 .... and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis
By Dustin Clark (aka Oddthings)
The ancient mythology of our various cultures is often steeped in reality. The tales that were told, generation by generation, since the beginning of mankind, often lead to a greater truth. In researching mythology I often find myself drawn back to the Hopi mythology. In a sense, it contains many of the same stories which so many mythologies do: creation, decimation, wars, a great flood, and the numerous ages of man.
Each of these common traits serves to solidify the truth which are buried in the stories. Why would so many cultures, worldwide, have nearly identical stories unless they're a recording of history itself? However, what's different to me about these particular stories are the amount of information which can be pulled out and applied to some of the questions which many people ponder today.
The Anasazi were the predecessors to the modern day Hopi, and are believed to have settled the American Southwest as long as 3,000 years ago, although their heritage has been traced back much further than that. Modern day scientific classification only recognizes the people there as a distinct culture starting in 1200 BC. This is considered to be the beginning of the "Basketmaker" era, and the beginning of the Anasazi culture itself, as a distinct culture. However, the "archaic" classification traces the people themselves back to approximately 8000 BC, currently, and continues to be pushed back further as more scientific evidence is gathered.
Just recently a scientific expedition has begun in the hopes of collecting evidence of long lost civilizations under water off of the east coast of the United States. The Hopi, in particular, have maintained many ancient traditions and beliefs throughout the years, much of which has been publicized as "The Hopi Prophecies" on the internet and in books. In short, the Hopi believe that we are currently in the fourth age of man. Each age ends in a cleansing of sorts, and that now we are nearing the Purification Day. The mythology of the Hopi begins with the creation of man, tells the story of man through the first three worlds and into the fourth.
Creation
In the Hopi creation story first there is endless space, with only the Creator, Taiowa. From this infinite source he began to create the universe, in fact, multiple universes. First, he created Sotuknang to make it manifest, and then in one of these universes was to be the First World. In that world he created Kokyangwuti, or Spider Woman. She was to remain on Earth and be his helper. Her first task was to create twins who would help shape and mold the planet. "Spider woman took some earth, mixed it with some saliva, and molded it into two beings. Then she covered them with a cape made of white substance which was the creative wisdom itself."
Upon awakening, the twins molded the earth's surfaces and set the land masses in place. Afterward one was sent to the north pole, and one to the south pole where they were "jointly commanded to keep the world properly rotating." After the planet was set properly, then humans were created by the same earth and saliva method as the twins were created with. "Human beings in the image of Sotuknang" four men, and then four women in her own image. Each had a different color, and were given a different land. "Spider Woman gathered earth, this time of four colors, yellow, red, white, and black." Theoretically these were prehistoric man and each was given a land of their own: the white man Europe, the black man Africa, the yellow man Asia, and the red man America.
At this point this might seem like nothing more than a myth, something that can't be true, however, when I first read this I remember thinking about DNA in soil samples. In fact, while you might think that DNA can only be taken from a live, or previously live, samples, 400,000 year old DNA was found in permafrost samples and what is called "horizontal gene transfer" happens commonly in soil between bacteria, often catalyzed by lightning strikes. So, DNA can, in fact, be collected from "earth" as the story tells us. Add to this the fact that saliva is commonly used for collecting and sampling DNA, and I believe you have a legitimate case for the "Gods making humans in their own image." Of course, as many people in the West know, the bible speaks of God creating man in his image.
Beyond this fact, how is it that these people knew about the planet being round and rotating at a time when the rest of the world believed it to be flat and sedentary? How did they know that there were people of different skin color than themselves in different lands, far away?
Also in the creation part of this mythology is a hint toward evolution. "They soon awoke and began to move, but there was still a dampness on their foreheads and a soft spot on their heads. In a short time the sun appeared above the horizon drying the dampness on their foreheads and hardening the soft spot on their heads." However, there was still a problem, despite the fact that they were progressing. Spider Woman tells Sotuknang that the people can not speak, and therefore they can not respond to her words. Sotuknang had to call to Taiowa and "with the sound as of a mighty wind" he appeared, and gave the people speech, the ability to think, and reproduce.
So now, at the end of the creation part of the story, we have heard about the beginning of time, the infinite, and then been taken through the planet being molded, humans being created, and then even advanced far enough along to think, talk, and reproduce. This now leads us into the First World.
