Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Rising Up of Bear Butte as a Sacred Site

Bear Butte, just east of the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA, rises from the prairie and dominates the horizon. From the peak one can view the hills and the prairie. As a sacred site of the Native American heritage Bear Butte is known as sacred because it figures large in the culture of a people. On Bear Butte prayer flags decorate the trail leading up, around and to the top. One ascends into a unique realm of sky, earth, east, west, north, south uninterrupted. Centuries of experience have given an atmosphere of mystery and grandeur to a natural place. So we call it a Sacred Site.

Jeffers Petroglyphs are on the flat landscape. No grand views. They too rise up as a Sacred Site. Glyphs are created by people to give meaning to life and to communicate with future peoples. Getting in touch with what is being transmitted is one purpose of this study of sacred time and places in the 21st century.

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