I have just
returned from a wonderful road trip to Utah’s canyon and natural arch country
in and near Arches National Park  and the Anasazi ruins in and near
Mesa Verde National Park. 
  A wonderful trip it was,
though my blogging was a little bit hit and miss.  Getting away from day to day concerns, and immersing myself
in one of the most energetically powerful places I have ever experienced. Here
is a land of living rock and an ever present Presence of the land, and immersing myself in it was a much needed blessing and
cleansing.  Visits to Bow Tie Arch , Tower Arch, and 
Mill Creek Canyon near Moab, Mug House Ruin in Mesa Verde and Sand Canyon in Hovenweep National Monument, and many other wonders enriched my hikes.

There is something
about old buildings and ruins that gives them a peculiar beauty quite different
from new ones.  I have often
wondered what it is, and I think it has to do with their gradually becoming
integrated into the place they occupy. 
They have settled in whereas new ones look pasted on.  New buildings usually represent mostly
human purposes, including, if we are fortunate, creativity and beauty.  Perhaps the Anasazi were different, for
their constructions work with their environment rather than ignore it.  In truth they had little choice.  But they made a virtue of
necessity.  This is the opposite of
most modern American architecture, which arrogantly ignores anything but
reflecting economic efficiency, the architect’s ego, and corporate or
governmental power.

But the Anasazi
saw themselves as people of the earth rather than temporary visitors headed
elsewhere.  The myths of their
most probable descendants, the Hopi and other pueblo peoples, often describe
emerging into this world from another. 
It was only by entering this world that the people became human – beings
uniquely suited to this place, and seeking to live in harmony with it.

I think this
sensitivity to harmony is perhaps the fundamental Pagan spiritual insight, and
is beautifully captured in this myth. 
For the earth truly is our mother, and made us what we are.  This harmony is never fully realized individually or socially,
for we Pagans are as fallible as any other peoples and as prone to the allure of
ego and power, but it is a goal well worth the effort of trying to achieve.

It is easy to feel such harmony in this powerful country.