Making the Effort to Ascend and Discovering a New Direction

Ancient Graffiti or a Message Board?

     

Signal Hill was used by early inhabitants to tell those, who knew how to look for and read the signs, where the best paths were located among the hot desert landscape.  In a place surrounded by mountains the passes were not obvious on the plain, so a hill was needed to give the traveler perspective. From its height one could learn the easiest and safest way to traverse a very hazardous land. The signs located on the top would often tell where to find water, warn of flooding, and give instructions on and how to get to other villages. This hill has symbols that might indicate which way was best to take flocks of sheep and goats so that they could traverse the desert safely and where water and grass might be found just to the north a few miles.

When a spiral opens on the lower side as if leading the viewer into a spiral maze. It takes the viewer up and circles around and keeps circling to the center. It is located on the top of the hill with a mountain in the background shaped similarly to the rock upon which the spiral is found. It means go over to that Mountain and find the easy access to more petroglyphs start low on the hill and ascend up the path, circling up until you get to the top of the hill and you will find more instructions. This spiral symbol always means ascending, according to La Van Martineau.1

            When a visitor to Saguaro Monument National Park’s Signal Hill climbs up the stairs made by the WPA to the top, there is just such a spiral pecked into a triangular shaped rock. When interpreted as I’ve indicated it says to go to that far mountain to the East and there ascend where you will find further instructions. In actuality this is a very famous set of petroglyphs accessible from a wash located on Picture Rocks Road just before you enter into the National Monument through the pass. This is relatively easy to find and in recent years has been vandalized. This disregard or disrespect for something that we do not understand is similar to how our scriptures are treated by people today who feel that they don’t have value for our day and time.

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1 The Rocks Begin To Speak, La Van Martineau, 1973 KC Publications, Las Vegas, Nevada, p 28

Ascend to the top of that mountain over there,

and discover more instructions.

 That is the message of the spiral on top of Signal Hill

 

The scriptures are our Signal Hill, where we can find instructions for safe passage and living water in a hostile world, so that our journey on earth will be a successful one. These were prepared by God’s prophets who have previously traveled the road of earth life. The ancient prophets saw us in the latter days and realized we needed a road map to guide us through dangerous times. Isaiah wrote not only for Israel in his day, but also imbedded there is the Lord, Jehovah’s message to us, his people, who would live in the latter days when we could understand his warnings. But who will read Isaiah and understand? Those who recognize the importance of what he has to say to us, having read Christ’s admonition to the Nephites that, “Great are the words of Isaiah.”

There are symbols and meanings to be found in the scriptures just as there is the spiral picture on the Picture Rocks behind my house. Their purpose is to lead you to a higher place where you can see a view of eternity and guide you through a modern hazardous landscape to safety.