The missing link between our ancient forbearers and our current technical society is the geographical mythology of all tribal peoples. Every tribe once had a magical meaning attached to every hill, valley and mountain in their domain. The rivers and rocks were all a part of the story the people lived as the way of their ancestors. Before monuments of stone and books of paper, the cultural continuity of humankind was passed on by shamans who told the tales written in the land.

The Kumuuaay/Yuman Indians of Southern California were organized into a proto-state based on a set of myths derived from a Great Snake and a Giant Bird. The Great Snake and the Thunderbird were fused into Quetzeqoatl by the Olmec/Mayan/Aztec peoples who developed the largest state culture in the New World. Phylo-genetic comparisons of mythical components distributed through out North and South America, trace the origins of images and root story ideas across space and time. Recent carbon 14 dates up to 48,000 years in the Baja Peninsula, and myth components across the Southwest, indicate the Kumuuaay/Yuman peoples may be among the oldest in the Americas. Quetzeqoatl may be a San Diego native.

Kuuchamaa, the ‘high exalted holy place’ was the center of Kumuuaay ritual life and the home of the high shaman. Like the Pharaoh of the Egyptians and the ancient kings of the Old World, the high shaman of Kuuchamaa was the final judge and arbiter between all the tribes for over a hundred miles in every direction. The power of the huge geoglyphs in the valleys surrounding Kuuchamaa allowed a coalition of shaman specialists to manage the arid landscape and San Diego climate by spiritual and psychological leverage. The Spanish believed this area to be a potential lush farming region due to the fields of native grasses and oaks, and the robust health of the local Indians compared to their neighbors to the south. They soon discovered that European crops would not thrive in this desert environment. The shamans had spent centuries perfecting their systems of burnings and plantings with native food crops. Quetzeqoatl had been a good ruler long before the white man reached these shores.

The Great Mother, the Great Snake, and the Great Bird are still visible today near Potero California. Nearly forgotten by the Kumuuaay themselves, a few locals still pass on the legends of these ancient guardians of the human race. Jerusalem once was a similar site for the Middle Eastern peoples who first worshiped the Mother Goddess whose presence was clear in the surrounding landscape. The years of building and land clearance left little evidence of the geoglyphic forms that inspired their ancestors. The rediscovery of geographic mythology could lead to a resolution in the Middle East based on a reevaluation of humanities common heritage.

The Democratic ideals that inspired the makers of the Constitution came from the Native People of North America. The Iroquois League was the model for the government without kings that became the United States. When the Europeans found equality and freedom in the new lands, the centuries of oppression by Church and State seemed like a bad dream. The Indians who were led by councils and formed federations of trade and alliance became the guiding light that evolved into the Federal Government of the United States. Three centuries later the lessons are being lost along with the monuments of the First Peoples.

The Holy Lands of the Americas are a shrine to Freedom, Justice and Equality. The Sacred Sites now under attack from business and civil governments are aimed at the collective memory of the human race. We condemn our descendants and ourselves when a Holy Place is desecrated. The memories of Our Past as the Human Race are how We will become a united planet; not by erasing Who We Were from the face of the Earth.

The evidence that a single shamanic culture once existed in every corner of the world would go far to promote harmony and peace on an international level. The theocratic monotheisms of the Middle East are the source of most of the religious conflicts of our time. Before the ‘gods’ became the motivators of war and domination, it was the Spirits of peoples and places; given shape by shamans; that gave people a feeling of belonging. Now it is the great nations formed by flag and gun that claim our allegiance. Without the monuments and memories of our ancestors we have no choice but to believe and obey whatever oozes from our computers and televisions. This is not patriotism or religion I am talking about; it is brainwashing pure and simple.

True history is impossible without pre-history. Pre-history is written in the monuments and landmarks of our ancestors. Sacred Sites are the heritage of the human race, not a particular people or place. It is the nationalistic histories, the ‘civil religions’ taught to schoolchildren to instill patriotism that encourage ignorance of our common heritage. It is this ‘patriotic pride’ that blinds each nation to the common humanity that could lead to true understanding and cooperation on a global level. The Holy Land that speaks to the Spirit beyond greed and arrogance, can know no nation or people as ‘chosen’. Those ‘chosen’ to war forever over paper based faiths, are those who now indoctrinate third world people into the faith of capitalism and commercial advertising. Soon they too can build great armies and die for their country. This is, after all, the way of civilized people. The old ways of council and understanding need no monuments; no reminders of our ancestors who talked instead of fought. Endless war is the modern way of the followers of scriptures, themselves the tales of war and pillage in the ‘name of god‘.

In a society where ‘values’ are coined with every new commercial; eternal landmarks are a distraction from the most important things; watching television and drinking beer. The prospect of a world of endless war caused by book-based religion is why I have dedicated my life to understanding the ways of our Forefathers. The Spirits they called on led them to life. The ‘gods’ we moderns call on seem aimed at endless war and death. The Holy Lands of the Americas may be the only things that stand in the way of the written words world wide massacre based on book based religions. The Middle East is a monument to the monotheistic madness of the paper god Odin/Jehovah/Allah. The near pristine world the Pilgrims found was a monument to the Spirits of our ancestors.

The Great Mother and Kuuchamaa still stand as symbols of our ancestors understanding, intelligence and creativity. As humankind struggles to organize into a global culture, the ways of our ancestors can lead us to a new understanding of how we first began to form large groups. The pyramids and temple that were built in imitation of the mountains that first inspired the shamans who began it all, are protected by our knowledge of their importance and meaning. The sacred places of North America are not understood or protected by current common knowledge. Bringing this awareness to the world through establishing the Potero Ritual Complex as a World Heritage Site, could go far to bring this needed understanding to the world.

All Art, Religion, Science, Politics and History start somewhere. The common origins of the human race in our shamanic forbearers may be a key in establishing a global culture. When all peoples recognize their shared descent from a single ancient shamanic faith, Kuuchamaa may be considered equal to the pyramids and Stonehenge as a marker of human progress.

I have stood in awe of the Great Snake since the first day I saw Its gigantic face staring at me from a mountain. As an experience of Art in its most monumental form there is no comparison I know of. I hope this paper leads at least a few to discover the sublime secrets of the Potero Ritual Complex.

Forever in Awe...

Fred M.