The First World
The people living at this point, in the First World, follow the way of the Creator, at first. However, as they advance, and as they grow farther apart from the "Gods" who made them, many of them begin to stray from the way of the Creator. As they grow and form different villages, they begin to fight. While they were originally taught that they are all brothers, "The Talker" who looks like a bird, tells them all that they are different, not the same. Then Katoya, who has the form of a snake, teaches them to be warlike.
At this point Sotuknang came with the "sound as of a mighty wind and suddenly appeared" before the ones who still followed the ways of the creator. He told them, "We have decided this world must be destroyed and another one created so you people can start over again. Your inner wisdom will give you the sight to see a certain cloud, which you will follow by day, and a certain star, which you will follow by night." They followed the star by night, and the cloud by day, facing ridicule from the ones who had strayed along the way, until they came to a big mound where the Ant People lived. They opened up the anthill, and the good people lived in there for a while where the light came from "tiny bits of crystal" which "had absorbed the light of the sun."
Once again, this is an interesting part of the story which seems to tie into other stories, and hints at fantastic abilities of these "Gods" and how they travel. How is it that Sotuknang manages to simply appear before them, and why the distinctive sound each time? How does he manifest a cloud that they can follow each day, which then turns into a moving star to follow each night? Are the "Gods" simply using some sort of a flying craft?
For those in the Western world who tend to be more familiar with the Bible than any other stories or mythology, this might very well sound similar to the Star of Bethlehem. This "star" is said to have appeared, and moved differently than any other star in the sky. From the bible, in Matthew 2:
"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."
Just as in this story, people followed it, and in the Bible the Magi ended up at the birthplace of Jesus; here, they end up in a slightly different location.
Another story that seems to tie in very well with this one is in the ancient Indian text "The Vimaanika Shastra" in which ancient flying machines, called Vimanas, are discussed. One of the ways in which it states that the flying machines can be disguised is as a cloud. Perhaps what is being discussed here is a flying craft which can be disguised as a cloud by day, and can illuminate during the night time so that it can continue to be followed.
Also, what struck me in this part of the story is how the people described the source of light which they lived with while underground. It seems to me this is how people with very little technological knowledge, having never seen indoor lighting, might describe electric lights, or even solar powered lighting. Solar technology "absorbs" the sunlight, and then gives it back on command. Perhaps, if this technology were described to a non-technological society, this is how they would then relate to it.
When the people who continued to follow the ways of the Creator were safe in the anthill, the destruction of the first world commenced. "Fire came from above and below and all around...until there was nothing left except the people safe inside the womb of the earth." It had not taken him long to destroy the world, nor would it take long before he created another, but it was taking a long time for the world to cool down. Finally, with the world cooled enough for the people to come back out they noticed just how different the new world was. "He changed its form completely, putting land where the water was, and water where the land had been."
The Second World
Once the people were able to go back out in the world, they began to multiply, and spread out again. As they did, once again, many people lost track of the ways of the Creator. Many people began to fight again, and, once again, the good ones were summoned back to the anthill. However, this time, the Creator seems to think there was hope for the world, and it doesn't sound like he's the one who destroys the second world. When he sees the people he tells them, "Spider woman tells me your thread is running out on this world. That is too bad. The Spider Clan was your leader, and you were making good progress until this state of affairs began."
This time it seems as though the Creator is almost discouraged to be losing this world. He seems to have seen hope for the way the people were progressing, but, still has to hide them away while something happens to the planet. The "thread" seems to be an allusion to some sort of time measurement, almost like saying, "The sand in the hourglass is getting low." In fact, this time sounds more like a natural disaster which they can't stop rather than the way they seem to have purposefully ended the first world.
"When they were safely underground, Sotuknang commanded the twins...to leave their post and the north and south ends of the world's axis, where they were stationed to keep the earth properly rotating." The world "teetered off balance, spun around crazily, and then rolled over twice. Mountains plunged into the seas with a great splash, seas and lakes sloshed over the land; and as the world spun through cold and lifeless space it froze into solid ice." After many years the twins were put back in their station, and with a "great shudder and a splintering of ice" the world began to rotate properly again.
Here we have more evidence that the Second World was not, actually, destroyed by the Gods, but may have actually been done in by the Earth's axis moving in such a way that an ice age was created. This is not at all unprecedented. Scientists now tend to agree that wobbles in the Earth's axis actually account for regular ice ages, roughly every 100,000 years. While this story certainly describes a major event, it's entirely plausible that the Earth's rotation affected the climate in a very major way at this point in history. It's also not unheard of, scientifically, for the planet to have actually flipped. There is evidence that it has done exactly that in the past, making it plausible that the Second World was, in fact, ended by a natural disaster.
