June 2009
from Karmapolis Website

 

Gary A. David has been intrigued by

the Four Corners region of the United States for over twenty years.

In 1994 he moved to Arizona and began an intensive study of the ancestral Pueblo People and their descendants the Hopi.

In late 2006 after more than a decade of independent research and investigation of archaeological ruins and rock art, his book

The Orion Zone: Ancient Star Cities of the American Southwest was published.
The 2008 sequel is titled,

Eye of the Phoenix: Mysterious Visions and Secrets of the American Southwest.

Mr. David's articles have appeared in Fate, World Explorer, UFO, Atlantis Rising, and Ancient American magazines. He continues to give lectures and international radio interviews.

 

 

 

An Interview With Gary David

 

Karmatoo : How the Hopi people managed to protect their way of live, their traditions against the mainstream American culture? Did they succeed?

Gary David : If you look south from the Hopi Mesas on the vast spaces washed clean by wind and time, dark volcanic cones and buttes rise like solitary sentinels upon the southern horizon.

 

It is the center of the land of the traditional Hisatsinom (ancient Hopi, formerly called the Anasazi). This country is one of the most isolated places on earth, and it’s far from the main historic westward trails or the Santa Fe railroad line.

 

The Hopi author Edmund Nequatewa explains the result of living, as they say, out in the middle of nowhere:

“Being out here in such a desolate place [the Hopi] thought that they would be safe from other people, who would not think that they had anything worth taking.”

This in part has guaranteed the physical and ritualistic survival of the Hopi, who have one of the most elaborate ceremonial cycles on the planet. They have also been affected the least by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the modern religion of “Progress at any price.”

Sad to say though, the Hopi, especially the youth, are now increasingly being influenced by the outside world.

 

A few of the villages still have no electricity or running water, but others are more open to the contemporary world. As a result, the ritual cycle that has persisted for thousands of years is being eroded by the onslaught of contemporary culture with its TV, video games, materialism, and the endless distractions of the Internet.

 

Fewer young people are learning the Hopi language. Fewer Hopi farmers are growing the traditional corn, beans, and squash, so the people are becoming more and more dependent on outside food sources. The poverty common to many reservations forces many Hopis to move to larger urban areas such as Phoenix to find work.

 

Thus, the sacred ceremonies that take immense amounts of time and energy are being performed less and less. Lured by the modern life, fewer Hopis participate in the “old ways.” Hopi spiritual elders made prophecies of this - that in the End Times Hopi ceremonies would cease altogether.

 

Many who still cling to the traditional Hopi culture feel that the world's axis is wobbling out of control, as the end of the current Fourth World approaches.
 


Karmatoo : «Hopi» means «Peaceful People», what does the word «peace» mean for the Hopi ?

Gary David : The word hopi means peaceable, polite, mannered, civilized, or balanced.

 

All Hopi ceremonies, in one way or another, help to maintain this balance, not only for the Hopi themselves but also for the whole world. The Hopi have a word for our chaotic current condition, which is the opposite of the natural balance of the Earth:

  • Koyaanisqatsi, n. 1

  • crazy life. 2

  • life in turmoil. 3

  • life out of balance. 4

  • life disintegrating. 5,

...a state of life that calls for another way of living.


The 1982 movie of the same name evokes the disturbing social environment in which we all swim - or sometimes drown. Directed by Godfrey Reggio, with music by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke, the film leads us on a mesmerizing and mind-bending journey without the familiar dramatic elements of characters, dialogue, or plot.

 

This movie evokes the visceral experience of a world perpetually at war and almost hopelessly out of balance.
 


Karmatoo : You claim that Hopi sacred sites reflect the locations of the majors stars of Orion constellation, how did you find this similarity and, according to you, what does this mean ?

Gary David : In July of 1997 I was driving the wide-open spaces of northern Arizona on my way to see one of the kachina dances held annually on the Hopi Indian Reservation. The kachinas are spirits to which the Hopi people pray for rain and fertility in this harsh but stunningly beautiful land. Wearing multi-colored masks and costumes, the dancers perform their sacred ceremony all day long under the brutal desert sun.

 

The droning beat of a single cottonwood drum accompanies their slow, stately dance. In the process of impersonating the kachinas, they actually become them.

I had just finished reading The Orion Mystery by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert.

 

This book basically states that the three major pyramids on the Giza Plateau mirror the belt stars of Orion. With the Egyptian “Orion Correlation Theory” fresh in mind, I gazed idly in the distance toward three equally spaced mesas upon which the Hopi had settled and built stone villages some time after 1100 AD. I wondered if this could also represent Orion’s belt.

 

Perhaps this was another ground-sky relationship right here on the dry, desolate Colorado Plateau.

Returning home, I got out my maps and sky charts and compared them. What I found astonished me. Either an inhabited Hopi pueblo or the ruin of an ancient Hopi village corresponded to every major star in the constellation. The earth reflected the sky with uncanny perfection. This propelled me on a journey of discovery that lasted nearly ten years.

