Wide Circle

The elders removed their masks and were themselves again--gray, wrinkled, wise.  The drums started once more, this time quietly in the background. 

Near the fire was a pile of fine white sand, which the shaman approached gravely. Wielding a flat wooden stick, he smoothed the sand carefully over the ground. Gray Dawn then took up a carved stick of her own and drew a wide circle bounding the sanded area. Next the shaman picked a handful of black sand and trickled it in two thick lines up and down until he had formed a cross within the circle.

Gray Dawn led Meredith to the center of the cross and motioned for her to sit. Meredith relaxed, her legs folded under.  The headwoman squatted at one edge of the circle, with the shaman at the other edge.

Sandpainting

With calm ceremonial movements, the two elders grouped small piles of colored sand together.

Unhurriedly, they dribbled sand upon sand, creating red lines, black lines, blue and yellow filler, surrounding Meredith with an intricate sandpainting.
They began to chant in high voices. The other elders joined in. Meredith recognized it as a Healing Way. The chanting droned on and on. 

Time passed. It might have been hours.

Four Figures

Two thick black lines, like crossed arrows, cut the sandpainting into quarters, depicting four elongated figures.

Anasazi Maiden

In the first quarter stood a stylized figure of a young maiden wearing a necklace of turquoise stones over a beautiful white buffalo robe of complex design. On her head she wore painted buffalo horns. In her hands, a peace pipe emerged from loosely wrapped white deerskin.    

Mother Earth

In the second quarter stood the splendid figure of Mother Earth in a flowing white robe, adorned with pine boughs at the neck and sleeves. In her outstretched hands were corncob fetishes decorated with long blue feathers and wild goose down. Her head was encircled with a crown woven of flower and leaves, and large straw baskets of blue corn rested at her feet.

Father Sun

In the third quarter Father Sun stood stalwartly clothed in red, white and black robes against a white background, and grasping the sun's rays as if they were thunderbolts that he would throw.  To Meredith he looked as if he were waiting for someone.

Old Humpback

The fourth quarter contained another of the strange creatures known as Kokopelli that Meredith had seen on the cave walls previously. This one had a pronounced humpback and played a gnarled flute. His beard was long and thin.