The Four Sacred Dine Mountains

The Navajo people believe that the Creator placed them on land between four sacred mountains: According to their own history, the Navajos have always lived between these mountains. The Navajo people have been instructed by the Creator never to leave their sacred homeland. The four points represent the four cardinal directions:

* Mount Blanca (Tsisnaasjini' - Dawn or White Shell Mountain)
Sacred Mountain of the East - near Alamosa in San Luis Valley, Colorado.
*Mount Taylor (Tsoodzil - Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain) Sacred Mountain of the South - north of Laguna, New Mexico.
* San Francisco Peaks (Doko'oosliid - Abalone Shell Mountain) Sacred Mountain of the West - near Flagstaff, Arizona.
* Mount Hesperus (Dibé Nitsaa - Big Mountain Sheep) Sacred Mountain of the North - La Plata Mountains, Colorado.

The following inner mountains within the borders formed by the 4 sacred mountains are also held as sacred because of their importance in Navajo mythology:

*Huerfano Mesa (Dzil Na'oodilii) - Holy People (Navajo Deities) Encircling Mountain
Sacred Mountain of the Center, 60 miles southeast of Bloomfield, New Mexico. This is where Changing Woman received her puberty, gave birth to her warrior twins, and lived in the first hogan. It is considered to be the "lungs" of Navajo country.
* Gobernador Knob (Ch'oolii) Sacred Mountain East of Center in Old Navajoland (Dinetah), near and southeast of the Navajo Dam. This is where Changing Woman was found. It is considered to be the "heart" of Navajo country.
* Navajo Mountain (Naatsis'áán) - Head of the Earth, Southeast Utah

* Grand Canyon is considered to be from where creation emerged. It is the Source in landform.

The Navajo family's dwelling, the hogan, is a microcosm of their homeland. The posts of the hogan represent the four sacred mountains. A traditional hogan is constructed of logs, bark, and packed earth in a round dome-roofed shape, according to instructions found in the Navajo creation story. The sections of the Hogan correspond to the structures of the universe, for instance, the earthen floor represents Mother Earth and the round roof symbolizes Father Sky. A Hogan can never be abandoned unless it is struck by lightning or someone dies in it from a cause other than old age. _The Hogan is the site for all religious ceremonies, which sanctify it through use. The Hogan constitutes one of the most sacred places for the members of a Navajo family and binds them to the land of their birth.
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Sacred Navajo Mountain of the North: Mount Hesperus or Dibé Nitsaa, CO

I felt them with me the most present since my arrival to the Southwest. I felt them behind me up above. But my eyes did not see anyone. I came upon Joya as she stood, tears in her eyes. Unifying and letting go of mother. We embraced and walked together softly to the car. Our gratitude left behind and carried with us up further to the aspen grove. The sun casting long shadows on the road.
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Trees reaching far overhead. Tall pillars. Car stopped, running up the road, through the trees. This is where the wild things are. Completion. The snow up ahead prevented travel any further up to the peak or even just to where the shale stone begins. Joya said she felt there were bear dens by the shale. Introspection before pure Shhhhhh. Rode home in silence to the bakery for lunch. Break fast.

Durango, CO

Saturday a jaunt to town. Durango is a sweet, high end, tight-knit, mountain town with hipsters speckled about on street corners, mountain bikes, or trapped in a snowboard and snow drifts. By chance stumbled into the “Herb Lady,” where she was selling homemade herbs, spices, oils, dressings and jams for a few dollars. Awesome. Mountain bike shop. My eyes so wide. Went to Himalayan restaurant for lunch. Tibetan, Nepalese, and Indian food, which they pray over. Tasted so pure and satisfying. I came alive again. Beautiful Tibetan owners. Then a free stretch in the local hot springs. Lets just say we have connections…Went back to the house, cooked, and sat in story for hours. Photographs. I got lost back in Aotearoa New Zealand. The fondest memories. Light-hearted day.