The significance of the Orion Correlation here is Arizona is that it is in one among many such star correlations found across the globe.

 

During the course of my research, I have found Orion Correlations not only here in Arizona and, of course, in Egypt, but also in Mexico, South Africa, Italy, Scotland, and elsewhere. (See my article on the subject: http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=97)

 

The only explanation for the dispersal of such celestial templates on the Earth is the existence in pre-Columbian or even antediluvian times of a worldwide, unified maritime culture that spread this concept of earth-mirroring-sky on a global scale. We are, in fact, witnessing a worldwide Orion legacy that was propagated long ago by a single cohesive force or intelligence.

 

These Orion Correlations must surely be the inheritance of some lost super-civilization or even a gift from the stars.
 


Karmatoo : Did you explain your arguments to Hopi elders?

Gary David : Some of the Hopi know about my theory. The problem rests in who the Hopi actually are.

 

The Hopi people are not an “Indian” tribe per se but a collection of about twelve autonomous villages, each with a different spiritual leader, or kikmongwi. Then, there are the tribal council and the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) that frequently are at odds with these spiritual leaders. A factional strife common to many contemporary Indian reservations contributes to the way that certain religious leaders are denounced.

 

Time and again the question come up: Which chief has greater religious authority and power? There is also a division between the “hostiles” (who are against the destruction of the traditional culture) and the “friendlies” (who welcome economic growth that ultimately destroys the culture). This schism is perpetuated by the B.I.A. and the tribal government.

There are no straight lines on the reservation.

 

Everything works in a circle, and a non-Indian such as myself is constantly frustrated in trying to get a “straight answer.” I don’t blame the Hopi; they’ve been exploited so many times in the past by anthropologists, entrepreneurs, and New Age seekers out for a quick path to Enlightenment. I can say, though, that my theories are in the process of being explained to the elders by a few Hopis who grew up on the reservation.

 

So far, the feedback has been positive. However, I think the pattern of Orion on the Arizona desert speaks for itself. It is undeniable that there is a direct correspondence between specific Hopi villages or ruin sites and various stars in the constellation. Orion is the most importance constellation for the Hopi.

 

For instance, it synchronizes the crucial winter solstice ceremony.
 


Karmatoo : According to Hopi’s prophecies, the starting time for a "Great Purification" will come when the "Blue Star Kachina" removes his mask during a dance in front of uninitiated children. What is the meaning of this warning : the discovery of a hidden planet, the «official» revelation of alien presence among us ?

Gary David : The Hopi Indians have a legend of the Blue Star Katsina called Sakwa Sohu.

 

Frank Waters and Hopi informant Oswald White Bear Fredericks in their popular Book of the Hopi proclaim:

"The end of all Hopi ceremonialism will come when a kachina removes his mask during a dance in the plaza before uninitiated."

This is rumored to have recently happened on the Hopi Reservation, though it’s difficult to confirm. A number of candidates compete for the true identity of the Hopi Blue Star, predicted to arrive prior to the end of the Fourth World.

 

These include:

  1. Supernova 1987A. The light from this blue supergiant left 160,000 years ago and reached Earth on February 23rd, 1987 - a few months before the Harmonic Convergence and the start of the quarter-century countdown to 2012.

  2. The appearance in 1996 of Comet Hyakutake, which had the longest tail ever seen.

  3. Hale-Bopp, the “Great Comet of 1997.” Many were out watching this when the Phoenix Lights appeared over Arizona, the land of the Hopi.

  4. Mira (as in “miraculous”) is a large red giant star with a blue tail. Its comet-like tail is 13 light-years long. The Hopi say that after the Blue Star (Sakwa Sohu) arrives as the Predictor of the End Times, the Red Star (Paha Sohu) will come to act as the Purifier.

  5. Between October 23 and 24, 2007, Comet 17P/Holmes exploded from a magnitude of 17 to a magnitude of 2.8. (The lower the magnitude, the brighter the star.) In just a few hours it became nearly a million times brighter!

  6. On May 14th, 2008, NASA announced the discovery of G1.9+0.3, the youngest supernova in our galaxy. It exploded 140 years ago near its center 26,000 light-years away. It “has generated the most energetic electrons ever seen in a supernova” (NASA astrophysicist) and is growing at rate of 5% of SOL (speed-of-light).

Other celestial events yet to come may also be interpreted as the Blue Star.

In addition, many omens or signs signal that the end of this current age is at hand. Spiritual leaders of the Hopi have an enduring legacy of prophecy.

 

The following predictions began to be recognized by the modern world during the early and middle part of the 20th century.

  • People will ride on black ribbons in horseless wagons (cars on asphalt).

  • People will speak through spider webs (telegraph, telephone, and now the World Wide Web).

