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Watching the memorial service following the Tucson shooting of 8 January, i noticed a similarity between aspects of the (Yaqui) (blessing given by Dr. Carlos Gonzales), and carved stone balls found in Scotland . It is notable that (petrospheres) of a different sort are also found in Costa Rica . Their presence on the Nicoya Peninsula, (in the Costa Rican north), and the Isla del Caño, (some distance to the southeast), indicates they may have been linked to a coastal-maritime culture ; which could (speculatively) have influenced beliefs beyond their range .

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I'ton'ta'achi, oh Creator, I come to give a blessing, a blessing at this time of disharmony and at this time of disunity . Please, after hearing my blessing and my prayers, let us work towards harmony, towards wholeness and balance . Let us begin by honoring the Eastern Door from where we get visions and guidance . May each of us get the vision and guidance to proceed in a good way . From the Southern Door, where we get the energies of the family, please let us honor the families of those that have passed on, let us honor the families of those that are healing, and also let us honor our own families . Let us remain humble, and also use humor when appropriate, for humor is healing and can help people . From the Western Door please let us honor the sacred Ways and our sacred Ancestors, for without them we would not be here . Oh Creator, that is the door through which those that have passed on have walked to the next world . Let us honor them, as they've passed on . Let us also look within ourselves to see how we can improve and be better human beings . From the Northern Door, where we receive challenges and the strength to meet those challenges, let us all receive strength to meet the challenges that face our great country . Please give us that strength as we proceed . From Father Sky, where we get the masculine energy, the energy to be responsible, to be respectful, and to protect those that need protection, give us that good energy . From Mother Earth, where we get the feminine energy, give us that energy to nurture and care for those that need it and also to help those that ask for our help . Oh Creator, may the two energies, the masculine energy and the feminine energy come together in our center where the Creator exists, for each of us has a piece of the Creator . I'ton'ta'achi, please, you have given us each a gift, may we use these gifts to help our fellow human beings . Oh Creator, let us bless the families of those that have lost their loved ones . Let us bless the families of those that are healing . Let us bless those people that are here today . Let us bless those that are outside in Greater Tucson, in Arizona and in our country . Let us bless them so that they too can heal from this tragedy that has occurred . Oh Creator, if i may, my son's in Afghanistan, a little blessing to him too . Oh Creator, let us not forget our fellow creatures, those that stand, those that blow in the wind, those that are tall and stately ; those that crawl on the earth, those that slither on the earth, those that live under the earth . Let us remember and bless the winged ones, those that swim in the waters, the four-leggeds and also our brothers the two-leggeds that walk throughout this world . May we all come together at this time, and may the words that people hear here sink in to their hearts so that they too can heal, so that they too can feel better . Oh Creator, i ask this humbly . I ask this so that we all can once again achieve harmony and balance in our lives . Oh Creator, welcome, we welcome those people that come to our beloved city here, our beloved city of TucCHON, or TUsson, as it's known . Welcome here, and please bless each and every one here . And with that, I would like to end, my blessing, to all my relations, Yea'ui .

~ Dr. Carlos Gonzales

Yaqui language words i have probably mis-spelled

The representation of the four cardinal directions, with up and down, as having specific characters relative (and relevant) to humanity, may have (or have had) parallels in the beliefs of many ancient cultures . As could the union of above and below in the center ; the presence of the Creator within each person . As could be the reverence for all living things, and emphasis on balance and harmony . In my opinion .

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[...] Every blessing ceremony I have ever been to, and I've been to many, many, Navajo, Hopi, Anishnabe, Yaqui, Sioux, Quinalt ceremonies have blessings to the four directions [...]

~ YouTube member harvest1100

Turning to (Scottish/Irish stone balls) ; of the 387 which have been found, (per Wikipedia), nearly half have six 'knobs' and a substantial number have four . It is worth considering that a similar assignment of characters to the basic directions, (with a balance in the center), could have motivated them to carve these thus . Those having more, (or fewer), could have referenced other symbolically important directions, for the calling of those spirits and powers they hold, or were believed to have held . (The Costa Rican examples), so far as i know, are smooth . It is possible these were traditionally marked, painted or dressed to indicate significant directions, if the thinking was similar . It may be worth noting that the (Yaqui language) is of the (Uto-Aztecan) group, which extended down to the area where the stone spheres were found, though perhaps not contemporaneously ; (it is also possible these were more closely linked to (Chibchan) speaking peoples) .



( A page of Yaqui poetry ) . The imagery here ~ and it is really quite good poetry, i think ~ recalls to mind (in places) the tattoo on the (Altai Priestess) of a spirit-animal whose antlers became flowers at their tips ; as does the Uto-Aztecan reverence for deer .
( Another page on the Yaqui, linked to a video of the deer dance ) .  ( A link to the home page of its series ) .



To the extent these three cultures, (the Yaqui, the Scottish-Irish, and the Altai), would be connected, (or related), the trail would very probably need to be traced back tens of thousands of years . I imagine a belief system where cardinal directions held meaning could have survived that long ; but that its specific expression in Scotland and Costa Rica would have been independent, (if this is what the petrospheres represent) . The importance of deer could be likewise ; and that, (in common with the Altai at least), of flowers . On the other hand ~ these could be fully independent, though similar, expressions of the way people see things ~ a reflection of our common humanity .