MEDITATION AT MICHOACÁN

Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico

Sprawled across the territory of the Michoacán of Mexico lies a majestic landscape, 6-sq miles (9.6 km²) in size. The area contains several large, artistic renderings, such as this 3-mile (4.8 km) long hooded, robed monk in the center of the image. On his forehead he wears a bindi. His hands rest over his solar plexus holding what appears to be an ear, symbolic, perhaps, of a secret. From his solar plexus, a cord runs down the center channel of his body to the back of the spine of a man seated in meditation.

The bulbous shape at the meditator’s spine resembles the Pons of the human brainstem that regulates breathing and is an important aspect of meditation. One might wonder whether the man could signify the cerebellum or the Tree of Life.  Note too, that the seated man is looking out at us, with opened eyes and an open hand. His fingers and thumb are touching as he emulates the meditation pose known as the Prana Mudra or Life Force that increases vitality and energy flow.

1. The Meditation (hover for outline)

Image

2. Pons of the brain

Image

3. Prana Mudra

Facing the seated one is a great serpent over 13,000 feet (3.96 km) in length. While Mesoamerican mythology associates the serpent with wisdom, death and rebirth, in cross-cultural meditative practices the serpent is often symbolic of the vast flow of energy rising up from the base of spine to the all-seeing inner eye.

Image

4. Monk lying sideways

5. Meditation-1 (hover for outline)

Image

6. Meditation-2

7.

Michoacán landscape also holds the 6-mile long figure of a King. His head is verdant green and his long body-form contains the water-filled Crater of Alberca, one of a 1000 monogenetic Quaternary volcanoes that comprise the so-called Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field.

A close-up of the Spanish King’s dark-green head looks directly upward, 3000 ft (914 m) to the man who is seated in meditation, clearly visible here. Of much interest is this King’s Head as there is an exact duplicate of this head located in the Spanish City of Andalusia in Spain, some 5,600 miles (9012 km) away. However, the Spanish landscape of the king is very old, faded and worn, as was true of the declining Spanish Empire of the 17th century.

Spanish scholars sought to understand the decline of the Spanish empire from its earlier glory days, with the aim of reclaiming its former prestige. In Spanish America, the Enlightenment also had an impact in the intellectual and scientific sphere, with elite American-born Spanish men involved in these projects.

Image

8. King at Michoacán

Image

9. Kings head at Michoacán

Image

10. Kings head Spain

Though hundreds of hidden landscapes like this cover our earth, Michoacán is the only one found, so far, that emulates beautifully detailed aspects of meditation. The entire surrounding landscape echoes the beauty and natural order of this amazing place. Millions of stunning Monarch Butterflies migrate to Michoacán each winter covering local trees in blankets of fluttering orange.

11.

One of the most beautiful places may be the Patzcuaro Lake whose original name was “Tzacapu-ansucutinpatzcuaro” meaning “door to heaven.” The clear, mirror-like lake of Patzcuaro holds five islands within its bounds: Janitzio, Jaracuaro, Pacada-the largest, Tecuena and Yunen Islands. Michoacán and Island of Hawai’i, being at the same latitude, share the same temperatures as well as both having active volcanoes, stunning mountains, rich soils and jungle-like vegetation.

Image

12. Patzcuaro Lake, Mexico

Image

13. Monarch Butterflies

Aside from the massive Monarch Migration to the Michoacán each winter, the Patzcuaro area is also a grand sanctuary for hundreds of bird species that seek warmth, leaving the colder states of the north in winter. Here are a few of the many birds that seek sanctuary here in the warmth of Michoacán.

Image

14. Broad Billed Hummingbird

Image

15. Blue Crowned Motmot

Image

16. Keel-billed Toucan

FINDING the MICHOACAN LANDSCAPE

Google’s Historical Imagery File dated 5/14/2007, has the only clear landscape image of the Michoácan Meditation that still exists. The coordinates are 19°52’38.89 N by 101°29’18.87 W. Landscape satellite Images by © 2011 by DigitalGlobe, © Google and © 2011 INEGI. __-

  1. 135_the_monk.jpg: Google earth
  2. 135_sketch.jpg: sketch by SLK
  3. 135a_pons of brain.jpg: Wikipedia
  4. 135a2_jnanda_mundra.jpg: bigstockphoto-179850958
  5. 135b_monk_sideways.jpg: Google earth
  6. 135b2_meditation_and_serpent.jpg; Google earth
  7. 135b2_sketch.jpg: Google earth; sketch by SLK
  8. 135b4_meditation.jpg: Google earth
  9. 135c_king_at_michoacán.jpg: Google earth
  10. 135c2_kings_head_michoacán.jpg: Google earth
  11. 135c3_kings_head_spain.jpg; Google earth
  12. 135d_patzcuaro_lake_michoacán.jpg; bigstockphoto-67610755
  13. 135d2_michoacán_monarch_migration.jpg: bigstockphoto 114743339
  14. 135e_broad_billed_hummingbird; bigstockphoto-22696611
  15. 135e2_blue-crowned-motmot: bigstockphoto-55529240
  16. 135e5_keel_billed_toucan.jpg: bigstockphoto-120208805