The Night Sky and...

 Growing up as a kid, I don't ever recall noticing or ever looking at the night sky. I believe that the night sky was not an area of interest for me at that time. I mean we traveled in vehicles with our parents at night and we played "La Virgen Es" at night time too, but, personally I do not remember marveling at the night sky. I had no interest at the time about those things. My mind was very simple then, and my limits for understanding those things were not that bright either. Therefore, those things didn't turn me on because I was just enjoying life with my family. I do remember laying down on my back as a little boy with my brother Sam on our front wood porch in the afternoons gazing at the clouds. But not the night sky. And now as I reflect on those long ago days and nights that passed me by many times, I don't ever recall seeing the night sky when I was at Gatesville Reform School for 33 months. I was locked up during the night, so I didn't even think about what was outdoors there. Besides all the windows were barred and all the metal doors locked, and I wasn't allowed to leave the building for no unauthorized reason. As far as I was concerned, there was no night sky, only darkness. Remember the Simon and Garfunkel song lyric that said, "Hello darkness my ole friend.....," well, I guess they couldn't see the night sky either. And I wondered, what had happened to these guys to make them feel so bad? But anyway, let's say that I wanted to see "Bonanza" on T.V., which on rare occasions during the evenings we were allowed to watch T.V. at the Gatesville Reformatory. And I do remember that as a kid back home we did see some features in the Bonanza series that showed night time scenes. However, what would be the odds of me siding with the overwhelming majority vote in this place to either watch Bonanza or Sports, when you are there with a whole bunch of sports fanatics including the guards too. The odds were that the Bonanza movie was not gonna be watched there ever. Therefore, the night sky was something that didn't cross my mind back then at all. And much later as I moved forward with time, sort of like on that roller coaster, I gave that history of mine for neglecting the night sky some serious thought. I mean, after all, people like me should give it a thought because we have lost our identity about who we are, and where we've come from. And we've lost the knowledge about the stars and heavens and their purpose, and their symbolisms' and so much more. And I believe that we have taken so many aspects about our histories for granted and I believe everything that we've been re-indoctrinated with these days is diluted with lies that have no knowledge at all. Ruben, what is the big deal about stars and what is so important about the night sky? Well the reason that the night sky is important to me now is, because now I can see how over many years of neglect, I have been robbed of my history, language, and my peoples culture, whoever they were. I don't know who my people were or where they came from. And that bothers me terribly. Moreover, stars speak to powerful beings. Nevertheless, the brainwashing that was employed on the Indigenous people in America early in this existing history over many years has worked perfectly for those conditioning us to forget. That is the purpose that Institutions exist. These Institutions employ beautiful mental conditioning favoring one System over another. Once those conditions are repeated over and over through whatever methods employed, the results will turn out people like Ruben who have no interest in learning, only playing and getting into trouble. And as far as the night sky is concerned, because of his previous dumbing down education, he'll never know the wisdom that the ancients knew about astronomy or math, or navigation, nor about "God's" creation. Further, he will never know what those heavenly bodies way out there symbolize and or speak of spiritually. Ruben was lost then in more ways than one, thanks to the brain washing. But now, since the very early 90's, I started to watch the night sky and marveled at it. I don't worship stars or heavenly bodies, but I read a lot about so many things. And during this time I started to legally look for arrowheads to supplement my meager income. Remember that I made my bed to be a criminal, and now that I am out of prison from the Texas Department of Corrections, nobody that is reputable and in legal business wants to hire me regardless of my two Honorable Military Discharges and medals that make me look like a decorated Christmas tree. Anyway, as I found myself at a quandary back then because it seemed that all stone points and knives, tomahawks, had been fished out from the ground surface. One day I came across a Christian Indian guy at a Pow Wow that my wife talked me into going to in Austin one November. And as I talked about my unsuccessful hunts to this Indian guy, he told me about taking offerings out there to the spirits in the woods to appease them. This guy said he was a Christian and I needed extra income, so I tried it. Keep in mind that I was just beginning my Christian walk at this time. Well needless to say things financially went from bad to worse after employing this new tactic for me. But one night I had a dream back then, and I was living at 700 Center street in San Marcos. And as this Black and White dream opened, all I see at first is a wide opened flatland in a panoramic view at night. Some call this scene before me as a night being lit only by an electrum gilded light. It was ghostly but beautiful. It was ghostly because there was nothing out there but dead fallen trees and a large crop of boulders far in front of my view. And that is the grand opening scene laid out in front of me to see. Then as I kept looking into the scene, three Indian men who were wearing only hide leather pants with those small threads that stick to the sides of their pants, and wearing moccasin shoes, entered the picture. As they walk in all I see is their back sides as they walk forward and northward. Keep in mind that they are not wearing any shirts at all. As they become more pronounced walking into this panoramic scene, I can see that all