Journey To Old Oraibi

I remember traveling out to the Land of the Hopi with Grandmother Pa'Ris'Ha back in the late '80's.  We went with her to study shamanism, never imagining what would transpire because we were all so innocent.  Just our innocence was protection from evils, which we learned were only imbalances that could be balanced.  In those days I was very spiritual but had little earthly materials so I listened when Grandmother said, "Never become so spiritual that you're no earthly good".

Grandmother knew the people in the Hopi community.  "Hopi" are the Native Americans known as "the little people of peace".  When we arrived on the mesa known as Old Oraibi a young Native woman met us.  She was the one that would guide us and show us the village.  We went into the sacred place known as a Kiva which is built into the ground.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiva.  This room is built for ritual and sacred ceremony.  Grandmother Parisha explained to us that the floor of the Kiva is sprinkled with cornmeal but at the end of the ritual, no footprints can be seen in the corn pollen on the floor.

While we were traveling through the village we went to the edge of the mesa which is protected by a 4 foot wall so you don't just go wandering around at night and fall off the edge.  I was one in a group surrounding Grandmother, and we stood and marvelled at the scene far below and out beyond.  It was certainly a long way down!  There was a very small, sickly looking bush up against the wall.  I noticed a group of Hopi men about 40 yards away, standing by a dwelling.  They were looking in our direction and just milling around. 

Grandmother was talking to us and teaching when we all saw a brilliant red and black coral snake appear by the sickly looking bush on the wall.  We all stepped back to allow room for the snake knowing there was no place for it to go.  At that moment a Raven began calling from the opposite side of the mesa and it caught Grandmother Parisha's attention.  She turned to look at the Raven and in that instant she doubled over, as if in pain.  The Raven had been calling a warning.

Also in that moment, the snake disappeared.  No one could see where it went, and we all knew that there was no place for it to go but over the edge.  No holes in the ground either.  Grandmother was definitely in pain and, taken by surprise, she still stood but looked as though she could use something to sit down on and get off her feet.  There was nothing.  I saw the look on the Native woman's face who was acting as our guide.  She was in a state of panic.  She turned and ran as fast as she could back to one of the dwellings.  Long braids flying.

Grandmother explained that she had been hit in her abdomen by the snake.  This was a form of sorcery, most likely attributed to the men we had seen standing by the dwelling.  She felt movement in her body and knew she had to take care of the situation.  We completely surrounded her and walked back to our vehicles to go back to the hotel.  My emotions fluctuated between fear and anger, which Grandmother recognized.  She smiled and said the damage could be fixed and would become a teaching for all of us.  I marvelled once again at her wisdom and her courage.

When we returned to the hotel it was dark.  We were in our rooms when the lights in the complex went out.  All of them.  The whole place had shut down because there was no power.  It stayed that way for about an hour.

Later, we all gathered with Grandmother who appeared to be herself again.  She held a large crystal in her hand and gave a teaching on sorcery.  The spirit of an old sorcerer had been called forth to do ill to her and she'd had to pull it from her body which pulled power from the circuits, causing the black-out.  The spirit of the sorcerer was caught in the large crystal she held in her hand.  She said that if one of us had been between her and the snake, she would have taught us about extraction.  Just for a moment, I was crazy enough to be sad that it wasn't me who had been hit by the snake!  I wanted to learn everything she could teach.

She taught that there was nothing but love and compassion and, resting in that, she sent the spirit of the old one back to the grandmothers and grandfathers who stood waiting to take the errant sorcerer back to themselves.  At that, she released the spirit of the old one from the crystal, from which arose a puff of smoke.