Atlantis The Whirling Mountain of the Navajos

THE WHIRLING MOUNTAIN OF THE NAVAJOS

Where did you come out from my Children?
From yonder, where the Whirling Mountain stands.

Navajo Shooting Chant

Introduction

The Navajos are the most populous of all surviving Indian nations in the USA. They comprise about 100,000 individuals, and inhabit New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The Navajo Indians are close of kin to the Apaches and were, as these, deeply influenced by the more civilized, agrarian Pueblo Indians. Under this influence, the Navajos adopted a sedentary existence, based on agriculture and, later, in the herding of goats, sheep and cattle.

The Pueblo Indians instructed the Navajos and the Apaches not only in agriculture, but also in the arts, crafts and religion. Navajo pottery and their famous rugs derive their design from that of the Pueblos. So do their silver smithing and, above all, their remarkable sand paintings, which we will be discussing in depth.

In the present chapter we analyze, to a certain detail, one of the main myths of the Navajo Indians, that of the Twins. We show its unequivocal connection with certain myths of the Old World, particularly those of India and Indonesia. Moreover, we interpret this myth in detail, showing that it is indeed an allegorical exposition of the myth of Paradise and its secret whereabouts. This Paradise is no other thing than Eden or Atlantis, the original homeland of Mankind and Civilization, as will become clear from the present discussion.

We are of the opinion after having researched the matter for quite along time now that the real reason behind the theory that holds the autochthonism of the Amerinds was, and perhaps still is, part of a concerted effort to deny them their humanity and the divine origin that the whites claim for themselves. With this the Conquistadores and the Bandeirantes as well as their counterparts elsewhere were justified in plundering the land and the possessions of the natives, as they did, and in enslaving them.

So, while the white missionaries thumped the Bible, attempting to convert the Amerinds forcefully, with the menace of all too real bonfires, they opened the way for the soldier and the colonists who would rob the natives of everything, inclusive their very humanity. Of course, this missionary and civilizatory influence would not be needed if the natives partook of the very same Tradition, the Primordial Religion and culture that came to us from Paradise, brought by the angels themselves, in the dawn of times. So, the modern anthropologists who cling to this view are but the legitimate heirs of this ancient tradition, which they defend irrationally, despite all sorts of compelling contrary evidence.

The Religion of the Navajos

The Navajo religious system is intricate. Like most Amerindian nations, they claim to have come from a subterranean world through caves or vents that connect with this upper world. Theirs is a Mystery Religion based on Drug Cults (Peyotism), on shamanism, and on amuletic songs, dances, design and rituals.

But the idea of a subterranean Creation one in which Mankind somehow originated underground and later ascended to this earth in some manner is peculiar not only to the Navajos, but to most Indian nations of the three Americas. As a matter of fact, this conception of a subterranean Paradise whence Mankind sprung into the present era coming from a former one was also widespread in the Ancient World as well. For instance, Civilizing Heroes such as Osiris, Serapis, Mithras and several others originally rose from a cave or a subterranean abode, more or less in the way that Christ too rose from among the dead.

This cave or tomb is the Primordial Cave, the Cave of Archetypes of which Plato tells us in his dialogues. It is the Pacari-tambu of the Incas, and the Cave of Illusion so masterfully described in the Ramayana. In fact, this cave is no other than the sunken, submarine realm of Atlantis-Eden. Again, the Polynesians also claim to have come originally from a sunken island or continent which they called by names such as Hawaiki (or Javaiki), which mean something like "Sunken Grove", that is, the same as the sunken Garden of Eden. And, as we argue elsewhere, the Polynesian Paradise, just as all others indeed lay in the submerged portion of primordial Indonesia.

The Dual Creations

Throughout the whole world, traditions tell of two basic types of Creation Myths. In one, the Ancestors fall down from Heaven above, and civilize the semi-bestial humans, with whom they breed the new humanity. In the other, as with the Amerinds, the Ancestors come from the Netherworld, and effect what amounts to a second Creation which is in all respects the dual of the former one.

This dual Creation and, indeed, Dualism in general, derives from Hinduism and seems to form the base and essence of the Urreligion ("Primordial Religion") postulated by certain anthropologists of note. We encounter this Dual Creation even in the Book of Genesis. There, the first Creation attributed to Elohim is told in chapter 1 of that book, whereas the second one, attributed to Jahveh, is narrated in chapter 2, as the reader can verify for himself.

The language in both passages is (purposefully) obscure, but is unmistakably dual. The god of Gen.1, Elohim is clearly Celestial. But the one of Gen.2, Jahveh, starts his Creation from below, as "the mist that came up from under the earth". In other words, the spirit ("mist") of God ascends from below, together with the subterranean waters and, certainly, followed by his hosts (or people), much in the manner of the Indians.

The Earth-Diver

In several Cosmogonies, we have the so called "Earth-Diver" fetching the earth from under the seas, in contrast to the Fallen Sun that drops from the skies down to earth, as an avatar of the Celestial God.