Hi everyone. I'm Josh, and this is The Emerald,

currents and trends through a mythic lens.

The podcast where we explore an ever-changing world and our lives in it

through the lens of myth, story, and imagination.

The Emerald.

All that's happening on this green jewel in space. When I was a teenager, some family friends and I went on a road trip to the Hopi nation in Arizona to witness a few days of sacred dances and celebrations.

Hopi is about a seven-hour drive from where I grew up in Santa Fe, and my

friends were connected to the Hopi leadership. And so we had the honor of meeting David Monongier,

an elder of the Hopi Snake Clan, the holder of the Fire Clan tablets. You can look him up,

a leader who advocated for a profound return to nature and a reevaluation of our relationship with the natural world

long before everyone was advocating for these things. While some were still laughing at the idea

of the intricate connectedness of all life on the planet, David was speaking of the delicate

balance of natural systems. He lived to be over a hundred, some even say 117. I remember him there,

sitting in his chair, blanket around his shoulders, glasses on. I remember him there. This trip was a

long time ago at this point, so the images that come to me when I think of it are pretty faint. I remember

the Hopi kids were determined to challenge me and my

friends to rock throwing contests, and we had several of them. It seemed pretty serious like our

reputation was on the line and our worth was being measured by how far we could throw rocks. So, yeah,

I had a pretty sore arm by the end of our time. So there's that, and I remember the view of the mesa, the

pueblo way up there on the rock among the skies and summer lightning. I remember the view across

the desert, the sound of the pounding feet of the dancers, the repetitive drums and rattles that

went on all day. But there's one thing that stands out the most that conjures up a particular feeling that I can still feel in the skin of my neck and the pit of my stomach.

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