The Ancient Alien Question (41 page)

One vision Harner had in 1961, which he recorded in
The Way of the Shaman
, is of great interest to the Ancient Alien Question. He was shown “planet Earth as it was eons ago,
before there was any life on it. I saw an ocean, barren land, and a bright blue sky. Then black specks dropped from the sky by the hundreds and landed in front of me on the barren landscape. I could see the ‘specks’ were actually large, shiny, black creatures with stubby pterodactyl-like wings and huge whale-like bodies.” The good bit is yet to come: “They explained to me in a kind of thought language that they were fleeing from something out in space. They had come to the planet Earth to escape their enemy. The creatures then showed me how they had created life on the planet in order to hide within the multitudinous forms and thus disguise their presence. Before me, the magnificence of plant and animal creation and speciation—hundreds of millions of years of activity—took place on a scale and with a vividness impossible to describe. I learned that the dragon-like creatures were thus inside all forms of life, including man.”

In a footnote, Harner notes that this intelligence was “almost like DNA,” but added that in 1963, he hardly knew anything about DNA. It would be more than three decades later that Narby realized that the intelligence was indeed present inside DNA. DNA is the single common denominator of all life on planet Earth. Narby highlights that Harner’s observation actually coincides with the theory of panspermia: that DNA was of extraterrestrial origin and was somehow “seeded” on our planet. This is precisely the “vision” Harner was given in the depths of the Amazonian jungle, but it is also the conclusion reached by the most enterprising scientists in Western laboratories.

In
The Cosmic Serpent
, Narby explores the various ancient accounts and highlights what he sees as clear evidence that the double DNA helix was known to our ancestors as the other-dimensional intelligence that communicated with humankind. He identifies the ladder, which was said to connect heaven and earth in so many traditions as another non-scientific description of the double helix, stating, “In Australia, Tibet, Nepal, Ancient Egypt, Africa, and North and South America, the symbolism of
the rope, like that of the ladder, necessarily implies communication between sky and earth. It is by means of a rope or a ladder... that the gods descend to earth and men go up to the sky.”

Quetzalcoatl was seen by the Mexicans not only as their civilizing deity, but also as the deity enabling contact with God himself—the creator deity.
Coatl
in Aztec means both “serpent” and “twin”; the structure of DNA is very much serpentine and definitely twin-like, and thus Narby believes that the Cosmic Serpent—whether it is named Quetzalcoatl or differently—is indeed the enabler that connects with the gods. It is technology. It is DNA. Narby writes, “DNA is only 10 atoms wide and as such constitutes a sort of ultimate technology: It is organic and so miniaturized that it approaches the limits of material existence.”
⁸
It is precisely the type of technology that conforms to the specifications of a von Neumann probe. Narby believes that DNA is technology, which is able to contain an intelligence that is now terrestrial, though at the same time other-dimensional, and once extraterrestrial. It was responsible for life on Earth, and was recognized by our ancestors as such. He feels his point is best illustrated by the ancient Egyptians, who used the image of a cosmic serpent and depicted it with the Ankh sign in front of it—the sign for life.

Star Messengers

The Anasazi, “ancient ones” in Navajo, are considered to be one of the more enigmatic of this planet’s ancient civilizations. Popularly assumed to have vanished without a trace, their new “scientific” name, Ancestral Puebloans, suggests that, despite popular belief, we now know where they went: They became the Puebloans, the people who lived in the villages that the Spanish conquered when they arrived in the western parts of America. Their territory is what is now known as the Four Corners (northeast Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southwest Colorado, and
southeast Utah), plus the Grand Canyon and on into southern Nevada. This area includes Native American tribes like the Navajo and the Hopi.

The Ancestral Puebloans were the first North Americans to use looms to weave cotton and to make blankets, and they even used socks made from yucca leaves, interwoven with turkey feathers, to make sandals. At the same time, and for no obvious reason, they also deliberately flattened and broadened their skulls by binding the heads of babies against cradleboards. For some, this is suggestive evidence that they were trying to make their children resemble the people who brought them their civilization: “gods.”

The story of the Ancestral Puebloans lives on in the mythology of the Hopi, considered by many to be the most mysterious and mystical of all Native American tribes. It begins with the claim that their ancestors emerged from the Third World through a crack, into our Fourth World, in a place known as the Sipapu, which they locate near Desert View, 25 miles east of Grand Canyon Village, near the confluence of the Colorado and the Little Colorado rivers. Reaching it requires a seven-hour trek along the Salt Trail Canyon. The Sipapu itself is a natural salt dome, 20 to 26 feet high, topped by a permanent spring—a mineral hot spring, though some wonder whether it is a geyser. It is their Hill of Creation, though the Hopi label it a Place of Emergence.

At the beginning of the Fourth World, the Hopi were greeted by Maasaw, the caretaker deity of the land—their civilizing deity. He had also been appointed the head of the Third World, but had become a little self-important and lost his humility, and other deities had therefore made him the deity of death and the underworld. But Maasaw was given a second chance in the Fourth World. He ordered the survivors to separate out into clans and begin a series of migrations across the continent, on which the stars would guide them. Eventually, they would meet again and
settle. Maasaw gave each clan one or more sacred tablets, which would guide them along their migrations. To each clan, he also gave a small water jar, which was magical, and came with instructions that included a description on how to make a new water jar, in case the old one was broken or needed to be replaced. The Hopi argue that this water jar is the missing component in making sense of the locations chosen by the Ancestral Puebloans to live: The water jar meant that they could settle miles away from rivers, as it allowed them to create springs and rivers wherever they settled. Once they abandoned their dwellings and continued their migration, they took the jar with them, rendering the site once again as dry as a bone. Thus, when archaeologists say the Ancestral Puebloans vacated their settlements because of drought, they might be missing the key element of the story. If the story of the water jar is true, it is definitely yet another sign of highly advanced technology.