The Third World
In the early descriptions of the Third World, we get another hint at the evolution of the people. "In the First World they had lived simply with the animals. In the Second World they had developed handicrafts, homes, and villages. Now in the Third World they multiplied and advanced so rapidly that they created big cities, countries, a whole civilization."
However, much as in the first two worlds, wickedness begins to grow into the world, but this time it involves warfare never seen before. "But some of them made a patuwvota(shield) and with their creative power made it fly through the air. On this many of the people flew to a big city, attacked it, and returned so fast no one knew where they came from. Soon the people of many cities and countries were making patuwvotas and flying on them to attack one another."
This story, once again, is extremely similar to what is seen in ancient Indian texts. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are filled with stories of vimanas, ancient flying machines, and warfare between opposing continents on Earth. The Ramayana is over 25,000 verses long, and details a story of warfare and the triumph of good over evil. The Vimaanika Shastra even has fairly detailed descriptions of how the vehicles were constructed and operated, with detail far beyond any kind of fictional accounts it would seem. Since these texts have been dated back to, at least, the eighth century BC, and in one account from the Indological Newsletter of Motilal Banarsidass published in January 1989, describing a conference in India in 1988, they're said to describe events that happened, perhaps, as far back as 31,000 years ago. It's entirely possible that they are describing events from the Third World of the Hopi.
With all of the warfare raging, this time Sotuknang came to Spider Woman and said that they must start the purification. Spider woman put the good people inside of hollow reeds and then Sotuknang "loosed the waters upon the earth. Waves higher than mountains rolled in upon the land. Continents broke under and sank beneath the seas."
They eventually arrived at some land that used to be the top of the highest mountain, and everything else that they could see was water. Spider woman directed them to make boats out of the reeds they were in, and they then drifted in them until they came to another rocky island. It's bigger, but not big enough, and so they traveled on their reed boats even further. They came to a large land, and Spider woman instructed them to leave their boats and continue walking. They traveled eastward until they came to the edge of the land, and there they found reeds big enough to make boats for entire families. Spider woman directed them to make paddles, because they will be going uphill. Eventually they made it a sandy shore, and there Sotuknang was waiting for them.
"I have washed away even the footprints of your Emergence; the stepping stones which I left for you. Down at the bottom of the seas lie all the proud cities, the flying patuwvotas, and the worldly treasures corrupted with evil, and those people who found no time to sing praises to the Creator from the tops of their hills. But the day will come, if you preserve the memory and the meaning of your Emergence, when these stepping stones will emerge again to prove the truth you speak."
This story very closely mirrors flood stories from around the world, many of which seem to be able to be dated to roughly 12,000 years ago. Since the people have currently been traced back over 10,000 years in the American southwest, this date seems to make cultural sense, and also may tie into the Mayan tradition which says that one of the Gods destroyed the third creation in a great flood and we are now living in the fourth creation. This exactly mirrors the Pueblo belief in which the third world is ended in a flood by one of their gods and only a few people are rescued and are able to move on into the Fourth World.
This idea of a great flood also seems to make some sense to people raised in the Western world, since so many were raised with the Bible, which, of course, has a famous flood itself. Interestingly, this also ties in with the stories told in the ancient texts from India, specifically the Ramayana, which tells of major "Earth shifts" approximately every 10,000 years. Along with this, it dates the last Treta Yuga, or the ending of one of the "age(s) of man", at 10,000 BC. Of course, this matches up remarkably well with the Hopi idea of the last cleansing having come 12,000 years ago and approaching again in the not too distant future. These ancient Indian texts also place us in the fourth "yuga" or era. Zoroastrian stories also date the flood to roughly 10,000 BC by saying that six thousand three hundred years before 3,300 BC(from which point they mark from because it's when there was a seven year cold spell which is important to their mythology) their God sent misery and storms.
In fact, most every society worldwide, not just in the Americas, has some sort of flood myth. Most, however, don't give as specific of time references as these above do. For instance, the Toltec story simply states that the original creation lasted for 1716 years before being destroyed by a great flood. While it's interesting that they put such a definitive length of time on it, it's fairly ambiguous as to how long ago the flood is said to have happened. The Chinese have a story in which two Gods are fighting, and they collapse a pillar holding up the sky which causes the flood. The Masaai of Africa have a story much like the "40 days and 40 nights" story of the Bible in which God causes a great rain which floods the Earth. The Greeks believe that Zeus intended to destroy humanity with a flood, but Prometheus warned his son. In Roman mythology it's very similar except it's Neptune instead of Zeus. The Norse mythology also states that two Gods were fighting, and when one was killed it was his blood flowing that caused the flood. There are, literally, such stories in nearly every culture, worldwide, which leads us into the Fourth World, the one in which we are said to currently reside.