Environmental Awareness

There are natural gas wells in the San Juan basin - South of Durango into New Mexico past Gobernador Knob. It significantly impacts the air quality due to the poisonous fumes they emit once dug into and exposed. Truck traffic adds to pollution and social imposition. Because of the economic downfall, some sites have closed down and there is less production. Government agencies, however, have continually failed to regulate ground level ozone – key ingredients of smog, and these agencies continue to grant more leases for additional oil and gas wells. There are more than 20,000 oil and gas wells in the San Juan basin and companies plan to expose 15,000 more. The EPA may be forced to address the air quality in the regions.

There are also two coal burning power plants between Shiprock and Farmington. Another in Navajo Country in Arizona. The plants are dirty, unfiltered, without scrubbing. Coal mining is done right near the power plant. One of these plants is approximately the second most polluting in the United States. It effects air quality for miles. Ute Mountain Ute people living West of Cortez, Colorado, have set their own air quality standards, but have not yet been able to bring about governmental cooperation. The San Juan power plant East of Shiprock has emitted 14,500 tons of sulfur dioxide in one year. 25,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, and 750lbs of Mercury has been released into the air. Vallecito is a reservoir NE of Durango that tested positive for elevated levels of mercury, in which Navajo and Ute people were warned in 2006 to retreat from fishing large catch.

Uranium mining has been done on the Navajo reservation and other tribal areas. Many Navajos of my grandparent’s generation were those performing mining labor. 4 million tons of uranium has been extracted in the past several decades. Many Navajos have suffered repercussive illnesses or death. Left over rocks from the mines was used to build houses, and many Navajo homes will be demolished and reconstructed this upcoming year. The EPA is determining whether or not the uranium mining corporations can be held responsible for the fatalities and negative health effects.

Usually problematic in urban centers, the four corners have been facing comparable levels of air pollution. Each of these issues culminates into an acute overload environmental contamination. San Juan County, New Mexico, home to the Navajo and Apache tribes as well as all residents of Farmington, is “currently on the brink of violating federal health limits for ozone air pollution. If the region falls into violation of federal limits, the largely rural region will be declared ‘dirty air’ area, a designation usually reserved for cities like Los Angeles and Houston” (Wild Earth Guardians). If the levels continue to rise, the government will be forced to address the issue of industrial activity.

Navajo Country and Sand Painting, Shiprock NM

Friday, Joya invited me to the Nataani Nez Navajo Elementary School in Shiprock, New Mexico where she teaches art to the little ones. About an hour Southeast from Mancos. I was privileged to meet a Navajo sand painter named Eugene Baatsoslanii Joe, a friend of Joya's. He came to teach the 3rd graders about how to make a sand painting. Turns out my skills meet such a level. My pride remains intact. Haha. Yeah…so good Mr. Joe shared about the history of sand painting. It developed as a ceremonial practice created only within the sanctity of the hogans. Hogans are eight-sided structures, in which Navajo perform healing and ceremony. In 1958 in Sheepspring New Mexico, Fred Stevens was the first Navajo sand artist. Stevens is Eugene’s clan uncle. Clan identity remains to be of central importance to most if not all Navajo people. Joya explained it is not uncommon for those of different clans to create social walls between each other. The second artisan to learn sand painting was the couple Francis and Patsy Miller, who painted on ply wood. The base material of ply wood, transitioned to press wood, and now is replaced by masonite. Eugene’s father was the next to adopt the art form. His name was James C. Joe. He was half Navajo and half Zuni. A very spiritual man. Incorporating Navajo myth and symbolism, the sand paintings are used to enliven strength, health, prosperity and remedy many other forms of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ailments. Each painting traditionally evolves within a four day period. Eugene learned from his father and described how he paid his dues before being initiated into the practice. He first learned discipline - sweeping floors, preparing the sand with an old-fashioned meat grinder. Hard work. As his father, James C. Joe, began to expand his art through what we call “creative license,” many traditionalists denounced his work as secular. He placed symbols differently and used colors based more on preference and aesthetic taste. He may also have painted outside the hogan, which would have heightened controversy. In effect James Joe accepted their criticism and stepped out of the ceremonial realm of sacred art. Eugene was therefore taught sand painting more as an art form than an expression of healing. Controversy continues to surround the issue, even in an elementary school classroom. Eugene is, however, known as one of the most accomplished sand painters in that region of Navajo country. He is hoping to further is expression though contemporary sand art. I had the opportunity to speak with him after the lesson as I finished my small painting on a paper plate. I learned a lot that day about the incredible symbolism that upholds Navajo spirituality. The six directions. The importance of remaining in tune with spiritual preparation before we blossom in our life path. Connect the dots first. The value of age in wisdom. And the prejudices that many Navajo still carry against white people. The history still burned in tribal memory, and the bitterness that white people owe something. Many want to be gifted and given material goods. He eyed my Peruvian necklace with the hunger for a gift. Even a hint for a gift of honor. As I sat there with total respect, love, and gratitude, he tried to degrade me and threw in sour humor about Joya, as she cleaned up after the kids. He is a talented and fun-loving man, and I still enjoyed the meeting. Other teachers I met were more opened and a couple endearing. I was able to speak with the Navajo language teacher, who taught me to say the “shl” sound properly. Thank God. Not an easy one. As we left for the day we acknowledged the great mythological bird, who flew into the ground. His wing still sticks up, and many call the amazing rock formation a ship, thus the name Shiprock.

