which is literally the middle heart place of the poor blue we could see the far mountains and circle our lives in

place the booping or heart of the earth for the table people is the open community space within the village I'm sorry I'm not phrasing it thank you time this is working okay for you it's just good you know I keep wanting to go off on something okay okay no I'm really okay with it okay let's start over again okay Santa Clara poor blue was a wonderful place for a child to grow up I was a child there in the 1940s and remember the incredible sense of well -being and containment both socially and physically from the plaza or the booping year which literally means the heart middle heart place of the poor blue we could see the far mountains and circle our lives in place the booping or heart of the earth for the table people is the open community space where the ritual dances and other community

activities happen the booping gig contains the literal center of the earth or the non -sipu which translates as a belly root of the earth each of poor blue's cosmos encircles the non -sipu and the surrounding mountains where the earth and sky touch are the boundaries of the well -organized spaces for people animals and spirits to live okay here's the phone get on there okay um let's pick it up where you see the booping the booping gig contains the literal center of the earth or the non -sipu

which translates as a belly root of the earth each poor blue's cosmos encircles the non -sipu okay the the booping gig or heart of the earth for the table people is the open community space outside solicitor for real milk okay the booping gig contains the literal center of the earth or the non -sipu which translates as a belly root of the earth each poor blue's cosmos encircles the non -sipu and the surrounding mountains where the earth and sky touch I didn't get that phrasing right I'm sorry each poor blue's cosmos encircles the non -sipu and the surrounding mountains where the earth and sky touch are the boundaries of the well -organized spaces for people and animals and spirits to live okay surprise if I have some typos now

I've got it the booping gig contains a literal center of the earth or the non -sipu which translates as the belly root of the earth each poor blue's cosmos encircles the non -sipu and the surrounding mountains where the earth and sky touch are the boundaries of the well -organized spaces for people animals and spirits to live the stories that the old people told us that we came to live with the help of birds plants and other animals once we emerged out of the underworld we continue to need those other animals those I'm usually better than this I don't know why I'm saying this at a hard time the stories that all people told us that we came to live with the help of birds plants and

other animals once we emerged out of the underworld we continue to need those other living beings in order to find the center point or the non -sipu the water spider and the rainbow helped the water spider spread its legs to the north west south and east and determine the middle of the world then the rainbow spread its art art of many colors to the north west south and east and confirm the water spider center point there the people placed a stone and around that stone was described and I'm sorry I can't actually maybe I should read it through one more the stories that all people told us that we came to live with the help of

birds plants and other animals once we emerged out of the underworld we continue to need those other living beings in order to find the center point or the non -sipu the water spider and the rainbow helped the water spider spread its legs to the north west south and east and determine the middle of the world then the rainbow spread its art of many colors to the north west south and east and confirm the water spider center point there the people placed a stone and around that stone was described the middle heart place or the plaza next the living structures were built they were constructed in terrorist forms like mountains with stepped tears which enclosed the plaza or the valley of the human place the house and kiva also emulated the

low hills and mountains and their interconnectedness to the earth the adobe structures flowed out of the earth and it was often difficult to see where the ground stopped where the structures began the house structures were more over connected to each other and closing in outdoor space from which we could directly connect with the sky and focus on the moving clouds the kiva structure was totally symbolic its rooftop was like the open the purple plaza place the kiva structure was totally symbolic its rooftop was like the purple plaza space from where we could connect with the sky while the rooftop opening took us into the kiva structure which was like going back into the earth via the non -sipu in the plaza space within the feminine dark interior the plaza space configuration was again repeated the earth floor

under and the woven basket move representing the sky above the connecting ladder of tall spruce stood in the middle near the non -sipu a simple stone okay let's stop here for a second let's do the just talk to me tell me the story there was one day when i was walking from the purple to the day school walking to the fields and along the stream by the sagebrush bushes sort of looking around taking everything in and as I looked up there was this incredible cloud in the sky and it kept moving it kept changing and I must have stood there for at least half an

hour and I was maybe seven or eight years old watching this wonderful cloud billow and bro and and change its form in front of me but it was so exciting it felt so close and yet it was so it was so full of it was so full of energy and it was so full of life that I knew that that's what the people met meant when they talked about the it was this it was this cloud itself and it is and and in the in that world the people talk about our energies when we die going back into clouds that we become the clouds and we and we move through the sky bringing bringing water to the to the earth and that's that just that

moment when I was a child was so significant because all of a sudden I I I knew what that whole cycle notion that we always talk about and the point was about and that's the clouds coming and going and people people becoming clouds and then and water coming back in doors again you