The Fourth World, Star Cities and the Current Age
When the people entered the Fourth World, Sotuknang was waiting for them. He said to them, "Each group of you will follow your own star until it stops. There you will settle." Then, "they heard a low rumbling noise again" and another God suddenly appeared before them. This is the appearance of Masau'u, the new caretaker of the underworld, and he tells them that they will follow the star which will tell them where to settle. He also warned them that "to the north you will find cold and ice. That is the Back Door to this land, and those who may come through this Back Door will enter without my consent."
This directly challenges the long held idea that the first people into the Americas came through the Bering Strait. However, recently in a NY Times article from February 11th, 1997 titled "Human Presence in Americas is Pushed Back a Millenium" archaeologists seem to have agreed that habitation there was dated to approximately 12,500 years ago, eliminating the Bering Strait as the one and only path to the Americas. What's remarkable about that date, of course, is how closely it ties into each of the flood myths, which we can roughly date, which all fall approximately at 10,000 BC +/- 500 years.
This story also plays very nicely into the Star Cities research that Gary David has done. It's entirely likely that the cities which were set up after this event are the very same ones which precisely mirror the constellation Orion in the sky. Of course, having been mandated to do so by the Gods is quite a good reason for having to gone to such lengths to place cities in exact locations, and Gary David also says that it is Masau'u who mandated the cities be built where they were.
In an article written by Philip Coppens on the Mayan sacred architecture, he also states that they believe that the Fourth Creation to be linked with the Orion constellation. In their ancient tradition after one of the gods destroyed the Third Creation with a great flood they arrived at the place of the New Creation and "sprang up from a crack in the back of a Cosmic Turtle." They identify this turtle with the three stars which create the belt of Orion in the constellation. In an article by Mark & Richard Wells they state that the Chinese pyramids were also laid out in such a way as to mirror the Orion constellation.
In fact, even the Bible has various passages relating to Orion, including one from Amos 5 which seems to suggest that if you're confused as to which God to worship, the one which relates to Orion is the one named as the Lord. "Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name."
So why the correlation in so many places between Orion and God? An interesting hypothesis revolves around the Hopi words for the Ant People. According to Gary David, the word ant in their language is Anu. The word for friend is Naki. If you put those two together you have the AnuNaki. Of course, anyone familiar with Zecharia Sitchin will immediately recognize that name as being remarkably similar to the Anunnaki, who are linked with the Sumerians and Babylonians. Anu is the name of the supreme God of the Sumerians, whose symbol is a star and who comes to earth during times of crisis. Which, then, ties into the Ant People of the Hopi who were always there to help out during global crises and shelter the good people from harm. Anunnaki is also an ancient Sumerian word for ‘those who came from Heaven to Earth’. The Babylonians also had the Anunaki, who were said to be children of the Gods Anu and Ki.
Another interesting correlation to the possibility of beings from other planets being the Gods and protectors of the Hopi is the God Masau'u, who was spoken about above. Curiously, many people are familiar with the numerous stories of underground bases, supposedly frequented by extraterrestrials. While this would quite easily tie into the people going underground into the ant hills, it might also tie into one of Masau'u's titles; God of the Underworld. The etymology of his name can be traced, in part, to the Hopi word for gray, maasi. This is interesting because he was said to have gray skin, round eyes, a round mouth, and a round head. This sounds extremely similar to the modern day description of a "gray" alien. Of course, the Hopi have many ancient petroglyphs of flying saucers and other unidentified flying objects, so perhaps is should come as no surprise that there are so many tie-ins along with their mythology as well.
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Acknowledgements
I'd like to give special thanks to Thomas O. Mills for sending me a copy of his book The Truth, from which the italicized translations of the Hopi mythology came from for this article.
Gary David has also done so much good work in this realm and his research is invaluable to anyone looking into these types of connections. ;;
About the Author
Dustin Clark, otherwise known as OddThings, is a scientist who's particularly interested in the unknown and/or unexplained. After years of reading about the unexplained he's now attempting to research it and write about it himself.
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