three men are tall, slender, and in great shape. Perhaps these guys were in their early thirties? Man, they had long loose Black hair and looked majestic. And I kept watching as they kept walking forward. Then they came to the large crop of boulders in front of them, and all three just stopped. Then they stood there looking at these boulders and like someone invisible took me to look closer at these boulders, however, I am still only allowed to see the backsides of these men. I see what they all saw. I saw a long flat like boulder laying flat in the middle of these large rocks. To me it looked like a diving board made of stone protruding a few feet beyond the boulders, facing north. Much later, like 3 or 4 years ago, I will find exact stones laid out in woods like this and pointing north, in Central Texas. Then I see the Indian in the middle only walking up the boulders on this flat long stone that sticks up higher than all the others, but on the north side, walk to its edge. The other two are standing to each side of this mound of rocks facing the one on the ledge at their lower level. Then this Indian man on the ledge raises his hands and arms and lifts them to the night sky. Then he begins to worship in English, I guess because they want me to understand, and this is what I heard him say, "Oh! great Netejone!" And just as I heard him say that, The Constellation of The Little Dipper and Big Dipper appeared above him in the night sky. And these stars were bright and clear to see. And that was all I saw for stars in the sky that night in that dream. And right there the dream ends. But, then the hard work begins for the hunt for the meaning for this name, Netejone. And for what does this phrase Great Netejone mean? Guys, I am like a Hound dog, I get depressed if I can't find what I set out to look for. Even if it takes me years to stay on a trail looking for answers to deep questions, I will stay locked in until I get a satisfying answer. And so one day at another Pow Wow much later in Austin,  I asked a young Indian man there that if he knew what Great Netejone meant? Because even many Indians didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about this phrase. Well, this young man directed my question to his dad standing some short distance away. Then, this Indian man asked me where I had  learned about this name. And I told him from a dream that I had had years earlier. He said that the name Netejone was a Navajo word and that it meant, "The Great Chief in The Sky!" And he also said that he knew this answer to my question because he was Navajo. People, I have been on a spiritual journey since 1980. I have seen more than what I started looking for. I have stopped drinking alcohol, shooting up drugs, smoking weed, snorting drugs, since 1982. I had a relapse after 1981. Therefore, what I see is not drug induced and I don't invoke spirits because of a bad encounter back in 2007 with "God" "Himself" about this practice. I am a hunter as I said earlier, I hunt sculpted ancient artifacts now, not arrowheads anymore. And I have never hunted animals to kill them for sport since I was an inconsiderate kid. What I hunt now is ancient sculpted stone or rock sculpture. The very things that the elitist White Rulers never wanted to give the Indians credit for. Do you know or care that these colonialist elites with their superior complexes still claim in all Public and Higher Education Institutions, and in school books, i.e., Natural sciences, and History of America, especially Texas and Central Texas, that Native Americans could not, nor did they have the inclination, to create stone art. As hard as that is to believe, The Books today don't lie because those false racist assumptions are in the books right now. And why aren't Mexicans trying to Right that wrong today?  It is written in the history of America, especially Texas, that Native Indians didn't have the refined culture like those of other civilized cultures of the world and hence, didn't have the intellectual capacity to create such stone art. People, I owe a lot to so many ancient history teachers whose writings have helped me in my search for answers to complex questions of life. And it's White historians that pointed me to Zeila Nuttal in my search for Netejone. Its' her histories of ancient Indians from Old Mexico from a long time ago that led me to the stories of these peoples worship of "Polaris," the North Star. She told many stories about these Bear Constellations in the sky and how ancient Indians of the South would make Pilgrimages to The North of America just to worship this seemingly stable and unmovable star. I'll tell that story later if time permits. But nevertheless, one can see the rich history that these culturally refined people once had. Somewhere they must have wandered off their Righteous Path, and taken a wrong turn and never allowed for correction to that decision. Regardless of whatever happened to these people, the ruins left behind are proof that they did create works of art in stone sculpture. Further, I will find out that The arrangement of the stars is a symbolic language of its own. And as for The Bears Constellation there is more stories to tell about them. And as I was saying, perhaps the White people found these artifacts and destroyed them or collected it for themselves, or sold it to the highest bidder. Anyway, I have found some and they are mine now! So in closing I will only say that the catalyst for my journey started with one question, "Why does history keep repeating itself over and over again and again and my people can't win? Later I included all Non-Whites as my People. But I have to give credit where credit is due, to "God" first and to the White People who did care about Educating me and guiding me to Truth and The Path Of Truth. I hope that I can stay on it. I'll close for now guys, there is way much more to learn. But, Let's sleep on that for now. Good grief, there is so much rich history out there to learn about. I hope that we have more time for your sake, and those who you love, to enjoy this life with. Good Night Amigos.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Respectfully,          

                             Ruben N. Gutierrez