De Anza: Body Paint and Spiritual Action

2010-05-29

We’re off to De Anza Naturist Resort again, with its miles of fascinating hiking. It is four or five hours from Tucson across the desert. There is plenty of somewhat barren land where people don’t live. The Interstate highway rolls down one hill and up the next. Each couple of miles can be seen in between. There is no place for police to hide, except over that crest of each hill, not that there are frequent patrols. These wide open spaces provide an easy carnuding experience. Leaning back, hand in hand, stretched out, one finger at the steering wheel, with good tires, there are no worries, the world is free. Occasionally, a car or truck must be passed or pass. Rarely are they paying attention to the activities next to them. If I am over taking them, exposure is at a brief moment. When parallel, most people are just looking forward watching to stay on the road.

You can refer to my Carnuding Handbook:

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2015/09/25/carnuding-handbook-on-being-realistic-and-practical/#more-485

The semi driver gets a good view. We either cover up, or let them look. They all have their stories about antics in cars that they see. That is all it is to them. Nobody is complaining; just something to talk about, more beaver seat covers, as the CB lingo has used for terminology to alert others. It is something common enough to have a term for it.

There are natural features, but along the way, there by itself, marked by an exit sign and a bridge over the highway like a gateway, are gas stations and rest stops.

Some are in ruins; some are mom and pop stores.

Some have been there since before the interstate. Some have become dusty little towns, with a trailer park for retirees that like sunshine and stars. These less commercial enterprises on a quiet day, are nice places to sit and snack, stretch and take a break nude.

One has to wonder, if there was a mistake, would it be a crime enough to pursue and prosecute. Who would show up to court to testify? In what corner of the desert would the courthouse be?

De Anza:

There is a special event at De Anza that we had been hearing about for years, a body painting contest. It sounded very fun. I have been seeing examples of this artistic expression on the internet for years. We had done some experiments. I had been painted and done body painting at parties and had a complete set of stick paint for the occasion.

We had a hour, or so, to complete our task. I decided on the ol’ breast turned into eyes and torso becoming a face with a goatee on DF. We didn’t have time for me. I began the process and it became more and more of a creative process as it went on.

After getting the front finished, the back needed something. I hadn’t thought of that, so I quickly took some rich colors and made a foxy looking tail and bottom. Although incongruent it looked nice and it was fun to mix the colors.

DF felt righteously decorated, proud to show off her costume. The entrants paraded through the ramada and then down into the outdoor pool area, displaying their bodies with art. Everyone was enthusiastic. Occasionally one might be asked to stop for a closer longer look. DF strutted her stuff feeling like a model, making her best play for a win. We thought that the details would impress judges, but in the end the greater coverage and brighter colors were favored…oh well.

Interlude with Spirit:

We spend time acquainting ourselves with energies. In the pristine desert and nude, the phenomena is more evident. We are trained masters of certain energetic healing and meditation techniques. We also, have had a familiarity with ritual and at times, the phenomena of entities. So, the following story may sound weird, or even disrespectful to some…or many. To us, it was apparent that it was neither, yet certainly not a typical afternoon.

We took off out toward a familiar area, indulging the desert blooms amongst the rock’s amazing formations.

The path took us to a cut off that leads to the grand vagina location. The vagina is a large rock with a slit under it.

At times, moister drips from it. It has metate bowls around it in the rock surfaces where paint or herbs might be ground and used.

Things happened here. Check out the picture and imagine a shaman using the pot holes to create paint and someone symbolically at the mother earth’s vagina and the rituals.

We like to imagine how and why native people used certain areas and rocks for obviously spiritual/religious matters. We are often projecting ourselves to a past time, from a current place. The vagina definitely has a spiritual significance. Along this trail in its vicinity, we imagined how things may have looked without overgrown vegetation, how the routes that might be used in a processional would work and what might be the significance.

Overgrown Vegetation

As we discussed this, it began to form a picture in our minds, in our senses, with our natural state’s awareness. We realized that our dress would not be much different than the native inhabitants who used to live in what was once a more lush spot with a stream and trees. We surmised coming of age, and fertility rights and celebration. Perhaps marriage would be consecrated here.

We imagined and then walked through these speculative routes arriving at what obviously had been a very special place. We had stripped our shoes and water jugs off. More completely naked, we could better feel the area as it had been to those before us. We sat together under the vagina, our eyes closed, in meditation, attempting to respectfully reach the spirit and sacred magic of the place.

We didn’t feel alone. DF began to speak to them reverently, as if communing in prayer. It seemed that we were welcomed and the purpose of ritual was desired. As we abandoned to this phenomenon, we were compelled to allow ourselves, our bodies, to be directed.

We had laid a sarong out and as if on an altar, spontaneously, we found ourselves making love with beings around happily encouraging a holy rite.

After this, taking notes with each other, we each communicated a similar experience and perceptions. We had not verbalized what we sensed and afterward realized that we had experienced the same perception of reality. We had perceived entities of various and particular aspects in the same locations around us. We had felt we were consecrating union with a spiritual connection’s blessings and encouragement.

So, it may be said that we got carried away, or it may be said that we had a memorable experience, or even that what we shared was quite a discovery in communication. You may just dismiss the experience as overactive imagination. Your choice.

The Next Day:

We stayed in a cute manufactured home on this trip. The accommodation was very comfortable and homey. It was a bit further to walk to the clubhouse, but it was closer to the railroad tracks and the trails beyond.

I made banana/blueberry smoothies and we found ourselves walking barefoot all over in the sandy beach like trail that leads to the tracks. Such wandering in the cooler morning is delightful.

Our plan is to explore the apparent sacred sites on the other side of the tracks. Our experience from the previous day was quite a jolt and we wanted to know more.

We went directly to the mouth. This is a formation in the granite that curls around so as to look like teeth. We are able to walk into the mouth.

There is a pictograph image there. DF climbed in and began to respectfully give and sense energetic activity.

We wandered through the fun granite formations, alone there for the first time.

We looked for possibilities and dowsed for vortices.

We found routes leading to spots for processionals, or maybe just frequent travel. Over one hundred years ago this could have been a village, a suburb, or a sacred site.

What could have been here?

We noticed energies associated with certain plants and their blooming health.

In spots, these plants spring taller and live as bouquets.

We came away with a great experience of a fascinating environment.

This time, we had a creative and fun afternoon, in imagination.

There is a surreal quality to the area surrounding the resort. There is the silence, the aliveness of a passing breeze, the strange plants and rock formations, the wonderful aloneness and oneness. It is alien to what most of us usually experience in our daily lives. When we freely bare our bodies to this, there can be brought about a connection to a more primitive sense of self, and a wonderment of perceptions. It can begin an exploration of the natural gifts that we in our modern world have lost touch with. Of course, how far one runs with it, will be individualized.