  • A “gourd of ashes” will fall upon the earth, causing destruction (A-bomb detonation at Trinity Site in New Mexico, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, H-bomb tests in Nevada).

  • There will be “roads in the sky” that aerial vehicles travel on.

  • Hopi delegates will go four times to the “House of Mica” (the UN building) but their pleas for peace will be ignored.

  • Women will wear men’s clothing (Women’s Liberation Movement, etc.).

  • People will begin living in the sky (International Space Station).

  • Floods, famine, earthquakes, and tsunamis will ravage the Earth (climate change).

  • An event will happen when America is sleeping, and we will wake up to a thunderous eruption of war (9/11?)


Karmatoo : Some Hopi Native Americans seems to have strange relationships with extraterrestrial beings like Robert Morningsky and the Star Warriors or the late Chief Dan Katchongva who believed that UFO sightings were deeply connected to Hopi prophecy. Are they anecdotal, or on the contrary, forewarnings of a deeper connection with alien beings ?

Gary David : In August of 1970 a rash of UFO sightings occurred in the skies over Prescott, Arizona. Over a two-week period many hundreds of flying saucers were seen by hundreds of witnesses.

 

This prompted Chief Dan Katchongva of the Hopi Sun Clan, his councilor, and an interpreter to travel southwest about one hundred and twenty-five miles from his village of Hotevilla on Third Mesa to Prescott to learn more of the event.

He described to the Prescott Courier newspaper an ancient petroglyph near the village of Mishongnovi on Second Mesa.

 

This ancient rock carving depicts a dome-shaped object.

“‘We believe other planets are inhabited and that our prayers are heard there,’ he said. ‘The arrow on which the dome-shaped object rests, stands for travel through space,’ Katchongva said in explaining the petroglyph.

 

‘The Hopi maiden on the dome-shape (drawing) represents purity. Those Hopi who survive Purification Day will travel to other planets. We, the faithful Hopi, have seen the ships and know they are true,’ he said.”

The purity of Hopi maidens throughout the ages has attracted the high-flying kachinas, which are benevolent spirit messengers.

Paul Solem, a non-Indian expert on Hopi prophecy and Mormon doctrine, was also key figure during the Prescott sightings. He even claimed to attract the flying saucers by telepathically communicating with them. In one instance he took a group of people outside and then began to mentally focus on extraterrestrial contact.

 

He soon exclaimed:

“They are here! I can’t see them, but I know they are here. One just said, ‘We’re here, Paul!’ There are several people in the saucer. I can hear them talking.”

After a few minutes a star-like UFO appeared, halted, then moved first in one direction and then the other.

He believed the entities in the spacecraft were angelic and kind, like the Hopi kachinas, and hailed from the planet Venus. He said that they had shoulder-length hair neatly cut and their voices were musical and androgynous. This sounds like what we would typically describe today as a Nordic ET.

 

He even received the space travelers’ proclamations, which he transcribed:

“We come to lend credence and as a sign or token that the Hopi prophecy was of a divine nature. Great sorrow and fear will be coming to this planet very soon and few will escape it. Our leader as spoken of in Hopi prophecy is already here (on Earth) in mortality and is known as the Apostle John (the same as in the New Testament).

 

The white brother shall be introduced by a huge fire and the Earth shall quake at his arrival. We are of the 10 lost tribes and we will return several nights unless there is contempt for us.”

Local UFO researcher Dan Carlson said that the area around Prescott had been a magnet for many of the early important though controversial figures in the field of ufology, including George Adamski, Daniel Fry, George Van Tassel, as well as former Prescott residents Truman Bethurum and George Hunt Williamson.

“If one is to believe Hopi prophecy,” Carlson remarked, “the reasons the saucers are sighted here most often and contacters seem to be attracted here is that this is a chosen land. Prescott is within the Hopi circle of sacred ground where the beings from another world are supposed to bring about prophecy.”

Chief Katchongva had been one of the elders most active in bringing the knowledge of Hopi legends and prophecies of End Times to the world at large.

 

He believed that these persistent UFO visitations were among the signs and omens that the Fourth World is about to end. Apparently on the last day of his visit to Prescott an unidentified spacecraft flew in very low - about eight hundred feet.

Katchongva passed away in 1972 at age 107 under some rather strange circumstances. When Dan Katchongva ‘died’, his body was never found. He was last seen walking up a canyon where a UFO had just been sighted.

The historic relationship between “flying shields,” or paatuwvota, and the Hopi of Arizona has become a part of a long tradition. Legends of ancient star beings that pilot spacecraft and sometimes mate with the indigenous people are an accepted fact for the native peoples, not a matter of dispute.

 

The Phoenix Lights seen in 1997 may be just a more recent example of this native tradition.


Perhaps we should start listening to the deep wisdom and wide experience possessed by the original inhabitants of this continent, especially the Hopi.

 

They’ve been on the case for ages.