Sometimes it’s difficult to pull a story from a place—especially when its secrets are so well hidden. This is the case with my work-in-progress, “River” a contemporary environmental novel encased in archeological digs, folklore, religion and legends that intertwine with wide-ranging beliefs in the lost continents of Mu, Lemuria, and Atlantis.
My jump off point began with a trip to Mesa Verde National Park in Southwestern Colorado with its many miles of cliff dwellings and high mesa pit houses that date back to 550 AD through 1300 AD when everyone mysteriously disappeared.
My original thought was to begin with the Hopi clans and their spiritual connections to Kachinas—the highly respected Spiritual People of Growth. Instead, I went one more step back to their ancestors at Mesa Verde which is steeped in mysteries.
The first night there had my husband Blake and I settled into a comfortable campsite with our dog Gena. As the constellations moved above us, we watched for shooting stars that did not disappoint. We engulfed ourselves in the myths that belonged to this place and all I could think of was the Hopi’s words, “Paatoowata”, an object that could fly through water, and the “Tawuya” or “Flying Shields” which used magnetic fields to transport the Kachinas through earthly skies and to and from their home planets. Many stories are like legends found at such places as Mount Shasta in California and the Hawaiian Islands.
We spent several days hiking trails that led to the cliff houses and we meandered through the mesa top villages that date back to even earlier settlements. So many questions with no real answers. Yet, as I took in the nighttime sky, I could almost see the gourd-shaped vessels landing on the high desert mesas. Did life become impossible on earth for the ancients? So much so, that they picked up those that didn’t want to migrate to another geographic area and take them home? Very “E.T.” (as in the Spielberg movie), yet plausible.
Next stop in this puzzle-play will branch out from another desert campground in Winslow Arizona. In about a week, we’ll be nestled 60 miles south of the Second Mesa on Hopi land and I’ll report back from there.
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NOV
2018
About the Author:
Elaine Webster writes fiction, creative non-fiction, essays and poetry from her studio in Las Cruces, New Mexico—in the heart of the Land of Enchantment. “It’s easy to be creative surrounded by the beauty of Southern New Mexico. We have the best of everything—food, art, culture, music and sense of community.”