Before I knew the significance of Gobernador Knob, I knew it was important to visit. In fact, one of the few places I was dedicated to make the trip down the enigmatic road the googlemaps refused to disclose. It is relatively close to Shiprock in northwest New Mexico. I planned to stay the night in Shiprock and visit the Mountain early on Saturday. However, Joya and Joanne explained how there is not a way by road in which to access the mountain, (that is, assuming that you find the road to it at all). They, themselves, only made it so far down the bumpy road until they saw the peak from afar, barely towering over the surrounding mountains. I now understand the role of Gobernador Knob (Spruce Mountain) as the birthplace of the Navajo Goddess, Changing Woman. She was found at the hump at the end of Spruce Hill, a steep little rise of ninety or a hundred feet. Her name comes from the cycle of changes in her age: young in the spring, mature in the late summer, old in winter, and young again the following spring. Gobernador Knob is a small and especially sacred mountain, which is considered to be the heart of Navajo country. I realized that I could access the site energetically, while my feet remain here in Mancos. There is always a way around natural gas wells. What I mean by that tangential statement is the hundreds of wells dug around the sacred Knob and throughout the Navajo country of New Mexico, usurping nature’s gifts, causing ecological imbalance, and producing high levels of air pollution…Honor the “heart” with greater potency than the suffocation of toxic fumes.

Mesa Verde, CO

My first day in the Southwest Joanne took me up to Mesa Verde. Over 8,000 feet up. It is considered an ancestral homeland for the Pueblo people, which exclude the Navajo tribe. Anasazi is the name used for all the ancestral tribes of the Southwest. The Pueblo have largely diverse cultures, languages, histories, ceremonies. Pueblo people lived together in towns and were farming people. Mesa Verde was abandoned in the 1300’s. There continues to be speculation about why they relocated to other communities. A common understanding is due to drought. They lived up on the mesa because the land was fertile for growing corn. Many kivas remain, some having been excavated. They are deep circular pits with stonewalls of layered rock. They are used for ceremony. Joanne felt that Pueblo people likely still go up there and do ceremony. Not a day for cameras. Initial welcome. Full attention, full respect. We cleansed with Florida water, and I offered qoqa leaves with prayer, dropped into the kiva. We sat by the reservoir in silence for a long time. A large circular space, the bottom once packed down clay and filled with water. I walked bare foot around the perimeter three times and sat on the ground inside the waterless reservoir. A day of purification. My head cold drying up in the burning sun. Preparation for the journey. The peace up there was tangible. Many petroglyphs have been found in the area. Joanne took off for the research center, while I walked the Petroglyph Trail only a 2.2 mile hike. Not another visitor passed me by. Beautiful. Snaking around the perimeter of the ridge over looking a valley. Rich colors of rock. Juniper and pine trees. Sage bushes. More Qoqa offerings. Peace. Back to the house.

November 3rd and 4th. I drove 18 hours from Fairfield Iowa to Mancos Colorado. The rise of altitude. A head cold for company. Great music. Straight shot through Nebraska. Winding through the Colorado mountains. Joya and Joanne are a couple, who live in Mancos Colorado. They received me with open arms, and have made me feel more than at home. The journey begins.