Sitting with ghosts atop the ruins

the Old Ones at Wupatki

There is a hilltop ruins in Northern Arizona called

the Citadel. Sitting atop the broken walls of this ancient puebloan ruins you can see miles in any direction. Northwest is the Grand Canyon, to the South the San Francisco Peaks - home of the Kachinas. Look hard enough west, and if you’re keen-eyed you’ll see a half-dozen small ruins tucked into gullies just beyond the nearby plains.

The Citadel is part of Wupatki National Monument. This hilltop dwelling is the largest of the ruins left untouched by modern archaeology, and it’s the one I’m drawn to. Time-and-again I climb the hill, following the trail that winds around until topping out on the small mesa. Being careful to check first for rattlers, I plop down on the uneven pieces of Moenkopi sandstone and just dream. “I could sit here forever”, I’ve told my sister. I guess it’s because of the ghosts.

I’ve read that although Wupatki is no longer physically occupied, the Hopi believe the people who lived and died here remain as spiritual guardians. I believe that too. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard that sentiment. I remember visiting Aztec Ruins in northwestern New Mexico and being told: Don’t touch the artifacts you’ll find scattered on the ground - they belong to the Old Ones.

What, exactly is the energy

atop that mesa? My sister and I have been to Wupatki many times and although there are ruins far larger and impressive - like Wukoki - the Citadel is always our first stop. (That’s Vicki, below)

I think the energy is different here than in the bigger ruins, as the Citadel gets fewer visitors. It’s quiet up here, and if you’re sitting in silence, you can almost hear the whispers. The Spirits, I believe, are especially friendly to us as we walk softly and talk about those who climbed this hill at the end of every day, home from tending the corn, beans, and squash on the land below. I don’t know which Spirits guard this place, but they feel as ancient as the distant Peaks, still snow-covered even into summer.

Do Spirits at all of the Ancestral Puebloan ruins feel the same? I don’t think so. Read my post about Kinishba, or Walnut Canyon or Hovenweep, and you’ll see why.

So do me a favor. If you’re ever in Flagstaff, Arizona, take US-89 North until you see the turnoff for Wupatki. The exit is further north than the one for Sunset Crater. Using this route, the Citadel is the first ruins you’ll see.

Park your car, get out and climb the hill. If there are other people there, wait til they leave. Then just sit and listen. Write and tell me what you felt. If it wasn’t a timeless sense of the sacred, well, then I really don’t know what to say.

Nancy

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