Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Supraocular and an Eye?

(And a Canthal or Two? An Ulstĭtlĭ'?)
    When it comes to making observations about how to decide if a flat topped triangular boulder, especially one with some smaller stones added on top, might be an Indigenous Ceremonial Stone Landscape Feature, I first recall that the rattlesnake associated with Great Serpents has a triangular head (and wonder if there is a stone body under all that debris) I look for a suggestion of an eye, especially when accompanied by the suggestion of other fairly accurate details such as snake scales, especially the supraocular scale above a rattlesnake's eye - and Great Serpent's Eye. Sometimes it's a natural feature, sometimes there's a fracture that makes me suspicion of human enhancement, something subtracted from the stone, sculpted rather than quarried, maybe even polished smooth as well. Adding stones could very well be another variation (having seen some combinations of boulders and stones used in other places). When viewed just right, this placement could suggest the light colored stone as an eye and behind it another stone that somewhat resembles the supraocular on its upper surface while another face of the same stone invite images of other scales behind the eye. 
This only occurred to me when I saw a small sized image of this one above.
Suddenly, the stone becomes the Strong Looker...
(And compare the shapes of the two other stones to canthal scales.)

[PLACEHOLDER]
(Image of actual rattlesnake posing in same position)
And then: I peeked under the pine needles...

...the red color is more "vivid" when seen in person.
Could it be an ulstĭtlĭ'?

And these are the first few images I took, "just because."
Shaping in a similar style?




Monday, February 27, 2017

Great Serpent By "The Pines" (Land Trust in CT)





My friend Jannie says an overlaid eye image really "brings it home."
Two eyes and antlers also add to the image of
A Great Stone Serpent:

2/22/24

Above: Looking North 2008.
Below: Noticing a metate-like stone, possibly for processing a tobacco gift to the
Guarding Stone Serpent.






Thursday, February 16, 2017

Light and Shadow (And The World’s Oldest Ritual)

“The light at every time of day, in every season and every momentary second, changes the appearance of every rock pile or stone wall in what we call New England. A smooth looking stone can reveal human made marks sometimes only when the light changes,” I sat down and wrote, pasted in two photos of a stone mound.

      And then I was going to use a stone serpent, a good example of a "Strong Looker" or Uktena,  for an example how you can’t sometimes easily see the white eye that stands out so well. 


      And then I looked for the recent image from a very bright day I took just to show this contrast due to conditions. 
     And got a surprise when I looked again, observing a circular dark shadow that could be intended to be suggestive of a dark colored eye - and learned again that these Indigenous Stones are meant to be seen in every kind of light and in every season. 
  And then remembered once again that these structures weren't viewed as rock art for art's sake, but were viewed as living beings, Great Serpents on the Living Landscape, a constant sort of ceremony happening every day, in every season and in every kind of light...


Would a flickering fire in the night or changing moon light on a partly cloudy night make the stones that compose the snake’s body appear to wriggle and move??

It happens sometimes:

The python cave

"At night, the firelight gave one the feeling that the snake was actually moving...."
The sacred python stone during the day (above) and at night (below), as it may have been during worshipping. (Photos courtesy Dr. Sheila Coulson, Institute of Archaeology, Conservation and History at University of Oslo)


    “When Coulson entered the cave this summer with her three master’s students, it struck them that the mysterious rock resembled the head of a huge python. On the six meter long by two meter tall rock, they found three-to-four hundred indentations that could only have been man-made.
    “You could see the mouth and eyes of the snake. It looked like a real python. The play of sunlight over the indentations gave them the appearance of snake skin. At night, the firelight gave one the feeling that the snake was actually moving.” said Sheila Coulson to the University of Oslo’s research magazine Apollon.
   They found no evidence that work had recently been done on the rock. In fact, much of the rock’s surface was extensively eroded.
   When they saw the many indentations in the rock, the archaeologists wondered about more than when the work had been done. They also began thinking about what the cave had been used for and how long people had been going there. With these questions in mind, they decided to dig a test pit directly in front of the python stone.
   At the bottom of the pit, they found many stones that had been used to make the indentations. Together with these tools, some of which were more than 70,000 years old, they found a piece of the wall that had fallen off during the work...”


Thursday, February 09, 2017

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS HE HAS NOT RECEIVED ONE PHONE CALL COMPLAINING OF HIS DAPL APPROVAL

 - THE SAD IRONY IS WHITE HOUSE COMMENT LINE IS NOT ACCEPTING CALLS. 
BY LEVI RICKERT / CURRENTS / 08 FEB 2017
Police officers prepare to approach the Last Child Camp at Standing Rock in North Dakota on Feb. 1, 2017. Native Americans and activists braced for another standoff over the Dakota Access Pipeline following President Donald Trump's order to speed up the approval process.
WASHINGTON – ABC News has posted a video with President Donald Trump saying he has not received one phone call with anyone complaining about the Dakota Access pipeline. He maintains “everyone’s going to be happy in the end.”
When Native News Online correspondent called the White House this morning, he received this message:
 “THANK YOU FOR CALLING THE WHITE HOUSE COMMENT LINE. THE COMMENT LINE IS CURRENTLY CLOSED…”
A transcript of President Trump’s remarks:
“As you know I approved two pipelines that were stuck in limbo forever.
I don’t think it was controversial you know I proved it.
Not one call from anybody saying.
Oh that was terrible thing you did I haven’t had one call.
So it’s like bedlam right haven’t had one call from anybody.
And you know.
Lot of jobs and that keystone case we have potentially 32000 jobs.
Almost immediately.
And then as you know I didn’t cut Dakota pipeline.
And nobody called up to complain.
Because it was unfair years of getting approvals.
Nobody showed up to fight it.
This company spends a tremendous hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars and that all of a sudden people show up to fight it.
It’s not fair to our companies.

And I think everyone’s going to be happy in the end okay.”


(Sometime, perhaps in the near future, small well-armed schoolchildren will memorize and recite this speech in Grizzly-free classrooms. – Tim)


Wednesday, February 01, 2017

PSC denies Dakota Access LLC's request to dismiss complaint filed against them


BISMARCK, N.D. - The Public Service Commission unanimously denied a request by Dakota Access LLC to dismiss a complaint filed against them on Tuesday.
Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access Pipeline, failed to notify the PSC about a change in the pipeline route after the company made an unanticipated discovery of artifacts.
The site, which contained rock cairns (shown in the video at the website), was preserved, but the commission wasn't notified until 10 days after the findings which isn't proper protocol.

"The legal requirements for setting forth a claim have been satisfied, and the determination of the allegation will be made after hearing of evidence of both parties," said Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak.

The Commission's Advocacy Staff recommends a $15,000 fine, but that could change after the hearings.