May 20, 2012
I crawled out of my van at 5:11 AM and was greeted by the morning sun as it rose over the horizon of the Second Mesa.
I couldn’t recall any dreams from the night before, but I woke up with this gut feeling that the so-called “Ant People” or “Hopi Angels” were still around and very much a part of Hopi Land. I even had a sense of where they resided. Again, this was nothing more than a gut feeling or a flash of intuition.
I called Betsy a few minutes later, and we both prepared for our second planting day. An hour later, Ahote and Tuwa invited us to return to their home in the village for a traditional Hopi breakfast.
We arrived at their home within the hour and sat down to blue corn flour pancakes, potatoes, eggs, and bacon. Once again, I had to pinch myself. I couldn’t believe I was having breakfast with a Hopi family in their home in a village on the Second Mesa. It almost felt like a dream.
After a hearty breakfast, we returned to the field for more planting. We immediately picked up where we left off the day before. Once we finished planting the sacred seeds by hand, Ahote brought out his John Deere tractor, and we planted the remaining seeds.
Ahote with the Second Mesa in the background.
Ahote and Betsy
Ahote and Tuwa
As Ahote and Tuwa planted the last several rows of corn, I walked out into the desert to perform my “Finish What You Start” invocation. It was sweltering and dry, but the meditation reminded me that I had to see this journey through to the end. I asked for continued wisdom, courage, spiritual enlightenment, and the perseverance to keep going regardless of circumstances.
Once my meditation was complete, I placed an olive leaf in the Hopi desert as a peace offering. It was a tremendous honor for me to be able to do this.
I then took a photo of one of the mesas in the distance. Ahote had mentioned that he had seen several Hopi “Angels” pass by this mesa in their spacecraft while he worked in his garden. He also informed me that the term “Ant People” was disrespectful.
Hopi Angel Mesa
Once my meditation was complete, I returned to the field. At that point, Ahote informed us that the planting for that particular day was complete. I hinted that I wanted to do something special for the eclipse, and Ahote turned to me and said, “Whatever you want to do, we will do that!” I was flabbergasted. I thought to myself, “What is going on here?” I asked Ahote if it would be possible to return to the field during the eclipse, and he agreed.
Betsy and I returned to the Cultural Center, while Ahote and Tuwa returned to their home in the village. I worked on my journal for the most significant part of the afternoon. The four of us gathered again for dinner around 5:00 PM. After a relaxing meal in the Cultural Center, we ventured outside to be part of the extremely rare Annular Solar Eclipse.
I was told that this particular eclipse had no particular significance to the Hopi, but some people believed it signified the return of the Mayan deity Quetzalcoatl. This information was significant because the Hopi and the Mayans were blood-related.
Ahote and I got in his pickup truck and left the Cultural Center. Ahote took me to an ancient site and asked me not to take any photographs. During this drive, my gut feeling from the morning was confirmed. Ahote shared something with me that sent chills down my spine. Without being too revealing, he told me that the so-called “Hopi Angels” were still very much a part of their land and culture, and I had seen one of these beings during our stop at Second Mesa.
After reflecting on it for a few minutes, I recalled an intense feeling washing over me while Ahote and I stopped in his village before returning to the field. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew I was in the presence of something otherworldly. The overwhelming feeling was so intense it stopped me in my tracks. I stood there frozen in place, unsure what to do next.
As we left his village and headed toward the field, Ahote shared more information with me, which I decided not to include in my journal out of respect for him and the Hopi. Ahote and I then reunited with Betsy and Tuwa in the field where we had planted the corn.
Ahote lit a fire upon my request, and we took in the eclipse’s energy.
Solar Eclipse Reflected in Solar Lens Flare
Betsy retrieved a drum she had brought to be repaired from her car and handed it to Ahote to play a couple of songs. As Ahote and Tuwa posed for the following photograph, I captured what appeared to be the spirit of a Phoenix, or an Eagle, in the fire. The energy around us was utterly fantastic.
Faces have been blurred out to protect their privacy.
As the eclipsed sun continued to set in the west, Ahote shared several more stories about the Hopi.
Still reeling from what he had shared with me earlier, I had a tough time staying grounded. I could feel my spirit racing from one end of the desert to the other. I felt like I was everywhere all at once.
The same sun that had greeted me at 5:11 in the morning finally set eclipsed behind a mesa in the western sky.
As the desert began to take on an evening chill, we quickly put out the fire and said our goodnights to one another. Ahote and Tuwa returned to their home in the village, while Betsy and I returned to the Cultural Center.
I went to bed around 11:00 PM in the back of my van, trying to take in everything that had happened in the last two days. After all, Ahote had only known me for under 48 hours and shared so much with me, and he and Tuwa made us feel so welcome.
Suddenly, all of my dreams before leaving Phoenix and the events at Chinle, Shiprock, and Chaco Culture took on a whole new meaning. I couldn’t help but wonder if Ahote and Tuwa knew I was coming before I arrived.