Engaging Rock Art: February 2016

Saturday, February 6, 2016

The Sanctum of Rock Art

If you have visited this site before, you can see that it has completely changed – including the name. Life has a way of doing that – bringing something our way that was never anticipated. That is how our unique book, Engaged: Reflections of Rock Art in Photography and Poetry, was inspired and then manifested. It’s conception and completion involves a long story that demonstrates the creative powers of Divine Mystery through synchronicity when the time is right.

The most frequent question from those who hear about Engaged is: “How did an archeologist and speech language pathologist happen to connect as writing partners to create such book?” The answer is a special story that is not possible to explain in a short answer or in one single post on a blog. That is because, maybe like engaging rock art, the middle and beginning of the story are merged together, and the end has not happened yet. And, isn’t that the way of life? So, we say that the answer is in the introduction of Engaged. You can preview nine pages at http://www.blurb.com/b/6835402-engaged.

Yet, this blog is not about Engaged. Instead, if offers us a place to continue exploring what is addressed in the first two chapters made available in the preview: Imaginative Interpretations and Engaging Souls. If you go to the link, and read these pages, you will be able to follow our train of thought of how engaging rock art can honor the ancient artists who created it as well as offer a sanctum for reflection.

Without our knowing in the beginning, Engaged became a free-flow exchange of dialogue that blended two points of view through Bill’s narrative story telling and Dori’s poetic reply in response to his photographs of rock art. The results are in Engaged. The process enabled us to discover how such images can invite the senses and creative mind to enter a safe place for contemplation that is free from the critical voice of the rational mind. Maybe, together, we became a new form of artistic expression that allowed us to explore an internal terrain, which opens us to greater visualization, inner vision, creation, and exploration.

As grandparents, we began this work for our children’s children. But, we suspect that we became more of what our grandchildren were teaching us. We opened to an aspect of ourselves that touched us to the very depth of our souls. The rock art images inspired us to follow our breath, our blood, the beating of our hearts, and vibrations within our bones as our imagination soared. Maybe we discovered what it is like to be young children peering into the ancient mortars and receiving sustenance through the imagination. We believe it is a journey open to all people of all faiths. One must merely be ready to expand the mind, and rock art offers a sanctum for personal evolution. We invite you to return here to find out what we are continuing to discover, which will be shared through a combination of images with narrative and poetic reflections.

Are You Ready?

Cretan 7-Circuit Labyrinth

Something about ancient symbols is on my mind.

Something about how they were not meant to be interpreted,

because they are the energy that they emit.

They are what they are:

a sanctum to be felt

and explored within the depth of one’s soul.

If they are what they are,

might these rock art images be what they are as well?

Can this rock art by the ancient indigenous

open the mind to unlimited possibilities

once perceptions are no longer bound by words?

If so, maybe it is unwise to look upon such things

until called forth to do so when the psyche is ready.

Maybe, when eyes are prepared to engage these images,
some synchronicity will open the way for reflection.

Then, sleeping neurotransmitters

re-boot old recollections that will never again lie dormant.

Some internal tiny cinder sparks into a flame of insight

that brings forth the heart's exclamation

as it rejoins itself.

And, if these images are energy,

and if they energize inspiration,

do they open the mind to infinite creative expression?

If so, maybe it is wise to wait to look upon these rocks

until you are ready to become engaged.

About Dorothy Bohntinsky

My interest in blending Native American rock art with personal creativity evolved from my career as a speech language pathologist (SLP) since 1976, including two decades as Director of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Alameda County Medical Center. After my early retirement in 2002, I provided per diem (as needed) speech and language therapy in many settings, from the school system to home rehabilitation. I have been the per diem SLP at Kindred Hospital of the San Francisco Bay Area since 2002 and continue to work at this specialized long-term acute medical hospital that provides respiratory care. Married to my husband, Chuck, since 1971 and being a grandmother, my interests in enhancing creativity through rock art is for building gratifying relationships within one’s self and with others.

I have recently redesigned the purpose of this blog in order to share my continuing discoveries of how rock art can be used to spark the imagination after recently publishing Sustenance: Integrating Creativity with Rock Art. This is a workbook that guides individuals in how rock art can be integrated with creative writing, from narrative prose to poetry, in order to expand self-potential. Instead of simply warning others not to touch rock art and leave no trace of the visit, my work strives to offer ways to become inspired by rock art and communicate, especially through creative writing, from more stunning and dynamic perspectives. In this way, if each person can discover how rock art can be used to inspire creative thinking when things are going well, one is better prepared for those times when loss happens. I believe that this is a way to expand appreciation of the work of these ancient arts and to promote awareness of the importance of preserving rock art and the sites where it exists.

In 2014, a reconnection with a friend I had not seen for fifty years provided new opportunities for exploring creative opportunities; this time with rock art. Independent archaeologist William (Bill) D. Hyder (retired from University of Santa Cruz administration) has expertise in Native American rock art. Together, we began exploring new perspectives for engaging rock art through photography and at site visits. Bill and I co-wrote Engaged: Exploring Rock Art through Poetry and Photography in 2015. We then co-wrote two research papers on rock art and presented at the Utah Rock Art Association (URARA) Symposium in October 2016 and American Rock Art Research Association in June 2017. Then in October 2017, I wrote a paper and presented at URARA Symposium in October 2017.

I bring perspectives beyond those of an SLP due to pursuing doctoral studies in creation spirituality after the death of our young teenage daughter, Christen, in 2000. As part of a healing process that integrates creativity with grieving, I engaged in creative writing by journaling personal narratives about my journey and insights. Encouraged by the medical staff at that time, I published my journal: The Healing Room: Discovering Joy through the Journal in 2002. In addition, since work with grieving is not within the scope of practice of an SLP, in 2006, I received my doctorate of ministry from Wisdom University in San Francisco. My doctoral dissertation includes the validation of my approach for resolving loss that integrates awareness of feelings, emotions, and critical thinking strategies for optimum solutions for oneself. I was ordained that same year after simultaneously attending an interfaith chaplaincy seminary, the Chaplaincy Institute, in Berkeley, Ca. I published my dissertation, Transformational Healing through the Integration of Self, in 2016 after using it successfully with clients and myself for a decade. While Bill and I initially wrote this blog together, I am now writing it to reflect my evolving work with rock art.