Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part V The Sacred and Profane

Unfortunately the luster and spiritual energy that once must have permeated these sacred grounds at the Ramapo Walls is long gone.The vibe, the reading of the imprints of the intentions left behind, was neutral at best. Sad.

An old hunter's tree stand by a stone mound. Hunting was prohibited decades ago within Harriman.

We found a hunter's stand next to one of the stone mounds. We also found shot shells, beer cans and other debris. We did pick up a few shot shells. Hunting casts a pall over sacred sites. Again ask yourself if you would want someone sitting in your place of worship or a chair in your living room thinking about killing for hours on end?

So revelers, hunters and curiosity seekers have desecrated this once holy site.

But that is not all as I said in the intro. Lenik in his write-up of the Ramapo Walls writes,

In 1969, the North Jersey Highlands Historical Society, in cooperation with the New England Antiquities Research Association, began investigating the "Supposed Prehistoric Walls" in Ramapo, New York. This site is a massive complex of stone walls that meander over some 200 acres of ground along a hilltop overlooking the villages of Sloatsburg and Ramapo. Some sixteen massive stone mounds, basically conical in section and circular in diameter, are within the network of walls....
In 1973, archeological excavations were undertaken at the Prehistoric Walls site in an attempt to learn its temporal and cultural placement as well as its function. Three features were excavated at the site, namely, the suspected well, the stone fireplace, and a section of one stone mound. These features seemed to offer the best possibility of definitive material being found.
The stone filled depression, or suspected well, was excavated first. This feature is located along the eastern edge of the site, 100 ft. off the old road and 40 ft. east of the stone wall. The area was carefully cleared of surface leaves and brush and a 10 ft. by 10 ft. square was laid out around the depression. Excavation proceeded with great care and the soil was removed by trowel and sifted. All stones encountered were left exactly in place as found with the exception of a few which appeared to have tumbled into the center of the depression.

Wow!

I understand that people want to investigate and learn; but at what expense?

Again ask yourself if you would want someone coming to your place of worship, sacred and holy ground, and begin digging up the pews and tearing up your sacred texts and testing them with chemicals to better understand why you built them?

This sort of  voyeurism is bad for the vibe and goes contra to the love and positive intentions that once blanketed this holy area. It destroys what makes a sacred site holy and sacred.

NEARA prides itself on protecting and preserving stone structures in greater New England. But doing an archaeological dig of a sacred site without knowledge of its function and purpose is not going to assure proper reconstruction.

As noted previously stone structures can be very intricate in design. In the picture above a manitou stone is located behind Pepper.  I am concerned that the stone structures dissembled by  the North Jersey Highlands Historical Society and NEARA were not properly reconstituted.

NEARA does have many dowsers amongst its membership but science and traditional archaeology drive much of its decision making. No doubt they do good work in preserving the physical structures at a sacred place. But what of the spiritual component? How can science come to understand sacred space and Indigenous People that loved Mother Earth and worked to create stone structures to enhance Her?

They cannot!

A sacred site needs love, prayer, ceremony and good intentions. The makes its vibe well. Science is an anathema to spirituality. 

And if you have read my work before you know that I believe that it is all about the vibe. The stone structures are often mere ornaments that adorn a powerful sacred sites. I expect that certainly was the case at the  hay day of the Ramapo Walls.

Archaeologists, hunters, revelers, groups like NEARA, ghost hunters through their intent and actions not only destroy the vibe of a sacred area but its ultimate purpose; a mystical experience, a union with Great Spirit/God, an answer to a difficult question or the chance for a vision or great insight.

We did find a remnant that the Ramapo Walls was once treated as a sacred area with prayers, ceremony and contemplation.

There was a water dome still located on the grounds. When we pray, meditate, do ceremony and act in a sacred manner we may draw water to a location Yes just as we attract energy/prana above ground we attract water underground.  A water dome is water that has attempted to well up from the bowels of the earth and has reached an impediment and cannot go any further. So water pushing up on the earth begins to form a dome, a mushroom shaped structure that fills with water. Water veins eventually form on the side of the dome.

There was a water dome at the Ramapo Walls.

Peter Shell with dowsing rods tracing out the spiral of the water dome whose center is marked by my backpack

Because the only co-creation with Mother Earth that we found was one water dome I had many questions. I know energy vortices can come and go; but what about water domes? Were there many more water domes in this large sacred area? Do water domes dissipate slower than Energy Vortices, or do they never disappear once formed? These are only a few of the questions I posed and discussed with a few seasoned water dowsers.

We did say some prayers, spread tobacco and did a ceremony. Unfortunately because we were in hurry we could not meditate and spend the time in spiritual activities the way we do in places closer to home in Syracuse.

There is more reason to believe that the Ramapo Walls and its surrounding area was a sacred place as I will discuss in the next section.

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Ramapo Walls and Stone Mounds at Harriman Park, NYS--Part VI Sacred Ground