The Hopi are traditionally known as “The Peaceful Ones”. For more than one thousand years, they have lived without warfare and thrived in their seemingly inhospitable desert lands on the Hopi Mesas in Arizona. They have done so with a sincere sense of freedom, living isolated, non-nomadic lives as farmers in pueblo villages.
Hopi Spirituality
The Hopi have, since ancient times, maintained complex spiritual, religious, and mythological traditions. Unlike some other Native peoples, the Hopi have also, through time, been willing to listen to and assimilate some “foreign” concepts and ideas into their cosmology when it has proven to be worthwhile to them. Despite this relative openness, the Hopi mesas even today remain relatively free of European influences on their spiritual and religious themes and belief systems, and the people are relatively secretive about much of this side of their culture.
Even today, many Hopi living in the mesas perform sacred rituals every year to retain balance for themselves and the wider world.
Hopi prophecies for the future are renowned. Their predictions pertain not only to themselves but to the world on a global scale. These prophecies have been made (and continue to be made) based on visions seen from kivas, which are communal underground prayer chambers. Some of these visions predict disturbing scenarios but are hopeful of ultimately positive outcomes.
Hopi Creation Legend, Cycles of Time, & The Four Worlds
According to traditional Hopi Creation legend, Time and Space began when Tawa, the Sun Spirit, created the First World. In this World, unhappy creatures resembling insects lived in caves. Tawa sent the Spider Grandmother spirit to lead these creatures into the newly created Second World, where their appearance changed into that of bears and wolves. Still not living happily, Tawa re-sent Spider Grandmother to take the bears and wolves to a new Third World, where they became humans and were taught skills like pottery and weaving.
The majority of the people of the Third World eventually adopted evil and corrupt ways, and Tawa destroyed this world in a great flood. Before he did so, he again sent the Spider Grandmother to save the non-evil people. They were sealed into hollow reeds which were used as boats. They eventually landed onto the Fourth World.
In the Fourth World, the people learned how to live righteously and were given four sacred tablets. One of these predicted the coming of the Pahana or Lost White Brother of the Hopi. He had left when the Hopi entered the Fourth World; when he returns his coming will usher in a new age of peace - the evil will be destroyed and the Fifth World will be born.
The Destruction of Three Worlds
The Hopi once lived alongside the Maya (Mesoamerican Indians), and like them, they believe that the world’s ages are cycles of time. They believe that we are currently living in the Fourth World and that the previous Three Worlds ended and shifted due to specific cataclysms:
- The First World was destroyed by Fire (comet, volcanic eruption, asteroid strike, or similar).
- The Second World was destroyed by Ice (the Great Ice Age).
- The Third World was destroyed by a deluge (a Great Flood).
These three cataclysms have parallels amongst many other cultures worldwide (including Judeo-Christian and Islamic beliefs) as well as some potential historical evidence (e.g., the scientific theory that the dinosaurs became extinct after an asteroid strike).
For the Hopi, these cataclysms were not random events but a result of negative collective human transgressions: human disregard for both the Creator’s instruction and the welfare of Mother Earth.
Many of today’s Hopi spiritual elders believe that we are now living in the literal Final Days of Earth’s Fourth World. (These beliefs and visions mirror some other religious prophecies and what many psychics, mediums, and others across the world from diverse cultures also predict.) These cycles, ages, and shifts are said to have been planned since the very birth of Creation.
Some prophetic harbingers of the demise of this current world and the “shift” from the Fourth to the Fifth World include:
- Nature’s mighty wind will speak; wars will come like powerful winds.
- Natural events – earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires.
- Erratic climate and unbalanced seasons – drought, hailstorms, heatwaves.
- Wildlife disappearing/becoming extinct.
- Famines and disease.
- Corrupt leadership, sociopolitical imbalance, and confusion amongst people globally.
- Great Wars and mass destruction, especially in the lands where “the first light of wisdom” appeared.
The Hopi have also predicted technological events and changes that would signify these times are upon us – just a few of these include:
- a “gourd of ashes” falling to Earth (atomic bombs?)
- snakes of iron would spread across the lands (railroads?)
- people riding in “horseless wagons” on “black ribbons” (cars on roads?)
- vehicles travelling on “roads in the heavens”(airplanes, rockets?)
- spinning wheels with voices in them would come (records?)
- people would be “living in the sky” (skyscrapers, space station?)
- a giant spiderweb would crisscross the land (telegraph, telephone lines, or internet?)
- a “dwelling place in the heavens” would crash to Earth. It would produce a brilliant blue star.
These statements were made and have been handed down over hundreds and even thousands of years. Prophecy Rock in northern Arizona depicts Two Life Paths to come (and we will look at this in a future blog article).
The Blue Star Kachina
A kachina is a Hopi spirit. The Hopi have foreseen that the Blue Star Kachina (Saquasohuh) spirit will appear in the form of a Blue Star to signify the imminent birth of the Fifth World.
A variation (or expansion) on the Hopi creation legend states that the Creator’s nephew Sotuknang constructed nine realms or worlds (universes, dimensions) on which life would exist. One was for the Creator, one was for Sotuknang, and seven were for other life forms. The first three of these have already been lived on and destroyed through the abovementioned cataclysms; humanity’s evilness, corruption, and wicked ways directly led to these destructions.
At the end of the Fourth World, a “dwelling place in the heavens” will crash to Earth. It would produce a brilliant blue star. This “Blue Star Kachina” will take off his mask publicly, reveal himself, and then all Hopi ceremonies would permanently cease.
A Positive Outcome…
While potentially disturbing if considered literally, the Hopi prophecies are fascinating, and parallels with current and past world events can’t be completely ignored. Like the predictions described in the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible, and by Nostradamus in France centuries ago, they are very open to interpretation.
While they could be seen as harbingers of doom by some, others will see these as messages of hope…
Most Hopi spiritual elders believe that the prophesized transition from the Fourth World to the Fifth World will not be the annihilation of our world but instead an exciting new beginning. That, rather than desolation, this will be a rebirth and a very long era of harmony, peace, and regeneration for Mother Nature and humans. A “New Age” that, if we already understood what was to come, we would welcome with open hearts and minds.
Reference: Ancient-Origins.net