Skip to main content

The Mysterious Kokopelli


Popular culture has a way of finding an image, watering it down to the components it finds useful and then marketing it. It saddens me to see that happen to Kokopelli, one of our ancient American spirits. Perhaps because he is such a mystery, relatively undefined in a sharply delineated way, some have thought they could do with him what they desire.

I am quite partial however to this artistic, site specific, earth art depicting Kokopelli, shown above. Here he is honored as the primordial, primal, earthy, evasive though playful spirit that is fitting.

I doubt that you are unfamiliar with the image of Kokopelli. You see him on decals, souvenirs, pottery and as jewelry supposedly representing the Southwest. Far beyond being a marketing tool, the spirit or deity, however you chose to think of him, has much more to offer.


Clearly he is a trickster. We can't quite make out his original iconography in his earliest renditions which are petroglyphs. Does he carry a bag or sack on his back; is he hunched over or possibly humpbacked? It is difficult to decide. One thing that is very clear, he is joyful and he is visually excited in a sexual manner. Because of that, many of us take him as a fertility god, ready to rain down his blessings upon the earth.

I find myself thinking of Kokopelli every spring when I consider fertility of the earth the most. That is because Kokopelli is celebratory, he is very much alive--a lively figure that appears to be dancing while playing the flute. He fits with the pagan ideas of this season being centered on fertility, promise and potential. We too, usher in this season with lively dancing, music and general merriment. Planting seeds in the earth and looking forward to their yield.

Kokopelli is connected with the mysterious Anasazi culture. Today he is revered within Hopi culture, moreover, with his playful and highly sexual disposition he continues to capture the popular imagination, titillating all accepted into his realm.


A to Z April Blogger's Challenge K is for Kokopelli

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Chrys FeyApril 12, 2014 at 4:09 PM

    I have seen images of Kokopelli and I love those images, but I never knew his name or anything about him. Great post, Stephanie! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie BirdApril 13, 2014 at 4:12 AM

    I'm so glad you found it useful Chrys!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead. Make my day by leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Tree Whispers

Tree Whispers Shinrin-yoku is a complementary medicine modality, designed to up-lift sub-par health conditions, through lifestyle changes that involve immersion in nature, specifically the wildness, we call a forest, where the senses, including our intuitive sense and ability to heal ourselves through it, is ignited. Forest bathing, as Shinrin-yoku is popularly called, has come to our attention, at a time when the scientific community is abuzz about the ability of trees - be it in stands, groves, or forests, to build community. This, at a time, when we as humans, struggle hard to build and sustain healthy in-person communities, in the face of Online communications. Books like “The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate Discoveries from a Secret World,” (Wohlleben 2016) by Peter Wohlleben is a Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. It makes readers privy to trees’ communication skills and social networks, that is, it helps us entertain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art of Motherland Herbal

 Motherland Herbal is my latest book, set to be released June 11th by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins. It is a cross-genre work, primarily an herbal guide, with elements of memoir, and creative nonfiction. It encompasses my passion for folklore and mythology, from the African diaspora. I’m back here to begin a series of posts built around the art within its pages. Today, I share my inspiration for the book cover art. One of my favorite houseplants is our Money Tree. Rich in lore, intimately connected to abundance, prosperity and luck, I adore this plant. It is plentiful, in its growth habit, beautiful in its variety of green leaves and becomes luminous in the morning, when it catches light, hence the yellow-orange negative space around the leaves on the cover.  I enjoy the playful way the art director at Harper, inserted the text, showing the title, subtitle and my name. The cover was a wonderful collaborative effort. It is designed to be inviting, informative and lumin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Press Release: New Moon Collection

  SRB Botanica Announces New Moon Collection December 15, 2020 Noted Author, Artist Stephanie Rose Bird Teams Up with Actress Daughter to Craft Healing, Responsibly Sourced Body and  December 15, 2020  - Herbal product company SRB Botanica, led by mother-daughter duo Stephanie Rose Bird and Olivia Bird, has announced the release of their New Moon Collection of body and hair products, timed to coincide with December’s new moon. The products in the collection make fabulous holiday gifts!  Loco for Coco is a simple, old-fashioned handmade cold-processed soap handcrafted from chocolate, cocoa butter and coconut oil with distilled water and lye, and featuring a patchouli lavender scent. Cacao has many phytonutrients and minerals that are great for the skin. Hair potion Palm-made was crafted with four words in mind: modern, healthy, strong, hair. Palm-made yields better hair health through the skilled combination of venerable essential oils such as ylang ylang and rosemary...
Post a Comment
Read more