Three Rivers Petroglyph Site

Tapamveni

(Hopi for 'pounded symbol')

GEOMETRIC-ABSTRACT MOTIF ON BACKLIT BOULDER AT SUNRISE

A design motif commonly found at the site, emblematic of the same cosmological underpinnings as the more elaborate Mesoamerica variants.

“All-things (reality, the cosmos) are composed of an all-encompassing, immanent sacred power, force, or energy: dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-regenerating. Not a perduring, static state of being but one characterized instead by motion-change [...], by the continual and continuous cyclical struggle of paired opposites and polarities. Dualities locked in a process of agonistic, dialectical alternation with one another. Balance is generated by the back-and forth movement between them resulting in an overarching, dynamic equilibrium that stabilizes the center [...] Each inamic pair is mutually arising, mutually engendering and conditioned, inter-dependent, symmetrically related, and complementary, while at the same time mutually competitive and antagonistic with its partner”. 1

ELONGATED DESIGN MOTIF ON STANDING BOULDER

“Everything pecked or painted in these dry and rocky corners is a rain symbol”. 2

"Consistent with Pueblo cultural practices is the suggestion that rocks so decorated were clothed with textiles — thought of as 'stones wrapped with clouds' [...] Pueblo texts explain that 'like attracts like'. Cloud-related symbolism pecked on stone is preceived as invested with the power of attracting rain clouds because it is pleasing to them". 3

ARROW-PIERCED BIGHORN SHEEP WITH CAMERA SHOOTING SHADOW

Unlike works of art in a museum, the magic of petroglyphs derives from our active participation with them in a place-specific environment, on a given hour of a given day in a given season.

Pierced by arrows a thousand years ago, this bighorn sheep must now contend with also being shot by photo-trophy hunters. Is it just part of its archetypal nature to acquiesce and say: “here i am, prey for the taking”?

MOUNTAIN LION RIDDEN BY HORNED FIGURE

A hypothetical reading: mountain lion spirit helper ridden by shamanic figure holding a vertical rope/ladder that enables passage between the worlds.

In stark contrast with the previous petroglyph, that one proved a charged experience. Pecked onto a difficult-to-view boulder, i struggled for good vantage points. There were none... instead, a busy congregation of bees getting ruffled... It got intense pretty quick: stung a couple of times, then one bee flew at high speed within my sunglasses... That could have ended badly. Wildly hoping from boulder to boulder, gesticulating like a man possessed, i fled... Here was some mojo at work, i'd say!*

“In the native view, rock art and its settings are perceived as active subjects in an animistic world, charged with perceived powers undaunted by the passing of time”. 3

EHECATL-QUETZALCOATL

The conical hat of the Mesoamerican Wind deity is here depicted as a forward-bent horn/plume — the very same design element found on the Horned/Plumed Serpent of the Southwest, i.e. Quetzalcoatl, road-sweeper for the rains (of note: a corn stalk is pecked on an adjacent boulder).

Appropriately found on the date 3 WIND. While facing the deity came a staggering realization: my trademark fleece hat of 29 years is his diagnostic conical hat! Quetzalcoatl, the deity behind my life's work, not to mention the one most associated with my birthdate...

For such an obvious link to take decades to dawn on me, and to occur here, and to occur now (one Saturn and Progressed Moon cycles later) at the turn of the Wheel...**  Tip of the hat!

Naturally that day the wind was strong, taking a photo portrait challenging. But the result, helped by B&W, is symbolically impactful. In the Toltec myth, faced with the ETZN’AB mirror of his arch-nemesis twin Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl was made to see things. That dramatic confrontation with himself becoming the catalyst for his next life journey.

FELINE-SERPENT GUARDIAN OVERLOOKING THE OPEN PLAIN

The petroglyph that brought me here in the first place. Prominently positioned at ridge’s edge, overlooking the open plain. Watchful guardian for the nearby Jornada Mongollon pueblo. The elongated neck and snake rattle at tail's end speak alert watchfulness.

My pilgrimage to it must have triggered the dream i had that night. One involving a strongly revamped anima image — heralding a welcoming freshness to the path ahead, with equally fresh challenges laid along it.

*  This incident occurred on Calendar date 10 KIB: a day which, remarkably, is closely associated with both bees and the eye.

**   Part joke, part birthday present, this hat was gifted to me 04-24-1997: 4 AJAW in the Calendar, a fitting date for the head covering of a lifetime.

1   James Maffie — Aztec Philosophy: Understanding A World In Motion

2   Craig Child — Tracing Time: Seasons of Rock Art on the Colorado Plateau

3   Polly Schaafsma — Blurred Boundaries: Perspectives on Rock Art in the Greater Southwest