SHIPROCK

“I’m standing in the middle of the desert

waiting for my ship to come in.”             Sheryl Crow

Before I left on my journey, my dear friend, Jamie, said that I should see Shiprock, so it’s a thrill when I catch glimpse of it, visible for a stretch on a barren highway, and then disappearing in the curve of a road, re-appearing and disappearing again, and again, as I skirt the Arizona, Utah, and Colorado state lines. It is unmistakable and impressive standing alone in the middle of the desert.

The area I drive to is remote and surrounded by barbed wire. Thanks to the magic of a zoom lens, Shiprock appears closer than it is. Even from a distance, I feel as if I’m on holy ground.

Shiprock is the remnant of the throat of a volcano, formed 2,500-3,000 feet below the Earth’s surface and exposed by millions of years of erosion. Radiometric dating determined that these rocks were solidified about twenty-seven million years ago.

It is located in northwestern New Mexico, a sacred site to the Navajo people. The peak is significant in their lore as the means by which the Navajo arrived in the southwest, transported here from another place. The Navajo name for the peak, Tsé Bit’a’i, rock with wings, or winged rock, refers to the legend of the great bird that brought the Navajo from the north.

While I have read some of the myths regarding Shiprock, my knowledge is superficial. I do not wish to give misinformation or dishonor the Navajo beliefs by writing about something I don’t know. There is one piece of lore that captured my imagination. According to one legend they were transported here from another place by the Star People (Sky People.) The Star People are considered ancestors. The constellation Pleiades is of special significance in Navajo mythology, and had a practical use as well. The movement of the Pleiades was tracked across the sky throughout the winter months as a celestial clock to determine the number of hours until dawn.

There are also stories even into modern times of contact with the Sky People, and sightings of disks of light, hovering, and then moving at great speeds up, or across the desert. I have never seen such phenomena, but I don’t doubt the existence of Sky People. I have always felt that in this vast cosmos, how could it be that our planet is the only one to hold intelligent life?