Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return . . . .
I thought of these words from the Ash Wednesday ritual as we walked through the Upper Antelope and X Canyons near Page, Arizona. Red dust covered our feet as we slowly made our way through these incredible slot canyons. The interplay of stone and light in the canyons touches something deep inside you.
These deep vertical canyons are made of Navajo sandstone. Sandstone created from a huge desert which once covered the Colorado Plateau and beyond. Over time the sand of the desert was compressed into this red sandstone. The stone still carries the marks of the wind which pushed the sand into huge dunes.
The slot canyons were created over a period of millions of years. Water seeping into a crack carried with it pebbles that carved a little stone away. This carving of stone was and is repeated over and over each time it rains. The Navajo call the Upper Antelope Canyon Tse’bighanili, which means “the place where water runs through.”
The Navajo tourism department wrote this about the slot canyons, “Carved from the red sandstone for millennia by seasonal flood rains and wind, the canyons are narrow passageways that lead several hundred feet away from the mouth. The gorgeous sloping angles of the rocks – coupled with the shafts of light that make their way down from the rim of the canyon – combine for a scene that cannot be fully explained with words.”
There really were no words. We often walked in silence taking in the stone and light. The curves in the stone and the softness of the dust felt very feminine to me. It was as if we had entered mother earth herself. I was grateful for our Navajo guides who shared with us the history and the sacredness of these canyons.
It reminded me of an Ash Wednesday several years ago at the St. Louis County Jail. That particular day I offered the imposition of ashes to any of the women there who wanted them. I went around our circle offering ashes mixed with oil. On each of their foreheads I made the sign of the cross while saying “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.”
I stopped halfway around the circle. Three of the women who were Native American wanted the ashes to be put on their feet, not their foreheads. For these women the ashes were powerful symbols of their ancestors. The ashes represented all those who had gone before and the wisdom of the earth herself.
Red dust from slot canyons and ashes in a county jail are both powerful reminders that everywhere we walk is holy ground. Shafts of light continue to break into our lives. Our tears are still carving openings in stony hearts. Yes, we too are dust, stone and light. Remembering this can be beautiful.
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