The notion that these clans were on a divine migration also explains why several settlements were so often abandoned after a century, or even less, of occupation. The archaeological consensus that the cliff dwellings that typify the Ancestral Puebloans were abandoned because of drought might therefore be a complete fallacy, underlining the point once again that archaeology, without the active participation of anthropology and the myths and legends of our ancestors, is dry at best, and wrong most often.

Finally, the Hopi claim that each clan was supposed to complete four migrations, but that only a minority of the clans actually did—specifically those that kept the “door on top of their heads” (the real stargate) open and realized the purpose and meaning behind the four migrations, which was that they were purification ceremonies. Once the ceremonies were completed, these clans would return to the sacred circle, to establish the Hopi Mesas, their permanent settlement—until the advent of the Fifth World, which the Maya, with whom the Hopi are
known to have interacted, place at
AD
December 21, 2012.

These Hopi Mesas are three mesas, relatively near each other, roughly northeast of Flagstaff and southwest of Chinle in Arizona. They are quite literally in the middle of nowhere, while the entire Hopi Reservation itself is surrounded on all sides by the Navajo/Apache Indians. One of the reasons why the Hopi are such outsiders even within the Native American community is that they never signed any peace treaty, and thus seem to have missed out on certain benefits other Native Americans were able to receive from the U.S. government.

The Hopi Mesas, three settlements in a somewhat mountainous environment, are the homeland of the Hopi, the divine destination of the wandering tribes of the Ancestral Puebloans. The real Center of the World—their navel—is Tuuwanasavi, a few miles from the village of Oraibi, the Third Mesa. It was the Bear Clan that was the first to complete their four migrations; arriving from Mesa Verde, they settled on Second Mesa. Still, Oraibi, the settlement on the Third Mesa, is today seen as the oldest town in Northern America, as it has seen continuous inhabitation since it was first occupied.

When other clans arrived, they either settled on or near the other mesas; the Snake Clan, for example, came from Hovenweep and settled on First Mesa. With each tribe arriving “home,” it was the task of the already-present tribes to welcome—or not—the new tribe. A key question that would determine whether the arriving tribe would gain access to the sacred center of the world was whether or not they had lived in accordance with the divine rules (as set out at the start of the wanderings by Maasaw) and had not abused their magical powers.

The Walpi Hopi Mesa is one of three mesas in the heartland of the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. Laid out according to Orion’s Belt, it was the final goal of a series of wanderings by various Native Americans, carried out on the orders of their god Maasaw.

Today, many of the Hopi festivals are off-limits to outsiders, and photography is not allowed at any of the sacred sites. A brochure for visits to the Mesas advises, “Please do not approach any kivas, or ceremonial buildings. Do not go near or peer into Katsina resting places.”

The kiva is the Hopi church, and each of the mesas centers around a plaza. They form the stage for the various Hopi festivals, which occur throughout the year and focus on their deities, known as Katsinas. In Hopi mythology, the deities are believed to live in the San Francisco Peaks, to the west of Flagstaff, within sight of the Hopi reservation. The highest peak, at 12,643 feet, is Mount Humphreys, a volcanic cone that dominates this desert altiplano. Though named in honor of Francis of Assisi, to the Hopi, they are known as Nyvatukya’ovi, and to the Navajo, Dook’o’oosliid.

Archaeology has stumbled upon evidence that the migrations of the Hopi conform to astronomical cycles of time. At Hovenweep National Monument, the tall towers are considered by archaeologists to have functioned as astronomical observatories. Another clan sojourned at Chaco Canyon, which is now believed to have been home to 4,000 to 6,000 people, and it also had complex astronomical alignments built into its design. In fact, most of the sites of the Ancestral Puebloans are in canyons, and the Hopi see canyons as passageways from this world to the Underworld, with spirit migration occurring between the two worlds: Spirits emerged from the canyon, and the dead returned to reside in the Underworld. In fact, some stories go that these ghostly inhabitants rise from the abyss with glowing eyes and monstrous forms, traveling across the Painted Desert to revisit their earthly homes on the Hopi Mesas. The idea that rock faces are entrances to the Otherworld is something we also encountered at the “stargate” near Lake Titicaca and the “false doors” of the Egyptian tombs.

The Hopi migrations were the divine instructions of Maasaw, but according to author Gary A. David, they are far more interesting than most have assumed. In
The Orion Zone
, he argues that “[The constellation] Orion provided the template by which the Anasazi determined their villages’ locations during a migration period lasting centuries. Spiritually mandated by a god the Hopi call [Maasaw], this ‘terrestrial Orion’ closely mirrors its celestial counterparts, with prehistoric ‘cities’ corresponding to all the major stars in the constellation. By its specific orientation the sidereal pattern projected on the Arizona high desert also encodes various sunrise and sunset points of both summer and winter solstices.”

David has shown that the three Hopi Mesas overlap with the three stars of Orion’s Belt; other key Ancestral Puebloan sites correspond to other stars of this constellation, as well as neighboring stars: Chaco Canyon coincides with Sirius. Orion itself comprises (among others) the Betatakin Ruin in Tsegi
Canyon and Keet Seel Ruin, representing the double star Rigel, or the left foot or knee of Orion. Homol’ovi Ruins State Park maps Betelgeuse, Wupatki Pueblo maps Bellatrix, and Canyon de Chelly represents Saiph, or the right foot or knee of Orion. Even the Sipapu in the Grand Canyon is mapped, and corresponds with the star Pi3 Orionis.